I like wind.... but there can be times when it can be overdone

Part of the roof of our house blew off yesterday. I was outside watching as it peeled off and flew away (its in our next door neighbors property as I type).

It made me a little sad. (Perhaps I'm understating the case).

Luckily we have insurance... but still.... I was sad.

Finally, Freeman posts some animation

I've finally got my act together to cut some of the animation I've done over the last year or so together and post to my website.
You find it in the animation section

Slope soaring

I'm a huge fan of slope soaring remote controlled gliders.
The beauty of these planes is they are completely wind powered. Essentially like having a high tech kite (I have many kites also... :P ). Since we moved out to South Gippsland I've been able to indulge in this hobby, as one of the prerequisites for slope soaring is steep inclines and strong winds... all of which are in plentiful supply here.
I recently built a canterbury sailplane PC-9 model glider which the plane that the RAAF roulettes use.



I've have been having a blast flying it on windy days. The great thing about slope soaring is they are reliant on the wind and so you can fly them for hours without have to worry about running out of power.

Here's a link to a clip of some blokes in NZ flying the same model. As soon as I can convince my wife to come out and video my plane I'll post a clip, but in the meantime here are these guys having a ball.



...... its going to be windy tomorrow...... WOOHOO!

A terrible day

Information about the disaster can be found here

Donations for the affected communities can be made to the red cross

Thankfully our community was not one affected by the fires but it has been a terrible weekend.

Animation Mentor

For the past 3 months I have been involved in Animation Mentor as a campus mentor. Next quarter I begin work as a fulltime mentor. I'm super excited about it. It's an incredible animation school that produces streams of quality animation talent and having the opportunity to work there is something I've really been enjoying.

I only wish I had something like this when I was learning to animate!

springtime

So the end of the year is rolling around.
It's been another very busy and productive one here. I've had the opportunity to work with a whole bunch of incredibly talented people on a whole bunch on great projects including Kung Fu Panda: the secrets of the furious 5, Open Season 2, and a yet to be released Imax feature of which I can't talk yet. While all this was happening , my son turned 5, my daughter is creeping up on three, and my wife and I have made the transition to the country having bought a beautiful old farmhouse on 2 acres out in south Gippsland. In my spare time I've been cranking away at the garden, and the results are starting to bare fruit (pardon the pun).



We also bought two Goats (a five year old Toggenburg called patch and a 1 year old called curly). Patch was pregnant when we bought her so we now have three goats (the smallest was christened 'Tiny' by my son.
As a result, I've been making cheese (mozzarella, Ricotta, Cheddar and Feta so far), yogurt with the resulting milk.

I've had two beehives at my parents too which we've shifted over to our house, and we're hoping for a big honey kick in a couple of months.

So all up the year has been very busy, but very rewarding. When I get a chance I'll try and put a couple more photos up of our goats and bees.

Open Season 2 trailer

The open season 2 trailer has been released. I worked on the project for about 7 months beginning late last year.