Shawn Olson Creative Arts
Art, Poetry, Photography, Writing and 3D
Greetings Earthling. Welcome to my creative portal. My name is Shawn Olson. I'm a creative jack-of-all trades who has years of experience in 3ds Max, game development, web development, journalism, photography, graphics and parenting. You may know me as a technical artist for Black Mesa or as the developer of Wall Worm if you came here as a game developer. I now also work on USD workflows and capabilities in 3ds Max and Maya at Autodesk. All opinions here are my own.
If you need help with any of these things, then I'm your guy:
- Problem Solving
- 3D Environments
- 3D Assets
- 3ds Max pipelines
- Game Design
- Documentation
- Journalistic Coverage
- Application Education
- Web Application Development
If you must know more about me, feel free to read A Short Biography. But more importantly, enjoy the various photos, poems, editorials and scripts across the site.
I always enjoy feedback from visitors. Feel free to send me an email with any comments, ideas, praise, criticism or corrections. Of course you can always interact with me on the Wall Worm forums or other 3D forums where I haunt.
Latest Articles
Information Overload
An Over-Abundance of Information in the Information Age
An essay on the trends on the Internet that cause an explosion of information that is often antithetical to the ideals of democracy and progress. This essay cautions parents, teachers and community leaders to be wary of every emerging media outlet.
CorelDRAW & PHOTO-PAINT Colors
A brief overview of the color tools in CorelDRAW and PHOTO-PAINT, including a video tutorial and new features in CD X5.
This article demonstrates some of the new color features in CorelDRAW X5. The video demonstrates the basic methods of selecting colors in CorelDRAW and PHOTO-PAINT. New and experienced users can benefit from the video.
New CS:Source Map de_tension
My return to mapping is official with the remake of de_tension for CS:Source. This new map includes a novel mapping technique developed by Andrew Penry and myself called Dynamic Mapping.
Software Activation, Licensing and Piracy
The problem with software activation systems in the Internet Age and the inflated claims that piracy costs billions of dollars a year.
Well Shark
A cartoon about the infamous well shark--a creature that is not as benign as is commonly thought.
Filter XML Data Based on Dates in ActionScript
You can filter your XML data based on dates in ActionScript to limit results in a component's data provider to one that is relevant to the given task.
Dragon Maze
A maze challenge featuring dragon art. Try to sneak past the dragon and escape the maze.
Obama's Health Care Reform
A skeptical view on the political debate on health care reform in America. This article questions the entire premise of forcing health care insurance on the public.
Ambush Bugs
Photos of ambush bugs waiting for prey, posing oddly and eating bees.
Green and Orange Jumping Spider
These are photos of a large multi-colored jumping spider eating a bug. The spider has distinctive orange, brown and green patterns. Shot in Ohio.
