Adventures with my Kindle

in the advent of a long 18hr odd flight, i caved and bought a Kindle! it is so easy to buy stuff off amazon, what with the 2 day shipping and whatnots.

right after buying it, i installed calibre and got all the books i wanted into the library properly. the books ranged from my childhood(ok maybe inner child) favorites to random Best Sellers. so there are the Artemis Fowl series, some Poe and other classics, collections by Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Murakami and a few others.

i was never one for books that werent sci-fi or thriller in nature but omg. reading books out of your comfort genre and giving them a go was the best thing ever.

the books that i completed recently were Perks of being a Wallflower and The Fault in Our Stars. so much feels, so many thoughts, so much pondering. been quite some time since i cried so badly for a book. also, im super glad nat read them. so we could both ponder about it. somehow pondering with someone makes it less sad. makes the world less senseless. maybe cause i tend to sink into this bleak depraved view of everything. now i need to read Life of Pi, so we can ponder about that too.

now im stuck on reading a collection of short stories. this:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7637398-stories

some are great, some are uhm ok but the great ones are really nice though. especially those that doesnt seem to end.

(￣▽￣)ノ byebye

Peripheral Chaos

this semester was the first whereby i actually did CM-ish modules for the first time in 3 years! all these while my modules were just computer science or math etc.

one of the modules required us to build a game using Unity and it was rather rewarding since people can actually play our end product!

so our game is called Peripheral Chaos. it is a sci-fi FPS against robots.

the starting scene of Peripheral Chaos

for more details, go to the game's page!

http://peripheralchaos.wordpress.com/

to download the exe:

http://peripheralchaos.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/download-peripheral-chaos/

please try it out and tell me what you think!

when we first started, we planned to implement both Campaign mode and Multi-player mode but with 6 weeks and 4 other modules, we decided to fully focus on Campaign mode. Multi-player might be something in the future? i'm not too sure. hahaha. there was a map created that was modeled after com1 but since that was for the Multi-player mode, it never saw the light of day. ( >.< )ノ still it was rather fun modeling it i guess.

during the showcase, each group did their presentation and the games i really liked were Elite6 and Heresy of Set. check out their videos below!

elite6, a RTS by Monochrome

heresy of set, a tower defense game with Egyptian themes. rick modeled every damn model in this game. insanity. ( >.< )ノ

not sure if their games are up for dl but if they are, go try it out! fun stuffff.

(￣▽￣)ノ byebye

Learning Blender in a crunch

while taking cs4342, to be honest i learnt everything about Blender from Youtube to complete my assignments. perhaps the teaching styles didn't match, but i didn't feel that labs were helpful at all.

get Blender here: http://www.blender.org/

so after prowling Youtube for hours to learn from scratch what Blender is and such, I have compiled a list of Youtube tutorials for Blender which i found were succinct and great! i can be impatient so these videos are mostly shorter than 20mins.

first up, cgboorman is awesome to the max! ♥ he has a series of tutorials covering various topics and they are all clear and easy to follow.

check out his channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/cgboorman

Character UV mapping by cgboorman:

Simple Animation by TheMrGoman:

Modelling a human by RivenPhoenix:

Animating paths by ianscott888:

Export animation by Daniel Kreuter:

Blender also has a video editing function which is very easy to use with it's drag and drop function.

and this is how i survived my 3d modelling module assignments. with the power of Youtube! i'm not good at it but at least i could scrape pass i guess. (T▽T)

nice songs always help make modelling less tedious:

she is ♥

(￣▽￣)ノ byebye

Happy Halloween

happy halloween. here's some cute girls in costume for you. have fun while i dredge through my deadlines. (T^T)/

(￣▽￣)ノ byebye

TUTORIAL - PORTAL CAKE

i have not made it yet. but here is a cross stitch pattern for Portal's cake cause i couldn't find any except for finished products! this is based on the various pictures of others' finished products and guesstimation. hehh.

(￣▽￣)ノ byebye

TUTORIAL: ASH AND PIKACHU CROSS STITCH

using a small scrap piece of cross stitch cloth, i was wondering if i can cannibalize any 8bit art into a piece of art for my growing wall deco. then i remembered my Pokemon Yellow and tadaaaa! ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ seeing pikachu follow me around makes me really happy for some reason. true bromance/love. hahahaha.

in progress. rusty cross stitch skills = took 4 hours odd to complete

here is the pattern i made from Excel. left the numbers at the side so its less of a bitch to count etc. quite a small piece. i color coded the Black as Grey squares so that the lines show up better. not too sure about the exact numbers for the colors i used though since most of my embroidery threads are random bundles. hehh.

basically, colors needed:

Deep red

Blue

Pale Peach

Ivory/White

Yellow

Brown

Black

Deep green

the current wall which my messy desk faces. hung my keys at the door so i hopefully won't miss them as much. i realized i've not drawn for quite some time. hrmmm...

perfect red wooden frame.

while i was starving at home today, help came and whipped up this god damn delicious yummy poscsvbesfnqaggg pasta for me. #luckyluckylucky the bacon, the chicken, the mushrooms, the garlic. ohmytian. i even ate greens!!! ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ thats HOW yummy it is.

(￣▽￣)ノ byebye

TUTORIAL - SKYRIM TREASURE MAP

on the ever on-going quest to decorate my room, i've decided to make a skyrim treasure map! ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ

kind of blur/reflective. meh.

it is different from the actual map you get when finding treasures with slightly more details. and i love it on my wall. HAH.

started off with this muslin my mom had lying around, and the map from skyrim as reference! i wanted to put up the map but it was printed glossy and all, looking too pristine for a medieval map so i just left it in the box.

decided to do the area around Winterhold since my photoframe is only A4. and the College is there so yeap. ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ

traced the map out lightly in a 2B pencil and soaked it in coffee to darken it! wrong move. the coffee erased the pencil marks to oblivion. (HAH punny.) ohkay so uhm. coffee dye then drawing would be a genius move. i ended up redrawing most of it.

traced it over with a 0.3 ZIG. the pen catches on the muslin a lot but that gives the quilled-messy-uneven feel so yaye.

added colors. since i didnt have markers/color pencils and wanted something more, natural, i used powders. ie. eyeshadows from my broken palette. hahaha. have tonnes of browns lying about so i used a brush to pick up the pigments and press them into the muslin.

smudged and stuff.

after that i further snipped and burnt the edges since it was >A4. ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ

DONE.

one of the qualms i have is that it lacks details so it doesn't look as interesting/intriguing as i hoped. hrm. maybe i might do one on other materials that is easier to draw on.

(￣▽￣)ノ byebye

REUNION DINNER

school has been busy. reaallyyy busy. its so busy that im doing work on cny eve. and it feels like the work just isnt up to standard and wont be no matter how hard i try. ive come to the realization that effort does not translate to results at all. so at times i just have to settle for whatever and just live life. well, in regards to coding only of course. hahaha. had a workshop on saturday so i was later in going back home.

pancakes to make myself feel better.!

this cny's reunion dinner is a little anti-climatic due to rampant food poisoning. been nauseas and listless. ugh. and the fact that i couldnt do CE1 properly just made me lose my appetite. fook. o(-`д´- ｡)

steamboat with the kiddies and family. the kiddies are all tall now. reaaalllyyy tall.

upside to the heavy rain; pretty rainbows. apparently there were places with double rainbows but i like this more. super bright and colorful. ヽ(￣(ｴ)￣)ﾉ

ive a new mini skyrim project now. should be finished by tonight. and completed once the printing shops open after cny. hehh. need therapeutic things to do to keep myself sane.

(￣▽￣)ノ byebye

MINECRAFT BABIES

i went over to my brother's farm that day. and.

if the baby sheep says "can i haz all the wheat.?"

(￣▽￣)ノ byebye

INKSCAPE

inkscape is fun. highly intuitive. if youre looking for an illustrator, give it a try.! although i just dl-ed it but it seems good so far. doodled abit on it too to get the hang of it. a 1800dpi mouse is rly unsuitable for such stuff. meh.

nyanja is actually a cat who thinks its a ninja and loves coffee.

thus it appears randomly on people's notes and desks. hehh.

get inkscape from:

inkscape.org

(￣▽￣)ノ byebye

VTM GOES XMAS

short update of today:

went for a late xmas/mingshan's birthday celebration at her house. lots of laughing during the games and potluck.!

setting up the tables and food.

otah. lesson learnt today: never drink root beer after otah. taste like an explosion of hell bugs. ugh.

noodles that my mom fried for us. i helped her with the chopping of garlic etc and after that i went to put on my contacts. fml the stinging from the garlic was transferred from my hands to my eyes even after i washed my hands (T^T) horrid tearing.

sushi.!

i love mint colored stuff so this cup is cute++.!

gift exchange with my present from keryu.!

shall continue my anime movie marathon. the list comprises of movies with mostly surreal, fantastical  elements that make my head all the more dreamier and strange. hahaha.

the list goes like this:

Howl's Moving Castle

Spirited Away

Paprika

My Neighbour Totoro

Kiki's Delivery Service

Princess Mononoke

FF: The Spirits Within

FF VII: Advent Children

AppleSeed

AppleSeed: Ex Machina

AppleSeed XIII

(￣▽￣)ノ byebye

IF I WERE A COMMONER

after watching so much anime this holiday, it seems awesome to be the protagonist(or his friends) in the show. you are basically immortal(or get revived or just dont die), get ridiculously powerful sooner or later and stuff. although it doesnt really apply to all (ace y u die T^T).

so i was thinking, what if you were one of the sad people who were "normal" in these anime. the commonfolks or just oblivious to the otherside of the world.? and i shall attempt to picture how their daily lives are like in the shoes of the commoner. #challengeaccepted

DISCLAIMER: prone to mistakes and spoilers. yaye.

#1 FAIRY TAIL

who i am: some non-or-minimal-to-the-extent-of-useless-magic-wielder living in Magnolia/non-mage

with the guild being in the same city, imagine walking by, shopping and next thing you know you're caught in the middle of a fight or something. and these guys are like 1000x stronger than you. reminiscent of the Laxus-try-to-take-over arc.

just imagine if you're the guy on the left in the bottommost panel in the red circle. if i see Elfman run towards me, i'll pee my pants.

or your houses get destroyed for no apparent reason related to you other then the fact that it was at an inauspicious location. HOW SIAN RIGHT. and you cant even use magic to restore it yourself cause well, you suck like that being magic-less in Fiore.

but if i was there, i think i'll spent my money on Sorcerer Magazine and fangirl over Gajeel or Bixlow or something. HAHAHA. ohkay nevermind. up side to the destructions are Fairy Tail actually seems to offer compensation for their damage done so not too bad. i guess. and. and. and. talking "catssssssss".

patiently wait for Gajeel to appear on the cover. hahaha.

DRAGON DRAGONSLAYER.

by dragonrupieach

SO CUTE. i like Happy. he how cute. hahahaha.

and there are super hot girls like Erza. yaye.

-----

#2 ONE PIECE

who i am: normal non-pirate non-marine dude

so pirates are rampant and 99% of them are assholes who pillage villages unlike Luffy and crew. plus your government is kinda screwed up and apparently the Marines who are supposed to be protecting you are currently spilt in forces and reduced power cause Aokiji left etc. not like they do much protecting since the marines seem highly corrupted anyhoos.

unless i live in a secluded place without huge man-eating plants or am damn lucky, it'll be dangerous living here. not to mention threats from gangs like Arlong.

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#3 FULL METAL ALCHEMIST

who i am: normal non-alchemist dude

i'll have to have a job. and if i stay in a backward place/somewhere not exposed to alchemy, i'll think its some sorcery like in the first church arc in Brotherhood. but then again, not like it'll really make a difference. so i guess i'll be a normal, working citizen then. without internet. most probably i'll try to master alchemy. hehhh. or die trying. or just be normal. but with Roy working for the future, the place shouldn't be too bad to live in.

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#4 BLEACH

who i am: normal person who cant detect spirits

this is super sad. its just like living in my current life and then there are people bankai-ing left right centre. while i'm studying why 1+1=2 in CS1231. sigh.

and school doesnt look half as interesting as this.

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#5 HELLSING

who i am: normal atheist citizen

this sucks badly too. you are caught in this 3-sided kinda holy war between the Vatican, Hellsing and Millennium. ohkay, understatement. it sucks damn bloody badly(oh punny.!). firstly, you're getting trouble from the undead and the guy who is saving you, ie Alucard, could care less if you actually live or die through the ordeal. makes a lousy saviour in that sense. so the objective of the war was to eliminate Alucard but hey, you wouldnt know would you. cause youre normal and the Hellsing organization is shrouded in mystery cause we all know mystery = cool factor + 100points.! so there you are, a normal citizen caught in this weird guy's quest to kill Alucard. joy.!

(￣▽￣)ノ byebye