Links

My Cafepress shops can be found at:
http://shop.cafepress.com/jeff-thomann

My Zazzle shops can be found at:
http://shop.cafepress.com/jeff-thomann

My Turbosquid shops can be found at:
http://www.turbosquid.com/Search/Artists/mastermesh

This page is reserved for links to websites, online tools, and other things that I find to be extremely useful, and that I think that you might find useful too.
========ROKU CHANNEL LIST=========
http://jeffthomann.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/roku-channel-names-and-various-podcast-urls/

=====VIDEO CREATION AND EDITING=====
http://camstudio.org/ – Cam Studio is a FREE screen recording device. It can actually be used to do program tutorials too where you record your own voice. 3d Buzz has been using something like this for a long time. I only recently started using it to capture Entropia Universe stuff. I might use it for other stuff at some point in time, maybe even doing some tutorials about Entropia Universe.

Virtualdub – a Free movie editing software. Make sure to use compression settings if you do use it though since uncompressed video in Virtualdub is usually full of a lot of unnecessary bloat. http://www.virtualdub.org/ A lot of people use FRAPS to do this sort of stuff, but FRAPS is mainly aimed at gaming only, so is not that great for general video work, and also it’s not free (unless you like seeing a watermark)

=====ENTROPIA UNIVERSE LINKS=====
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=thMcAAtxcvmLaLVOhcXpLmg&output=html – Entropia Universe Estate directory. This is a little google doc that I created that anyone can edit. It’s a bit easier to edit than entropedia.

http://jdegre.net/pe/unlocker.php - Entropia Universe Chipping Optimizer.   This tool gives you a rough estimate of how much it will cost for you to chip up your avatars skills to the level you want to be at.

In Entropia Universe, unlike other MMORPGs, your avatar’s skills can be implanted and extracted so you can buy new skills or sell off the ones  you have.  It’s very similar to the way that Neo learned Martial Arts skills in the Matrix Trilogy.

http://www.candyman.se/pe/bobthebuilder/v2/- Bob the Builder’s website about crafting in Entropia Universe. This tool is amazing! It lists every blueprint in game and gives you details on which prices things are, etc.

http://jeffthomann.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/lists-in-entropia-forum/ – List of link to lists in Entropia Forum that I started. I’ll add more to it later.

Entropia Forum is what I consider to be the best current online forum for issues related to Planet Calypso, and all of the Entropia Universe. It is run by 711, i.e. Neomaven. He’s a long time veteran participant of Entropia Universe. One of the main reasons this forum is hotter than most other forums about Entropia Universe at this time is that FPC and Mindark, the folks that run planet Calypso and all of Entropia Universe, have some memberships on the forums here and pay a lot of attention to the community concerns posted in here. That gives folks with avatars that pay attention to the forums here a little bit of a direct communication line to the guys behind the scenes that make the virtual universe a reality.

Entropia Tree View is a very nice little website tool that helps you keep your inventory organized in Entropia Universe. You simply copy your inventory list from Entropia Universe’s Website in to the window and the Tree View creates a neat tree view of your inventory that lists all items in containers together in one location that you can easily check on or off to control the little text form created. This makes sorting out your inventory infinitely easier than trying to cut and paste your inventory line by line to sort out which items are in what box, storage, estate etc. Thank you very much for this amazing tool Snow Leopard. You have saved me and probably a lot of other people from a huge amount of headaches, and probably carpel tunnel!

=====FREE-TO-AIR SATELLITE RECEPTION LINKS=====
http://jeffthomann.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/free-tv-list/ – My list of Free TV related stuff. I’ll add more to this list over time, so you might want to book mark it.

Satelliteguys.us is one of the best, if not THE best forum online about Free-To-Air Satellite (FTA). If you don’t know what that is – go read the forums some. Free-to-air satellite reception is reception of satellite tv channels (and sometimes other signals too) that are NOT encrypted. If you descramble encrypted channels, you are usually breaking the law in a manner that is typically called “hacking” by the FTA community – especially if you are receiving pay tv for free, which the pay tv companies, and the FTC do not want you doing, and can and will do things to stop you from doing that, including but not limited to trying to fry your hardware and/or get you hit with massive fines and/or jail time… Satelliteguys.us is one of the few places online that openly discusses the hobby of FTA and has a very anti-hacking stance. Everything discussed in there is done in a legal and ethical way! Kudos to the folks running the site. I’ve learned a lot from the community there, and they help new folks with this fun hobby daily!… Please do check it out. There’s probably a lot more up there that’s available for free than you realize. (It is sad that Equity on 123 degrees west went under, which had, in my opinion some of the best free programming on FTA, but even with that loss, there’s still tons of stuff up there for free, especially if you are a sports junkie, love news feeds and news channels, and/or know a little Spanish or other language… )

=====CREATIVE CONTESTS LINKS=====
http://www.nanowrimo.org/
is a website competition that defines itself as a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. This is a yearly contest. Nano Wrimo is short for NAtional WRiting MOnt. If you’ve ever felt compelled to write a novel, but never gave yourself time to do it, Nanowrimo is for you. By forcing yourself to push through the process of writing an entire novel in one month you greatly enhance your ability to possibly actually get a novel written in some timely manner, and possibly get enough of it done to edit it later for self-publishing purposes, or so that you can send it to a traditional publishing company to get some feedback or set up a contract!… It’s creative writing at it’s best.

===== TUTORIAL WEBSITES=====
http://jeffthomann.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/illustration-tutorial-site-list/ – Illustration Site List. I plan on adding lots more to that list in the not-too-distant future as I find more interesting tutorial sites to visit.

http://www.3dbuzz.com is a 3d tutorial website and forum. 3D Buzz is a company dedicated to providing the world with quality technical education about 3D animation, programming, game design, and much more. They have been producing training videos since 2001, always pushing the envelope in the development of informative lessons with an engaging and personable format, in which they try to make the viewer feel more like they’re involved in a classroom discussion with an energetic teacher as opposed to being stuck in a dry, uninspired, run-of-the-mill training video. The name for the site comes from a nickname of the “Buzz” for Jason Busby, the President and CEO of the company. Jason and his team developed the concept of the Video Training Module (VTM)s, which are video training sessions that combine a classroom-style learning experience with enthusiastic and thorough explanations, making the viewer feel as if they are participating in an actual classroom experience. Many years ago, when the website first started, they actually sent out physical cds to anyone that requested them since the world was mainly still on dial up. Today, most if not all of the videos are delivered over the internet from the 3d buzz website. Many of the VTMs are absolutely free to download with a free member account. More advanced topics have higher fees involved, but are still very economic.

http://www.jerrysartarama.com/art-lessons/free-art-instruction-videos.html – Jerry’s Artarama has some free art video instructions on it’s website. I have only bought a few things from Jerry’s before. If you ever buy 10 foot rolls of canvas from Jerry’s, you should probably actually go there to buy. I bought some many years ago and had it shipped. A big semi pulled up in front of my parent’s house (I was still living with them back in college when this happened) and the driver gave me a delivery bill for something like 300 dollars! Shipping on heavy stuff like that WILL kill you if you do it too often.