Page 1484…
Again, my deepest apologies for missing Tuesday and Wednesday.
Entering this larger room in Niviene’s cave with all of the decorations and lights, these old workstations just couldn’t handle the renders in a respectable timeframe.
I wound up cutting each panel up into 6 smaller pieces and rendering them out in smaller chunks… then patching them together again.
Also… the big project we were counting on to cover the cost of new workstations just went up in smoke (or down the drain, depending on how you want to look at it).
Leaving us with a very large hole in our bank account.
I appreciate all of the support and offers to donate to help raise money for new computers. But let me see what I can do on my end first.
It’s not a pride thing. It’s just that you all have helped me and my family out so much over the years with your support already.
And computers are expensive.
I’m going to try cutting up tomorrow’s page…and if all goes well…I’ll be back on schedule this time tomorrow morning.
Thank you again
Scott
Oh…and I painted Gemma from Sons of Anarchy while I waited for the renders…
Woot First! Good luck with Computers, Technology Its a love hate relationship! 😉
I don’t know what computers or software you’re using, but if you don’t have a modern graphics card (NVIDIA, for example), it’s entirely possible that you could get rendering 10x as fast for about $200 (if the software supports hardware acceleration, which it certainly should). Look into it!
That’s fine wouldn’t blame u if ya wanted to take a break. 5 days of posting is a lot of work. I wonder what Niviene will say? Maybe away to bring him in? or just tell him that he has to give up the sword to him now and not be selfish even with love or something. Although he could say that he alreaeddy did and David turned him down. I can’t remember waht panel it was but it was before they were told that once someone else takes up the sword he will never be able to posess it again.
The rendering is all CPU. Not graphics card.
Scott,
let me make this clear… me donating to a kick starter for you to get new computers is purely for selfish reasons!! when I first found this comic, I read it as fast as I could because the story is just that good. Once I caught up, I can honestly say I was frustrated having to wait a day (3 on the weekends!!!). I do admire your commitment to getting pages out daily and regularly. I know there are many people like me.
so don’t think of a kickstarter as charity, think of it as helping us addicted to TDC get their daily fix LOL
Do what – suicide, to promote proper succession? 😀
What else could he do in a few weeks? Apart from finding Niviene and ask for help?
Scott go to http://www.kickstarter.com and create a project for funding for new computers…I’m sure you can come up with worthwhile rewards!
I don’t think I like this snooty little witch, or her attitude. What exactly makes that half fish think she’s the arbiter of royal succession?
If Nivine suggests trying to switch Alex for Dan, Nastajia won’t be too happy about it.
Suuure Alex, blame it on Nastajia. Smart.
Well, I won’t suggest you change rendering software at this point 🙂 (but the modern graphics cards are basically mini-supercomputers, and they can do a lot of this stuff 10x faster than the CPU (or 100x faster), as long as the rendering program is written to use it)
This does present the problem that’s been nagging at me for awhile. If Dan does find a way in, would that mean that Nastajia would be forced to marry him instead of Alex? Or is there a way for her to abdicate the throne in order to marry Alex? :-/
I don’t see it so much as “blaming Nastajia”, as much as establishing his unselfish reasons for not having looked into a way to make Dan the proper king of Dreamland.
It seems to me that Niviene wants to know why things are not as they should be, and that she wants Dreamland to work as intended, hence a completely appropriate question, though termed in a way that shows that while she understands how he got to be there in the first place, she was not aware of what had been taking place lately to prevent him from seeking to make that particular situation right.
So it’s really not surprising that he would try to show that he’s not in it for the power or prestige, but for the good of Dreamland (war with Nicodemus) and to right wrongs that were done by said dragon (finding Nastajia’s kidnapped parents).
I can see how her behavior and words might cause some to question Niviene’s motives (I was tempted to do so, myself), but I think it may be possible to dismiss her rather direct questioning method as merely going straight to the point, instead of beating around the bush just so as to not hurt anyone’s feelings.
Ditto! 🙂
Well…because she gave Excalibur to Daniel…after rising out the the lake…her arms clothed in shimmering samite…You know how the sketch goes… 🙂
Ouch! Sorry so many woes, Scott. And what’s been posted is wonderful!
There isn’t any law that says the Queen of the Elves has to marry the King of Dreamland. After all, there was no king as of just recently, yet Nastajia’s parents were indeed married, and neither one was ruling over Dreamland.
It just so happens that Nastajia loves the man who suddenly became King of Dreamland. That was not planned. It was not done to follow any kind of rule.
Should Dan somehow manage to come to Dreamland and thereby become King of Dreamland, there is a very high probability that Alex would no longer be able to come to Dreamland, and so would come to an end his relationship with Nastajia (unless a way is found to have them both come to Dreamland). In no way would Dan be forced to enter in a relationship with Nastajia, merely because she is the Queen of the Elves. Besides, if Alex and Nastajia manage to find her parents, she would no longer be Queen of the Elves, but merely Princess of the Elves…
And ditto to this guy too. 😛
Make a nice 8×10 image of Alex and Nastajia (or several, with different characters), printed on high-quality paper and signed, and offer it as a $25 kickstarter donation gift (or get a digital version for $10). I bet you’d get more donations than you know what to do with. $40 gets you that plus a plush Paddington. $125 gets you everything plus 5 books.
Better, set higher kickstarter goals for the printing of more books/chapters, and add those to kickstarter.. You could basically move your store there..
Worst case scenario, you don’t get enough donations, and you’re not on the hook to provide anything, so nothing lost there.
She could’ve been a little nicer about it, but she’s perfectly correct. I give her some leeway since she’s been basically alone for a thousand years now.. She doesn’t remember how to talk politely.
Listen, strange women, lying in ponds, distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!
wait a minute…… Wait A Minute. What? you mean that whole discussion between Nicodemus and the Sword of Kings about Alex being a twin of the intended king…. was reduced to this?
the cosmic loophole that led to Nicodemus being defeated…. reduced to this??
I am disappointed.
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!
If I remember correctly; Dan is unable to visit Dreamland because of some spell or something. I’m no expert on royal succession but if the first born is unable to assume the duties of king, doesn’t that responsibility go to the next?
Yes I’ve seen real time rendering. Looks fantastic.
Unfortunately the lights and textures are all set up for Brazil rendering system that I use.
It’s a really great renderer…but because I have so much invested into it…I can’t try anything else at this point.
Thank you.
I will consider your generosity.
I promise.
Thank you.
FYI…
I have in the past.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2116207290/the-dreamland-chronicles-book-four
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2116207290/the-dreamland-chronicles-book-five
You know the whole curse thing that keeps Dan out of Dreamland. The Sword of Kings has called Alex the rightful King, just not the correct one.
Anyway, I have a question Scott, what are the dreamland laws about a Dreamlander marrying a human? I mean it should be coming up once we find out about Nastajia’s parents and the nature of the curse that keeps Dan out of Dreamland, we need to deal with the fact that Alex and Nastajia are together, but can they be together in wedlock? You know it has had to come up sometime in Dreamland’s history (especially if Solomon was one of the kings of Dreamland)
How did those LiveJournal folks put it… Oh, yeah, Very Much This!
Hey, the King is speaking, and he’s our old pal Alex. What did you expect, a coherent explanation with diagrams?
I honestly have NO idea about the law.
I would think they’re encouraging…for Alex and Nastajia’s sake.
But I’ve still got a couple years until I need to worry about it.
🙂
TWC: #7 with 5,562 votes. Everybody who keeps voting, thanks a lot. Everybody who doesn’t, why not start now?
I hear you, but the thing is… it’s Alex. I was very, VERY concerned after reading the last page and realising that Alex would probably do a brussel sprouts job of explaining things, and indeed he has… but hey, he wouldn’t be Alex without the facepalm moments! 😛
I’m hoping Staj will set things right though and explain just how complicated and enduring the Dan problem really is! ^_^
Hell even Staj’s parents were busy trying to solve that very problem way back when, and that’s LONG before the Sword of Kings got involved (actively anyway).
Hi Scott,
First time poster here. I for one am willing to wait for as long as it takes for new pages. Don’t strain yourself good sir. I finally decided to read your comic about three weeks ago and immediately loved it. I pray that you will get your funding and want to say what a fantastic job you’ve done so far 🙂
On the current page: I am actually impressed about how Alex answered Ol Fishcakes here in a relatively calm and humble manner. Sometimes being a bit daft is a blessing. His answer was a tad basic, but at least it gave sound reason.
Uh, THIS ^^^^^^^^
By this I meant Tyler’s comment lol.
It’s entirely possible that, when the wise leaders of Dreamland meet in conference, there will be baffled looks and an attitude of “ya know, this has never come up before…”
I’m assuming your renderer can use multithreading? If so, you probably want to consider a 6 core or even a dual processor machine for your next computer. Another option to speed things up is to slice the image into pieces for each core to work on. (example x:4 y:4, for 16 pieces), which works very well for Blender, and it probably somewhere in the settings for Brazil. You’re probably already doing this, Scott, but just in case you’re not, this might help.
Thanks. I guess I’ve read too many stories about political marriages and such…
Just wanted to say something on that last part there, she may stay Queen of the Elves I have read some stories in which in similar situations the new queen/king stays in power and the parents just give advice, (Example: like if the king dies but the Queen is still alive and they have a son the son can become King and the Queen becomes The Queen Mother) but if the parents did take over again ( I don’t think they ever mentioned an actually coronation for Staj) then they could have some more alone time.
HEY EVERYONE WHO IS TALKIN’ BOUT DAN NOT BEING KING CUZ ALEX GOT THROUGH TO THE SWORD FIRST!!!! Don’t forget that the sword exists in our world too as a necklace and Alex can pass it to him by giving and worse letting Dan wear it to bed.
Which really sucks cuz if Alex gets robbed on the street in his world by a first born then he is screwed…lest he finds it in time.
I saw Staj as “acting Queen” in her parents absence. It only makes sense. Or like an “interim queen” or something.
I could see Dan being King of Dreamland, and Alex being King of the Elves. LOL. Of course, Staj would be the speaker…Alex doesn’t have a thing for words…
@Scott – Have you looked in to cloud rendering? I don’t know specifics but I do work in cloud computing in a broader sense and it can be quite cost effective in situations like this.
“Her parents? I have a postcard from them somewhere…” “Ah, here it is. ‘Having a great time. Wish you were here. Tell Staj we love her and will be back soon.’ It’s from some place called Cancun…”
Just to check… Brazil R/S says (splutterfish.com):
* V2 supports 32-bit, and 64-bit for improved memory performance
* Aggressive multi-threading – Brazil r/s V2 is unaffected by the 3ds Max r7/8/9 cpu affinity issues
So a fast, multi-core, 64-bit CPU would be the best. They do not seem to have short-term intentions to support GPU-based rendering.
Or maybe a distributed screen-saver-like application in the style of SETI@Home? 😉
Keep in mind, she still apparently doesn’t know the details. Or that Orion and the Elves have been trying – in the latter case, for years – to find some way for Dan to enter Dreamland. She might also be probing to make sure Alex and Nastajia haven’t staged a coup to freeze Dan out…
I think that Scott clarified that it was because Arthur wasn’t technically dead or something. The way Dreamland operates, potential kings cannot enter Dreamland while there is a reigning king…this was to prevent wars of succession or somesuch. However, Alex got into Dreamland as a kid because he wasn’t technically the next “heir” since he was the younger twin…but he was a potential candidate by virtue of being Daniel’s twin?
I remember this concept took me a long time to really get, and of course now I’m fuzzy on it, so I need a refresher course. 😛
Bah! How is it that I only realize I posted my “ditto” on the wrong comment by lake_wrangler a day later? 😛 This was supposed to be on his comment about Alex not blaming Nastajia above.
Welcome Jandalman! 🙂
And well said, too!
Btw…thank you for the constant reminders to vote. I’m terrible about checking a page, reading a few comments, and moving on.
We don’t know that the sword can pass to someone in our world actually. We only know that it can change hands in Dreamland…and that potential kings cannot enter Dreamland while there is a reigning king. I think Alex is safe from necklace theft.
LOL!
So am I. That’s why I do this in the first place. 🙂
Now I’ve got this image in my head of Alex and Nastaija as Westley and Buttercup on the cover of the DVD 😀
I’d be surprised if there were any law against it considering previously, the only adult human ever in Dreamland was the king, and you know… it’s good to be king!
As I recall they tried that already and it didn’t work, eh?
Yeah, this is an instance where the dialogue doesn’t go the way I would expect it to. Rather than trying to make excuses for why they haven’t done anything about it, I would expect the reaction in the third panel to be something more like, “Like what?”