Theme #111 for 6 august 2004 is: MACRO
Entries closes at 2100 GMT -5 Monday, 9 august 2004.
placeholder
To blend, or not to blend… Ah, who am I kidding, I’ll try.
what’s a macro?
Macro is the opposite of micro…Large instead of small.
You look through a microscope to see things that are really small, but there is no such thing as a macroscope (AFAIK). It would probably just be your eyes with normal vision.
IIRC, a macro is also a programmed set of steps that can be used in some office suites to control certain functions that are repeated over and over again (kind of like a shell script). Then there are macroviruses that can be used to infect computers through the macro function in said office suites.
In relation to the WC subject… i’m thinking, I’m thinking :-?
From Mirriam-Webster:
Main Entry: 1mac·ro
Pronunciation: 'ma-(")krO
Function: adjective
Etymology: macr-
1 : being large, thick, or exceptionally prominent
2 a : of, involving, or intended for use with relatively large quantities or on a large scale b : of or relating to macroeconomics
3 : GROSS 1c
Main Entry: 2macro
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural macros
Etymology: short for macroinstruction
: a single computer instruction that stands for a sequence of operations
So, in other words, something large. I’ve got it!
Placeholder.
-Raseri
Whoohoo, there’s a good chance i’ll be entering this competition as a first try in the WC’s, wish me luck. 
Macros are also found in programming languages such as C and LISP. a macro would be something like:
#define name replacement
can will cause the C preprocessor to find every occurence of “name” and replace it with “replacement”. They can be useful for defining constants, and can also take arguments such as:
#define MAX(a,b) ((a) >(b) ? (a) : (b))
which means if you say
x=max(p+q, r+s)
it will be replaced with
x=((p+q) > (r+s) ? (p+q) : (r+s));
it’s a bit different in LISP, but i can’t remember the details and don’t feel like looking it up 
I’ll see if I can find time for this one
Good luck to all.
Mystery
Not completely sure what the topic is, but I’ll see hand something in
I chose to go wtih the extreme closeup definition.
Entry is pure, though I did do 1 thing in photoshop. I forgot to texture one of the wires (left vertical one in the center) so I did some copy past action to conseal it. I didnt have time to re render or I would have.
Just make something oversized or a whole bunch of somethings.
Just to clarify for those taking part in this one, in photography, Macro is a setting/mode in the camera which allows the lens to focus on objects very close to the lens (i.e. - let’s say 2cm rather than 1m - generally indicated with an icon of a flower on modern cameras). So, a macro lens is used to take take ultra close-up shots (usually) of tiny objects, surfaces etc. All those super close ups of insects, flowers, nuts and bolts etc are “macro” shots.
I guess the name came about because macro photography makes small (micro) things look very large (macro). Due to the close focus range of this type of lens, a common visual feature is the pronuonced depth of field. So, blurring of deeper objects is quite prominent in most cases, and the larger world/background is usually unrecognizable other than as patches of colour and light.
Hope this gives some further idea to all the participants.
Drivers, start your engines! 
Samir
I’ll try
I might give it a try if I can come up with a relevant idea.
EDIT:
Here it is. Pure blender except for the caption. Done a bit quickly so I didn’t have the time to tweak a few things… Well, we’ll see.
Good luck everyone.
-IS-
A macro can also be a key or a combination of keys on your keyboard, that when pressed, makes the computer perform a series of operations.
For example, hotkeys in blender are really simple macros. They usuall don’t do more than one task, but they save you from 2 or 3 mouse clicks in a menu.
Ctrl-Alt-Del is another one, etc.
…but i think the great thing about this topic is the wide variety of possible interpretations. you could model a huge object, model a tiny object and make it look huge, or in some way model a programming/office suite macro… hmmm not sure about that last one…
or anything else that has to do with “macro”
and for the first time in a while, i have a really good idea. but since I’m going to the beer festival today, i’ll probably be too drunk tonight to get it done. but I’ll try anyway !
hmm. its too long ago since ive made something for a weekend challenge so:
Macroholder
and here it is:
The ring of Doom
http://gallery.mudpuddle.co.nz/albums/album10/ringwc.jpg
pure, fully made with blender exept the texture (paintshop).
Wow, many different meanings for this one, Order a placeholder on me, i’m officially entering this one, i’m going to try to get it done today because then I leave on a short trip to Texas on Sunday and won’t be back till during the voting time. So in a nutshell, I have to get it turned in today.
—edit
cancel
—edit
placeholder.
b01c
MACROscoscosciholder
I kept it simple this time, it was too warm this weekend to create something awesome.
I played a bit with stucci and other textures.
I am really sorry for breaking the 250kb rule, I noticed it too late, no time anymore to change it.
Here it is (please copy + paste):
http://www.freewebs.com/marcoscosci/Blender/WC_111_Macro.jpg
When I was young (9 or something), I was the boy with tiny marbles. Others had bigger marbles, and they counted for more points so that I had to score more marbles than the guys wit the bigger ones. I lost many times, with the result that I didn’t played much marblegames.
P.S. I was in Amsterdam last Saturday watching the European Championships speedcubing. It was really fun to see those guys solving their Rubix cubes in less than 20 seconds.