blog - May 0114

Sci-fi is approaching fast!

Some very interesting tech coming in the near future that's going to change how we interact with each other, and the world around us?

Is this the beginnings of the matrix?!?!?

On the game front:  latest Unreal tech demo of possible future game environments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjTQwZRUfb8

Now merge that with the Oculus, and there's a whole new meaning to an immersive experience, of any kind!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANSjwWomIJ8

Now, how about a 3D experience without glasses?  Might be a few years away

http://www.seereal.com

blog - December 1713

More links of coolness;)



the forefront anti-gravity?
http://themindunleashed.org/2013/11/anti-gravity-ball-by-mit-opens-new.html

cool short film of near future
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxmlOrVJVy8#t=87

my god, the forefront of more emersive VR - scary/fun?
http://www.artofvfx.com/?p=5658

beautiful waves!  Can't wait to go out!!!
http://vimeo.com/82052081

Funny commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WoM2bHfr48&feature=youtu.be

personal privacy display?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL_HAmWQTgA&list=UUeQEKFH31vvD-InkTGSvCrA

Macross Plus is near!
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120229-future-interaction-brain-control

blog - December 1213

cool S#*t people do!

wonderful!



http://www.popsci.com/article/science/pen-3-d-prints-bone-right-patients

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1242869/THE-WIDER-VIEW-Incredible-scenes-inside-fusion-plant.html

http://twistedsifter.com/

http://www.evolo.us/

http://constructedenvironment.com/

http://www.remontech.com/building-30-stories-in-15-days-modular-construction-with-the-broad-group/

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/

http://www.dezeen.com/

http://www.designboom.com/

http://www.gdargaud.net/Antarctica/WinterDCe.html

blog - november 0613

This amazing world within this vast universe

http://astrofotografen.se/auroraborealis.html

blog - july 2113

death of a water heater


The house was bleeding...


water.


Streams of it flows 

freely from beneath

the lips of the tired, 

one piece garage door.


streams stain the driveway 

as each find it's way 

to the gutter 

that will lead them to the sea





hmmm...

this looks grim.






The water heater hissssssed...






This one

is bleeding out.



internal fluids

flow...

endlessly




hmmm...

this could be costly.

oh, well, some fun stuff

http://www.core77.com/blog/materials/fords_new_freeform_fabrication_technology_produces_metal_stamped_parts--without_any_stamping_or_dies_25163.asp#more

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/yale_mecheng_students_build_bike_with_hubless_wheel_15986.asp

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/wrap_your_head_around_these_gears_21784.asp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8BYSSKNS5Ks#at=124

http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/12/4516884/nasa-test-rocket-component-made-using-3d-printing

http://www.nature.com/news/energy-production-causes-big-us-earthquakes-1.13372

blog - June 2613

I think I'm seeing some benefits of the "bare foot" style of running/jogging;

I feel more stable when I walk because I have strength throughout my entire feet.  

I'm not limited to what kind of shoes I wear, because if I can jog three to four miles "bare foot" style, walking for long distances on the pads of my feet are no longer as much of a problem, as if only limited to a heal-to-toe walk.  If the pads of my feet get tired, I can relax them and walk on the flat of my feet, or heal-to-toe.

blog - 062713

I feel this is a wondrous time.  

With all the new tech coming out and being researched, the potential for great breakthroughs in...what ever it is that people can think up.

I find the Oculus Rift VR goggles http://www.oculusvr.com ...yes, pretty big device to be put on your head, but the full immersion experience is almost there.  A co-worker brought one into the office and invited all who wanted to check it out, at his desk.  A test environment was on screen of a simple CG house near a cliff overlooking an ocean.  When the glasses are on, I believe I was in that CG space.  I can walk and look around using the left hand on keyboard for movement, right hand on mouse for horizontal pivot, and the head for vertical pivot - why they configured it that way seem odd, I would have thought to have all looking set to the headset, because it gets confusing.  Eventually, one gets a bit nauseous due to confusion of the brain with sense of sight and movement.  

First generation hardware and software, but the potential is there.  With flexible screens and the ability to capture 360 degree images, real or computer generated, we will have the ability to do a lot of things...good and bad.



How will we use such things?

A doctor is walking down the hallway of a hospital with a patient.  The doctor gives the patient a pill and instructs the patient to take it with some water.

"Here Mr. Doe, take this pill, it is the sensor that we will be using to examining what it is that might be bothering your intestines today."

The doctor and patient walks into a dimly lit, white domed room.  The room has nothing inside but a slim kiosk that sticks out of the ground at the center of the room.  The doctor and patient walks up to the kiosk.  The doctor touches the glass panel of the kiosk, and the oled wall panels slowly ramp up their brightness to a comfortable level.  The doctor, taking two pairs of light framed, clear glasses, and hands one to the patient, as he put on the second pair himself.  As the doctor continues to tap a series of commands, a section of the dome, at eye level, fades up an outline of a generic human figure, with all internal organs silhouetted within it's human frame.  Near the center of the figure is a slow pulsing green circle.

"That green circle, Mr. Doe, is the sensor pill that you took earlier.  It has located itself to the area that is causing you discomfort.  Shall we take a look and see what's making you uncomfortable?"

As the patient nods, the Doctor touches the panel and raises his hands, palm forward.  A quick flash of light swiped over his hands and the walls dim around the human outline.  As the lights dim, the doctor explains:

"That sensor pill in you, Mr. Doe, is transmitting real-time data to this room.  It is powered by the heat your body generates, and has an led light source, so we can see what going on around it.  We can control it's navigation through your system by a magnetic field tuned to that sensor."

With a few hand gestures by the doctor, the image of green circle, along with the human silhouette, expands to fill the entire room to, reveling what appears to be the patients' digestive track...yada, yada, yada



...anyway, something more interesting and fun

big data
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/heat-maps-tornado-hurricane-earthquake-201552371.html

pretty
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/female-surfers-beneath-the-waves-1371590640-slideshow/

"

blog - May 2113

Big day today



Happy birthday man, hope you like your present.



Also, the reveal of the next gen xbox - xbox one

here's a "blipvert", heehee:  http://kotaku.com/the-entire-xbox-one-reveal-summed-up-in-1-5-hilarious-509197649

What can I say?  Looking at the presentation, I feel excited, but scared at the same time.

Feels like the initial momentum of a different age: The age the world becomes more connected and transparent, but only to those who can afford and understand it's nature.

1984?

skynet?



052213 update


Holy s**t!

a link was sent out today on the white papers at this years SIGGRAPH, an annual tech conference.  The only thing that comes to mind while watching was, can we say "holodeck"?  And the next things came in a wave of the possibilities for a lot of things - good and bad.  If these things are actually real, then we are in for an exciting ride for the the next few generations.  But of course, heehee, I can see that the profitability of these new innovations would be started by, none other then, the porn industry.  heehee

http://kotaku.com/the-entire-xbox-one-reveal-summed-up-in-1-5-hilarious-509197649

And for the haters of games who blame them for what crazy people do:

http://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_bavelier_your_brain_on_video_games.html

blog - July 2712

It's been quite busy around the studio.

People are starting to get stressed.

but...

there are things in this world that are inspiring and makes life and work fun:)
http://www.streetartutopia.com/?p=5982

http://vimeo.com/45784191

this one's kinda dark
http://vimeo.com/46304267

blog - 030213

Life; negative one



Today, is a very good day.



May there be more to come.



When the sky is blue,

the sun is warm,

the breeze, a gentle caress.


When there is shelter,

when there is food,

when there is drink,

to fill one's belly to content.


To always try,

to better one self,

to help those we can.


To know our strengths,

to know our weaknesses,

to working on them till the end.


To know that life;

is short,

and the experience amazing.


To understand how big,

and how small we are.


is an amazing understanding,

of how much we still don't fully understand.

blog - June 0712

WOW!


This years' E3 is showing a lot of new games going towards the "realism" in game environments. It's going to be a challenge to separate us from the rest of the pack.



Games have come a long way, and it's getting to a point where we can totally immerse ourselves into a world that's believable.  Just to show what's out there today, the latest Final Fantasy engine is running in real time, and can also be edited in real time as well!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UVX0OUO9ptU


and behind the scenes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q9xhFpuIMX4




I'm sure some rich guy will create a room with LCDs for walls, and a chair in the middle for playing games!!!

blog - June 0512

Saw something like this a while back.  Show's the scale of things in an interactive form, with tagged information!!!

Really puts things into perspective.



http://htwins.net/scale2/

blog - May 2412

dear friend

Happy Birthday!

blog february - 1712

With pre pro going on, there's just a lot of  spam going throughout the office.  Some are crap, but then again, there are some really interesting things that people are finding.

robotic, micro machines.  There's some really amazing things going on these days;

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/harvard-researchers-create-robotic-bees

and some dark humor...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4Am7oKBD3PU

blog - February 1312

Been a rough couple of weeks at work, and now's the final stretch for end of the week.

This is going to be another rough week as well.  Not so much at work, well, maybe, depends on whether everyone can get the work done , and hopefully without killing ourselves in the process.

The post card layout for next months' art show is done and ready to go to printers.  Good thing I'm a little paranoid about things such as this ( things that I don't want to f-up on).  These things always scare me because I don't want hundreds of printed material going out to the public with stupid mistakes on them that I have made.  That would be embarrassing.  So, with a final check, I found that I had left out the address of the gallery - now that would be a rookie move, and we can't have any of that.

The layout was all put together yesterday afternoon, but the layout was thought about weeks ago.  Since I sent out a "call for entries" email to the entire studio last year, I wanted an appropriate name for the show.  Took a little thinking but I think the title I chose works.

"facets"

I chose this name because I see the studio as a "diamond in the rough".  A lot of talented and passionate people who love what we do and wants to be the best at it.  Like facets of a diamond, that gives it it's brilliance and sparkle, so does the people that make up this studio.

We have people from all departments joining in the show, so it's not just artists.  We have audio, lighting, programming, and even the head of the studio, he started as an artist way back when.

I don't want anything to go wrong.

And, so, I think I'll leave the final check of the post card layout in the morning before sending it out, when I'm not so tired from a full days work.










one...


must...


paint...


paint...


paint...

blog - February 0812

I feel good about myself and the work that I've been doing today.  Was totally struggling with the platform, and the ad didn't like it much, I can tell.  Hell, even I was not happy with the results.  I don't know.  I'm just not getting it down.  This snow thing is killing me, but at least I 've learned a bit more about the "tool", what it's limitations are in terms of making organic terrain - it's a b....


The UV tool's a bit primitive, but that's also what makes it powerful.  It's fast in creating a "white box" environment with simple building blocks, literally.  And to make details, cut tools that slice, slice and remove half, cut and retain both haves.  Simple rotate tool, and some other basic functions.  In the hands of an experienced designer, one can create a fully functional "block world" environment, along with player start, lighting, scripting, and most important - collision - built into the game and running in a few minutes.  Now that's what's important in the development world - fast iterations.


Thank goodness the parting of ways with making worlds in a 3D package.  Talk about a waste of time.  Nothing is more of a waste of time to me than creating collision for everything in the level environment.


I got better and more important things to do than creating collision boxes for every little change that happens during production, i.e. constant adjustments of the environment to fit better game play "flow" that the designers laid out.  Adjusting anything twice would not be my idea of being productive.


So, today is a good day.


Let's hope more come this way.  I sure as hell need it:S

blog - january 2112

In at work on a Saturday.  It's been a long while since I had to work on a Saturday.

I guess the holidays are truly over...sadness, haha.

But when alpha's here and I'm behind on my workload, guess what, time to get it done.  It's just that I'm not that into work right now.


That's gota change.


The paintings are starting to take shape, and I really want to put more time into them.  It would be nice to quit and just paint and work on projects, but can't do any of that without a job - I am truly grateful for that.  A lot of people are out of work these days, and the jobs are fewer and far between.

The show's another month away and there's still so much to do; Have to start figuring out the framing of the paintings.  How much wood to get, what kind?  I think I'll try birch this year.  They're a little cheaper without looking cheap when finished, that's always a good thing:)  Going to need to buy glass as well, because the paintings will not be dry by day of hanging.

Have to start thinking about the layout of the post cards that's required for the show: five hundred, minimum, probably will need to print out two thousand, depending on how many people want to take for themselves to send out.

This show should be pretty good.  There's going to be a wide variety of pieces; drawings, paintings, sculpture, prints, and photos, maybe even something digital.

Which is why I need to get the new router table set up asap, so i can make the frames and other trim work more efficiently and save the one thing that will not slow down - time, haha.

This will also speed up the completion of the closet work space; need to get the back board/table extension put it.  Lighting solution.  floor boards and base boards, to match the ones made for the hallway, installed.  Then a storage bench that works double duty as storage for closet stuff and a chair for the table.

So many things need to get done.


I feel my time is running out.

blog - january 1012

The weather's been pretty good this past week.  Really helps out with the moods.  The air is pleasant, not to hot or cold. 


Perfect.

Keeping myself busy, so as to not think too much - just do.

The seven paintings are in a good state of under painting.  Still needs another few passes before going tighter with the details.  Hopefully I can pull this series off.  Not a whole lot of time left.

Get my affairs taken care of and then maybe have a long rest.

blog - december 2611

Finally started working on the paintings for next march.  It's been a downer since the start of the holiday season, so I've been procrastinating for a while.


I think this might be a little ambitious, but there's going to be seven pieces going on at once for the next two months; six for the show and one for a friend that I did a trade with - I think that one's coming along nicely.


I've decided that there will always be a Buddha painting in every series of paintings I do from now on.  I guess I'm going to have to do more Buddha photography on my travels to Asia somewhere.


Today's the day that all the panels were penciled in and ready for under painting.  Two have already been started.


As always, oils takes a while to paint.  This is both a blessing and a curse; a curse due to the drying time, and a blessing because it gives me time to look at the paintings with fresh eyes every time I go back to paint.

blog - November 2211

"When it rains, it pours"

Shanghai airport, 6, November:  While getting ready to get on the flight back home, I wound my ear buds around my iphone and placed it in my coat pocket.  It was not until the plane was ready to take off when I reached for the phone in my pocket, getting ready for some music.  Much to my dismay, the phone was not present in my coat pocket.

Crap...

It's gone...

I looked around the seat, hoping that it just dropped out, but to no avail.  Strange enough, I was not extremely upset.  Just sad, and annoyed at myself.  I lost not only my phone with all the journal entries written down for this blog of the past week and a half, lots of photos that I wanted to use for paintings, but also Amy's phone card that she had for a very long time - that's the most upsetting thing.  I don't mind so much loosing, or breaking my own stuff, but loosing or breaking other people's stuff that's under my care really sucks...


Next is the ipod shuffle - along with a new set of MW3 bullet ear buds.


If that's not enugh, I find out that the reason why my computer at work is sooooo slow is due to a failing hard drive - wonderful.  At least I finally know why it's so slow, thought I was going crazy:S


Disappointed.


Oh, well.