I have just got a copy of Apple Motion 2 … very initial thoughts - cool, but my 1.5Ghz G4 Powerbook isn't really up to the task!! I'll be playing with it over the next few weeks and will post some stuff. In the meantime here is a my attempt at this tutorial.

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VJ, quartz composer, tutorial, art, design, motion graphics

Now I know that Quartz Composer essentially turns Quicktime movies into a series of frames so it can scan back and forth through them, but does it do that with a live video feed (ie. turn the video into frames and put them on screen on the fly)?

Anyway my thought is this: I wonder if you could have some sort of video buffer, that other applications (be that Flash, Director, VJ apps, etc.) could render to (assuming they had that built in or could be extended to do so), that could then be grabbed and manipulated by Quartz Composer.

Come on Apple, give us a proper plug-in API. Then we might stop whingeing!

By no means have I explored the fullness of what QC can do, but I do keep finding that I run into difficulties with some of my ideas because of limitations in it. Perhaps I need to keep playing within the limitations so that they inform my ideas, rather than have the ideas and then find it nigh on impossible to implement them in QC. Ah well.

SteamSHIFT out.

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quartz composer, theory, musing, art, design, motion graphics

coffee.jpgIf like me you are a coffee addict (and I don't mean the hideous rubbish that comes in jars but real proper coffee), and your coffee making is a process, from freshly grinding the beans to brewing a great cup in a pump driven espresso (ooh pet hate: people who say eXpresso!!! AAARGH!) machine, this may be for you.

Roast your own coffee.

(from the superb web guru mezzoblue). SteamSHIFT out.

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tutorial, coffee

I've been playing with Google Analytics. In order to get it, you need to sign up and wait for them to invite you. Once it's installed and running it really is a very good comprehensive stats analysis package, and free to boot.

Interesting tidbits:

  • I get as many visitors from the US as from UK. In fact 75% of all my readers are outside the UK. Cool!
  • There is a definite mac bias (65%)! And Safari has twice the number of users as the nearest rival which is Firefox, with IE trailing in third.
  • 3% of readers are using 800*600 as their screen resolution:- come on guys let's move into the 21st Century! (no-one seems to be using smaller screens eg mobile devices, which is good ‘cause I’d need to do a load of CSS work for them).

Much fun! SteamSHIFT out.

I feel like I haven't posted in a little while; there have been a few exciting (for me at least) things happen over the last week or so.

First up is the repair and then non repair of my powerbook's screen. I have a 15" Aluminium Powerbook G4 1.5Ghz. 2 or 3 months ago, the bottom third of the screen decided it would stop working - you cannot believe how annoying this is; you keep having to switch resolutions to 800600, resize your windows and the switch back to the native 1280854, so that you can see the whole of a window. So after much googling and coming up with very little I bought a few spares off ebay to have a go at fixing it. Things you need to know (based on my experience):

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hardware, tutorial, mac, installation

  • The problem (bottom 3rd of screen dead) is not a broken cable (the one connecting your screen to the motherboard).
  • It is also not anything to do with the backlight or the inverter.
  • It IS basically that the LCD panel is busted (or more accurately that connections to part of the screen are broken).
  • Likely cause - the stiffness of the hinges; mine are horrible. I would recommend that you open the screen with 2 hands, trying to ensure that you apply consistent on the whole length of the sides. My guess is that basically the resistance on the hinges, combined with opening the screen from the top at the centre has bent the screen sufficient to break the connections in the LCD.
  • Pretty much all the repair shops you talk to will say you need a new screen - this is much less hassle than fixing it yourself, but it is also VERY expensive. While we are about it, if the screen is completely black, it is most likely to be the backlight or the backlight inverter - these are fixable, but with the same caveats as fixing the problem I have with my screen.
  • If £600 is too steep for you, and you are a hnads on type, you could try fixing your screen. The warning I would give is that Apple screens are not designed for easy access. They no fun to get into and even less fun to get back together. On the other hand, you can replace a backlight for less than £20! I would just warn that you might break your screen even more than it was broken to start with, and it might never clip together quite as well as it did in the first place and need a bit of taping together!

So, how do I take it apart?

  1. Follow the instructions on ifixit.com to remove the screen from the powerbook.
  1. Remove 2 hexagon-screws bottom side of the unit.
  1. Disassemble the back cover with a metal ruler starting from bottom side corner.

That‘s it - it’s actually not that hard, but it does take some putting back together. I wish that I could say after all that, that I have a working screen, but the LCD replacement I bought didn‘t seem to work so it’s got to go back for replacement. Anyway, apart from buying a few cables (which I‘ll put up for auction soon), I’m no worse off than I was when I started! I'll let you know if I get it working!

Interactive Architecture dot Org » Bitfall

bitfall.jpg

Bitfall is an installation where water is being used to project images taken from the internet. A computer observes various news websites and chooses thereafter the images to be displayed. 128 nozzles are controlled by synchronised magnetic valves, and the water drops falling to the ground shape the images. The visual information is only tangible for a second before the drops merge to become water again.

I am so intrigued by the idea of projecting onto sthg other than a screen. Now I realise that this is not strictly speaking a projection, in that it is changes in the water droplets that creates the image; but it does have a similar effect to, for instance, projecting onto smoke. The ethereal quality is really quite beautiful.

(Via Interactive Architecture dot Org.)

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art, installation

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