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This site features several of my hobbies, but my main focus is on Weather, Astronomy, and 3D Environments.
Weather has always been a hobby of mine since I was about 7 years old. When I got a little older, I remember having a Lionel Weather Instrument set (neon lights on a cardboard display panel) and the plastic wind direction and anemometer that my dad helped me put together and wire. I also remember having to count how many times the neon light at the center of the display panel flashed in 30 seconds, then had to look on a chart to get the average windspeed. In addition, a sling psychrometer was used to get the web bulb reading... Geesh.. seems like just the other day. Now I have a Wireless Davis Weather Monitor II up on a light pole in the parking lot, and am even doing streaming video for this website, along with using software like Digital Atmosphere and Interwarn which download raw weather data from the NWS computers. Makes things so much easier than the years before computers.
Astronomy as also been a hobby of mine. I remember having a 2 1/2 inch Refractor Telescope back in the late in 1972 and looking at the sun with a solar filter, the moon, and some planets like Jupiter, Venus and Mars.
In 1976, I purchased a 5 inch Celestron for $595.00 and was able to see much more like the Great Nebula in the constellation Orion (M42), and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). There is a section in this website that contains some pictures I took using a 35 Milimeter Camera mounted on the Celestron with a 5 minute exposure on the image of the Northern Sky. A built-in clock drive kept everything centered. Some of the pictures are quite interesting. Click on the "Astronomy" button in the menu above to view these images.
Virtual World Creation is a relatively new hobby that I got into back around the year 2000/2001. The 3D Virtual Worlds here, were created using Adobe Atmosphere 1.0 as well as Pelican Crossing's "Blink3D" in 2006.
Even though the Atmosphere Worlds are featured on this site, Adobe as discontinued the program as of December 2004. Therefore, any visitor who likes what you see and wishes to obtain Atmosphere, cannot do so as Adobe is no longer selling nor developing the software. You may visit some atmosphere worlds by clicking on the "Adobe Atmosphere" button in the menu at the top. Atmosphere worlds work with Windows 98 or higher, but you must have Internet Explorer Version 6.0 or higher. Netscape or any other browser was never supported by Adobe Atmosphere.
Blink3D: I refer you to www.pelicancrossing.com if you are interested in 3D Virtual Reality. They have developed a program package similar to Atmosphere, but with broader features.
**** UNFORTUNATELY... like Atmosphere, Blink3d and inDuality have been discontinued.
I still have 2 test worlds that I am experimenting with in the Blink3D section of this website, as I learn to use this program. Blink3D is also capable of importing models created in other 3D programs such as Blender, DeleD, Max, etc.
I run my own Wildfire chat server on my XP Pro System, so these environments are chat-enabled. The Blink3D plugin will automatically download and install on your Windows based computer. Simply click on the menu button "Blink3D" to access the page containing the 3D content.
Remember, you must be running Windows XP and have Net 2.0 and DirectX 9 installed to be able to install the free standalone player and the Browser Plugin to view the environments. I do not know how long this Browser Plugin will remain available.
The demise of these two great programs makes me wonder if I should ever get involved with any future products like them, because one wonders if they too will meet the same end.
At this point, I will continue to work with Atmosphere and Blink. Since the browser plugin is free, I assume that I can link it to be downloaded even from my website for free in the future if it is no longer avaliable from the original pelicancrossing website. I have the manual install plugin, so that should be no problem.
Currently, the plugin can still be downloaded from www.pelicancrossing.com, but I think it will be just a matter of time before that site goes down.
Contact Information: Contact@jfdhobbies.com
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