They say a picture speaks a thousand words. So, here’s a random posting of some of the projects I’ve been up to in the past few weeks. Click on each picture to read more about it.

Others

New comics for PCM
You’ll see in the desktop screenshot above, I’ve installed GTA San Andreas. The actual intention was to capture backgrounds for the comic I’m working on. Yea, a comic. But till today, it’s not lifted off the ground. I kept scrapping the first issue over and over again.

BBQ video
Way long overdue BBQ video is finally done. Didn’t take much time to edit actually. I don’t know why I procrastinate so much. The people involved probably won’t know when the hell this BBQ took place. I’ll release the trailer soon, and whoever wants it, I’ll burn a copy. I guess holding screening sessions nowadays is next to impossible seeing how busy everyone is.

RAYA video
Yet another overdue project. RAYA 07. Hmmm, I think I’ll get it done by RAYA 08.

Image Metrics is a revolutionary new way to capture expression of human actors and ‘map’ it to their animated characters. One project which will feature Image Metrics is the upcoming movie by James Cameron, Avatar.

If you’re already impressed with the realism of Beowulf, Image Metrics is said to be 20 TIMES more powerful. I could not imagine such a thing. Then I saw the demo video. It’s on youtube.

Seriously, when I first saw the demo video with “Emily”, I was thinking… no, she can’t be ‘not’ real… She’s too real. And then… BAM. She’s animated. It’s bloody amazing.

The demo video with Emily talking is actually just a facial replacement. The body, hair and clothing is still real, I think. However, go to their website to see a better demo of Image Metrics, where they map the facial expressions on a totally 3D model.

Image Metrics 3D Model

Amazing. The future is here. Say bye bye to facial animation the traditional way. Well, unless you’re doing cartoony animation, that is.

The Bogaman from Down Under has written something which prompts me to reply with this post.

First off, I’m not too skilled in all the tech jargon, so you can expect a simpler discussion to why I still am, and will remain cooler than the Bogaman.

But seriously, it’s not about who’s cooler than who. Well, partly coz we all know who’s cooler. I’ve told him many times about my stand on Unix. I’ve used Unix in school several times. I’ve even had to run it on my computer at home for months and months. Although they haven’t been nice experiences (due to the shitty programming assignments),  I do realise that it’s an OS with huge potential, provided that YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT.

Which brings me to talk about some people who are boasting about how good UNIX is, when they don’t even use Unix in their computers. They only said it’s cool and good because they saw other people use it to some level of coolness. I don’t wanna be among those people.

I never said that Unix sucks. One reason I don’t use it is because I dislike change, and I’m too comfortable with using Windows to explore others. I’m not the exploring type. And also, Unix doesn’t have the softwares I’m comfortable with. They have alternatives, yes, but not the actual softwares.

For example, Adobe stuff: like Premiere, After Effects, Dreamweaver. Also, I don’t know about the sound editing software I use. I’m lazy to search if they have Unix versions. I’m thinking they probably don’t.

Oh and all the stuff which I’ve just picked up great interest on, like 3d softwares such as Lightwave, 3dsMax and other standalone 3d apps. Then there’s the game engine which I have to use for my schoolwork. They don’t run on Unix unfortunately.

Looks are important to me. I must LIKE what I see on screen, especially the desktop. That’s why I bother getting all those themes to replace the ugly XP theme. My schoolmates will acknowledge my obsession with a nice looking desktop, since I always bring around the theme with me and install it on every lab comp I use before working.

Unix can be made to look stunning, no doubt. Even Mac users are so bloody proud of it. Yeah, it’s nice. But again, I’m just lazy to install it. Or I don’t see a pressing need to.

Honestly, other than the stuff I mentioned above, I rarely use the computer for anything else except for the internet. Webdesign falls under web. Oh, I forgot to add Photoshop up there. It’s one major software I always use. Gimp is nice, but I’m lazy to learn and familiarise myself with it and I’m sure there are lots of stuff it can’t do that PS can.

Anyway, surfing the web is OS independent isn’t it? It’s not a worry which OS you use to check your mail, watch YouTube vids and whatever stuff you do online.

So all in all, the advantages of Unix are quite substantial, but not really so great that I HAVE to change to Unix.

That said, here’s the thing:

My Desktop, which I’ve recently formatted and reinstalled XP, is having problems again. Some authentication crap. My cracks didn’t work. So in 3 days time, it’ll expire, I think. If it does, I guess I won’t go through the trouble of installing Windows again.

Unix installation is quite a breeze, I’ll give you that. Or maybe it’s the damn lab session where they made us install Unix so many times, it becomes a walk in the park.

Therefore, I’ll probably get that OS in my desktop, while my laptop will remain running Vista (again, I have the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude).

So there, Ram, I’ll be having Unix on the desktop soon. Happy? Then I’ll start bugging you for Unix stuff.

This is the concept photo/art of the Joker’s face. The finalised Heath Ledger version (right) was among the very first Joker pics released on the net. And we thought that was scary. I think people might piss in their pants if Joker had looked like the concept art.

Go to Cinematical for more. I got it from them anyways. However, the rest of the pics aren’t too scary.