Show and Tell

Well, as promised I have some school work to share with y'all, and as per usual with school work I managed to find a way to incorporate Flash into things.

Over the last month I've been in a "Shading and Lighting" class. Basically, we were to create a scene from scratch, doing all the texturing and lighting ourselves. We could borrow the 3D objects from a stockpile they had available at school, but usually some modification was required.

The recommendation was to pick a scene that you had images for, so as you would have a reference to try and match. For my project, I picked Andy Dufresne's cell from The Shawshank Redemption. Not only did it seem like a decent challenge, but it gave me a good excuse for watching Shawshank about 20 times in a row.

Here's the result:

(Click to Enlarge)

In order to make this, I applied a series of 2d textures, images in other words, to the geometry, as well computer generated patterns, or "procedurals." Just to give you a better idea of the work that was involved, I put together a little Flash presentation to show you the process from start to finish.

Feel free to click anywhere in the Flash app to advance the image, although it will move on automatically if you don't do anything (after pressing start of course). I recommend clicking the Full Size link below to really see what's going on.

(Click here for full size version. Flash Player required)

Have a good weekend everybody.

If I had a Million Dollars

Well, it's the end of the month again, and since every month is basically like a semester, it's once again crunch time. A midterm every month, a final every month, and a final project every month. Pretty insane.

So that paragraph was all about excusing myself for a hand drawn, late Monday morning comic. I'll understand if you want to spend your internet time somewhere else from now on. (Seriously, click on the image in the middle of that link).

Anyway, I often find myself pondering what I would buy if I had a million dollars. Most people think of houses, cars ... that sort of thing. But I have grander plans.

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I've got a week off for summer vacation starting Friday - look for some posts with regards to what I've been up to at school.

I'm in ur browzer...

A few weeks back I made a post with regards to a picture that had been wandering around the internet for over a year or so called "I has a bucket". Basically it's a picture of a walrus that, by itself, is pretty hideously ugly and disturbing. However, some pioneering internet user added words to it, and it instantly became hilarious instead.

This practice is pretty common place on the ol' internets and The Google, in particular with cat pictures. Probably due to a well known scientific fact with regards to cats.

(Courtesy of xkcd Comics)

Here's a montage of the kind of images I'm talking about.

At any rate, it just so happens that the house I'm living in at the moment has 6 cats, 4 of which are kittens. When these little miracles of mother nature came into our house, naturally my first thought was to exploit them for comedic purposes. Unfortunately this was more difficult than one would think.

(Click to enlarge)

Mario Part-ay

Well, last weekend was my birthday. I turned 25, which, according to my brother, is the last truly "happy" one. I just hope my car insurance actually lowers a bit. Thanks to everybody who dropped me a line, whether it be via the internets or other means.

This year, I didn't do anything crazy in the way of celebration, just a nice relaxing weekend. I think that means I'm officially old. emily bought me Mario Party 8 for the Wii, so a good chunk of the day was spent playing that.

For those of you who aren't familiar, Mario Party is basically board game put into video form, and is quite fun as long as you don't take things too seriously. All the former grudges are forgotten, and the denizens of Mario universe get together and have a good time. I'm just glad that I got to share in the fun on my birthday.

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Webster ain't got nuthin' on This

As many of you may have noticed, whenever I use a word in a comic or as part of my blog that has an obscure definition, I like to provide my readership with a credible source as to the meaning of that word.

One such credible source, is Urban Dictionary.

Now I know what you're thinking. "Just because it has 'dictionary' in title doesn't mean it's credible Dan." Well typically, I would agree with you. After all, Dictionary.com thinks that "inflammable" means the same thing as flammable.

in·flam·ma·ble – adjective

1.	capable of being set on fire; combustible; flammable.

2.	easily aroused or excited, as to passion or anger; irascible: an inflammable disposition.

–noun

3.	something inflammable.

"Something inflammable." Gee, thanks Dictionary.com.

Urban Dictionary, on the other hand, is community driven, like Wikipedia. Anytime somebody suggests a definition, users can vote it down or up, therefore validating it before the masses or shaming it to the realm of "inflammable." (NSFW Audio)

Want more proof? Look no further than the definition of "Wheezy" on Urban Dictionary.

I know, right? It's like God himself made those entries.

As a testament to UD's absolute truth - I've decided to illustrate all the definitions therein, beginning of course, with my own moniker. And if I see anything incorrect or missing, I'll just go ahead and add it as I go.