Songbird Remix's Product Preview Thread

[Alisa]

Yikes! Glad you're better after your ER visit and surgery, Ken

Lovely lovely lovely!

 

[Szark]

what they stole your Gallbladder, swines. Glad you are doing ok now Ken and the birds look great.

 

[Miss B]

Ouch! Glad you're back to your old self Ken.

Oh, and I agree, the Wood Stork and Egrets are looking great.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

thanks everyone.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

what they stole your Gallbladder, swines. Glad you are doing ok now Ken and the birds look great.

to be fair, they did give me an option... I could either give up the highly infected gallbladder or keep it and lose my colon, liver, and probably my life. It seemed like a pretty good deal, so I went for it.

It's never a good thing whenever doctors starting using and adding in extra "adjectives" to describe your diagnosis.

 

[Alisa]

Yikes!

 

[Miss B]

~sheesh~

 

[Satira Capriccio]

Absolutely beautiful Ken!

So sorry about your gall bladder

 

[Szark]

to be fair, they did give me an option... I could either give up the highly infected gallbladder or keep it and lose my colon, liver, and probably my life. It seemed like a pretty good deal, so I went for it.

It's never a good thing whenever doctors starting using and adding in extra "adjectives" to describe your diagnosis.

LOL good choice

 

[Rae134]

Mine was highly infected too but they wanted a couple of days of antibiotics first before surgery, surgeon said if they had waited another day I wouldn't be here. Glad you went with your decision!

 

[Stezza]

ahh...
Gall bladder pain
there is nothing worse.... more painful than child birth for sure

it knocked me down one day .... then aliens stole it from me.

you won't miss it Ken .. good health

 

[DanaTA]

Oh, just read this news! I'm glad you're OK, now, Ken!

Dana

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Sorry, I haven't written in a while... it's not that I've regressed from my hospital visit-- I'm healed, healthy and feeling great. It turns out it's a lot of work to recode and improve the four models included in the Shorebirds series. On the plus side, I just finished the reworking on the WF7 model (small wader) which looks great with it's new layered feathers.

Here's the American Avocet with a couple other Shorebirds in the background as well as a couple of my Damselflies. The environment is Nerd3D swamp set along with some of my Big Cypress Habitat plants-- all rendered in Firefly. Notice the greatly improved "fluff" on the head and throat. Now that the 4 models are stable, I'll begin coding the new DS versions. Once I finish the 3 Shorebird update volumes, I'm going to do a 4th volume that will include all the rest of the Storks found throughout the world. In March I'll begin to focus on my offering for the Audubon sale and the updates to SBRM, SBRM2 and others.

 

[Szark]

I nearly swore when I blew up the image, awesome work Ken, really awesome.

 

[Miss B]

Sooooo glad you're back to 100% Ken, and the Avocet, with it's upturned bill, is very usual looking, and I like it.

I nearly swore when I blew up the image, awesome work Ken, really awesome.

I now, the detailing is amazing.

 

[Szark]

LOL Miss B

Upturned bill is what is referred to niche separation allowing different animals (Birds in this case), to feed in the same area but catch different prey. Just in case some folks don't know this stuff.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Yes, Miss B, you'll find an unusual array of bills in Shorebirds v3, and as, Szark, mentioned each bird's bill has a specific purpose.

Just as, in gardening, sometimes we use a hoe, sometimes a shovel, other times a pick or rake-- these birds have specific bills for specific jobs. Bill morphs in the WF7 model include:

Avocet (long bill, upturned on the tip)
Curlew (long bill, downturned on the tip)
Godwit (gradual upturned bill)
Long-billed Curlew (like the curlew but an impossibly long bill (as long as the entire bird)-- used for catching prey buried deep in the sand)
Plover (short, straight bill)
Spoonbill (short, spoon-shaped bill)
Turnstone (short, upturned bill)

 

[Miss B]

Thanks, that's all very interesting information. I think I would probably find a downturned bill tip, like the Curlew's, less unusual, so the upturned bill tip immediately caught my attention.

 

[DanaTA]

Really nice work, Ken!

Dana

 

[Flint_Hawk]

These are looking wonderful Ken!