Friday, December 29, 2006

Friday December 29, 2006

Hello again! We’re nearing the end of the year and if December is a time of remembrance then January is a time of forecasting and speculation. A lot of people feared the onset of 2000 and the “millennium bug”, but New Year’s Day arrived on time and we were little the worse for it. “1984” (written in 1948) gave a grim depiction of the world without human rights, but much of that dark, dystopian theme has been diluted as the backdrop for the first Apple Macintosh Computer commercial, or as the title inspiration for cheesy reality TV. It may be of some ironic historical significance that Ronald (Bonzo) Reagan was in office during that fateful year, but that’s a matter of political taste. “2001: A Space Odyssey” gave us a marvelous vision of interplanetary space travel and near-sentient computers but both of those innovations are still years or decades off, giving lie to the title. “Soylent Green”, the Sci-Fi and culinary classic, had most of civilization falling apart around Y2K, and a previewed a mass consumer product only slightly less distasteful than Hot Pockets. The “Mad Max” films and “Waterworld”, while violent and silly, don’t give us a whole lot of time before the end of the happy trail due either to societal collapse or global warming. The point of this week’s exposition is that the future is whatever you make of it, and that is neither entirely good nor bad. Our choice is whether we live as if we’re living through the end of time, or simply living and trying to make it a better life.

This week’s picture was created using Project Dogwaffle
Click on the picture to get a full-sized view

The loops of the week were created with Orion Pro.

The website of the week is the 30 Second Bunny Theatre, wherein you'll find 30 second re-enactments of famous films acted by bunnies.

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Have a Happy New Year and Bye for now!

Friday, December 22, 2006

Friday December 22, 2006

Seasons Greetings and Welcome Back! Gaming has been ongoing obsession and this week I’ll share some of my favorite older PC game titles. When I say older games, I don’t mean the unplayable turkeys but the true gems that were hits in their day. There are a couple of good things about scrounging the bargain bin or the local used store for computer games. First off the price is usually a lot less than the latest titles, mostly under $20 US. Second, is that the older stuff has lower system requirements, which improves your odds of playing straight out of the box. That is a good thing because I can’t always afford to upgrade CPU, memory, or video to accommodate the latest game. My favorite fantasy role-playing title is Neverwinter Nights, which offers some epic adventuring and a complete kit for creating your own quests. Real-time strategy players can try Command and Conquer: Generals and the Zero Hour expansion pack. The units and weapons in C&C Generals are a blend of the current military hardware and sci-fi ultra high-tech. If you like a bit of fantasy mixed with your strategy then you can’t do much better than Age of Mythology, with its unique blend of ancient armies and colorful myth units. Star Wars: Battlefront represents one of those amazing chocolate and peanut butter moments in PC gaming history. Combine the key elements of Battlefield 1942 and the Star Wars Universe and you get a sweet, gooey FPS that is actually fun to play. Don’t get me started about the cathartic aspects of "sanctioning" Jar-Jar Binks
.

This week’s picture was created using POV-Ray for Windows
Click on the picture to get a larger view
The loops of the week were created with Orion Pro.

The website of the week is the Darwin Awards, which seek to prove old Charles Darwin's theory by citing examples of extraordinary human folly.

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!

Friday, December 15, 2006

Friday December 15, 2006

Salutations All! We’re at the mid-point of December and nearing the start of winter (or summer for those in the southern hemisphere). In honor of Beethoven’s birthday, the weekly topic again turns to music and its making. The recommended music creation software of the week isn’t a single application, but an entire collection of highly functional music programs, plug-ins, and samples. All these goodies come bundled on the Computer Music monthly magazine DVD-ROM, which sells for about of $15 in the US. That right compadres, essentially everything you need to learn to make music on your computer is included for less than a couple sawbucks. The suite includes the Computer Muzys software studio and the CMusic sequencer, as well as some cool VST instruments and effects. In addition to all that gratuitous goodness, Computer Music also packs a whole bunch of loops and instrument samples onto each and every monthly cover disk. The programs run on Windows (CMusic requires Windows XP) or Mac, and are quite stable. If your local newsstand or bookshop doesn’t carry Computer Music, have a look on Ebay for back issues. The one drawback I’ve found is that the Computer Music programs are slightly less intuitive and easy to use than some others I’ve used. Having mentioned that minor bummer, I’ll leave it for you to try it or buy it.

This week’s picture was created using Project Dogwaffle
Click on the picture to get a full-sized view

The loops of the week were created with Orion Pro.

The website of the week is MythologyWeb, which as the name suggests is devoted to mythology, folklore, and legends.

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!

Friday, December 08, 2006

Friday December 8, 2006

Greetings and TGIF! This week the topic is graphics and I’ve got an application to recommend. Anim8or is a Windows program for creating your own 3D animations, though it can also be used to render individual images. Almost everything you need to make you own ‘toon is included, from modeling tools, to a sophisticated scene editor. There are a ton of cool features, and more are added with each update. And what’s the price for all this concentrated coolness you ask? Try zero bucks. That’s right, it’s a free program and you can’t get much cheaper than that. Anim8or is an excellent way to learn the finer points of computer modeling and animation before trying a full-featured commercial program. Give it a test drive and let me know what you think.
A Wikipedia article on Anim8or can be found here.


This week’s picture was created using Anim8or
Click on the picture to get a full-sized version



The loops of the week were created with Orion Pro.

The website of the week is PVP, which has become one of my favorite web-comics. It helps to either be a gamer, or to know a gamer to get most of the jokes.

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!

Friday, December 01, 2006

Friday December 1, 2006

Hello all! It’s the first day of the last month of the year and a time for transition all around. The topic for this week is computer programming and the focus will be on one very cool utility in particular. Crimson Editor is a nice Windows application for the rather prosaic task of source code editing. I’ve found Crimson Editor to be a particularly good match for Euphoria, and FreeBasic, and I’ve even used it for a bit of HTML editing. You can assign macros to handle common functions such as compilation and organize your source code into projects. It’s a compact program (1224kb), it’s very stable, and it’s free (!), but donations are accepted. The downsides are that it’s only for Windows and it may be moribund, since the last update was back in September2004. This program is well worth a look, especially if your programming language of choice doesn’t have an IDE of it’s own. A Wikipedia article about Crimson Editor can be found here.

This week’s picture was created using POV-Ray for Windows.
Click on the picture to get a larger view

The loops of the week were created with Orion Pro.


The web site of the week is the Marvel Database Project a wiki devoted to everything about Marvel comics. It’s a feast for the inner fanboy (or gal).

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!

Friday, November 24, 2006

Friday November 24, 2006

Hello again! The wheel of time rolls slowly on and we’re near the end of yet another week. The day following Thanksgiving in the US is the official start of the holiday shopping season. In keeping with that thought, my topic for the week is places to find a bargain. Ebay is unquestionably the biggest online auction site in the known universe. There are indeed deals to be had for the wary buyer if you’re willing to spend a bit of time searching through the large listings of items for sale and to deal with the uncertainties of the bidding and auction process. The uncertainty part can be minimized a bit cause a growing number of Ebay sellers offer a “Buy it Now” option through which you can pay a fixed price. There are also a number of Ebay stores offering items for sale at a fixed price. If music is your passion, then you should check out Musician’s Friend, where you’ll find all manner of gear and accessories at good prices, and reasonable shipping fees. PC and techie stuff is fairly easy to come by here in LA, but if you’re living in an area that isn’t served by a half dozen big box retailers, then you might give the Computer Geeks a try. Whether you’re online or off, remember the axiom “caveat emptor” (let the buyer beware) and that goes double or triple for online buys. Good luck and happy bargaing hunting, and let me know about any overlooked shopping sites of interest.

The picture of the week was created with Daz Bryce 5.
click on the picture to get a larger view of it...
The loops of the week were created with Orion Pro.


The website of the week is this truly silly page featuring a number of animated pictures of cats, bouncing their heads in time to the music on their headphones.

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!

Friday, November 17, 2006

Friday November 17, 2006

Welcome back! Happy Birthday greetings go out this week to Lego master Brent! We’re going to delve a bit deeper into the rich field of computer graphics this time with yet another nifty program for your perusal. The cool tool for this week is img2avi, a simple program for turning your picture files into an AVI video file. Img2avi is easy to use, free, and works very nicely. On the downside it’s for Windows only. My favorite feature is the “sort”, that automatically arranges your pictures in alphanumeric name order. Give it a try and let me know if you think it’s a winner or a thanksgiving turkey.


The picture of the week was created with Project Dogwaffle and Anim8or
click on the picture to get a full sized view


The loops of the week were created with Orion Pro.

The website of the week is Harmony Central, a site with all kinds of resources for musicians. Be sure to check out the extensive review sections. Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it. Bye for now!

Friday, November 10, 2006

Friday November 10, 2006

Hola and welcome back! The topic for this week is music, and I’m going to focus on one of my most frequently used music creation programs. Each week I post a few choice music loops on this page, and the software I use to build most of those loops is Orion Pro. Orion Pro is a virtual studio, which is to say it’s an application that provides all the tools needed (except talent) to produce a piece of finished piece of music. One of the truly powerful features of Orion Pro (as well as most other modern music software) is the ability to expand the program through the use of plug-ins. A plug-in is a small program that serves either as a instrument or an effect. All this power and ease-of-use comes with a price (about $100 USD) but it trumps any free/open-source program I’ve tried, and comes with excellent support and a very generous update policy. There is also a premium “Platinum” version, loaded with even more cool goodies and raw power.

The picture of the week was created using Project Dogwaffle.
Click on the picture to get a full-sized view.



The loops of the week were created with Orion Pro.

The website of the week is the Straight Dope, wherein you’ll find almost all the answers to life’s questions.


Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Saturday November 4, 2006

Fall has fallen, and autumn proceeds apace. I'm a day late for this post cause blogger had issues yesterday, but it looks like it's all better now. Computer programming is both a vocation and an avocation for me, and this week the focus is on a programming and specifically on a programming language. Euphoria is a fast, easy to use, interpreted language that recently has gone open source. Euphoria has a very active and helpful community of users providing support and writing all kinds of applications and libraries. I’ve written a number of programs in Euphoria that you can check out here. My main contribution to the Euphoria saga has been the SDL/Euphoria project: a series of programs for using the SDL graphics/multimedia library with Euphoria. Any programming language whose name is synonymous with “joy” deserves at the very least a try, especially when it’s free.

The picture of the week is a screen shot of an animated Euphoria/SDL demo.
Click on the picture to get a full sized view.

The loops of the week were created with Orion Pro.

The website of the week is a page containing the fables of Aesop and the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen as well as other fables and short stories. Nearly everyone knows the tale of “Tortoise and the Hare”, but I find the obscure fables far more compelling and fascinating.


Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!

Friday, October 27, 2006

Friday October 27, 2006

Greetings All. It’s nearly Halloween and time for some scary and fun stuff. My favorite author in the horror genre is Stephen King, the prolific scribe of various novels and stories including: Carrie, The Shining, Salem’s Lot, and The Dead Zone. Just about all his works are good reads but they contain a fair amount of violence and gore, so be wary if you’ve a sensitive disposition. If you want a good dose of laughter to offset some of the seasonal chills then find a copy of “Young Frankenstein” on DVD. In Young Frankenstein Mel Brooks has created a near-cult classic that is still remarkable for its comedic timing and slapstick sensibility. You can view the IMDB entry on Young Frankenstein here.

The picture of the week was created using Anim8or, a free 3D animation program. I’ll have a more complete review of Anim8or in a future post. You can check out the Wikipedia article about Anim8or here.
Click on the picture to get a full sized view.

The loops of th
e week were created with Orion Pro.

The website of the week is C.K. Lester’s Euphoria site. Euphoria is an interpreted programming language with a small but dedicated following. It’s become my primary language for personal projects, and has even found it’s way into some applications for work. The Wikipedia entry for Euphoria is here.

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it. Bye for now!

Friday, October 20, 2006

Friday October 20, 2006

Happy birthdays this week go out to Jana Z and Georgie G. The topic for today is graphics and how to create them on your PC. You can find any number of free paint programs but I like the free version of Project Dogwaffle. PD offers a wide array of tools for painting and animation, and is available in a full-featured commercial version. You can check out the Wikipedia article on PD here. PD is definitely worthy of a test drive, or better yet, turn your kids loose on it and see what they can create.

The picture of the week was created using Project Dogwaffle.
Click on the picture to get a full sized view.

The loops of the week were created with Orion Pro.

The website of the week is MP3.com.au, the premier free music download site in Australia. You’ll find a huge collection of songs there from independent, unsigned and rising artists, all free to download and play. You can listen to the songs that I’ve posted on MP3.com.au here at my mp3.com.au page.

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it. Bye for now!

Friday, October 13, 2006

Friday October 13, 2006

The topic for this week is creating music on your computer. Depending on your operating system and budget you can spend quite a lot or very little on music software. The style or genre of music you play will also affect what choices you have. In general I tend to prefer free or inexpensive software, but that route can be tricky for a novice computer user or musician. One of my favorite free tools (open source) for music creation is Audacity. You can use it to record audio from a microphone or instrument plugged into your PC sound card, edit and apply effects, and save your creation. The program is easy enough for kids to use (I know of one 9-year old who loves it) and deep enough for a pro. Audacity works on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux/Unix. Give it a try, and give me some feedback if you like it (or if you think it’s crap). You can view a Wikipedia article on Audacity here. In future installments I’ll post other recommended music creation programs.


This week’s picture was created using POV-Ray for Windows, a cool 3D rendering program with a long history. A Wikipedia article about POV-Ray is here.

Click on the picture to get a full sized view.


The loops of the week were created with Orion Pro.


The website of the week is a web comic called Count your Sheep. It’s funny, gentle, and generally suitable for kids and wistful adults. The Wikipedia article about CYS is here


Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Friday, October 6, 2006

Let's try this again. I'm Mark AKA Gray Cat Whiskers and welcome to Mark's Digital Arts. I've decided to relaunch my web log because in the past it suffered from a lack of activity and interest. This time around I'll update more frequently and make shorter entries. The gist of “Mark's Arts” is still all forms of digital arts including music, graphic arts, and computer games programming. There will also be reviews of the artistic /creative programs I've tried and links to some cool sites.


Each week I'll have some loops to download. Loops are short musical phrases that can serve as building blocks for longer compositions. In future installments I'll discuss how to assemble loops into songs. This week's loops were created with Orion Pro and are distrubted as freeware:
This week's loops are no longer available.

I'll also post a picture each week. This week's pic was created using Project Dogwaffle, a nice paint program available in free and commercial versions.
Click on the picture to get a full sized view.

Comments, feedback and suggested sites to link to are welcome.
That's it for this time. I'll be back in a week or so with some more artistic and entertaining stuff. In the meantime, have fun!