If you followed this link from the button in the Finit-e comic reader, then please do post your thoughts on what you’ve seen in Scene 04. I know it’s sure to be frustrating, to get into a string of sequential pages and then have it end… that’s the downside to publishing by scene or chapter instead of single pages… but understand that each Scene will be published in it’s entirety. Some are longer than others, and as you go, you may, I hope, be compelled to go back and re-read earlier Scenes. There’s straightforward storytelling and then there’s Finit-e. Hopefully, you enjoy the book and find the journey worth taking, as it’s definitely a journey book more than anything.

If, on the other hand, you HAVEN’T read the comic yet, and came here looking for it? Visit Third Rail Design Lab and click away!

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum
here!… Read on for more awesome…

Related posts:

1. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Scene 03 Comments
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Scene 02 Comments
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Scene 01 Comments

It may seem like this project languishes, but moonlighting over a full-time job was hard enough before kids. Now I’m squeezing it in wherever I can on top of other TRDL commitments. But the good news is that Finit-e Chapter 4 is almost ready!

If you haven’t read the first three chapters in awhile, don’t worry: when Chapter 4 is released, it will be added to the cimpiled collection of the book so you can read from page 1. However, if you want to catch up earlier than that, here’s a refresher on where to get Finit-e and what options you have:

Finit-e is a story of the nearly-now, and the dawn of the supernormal.
It is the first comic under the Third Rail Design Lab banner, which we tend to refer to as a graphic serial because it is designed to be read both scene by scene on-line and in a collected volume in print later. The story is set in a familiar timeline, much as things look today, but near-future, with a more dystopian edge to it. The context of the story will become more clear over time, but the tone is espionage, and it focuses on the admittedly less action-oriented side of events as much as it does the action itself. As a fan of good espionage thrillers and heist dramas, I’ve always been interested in crews plotting their crimes before they execute them, and the action itself being reasonably thought out and complex. I like not seeing the complete picture at first, and growing into understanding the story as it develops, so the Finit-e book is written similarly. I hope you stick with it! If you like Heat and the Bourne Identity, I think you’ll like this as well.

http://www.finit-e.com

You can read Finit-e either offline … Read on for more awesome…

Related posts:

1. TRDL v2.0 and the Finit-e Graphic Serial are Live!
2. Finit-e Scene 04 is Live
3. Finit-e Survey!

With all my copious free time, I’m working on a facelift for the TRDL family of sites, starting with the main Third Rail Design Lab landing page. Towards that end, I’ve begun transitioning the way individual illustrations are presented, to lead into that facelift when it’s ready. If there’s one thing having a baby has taught me (and there are several) it’s that schedules go to hell in a hurry. A month before Wee Z was born, I was about 3 pages away from closing out the latest chapter of the Finit-e comic, and doing edits on the new TRDL Sourcebook series. That was 19 months ago, give or take. So, I’m not waiting for the site redesign to begin using the new image formats.

You will recognize the format of the normal mainstream TRDL illustrations (formerly called TRDL Tribute pieces) as being a modified version of the dark spotlight motif used on the 2010 Third Rail Thrills classic pin-ups series. That series was a test-bed for the format, and I got it to where I wanted it, but the tone is dark for that content, plus the dark theme is migrating to the site as a whole, so now that look migrates over to the main illustration releases, with some tweaks.

The new Third Rail Thrills format plays up the vintage tone hybridized with modern content. The logo is different, the ‘Third Rail Thrills’ concept statement is in the logo, and the formatting evokes a pale film stock, with a little blue around the edges. I think this is a nice contrast with the newness of the subject matter.

Both are in the same name and number sequence on an annual basis, as well. New year, reset numbering.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on there! Lots more to come…

Follow … Read on for more awesome…

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1. TRDL 2011 Series, No. 18: Artemis [Young Justice]
2. TRDL 2011 Series No. 55 – Uncanny X-Men #173 Homage
3. Happy Holidays 2011 from Third Rail Design Lab

Just in case you thought I wasn’t making progress on the book…

In fact, if you squint and really WANT it, you can see R3 member Deeply Dapper in this panel!

Haven’t read Finit-e to date, or don’t remember what was up?
No time like the present to get caught up:

http://www.finit-e.com/mod_finite.html

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum
here!… Read on for more awesome…

Related posts:

1. Finit-e Scene 04 is Live
2. Finit-e Graphic Serial: Scene 03 Now Available!
3. TRDL Update: Finit-e Graphic Serial Scene 03

As you probably know from reading previous posts, I don’t think the iPad is a JesusProduct, but I see certain niches that look promising, and several that are just toy fun. Anyway, the area I’m most interested in, as a creator, is the standards war for comicreaders on the iPad. Right now, there are three basic methods: Basic iPad OS ie pictures, third party comicreader apps, often with subscription/store models, and web-based readers. I provide PDF/CBR and a web-based reader for Finit-e, my comic. I’m interested to see how the iPad users who read comics will be most comfortable: which interface works best? As a creator, i can have my work made available to third-party reader apps, at some cost. I can optimize a version of my web-reader on the http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com site to work well with the aspect ratio of the iPad… or i can look at ways to expand the functionality of reading on the device. From this perspective, I’m very interested in test-driving some of the third-party apps out there and see what true value-adds are in place. With conventional computer-based readers, I was never much of a fan. The interface of the reader was obtrusive. And most web-readers try gimmicks like simple animations and breaking page format. I generally just prefer looking at a PDF.

With Finit-e’s reader, I brought in certain functionality beyond looking at the PDF or a print copy: I have a thumbnail of the page, zooming to a full screen page, zooming to a high-rez version you can scroll. I also have keyed icons for extra content, like the character gallery and the annotations. But I specifically set it up to be unobtrusive. So, I want to see what the iPad gets us.

I have many friends who read much, or all, of … Read on for more awesome…

Related posts:

1. Finit-e Survey!
2. Finit-e Scene 04 is Live
3. Finit-e Chapter 4 is Almost Here

It looks like the TRDL uploads to Flickr are complete. You can now visit my wrongrobot/TRDL Flickr page, and view the entire TRDL Collection, or specifically, the TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial set, to see new pieces as they are uploaded. For those of you who visit the R3 Forum regularly or the TRDL main site, or read this via RSS Feed, you aren’t missing anything, this is just one more way the work is distributed.

If you are on Flickr, do pop by and contact me, so we can, you know, be Contacted.
t

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here!… Read on for more awesome…

Related posts:

1. TRDL Tribute Art Photoset on Flickr
2. TRDL Mythology Photoset on Flickr
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Downloading PDFs

View a hi-res version of this file here!

:::

Name: Roland Parish
Affiliation: Senior Executive, SOKAK Corporation
LM AS Development
Birth: Honolulu, Hawaii

Most Recent Surveillance:

RAES Field Station, Division of Arges Group
Location: 340 Nautical miles from the Somers Isles
UTC/GMT 14:27 [ local: 10:27]

Roland Parish is a Senior Executive with the SOKAK Corporation, a Japanese-Chilean conglomerate and leader in cybernetic and exo-skeletal hardware enhancements. His Odoshi system is considered the flagship of the company’s several competitng programs for active deployment. He was last observed at the RAES Field Station near Bermuda, conducting a facilities tour along with General Grover Darville, a State Department Attache and SOKAK-loyalist.

:::

As the Finit-e graphic serial progresses, more will be revealed about the characters involved, and as such, their dossiers will be expanded here. Check back after each Scene is published for more information! Or misinformation…

You can read the Finit-e graphic serial on-line, here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Web Reader
And you can download the PDF or CBR files here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Download

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum
here!… Read on for more awesome…

Related posts:

1. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Samsel]
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Darville]
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Royal]

View a hi-res version of this file here!

:::

Name: General Grover Darville
Affiliation: State Department Attache
Post-Conventional Logisitcs [PCL]
Birth: Boston, Massachusetts

Most Recent Surveillance:

RAES Field Station, Division of Arges Group
Location: 340 Nautical miles from the Somers Isles
UTC/GMT 14:27 [ local: 10:27]

General Grover Darville is a high-ranking advisor in the State Department, his role primarily being Attache for the Post-Conventional Logistics program [PCL] a secret initiative conducted through the United States government infrastructure but off of the Congressional record and without oversight. The PCL initiative includes participants from all areas of the government, though accountable to the Office of the President, a secret mandate created by President White to combat the suspected growing threat of technologically advanced operations under concurrent development in Russia, China and the Indio-Pakistani Complex. He was last observed at the RAES Field Station near Bermuda, conducting a facilities tour along with a representative of SOKOK Corporation, a hardware and advanced cybernetics developer in favor with influential members of the PCL as the future of the shadow program’s mandate.

:::

As the Finit-e graphic serial progresses, more will be revealed about the characters involved, and as such, their dossiers will be expanded here. Check back after each Scene is published for more information! Or misinformation…

You can read the Finit-e graphic serial on-line, here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Web Reader
And you can download the PDF or CBR files here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Download

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum
here!… Read on for more awesome…

Related posts:

1. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Stranger]
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Warrington]
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Byrde]

View a hi-res version of this file here!

:::

Name: Stanford Royal
Affiliation: RAES
Deputy Director of Special Projects
Birth: New York, New York

Most Recent Surveillance:

RAES Field Station, Division of Arges Group
Location: 340 Nautical miles from the Somers Isles
UTC/GMT 14:27 [ local: 10:27]

Stanford Royal is Deputy Director of Special Projects [DDSP] for RAES [Research Arm of Emerging Sciences,] a division of the Arges Group, the world’s largest private intelligence and asset management firm. He has risen rapidly through the RAES executive leadership, after being recruited into the company by Arges from his role as a spycraft advisor for the French and Israeli governments while under the employ of Javelin Logistics, a private intelligence group later absorbed by Arges in a hostile takeover. His primary responsibility has been the ongoing management of Project Draco, which was developed for, and supplied to, the United States government as part of a secret initiative, on the part of the Americans, to develop a viable post-conventional military wetworks capability. However, the ongoing relationship between the United States and RAES, whose contract to maintain Project Draco has under review, has strained, with the Americans intending to manage Draco internally, without RAES advisers or technical teams on American soil. Royal has been involved in a secondary line of Draco development, Designation Chrysalis, which he intends to see as the replacement for Draco, in the event the program fails under American stewardship. He was last observed at the RAES Field Station near Bermuda, speaking with DSP following a facilities tour for General Grover Darville and a representative of SOKOK Corporation, an Arges rival in hardware and advanced cybernetics.

:::

As the Finit-e graphic serial progresses, more will be revealed about the characters involved, and as such, their dossiers will be expanded here. Check … Read on for more awesome…

Related posts:

1. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Samsel]
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Parish]
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Darville]

View a hi-res version of this file here!

:::

Name: Ted Samsel
Affiliation: RAES
Director of Special Projects
Birth: Bristol, England

Most Recent Surveillance:

RAES Field Station, Division of Arges Group
Location: 340 Nautical miles from the Somers Isles
UTC/GMT 14:27 [ local: 10:27]

Ted Samsel is Director of Special Projects [DSP] for RAES [Research Arm of Emerging Sciences,] a division of the Arges Group, the world’s largest private intelligence and asset management firm. His career as an intelligence officer in both government and private sectors has culminated in his position at RAES, after rising through Arges Group ranks over a decade of service, and his legacy, Project Draco, was developed for, and supplied to, the United States government as part of a secret initiative, on the part of the Americans, to develop a viable post-conventional military wetworks capability. However, the ongoing relationship between the United States and RAES, whose contract to maintain Project Draco has under review, has strained, with the Americans intending to manage Draco internally, without RAES advisers or technical teams on American soil. He was last observed at the RAES Field Station near Bermuda, conducting a facilities tour for General Grover Darville and a representative of SOKOK Corporation, an Arges rival in hardware and advanced cybernetics.

:::

As the Finit-e graphic serial progresses, more will be revealed about the characters involved, and as such, their dossiers will be expanded here. Check back after each Scene is published for more information! Or misinformation…

You can read the Finit-e graphic serial on-line, here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Web Reader
And you can download the PDF or CBR files here: Finit-e Graphic Serial Download

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum
here!… Read on for more awesome…

Related posts:

1. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Royal]
2. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Parish]
3. TRDL Finit-e Graphic Serial: Dossier – [Darville]

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