Hello everyone!

I, *Phoenix-22, just wanted to give an update to all things relating to the *Apophysis group - what is planned and what has happened, just a general "what's going on" kind of thing.

Contests

Recently we held a contest for our new I.D. and the victors go as follows:

3rd place:
by ~vjasper

2nd place:
by =xero-sama
(wins a 3-month sub, courtesy of =ouT-Phaze, for his entry)

1st place:
by =TwilightAmbiance
(wins a 6-month sub, and a spot in Apophysis' ID slot for what is sure to be a while!)

Congratulations, all of you, and thank you so much for your entries! It is not common knowledge, but our previous I.D. has been on our page since mid-2004!

Also, the I.D. contest was a great success, after months of planning.

------------------------

We also have our winners for the last Weekly Theme Challenge: Senses!

First Place:

by *contrarymary

Second Place:

by =anjaleck

Third Place:

by =pantherwitch4982

and

by *dana-martinez

Congrats everyone, but remember, you can't enter for the next two rounds!

This week's entries are listed here: [link] So be sure to vote and get your entries in for next week's theme: Futuristic Fractals!

------------------------

Submissions

Now, onto the subject of our gallery submissions, the recent lack of uploads, and where we are at.

I thought I should let you all know that ~Halcyon83 is currently on a much-needed vacation and I have been doing the submissions since he let us know. The recent gap in submissions was due to both Tom and I being on vacation at the same time and until I was able to get back, I was not able to post anything new. However, I have been back for a while now, and have been uploading entries in packs of four, for your viewing pleasure. I hope to submit more often (twice, or three times a week), but that goal couldn't be reached last week (sorry about that!).

As of right now, we are just about a month behind with the current uploads, so if you are wondering when your image will be posted, just be patient, it will be there soon!

------------------------

Apoholics Anonymous

I know that you are all having withdrawals, but we are trying to get a Special Summer Edition off the assembly line and onto the internet. We apologize for the lack of an issue in a few weeks, but we have all been a bit busy.

------------------------

"Where's that celebration thing I heard about?"

As *Nestalgica said earlier, there is something planned for the 300,000 pageview celebration. In case anyone is wondering who got the 300,000th page view, well, sorry to dissapoint but it was me.

Anyway, we are still trying to get a couple of our "guests" together for an event in the chatroom, but a date, as of now, is still to be determined.

We're workin' on it!

------------------------

Resources

Thanks to a few free hours, we have managed to clear up some of the dead links and missing files in the Resource journal. We have added a few new files, but we are still open to more! If you have a file (gradient, script, flame pack, or tutorial) that has not been added, please send a note to the *Apophysis account with "Resource" in the headline.

There are a few artists out there, notably Apo-veterans like =onebadpenny and `sya that, unfortunately, have had their links removed. I am guessing that they simply were erased in one of deviantART's many gallery reorganizations since those files were added in 2004. If you discover that your file was removed from the group's resource journal, please note us!

Also, as most of you have noticed, we have a new version of Apophysis that is out, 2.06a. If you are wondering how to get your hands on some plug-ins, we updated our journal to help you guys out: [link]

------------------------

Speed Fractalism Sessions & Live Tutorial Sessions

As you guys have noticed, we have not had a SFS or a LTS in quite some time. Time zones, staff availability, and various other things have kind of stalled our efforts to keep doing these. As such, we are asking the community that if they have a fractal that they want to share in hopes of forming a SFS, or a new technique they want to give a Live Tutorial Session for, just send us a note. We could use a helping hand for these events and we'll inform you of the criteria behind these events. We'll also try our best to have at least one admin present in the chatroom during these events, just in case you have any questions.

In a nutshell: Volunteers needed!

------------------------

Final Words:

I've noticed that some of you have been ing some of the submissions in our gallery and while I know that it is most appreciated, your support is directed at the wrong person. Our gallery submissions are for those talented artists to gain recognition on their work, so whenever you open one of those images, be sure to go to the original image first, then leave a comment and/or , they will appreciate it!

Well, that about concludes the news for right now. We will let you know if anything new comes up or anything changes.

Happy Fractaling!
-Apophysis