Hi all -

Major update. After working double shifts everyday on 5 different jobs for 4 weeks, I got hit with the flu right after the last delivery. So what better way to spend my time while sick than to work on my reel ;). The following has been updated:
- A new project, VH1, has been added to the composite section. Click here to see it.
- Reel and resume has been updated to incorporate this and redesigned with the website colors.
- I added photos to photo section that include my entire movie poster collection (231 so far).
- I dug up an old video clip of the Howard Stern Radio Show and Goodnight Moon and added them to the comp and animator (respectively) sections.
- General fixes. I brightened the blue text and reduced the file sizes on the thumbnails so they load faster.

It was nice to do the VH1 project. Out the the 5 projects I worked on last month, this was the only one worthy of writing home about. No offense to the people I worked on the other projects with, but the other stuff I doubt any of you will ever see. Not to mention VH1 was the first thing in almost a year that was reel worthy...besides Pen vs Pencil, but I didn't get paid for that.

VH1 was a 3D animation in After Effects (AE). That may not mean much to a lot of you but basically I pushed AE to the limits and used techniques that it really wasn't designed to do so I may achieve a certain look. Sure, AE has had the 3D ability for a little while now, but it's not the most ideal program for this sort of thing. This was a full blown 3D scene with hundreds of layers. Check it out. It's cool.

I was also able to organize my photos. I've never liked the auto page makers for photos that are around. They don't give you the design control that I need. Basically what I mean is I want the pages to match the look of the rest of my site, so I had to create completely customized pages. It took a little longer, but I don't have many photos to display in the landscapes and for the posters, it's just the initial set up. When I add more (and I will), I'll be easy to do. If I ever decide to put up dozens of images, then I'll have to use another method. For now, this works and it's exactly the look I want.

Oh, and on a personal note, this weekend Alison and I are celebrating our first anniversary. I can't believe it's been a year...I can't wait to see if that cake in the freezer is still good.

Enjoy...

- Luciano

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