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Friday December 5, 2008
Cool December greetings! It's a rather quiet day here in the Gray Cat's loft. The topic for tonight is computer graphics and the focus will be on Carrara 5 Pro. I've mostly used and written about the Bryce 5 and Anim8or because they're both good programs and available as free software. I acquired Carrara 5 Pro as a featured free program on a 3D Now magazine disk, but it should also be available at a good discount because there is a later version. The application has always had something of a reputation as a good lower-cost alternative to some of the more powerful and costly 3D packages. I like the marvelous range of options and presets in C5P. You can create a 3D scene quickly using a wizard or roll your own from scratch. Every aspect of creating still or animation from modeling to finished rendering is included as are a number of sample scenes, models and textures. I like how easy Carrara 5 is to use and the high quality of the finished 3D art. It takes a good amount of learning and practice to get good results, but the training time is worth it. Another very cool feature is that Carrara will take advantage of the 2nd processor on a dual-core CPU when rendering. The only drawback is that Carrara doesn't have quite the same recognition as the bigger programs such as 3D Studio Max or Maya. C5P is a great balance between price, performance, and features. If you can get your hands on a copy, then be sure to give this excellent 3D application a try.
Next week: Mark's Digital Arts turns 100!
The loops of the week are some sample generated strings.The picture of the week was created using Corel Draw.Click on the image for a full-sized vie
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The DVD/Movie of the week was Ringers-Lord of the Ring Fans.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
Friday November 28, 2008Hello! November is nearly done and in a couple of weeks this humble web log will see it's 100th entry. That's right mi agigos y amigas, Mark's Digital Arts is hitting the century milestone and I'm already looking for some special way to celebrate the event. The topic for this week is shopping in honor of Black Friday and the big Thanksgiving Weekend. This year the annual retail shopping binge was far more understated than in years past. The current bleak economy meant fewer shoppers to tussle over the deals. I hit the stores fairly early in search of some gifts for family members and friends and as a seasoned bargain hunter I'd done my homework. Check the the online or newspaper ads for the best deals beforehand. Plan a route for which stores you intend to hit with the best deals and must-have items at the top. Be prepared for the inevitable disappointments if the items you want are sold out. This year parking and checkout were a breeze, unlike in years past when I'd have to park several blocks away from the store and wait in a long line to make the purchase. Circuit City, earned my dubious “bait and switch” award for having a number of full-priced DVDs and video games mixed into the bargain bin with the sale items. No wonder those guys are facing bankruptcy. I'm done with most of my gift shopping now and need to find time to write cards and wrap the Xmas goodies. And that's my report from the trenches on a rather quiet Black Friday. Feel free to send me any shopping triumphs or misadventures you might have experienced.
The loops of the week are some synthesized bass loops.
The picture of the week was created using Bryce.
Click on the image for a full-sized view
The book of the week is The Secret Man by Bob Woodward.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it. Bye for now!
Saturday October 22, 2008
Good Evening! Ugh, I'm late once more this week but hopefully this will be the last time for the year. It's Saturday night and I'm here with a fresh new entry, hot and straight out of the oven. I'm pressed for time this week so there won't be any new music loops and the entry will consist of an update of all my current projects. The experimental film group has cast an actress and I'm continuing to work on the music for the film. Work on the CSS enhanced version of my web site is moving ahead, though I seem to end up spending more time on graphic design then I'd like. I've also started work on some animated titles for new video project. I'll be back in about a week with more stuff.
The picture of the week was created using Bryce.
Click on the image for a full-sized view
The movie/DVD of the week was The Blues Brothers
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
Saturday November 15, 2008
Hola! It's Saturday night and I'm back with the belated hits and misses of the last week. The topic for tonight is music and the focus will be on composition. This week I've started in earnest on the score for a short film project that I'd been involved in. This is an entirely new challenge after only writing non-connected, self contained works. The first step was to start with the script. The most logical arrangement was to divide the story into 3 parts; beginning, middle, and end. The beginning part is orderly and regular. The middle suggested turmoil and growing chaos. The end would be broken down further into sub-parts, that all contain pieces of a greater resolution. The overall theme of the end is liberation through self-discovery. Based on those emotional cues, I started writing out chords and progressions. Major and bright 7th chords for the first, minor and unusual chords for the middle section, and complex chords for the finale. I'm still in the midst of creating this work, I'll post occasional progress reports as it moves and evolves. Stay tuned.
The picture of the week was created using Corel Draw.Click on the image for a full-sized view
The loops of the week are some metallic percussion pads.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
Friday November 7, 2008Warm autumn greetings! The topic for tonight are lists of art and creation that are the worst in their category. We're talking real bottom of the barrel sludge here so be sure to hold your nose as you wade in. I personally think it's harder to agree on the best examples then it is to name the worst. The first stop on our tour of the truly terrible is Web Pages that Suck. The intent of Web Pages that Suck is to help people improve their own web designs by showing examples of sites that,well, suck. Aside from sites that are only slightly ugly or hard to use there are a few standouts that are so bad they defy description. If movies are your thing then Wikipedia has complied a categorized list of what are possibly the worst movies of all times. Fate has been kind to me as that I haven't seen most of the stinkers on the list, but there are a few notable turkeys that I had the misfortune of catching. While album art has suffered with the demise of the 12” LP record, there is a site that lists the 100 worst album covers ever. It's a great site, the comments were funny enough to make the do a spit-take. The next site of interest is a list of the 25 worst sitcoms ever. TV situation comedy has always been one of my favorite types of programming, but the worst list reminded me of how many really bad shows have been produced. That's my list of the best lists of the worst. Check them out!
The picture of the week was created using Corel Draw.
Click on the image for a full-sized view 
The loops of the week are some spacious synthesizer pads.
The DVD/Movie of the week was Still Crazy. You need to have been in a band to appreciate some of the jokes but it's funny enough for just about anyone.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
Friday October 31, 2008Hello and Happy Halloween! The topic for tonight is films and we're going to talk about some great movies for the Halloween holiday. The first film on my short list is the original 1960 version of Psycho. There have been scary movies since, but few have come close to the impact and suspense of Psycho. In Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock created a cinematic touchstone that remains a standard for the horror genre. Another good film for Halloween is Hellboy, the 2004 film adaptation of Mike Mignola's amazing comic series. Hellboy is a marvelously unlikely hero and the film is visually amazing, filled with strange creatures and locales. The last recommended movie for our fantasy/fright fest is Shaun of the Dead. Shaun of the Dead is a dead on (no pun intended) parody of zombie movies with the few tenacious survivors under siege by hordes of the shambling brain-eaters. And that's about it for this Halloween. Try one of these films for some good thrills and laughs.The picture of the week was created using Bryce
Click on the image for a full-sized view
The loops of the week are some synthetic plucked string parts.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
Friday October 24, 2008
Greetings! It's Friday night and time once more for my weekly share of artistic and technical rants and ravings. The topic for tonight is graphic and focus will be on creating tiled textures. I've been making a number of seamless tiled textured to use as repeating backgrounds. Repeating patterns are also useful as textures for 3D models. To create a repeating pattern I usually start with a blank page of any dimensions. Next do some drawing or cut and paste images onto your blank slate. If your paint program has built in rendering you can use that feature to generate a semi-random pattern. Now it's time to make the picture seamless. Shift the image by about half the width and height. The “break” should now be visible in the middle. There are a few different ways to smooth the image. You can use a smear or smudge brush to blend the edges. You can also cut and paste small bits of the image over the edge area. Use your imagination and the tools in your particular art program. It's rather satisfying to roll your own tiled textures. Give it a try!
The picture of the week was created using Bryce.
Click on the image for a full-sized view
The loops of the week are some more dynamic drum parts.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
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