Tazmon.com

Tanya’s “Fortress of Love” Cake

Taz — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:19:19 +0000

It’s a new Cake, the Fortress of Love Cake! The Top layer is Black Forest Cake, the Middle is a Napoleon Cake and the bottom layer is a Honey Cake. To help provide a sense of size, the foil covered square underneath is the size of a LARGE Pizza Box!

[View with PicLens]

Probably on our last trip to Seoul

Taz — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:59:20 +0000

Well I’m writing this now sitting in our room at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul. I’m REALLY going to miss staying here on our trips here. This trip worked great with our schedules. I was going to come up for the Awards panel for the USFK Employee of the Year as a Navy representative and Tanya needed to come up to get a medical exam for her immigration procedures and we have to stop by the embassy on Wednesday to get her Spousal Visa… finally!!!

The process we’ve been on to get her visa and figure out what comes next for our family has been a long one, but the times we’ve had while waiting to see what would come next have been great. The opportunities we’ve had to see Korea, meet new friends and enjoy starting our family couldn’t be had anywhere else. The hardest part now is thinking about actually leaving Korea. I can say, I’m not looking forward to it but I am looking forward to getting on with our lives and settling down. As things wind down here, I’ll try to get on and post updates on this blog on a more regular basis.

New Website Layout

Taz — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 03:18:17 +0000

Well I decided to upgrade my website to WordPress 3.0 today. So far I really like a lot of the improvements I’ve seen so far.

Dragon Head #2

Taz — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:42:23 +0000

Well it’s been a while since I posted, but I wanted to share the work in progress on something I’ve been wanting to do for quite a while. I’m working on modeling a 3D image of the Korean Turtle Ship and started with the Dragon Head. Here is my second try at it. I’ll probably go back and finish the first try some time but I’m quite happy with how this one came out.

MaslowProjects New Logo

Taz — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:50:46 +0000

Well I’m almost done with the development of the new logo for the MaslowProject. I made this image using Blender for the modeling and LuxRender for the materials/final render. The rendering took 25.5 hours with 6 computers running together as a render farm. Leave a comment, let me know what you think.

Luxrender

Taz — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:20:30 +0000

Update 3: Here is a collage of 4 images built from the rendering I’ve had 6 computers working on now for 17.5 hours. Luxrender makes it really easy to use multiple computers for a task like this. I’m also posting the fullsize version of a 12 hour render of my first try.

Update 2: I remade the model after some trials with the first one and made the M to look like it is made from a sapphire. Here is a 1 minute render just to test the lighting. As I’m going to bed now, I have 6 computers in the house working together to render the same view with all options at max. I’m really looking forward to seeing what it will look like when complete.

Update: Here is another image made using LuxRender that took 5 hours.

After spending quite a bit of time using Blender, I decided to try one of the third party rendering engines compatible with it called Luxrender. I had tried to get it to work before, but had problems. Now with the real release version of Windows 7 on my main computer, everything has worked perfect so far and Luxrender installed without any errors. I decided to try it first on a model I’ve been working on for a new logo for the organization my brother works for called the Maslow Project. After I clicked the Render button, I was surprised at the first glance of what I saw, it was a VERY grainy image after about 30 seconds.

But then I did some reading about the program and I found out what it’s capable of. After a little big of time, I had my computer plus 4 other computers in the house all rendering the image After 5 hours 13 minutes, here is the final image.

[video filename=http://www.tazmon.com/Tazmon/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/MaslowLogo01.flv /]

Anastasia Dancing

Taz — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:56:34 +0000

For Anastasia’s first birthday, her Great-Grandma sent her this outfit as some pajamas. She loves them and we had to take some video of her dancing in them.

[video filename=http://www.tazmon.com/Tazmon/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Nastya-Dancing.flv /]

Flying my New Kite for the First Time

Taz — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:58:31 +0000

I finally had a day with good conditions to fly the kite my dad had made for my birthday for the first time. Check out the video

[video filename=http://www.tazmon.com/Tazmon/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Johns-New-Kite.flv /]

Busan Fireworks Festival 2009

Taz — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:42:34 +0000

Today tanya and I headed over to busa to see the 2009 Fireworks Festival. We went the the festival last year and both of us thought it was the most Amazing show we’ve ever seen.

This years show was just as good and we got to experience some wonderful Korean hospitality on the gwangali beach. When we got to the beach at about 6:40pm it was already very cowded and we were trying to find a seat. A Korean lady with a bunch of little kids near her waved to us and gave us some seats on their blankets. The little girls gave us some cookies and had fun trying to talk with us. It was also really fun to listen to their excitement throughout the show.

After the 45 minute long show (felt like 10 minutes) we then headed back to the subway station. It was a scene reminiscent of the Japanese train stuffers and the streets were like rivers of humanity.

Check out the pictures posted in our gallery.

New Mattang Design

Taz — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:10:43 +0000

I decided to try making one of the designs we are having printed on some shirts in blender to see how it looks. I also decided to try different materials; metal, stone, leather, wood and beaten steel.