WoodMarvels.com April/May 2010 Review

I try to get around to doing a site review every month to track progress but got caught-up with a few things so without further ado, here we go.

Videos shooting-up!

I started tracking video views in January ’09 and since then, they have grown in total views about 7% every month for the past year… this has now changed in a dramatic way. For April ’10, they grew again by 7% but then for the month of May, an increase of almost 17% in total views across video networks was seen. If keep going this way, I should hit the 500 000 total video views sometime around the end of June ’10 which is really amazing! I’m positive I’ve already hit this number – my videos are re-distributed to more places than I know and other sites don’t offer total view statistics but officially, I’m at 441 663 total video views as of right now.

What happened over the past two months?

• I released my first science fiction novel, titled 2847 A.D.: Solar Horizons for digital download on WoodMarvels.com and just a week or so ago, in print form at Amazon.com.
• I released my much-worked-upon Mars Rover: Opportunity (see also here) which too me far longer than I would have hoped due to computer issues which are now all resolved 🙂
• Re-introduced 4mm and 10mm laser cut kits to WoodMarvels.com
• Released a TV Bank and Stereo Bank (notes) to take a break from the complexity involved with the Mars Rover.
• Released a new collaboration with David Newman, the F35 Joint Strike Fighter which then went viral on Metacafe.
• Got some press thanks to Make, the REAL Mars Rover head driver at NASA and The First Few Blogs.
• I also wrote about Little Big Planet, the joys of rendering out an animation and of course, Bridge Launchers.
• … and updated my video production software to Sony Vegas 9 which is a dream to work with along with making the videos 640×385 by default now at WoodMarvels.com catalog pages!

Mars Rover Opportunity: 3DHD Assembly Animation

Mars Rover Opportunity: HD Devolution Video

TV Bank: 3DHD Assembly Animation

Stereo Bank: 3DHD Assembly Animation

Stereo Bank: HD Devolution Video

F35 Joint Strike Fighter: 3DHD Assembly Animation

What’s coming up in June?

Well, I’ve completed the truck that I mentioned and after, still haven’t settled on exactly what I will build next. I have a few very promising leads to follow-up on, some new file formats I’m testing out and of course, ideas that will be fleshed-out. I think I’ve also resolved the poor quality audio/video settings on the Stereo Bank (especially the devolution vide0) so the next one should be sharp 🙂