L'art du blog

What is it that compels us to pour out the contents of our head onto a web page for the consumption/regard of the entire world? Not sure, but there are millions of them out there: some great, some...not so much.

Since I took on the happy task of handling the SC blog, I can tell you that it's an oddly compelling part of my weekly to-do list. As a matter of fact, the SC blog has prompted me to branch off into a couple of other blogs; one of which I'm starting to use just to post some of my favorite SC scenes and write a bit of commentary about them without all the FB hooplah telling me I have to "superpoke 25 of my friends or the puppy gets it"...you get my drift. Plus, as the SC'er with the largest number of scenes to date (BOO-YAH!) I found this was a great way to keep them organized. My FB page is always getting cluttered with scenes I have to make to become new templates, marketing images, movie files, stuff that started out as a great idea and petered out to near uselessness but I didn't have the heart to delete it, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Which brings me to my point (finally) If you're a blogger and you're posting scenes to your blog, please let me know about it.

If you're a novice blogger interested in how to embed your scenes in your blog:

Step 1 - copy the Embed code from your Scene Details page, like so:


Step 2 - paste the code into a new post on your blog site, like so:


Step 3 - publish your post, and voila:


You've just added the richness of 3D to your gossamer wordsmithery!

An Audience With The Queen

It was a pretty momentous day for us here at SceneCaster's nerve center on Friday as we were graced by a visit from none other than Scene Queen Lesley Bergen!


PHOTO: Lesley Bergen (left) and some guy she picked up at lunch.

As luck/fate would have it, two of our guys were passing through her hometown a few weeks ago, sent her a quick IM and bingo-bango: she accepted our invite to drop by and let us dissect her marvellous brain! It was like the mothership had called her home!

We spent a good two hours over lunch (and by 'lunch', I mean 'cocktails') getting to know the lady behind the legend. I remember being struck waaay back in April by the incredible level of detail and art direction that went into Lesley's scenes and was very politely (I hope) inquiring into as to whether she was involved in graphic arts or photography or some other creative endeavour. Much to the surprise of both of us, she admitted to having no such background or interest until she started casting scenes. Fast forward to the present: Lesley has completed 100 stunning, innovative and startlingly intricate scenes (and counting).


PHOTO: 3D Lesley signs documents donating brain to SC.

Those of us here at mission control would like to thank Lesley for the hours she's spent entertaining us with our own app., and for her incredible skill at making it sing & dance.

Wanna Be A Star?

We’ve had some magazines and newspapers express interest in writing an article about SceneCaster – how it’s used, who is using it and why… if you live in one of the following areas, and are willing to be interviewed for a possible profile in a newspaper, magazine, blog or even a TV show (!), please let us know.

We’ve had requests for people living in:
The Bay Area
Calgary
Chicago
Cincinnati
Indianapolis
Florida
New York

Are you a newlywed or bride-to-be?
We’d love to hear from you and find out how SceneCaster is helping you plan out your new home. Write on our Designer's Den Wall and tell us your favorite bridal registry website too.

New Catalog Content (at long last)

Hi everyone, after a brief hiatus during which we were re-working our catalogue, we've finally been able to push up a lot of new content to keep you busy for the next while.

The Art of Crime
I'm curious to see how well the concept of 'urban decay' plays out with our SC'ers...just make sure you keep it on the virtual walls, kids. We've got a set of spray can-wielding no-goodniks in the 'People' category, 2 new graffiti-inspired fonts in the 'Text' category and whole bunch of, ahem, artwork in 'Themes > Graffiti Art'. My thanks to catalog hound Susan Johnson for this screenshot:



In Space, No One Can Hear You Scene
I'm not sure what's more frightening: the fact that we've been invaded by giant-cranium'ed, green skinned aliens, or the fact that in the future we'll all be forced to wear black leotards and go-go boots all the time. Nevertheless, if you're into sci-fi (and spandex), take a peek in 'Themes > Lost in Space'.



Meanwhile, Back on Earth
Where people are still wearing jeans - SceneCaster introduces an additional 50 wood flooring textures including some lovely parquet designs reminiscent of old Europe. I've always wanted herringbone floors; now at least I can have them in my digital rooms. They're in the Texture Library, under 'Wood Flooring'.




And Finally, Just So Your Toes Don't Get Cold
You might want to throw down a new rug - in lots of fun new shapes & styles! They're in 'Home and Furniture > Rugs'.





That's all, folks. Gotta go get my grandmother fitted for her leotard!

My Fave 5 - Showdown Time!

After five weeks of faving like maniacs, we've reached the showdown portion of our My Fave 5 Contest. Our winners have put in a great effort and have shown incredible creativity and, more importantly, great sportsmanship...but that's all about to end! I had forecasted a battle of the scene-divas sometime after round three and it looks like we won't be disappointed.

If you visit our contest page now, you'll notice each scene has its own 'vote' button. You get to vote on your favorite out of our top five. You only get to vote for one scene, so choose wisely.

And without further ado, here's a bit of detail on our contestants and their amazing scenes:

Bedroom - Diroshi Raja


SceneCaster's favorite author created this deceptively simple bedroom scene, which is actually seven interlinked scenes of bedrooms showing all the stages of life. It's like peeling an onion...made of mattresses. 'A' for effort, as well as being the only SC'er to use the link feature....ahem.

Poolhouse - Christina Skov Egede Olsen


If this were a contest for SceneCaster's longest user name Christina would be our hands-down winner. If this were a contest for combining the largest number of colors in one scene: no contest! She's also the most junior member of the winner's circle, having been a SC'er for less than two months, which is as hugely impressive as her name.

Roman Bath - Lesley Bergen


SceneCaster's Queen of Scenes: she's fearless, she's tenacious, her creativity knows no limits. She has published 90+ scenes, trashed countless computers and ignored mountains of laundry to get to this point and she deserves to be compensated! p.s. She's also the only one of the top five who did it without the Scene Spotlight...

Moon Pavilion - Melody Kim


Melody has published the fewest number of scenes of our top five, but each one has been exquisite from the get-go. There was no learning curve for Melody; she took to SceneCaster like Michelangelo took to the brush, like Tiger Woods took to the clubs, like Paris Hilton took to acting...wait a sec...that's no good...should've said Meryl Streep...

Boat Bedroom - Carole Landreau


Carole, absent for all of rounds 1-4, rushes in at the 11th hour of week five and throws down a killer scene that has her uniquely personal, journalistic, 3D diary, "snapshot-of-my-life" kind of spin....complete with a bedroom with a lifeguard...draw your own conclusions...

There you have it - vote wisely, vote soon. We'll announce our winner early next week.