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Yikes! Characters look cool, though!

I'm in Gerry's group. I enjoy working by myself and do better when I have autonimity. I don't mind working with others, but it can be frustrating. I'm an introvert, so my normal state is inside my head. I find it takes much more energy for me to be social.

I think there's something to that, Will. I think part of the hold up is that I haven't written anything and I've been toying with the idea of just doing a "my eyes only" comic book which would allow me to write as I go and maybe get over the blank page problem. I was looking around for drawing apps for the iPad, thinking it would be fun just to do it on that.

Thanks, everyone. Especially for the well-wishes for my brother. My brother still lives in the same town as my parents. He's got the support of his wife and kids as well as our parents. I went out there for a couple of weeks in June when he first found out what it was and plan on returning in August for a week or so. He started his first chemo treatment yesterday. The doctor says that even though he is in stage 4, his chances of surviving are 90%. We're all staying positive. That's extremely lucky, Robert. My brother's lucky in a way, too, since it's treatable. Thanks, David. I'm usually pretty good at that (doing a little each day), but I'm just coming up blank for some reason. I should try to get away, Nancy. I have some freelance work that I finally got paid for, but with the uncertainty of the rest of the year, I've been planning on hanging on to it. I've even toyed with the idea of just staying in a hotel for a couple of days and see if I could do some writing. Writing for me usually comes easily, but I need isolation to do it. The tiniest interruption destroys my concentration. I'm sure I'll get out of this funk, though. I'm just going to stop announcing new projects in threads until I'm sure. :-)

Man oh man, I've had post project blues before, but never for this prolonged a time. It's a weird thing. You work on this project that takes up all of your time and it's the reason you get up in the morning and the reason you are so late going to bed. Then in the last stretch, it's exhausting and it's tough sticking with it to the end. And then it's over ...and that's it. Suddenly you don't have to get out of bed in the morning, your reason for being seems to have just checked out. I've been trying to jump back into another project, but I can't seem to break out of this funk. Part of me just thinks that it was such a prolonged marathon of work that I just need more time to recover. There's also that element of the pain of the last part of it being too fresh in my mind. Some friends and I used to go canoeing once a year when we were in high school and college. By the end of the trip, I was usually horribly sunburned and exhausted and trying to remember why I thought this was fun. But then, a year later, I'd forget about all the suffering and want to do it again. I don't guess enough time has passed for me to have forgotten how hard it was to do that last project. :-) Add to it all the normal life problems (my younger brother has been diagnosed with hodgkin's lymphoma, a highly treatable cancer, but one that still will require six months of chemo and he's symptomatic, so he's in pain and shrinking down), and I'm just not being able to turn over the engine with my worn-out spark plugs. I'm certain it will pass, but I'm going to stop announcing projects until I have one that makes it past the initial "hey, that'd be fun to do" stage.

You're right (about it adding up), David, and it will certainly shine through in the final project!

Happy Birthday, dude!

Happy Birthday, John! Hope you're having a great one!

I'm coming in late on this, but is this what we're talking about? The shaded frames in the timeline? 'Cause the ones out of range of my choreography appear pink on the Mac, which is really easy to see.

Thanks, Darkwing. I think the TNG parody is going to be on hold for awhile. I did finally come across a post on a forum by Rick Sternbach which basically said that records of the original paint colors weren't kept. That when touch-ups were necessary the crew just tried to match them as well as possible. There also seems to have been changes to the bridge set over the seasons, so the first season wouldn't necessarily match the 4th.

Happy Birthday, Paul! Hope it's a great one!

No problem, dude ...worth waiting for. :-) Thanks! All things are still on the table. I think doing this comic book parody is going to be my priority since launching the web series in the summer isn't a good idea (less web traffic with colleges schools out). With another con coming up in late October, I want to shoot for getting this new one done in early September. Then maybe launch the web series sometime around October and look at what I want to do next for the show in January. If I can keep the schedule, I'll have 4 DVDs finished by next May's Dallas Comic Con. Working on different elements for the super-hero bodies, because the genre demands it. Going to look a little more muscular and the static hand pose will be a fist. I think this one will have huge appeal with kids, plus having the classic source material will appeal to old comic book fans like me.

Fantastic, Nancy! All of them have your flair and style.

Thanks, guys! I think this is going to be a fun challenge and as intimidating as it will be to actually do, I can't wait to see a dozen animated puppets fighting a giant puppet island. :-) I think this will have even more appeal to kids, too. They might not get the satire, but like Stalled Trek, there'll be a lot of slapstick humor, too.

Thanks, Gerald! Hoping things will improve as I do more of them, but glad to hear you enjoyed it!

So, the TNG parody wasn't getting me excited, so I started thinking of other projects I could do and this one just appeals to me like crazy. It's an animated puppet parody of the classic "Giant-Size X-Men #1," the first appearance of the "new" X-Men. As a longtime comic book fan, this one just feels like so much fun and I love the idea of bringing the comic book to life with 3D puppets. Have started work on the characters... Here's hoping I can get this puppy done and on DVD by mid-October in time for the next local con!

Well, it wouldn't be a "STALLED Trek" project if it didn't get stalled. :-) I've decided to put this one on hold while I work on another project.

I am really deeply saddened to hear this news. Paul was one of the good guys. A great talent who also was great at passing out encouragement to newbies like myself. He will be missed.

Yes, they are a good start. The Haynes manual turned out to be really helpful, too.

Thanks. Ive found some okay bridge layouts I got spoiled because blueprints of the TOS bridge were easy to come by. I've found some reference material and photos of a replicated set which gives me a start.

Thanks! My critique of the materials is only related to what I need for this project. Neither of those provide me with much useful information. The blueprints are just of the ship and it's decks, which aren't really useful. The Secondprize-D, like its TOS counterpart isn't very detailed and is purposely incorrectly proportioned. I'm mostly looking for plans of the sets and those are proving more difficult to find. Unfortunately, most of my Trek books are still in storage and unavailable to me and I'm hesitant to re-buy the ones that aren't going to be of much help. :-)

Oh, good, Gerald! Definitely let me know what you think! I'm probably on some list to investigate since I suddenly started sending out scores of identical little packages all over the world. :-) Ordered some Trek reference books that should come in today. TNG Technical Manual (as I vaguely recalled) was a bust. It's largely text explaining warp fields and other such technobabble. What illustrations there are aren't useful. I'm putting a lot of faith in this new "Haynes" Owner's Manual for the Enterprise. TNG went away from the sterile battleship grays of TOS, so one challenge, I'm sure is going to be getting the colors right. You can look at six images of the bridge set and the wall colors are different in every one, varying from pinkish to yellowish to pale brown.

I would have thought you'd have gotten it by now, Gerald. I mailed it on the 23rd. Most people overseas have gotten their's in 7 or 8 days. Let me know if it doesn't come soon. I've got the Customs ticket.

Thanks, man! Really glad you liked it. I'm in research mode on the new one. Trying to gather up a bunch of stuff. I'll never use most of it, but I feel like it's a part of the process.

Okay, try this page Go to your System Preference and select the Spotlight pane. Click on the Privacy tab. Now drag your Animation Master folder onto the list. Once it's there, remove it, by selecting it and hitting the minus "-" button at the bottom of the list. This will make Spotlight re-index the folder (and its contents.)