Email,

Got a message of thanks from a nubile, young nurse who claims a most, electrifying, sexual romp with her fiancé was, in part, due to her playful attempt to shock his libido as she was characteristically reticent. When he opened the door to her apartment and called for her there was no answer. He ambled through the abode to discover her lying prone in her room in her birthday suit swinging a Skyliner in the dim light with a message both clever and seductive.

Let your imagination be your guide.

Wishful Thinking

The night was dark, and the sky was blue, not unusual for a summer night in Maine, 1999. I was driving up the coast of Maine to the furthest point, the eastern part of the United States, Eastport, to wake up in the morning and be the first in America to see the sun rise. It would appear close enough to touch.

I was not surprised, not in Maine, but I was stunned to catch a moose in my headlights which caused me to screech to a stop. The moose stared at me or rather the lights from my jeep. I backed up and stepped out, absent of doors, as I regarded the huge mammal with full rack sauntering off into the forest. Suddenly, a wide, red light beamed down from above. The light wasn't bright but filled a space as large as a small home, and then went dark. I looked up to see a circular flying saucer, wider than a football field, with a Skyliner type message spinning around its circumference which read, I COME FROM YOUR IMAGINATION. THANK YOU SKYLINER.

Dog Day

Last night my dog, Stuart, startled me (around 3am) when I saw him twirling my Skyliner with a message he must have programmed. It said, "Need To Poop!" I jumped up and rushed him outside, and then realized I was dreaming . . . about the SKYLINER . . . not about his needs.

Analysis: The Skyliner works when you are dreaming.

Dog's Best Friend

Why?

I'll tell you why. There's nothing like it so you end up owning a conversation piece that has fun built in plus necessity. It's fun to tell the boss, "I QUIT!" And the SKYLINER is needed if you are stuck for HELP at night, or you need a CAB to stop on a rainy night in the city.

I think it's fun during Spring Vacation from school. I used mine in Palm Springs to let my peers know that I was from Bowdoin College in Maine. Yes, I had thrown in my email to be texted, and I let some ladies at a table across the room know I was AVAILABLE. They laughed, I walked over, broke the barrier, and I'm still corresponding with one of them from Boston University. So, that's why. Hey, and I sell them . . . I ain't rich but it covers the bar bill and dinner once a week.

Skyliner Virtual Message Writer Version 3

It took several years before we decided to create a new Skyliner. Why? Well, the first two versions seemed to be selling well, the knock-offs had disappeared from the scene and things were moving along. However, the rip-off units did their damage overseas by under-cutting our price making it difficult for us to sell in European markets. Luckily for us, as is often the case, the knock-offs were inferior in every way. They didn't work consistently, were difficult to program and had lousy packaging. Plus there was no "customer service". We do pride ourselves on the prompt customer service we've provided over the years.

You should know that 99.9% of our customer service responses were usually a simple explanation concerning program or battery replacement. We've sold quite a few Skyliners and had very few defective units over the years. Mostly due to our careful attention to details, using quality parts, batteries and circuitry.

New Skyliner Version 3 - Virtual Message Writer

So, when it came time to design a new Skyliner at the request of DisneyWorld, our largest customer at the time, we thought, why not, and also figured it would knock any of the old copy cats still around. This time, however, when I designed the unit in 3D I also added our Versatile Visions/Skyliner website information to the side of the unit, on each frame. This means that anyone who wanted to steal the animation would be advertising our site, unless they were going to take each frame and paint out the web address.

Once again, this animation was created in form-Z, electric image and composited in After Effects. There were some additional challenges as this new unit had tri-color LED's and I wanted to represent that clearly in the animation.

It only took me a few days to create, animate, composite and tweak this new Skyliner animation, which to my knowledge has only been used by folks who were selling the new unit, with our permission.

Take a close look at the unit as it spins to see the website address.

Hal

Skyliner Virtual Message Writer animation part 2

After completing the basic unit, then I had to add the LED's - they were originally created separately and then added to the unit using form-Z to construct both the unit and the LED's and then Electric Image to render the animation, and then After Effects to composite the two pieces.

I originally tried to do it all in Electric image but found it easier to composite in after effects.

I was actually excited, delighted, to be able to post my animation of the original Skyliner Virtual Message Writer novelty item when it first came out. However, it didn't take long before the "knock-off" unit appeared and what truly blew my mind was seeing my animation used to demonstrate and sell the knock-off unit.

They say that copying is the sincerest form of flattery. No, it's simply stealing your work. I was taken aback when I saw my animation being used at various sights around the world, without my permission. I even tried to contact a few of the folks using it. Surprise, surprise … they ignored me!

Anyway, it's nice to be an internationally ripped off 3D guy.

Next - the new Skyliner images and animation process.

Skyliner Virtual Text Message Writer Animation

When it came time to create our Skyliner I was fortunate enough to dabble in 3D animation. Why? It's simple, if you can build a working prototype in virtual space, and you can see what it will do, then you can make simple alterations to your design and functionality before ever having cast a single piece. By doing this you can send your animation and still images to the engineers so they will have a clear understanding of what you are looking for.

I did this in numerous stages and different configurations as we sought to create a simple yet effective product. I would send an image to our folks overseas, they would make suggestions, I would reconfigure and eventually we came up with the design for the Skyliner version one and subsequently version two.

This is the raw animation of the Skyliner version 1 unit without words.

… More animations to follow

Hal