Journals
Just got back from a weekend away. It was my and my fiancee's one year anniversary, so we went up to Perth (the capital for our state) to a pop culture expo and also the zoo.
It was totally the best weekend ever. Not only was the zoo awesome, but at the expo, I got to meet and get autographs from
Summer Gleu (from Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles and Serenity)
Lou Ferrigno (The original TV series Hulk)
My fiancee also got to meet and get a signed book from Vic Mignogna (voice actor in over 100 anime and games)
I didn't get photographs because you had to pay for them and you weren't allowed to take your own, which sucks, but at least I got autographs!! ^^
It was totally the best weekend ever. Not only was the zoo awesome, but at the expo, I got to meet and get autographs from
Summer Gleu (from Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles and Serenity)
Ok, so I stumbled over here due to a forum link from a very old site. Both TWHL and RUST were linked in my signature block.
RUST seems to have died or gone Wiki with no contributors.
TWHL seems to have expanded exponentially... well done all.
So the first thing that caught my eye was the Verc Archive. Long before Source Tool Kit there was Hammer, before Hammer there was Worldcraft and what a right royal pain that thing was. I still remember making my first room and banging a crowbar against a steel shelf.. How cool was that
Anyway since I am on a nostalgia trip, I had the great honour of speaking to a lot of the people listed on the Verc tutorials. A few of them work for Valve these days, others have (like me) dissappeared into mapping and design obscurity. The one thing common to all of them was their love of Half Life design and their ability to push the engine to it's limits.
Take Care all.
Andy
RUST seems to have died or gone Wiki with no contributors.
TWHL seems to have expanded exponentially... well done all.
So the first thing that caught my eye was the Verc Archive. Long before Source Tool Kit there was Hammer, before Hammer there was Worldcraft and what a right royal pain that thing was. I still remember making my first room and banging a crowbar against a steel shelf.. How cool was that
Anyway since I am on a nostalgia trip, I had the great honour of speaking to a lot of the people listed on the Verc tutorials. A few of them work for Valve these days, others have (like me) dissappeared into mapping and design obscurity. The one thing common to all of them was their love of Half Life design and their ability to push the engine to it's limits.
Take Care all.
Andy
I had a weird dream last night. I figure it might be good for the competition. 
Here's a transcript that I made when I woke up:
Christmas Eve. Mum and Dad in bed, me, Jack, Sam, Ben and Molly (my siblings) in living room.
I go to my room to get something. In the time in between me going from the living room to the stairwell it begins to rain.
I notice the fire escape is ajar. I close it, and go back to the living room to tell the others.
When I get back to living room it's raining heavily.
When I'm at the living room door I notice the front door is open. I tell the others, and then wonder out loud if the rest of the doors are open.
I go to the kitchen to check the side door. At this time it's storm-like rain.
The kitchen is dark, and in the room next to the kitchen I can see a rectangle of light on the floor, as if the outside light is on.
I turn the outside light on anyway, the rectangle gets lighter, but almost unnoticably so.
I open the door, unlocked as expected, and when I look outside it isn't raining, although I didn't notice this or see it as important.
I walk to the shed and look in. Although still at night, I can see in the shed as if it's only slightly dark.
The cats are all in the shed, mostly lying on the ground, but some are lying on things. Fred (my dog) is lying on the concrete, apparently asleep.
I look in the kennel. Squirrel (one of my cats) is in there. I shoo her out, and then tell Fred to sit in there.
I walk out of the shed, Dad and Jack are at the door. I assume Jack went up to tell Dad, they both came down to look for me.
Although I don't notice until later, Dad's demeanour seems a little... off. I do however notice that Jack is smiling faintly, looking at Dad, listening to his words.
He puts me in mind of someone who has been indoctrinated into a cult, and is in the presence of the cult leader.
Dad says "The doors are supposed to be unlocked. Leave this one unlocked when you come in."
At this point, I wake up, although my brain seems to be throwing lines at me,
as if it's spent some time coming up with this dream and it doesn't want the good bit to go to waste.
"Oh, and don't let anyone... wimpy in, like the police or something."
"You'll know who's supposed to come in. She'll be the one smashing her fingers"
At this point I see a flash of an image, a young girl, about nine or ten, on the driveway, almost shrouded in darkness.
Her black hair covers her face, she seems to be floating a few inchess of the ground, and her fingers are mmangled.
I get a feeling that my waking up at that point was fortunate, as that would have been a hell of a nightmare.
It will be an interesting challenge to try and map it I think.
Here's a transcript that I made when I woke up:
Christmas Eve. Mum and Dad in bed, me, Jack, Sam, Ben and Molly (my siblings) in living room.
I go to my room to get something. In the time in between me going from the living room to the stairwell it begins to rain.
I notice the fire escape is ajar. I close it, and go back to the living room to tell the others.
When I get back to living room it's raining heavily.
When I'm at the living room door I notice the front door is open. I tell the others, and then wonder out loud if the rest of the doors are open.
I go to the kitchen to check the side door. At this time it's storm-like rain.
The kitchen is dark, and in the room next to the kitchen I can see a rectangle of light on the floor, as if the outside light is on.
I turn the outside light on anyway, the rectangle gets lighter, but almost unnoticably so.
I open the door, unlocked as expected, and when I look outside it isn't raining, although I didn't notice this or see it as important.
I walk to the shed and look in. Although still at night, I can see in the shed as if it's only slightly dark.
The cats are all in the shed, mostly lying on the ground, but some are lying on things. Fred (my dog) is lying on the concrete, apparently asleep.
I look in the kennel. Squirrel (one of my cats) is in there. I shoo her out, and then tell Fred to sit in there.
I walk out of the shed, Dad and Jack are at the door. I assume Jack went up to tell Dad, they both came down to look for me.
Although I don't notice until later, Dad's demeanour seems a little... off. I do however notice that Jack is smiling faintly, looking at Dad, listening to his words.
He puts me in mind of someone who has been indoctrinated into a cult, and is in the presence of the cult leader.
Dad says "The doors are supposed to be unlocked. Leave this one unlocked when you come in."
At this point, I wake up, although my brain seems to be throwing lines at me,
as if it's spent some time coming up with this dream and it doesn't want the good bit to go to waste.
"Oh, and don't let anyone... wimpy in, like the police or something."
"You'll know who's supposed to come in. She'll be the one smashing her fingers"
At this point I see a flash of an image, a young girl, about nine or ten, on the driveway, almost shrouded in darkness.
Her black hair covers her face, she seems to be floating a few inchess of the ground, and her fingers are mmangled.
I get a feeling that my waking up at that point was fortunate, as that would have been a hell of a nightmare.
It will be an interesting challenge to try and map it I think.
Playing Crysis on all settings completely maxed out at 2048x1152, and it's still smooth.
I am very happy with my 18-month-old computer.
I am very happy with my 18-month-old computer.
I've done a small mod on my car and the results look like this:
http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b91/ExoSennsOan/?action=view¤t=06-25-10_1209.mp4
REALLY crappy cell phone camera, laggy and skippy so it's not consistent at all like it is in person.
Another crappy cell pic to top it off:
Tinted tails. As you can see in the video above, light shines through perfectly fine.
Edit: Storm news is now irrelevant since it passed without so much as moving the basketball laying outside, which I'm pretty happy about.
http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b91/ExoSennsOan/?action=view¤t=06-25-10_1209.mp4
REALLY crappy cell phone camera, laggy and skippy so it's not consistent at all like it is in person.
Another crappy cell pic to top it off:
Edit: Storm news is now irrelevant since it passed without so much as moving the basketball laying outside, which I'm pretty happy about.
After thinking and thinking and thinking...
My decision is now official: I will buy a Nikon Coolpix P100.
At first, I was continuously dreaming a video camera. But in the price range of 800$-850$ I could only find crap ones. Even at that price range, they are still camcorders(small ones). The main advantage is that they have a different type of sensor that doesn't produce the wobble when you move them fast.
So then I start changing my mind... I saw there are a lot of new cameras supporting 720p or even 1080p filming, the main disadvantage here is that most of them shoot at 24fps and some of them have disastrous jelly-like filming when you move them.
At first I said: alrighty, I'll save some money for a Nikon DSLR. D5000 will be my choice. Then another day I thought for a couple more bucks I can get the D90 which has superior image quality.
But after thinking and thinking and thinking...
I realised I couldn't save that much until at least next year. DSLRs cost much because they have that functionality: you can change the lenses(or objectives or how do you tell them in english). But they are fucking expensive. And I aspire to be a semi-pro photographer, but I'm not yet. I even don't have a pocket camera, my whole experience is based on reading and using for a short period of time other people's cameras!
So the natural way to go was to search for compact cameras that are almost DSLR-like. People call these "bridge" cameras, because it's an intermediate class between the two.
And I found Nikon Coolpix P100.
Just watch the review. For me, it was instant love...
Yes, I am aware how many disadvantages it has. But damn, it shoots 1080p at 30fps with stereo sound! And it can go as far as 240fps at smaller resolutions without sound. That just kicks ass. And it's half-price of the D90. And boy I will love that fucking awesome 26x optical zoom and awesome macro photography. Combined with a tripod to reduce that wobble, this will just KICK ASS.
I have about 70% of the money. I hope I can buy it before the summer ends. Wish me luck!
My decision is now official: I will buy a Nikon Coolpix P100.
At first, I was continuously dreaming a video camera. But in the price range of 800$-850$ I could only find crap ones. Even at that price range, they are still camcorders(small ones). The main advantage is that they have a different type of sensor that doesn't produce the wobble when you move them fast.
So then I start changing my mind... I saw there are a lot of new cameras supporting 720p or even 1080p filming, the main disadvantage here is that most of them shoot at 24fps and some of them have disastrous jelly-like filming when you move them.
At first I said: alrighty, I'll save some money for a Nikon DSLR. D5000 will be my choice. Then another day I thought for a couple more bucks I can get the D90 which has superior image quality.
But after thinking and thinking and thinking...
I realised I couldn't save that much until at least next year. DSLRs cost much because they have that functionality: you can change the lenses(or objectives or how do you tell them in english). But they are fucking expensive. And I aspire to be a semi-pro photographer, but I'm not yet. I even don't have a pocket camera, my whole experience is based on reading and using for a short period of time other people's cameras!
So the natural way to go was to search for compact cameras that are almost DSLR-like. People call these "bridge" cameras, because it's an intermediate class between the two.
And I found Nikon Coolpix P100.
Just watch the review. For me, it was instant love...
Yes, I am aware how many disadvantages it has. But damn, it shoots 1080p at 30fps with stereo sound! And it can go as far as 240fps at smaller resolutions without sound. That just kicks ass. And it's half-price of the D90. And boy I will love that fucking awesome 26x optical zoom and awesome macro photography. Combined with a tripod to reduce that wobble, this will just KICK ASS.
I have about 70% of the money. I hope I can buy it before the summer ends. Wish me luck!
So, I got a job interview Tues. at 10am, at Telos Entertainment. I'm more Maya based, with some backround using 3DSmax.
Out of all the gaming companies here on the island, they're the only ones who use 3DSmax... which really blows..
In the past in 3DSmax I mainly only focused on rendering techniques, So Rimrook, I'll be using your tutorials. It sucks because I pretty much forgot everything I knew about 3DSmax too..
So off to install 3DSmax.. wish me luck
Out of all the gaming companies here on the island, they're the only ones who use 3DSmax... which really blows..
In the past in 3DSmax I mainly only focused on rendering techniques, So Rimrook, I'll be using your tutorials. It sucks because I pretty much forgot everything I knew about 3DSmax too..
So off to install 3DSmax.. wish me luck
I got a Sulfuric Acid burn today at work. I throughly let everyone know what a delightful sensation it was.
/sarcasm
EDIT: before you ask, the amount of contact was about a fourth of a drop. Still stings like hell as I type this, which I got it 5 hours ago. It was on the pad of my index finger on my left hand.
PIC
/sarcasm
EDIT: before you ask, the amount of contact was about a fourth of a drop. Still stings like hell as I type this, which I got it 5 hours ago. It was on the pad of my index finger on my left hand.
PIC
On Steam, my history says that I just did this:
You now own Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty: United Offensive, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: World at War, Darwinia, Uplink, DEFCON, Multiwinia, Multiwinia - Beta, Killing Floor - Outbreak Character Pack, Killing Floor - Nightfall Character Pack, Killing Floor, Killing Floor SDK, Killing Floor Mod: Defence Alliance 2, Atari: 80 Classic Games in One!, BioShock 2, Chrome, Chrome: Specforce, Bad Rats, Rag Doll Kung Fu, Gumboy: Crazy Adventures, Gumboy Crazy Features, Eets, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2, Earthworm Jim 3D, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Mission Editor.
Total cost $105.16
Pure awesome
You now own Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty: United Offensive, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: World at War, Darwinia, Uplink, DEFCON, Multiwinia, Multiwinia - Beta, Killing Floor - Outbreak Character Pack, Killing Floor - Nightfall Character Pack, Killing Floor, Killing Floor SDK, Killing Floor Mod: Defence Alliance 2, Atari: 80 Classic Games in One!, BioShock 2, Chrome, Chrome: Specforce, Bad Rats, Rag Doll Kung Fu, Gumboy: Crazy Adventures, Gumboy Crazy Features, Eets, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2, Earthworm Jim 3D, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Mission Editor.
Total cost $105.16
Pure awesome
So, in relation to JeffMOD's journal, I experienced some shaking of my own. This morning (although anyone else is dumb enough to say last night) at about 2:30 AM, I was awoke by sudden, loud noises. Come to find a violent storm casting itself down outside, consistent lighting, maybe every second or so was a flash. Judging by the thunder, some of it was AWFULLY close.
Just to be safe, I grabbed my phone and prepared to relocate to the basement. I sat back in my bed for a brief while, waiting to see what happened next. This is when I panicked. The whole house began to shake from the violent winds, and unable to tell what was going on over the heavy rain, thick darkness, and loud sounds of the wind and lightning, I prepared to die. They say when a tornado hits, it sounds like a freight train, and boy, it was a damn loud one too. I knew at any second the house would lift off and I would cease to exist. But as quickly as it started to shake, it stopped.
Come to find out this morning, it was purely straight winds, only reaching 70mph, supposedly. Our fence was collapsed, most the panels removed, 5 of them obliterated and located far out in the field. Each of these panels weights roughly 70-80 lbs... many trees, maybe even most of them, had fallen in the neighborhood. Sheds, shacks, hand-built garages, were down. Most of them had been eaten by the storm. Some trees weren't knocked down, they were just plain uprooted, bringing the turf with them... needless to say it was traumatic... From about 2:30 AM to about 6:40 PM, our house had no power, along with a good majority of people. Before 7:15AM, at least 6,000 were without power, until 5:30AM, at least 4,800 were without...
What a day.
Tl;dr: Big storm, scary as fuck, lots of damage.
Just to be safe, I grabbed my phone and prepared to relocate to the basement. I sat back in my bed for a brief while, waiting to see what happened next. This is when I panicked. The whole house began to shake from the violent winds, and unable to tell what was going on over the heavy rain, thick darkness, and loud sounds of the wind and lightning, I prepared to die. They say when a tornado hits, it sounds like a freight train, and boy, it was a damn loud one too. I knew at any second the house would lift off and I would cease to exist. But as quickly as it started to shake, it stopped.
Come to find out this morning, it was purely straight winds, only reaching 70mph, supposedly. Our fence was collapsed, most the panels removed, 5 of them obliterated and located far out in the field. Each of these panels weights roughly 70-80 lbs... many trees, maybe even most of them, had fallen in the neighborhood. Sheds, shacks, hand-built garages, were down. Most of them had been eaten by the storm. Some trees weren't knocked down, they were just plain uprooted, bringing the turf with them... needless to say it was traumatic... From about 2:30 AM to about 6:40 PM, our house had no power, along with a good majority of people. Before 7:15AM, at least 6,000 were without power, until 5:30AM, at least 4,800 were without...
What a day.
Tl;dr: Big storm, scary as fuck, lots of damage.
JeffMOD was in an earthquake.
So, while I was practicing using the GECK, (Fallout 3's level editor) Everything started shaking. Now, occasionally I do this involuntarily, but it wasn't just a twitch in my leg or something similar, it was... everything. The monitor, the desk, you name it. After it stopped, I saved, turned off the computer just to be safe, and went out to ask my mom if she felt it. Well, she didn't but my father did. I mentioned how it may have been an earthquake- after all, they're always happening, they just usually aren't at a magnitude that we can feel. A while later, my dad came in and told me that my grandmother (who lives next door in an attached house/apartment) received a phone call from someone in the town asking if she had felt it. The news tonight confirmed it again.
It wasn't as severe here as the article describes, but it is pretty cool to have experienced it.
So, while I was practicing using the GECK, (Fallout 3's level editor) Everything started shaking. Now, occasionally I do this involuntarily, but it wasn't just a twitch in my leg or something similar, it was... everything. The monitor, the desk, you name it. After it stopped, I saved, turned off the computer just to be safe, and went out to ask my mom if she felt it. Well, she didn't but my father did. I mentioned how it may have been an earthquake- after all, they're always happening, they just usually aren't at a magnitude that we can feel. A while later, my dad came in and told me that my grandmother (who lives next door in an attached house/apartment) received a phone call from someone in the town asking if she had felt it. The news tonight confirmed it again.
It wasn't as severe here as the article describes, but it is pretty cool to have experienced it.
Here's some footage with the much-more-bigger-than-normal river Crisul Repede from my village.
Read my previous journal to see what happened, it's 3 AM and I'm really tired to write again.
Read my previous journal to see what happened, it's 3 AM and I'm really tired to write again.
I'm now a lead sales associate at work, but I'm also getting trained to become an assistant manager. All in under 1 month too, that must be a record or something. Anyway, I'll see if I can squeeze in some time to get a competition entry put together. I'm also working on something else (not the l4d2 map) that would be more worth than a compo trophy so who knows.
[EDIT] I LIIVEEE. Takes some cake MNON MNOM MNOM
Nothing serious happened. At least in my area. The river didn't pass the dams in my area, but some of them were damaged a little more down the stream. On the upper part of the stream, a few tens of kilometers away there were serious damages and some people died. Some people told me this morning they saw pigs and household items floating on the river.
I'm still a little alarmed though because upstream the river there is a barrage that's now overwhelmed by waters... and this is the main reason I was very frightened yesterday(well, today at 3 am :P).
I anyway went for a walk on the shore of the river, and took the camera with me. I'm now processing the video. I'll post it later. I wasn't amazed by how deep it looks now, but I was amazed when I saw a lot of bent and torn apart grass near the dams. Well, that means there really was a flood(we are lucky that we have tall dams especially for floods like this, but that's only in our village...).
I couldn't fell asleep. Something seemed wrong.
I went to the toilet. My toilet's window is facing the river(well, the river is at about 200-300 m I guess). I can hear it how furious it is( and our river is a fast type one, when it grows it's very dangerous).
Then I could hear a siren in the village. After that, at the emergency tower( yes we have loud emergency towers) I could hear a voice warning us of flood.
It should occur at 4 am.
Well, T-25 minutes :\.
I'm really frightened because people near the river are being evacuated. I anyway live in a block of apartments, but it still scares me. From what old people say, it's not something to joke with.
Well, I hope nothing bad happens... if something bad happens though, I hope I can save at least my computer tower. Or at least the Hard-Disks.
Nothing serious happened. At least in my area. The river didn't pass the dams in my area, but some of them were damaged a little more down the stream. On the upper part of the stream, a few tens of kilometers away there were serious damages and some people died. Some people told me this morning they saw pigs and household items floating on the river.
I'm still a little alarmed though because upstream the river there is a barrage that's now overwhelmed by waters... and this is the main reason I was very frightened yesterday(well, today at 3 am :P).
I anyway went for a walk on the shore of the river, and took the camera with me. I'm now processing the video. I'll post it later. I wasn't amazed by how deep it looks now, but I was amazed when I saw a lot of bent and torn apart grass near the dams. Well, that means there really was a flood(we are lucky that we have tall dams especially for floods like this, but that's only in our village...).
I couldn't fell asleep. Something seemed wrong.
I went to the toilet. My toilet's window is facing the river(well, the river is at about 200-300 m I guess). I can hear it how furious it is( and our river is a fast type one, when it grows it's very dangerous).
Then I could hear a siren in the village. After that, at the emergency tower( yes we have loud emergency towers) I could hear a voice warning us of flood.
It should occur at 4 am.
Well, T-25 minutes :\.
I'm really frightened because people near the river are being evacuated. I anyway live in a block of apartments, but it still scares me. From what old people say, it's not something to joke with.
Well, I hope nothing bad happens... if something bad happens though, I hope I can save at least my computer tower. Or at least the Hard-Disks.