The compilation book that featured a page from my sketchbook arrived today. heres the page that they featured in it(SBP Limited Edition Vol IV- page 61) Click here to see my post about the sketchbook i did for this series. heres a video of the whole sketchbook
Did this model of a tank walker a few weeks back.. done with blender and rendered with Cycles heres the ochre coloured version then tweaked it a bit to create this center aligned twitter backdrop
In the recent year i've tried out 2 web gl portfolio providers including Sketchfab.com
they all give you a limited number of uploads/space and embed codes for the models that work in most blogs and a few of the cg forums out there..
to see what Web GL models look like in all their glory head over to Sketchfab.com
they seem to be the best service provider right now, with offerings of free unlimited uploads for all (as soon as they reach 20,000 users) and several other features for pro users.
was hoping for a long time that Opera Community would add support in the blog.. but anyway wordpress and other forums support it, so check it out yourself.
the embed codes that sketchfab provides are: iframe code bb code simple html
Was watching an episode of Person of Interest... in practically each episode they force pair the target's phone so they can keep tabs on them.. well i decided to see if there was actually any "consumer grade" products that would do something like that.. something fairly easy to get, affordable etc.
Found this android app that lets you read the incoming and outgoing sms on a target's phone. Its meant for keeping tabs on one's spouse or children.. but i'm sure there are plenty of people using it for other things
- detectives - law enforcement people
... - local vigilantes - stalkers let your imagination run wild!
its like something right out of Person of Interest or one of those types of shows. ok its not as elegant .. or have wireless hacking abilities.. but seems to get the job done!
heres a quick primer on how it works:
The app installs as a widget! so the victim will never see it in the app drawer.. it even gets past 'Advanced task killer' If the owner of the phone happens to see it in their widgets list and decides to place it on their homescreen.. it looks like this an innocuous box with the ambiguous words "Android Service"
All you have to do is install it when the phone is left unattended.. punch in your email id and a password.. and delete it from the homescreen. It will run in the background and uses verylittle system resources. from now on it will send out emails of all the sms messages to a server where you can access it using the email id and password you punched in earlier.
Its not free.. but then with an app like this you wouldn't expect it to be. Cost - INR 1,642.09 ($29.99) Check it out here
So i upgraded to Windows 8. decided to get it over with before they go back to regular pricing. currently it costs around INR 2000 if you do it online via digital download. Theyve made it quite easy to do.. you can even pay via paypal!
The installation was fairly simple except for a minor glytch in the beginning(read about it here)which i solved after a few minutes of googling.
Basically what I liked was the fact that one can install Win8 without having to wipe the drive and have to re-install all ones apps(and games.. including steam games) coz that would have been a deal breaker.
However all was not peachy. After the 2gb download it installed and then i configured my user account etc.. but there were some errors when i tried to access basic system utilities ..and the keyboard keys for "@" and " had switched.. so i restarted.. and its all fine now.
Started using the system. I used Blender first.. did a bit of modelling and it was fine. worked great.. no issues
Then started up Dishonored(one of my Steam games) and there was a noticable lag.. so quit it and check the drivers.. turns out Nvidia had Windows 8 drivers available. So i installed that and started the game again.. runs smooth as butter.
i'd already tried out win 8 on a virtual machine, so was aware of the "start screen"
So now it took me 15 min to get used to working with it.. and i don't really miss the Start button or menu. So that wasn't as bad as the hoopla over it would lead you to believe.
so the checklist so far 1) All my apps are still there 2) They all work. including Steam and its games 3) Games work.. pretty much the same.. no real noticable advantage over win7 in terms of performance.. yet. 4) heavy tasks like 3d modelling and rendering work fine. Infact they worked fine out of the box, even before I updated the drivers. 5) Videos play, sound checks out
and then the discovery- Windows 8 App Store won't launch. extensive googling and trying out various "fixes"(updates, troubleshooters, user account manipulations..etc.) proved pointless thus far. The only solution that seems to work for most people(this is apparently a common issue) is to do a "system refresh". This is a new feature introduced in win8. It wipes all your apps and sort of resets windows while keeping your settings.
No way i'm doing that. Whose going to sit and reinstall hundreds of gigabytes of games all over again? Not me. Not for the measly metro UI and its app store.
Not until i see it do something awesome.. which I havn't yet.
VERDICT: if you want to save some money get it now while its cheap(FYI: cheaper if you order the dvd). Otherwise don't bother.
✩✩✩✩✩ For the few usability tweaks and other changes in win8 i give it. really don't understand what people complain about.. when i buy the new version of a software i expect there to be changes. Infact i don't think they did an radical enough changes.. 90% of it still feels like windows 7.
✩✩✩✩★ Ease of purchase and installation (minor problem with uninstalling intel's blutooth driver.. so not microsoft's fault).
While doing the windows 8 upgrade i had this weird problem.. the installer wanted me to uninstall intel proset bluetooth drivers.. but the drivers refused to uninstall!
* Delete the services that are associated with them in cmd (run as administrator) with: sc delete "Bluetooth Device Monitor" sc delete "Bluetooth Media Service" sc delete "Bluetooth OBEX Service"
That should do the trick, it worked for me at least!
Shapeways had a special free shipping offer for today. So i quickly modeled this(in Blender) and ordered it.. all my previous 3d prints were free form sculptures.. this will be my first mechanical one.. with moving parts. lets see how it turns out.. Its designed to be printed already assembled.. no snap fitting, glueing etc.. (so as you would imagine, it will all be in one solid color.. not like in these renders) you can get it now on the shapeways site at http://shpws.me/mJN2
UPDATE: Heard back from Shapeways today.. there was an error in the model because of which they cancelled the order. Turns out there was some weird stuff happening in this area So following the advice of Mitchell at shapeways i checked it using the free tool Netfab.. i used the instructions here . and found the error as well as a manifold edge and fixed them both using the automatic repair option. Have now re-uploaded the file..
Problem is now if i want the print, i'll have to place a fresh order.. and since the free shipping offer is no longer available.. the cost of the whole job is now double!
so have written to them about this.. waiting to hear what they say. till then the 3d print is on hold.
-=[Turn on annotations and CC]=- 00:00:00 [1] - R. Strauss / Also Sprach Zarathustra - Fanfare 00:01:37 [2] - Mahler / Symphony No. 5 - Adagietto 00:11:26 [3] - Sibelius / Finlandia 00:20:30 [4] - Rimsky-Korsakov / Dance Of The Bumble Bee 00:22:20 [5] - Massenet / Meditation, From 'Thais' 00:27:30 [6] - Elgar / Pomp And Circumstance - March No. 1 00:33:41 [7] - Dvorak / Humoresque 00:37:04 [8] - Sibelius / Valse Triste 00:41:52 [9] - J. Strauss II / Vienna Blood - Waltz 00:51:24 [10] - Ravel / Bolero 01:06:51 [11] - Tchaikovsky / Polonaise, From 'Eugene Onegin' 01:11:39 [12] - Dvorak / Symphony No. 9, 'From The New World', 2Nd Movement 01:24:26 [13] - Tchaikovsky / Waltz Of The Flowers, From 'The Nutcracker' 01:31:08 [14] - Rimsky-Korsakov / Alborado, From 'Capriccio Espagnol' 01:32:32 [15] - Grieg / The Last Spring 01:38:40 [16] - Dvorak / Slavonic Dance No. 2 01:44:11 [17] - Tchaikovsky / The Sleeping Beauty - Introduction 01:47:00 [18] - Wagner / Siegfried's Death And Funeral March; From 'Twilight Of The Gods' 01:54:00 [19] - Dvorak / Songs My Mother Taught Me 01:56:18 [20] - J. Strauss II / Emperor Waltz 02:08:10 [21] - Tchaikovsky / Piano Concerto No. 1 In B Flat Minor, 1St Movement (Excerpt) 02:17:10 [22] - Brahms / Cradle Song 02:19:00 [23] - Smetana / The Moldau 02:31:59 [24] - Wagner / Ride Of The Valkyries; From 'The Valkyrie' 02:37:25 [25] - Grieg / Morning, From 'Peer Gynt' 02:41:00 [26] - Bizet / Les Toreadors, From 'Carmen' 02:43:19 [27] - Delibes / Notturno, From 'Coppelia' 02:45:49 [28] - Tchaikovsky / Marche Slave, Op. 31 02:55:40 [29] - Bizet / L'arlesienne - Intermezzo 02:59:48 [30] - J. Strauss II / The Blue Danube - Waltz 03:10:41 [31] - Offenbach / Orpheus In The Underworld 03:20:15 [32] - Rubinstein / Melody In F 03:23:27 [33] - Liszt / Les Preludes 03:39:57 [34] - Brahms / Waltz 03:42:24 [35] - Verdi / The Force Of Destiny-Overture 03:50:33 [36] - Grieg / I Love You 03:52:07 [37] - Smetna / The Bartered Bride - Overture 03:58:45 [38] - Offenbach / Barcarolle, From 'The Tales Of Hoffmann' 04:02:19 [39] - J. Strauss II / Tritsch Tratsch Polka 04:05:02 [40] - Suppe / Light Cavalry-Overture 04:11:50 [41] - Mendelssohn / Wedding March, From 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' 04:16:51 [42] - Liszt / Liebestraum No.3 In A Flat 04:21:08 [43] - Verdi / Nabucco - Overture 04:29:01 [44] - Schumann / The Merry Peasant 04:29:55 [45] - Liszt / Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 04:40:15 [46] - Wagner / Lohengin - Prelude To Act 3 04:43:27 [47] - Verdi / La Traviata - Prelude To Act 1 04:47:14 [48] - Wagner / Tannhauser - Arrival Of The Guests At Wartburg 04:53:51 [49] - Mendelssohn / Violin Concerto In E Minor, 2Nd Movement 05:02:07 [50] - Suppe / Poet And Peasant - Overture 05:12:04 [51] - Rossini / The Barber Of Seville - Overture 05:19:51 [52] - Schubert / Symphony No.8 In B Minor, 'Unfinished' 05:30:17 [53] - Mendelssohn / 1841 Mendelssohn - Spring Song 05:33:03 [54] - Chopin / Polonaise In A, Op.40 No.3, 'Military' 05:38:19 [55] - Schubert / Ballet Music In G, From 'Rosamunde' 05:44:55 [56] - Weber / Der Freischutz - Overture 05:55:03 [57] - Schubert / Ave Maria 05:59:55 [58] - Mendelssohn / Symphony No.4 In A, 'Italian', 1St Movement 06:08:16 [59] - Schumann / Traumerei 06:11:26 [60] - Schubert / German Dance No.1 06:15:14 [61] - Mozart / Symphony No. 40, 1St Movement 06:22:53 [62] - Beethoven / 'Moonlight' Sonata, 1St Movement 06:28:20 [63] - Haydn / Symphony No. 94, 'Surprise', 2Nd Movement 06:34:54 [64] - Mozart / The Magic Flute - Overture 06:42:08 [65] - Beethoven / Fur Elise 06:45:01 [66] - Haydn / Emporor's Hymn, From String Quartet In C 06:52:18 [67] - Beethoven / Symphony No. 5, 1St Movement 06:59:37 [68] - Mozart / Clarinet Concerto In A, 2Nd Movement 07:06:40 [69] - Beethoven / Minuet In G 07:09:15 [70] - Haydn / Trumpet Concerto In E Flat, 3Rd Movement 07:14:20 [71] - Mozart / Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, 1St Movement 07:20:05 [72] - Mozart / Piano Concerto No. 21 In C, 2Nd Movement ('Elvira Madigan') 07:25:44 [73] - Mozart / The Marriage Of Figaro - Overture 07:30:04 [74] - Mozart / Flute Concerto No. 2 In D, 2Nd Movement 07:35:33 [75] - Mozart / Rondo Alla Turca, From Piano Sonata In A 07:39:15 [76] - Mozart / Don Giovanni - Overture 07:45:26 [77] - Mozart / Horn Concerto No. 3 In E Flat, 2Nd Movement 07:49:50 [78] - Mozart / Piano Concerto No. 23 In A, 1St Movement 08:00:41 [79] - Mozart / The Marriage Of Figaro - March 08:02:49 [80] - Mozart / Serenata Notturna
My Opera
