Don't wait for the storm to pass...
/“It was a profound moment when I uploaded the Storm Chaser to Sketchfab and it automatically turned my VR headset on. I stood before this, idea, that is now a thing and have seen it through the eyes of the character of The Amaranth Chronicles. I know no other writer that is "here", wherever "this" is... I don't have the vocabulary to describe the feeling. But the experience, which I can now share with others, speaks volumes.” - Me
It’s funny how things come together. People ask me all the time, “How long did it take you guys to write the book?” The question always catches me off guard and is usually followed by, “I’ve had this one idea for a novel or a series, but I wouldn’t know where to start. How did you learn to write?” When you think about it, it’s a strange set of questions. Everyone has a favorite something, and everyone has written an email or a text message or a paper for school or work. People are writing all the time, but somehow the idea of coming up with a series of characters and a plot line seems alien to most people.
“About ten years,” is usually the way I answer the first question followed by, “You will do the things you’re sufficiently compelled to do… and if you keep doing them, past the point others would have stopped because they’d get bored or tired of it, you’ll become better at the thing.”
Its not a strange answer, in fact its the same answer I give when someone asks me, “How long did it take to design that spaceship or that character? How did you become a 3D modeler or user experience designer or product designer or animator?”
While it took Chris and I a decade to write The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising and to get it published, I’ve been tinkering with 3d modeling and animating for two decades while being a professional product designer for twelve years. All these things I have some level of proficiency in are the result of my being sufficiently compelled.
“How do you have time for all that stuff?” I’ve been asked, and the answer is simply, “I don’t.” The only time I have is spent creating the world of The Amaranth Chronicles. The product design work I do professionally is my revenue stream until its funding itself. The 3D models, animations, short stories, and art are all parts that support the dream. I only have time for one thing, which is creating and showing the world this universe I have in my mind. It is sufficiently compelling in a way… well… in a way that moves me everyday.
Today was one of those days. I hit an unintended milestone that would deepen the desire in a way I never expected.
The novel was always just a part of this dream. I’m still compelled to turn this universe into not only a book series but also an animated series on something like Netflix or Amazon. “Why not a video game?” Because it won’t reach people in the same way as a TV series will. That being said, the pursuit of this dream lead to all the art that’s on our media page. I knew if I could provide a vision, beyond the novel, it would help sell the book and the idea that The Amaranth Chronicles could be the next “Big Thing”.
From a series of my early, embarrassing, sketches, Alexey Yakovlev helped design and illustrate parts of this dream like the Storm Chaser. Alexey was a pivotal part of these early days of visualizing characters, space ships, and elements from The Amaranth Chronicles.
Little did we know at the time, this art would help transcend another, seemingly insurmountable, hurdle.
During the decade it took Chris and I to write Deviant Rising, the unthinkable happened. Chris lost his eyesight to a strange genetic disease that modern science knows so little about. He’s been written about in medical journals all over the world. But even with this terrible tragedy, Chris was undeterred from continuing to craft the narrative of this universe we started.
Taking Alexey’s concept art, I was able to model and get the Storm Chaser (as well as other elements from the story) 3D printed so that Chris could hold this… this idea… in his hand and really feel it.
“Reminds me of a P51 Mustang. A space P51 Mustang.” he said, the first time he held it in his hands.
“That’s exactly what I was going for.”
I was convinced at this point that there was something to the idea of developing a library of 3D models of elements from The Amaranth Chronicles. If not to 3D print, then to be used in the inevitable video game, TV series, or graphic novel. In fact, I remember being so possessed by getting things visualized and 3D modeled, that Chris had to slap me upside the head, metaphorically, and tell me I was stressing him out by focusing so much on the art. He was right, I was skipping meals to save money to hire out parts that were beyond my skill set at the time. That being said, San Francisco is the only place on Earth you can be making over $135k a year and still be skipping meals due to insufficient funds. Working, maintaining a life, and furthering this dream in the most expensive city on the planet would have seemed like a really stupid idea had someone told me that was what I was about to do ten years ago.
Flash forward to a couple of years ago, I started experimenting with the idea of doing a game tech demo in hopes of generating buzz for the book we were completing.
A friend of mine about to graduate from the Academy of Art, needed some paid work on her portfolio. This was another one of those cosmic coincidences I couldn’t pass up, so I hired Lourde Canavati to produce a game resolution model of the Storm Chaser compatible with the Unreal Engine of the time.
This is actually the version of the model I used in a short animation I rendered at the end of a speech at The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising’s launch party in November 2017.
Having a printable 3D model for Chris lead to the big, fully textured 3D prints of the Storm Chaser and The Amaranth we gave away as raffle prizes at the event.
Other than this flyby animation and a few personal works I have yet to release, this version of the model was kind of sitting around in my Dropbox not really having a purpose until today.
Recently, my product design career has changed gears a little and I’m doing significantly more 3D modeling these days than I have previously. Its nice having a hobby line up with what you’re paid for. I’m crafting all sorts of educational materials that we’re uploading to Sketchfab.com as part of how we distribute it. Kind of on a whim, I decided to upload that game resolution version of the Storm Chaser just to see if I could embed it here on the website.
I’d say it worked, wouldn’t you? Wait, what’s that VR button do?
Three weeks ago I picked up an HTC Vive Cosmos VR headset on launch day. I'm pleased with the headset overall, not so in love with the controllers though. Nothing seems compatible with them, but I digress. To my amazement, when I clicked the VR button on Sketchfab, my Vive Cosmos turned on automatically. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the Storm Chaser, seeing it as the characters in Deviant Rising would.
The first time I saw the Storm Chaser in VR. Check out the blogpost about it on the website!
Waking up this morning, I had no idea I’d be standing in front of a spaceship that had been in my head for so long. Its been a long journey to get here, to this moment that moved me to tears. Like Chris and I, our dream and the Storm Chaser still have a long way to fly.
