EMGY Dropcloth

EMGY Dropcloth
Originally uploaded by John-Paul McCarthy

A fresh shipment from the 3A Hatchery.

3D modelling preliminary screenshot

3D modelling preliminary screenshot
Originally uploaded by John-Paul McCarthy

A little something I whipped up this week.
I'm tired.

where the hell is the summer warmth?

where the hell is the summer warmth?
Originally uploaded by John-Paul McCarthy

Nearing mid November in Auckland an I'm still wearing a toque indoors.
Even the worst of what the northern Canadian winter experience had to offer never had me wearing warm clothes indoors.

This past year has allowed us to deliberate where our future lies.

Perhaps it's time to move somewhere more insular... and also a bit more interesting... with a bit more space, facilitated access to the equipment and mindset that we desire.

Perhaps Auckland, it is time to say goodbye.
Not the end.....
-JP

Weta Raygun - Goliathon custom paint

Weta Raygun - Goliathon custom paint
Originally uploaded by John-Paul McCarthy

I'm about to proceed down the (no-return) path of creating a custom paint scheme for my Goliathon Raygun produced by Greg Broadmore, Dave Tremont and many other fine folks at Weta Workshop in Wellington.

Sharon & myself have had several wonderful opportunities to chat with the Workshop people this year. Most notably, an evening at the Weta Cave in April and the 4-day marathon that is the San Diego Comic-Con. During one conversation at the Auckland Armageddon Convention this past weekend; I mentioned that I wouldn't mind having "a go" at customising my Goliathon. I was met with plenty of support.

So... here goes!

Progress shots will be posted a bit closer to the end of my modifications.

I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise to those at the Workshop whose ears I've chewed off with my conversational blather. I'm an idiot.
-JP

on the desk today 004 – lantern design

lantern design
Originally uploaded by John-Paul McCarthy

I decided to end a productive day with a snapshot of a partially completed project.

This is a 3D model created in Sketchup then sent to an external rendering package. Finally touched up in Photoshop to add the slightly worn and poorly printed look.

When completed, it will be a light fitting with nods towards Scandinavian minimalism & Japanese lanterns.

Custom Average Joe Schmoe Figure by Mike Mitchell

Custom Average Joe Schmoe Figure by Mike Mitchell
Originally uploaded by Bigshot Toyworks

I've been keeping an open eyeball on the development of Bigshot Toywork's line of wooden toys. This, by far, is my favourite of the bunch.

This image is of a Mike Mitchell custom paint of the upcoming Joe Schmoe figure.

Blanks will be debuting at a show in early November with an online release shortly afterward.

More info below:

http://www.bigshottoyworks.com
http://www.bigshottoystore.com/

traknome beta

traknome (beta) from TRACERfire on Vimeo.
My love for both Native Instruments Traktor Pro and the monome 256 has motivated me to create a method of integrating the two. - upper portion of the controller is for effects (on/off, dry/wet signal, etc) - middle (and empty) area will be programmed for looping - lower part of controller is split vertically into Deck A & Deck B, with EQ in the middle, operational faders and (at this point) the representation of a single audio channel from Deck A. - also take note of the flashing lights on the quadrants, they're matched to the beatgrids in Traktor and will appear syncronised when both Deck A & Deck B are in sync *remember, this is a somewhat early & unoptimised version. further changes are ahead! thanks for watching!

design workstation - 4rd quarter 2009

design workstation - 4rd quarter 2009
Originally uploaded by John-Paul McCarthy

Now that we've returned from our fact-finding mission abroad; it is time to get down to some real work.

Immediately to the left is the Audio Workstation:

Thanks to a couple of office desks being given to us, I can finally setup my audio equipment without having the spend an hour dragging everything out of my bag and out of drawers.

The right-hand side is the 3D & Graphics Station:

The large display can be utilised for audio programming, but its main purpose is for our 3D Design work plus Photoshop & Illustrator noodlings. It also has a tertiary function as our DVD viewing display. The area is setup in such a way that both Sharon & myself can work on separate projects without being in each other's way.

Below the desk is the scanner / printer. If you look closely, you'll notice a bit of (still to be hung) artwork and collectible figurines.

I hope you enjoy this little insight in our ever evolving workspace. We're currently in the midst of setting up the spare room to function as a 'messy' area for painting, drawing, soldering, printing & spraying.

rocket to the cosmos

rocket to the cosmos
Originally uploaded by John-Paul McCarthy

The Northern Lights had suddenly popped up last evening with a reasonable glow on the horizon.

The lightwriting of my Mum's pick-me-up truck was inevitable.

kaneteh

kaneteh
Originally uploaded by John-Paul McCarthy

A 'Luchadore' Sketch by Eric Canete (SDCC 2009)
super nice guy!
check his work on www.kaneteh.blogspot.com

my toy truck rocks!

my toy truck rocks!
Originally uploaded by John-Paul McCarthy

A funny news clipping that we encountered while reading the paper at a local coffee shop here in Gibsons. A 3 year old boy floats 12km downstream on the Peace River --- in his toy truck!

on the desk today 003

on the desk today 003
Originally uploaded by John-Paul McCarthy

My mystery project is developing nicely. I was stalled for the past couple of days due to a tricky detail in the design.

I should be able to provide further details once the prototype is made in October.

on the desk today

on the desk today 002
Originally uploaded by John-Paul McCarthy

A screen cap of what is currently on my desktop.

I do my design roughs in Adobe Illustrator then export as EPS in my 3D software for the next stage of drawing.

Feel free to guess what this is, as I'm not currently not at priviledge to say.

on the desk today

monome - tubberbot enclosure (countersink in progress)
Originally uploaded by John-Paul McCarthy

Preparation of the acrylic faceplate to accept the keypad board.

Initially, I did not want to have any hardware visible on the keypad area of the faceplate. After a bit of examination & head scratching, I realised that tapping the screws from below seemed to be too troublesome and, more importantly, less secure.

So, to get the desired result I purchased some nice M3 stainless hardware and proceeded with a couple hours of drilling and countersinking (by hand).

This is one faceplate down... 2 more to go!

When I have more faceplates made in the future, I will be certain to include the penetrations for attachment of the keypad board. That will only leave the countersinking to be down by hand (roughly an hour's work for the 19 hole total)