Well, i think it's about time i put up a notice like this. Since i haven't worked on the Voretex Website in so long, i think it's time to see if anyone's interested in taking over. While i always meant to get back to maintaining and running it, i no longer really have the time or energy to do so. It's a site that's been around so long, i'd hate to see it dissapear completely. The orcas site seems to have gone down, though the LD5 site is still up and running.
Anyway, there's a lot that could be done to update the site. Make it easier to submit files and such. So, after at least 5 years of not doing anything with Voretex, it's time for someone else to take up the flag and run with it.
If you're interested, reply below, and please, only reply if you actually are interested, as well as have the time and energy to work on a large website.

With Avatar finally in theaters, i got to thinking about sex between aliens. I did draw a bit from the movie in regards to the story i pounded out last night. I know the general story line of the movie but not the particulars. Hopefully i haven't impinged too far on what goes on in the movie and what goes on in my story. Anyway, the story i wrote is in several fragments, rather then one complete work. I'll hopefully go back and flesh out the story further at some point, but for now i had to get everything out of my head and into print before i lost the thread.

Anyway, hope some of you enjoy.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3167223

Ok, i finally published my first MA style mission on COX, and am rather proud of it, i know it still needs a bit more polish, and probably some fleshing out in parts, but i think it's pretty good. The mission title is "Into the Woods" ID#54512. Would love to get some feedback on it. I may expand it into a series of missions based off various fairy tales. Twisting them a bit in the process :)

GryphRaptor

PS: For those that don't know COX is the MMORPG City of Heroes/Villians, and MA is the new Mission Archetect they just implemented that allows players to create missions everyone else can try out and comment on

PPS: I play on both the Triumph and Champion Servers for anyone who also plays COX

PPPS: Just updated the mission, unfortuantly it saved it as a new mission, rather then just updating the old one. I've removed the older version. The new number is 54512

Been goofing around with Spore some more and am finding myself too limited by the limits the program has. What would be a good 3-D modeling program that won't cost an arm and a leg to use? And that's fairly easy to use?

Have caught a few eppesodes of a TV series Lost Tapes. I supposed to be tapes of incidents people have had with cryptids, or creatures unknown to science. Nessie, bigfoot, etc. Interesting show, but overall feels too much like a bad try at Blair Witch Project. Show claims to be based off real events and such, but too much of the camera work looks to be recreations. While i enjoy the thought of there being stuff out there that's still unknown, i really don't care for the way things are presented. It's always people screaming and getting killed and all that :P course i guess that does make for ratings :P

ah well...interesting show on Animal Planet or Discovery i believe. Check it out for yourselves. THere are some nice historical references and illustrations spattered through the show, but too much dramatic editing i think.

Yes, i know the game's been out for awhile, and most people have tried and moved on to other games, but i went back and started playing it some more, working through the "story" mode and especially working with the editors. Overall i rather like the game's design, though i definatly like the editors more then the game itself :P Anyway, one of the biggest frustrations i've recently been hitting is the inability to make vehicles that don't have the same stuff on each side. Tried to make up a Bonapart (mini-tank from Tank Police) look-alike, but couldn't get it to look right due to the auto mirroring of items. That and main body parts can only apparently be applied along the centerline of the design screen :(. I'm guessing its to make the animations and such easier for the computer to render, but dunno for sure.

Of course there's also the DNA limit as to what you can put into your creatures/vehicles. Seems like everytime I run into that limit just before i can get the exact look i'm trying for. Yes, i know there's a code that allows you to remove the limit, and i've thought of using it. Anyone know how it effects the game itself? are creatures/vehicles built using the code unable to be brought into the game itself? not that that's something i'm all that concerned with, i'd like to create the stuff without worrying about running into the limit so often :P

Anyway, don't get me wrong, i really like the game itself, and will probably continue playing it for quite awhile. I love that you can create almost anything you want. I'm sure future versions will expand the capabilities of the game.

As an aside, are we allowed to post screen-caps to our FA accounts of creatures created through the Spore CC?

Don't you hate it when a show you watch ends/is canceled, and they leave all sorts of plotlines and such hanging? Been watching an anime called D.Grey Man, and after working through over 100 eppesodes over several weeks, find out the series doesn't continue beyond eppesode 103. They had just introduced several new concepts within the last few eppesodes, so it looked like things were gearing up towards the final battle, then poof...series over, least as far as i can tell searching for info.
Another series that's done this is Avatar, the last airbender. Now i haven't dug all that far into it, but from what i have read through, book 3 is the last book in the series. I'd always thought there'd be 4 books in the series, one for each element. Anyway, again, some really cool twists show up towards the end, and then no more :(
Yeah, i know ratings and such impact wether things stay on the air or not, but sometimes i have to wonder when shows that seem really good are replaced by not so good shows, or shows that suck, seem to keep going forever. Ah well...

GryphRaptor

Wow, two journals in under 24 hours... :P
Anyway, seems like i've been having a lot of dreams lately, and i'm curious about something. When i dream i dream in all 5 senses, sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. I also dream in color. Now as I understand it, you usually don't dream with all senses active? Usually one or more of the senses aren't contained within the dream. Sight and sound are pretty much standard i believe, but the other three senses? I know there's stuff called lucid dreaming where you can actually control the dreams and so on, but that doesn't really feel like what i've been experiencing. I mean at some point i know i'm dreaming, but it doesn't seem to matter much...
Most of the dreams seem to be very realistic actually, though some aspects are a bit fantastical. Sometimes i wonder if prehaps dreams are actually other realities we see when we sleep. Connecting with other versions of ourselves mabey? Just thought i'd type some of this stuff down as it's been on my mind lately...
A good example would be where i dreamed i was some sort of Indiana Jones type character, exploring an ancient ruin, and had to navigate a maze and everything. Then solve a puzzle that had me running from one part of a temple to another aligning light focusing devices towards the center. Trying to get everything done before some other group got in and stopped me. I think i sucseeded in aligining the four devices with the center object, but unfortunatly i believe that's about the point i woke up :P I do remember struggling with some of those that had been trying to get in and stop me...The whole thing seemed so real though...

GryphRaptor

Yes, i do play YuGiOh, and rather enjoy the game. Some of the critters are quite cool actually. Anyway, got started on some of the online games you can access through the 08 YuGiOh championship game for the DS. So started on the online games and am having a heck of a time, trying to use a Gladiator beast deck, which i really enjoy using, but just can not seem to be competitive with it :( Couple glitches seem to pop up in how the game regards card effects which further make the whole thing a bit frustrating. Course could just be i don't know the rules well enough, still learning the whole thing. Will probably keep trying online play for awhile, though really begining to think i need to look into creating a different deck...Ah well...

Course a couple other things that are frustrating are the players that disconnect the moment they think they're gonna lose a game...has happend to me several times now and really Annoys me :( If you're gonna play the game, least have the courage to play it out, not cheat the other person of what they earned...

GryphRaptor

Saw a commercial for the new Transformers cartoon, and must say i'm almost dreading the new series. The animators are using that stylized toon style that seems to be becoming more popular. It just doesn't look right to me...
Wiki article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transf.....mers:_Animated
Offical website here:
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_sh.....rsa/index.html
Unfortuantly the transformation sequences shown on the commercials show the vehicle or robot blurring with a jumble of lines and turning into the alt-form, no sign of just how the one turns into the other, which was something i always enjoyed seeing.
Hopefully the series won't be too dreadfull, but i'm not holding out much hope there :(

GryphRaptor

Digimon world: Dawn FC: 3565 9620 7769
Pokemon Dimond FC: 3866 5446 1034

Man...why'd they have to come out with 4 new digimon games all in the same month? Got Savers for the PS2, Digimon world: DS, Dawn and Dusk all for the DS system. Haven't played Savers yet, but have been working on Dawn, beaten the first half of the game, working on second half. Anyway, like Pokemon Dimond and Pearl, you can do WiFi battles and such

I'm on pretty randomly unfortuantly but if anyone's about when I am online, would be fun to try a few WiFi battles, or just do some trading or matching :)

My friend code for Digimon world: Dawn is:
3565 9620 7769

And for those on Pokemon Dimond and Pearl my friend code there is:
3866 5446 1034

If it's different from what i've posted before, my DS crashed and had to be replaced, so not sure if the code stayed the same or not, though i'm pretty sure it's a completely different friend code now, so if you had me on your list, you'll probably have to delete the old one and put the new one in.

BTW: Anyone know how to access those quests from the home isle digimon? got cool patamon and a renamon at my home island, but even when i have the digimon they want in my party, i can't access the quests they're supposed to release....

GryphRaptor

Cliff notes version:
Computer's been making funny noises. Replace cooling fans, wait at CompUSA for clerk to find parts needed, replace CPU Fan, continues to make funny noises. Guess time to get a new system.
Monitor's been acting up big-time lately, lots of screen flickering.
Have to get the furnace in my home fixed, gotta get a few quotes to find out who'll do the best job for a decent ammount.
DS shut off in middle of play, can't get it to turn back on. Nintendo'll replace it, but won't be able to play on a DS for about a week or so.

So anyway, furnace definatly takes priority over getting my computer fixed. Don't want the heat cutting out in middle of winter. Hopefully won't be too expensive, and will have some left over to upgrade computer system. Thankfully Nintendo will replace my DS free of charge, will just take time to get the replacement here.

In other news, gonna go see ResEvil Extinction tomorrow hopefully. Should be a fun flick.

rule 34, or is it 35? the one where there's erotic art of anything out there on the interenet...anyway, been bugging me for awhile, the fact that i've never seen any fanart of the character Bodybag from Marvel Comics. Bodybag's this alien reptile creature then shoots goo over her (it's implied in the comics Bodybag's female) victimes then swallows them whole, storing them in pouches on her back. Granted Bodybag's more of a support character, was a member of the technet an alien group of bounty hunters originally hired to recapture Pheonix. But still, seems like someone would've put up fanart of her somewhere...
Anyway, just thought i'd post it up here, in case anyone's looking for something different to draw up or something...
Post that inspired this one, is from the Eka's Portal message board:
http://aryion.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=8601

GryphRaptor

Well, still playing Pokemon Dimond, finally beat the Elite Four and the story mode of the game. Now trying to work on the national dex and am curious, how do i trade for pokemon from other games? shouldn't they be listed in the search menu in the GTS? Granted i'll probably be picking up both strategy guides sometime next week to make sure i find all the goodies and such, but i'm still curious as to how to fill out the national dex.

GryphRaptor

Thought i'd give the whole Wi-Fi connection thing a try with the Pokemon Dimond game i've got. Anyway, it's:

3866 5446 1034

Pretty sure i figured the whole Wi-Fi connection thing out with my computer :P

GryphRaptor

Found some of the new Transformer toys at the store yesterday, and since had just been paid, picked up a few. Got the new Bumblebee, and Optimus Prime, as well as Booster and Barricade. For the most part, i was suprised at how detailed these new toys were. Lots of articulation and so on. Also there's a new feature that is kinda strange. Peices of the new transformers kinda transform themselves as you change the peice from robot to vehicle mode or the other way around. Pretty neat actually. Anyway a breakdown of each peice i bought :)

Leader Class Optimus Prime: Awesome toy overall. I like the sound effects and lights that they used, and the self-transforming parts aren't too obnoixious. both robot and vehicle mode are very cool looking. It's great they returned Prime to a big-rig, though I do wish they'd included a trailer/command center. Transformation's a bit more complicated then is first apparent, and there are a few joints and such that don't make much sense. The blaster they provided Prime with doesn't really fit the figure and looks awkward where they placed it in Vehicle mode. Haven't decided yet if i'll pick up some of the other versions of Prime yet. Was suprised when realized that the hands actually had individual fingers and a thumb that could actually be repostioned somewhat.

Deluxe Class Bumblebee: I miss seeing Bumblebee as a VW Bug, but a camero doesn't seem so bad anymore. (Note: I also have the classics Bumblebee, the one with the jet-ski trailer and while it's still not a VW Bug, at least the robot harks back to the original Bumblebee) Anyway, again the new self-transforming features took a bit of getting used to, specially the flipping front end where you pressed a button to have it automatically flip forward and a few other tricks. The legs also required you to pull the back window backwards whcih would flip the feet out and down. Also had a bit of trouble with the arms not wanting to snug back up against the bottom when returning the figure to car mode. Specially when you leave the rocket-launchers attached.

Deluxe Class Barricade: The cop car looks really nice, and i like the little removable Frenzy figure that folds up and fits into the front of this figure in vehicle mode. Kinda wish you could put him in the driver's seat though. One of the more unique ways of transforming from Vehicle to robot mode. Almost the entire sides of the car become the robot's arms. The rocket-punch feature gave me all sorts of greif though, kept popping out as i tried to switch modes.

Real Gear Booster: Reminded me a lot of the original Lazerbeak, though the creators of the toys used Booster's color scheme rather then the decepticon usuall dark colors. Nice and simple transformation from MP3 player and earphone to robo-bird. the earphone becomes a sort of blaster atop Booster's back. Wings also fold and spread quite nicely, and can be angled upwards which was a nice suprise. Also footclaws are a lot more articulated then i expected, you can actually fold them in all sorts of postions.

Overally, i'm rather pleased with the toys themselves, the movie I'll have to wait untill after i've seen it. I'll probably pick up a few other of the figures, though i probably won't get the entire series of toys, i really don't care for the Scorpinox figure, just looks way too ugly, the scorpion tank thingie's not too bad looking but the robot form just sucks.

Guess that's it for now

Well, found the last few eppesodes of season three of Dragon Booster. Was pretty interesting to watch some of the developments and hints as to what may be comming if they ever go into a season 4. Though that's looking like it won't be happening unfortuantly. Even though there's a spot at the end of eppesode 39 that says Continued in Dragon Booster: Academy, a bit of research showed that the networks haven't ordered another season's worth of eppesodes. There's a petition to try and get the series finished (the storyline's supposed to run through 5 full seasons to develope everything and wrap up the storyline). Anyone know just how many signitures are required to get a network to continue a show? Here's a link to the petition for anyone that might be interested:
http://www.dragon-city.org/Off_Site/petition.htm

Anyway in other news, was flipping through the channels earlier today and came across a new show called Storm Hawks: (Website here: http://stormhawks.com/ ) Computer animated, and looks to be quite interesting. Alreayd there's a good cast of characters and a lot of information that i'm looking forward to finding out as the series progresses. Assuming of course i can actually catch each eppesode as it aires :).

Also, been spending way too much time playing Shining Force EXA (never does explain just what the EXA is supposed to stand for :P ) rather good game for the PS2. RPG style with real time combat. Lots of weapons and character models change according to what you outfit them with. Basically you switch between two main characters as the situation calls, a weapon user and a magic user, and have the help of two additional characters out of i think a supporting cast of 8. Graphics and so on are very well done, though combat does slow down a bit during mass melee.

Well, that's about it for now....

Ok, decided to put up a new journal *crickets chirping* ah well :P
anyway, while browsing the archives around here, a couple things popped into my head and thought i'd throw out a few questions about them. See if anyone wants to throw out their $.02 about the answers.
Anyway, here goes :)
Shapeshifters: I'm not talking about shapeshifters that stay the same size roughly, but those that increase or decrease their size quite a bit. An example being a 5 foot person, turning into an 8 foot tall monster werewolf. Or a dragon turning into a young woman. Both have quite a size and mass change. Now i know one answer's going to be magic. But still, where does the extra mass come from or goto?
Tauric Anatomy: Just how would tauric anatomy work? duplicate organs in upper and lower bodies? Or should the organs be completely different from what one would expect? Designs for taurs are usually based off knowledge of human and animal anatomy, but would that really work for such beings?
Flying cars: C'mon...where are the flying cars and such we were promised would be in common use? Or personal rocket packs and so on? :)

think that's about it for now...hope to hear some comments on these :)

GryphRaptor

Well, first off, if you haven't seen 300, or Ghost Rider, do not read any further. This journal may contain elements that will spoil things for you.

Anyway, went and saw 300 today. Awesome flick. Have to agree with others that it was a very impressive movie. Was rather cool, seeing them use a phalanx pattern, as well as a hedgehog later on in the movie. Effects were really well done, the whole thing was somewhat stylized, but very well done. The main villian, Xerxes (or however his name's spelled) was quite impressive. Specially since the movie made him a giant. Stood at least a good several feet taller then King Illonious (yes, i know i'm murdering the spelling of various names here :P ) The fight scenes were amazing, and very graphic, lots of blood and limbs flying. The Spartans going up against various elements from other lands was pretty impressive as well. The charging rhino and elephants were rather well done. This movie's definatly something i'm gonna be getting when it comes out on DVD.

Now, went and saw Ghost Rider. Decent adaptation from comic book to Big Screen. Again impressive special effects, specially the bike...man that's a sweet looking ride :) Villains seemed rather pathetic though. They didn't really give Ghost Rider much of a challenge. Not even the main villian, BlackHeart. I mean come on...least they could've done is some cool fight scenes with property damage and so on. Isn't that bread and butter for comic books? :P ah well. Best scene in whole movie was when the old Rider and Ghost Rider were racing down a desert road. Managed to find a pic of that scene and put it up as my desktop. Love the flaming horse going up against the flaming bike.

Looking forward to seeing TMNT when it comes out, as well as the Last Mimzy, FF2, and Spiderman 3.

On the video game front, been playing way too much Okami, beaten the game once already and working on second run through, trying to get all the skills and such this time around, didn't realize how close i was to beating the game till i actually did it. Ah well, will give me a chance to finish off some of the sub-quests and such i didn't get a chance to the first go-round. I really love the way they did this game, though the brush controls do take a bit of getting used to.

Well, that's about it i guess. Don't think i put too much in way of spoilers in my impressions of the movies, but figured i'd put up a warning to be on the safe side...

GryphRaptor

Just got home from seeing Night at the Museum. Was a rather fun flick, kinda think they should've cast someone besides Ben Stiller in the movie though. He wasn't all that bad, but there were some classic Ben Stiller moments where he overdid things. Ah well. All in all, an enjoyable movie. Plus it had a big T-Rex skeleton running around like a big puppy. Way cool! They actually did a rather good job overall, having Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs was kinda neat as the three night watchmen that Ben's character takes over for. Robin Williams was rather impressive as Teddy Roosevelt as well.

In other news :P Saw the trailer for a couple movies that looked interesting.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Should be a rather fun movie, hopefully they won't deviate too badly from the normal story line of the interaction between the FF and the Silver Surfer. But will have to wait and see i guess. The animation used for Silver Surfer looks awesome though, based on how he passed through buildings and such.

Mizba (think that's the spelling) also looks like a decent movie. About a couple kids that seem to have special powers. Something to do with them and the future i think. You see the kids doing stuff like tossing rocks down and spider-web type energy flowing from the rocks. A stuffed bunny floating in an energy bubble, and other similar stuff.

That's about it for now, will try and get back to posting stuff here soon i hope...Take care :)

GryphRaptor

I know this is probably a rather hot topic, but i thought i had to post something about this. Recently a friend of mine did a journal entry elsewhere about how he felt about tradional vs computer art. Now i've done both, and it seems to me that there's the same ammount of effort involved in both types of art. Yes you have tools that make some things easier with computer art, and you don't have to worry about making a mess on the floor if something goes wrong. But there's plenty of things that (seem to me anyway) to be actually easier to do in Traditional media. Does the fact that something's been done on the computer make it any less of a peice of art then if you've done something similar on canvas, or in a art book? I know everyone has their own views on this subject, and i'm not saying that anyone is right or wrong in their views either.

Another thought that just occured to me, does the fact people use computers to write novels and stuff now make them any less of an author then someone who writes everything down on paper? I think it's a fair example. The comptuer allows the author to copy and paste text, spell check, change things quicker then if they were writing everything down on paper. Yet i've never heard anyone claim that by using a computer to write a book or a story, is in any way worth less then by doing the same book or story in traditional media....Which seems to me to be the exact argument people use for computer art vs traditiona. Why is is that Computer Art Vs. Tradtional Art brings forth so much angst?

Overall, i guess i'm not really sure what i'm saying, guess i just had to get some of my thoughts down...
Anyway, guess i've run on long enough...

GryphRaptor

Starting to get a hang of how to take good pictures with my digital camera now. Got a few pics of stuff i've done over the years in various art classes. Hope you all enjoy, will start posting more stuff soon i hope. Just gotta dig everything out from wherever it's been stashed :P

GryphRaptor

Well, having a bit of trouble with my digital camera, shots are getting a bit fuzzier then i'd prefer to post online of some of my 40k models. So have to wait a bit longer while i figure out how to better take pictures. In the meantime, here's a story i wrote awhile back based off an RP between me and  Guyver47

Hope to have another story up here in the next few days, but gotta wait on final permission first since it also contains characters that aren't my own.

GryphRaptor :icon:

well..not really, but i do like to collect and build zoids. So thought would post up some pics of some customeized zoids i've done over the years. Also a few warhammer 40k models will be posted here pretty soon. Then will probably have to start actually creating new content to post :) ah well...
In more zoids news, i really wish they'd put out the other zoid series on DVD..i've got the one with Bit Cloud and the other one with Van and Zeke the organoid. But from what i understand there's at least two or mabey even three more series out there :( I also wouldn't mind a zoids based RPG, though dunno just how they'd manage that...

Threw up a few more pics of stuff i've done, all digital art this time. Couple of character pics of an old Rifts character and a rather neat poster i did for a digital art class...Will probably be putting up some more stuff throughout the week (i hope..)

GryphRaptor