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The FormFonts(SM) Newsletter -- The un-official newsletter for Design Nerds(TM)
FORMFONTS VERSION 3.0 IS HERE!! You've probably noticed a few changes on the website recently. That's because FormFonts V.3 was released last week, and Tony (our CIO) has been working like mad to incorporate all the new and cool features we've been heaping upon him for the past four months. Some of the new features include: - New Layout and page descriptions (Hint: try clicking on an orange keyword and see what happens!) - And more to come! And that's just the parts of the site you can actually see. Version 3.0 also runs faster for those of us techno-peasants that still can't get broadband at home. It also has some very exciting new features that are currently being beta tested by our corporate subscribers, and we hope to tell you all about that in our next newsletter. HACKERS & PAINTERS I practice good book karma. If someone recommends a book, I try to read it. Tony said I had to read "Hackers and Painters" by Paul Graham. Just scanning the chapters, I could immediately see why Tony knew I'd love this book. It covers everything from powerful programming languages (did someone say RUBY??) to heretical thinking, why nerds hate authority, rules for startups, and general commentary on the quickly changing software landscape. It's all there in a very engaging 'one-chapter before bedtime' format. To read more about Hackers and Painters, check out.. http://www.paulgraham.com/hackpaint.html NEWSLETTER ENVY! Well, people do have time to read, and many of them went out of their way to let us know they read our whole newsletter... cover-to-cover. Thanks to all those that wrote in, and special thanks to Andrea in London who even shared a few little things that are now available by typing "free" into the FormFonts search engine! We especially appreciate the encouragement and compliments on our models and website. Somehow that just never gets old... WE PITCH OUR TENT @ BASECAMP
Well, we pitched our tent at 3D Base camp in late October (did anyone but us notice it was orange!?). We had an absolute blast, and it really took us another week just to recover. This was due in no small part to an intoxicating mix of thin oxygen, the visceral excitement of 400 design-nerds with a free pass for the long weekend, and ample spirits consumed in the bar of Boulder's St.Julien Hotel and Spa... "A very swish place" as Allister would say repeatedly and appreciatively in between sips of his dirty martinis. @Last Software went all out, and no expense was spared for their first user conference. The effort the @Last team put forth was incredible. By the end, they all looked happy and very tired, as they had been killing themselves for weeks leading up to the base camp readying all kinds of great new features. And pre-burn was by no means limited just to tekkies, we especially want to say thanks to Rachel, who made our stay effortless.. plus she held the bus for us whilst we attempted to wirelessly e-mail our posters to Kinkos. In the end, Rachel, and the concierge at the St. Julien were lifesavers. Between the workshops, frequent coffee breaks, and 5-pound chocolate chip cookies, the crowd was fever-pitched by the time @Last brought out the product previews everyone was waiting for Thursday night and Friday morning... Several new features demonstrated, including "Grizzly" (a paper-space layout tool where each image is actually a view port into the model); "Been There...Drawn That" (TM) (an amazingly fast way to Sketch 3D models from photos); Watermarks (TM) (presentation plus!) and, Fat Faces (TM) (because stuph has thickness)... And my personal favorite was Flexible Styles (NPR on Steroids!). Flexible Styles are going to be so good at simulating traditional media and rendering styles that 3D models in SketchUp will look better than the actual buildings! If you haven't heard enough about these amazing new tools, features, plugins...etc, you can read more about each of these new features at AECBytes.com. http://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/issue_23.htm DEAR CORBU! (sm) Over the past few months, the Master of space and time has received several questions from our subscribers, and he is now ready to respond. Please check out the first edition of Dear Cobu! (SM) and if you feel the need, pose your own question to the Master yourself. Click here to read Dear Corbu! THE FORMFONTS (TM) TEAM GROWS AGAIN ! Since our last newsletter, we've added some new faces... including Marc Fredrickson. Marc and I went to architecture school together (ages ago) and we've been talking about starting a company together as long as we can remember. Well, Marc has finally quit his day-job at the video game studio Rockstar San Diego (Rockstar Games is infamously known for the Grand Theft Auto series of games) to become our 'First Officer'. I don't know what that means exactly, but I told him he could have any title he wanted. I am sure of this, however, we already couldn't function without him. Read a bit more about Marc on our website here . We've also added our second full-time employee. Tony Casparro is our CIO and webmeister genius. He's been with us from the start and we finally convinced him to leave Cisco Systems, and devote all his efforts to FormFonts. It's taken us awhile to figure out why we like Tony so much, but then you see that kilowatt smile and it hits you... Tony's a lot like a young Tom Cruise (before he started jumping over Oprah's sofa). He's always incredibly positive and upbeat, and he's just a joy to work with. We couldn't be happier to have him on-board fulltime... and you can already see the results in V.3.0. Allister Godfrey has also come on board part-time in the past two months. Allister is our director of Quality Control and a principal 3D artist, so we'll be seeing more of his work, and you can continue to rely upon us for the highest quality low-poly 3D models on the planet. No, this isn't just some marketing hype, Allister really looks at each and every model down to the verts and makes sure you're getting the best looking, lowest poly model we can muster. SEASON'S GREETINGS
Happy Holidays from FormFonts !! From all of us at FormFonts, we'd like to wish you and yours Happy Holidays !! Fred FormFonts, Design Nerds, and Dear Cobu are trade and servicemarks of FormFonts Inc. (c) 2005 All Rights Reserved. |
