Hybrid Design • Video • Photography
Hybrid Design • Video • Photography
A section of I-85 collapsed in Atlanta, GA. A fire under the bridge was the culprit. The memes started to circulate and I tossed my own out there. Thankfully no one was hurt but LOTS of people had to deal with nightmarish work commutes in the following weeks.
Here’s an actual aerial photo:
Here’s what my first thought was:
Not a lot of fun but at least they got it fixed extraordinarily fast. That’s saying a lot considering how bad the road system in Atlanta is.
This is a quick rendition of what Mars might look like if it were closer to the Sun. As it is, the Sun is rather dim, compared to here on Earth. Granted, with a long lens you could probably get an image like this. It’s just conceptual art and experimenting with overlays and other techniques. The shapes were all done in Illustrator with the extra touches being done in Photoshop. Also, this is certainly a fictional Mars because I arbitrarily placed the stars and the landscape is based on imaginations. I don’t want Neil deGrasse Tyson to come out and correct me like he did with James Cameron. Then again, how awesome would that be?
I am an unapologetic lover of all things space; rockets in particular. I’ve always loved looking at mission patches. If you ever go down to Kennedy Space Center, the gift shop has a wall of them. Coins, cloth patches, iron on, sew on, etc. It’s really amazing to look at some of the thoughtfulness that goes into them. I decided to take a stab at making a fictional one. This was shooting from the hip and wasn’t prefaced with any drawings apart from a circle… and nothing else.
I wanted to experiment without the confines of “this is what it looks like”. For the next one I will do a sketch first, then a mockup and then polish it off. I added some relief to the patch as it looked too clean. These things are sewn onto suits or jackets and are meant to look a little worn.
Everything you see is drawn in Illustrator. The relief was done in Photoshop. The Earth was traced and then I cleaned up the lines to look less janky. The rocket itself is loosely based on the same rocket that launched the Voyager spacecraft back in the late 70s, the Titan IIIE. A couple of other notes. I fooled with colors back and forth. Green was going to go in but it looked way less “spacey”. The premise of Earth is that it is a “blue planet”, so blue stuck around. I had originally drawn Saturn to go onto the rocket but I opted to keep it close by in our immediate celestial neighborhood.
Without further ado the completely made up mission patch that promotes the 24/7/365 views of Earth. I want to note that the “/” looked terrible so I used bullets. EDIT: The original is shown top left. This is one that I embellished a bit in photoshop.
I’d almost forgotten I was able to do at my previous job. The IT group had completed a long, arduous project and to show appreciation they wanted to give something tangible and cool. I was tasked with designing a medallion or challenge coin. It was a lot of work to determine the right size and right material to use.
Initially, the coin was going to be quite large. I believe it was slated to come in at three inches. I comped out a design, printed it at 3″ and it was quickly realized that would be a massive coin. We dropped to about two inches and that felt just about perfect. After a few comps and some back and forth over wording, layout, material type and so on, the final design was settled on.
What’s interesting about a coin is that it is three dimensional. Some areas are raised, some are inset, some are colored, some are varnished. Our vendor communicated well and provided a detailed mockup as to how it would look when pressed. You want to get this sort of thing right as the cost of the coin die is substantial. The good news is that it can be used over and over.
I forgot to mention I was told to inquire as to how much it would cost to have these made of sterling silver. Yeah, I don’t remember the dollar figure but the shock factor was real and we quickly resorted back to the standard coin material.
I was quite pleased with the final result. It’s only after browsing my old photos that I saw a couple of pics I’d taken. I figured I’d share that experience here.
Back in 2006, my final project was to come up with a campaign for a fictional company. Since I had been recently enamored with the space shuttle and all things involving rockets, it was an easy choice on what to go with. My generic company name was ACME Aerospace but darn it, I should have gone with SpaceX. Sure it was founded in 2002 but no one really knew about it in those days. Nonetheless, I pressed on with stationery, a magazine cover, logo, etc. Then I needed to design a billboard. What to do?
Well, a lot of people visualize a person sitting at a console with a giant red button that says “LAUNCH”. I mean that’s kind of how it worked in “The Right Stuff” (that poor guy hated pushing that button). So, I had the button idea. Now I needed a slogan. I knew that space tourism was being touted as something that would happen sooner rather than later so I went with that angle. A company that gives rides into space. I wanted it to be edgy so I figured that gravity is the main culprit in keeping us bound to the surface. Ok then, give it the finger…by pushing the button to launch the rocket. It’s a play on words. I really hope I don’t have to explain it but my instructor and classmates got a laugh out of it.
The original piece was pretty basic but all the elements were there for what I needed:
The newer version maintains some of the simplicity with a little more flair here and there. I reduced the fonts to just two. While Trajan is a very much used font, I kept it because if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. I used a san serif for a more modern look on the button. I also wanted to give the impression of it being a button. I just went top-down 2d style with it, again, for simplicity. I also wanted to give it more of a glow effect but not overdo it. The new background has a rocket trail from a long exposure photo. I gave it a little more texture.
A more notable change is changing the slogan up. I put “THE FINGER” on the arrow itself and changed the color of the arrow as gray was looking a bit drab. I actually made that change while writing this post. I could pick this thing apart for hours but it was just for fun and I don’t want to devote too much time to it. It got me the grade, either way. Also, it’s all vector. Something I didn’t do originally.
I think the new one looks at least a little nicer:
One final note is that this was a rebuild more than an edit. The original file has long since vanished into the horror that is my drawer full of old hard drives. Another task for another day. I mean it was 12 years ago, after all.
If tasked to do this again, I’d redesign it entirely as opposed to just correcting some things and updating a few things. I think I’ll do a SpaceX poster next just for the fun of it. Perhaps an infographic.
Ok, the NX1 has long been dead. So, this is more of a lament than anything. A very late review perhaps? More than anything, just my thoughts and how much I liked using this camera.
In 2015 we needed a camera for a video shoot. For our needs, we required a camera that would shoot at least 120fps. After back and forth research on various cameras it came down to the Panasonic GH4 and the Samsung NX1. The GH4 only shot 96fps which is 4x slower than 24fps. I felt the additional 24fps (bumping it to 120fps) is what edged the NX1 out. So we took the plunge and dropped a couple of grand on the camera and a couple of lenses. Then, we got to work.
Using the device was a treat. It had a touchscreen or you could dial things in manually. I should also mention that it also shot 4k at 30fps. It had lenses that could be changed, always a bonus. The camera was mirrorless. This means that a mirror doesn’t flip out of the way to expose the sensor, whereas a DSLR works in this way. There was no physical “snapping” sound but it had a tiny speaker to simulate one. Cute, eh? So, you could effectively shoot images all day an no one would ever know. Good for candids! Manual controls were a breeze. Exposure, aperture, everything; easy to change on the fly without even taking your eyes off the subject.
One very distinct advantage of a mirrorless camera was filming welding. Normally you have to wear protective eyewear. However, the screen and eyepiece were tiny LCD screens. That meant that the light would only be as bright as the screen would allow it, registering as just white light. That, opposed to looking through optics only to magnify the intense light directly into your retina.
The only drawback was that it shot in h.265 vs h.264. At the time, no computers could handle that file format right out of the box. It’s like an mp3 version of a video file. Granted an h.264 mp4 is already compressed enough, h.265 took compression even further. That allowed smaller video files at 100mpbs. It required a lot of processing power to render those types of files. We had to use 3rd party software to render them to h.264 files and in the process, you could end up with a file that was 10x larger than the source file, at the same bit rate. Good compression indeed. A couple of years ago, it was a slight issue. These days things like Windows 10 play h.265 right out of the box. Adobe Media Encoder and Adobe Premiere can edit those files with no problems. Just make sure your machine has enough horsepower (CPU, GPU, RAM).
Images shot with this camera were clean and sharp if done correctly. Low light images had very little noise which made it ideal for me to take home and point at the night sky. Believe me, I’ve pointed lots of cameras at the night sky and none quite compared to the NX1. Samsung manufactured their own sensor as opposed to using a 3rd party. I guess that’s why I’d never seen anything quite like it before or since.
Video quality was equally amazing. I can’t say enough about how well this camera shot video. Shooting at 120fps was amazing because of the dramatic effect you could invoke in a scene. We would shoot 4k and then render to 1080p to have amazingly clear images. We could also pan/zoom with a 4k video if we chose to. It was a purchase that paid dividends, many times over. I converted a colleague over to this camera who was used to using Nikon devices. By the time I left my previous job, we would all fight off who got to use the NX1. It was that good.
I particularly like an image of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) that I captured. It’s a feat I’ve only been able to accomplish with that particular consumer grade camera. This was literally out of the box with a 200mm lens. On the tripod. Snapped 4 pics. Stacked. Processed. Done. I was impressed. Are there better M31 images out there? By far, yes. With the kind of gear I used? Maybe. Still, I love that image. You can see it here.
After a few months of use, a few firmware updates, software being able to support h.265; support was discontinued. I guess it just didn’t quite make enough money? Maybe competitors felt threatened by it and something happened behind closed doors? I really don’t know why, just that it did. No more lenses being made. No more updates. An amazing camera, frozen in time.
Eventually, entropy will take its toll and the camera will fall into disrepair. I’ve already seen people on Facebook (Only visible to members?) that lament about a damaged camera that cannot be easily repaired. Thankfully, it was water resistant so that gives it a little more longevity. One day, there will be a world where the NX1 is kept in a case, only to be looked at as a relic long since forgotten. Not by me though. I’ll never forget the joy of experiencing the Samsung NX1.
Godspeed the Samsung NX1 and Samsung, if you read this, maybe give a try to making the NX2. It’s a longshot but hey, never hurts to try?
We eventually caved and bought a Pansonic GH4. We needed a dual camera setup and it was the logical choice. I will say this, it is also an amazing device. That being said, the NX1 was/is better. Less noise. Better sensor. 120fps vs 96fps. Better images. Conversely, the GH series has lots and lots of support. Also you can mount any lens to the GH4. So, it does edge the device out as far as practical use goes. Don’t get me wrong, the GH4 is great. The NX1 just holds a special place in my heart.
To see various images shot on the NX1, look no further than the NX1 Flickr page.
This video was shot entirely on the NX1 and was the single reason for making the purchase:
Another starry night image. The camera had a time-lapse mode that made things like this possible. Again, no fancy setup. It was plugged int and shield from the wind with a fan blowing nearby to ward off any sort of dew that might form:
I just wanted to give a preview of the next video I’ll be making. As much as I want to make videos about debunking flat earth claims, eh, there’s plenty of those. I’d rather divert my energy to other things.
Have you ever gotten a couple of drinks at the drive through and they weren’t labeled correctly? Worse is that the ratio of syrup to water has the taste a little off. So the “sweeter” one could be diet while the diluted one is actually regular! It’s a conundrum.
After having this happen one too many times I finally realized there’s a sure fire way to know and it works every single time. I’ve already shot the footage. I just need to edit and voice it. After looking at my Leidenfrost Effect video, I got inspired to make another one in the similar style.
There’s this show everyone is talking about and one day I might get around to it. OK, I’m joking. I watched it the day it came out (that goes for Season 2 as well). If you don’t know what Stranger Things is, you should check it out. It’s pretty darn good. Me being me, I wanted to “Stranger Things” up my Facebook cover but I couldn’t find anything pre-made. Again, being me, I figured I’d just make one myself. All I need was a good source to start with. Thankfully, there were tons of images of the poster. It’s the standard 24″x 36″ size but I felt motivated to try and make something fit into the 851×315 cover image size for Facebook.
The first thing I wanted to do was make sure I kept all the characters so I’d need to isolate them all and do some rearranging. First things first, I took to the polygonal lasso tool and got to work. Some people prefer the pen tool but I feel more precise with the lasso tool and I’m faster with it. After a few minutes of snipping everyone out of the image I got to work with positioning them.
I wanted to basically keep them in the same relative location but Will being at the very top posed an immediate problem. While he is central to the story, Eleven is more prominent. I could work with that. Will would come off the top and to the left of Eleven (Eleven’s left). Conversely, Joyce would also come down beside Eleven but not quite as much. I also had to draw in some extra fabric on Joyce to make it look right. I also scaled her down a bit compared to Eleven. That was the most labor intensive part really.
With that done I could position Jonathan and Nancy over near where they originally were (left side of the image). Hopper would take a spot basically where he was before (off to the right). Though, I put the Moon right in between Will and Hopper because I didn’t want to lose it. They were probably the easiest characters to arrange.
Next, I had to deal with the last three protagonists; Lucas, Dustin and Mike. Actually there wasn’t much to do except make sure they didn’t get cut off. The other thing I did is that you can see Eleven’s hand directly behind Dustin. It was the only place to put it really as it would look ridiculous if her hand was reaching “out at you” but was behind the bushes. It would also look even worse had it obscured Dustin. It works for me. The thing is that I wanted a basic symmetry and for it to not get too crowded in any one area. Including the guy in the hazmat suit, both sides are even with Eleven and Mike lining up top/bottom. Good deal.
Ok, last but not least, the background. I wanted to keep the colored lights and the night sky. so I just cut them out, scaled them accordingly and did some color tweaking. The only other thing I did at this point was put a very subtle glow around Eleven. I wanted to make her pop a little bit more. If I didn’t mention it, you might not even notice. In fact, I did those so long ago that I’ll probably make a couple of edits to this blog to say “Oh and…”
The finished product:
For now, that’s my journey from full size poster to tiny Facebook cover image. If anyone wants the PSD for whatever reason. I can provide it.
So, this week was an exciting one in the realm of rockets. That happens to be a favorite realm of mine. I’ve been waiting for Falcon Heavy to launch for years. The last time something that powerful launched from the Cape would have been Space Shuttle in 2011. As you can imagine, a lot of people made the trek to the Space Coast to witness the historical moment. I would have but life said “not right now” and also if I go, it gets delayed. That’s just my luck. I attempted 4 Shuttle launches and only got the final attempt because of a glitch in Murphy’s Law! I jest. It’s just really hard to know if something will scrub a launch, especially an experimental one.
Speaking of which, experimental launches usually have a dummy payload or something to simulate the mass of an actual payload. No need to put a billion dollar satellite on something that might detonate like a small atomic weapon. So they put a car on it. Specifically Elon Musk’s personal Tesla Roadster. Inside they put “Starman”, a dummy in a suit that looks a lot like one of the members of Daft Punk. Where is the car going? Way out into space is where. It was said to be going to Mars but the truth is that it isn’t going to land on Mars but it’s orbit will take it out as far as and beyond Mars. It’s going to be orbiting the Sun just like most other things in the solar system. There, it will remain for millions or perhaps billions of years. I’m sure it’ll see some wear from the vacuum of space and relentless onslaught of solar wind.
The only part of the mission that didn’t quite go as planned was the center core sticking the landing out at sea. I’ve heard it only lit one engine vs three and subsequently hit the water going pretty fast. I’ve love to see that video footage as well. Elon Musk has a pretty good outlook on things as he’s posted plenty of videos of the spectacular failures they’ve had over the years.
The best part, if you weren’t there, is the amazing launch AND landing footage. I’ll post a couple of my favorites but I won’t get out of control.
This one is wicked! You need headphones because the sound is binaural and sounds like you’re actually there or pretty darn close. The whole video is cool but it should start a few seconds before liftoff with the clip I’m posting.
Lastly, I give you the Earth from inside a Tesla Roadster. Queue up some relaxing music and kick back and take in the beauty.
It’s worth looking up other videos. With lots of bad things going on in the world, it’s nice to see things like this. We can accomplish great things if we work together.
I love the Nintendo Switch. There, that’s out of the way. I didn’t think it’d succeed but boy was I wrong (and I’m glad I was).
That said, this isn’t a review as much as it’s just some basic thoughts about the system. It goes without saying that the Switch has been a raging success. Initially driven by Zelda: Breath of the Wild but furthered by Super Mario Odyssey and a host of other games. I’ve personally spent 98% of my time playing Breath of the Wild, BotW from here on out. It’s a beautiful game. It’s hard at times. It’s easy at times. You’ll spend a lot of time playing this kind of game. Why is that important? That’s where my “thoughts” come in.
Nintendo is releasing something called Labo pretty soon and it’s certainly intriguing. It is basically cardboard pieces you assemble into various thing (fishing rod, motorcycle handlebars, etc). It’s cool that the Switch has the sensors to be able to do all of these things. There remains an issue though. It isn’t the cardboard that will inevitably wear out as much as it is the Switch itself.
You see, lets talk about Zelda again. I’ve put in about 120 hours of gameplay. I have 120 shrines completed. I have the fully powered Master Sword (Holy geez what a pain!). So, yeah, lots of time and effort. It’s rewarding and fulfilling to accomplish these things. Do you want to know what would make me lose my mind? Having my switch inside of a cardboard apparatus only to fall out and there goes your Switch and all your save data for every game you’ve ever played. Ever.
Yes. That is right. All save data is locally stored on the device. If anything happens to your switch major or minor, you will lose your save data. I love this system but this is a glaring flaw that must be addressed. I know they wanted to avoid people hacking the system but in trying to avoid hacking, you’ve created a reason for people to hack. Understand, if I found a way to hack the system to save my progress externally, I would do it. Voided warranty be damned. XBox has cloud save. Playstation has it. Maybe? I don’t own one.
The point is that before you launch a product that will have kids flailing their delicate game systems about, some sort of save backup system needs to be implemented. Cloud? Sure. Local on a MicroSD? That works, too. Both? Even better. I can almost guarantee there will be a flux of very pissed consumers once their Switches start flying and smashing into the floor.
All that said they did take a step in the right direction a couple of months ago. Our switch had gotten damaged and the joycons (controllers on the side) wouldn’t slide on unless we really forced them to. So, I got a replacement from Amazon. There is a feature that allows you to transfer your data to another switch. That’s great and saved, well, our saves. The issue is that it moves your data. It does not copy it. So, it’s a nice thing to have but it’s a band-aid for a problem that needs a proper fix/solution.
I’m sure they’ll do something and given the Labo launching, it should be sooner rather than later. If it’s later then, oi, I wouldn’t want to answer the phones for their support to tell people they’re SOL. Just give us backup options, Nintendo. It’ll be A-OK.