[Robotgroup] Banquet Thoughts... :)

[Ed Xavier Gonzalez]

A few (long-winded) words . . . 

To make the artwork available to whomever might need it in the future, all of the layout data for both the DaVinci Award and the Memorial Medallion will be converted to AI (Adobe Illustrator) vector format and submitted to the re-elected President and new secretary of TRG for permanent archival.

That having been said, I need to offer a special thanks to Glenn Curry and Mike Scioli:  Glenn for his willingness and ability to provide the original MAC vector artwork of TRG logo, from which the current awards were created, and Mike for taking the time from his busy schedule as a University Professor and businessman to have that original artwork converted to a format that I could use.

Were it not for their efforts, tens if not dozens of hours might have been spent attempting to recreate what was so cleverly achieved many years ago.  So my efforts can be utilized should the artwork be considered noteworthy, Vern's original designs are being offered so many long hours of computer time are not lost.

The photographs of the awards that Vern submitted to me this evening did little to offer just how stunning they must have looked at the banquet.  I can only imagine what they must have looked like when Vern unveiled them all lit up.

I've spoken to a few people about the event and truly regret not being there.  I am very pleased, however, that my efforts seem to be appreciated, hopefully for many days, weeks and months to come.

For once (in a VERY long while), I'm actually able to see the finished product after I've shipped parts off to hither-and-yon, and then display what type of work I do to the general public.  So little of my creative abilities are ever seen by anyone that knows me personally due to the confidential nature of much of the work that I perform.  I wish I could share more about what I do, but my customers' proprietary designs (and frequent 'one-offs') prohibit me from sharing anything but the most subtle of examples.

By-the-by, for those that received the Memorial Medallions, try something that will make your recognition more spectacular by edge lighting it with a small UV LED or UV fluorescent lamp.  The effect is quite stunning since the material is not just yellow plastic, but actually fluorescent acrylic and will 'glow' under UV light.  A white LED will produce similar results, even during the day.

I truly hope everyone enjoys all of the DaVinci awards, partly because of the work that I did, but more because of the considerable work YOU did to earn them.  

These awards also have an exceptional appeal to me because I used a unique grade of clear acrylic that is no longer commercially available I've been saving for a special occasion.  That particular formulation of acrylic has edge-lit optical characteristics that can't be matched by most if not ANY of that still being produced.

Congratulations to all the award winners.

Vern Graner <vern at txis.com> wrote: I wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for some amazing 
behind-the-scenes work done by the folks that brought my primitive 
pencil sketches to life as the "Davinci Awards":

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