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Friday October 10, 2008
Salutations! It's Friday night and once more I'm back with the usual mix of tech and creativity. The topic for tonight is web design and the focus will be on CSS (cascading style sheets). CSS were designed to add greater style control and to HTML web pages. Style is the colors, spacing, and fonts used in a web page, and CSS is all about controlling style. With style control you can create a web document that is far less generic and more artistic. I've been learning CSS and have embarked on a rewrite of my personal web site using style sheets. You can directly embed CSS style tags in an HTML document or you can link to an external file that contains all your CSS styles. With CSS you can design a web page with greater precision than is possible with plain HTML code. Everything works fairly well though I've found a few minor problems with Internet Explorer that don't occur when using Mozilla Firefox. Your mileage may vary based on which browser you use. You can learn more about CSS at the CSS Site. If you're looking to move beyond the basic functionality of HTML give CSS 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 rhythmic synthesizer parts.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
Friday October 3, 2008
Hello and Welcome! I'm back with the weekly dose of computerized merriment and artistic commentary. The topic this week is music and the focus is a on a great free sequencer. A sequencer program is the heart of a virtual music studio, in which you can record, arrange and edit compositions. Sequencers range from free trackers to costly and capable professional systems. I've advocated free and open-source software from the beginning of Mark's Digital Arts but I hadn't found a solid music sequencer with all the bells and whistles for zero bucks. Then this past week I stumbled onto MU.LAB from Mutools. MU.LAB comes in two versions; a slightly limited (6 tracks and 16-bit mixdown) free version and an “unlimited” version for a rather reasonable 50 Euros. MU.LAB free covers all the basic necessities (audio and MIDI, recording and mixing) and some advanced features (VST plug-ins). As will all music software you'll have to devote a little time to learning it but there is a complete HTML online manual and some short tutorials available at the Mutools site. The interface has a slick look and there is an included synthesizer instrument and some effects. I'm still experimenting and learning MU.LAB free so I'll have to save the detailed judgment for another day. Suffice for now to say that MU.LAB free is the only free music application I've found that approaches the sophistication of commercial offerings. Stay tuned for more about this intriguing and excellent free find.
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 synthesizer sequences.
The book of the moment is Teach Yourself PHP and MySQL. Any computer book with a black cat on the cover gets my attention.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
Friday September 26, 2008Greetings! It's another warm Friday evening and I'm back with my weekly report of creative and fun stuff. This week the topic is graphics and the focus will be on vector drawing applications. The distinction between drawing and painting programs is whether they're vector or pixel based. Pixel paint programs draw and store everything as pixels, or tiny colored dots. Vector drawing programs draw and store pictures as dots, lines, curves, and shapes. The advantage of drawing programs is that they create artwork that can easily be scaled with no loss of detail. It's helpful to have at least one vector art application in your tool kit. Inkscape is a cool open-source vector drawing program with lots of features and excellent support. If you have a slightly bigger budget you can try Corel Draw 9 (or later). Corel Draw has a wealth of features and there are lots of tutorials online to help you learn. The remaining vector drawing program in my arts arsenal is OpenOffice.org Draw. OO Draw is the drawing component of the excellent Open Office suite. The benefits of OO Draw are greater simplicity and good integration with the rest of the OO package. There are many other vector drawing applications available but these three are a good start. Whether drawing a business diagram or your next art illustration, give vector drawing a try.
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 dynamic drum loops.
The movie/DVD of the week was Burn After Reading, a dark comedy from the Coen Bros.
The book of the moment is CSS in Easy Steps by Mike McGrath.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
Friday September 19, 2008
Aloha! It's Friday once more and I'm here with the weekly dose of artistic doings and computerized chaos. The topic this week is animation and the focus will be on political humor. 2008 is an election year in this country and the the overall effect is like being caught in hurricane when you're downwind from a manure plant. There are some fun and funny animation satire sites out there and I'll share some that I found topical and timely. JibJab gained lots of attention and got some major press in the last few years. The cool cutout animation and great music make for some prime political parody. Political cartoonist Mark Fiore has posted a number of very sharp and appropriate animations on his page. I like clean and slick drawing style and the slightly left-of-center viewpoint. Kevin Kallaugher (KAL) is the editorial cartoonist for The Economist magazine of London. His animated offerings give us a glimpse of the American political system from the outside. I was particularly impressed with the 3D animations, but all the works show a fine sense of style and British wit. And that's about it for this week. Send me a link if you find any other places on the Net to view animations or humor in a political vein.
The picture of the week was created using Project Dogwaffle.
Click on the image for a full-sized view
The loops of the week are some expansive synthesizer parts.
The PC game of the week is MechQuest.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
Friday September 12, 2008Greetings and Happy Friday! We're on the verge of autumn and the evening is cooler. The topic for tonight is music and the focus will be on recreating the sounds of old instruments and computers. There's something about the limited sounds of yesteryear to get the old synapses firing. The synthesizer plug-ins listed here are all in VST format, so they'll work with the majority of modern Windows music program. For a real 1980s flashback you can download Ymvst, a nice Atari ST sound chip emulator, or 38911, which does a splendid job of recreating the sounds of the Commodore 64 SID chip. I never had the bucks for a hardware synth way back when, but thanks to the efforts of some gifted preservationists, I can play with a virtual versions of a Minimoog and an Arp2600. MiniMogueva and Arp2600va are highly detailed and produce some marvelous sounds. The next time you're putting together a track, try adding a bit of vintage vibe to your mix with these modern emulations.The picture of the week was created using Anim8or.
Click on the image for a full-sized view 
The loops of the week are some retro synthesizer blips.
The book of the week was Death be not Proud by John Gunther.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
Friday September 5, 2008
Hi again! It's another warm summer evening and I'm here with the weekly dose of artistic and creative doings. The topic for today is Graphics and the focus will be on UV mapping. I gained an interest in UV mapping after reading about it in a chapter from a book on creating digital dinosaur 3D models. UV mapping is a graphics technique in which a 3D model is projected onto a flat surface image. You can then use the 2D flat map to apply colors or textures to the faces of the original model without warping or distortion. UV maps can also apply to bumps, specularity or reflections. If your favorite 3D modeling/rendering application doesn't include UV mapping you can use the excellent UVMapper program. The free “classic” version of UVMapper is comprehensive enough for all but the most demanding work, while the “pro” version offers more features. I intend make use of UV maps in my future animated efforts and 3D scenes. Give it a try!
The picture of the week was created using Spatch and Bryce.
Click on the image for a full-sized view
The loops of the week are some junkyard drum riffs.
The book of the week was Modeling Digital Dinosaurs by Ken Brilliant, a step-by-step guide to creating realistic 3D prehistoric creatures.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
Friday August 29, 2008
Greetings and TGIF! I'm back on this fair if humid Friday evening with more interesting and creative stuff. The topic for tonight is music and the focus is making music with loops. I'm certain that most of you have heard the fairy-tale/fable Stone Soup. The basic idea is that a flavorful soup is created seemingly from stones boiled in a cauldron of water when in fact it is a collection of small contributions that makes the complete meal. With that lesson in community cooperation in mind I set out to assemble a short song from free musical components. The first place I looked for free loops was Acid Planet. Acid Planet offers a weekly selection of free loops called an 8-pack, which has 8 related Acid-ready loops and a project that uses them. You can get the current 8-pack from the Tools menu on the main Acid Planet page. The next stop in our search for free loops is Free Samples n Loops. There's a small but tasty selection of categorized loops to be had here. My soup pot is starting to look full so I need just a few more ingredients. You're in luck cause every week at this very location I offer a set of Acid-WAV format free loops in a handy zip file. I went through the now vast catalog of loops that have previously been posted and selected some fitting parts. I used Acid to sequence the loops and Sound Forge to finish the piece and that was it. You too can make a short song in about an evening from free components that you find on the web. Give it a try and see if you can better my effort at making soup from stones.
The picture of the week was created using Project Dogwaffle.Click on the image for a full-sized view
This week I'm sharing the short Stone Soup composition made from free loops. The file is an MP3 format download. The loops of the week will return next week.
The book/graphic-novel of the week was The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.
The movie/DVD of the week was The Terminal starring Tom Hanks.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
