About Kuroyume's DevelopmentZone

The name and purpose of this enterprise is a fusion of what started as two distinct realms of my life and a fascination.

Younger in life, my goal was to be a traditional or commercial artist. Instead, choices lead me into an electro-mechanical drafting and design career. This introduced me to more technical artistry, relevant mathematics, and design using computers.

Before pursuing this career, computers and programming had become an important backdrop in my life. When reflecting on the constantly resurfacing theme of most of my programming endeavors, realized or not, it has always been graphics. At first it was two-dimensional imagery. Then the world of 3D CG arrived and that has been my pursuit since.

In drafting/design terms, a development is a planar mapping of a three-dimensional surface (very similar and related to map projections of the world) which is then used in the process of constructing the surface from cut flat sheets of material. It also has the more contemporary connotation, as in software development. A zonal development, or the development zone method, is that of a sphere using zones. This provides a flat mapping which can also be formed back into a three-dimensional sphere. In this way, both 3D technical graphics and computer programming are married in the name.

So, how does Kuroyume relate to any of this, you might ask? It's a long story, but since you asked. For unknown reasons, about ten years ago I became a Japanophile (someone who loves and has interests in all things Japanese). Sometimes I think that it is the enigma (or maybe the manga) that draws one in. Well, after years of studying various aspects, I know a little of the language, much of the history and culture, and even some of their traditional martial arts. When drawing upon a user name for websites and such, I tend to look at Japanese names - mainly samurai, fact or fiction (zatoichi over at PoserPros, for instance). It could have been Zatoichi or Masamune (reflecting my interest in nihontou or ken - Japanese swords). But the one that has stuck is Kuroyume, a popular Japanese rock/pop band that has since disbanded. Kuro (or kuroi) is the word for black. Yume is the word for dream. Together, they translate as black dream or dark dream which has the connotation of nightmare. The Japanese for nightmare is akumu, to be pendantic.

So, this website is the culmination of these interests as they relate to my endeavors - 3D CG, programming, and everything Japanese.

About the business

The main focus of Kuroyume's DevelopmentZone over the past three years has involved Cinema 4D plugin development. This has afforded a rich, simbiotic relationship with both Maxon and Cinema 4D users from all over the globe.

It is part of the business's mission to provide the best products possible, responsive support, and continual improvement and innovation while keeping prices affordable and maintaining a wide inclusion of platforms and software versions.

Robert Templeton