Shawn Olson Creative Arts

Art, Poetry, Photography, Writing and 3D

Hayden and Juice Bottle
liquid 6teen
Grand Canyon Photo

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
Posted on Apr 4, 2010 | Last Updated Nov 12, 2011

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.

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internet, society, media, information, data, knowledge

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.
Posted on Mar 3, 2010 | Last Updated Nov 12, 2011

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.

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New CS:Source Map de_tension

Posted on Nov 16, 2009 | Last Updated Nov 12, 2011
de_tension wooden bridgede_tension waterfall mistde_tension campsitede_tension crystal tunnelsde_tension bombsite Bde_tension campsitede_tension wooden bridgede_tension two bridges

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.

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cs map, custom source map, counter-strike, new, ww, ww_, wallworm

Software Activation, Licensing and Piracy

Posted on Nov 10, 2009 | Last Updated May 15, 2013

The problem with software activation systems in the Internet Age and the inflated claims that piracy costs billions of dollars a year.

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software, piracy, activation, license, internet, society, business

Well Shark

Posted on Nov 2, 2009 | Last Updated Jan 4, 2014
well shark cartoon

A cartoon about the infamous well shark--a creature that is not as benign as is commonly thought.

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well shark, cartoon

Filter XML Data Based on Dates in ActionScript

Posted on Oct 12, 2009 | Last Updated Nov 12, 2011

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.

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flex, flash,xml, dates, e4x, as3, actionscript

Dragon Maze

Posted on Oct 3, 2009 | Last Updated Nov 12, 2011
Dragon Maze Art

A maze challenge featuring dragon art. Try to sneak past the dragon and escape the maze.

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maze, dragon, game

Obama's Health Care Reform

Posted on Oct 1, 2009 | Last Updated Nov 12, 2011

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.

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health care, reform, insurance

Ambush Bugs

Posted on Jul 22, 2009 | Last Updated Nov 12, 2011
Ambush Bug waitingAmbush Bug Waiting Arms OutAmbush bug extending armsambush bug on leaf

Photos of ambush bugs waiting for prey, posing oddly and eating bees.

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ambush bugs, insects, predator

Green and Orange Jumping Spider

Posted on Jul 13, 2009 | Last Updated Nov 12, 2011
Portrait of a jumping spiderJumping Spiderspider eating on treeface of jumping spider eatinglarge jumping spider with green striorange and green 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.

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jumping spider, orange, green, brown, large, hairy
Wall Worm plugins and scripts for 3ds Max