Travin's Spot

Warhammer Video Production - Travin.com strikes again!

Travin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:04:00 +0000

Well I haven't made a game video in about 2 years, but I guess I've still got the knack as the production I did for Warhammer's most current phase of development made it into a company wide presentation and is also included in this months newsletter. I had to re-master the music for public release, so it isn't as glorious as it use to be. But I am still tickled pink that they decided to use it at all. Anyway, here is the video!

Five Weeks of Baby Music

Travin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:48:00 +0000

So here is the complete collection. This has been a joy so far!

Nelson Family: Adventures (site launched)

Travin — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 05:42:00 +0000

As promised, Georgia and I (mostly Georgia) have launched our family site. It is cleverly (my idea) located at the URL http://family.travin.com/

We have already begun posting to the site and will continue to do so well after the birth. So if you are willing to endure the "Do I look fat?" or the endless pictures of things that make us say "Awwwww..." then come on over and leave us a few comments.

Guys, don't feel like you've got to stay away just because it's baby stuff. I need all the help I can! She routienly chains me to the couch and forces me to watch A Baby Story, House of Babies, Bringing Home Baby, Amazing Births, and Babies: Special Delivery.

Anyway! I'm sure it will be a great location for all of us to share in the laughing, crying, and shear excitement I know is soon to come.

We're off!!

Travin — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:53:00 +0000

Can't say much more as I'm sure your eyes have already been drawn to the image below. Yep! Georgia and I are 13 weeks along! We are so unbelievably happy. I'll be constructing a page soon so you can track our progress. Thank you all for your warm words and encouragement. Please continue to pray for us and our baby.

Chemical Brothers

Travin — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:52:00 +0000

If you don't know it, Chemical Brothers is simply one of the best groups that exists. Their music bridges the gap between the east and west and their unique style in presenting that music has touched millions. I found this video just recently and hadn't seen it in awhile. Now I have the chance to share it with you. I've also posted their newest release "Do it again" in my playlist section so please enjoy!

Now sit back and witness this group perform their magic...

Travin — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:45:00 +0000

So if you know me at all, I've been a huge fan of Trance music (specifically GOA) for a LONG time now. I even use to run a website back in 1994 (yes I'm old) where I would post trance songs in the MOD format (yes, we already confirmed I'm old). In the spirit of that site, I've decided to create a small playlist section. I'll update this section to play my current favorites. To wet your whistle I'm embedding this video of the Sensation White rave. Someday perhaps I'll have a chance to go to it. Until then, I'll just keep on listening to my mp3s...

Video Editing - Take one!

Travin — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 19:18:00 +0000

So for a LONG time now, I've been into making videos of the games I play. I've been doing it ever since I first made a video for Magestorm way back in the 90's. Recently however, I've been interested in learning how to do special effects for live action videos. It's a whole different ball game, but fortunately the lessons learned on my previous projects have helped out immensely. The process is very similar in the use of keyframes and layers and I can't wait to try some of the more involved effects. For now however, please enjoy my VERY noobish attempts at special effects.

We are home! - Less sand, and no waves

Travin — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:22:00 +0000

Well the beach was fun while it lasted. We are back now and just spending the final half of our vacation relaxing around the house.

Our last full day at the beach did present a few photo ops. We built a castle! It started out as a small project with Georgia and I. Then after a few minutes, most of the family joined in added pieces here and there. We had a wave break at the front of the castle to ward off the inevitable doom of high tide. Multiple moats to aid when the hoards of orcs attacked from across the sand dunes, and a small village adjoining the keep to supply the incredible amounts of wine the king and queen demanded from the subjects.

Georgia did an incredible job with the center keep and it lasted long after the rest of the castle had washed back into the ocean. We really had fun the last few days and we were very sad to leave. Her family is really fun to be around and they have really accepted me it seems.

So now we are home and getting caught back up with school and house work. We really miss the waves at night, but if anyone feels overly generous, I've added the Conair SU7 Sound Therapy machine to my wishlist . I also took time last night to adjust the frame of this site so that the menu on the left can incorporate more descriptive text. I also increased the size of the main display area a bit. Overall, I think the ease at posting has helped me with wanting to keep the site updated. Hopefully this will continue on into the coming months. I'll post more late, but here are the remaining shots from the castle work.

Vacation = Food, more food, and BEER

Travin — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 01:03:00 +0000

Dinners around here are something special! Each family is in charge of a dinner, and this makes for a big variety of foods. Tonight was our night and we supplied a huge dinner of BBQ pork, chicken, coleslaw and bake beans. I think I almost ate myself into a coma the food was so good! After an hour or so of our coma naps, the evening broke down into games on the beach. Our favorite is Bocce ball. Quite a challenge when there is loads of soft sand and high winds. The kids had fun by watching one of Georgia's cousins being buried inside the partially remaining sand castle not to return until the rising tide had all but uncovered him. With the setting of the sun, we've retired inside to eat watermelon and of course drink more beer. I even think there might be a bit of scotch in our future as well
It's a non-stop party here folks, and the week isn't even half over.

82 degrees, light breeze & BEER

Travin — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 18:00:00 +0000

I finally got around to taking some pictures of the house and the surrounding beach. The waves were pretty nice today and the temperature is perfect. 80-82 degrees with a light breeze. Still getting a few light showers from time to time, but they are barely noticeable. We spent most of the morning being kicked around by the waves. Then we retired to the house for lunch and so the kids could play the Wii (of course). I'm telling ya, that console is one of the best inventions of all time. I've never seen a group of kids so hooked on being active instead of just sitting on the couch barely moving. Thank you Nintendo! Overall, the house is a really great place. It is just big enough for the family, and no one ever feels like they are sitting on top of everyone else. I can comfortably sit at the laptop and relax while writing this post. There are over 10 rooms in the house, two separate living rooms each having their own TV. High speed wireless is a good bonus for the two MMO geeks in the house (take a guess who those are) and two separate kitchens as well. The house is also so far down off the beaten path that we get almost zero traffic and little if anyone else on our beach. I highly recommend this location to anyone looking to rent a beach house for the summer. Well, I'm off to a cool beer and spend some more time on the sandy beach. Cheers!

Day One - Thank God for vacation days!

Travin — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 03:39:00 +0000

Well we've arrived! The drive was pretty bad, but we are happy to finally be stopped and stationary for five days. We are in the same house here on Topsail Island, NC. The first day is always pretty much the same. Everyone doing their own thing until the whole family arrives. A perfect time for a nap! We had a nice little storm roll in around 7pm. Was great to just sit on the deck (with a "few" beers) and watch the lighting roll in across the ocean. Glad to be here and hopefully I'll finish unwinding by Monday so I can really get on to relaxing!

GameSpy - Warhammer Review

Travin — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 20:07:00 +0000

If you've been out of the loop, then you might not know that I am working on EA's next MMO: Warhammer online. I'll spare you from previous reviews and just start anew with the most recent one from Gamespy.

In a recent conversation with GameSpy, EA Mythic General Manager Mark Jacobs offered up the official reason for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning's delay to Q1 2008: the team simply decided to invest more time in development in order to make the best game possible. Given how fluid release dates are in this industry and how many reasons are offered for their changes, such an explanation couldn't help but raise a few cynical eyebrows among Warhammer fans. Clearly the team is aware of this, because at a recent EA pre-E3 event the team was showing off the fruits of that delay: a completely revamped Dwarf and Orc play experience and redesigned starting areas to take advantage of all the team had learned in the development process. Well, good on them, because after playing the revised Orcs, I'm starting to believe I should be less cynical. (read more...)

Google - Blogger

Travin — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 14:33:00 +0000

So I figure my first post should be about the system that actually provides the service for me. I looked everywhere for good blogging software. I started first with compiled solutions, and then moved to PHP solutions. I even looked at what Georgia uses. Which is an installed app called Wordpress. In the end I figured that the time investment wasn't worth having to maintain my own code. It was at that point I started looking for providers. I looked at quite a few namely, Google's Blogger, Blog.com, Livejournal, MySpace, Windows Live Spaces, and Yahoo! 360°. In the end I settled on Google's Blogger. Shameless plug:

I chose Blogger because of it's commitment to site developers, the data is backed up and stored on Goggle's servers, and can be controlled via e-mail and cellphone if desired. It was also extremely easy to integrate into my own site and makes use of RSS and ATOM feeds.

Time will tell if this was a good decision. If you find that I update this blog more than once a week, then it was a good decision after all. I look forward to any responses I get. It is the first time I've really opened up this site for comments from anyone out there. Time will tell if that was truly a wise thing to do.