more bookmarks…

Posted on May 30, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

bookmarks are also going up at http://jeffthomannsbookmarks.blogspot.com/ – actually I think that’s updated more often then the daily posts at http://mastermesh.wordpress.com/. I’ll leave both up for now since they serve a role for myself in finding links I want when I want them. I also can and do just use delicous.com sometimes, but this gives me a backup of that, and also gives me a way to share various random bookmarks with you. Most of the junk I look at is stuff that might not interest you, but on the other hand, it might. Usually I only bookmark something if theres some particular problem that I’m trying to solve and the link in the bookmark points me in the right direction. I also sometimes bookmark stuff that is various websites that I visit that I’m fairly certain are hard to find in google, yahoo, or other search engines, but that I want to go back and visit later for some reason or the other. Anyways, since these bookmarks are over there, instead of here, you can ignore them all together if you want… and they are not clogging up this blog making it a little unreadable like it was when I had feeds filling in this blog. I might do the feed thing again with blogs later for a similar reason I’m doing these bookmark blogs, but only time will tell.

delicious links…

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

I’ve already got my delicious, formerly del.icio.us bookmarks posting in a widget on this blog… Now I’m trying to do soemthing a little different, and start posting those to http://www.mastermesh.wordpress.com – since I don’t want to mess this blog up with what some might call spam. We’ll see how it goes.

fantasy stuff… role playing… virtual reality… art – back to the basics

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

I’ve been kicked out of Entropia Universe a few days now since Vista went kaput on my computer and I don’t have a restore cd that works. I hate HP for not putting the restore cd in the box when they ship it out and rely on a hard drive restore that may or may not work when you need it… and then they want you to pay them lots of cash to buy a restore cd that may or may not work since their blasted hardware is junk that relies on partitions on a hard drive that might get corrupted someday (which happened to me I think)…

I am trying to figure out a way to make Entropia Universe work under Linux, but it’s not promising. I got the installer to work fine under Wine, but now need to install Direct X on wine and a few other things, and even then, it still might not work.

In the mean time I’ve been reading some of my old art books, studying some old drawing books more, and also reading a lot of old role playing books and things. Future posts will probably have more scans of my drawings and paintings, but might also have some other more philisophical thoughts, thoughts on role playing, stage lighting, animation, and a number of other things. Being offline in the virtual reality I spend so much time in has started to get me ‘back to the basics’ on a variety of trains of thoughts that I had several years ago and wanted to follow through back then but didn’t because I got too distracted with this other “virtual world”… I enjoy fictional worlds as a means of escaping reality sometimes – but it’s very easy to take it overboard with a super hyper imagination and make that false reality in to your over-arching real reality sometimes… Its something we all do on some level – people think about their soap operas while they work… or maybe their comic books… maybe something else. We all have hobbies, and most of us don’t have the ultimate job that keeps our attention that we love so much that we never think of anything else — anyways, I’m getting back to the basics mentally and physically on a lot of various levels at the moment…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escapism

German social philosopher Ernst Bloch wrote that utopias and images of fulfillment, however regressive they might be, also included an impetus for a radical social change. According to Bloch, social justice could not be realized without seeing things fundamentally differently. Something that is mere “daydreaming” or “escapism” from the viewpoint of a technological-rational society might be a seed for a new and more humane social order, it can be seen as an “immature, but honest substitute for revolution”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match_moving

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match_moving – Since Voodoo is free, I might give it a whirl.

way back machine… motion capture from video…

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

funny how some keywords hit you years later and you find posts from yourself from long ago…

http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-208448.html

found that from this google…

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22pixel+tracking%22+%2B%22motion+capture%22&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us&sa=2

yep, that’s my post from 2005! Geesh… Too bad I didn’t keep up with trying to learn this stuff back then. I think I even created an open source project for this type of stuff, but it never went anywhere since I wasn’t great at programming and knew little about the algorithms and stuff needed…

What I was looking for back then, and that I don’t think anyone has created to date, at least, not cheaply… is a full scale 3d motion tracking system… What IS NEEDED IN 3D ANIMATION!…

D-Sculptor and programs like it use photogametry to calculate an images location based on a scale that’s below/behind the object being photographed. It uses the photos as textures to make a 3d model… the model is not very great as far as animation goes since it’s basically a static point cloud…

What needs to be done is someone needs to do something like that and make it so that the created model is animatable directly from the getgo- something that detects human forms, animal forms, etc… mixes and matches with bvh type files and fbx type files to make skeleton rigs that are ready to roll, and do all of this cheaply… and/or as open source/free…

What needs to be captured would be the base form, some math to change that in to a quad/plolygonal mesh that has skeletons inside… and even mix it to do motion blends and stuff… Rigging as things are now is still very old school for the most part and animators do most work by hand… we need to eventually get to where it’s all automated so animators can focus more on the craftmanship and the fine details that they usuaully only get to at the very end of projects now so that the craftmanship of the entire industry can go up a few notches…

motion capture cheap…

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

http://freemotionfiles.blogspot.com/2009/06/cheap-motion-capture-with-free-software.html

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22cheap+motion+capture%22&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us&sa=2

Yes, Chris, and anyone else who cares to read this. I did post this and the last few posts. This is NOT a robot. I usually bookmark this sort of stuff with del.icio.us but since I don’t have the toolbar for that installed on this computer, I’m just posting it the stuff here…

Believe it or not (yes, you probably do believe since I”m a bit nutty sometimes), I had a jogging suit with pom poms sewed on way back 6 or so years ago when I wanted to get in to this d-sculptor, imodeler, and greenscreen junk. However, way back then the computers I was using were way too slow to do much… Aura 1 used to be in Newtek’s ftp site for free. Not sure if it still is. Newtek is the company that makes Lightwave 3d… There was some sort of a pixel tracking thing in aura that could be exported to lightwave… so you could record motion and create paths for it in 3d. Now that I’m starting to get back in to 3d and stuff mentally, a lot of this old knowledge is starting to flood back in to my brain… interesting stuff.

I have a couple of 1000 watt spotlights that are typically used for construction jobs in my basement. I was going to use them to make a homebrew photo studio, or greenscreen studio a few years back. Not sure if I will do that or not… never used the lights yet since I’m not sure how safe they are (warning label on the side of the box talks about lead)…

I might use them to set up as cheap homebrew strobes to shoot my portfolio in the basement someday.

Need to clean out the basement someday before all of that can ever happen though, or before I can convert the basement in to a descent painting studio like I envision it to eventually be… (assuming I can find some way to ventilate it).

It’s still got quite a few things in it that is a bit unorganized from last year, when mother-in-law moved and father-in-law passed away, and we inherited quite a bunch of odds and ends that are now in storage in the basment…

interesting reading – dollies

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

http://cinevidproductions.com/Media/dolly.html

http://www.google.com/images?q=tripod%20%2Bdolly&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi

interesting reading – diy greenscreen

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

http://www.lifeisaprayer.com/articles/photography/diy-greenscreen

http://www.google.com/search?q=homemade+greenscreen&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1

http://blog.mindbites.com/how-to-make-a-homemade-green-screen/

interesting reading – 3d Scanning on the cheap.

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/how-to-build-a-3d-scanner-with-a-webcam-and-a-hand-held-laser-525466

I read this article a while back and actually tried something like it a year or three ago… actually gave me a reason to buy a laser level! 🙂

Using I-modeler and/or d-sculptor is much easier since you don’t have to mess with lasers and stuff. I might try to get in to this sort of thing at some point in the future again.

Using d-sculptor about 6 years ago, I created a 3d image of my sister and brother in law. They were kind enough to stand still long enough for me to shoot them about 30 times from different angles to make it work.

Back then, I did that using a blown up d-sculptor grid – version 1 – the version 2 grid is a lot harder to blow up – version 1 is just a square that’s cut in half – so the dots are much easier to put on a blown up thing… I used 4 blocks of hardboard (masonite) that were taped together with duct tape to do that, and I made the dots on there with white china market and black sharpie pen and permanent marker to make it visible from a distance.

Imodler is much harder to blow up since it uses a proprietory algorithm in how far apart the dots are… pain in the butt to print out a 6 foot wide thing on 8 and a half x 11 paper to blow up the imodeler – but believe it or not I tried that at one point in time, lol. If I do this sort of thing again in the future, I’ll set up the hardboard so that it has both the Imodeler and Dsculptor grids on it simultaneously so that I can make the 3d meshes in both programs using the same digital photos… as one might work better then the other and/or be more “professional”

At one point in time, I thought I could do this sort of thing as a part time job – sort of set it up to do 3d scans for people at county fairs and things to get the kids on 3d models that could be used to make 3d prints, modify to create avatars in 3d games that looked like the people scanned, etc. However, never pursued the idea too far since it takes so long to shoot the images and the model has to stand still. It could work with a single snap from a bunch of photos all taken at once, but that would require a lot of helpers and/or some sort of automated system similar to the rigs they use in Hollywood to do stuff like is shown on the Matrix I movie dvd… it’d be possible but difficult, and pricey… otherwise, it’s a slow process that requires the model to stand perfectly still. Getting children, or even adults to stand still is not always the easisest thing in the world to do…

computers are a pain…

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

Computers are a major hassle for us creative types. I’ve spent the last 48 hours or so doing a re-install of the operating system, a bunch of software, and on another computer making lots of backups of some dvds and cds with lots of creative works, both 3-dimensional and 2-dimensional from about the last 10 years!… electronic forms of communication are cool, but it’s awful that you can loose it all in the blink of an eye if any hardware goes bad. Backups are something you need to do, but they can be a major hassle that takes hours to do the more stuff you get over the years. Back is hurting from sitting here so long. Neck and shoulders are too since computer is not really at an ergonomic height for keyboard and mouse…

Does anyone know if a cheap midi-usb adapter works in making a music keyboard work with a computer that has no pci slots? Thinking about getting back in to doing a few musical things and having the power to do both midi as well as audio files would be helpful.

Imaginitive Flight – on this Bright Night

Posted on May 7, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

Zodiac was on attack,
——
so Amma got on,
red gown flowing.
——
The horse was pale
white, and warm

on this cold
and listless night.
——-

——
In the spire
there was a squire
who spied his heart’s desire.
——
Hooves of thunder
took her asunder
——
His heart
was constantly bleeding…

Yearning and seeking,
Seeking, constantly seeking.
——
——
The land was plundered
as the hooves thundered
——
——

The Cheshire cat
laid on it’s back

micheviously smiling,
always smiling

——
——
The stars aligned.
The time was fine

when they finally met
in the heart of the city.
——
——

——
Gooving and grinding
musical binding
——
mystical hair
in the air

bodies swaying
ever so lightly
——
celestial choirs,
rythmic squires
——
throbbing & bobbing
orange and reds

currelean blue
strobes went dead

in the moon’s
bright light
——
——
The zodiac attacked the crazy cat.
but the Cheshire keeps smiling.
——
——

——
They did conspire
near the bonefire

twisting and turning
yearning and learning

the two became one
dawning rays of sun

Cheshire went away
——

you know you are right – and wrong too.

Posted on May 5, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

shit nitty pops
sheenennenneybops
shin -n-nine eh pops?

This right here is why
lyrics cannot be done
without some notation…

notation that’s in rotation…

That’s right.

Yeah, yeah.

Sin -n- Nine
eh bops?

Sign and wine
eh pops?

Shit and Knit A Pop.
——————————–
Poems are visual.
Sounds are Lyrical.

Both can be hysterical.

Both can be read wrong
Both can have more than one meaning.

Welcome to the world of the artsy fartsy.

Here we shit and knit a pop
as we bebop
and
Shine and wine

We dine and wine and whine and shine
Studying Sine and why it’s different
then a nine.

Cheshire cat
must still be on attack
this Cinco de Mayo
=============================
Fives and Fives are not nines…
But they might just be a part of sine

Spelled S-I-N.

Is the sin a winning?

Maybe it’s whining…

or it’s wining and a dining?

Tomorrow there’s half a moon
no crescent any more… at least a night…

Maybe Cheshire is whining while logic is dining
and it’s a dying, at least for a night, odd delight…?
==================

It’s no wonder rock stars repeat, and repeat, and rinse and repeat again.
Logic is low jack and there’s no mo jack. Brain’s a burning and a spurning.

=====================

fighting with yourself is hard to do.
You know you are right…
and wrong too…

=====================
Brain fire
It’s a fire in the spire
the wheels are a turning

Bright Light
Flash of brilliance.gone in a minute.

Forgotten and long lost.
That’s why you got to WRITE IT DOWN!

Do it now… you crazy clown.
———————
A bunch of junk that you do thunk
but most gets tossed aside

that is art. Welcome to the far side.
It’s a bit bumpy and a bit lumpy…

It’s that leftover goo
flowing from you that most would like to see.

interesting gel, colorful hell,
maybe a joyous yell.

Creativ-aty
=====================
Dammo in the Jammo
Jibber and a Jabber
What’s going on?

Jinx and the Jonx
conspired a song

a bit of a sock hop
if you will in the
crazy beautiful hills.

Jamma approved
through and through

Rock did roll on-and-on
all through the night
and in to the day.

Mysterio walked
as he talked

on and on – and onandon.

Bab-y-lon did Jah-ba-on.
Jabber on and on –
and on and on

Crazy Arma did get it on.
gooving and a tubin.

They jabbered on and on
and on and on…

but not really…
not uni-verse-sally…

(Sally from the valley)

just locally…

and the groove went on
and on. Near the Warm bonfire
they did chatter and a clatter.

Stay tuned for more
after this commercial break.
======================
bzzz bzzzz bzzzz

nERVEs!

nEurons in ACTION!

eLeCtRoTHeRApY!
IT’S ELECTRIC!

bzzzzzz…

———————

Happy Cinco de Mayo.

creative bug done bit.

Posted on May 5, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

================
===Caffiene=====
================
Caffiene kills.
Caffiene heals.

Opens the mind.
Shakes and Grind.

Sleepless night
filled with fright

You know your hooked.
Urine smells like coffee.
=========================

It’s a no-go without the logo

==========================

The Art bug done bit. That is it. Time to be creative.

=============================

Signs from Heaven or from Hell
Only time will tell.

=============================
I browse in my under-trousers

Blue underlines appear in my browser
leading who knows where

Clickity Click
What a virus? Oh Wowsers!
=============================

==============================
You are just being silly.
Am I?
Yes you are.
Now where’s the ham and jelly?
==============================

================================================
=========HOURGLASS==========
================================================
Hourglass, hourglass why are you here?
Duh, the network is down.

Why is it down?
I got no idear.

Hourglass, hourglass, go away please.
There ain’t no way.
You got a virus that won’t make you sneeze.

Hourglass, hourglass, 8 hours have passed.
Now I’m headed home.

I’ll hide in your email,
and give you a blast.

Hourglass, Hourglass, now why are you here?
You have passed me to your home network my dear.
================================================

Talking in circles, the man did find the lady to ask questions.
She thought he was very smart and inquisitive.

Then one day she discovered the answers were nothing more than puzzles.
She got mad, left so sad. Hearts both were broken.

Such is the story of couples who walk and talk but do not listen.
Learn to communicate. It’ll save you both.

=================================
Number has changed. I have not.
I’m still here. Nothing to fear.

Blah blah blah
bleh bleh bleh

Onwards we go.
No money to blow.

The timing just might be right.
=================================

====================
Spend your life
spinning your wheels
Everyone says chill.

but I cannot.
I WILL NOT!

====================

===========================
Language is something.
Language is nothing.

Jibber and a Jabber
Collateral Tatter.

Creative clown
done left town

following after the clatter.

He done found
No one around

===
He and you alone
Alone in the dark
in a moonlit park

Smiling at
Cheshire Cat

It’s on attack
fighting the pack
of the Zodiac.

—
You know he’ll win
in the end.

Moon cycles turn
as they spurn.

The smiling clown
will wear the crown

staring from afar
as he sits upon his star

staring you down nightly
============================

Oh Lord!
What a Ward.

Used in vain.
It’s insane.

In the night,
In a fight,

even in Church on Sunday.

a few more…

Posted on May 5, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

————————————
===========CONFORM==================
————————————
Conform and get rid of your freedom.

Do things my way… the only way…
the way it’s always been done.
====================================

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
=======APPEAL===============
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
It can’t hurt to appeal.
Beg for more money.

You know you don’t deserve it,
nor does your boss!

but you do it anyways…
it can’t hurt to ask…
beg for more money…

Money they don’t deserve.

Money that they use
to make you serve…

Mammon is real and here now.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
+++++=========~~~~~
+++++dReAmS…~~~~~
+++++=========~~~~~
Living in the shadows
your dreams come out.

They are always beside you
but they don’t always shout.

They whisper silently
in your subconcious mind

Driving you ever closer
to the edge.

It is only when
someone you love
teases them gently

softly

that they begin to surface
driving you to become yourself
and start living your dreams.

one small sign of true love.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

=======================
Holy crap.
Screwed up so bad.
What are we going to do?

It’ll all work out.
It always does.

Maybe just not
the way you want it to.
========================