EDIT: I don't think this needs to be stickied any longer. Topic locked
Well, I've got some news, some good and some bad.
Let's start with the good. I've got a new computer finally! I'm very happy with it and with the vastly increased power I'll be much more efficient with modeling and texturing than ever before (Think: My preview render times have been cut to about 1/10th of the previous amount, plus faster interface with Max and Photoshop)
Now, the bad news. It's very bad indeed. I moved my old hard drive from my old computer to the new, and the connection was rather difficult to remove from the old computer. As a result, it looks as if one of the rods in the power socket was bent, which I didn't notice when plugging it into my new computer. When I fired up the new computer with this hard drive in it, some kind of power surge occurred. I'm not sure of the specifics. So I took the HD into a computer repair shop, who then contacted Maxtor when then couldn't fix it themselves. What it looks like is that this power surge completely fried the Hard Drive. Completely fried it. As a result, it's looking as if all my data is gone. I had some backups, but most of it is so old that it's not worth even pulling out, and mostly consists of models I've already redone.
So the long and short of it is that the last 2 years of work I've done on modeling and texturing is gone.
Pretty bad news, eh? Well, All I can do is look to the future at this point.
So here's how we can look at this:
I'm a much better modeler than I was before. I can probably redo all of the models lost much more quickly than they took before, and create a better result. I've developed new techniques in texturing that'll increase the quality of the textures as well, which has made things more efficient and visually appealing. Will it take me 2 years to redo all of these that I've lost? Not by a long shot. I'm not giving a time frame, but I know that I can do better. Ultimately all this is for me is a challenge (As well as a lesson: Backup on a separate HD.) The first draft is done and gone, that was a great chance for me to learn and grow in my art, now it's time to get to work on some really amazing stuff.
So what can I say other than that? It's a tough thing to see so much work lost, so many hours, but all we can do is look to the future. So expect some great stuff coming up from me, I haven't lost hope yet.
As a result as well, though, I'm going to be making FotG my sole priority model wise. Thus I must apologize to the other teams I've joined recently (Diaspora, Echoes of the Past) that I must resign my tenure with your two groups. It's been great but my heart has always been with Fate of the Galaxy and that's where my attention is needed most right now.
Now, let's get to work.
