Journals
- Take the first 4 numbers starting from zero.
- Multiply each of them by their factorial.
- Make the sum of the results.
Finally 8/20/2018 I finished mod hl1 Cthulhu, I must say the mod brushwork is very confusing and looks little noobish.
The guns looks little buged and two barrel shotgun is disproportionated about size
*Sorry my bad Engish
The guns looks little buged and two barrel shotgun is disproportionated about size
*Sorry my bad Engish
Fucking hell.
3 weeks in, 1 week of minor setup getting to know management, another week of intense set up and programming, a literal day of having to do a technical rehearsal with EVERY company in (this is objectively not enough time), and then days of running shoes since.
It's really difficult to get used to because the Fringe exists in an entirely separate reality. Daily 11+ hour shifts are the norm, did a 14 yesterday and have a 12 in front of me today. I can barely get a break in between acts, because we've got such tight turnarounds that all hands are needed on deck.
It used to be worse, considerably less pay for even longer hours, but it can still do better. I'm almost entirely sure the Fringe runs on virtually slave labour, considering those working for other companies are paid accomodation and a tiny food stipend, and that's it.
If I break down my salary into the hours I've worked, I'm 100% earning less than minimum wage. But I'm fairly well off in comparison to other positions..
On a slightly nicer note, I've got to get to know most of our acts, the producers and actors are all lovely and all have to live in this slightly weird world as well. I really love a handful of our acts, but I also conversely fucking despise about three with every inch of my soul. The stereotype of performers / acts with a disgusting ego is unfortunately real at times, and just really gets you down especially given how much effort you've put in for the rest of your job.
Here's to the next few weeks
3 weeks in, 1 week of minor setup getting to know management, another week of intense set up and programming, a literal day of having to do a technical rehearsal with EVERY company in (this is objectively not enough time), and then days of running shoes since.
It's really difficult to get used to because the Fringe exists in an entirely separate reality. Daily 11+ hour shifts are the norm, did a 14 yesterday and have a 12 in front of me today. I can barely get a break in between acts, because we've got such tight turnarounds that all hands are needed on deck.
It used to be worse, considerably less pay for even longer hours, but it can still do better. I'm almost entirely sure the Fringe runs on virtually slave labour, considering those working for other companies are paid accomodation and a tiny food stipend, and that's it.
If I break down my salary into the hours I've worked, I'm 100% earning less than minimum wage. But I'm fairly well off in comparison to other positions..
On a slightly nicer note, I've got to get to know most of our acts, the producers and actors are all lovely and all have to live in this slightly weird world as well. I really love a handful of our acts, but I also conversely fucking despise about three with every inch of my soul. The stereotype of performers / acts with a disgusting ego is unfortunately real at times, and just really gets you down especially given how much effort you've put in for the rest of your job.
Here's to the next few weeks
Software used: Shadowplay, HitFilm and Handbrake
Source recording: 1280x960, 60fps, 20 MB/s (100 mbps)
Rendering time in HF: 13 minutes (720p60fps, H.264, 2.01 GB)
Compression time in Handbrake: approximately 10 minutes (720p60fps, H.265, 137 MB)I'm definitely happy with the way it performs. Firstly, my laptop couldn't even record at more than 30fps, and especially not on a high resolution like 1280x960. (it's a 4:3, I forgot to change to something else before recording)
I'll hopefully finish with the benchmarks. I have to test BF1942, BF2, HL2 etc.
So far, 3DS Max has been tested, and Crysis.
Source recording: 1280x960, 60fps, 20 MB/s (100 mbps)
Rendering time in HF: 13 minutes (720p60fps, H.264, 2.01 GB)
Compression time in Handbrake: approximately 10 minutes (720p60fps, H.265, 137 MB)I'm definitely happy with the way it performs. Firstly, my laptop couldn't even record at more than 30fps, and especially not on a high resolution like 1280x960. (it's a 4:3, I forgot to change to something else before recording)
I'll hopefully finish with the benchmarks. I have to test BF1942, BF2, HL2 etc.
So far, 3DS Max has been tested, and Crysis.
As the title says, I sometimes dream about mapping.
I know a lot of us do, but I decided to share the memories so we can see how bizarre it gets.
One of the oldest mapping dreams I remember was being in a castle, in Hammer 4.
The castle’s brushwork was fine, but there were no textures. In fact, there were lightmaps so it had that blurry lighting. At first I thought I was maybe in a map viewer like Crafty, or using Hammer’s ray-traced preview. But then, I encountered a sprite which was on top of a torch. The sprite was oriented to face away from the wall, and it wasn’t parallel to the player’s view like most sprites are.
I compiled the map, and the sprite was scaled 10x more and it was parallel. Odd.
Next up, I dreamed a huge mapping collab 3-4 days ago. So, a bunch of people from the Sven Co-op mapping scene (Trempler, Puchi, Aurora, Nih, Keen) and I (basically the Dream Team of SC mapping) were doing a huge collab map. But the thing is, it was in a unified “multiplayer mapping” solution that allowed Hammer, J.A.C.K., Sledge and even Trenchbroom users to work on a map in real time, like in Cube 2 Sauerbraten.
Brushes were spawning in front of my eyes, I was so lost, but it was just beautiful. Mappers were represented with light bulb sprites, with a nickname above them. It was a huge map set somewhere in the mountains. I remember that one mapper (Trempler) was making a fence along one path, and I was turning it into func_detail and adding CLIP brushes. When we compiled the map via the network in 30s or so, we ran it on a dedicated server and it was just amazing.
And 2 nights ago, I had perhaps the most unusual one. I was teaching how to make maps. But not in any software – in QuArK. But not to anybody – to a vortigaunt from Iran. Yes, a HL vortigaunt from Iran. How is he from Iran, I don’t know, he probably teleported there from Xen and came to Bosnia.
I was driving a car (another thing that isn’t real) through my village, and came across a house where the vort lived. I remembered he told me to teach him QuArK, so I did. At least I started. I said “QuArK can be used as many things, a map editor, a model editor and object viewer, a texture editor and browser” (I don’t think some of those are true, but hey, it’s a dream) and then my phone started beeping like the “computer talk” WAVs from Half-Life.
Then the dream ended, and I woke up at 5 in the morning.
I was reading about my old dreams and there seems to be one about modeling too:
Hmm. This sounds oddly specific due to the dragons and all.
But yeah, it’s a good thing I keep track of my dreams. All sorts of stuff can happen.
I know a lot of us do, but I decided to share the memories so we can see how bizarre it gets.
One of the oldest mapping dreams I remember was being in a castle, in Hammer 4.
The castle’s brushwork was fine, but there were no textures. In fact, there were lightmaps so it had that blurry lighting. At first I thought I was maybe in a map viewer like Crafty, or using Hammer’s ray-traced preview. But then, I encountered a sprite which was on top of a torch. The sprite was oriented to face away from the wall, and it wasn’t parallel to the player’s view like most sprites are.
I compiled the map, and the sprite was scaled 10x more and it was parallel. Odd.
Next up, I dreamed a huge mapping collab 3-4 days ago. So, a bunch of people from the Sven Co-op mapping scene (Trempler, Puchi, Aurora, Nih, Keen) and I (basically the Dream Team of SC mapping) were doing a huge collab map. But the thing is, it was in a unified “multiplayer mapping” solution that allowed Hammer, J.A.C.K., Sledge and even Trenchbroom users to work on a map in real time, like in Cube 2 Sauerbraten.
Brushes were spawning in front of my eyes, I was so lost, but it was just beautiful. Mappers were represented with light bulb sprites, with a nickname above them. It was a huge map set somewhere in the mountains. I remember that one mapper (Trempler) was making a fence along one path, and I was turning it into func_detail and adding CLIP brushes. When we compiled the map via the network in 30s or so, we ran it on a dedicated server and it was just amazing.
And 2 nights ago, I had perhaps the most unusual one. I was teaching how to make maps. But not in any software – in QuArK. But not to anybody – to a vortigaunt from Iran. Yes, a HL vortigaunt from Iran. How is he from Iran, I don’t know, he probably teleported there from Xen and came to Bosnia.
I was driving a car (another thing that isn’t real) through my village, and came across a house where the vort lived. I remembered he told me to teach him QuArK, so I did. At least I started. I said “QuArK can be used as many things, a map editor, a model editor and object viewer, a texture editor and browser” (I don’t think some of those are true, but hey, it’s a dream) and then my phone started beeping like the “computer talk” WAVs from Half-Life.
Then the dream ended, and I woke up at 5 in the morning.
I was reading about my old dreams and there seems to be one about modeling too:
"An hour ago, I had a weird dream. AleKK and H2Whoa were in it. AleKK was seemingly contacting someone at Valve about a mod that someone was making for Half-Life. The mod had castles and dragons in it. More precisely, red dragons with armour? Interesting. The modder was making the maps in Blender, and all of that stuff on his very old PC. TBH I haven’t had a dream in a long time, so I’m not surprised that this one is so bizarre."I also recall dreaming part of the actual design process in Blender. It’s miraculous that my dream had a 1:1 Blender UI and stuff, even though I rarely even used Blender.
Hmm. This sounds oddly specific due to the dragons and all.
But yeah, it’s a good thing I keep track of my dreams. All sorts of stuff can happen.
I once had a dream where Sven Co-op 7.0 was released and they added “dynamic map geometry modules”.
Specially when it comes to his elevator in blood1:
He basically uses 4 doors for the elevator on each side, and then another pair of 4 doors on the outside so that's why all the path_corners.
And then at the bottom we have this trigger_relay magic happening:
When I first played the map, I wondered why I hit the max_edict error but seeing that... yeah.
But the result is quite awesome, as you can see here in this video at around 0:15:What I didn't show in the video: The outer buttons, to call the elevator, even match the state of the elevator. E.g. if you press them, they switch to the active texture as long as the elevator is moving. This is actually quite interesting, because the buttons you see ingame are just func_walls and the real button is hidden inside the wall brush behind the fake button. I wonder why he didn't just put a 1 unit thick non solid brush over the fake button, that would work as well, wouldn't it? I didn't even know you could activate buttons that are "stuck" inside a wall.
Thanks god I'm currently just trying a simple elevator with 2 doors, still gonna be a pain to get working I guess. But I found this tutorial which is helpful: https://twhl.info/wiki/page/Tutorial%3A_Elevator_Doors_that_move
Edit: Wow that tutorial really is helpful, I guess Richman didn't knew about env_global.
And then at the bottom we have this trigger_relay magic happening:
When I first played the map, I wondered why I hit the max_edict error but seeing that... yeah.
But the result is quite awesome, as you can see here in this video at around 0:15:What I didn't show in the video: The outer buttons, to call the elevator, even match the state of the elevator. E.g. if you press them, they switch to the active texture as long as the elevator is moving. This is actually quite interesting, because the buttons you see ingame are just func_walls and the real button is hidden inside the wall brush behind the fake button. I wonder why he didn't just put a 1 unit thick non solid brush over the fake button, that would work as well, wouldn't it? I didn't even know you could activate buttons that are "stuck" inside a wall.
Edit: Wow that tutorial really is helpful, I guess Richman didn't knew about env_global.
i forgot, so this is a day late now
I usually make a summary of my year and advancements around my birthday. Here it comes!
Moving to university (college for American lads), was a big step - just as it always is. At first I was doubtful about my choice, but when the second semester came I came to conclusion that I actually like philology and language studies in general. I made a lot of progress in my education, and that's only the first year!
When it comes to my personal issues and social life - I've got through with most of the problems, but there are still things that I want to improve, especially in terms of communication. I need to get rid of shyness in certain situations (I become shy around people that I study with but we've never spoken, and when women hit on me, but I'm quite confident when making small talk or helping people - and I do the latter always when I have a chance). I also have problem with going out and doing something alone. I can spend time in my dorm completely alone without any problems, but when it comes to going out alone, I'm all hesitating and lazy. To fix this, I started going out for a walk at least two times in a week. I've met a lot of interesting people and have a pack of psychos that I enjoy spending time with. I still keep in touch with some people from before university, but everyone's busy with their lives now and spend more time with new people.
I traveled a lot this year. I moved across the whole Poland five times: my sister's wedding, becoming a godfather, holy communion of my godchild, becoming a godfather once again, and a Guns 'n Roses concert. I also moved in my local area and between home and dorms. I can't imagine my life without traveling!
Finally coming to title relevant information! I filled in a form, printed several papers and got accepted to study at a second faculty! I received 188 points and had a first rank in the recruitment system! Now I will study both English and Russian philology! In a week, I'm going to Switzerland to visit my siblings and go sightseeing in the mountains, then I'll head to Germany to work abroad.
It feels good to have everything sorted out!
Moving to university (college for American lads), was a big step - just as it always is. At first I was doubtful about my choice, but when the second semester came I came to conclusion that I actually like philology and language studies in general. I made a lot of progress in my education, and that's only the first year!
When it comes to my personal issues and social life - I've got through with most of the problems, but there are still things that I want to improve, especially in terms of communication. I need to get rid of shyness in certain situations (I become shy around people that I study with but we've never spoken, and when women hit on me, but I'm quite confident when making small talk or helping people - and I do the latter always when I have a chance). I also have problem with going out and doing something alone. I can spend time in my dorm completely alone without any problems, but when it comes to going out alone, I'm all hesitating and lazy. To fix this, I started going out for a walk at least two times in a week. I've met a lot of interesting people and have a pack of psychos that I enjoy spending time with. I still keep in touch with some people from before university, but everyone's busy with their lives now and spend more time with new people.
I traveled a lot this year. I moved across the whole Poland five times: my sister's wedding, becoming a godfather, holy communion of my godchild, becoming a godfather once again, and a Guns 'n Roses concert. I also moved in my local area and between home and dorms. I can't imagine my life without traveling!
Finally coming to title relevant information! I filled in a form, printed several papers and got accepted to study at a second faculty! I received 188 points and had a first rank in the recruitment system! Now I will study both English and Russian philology! In a week, I'm going to Switzerland to visit my siblings and go sightseeing in the mountains, then I'll head to Germany to work abroad.
It feels good to have everything sorted out!
I've been a bit busy lately.....
Just bought myself a house!
Just bought myself a house!
Couple years back I wrote a journal about being the LX Op (Lighting Operator) for an amateur show at the fringe. I'm now the lighting operator in the largest (and therefore, the most demanding and also most popular ) venue for one of the largest companies at the 'Fringe. I have 3 days off from now until the start of September, have an at least 12 hour work day every day and will meet some incredible folk.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world, and bloody hope that this looks good on a CV and can finally get a bleedin' job with a proper company that does them big shows.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world, and bloody hope that this looks good on a CV and can finally get a bleedin' job with a proper company that does them big shows.
So, in my last journal I was talking about the new PC and stuff. Turns out they didn't have any Ryzen 5 1600s in stock, so I went for the Intel Core i5 8400.
Aaand this morning:
The green, mean, Admering machineI'll finally sleep calmly, knowing that all my problems are now gone. (at least hardware problems)
However, what about the oldies?
I think I'll reuse the 2005 HP Compaq as a home server (holding a DooM II dedicated server, LMAO; but for real, it would be useful since there are some kids in the neighbourhood and it would be messy to install Evolve for them etc.), and the 2007 Fujitsu laptop is going to retire. I'm typing this journal on it right now.
I'll probably keep using it for performance tests and small tasks.
Aaand this morning:
The green, mean, Admering machineHowever, what about the oldies?
I think I'll reuse the 2005 HP Compaq as a home server (holding a DooM II dedicated server, LMAO; but for real, it would be useful since there are some kids in the neighbourhood and it would be messy to install Evolve for them etc.), and the 2007 Fujitsu laptop is going to retire. I'm typing this journal on it right now.
I'll probably keep using it for performance tests and small tasks.
My birthday was the other day, so as a present to myself I got to fly one of these.
Sitting in the cockpit
Flying level
Performing a barrel roll
The instructor showing me how to perform an inside loop
My attempt, during which I completely fail to keep the wings levelIt was a load of fun, and I'm now thinking of saving up and training to get a pilot's license when I get home.
Sitting in the cockpitFlying levelPerforming a barrel rollThe instructor showing me how to perform an inside loopMy attempt, during which I completely fail to keep the wings levelTo live is to die.