μο. | μο. - Part 18

25 10, 2008

mixed feelings, Autodesk acquires Softimage.

By μο.|2016-01-12T21:10:51+02:00October 25th, 2008|animation, CGI, Softimage XSI, technology|2 Comments

It has been officially confirmed that Autodesk signed agreement with Avid Technology to Acquire Softimage. http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?id=12022457&siteID=123112 Users' feelings are mixed for the future of the Softimage product line. In general the most important questions are: Are they to kill Softimage? Till now Autodesk acquired all major 3D packages. What about competition ? What are the pros and cons of such an acquisition? Some say no, Softimage is not to be killed, and this in a way is probable. Autodesk never killed any of its previous aquisitions, including Maya, Mudbox, Descreete Logic products etc. They still develop these products but evidently the "innovation curve" have changed. It is a truism that we havent seen any major additions to Maya since Autodesk aquired it. We hope this will change in the near feature. In general, the pros and cons that most users identified in various forum discussions are: Pros & Cons Autodesk, [...]

19 10, 2008

XSI 7.0: Bradley Gabe’s videos

By μο.|2017-12-04T21:03:23+02:00October 19th, 2008|CGI, Softimage XSI, technology|0 Comments

Bradley Gabe shows in his XSI 7 Video Tutorial how you can creates a static particle emission, then drives point animation using vectors pulled from curve tangency. here is the link: http://vimeo.com/user594481/videos ICE Demo: Building a Force from a Curve http://vimeo.com/1313863 Vortex Control http://vimeo.com/1330615 ICE: An Artist Tour #1 http://vimeo.com/1349449 ICE: An Artist Tour #2 -- Production Primer http://vimeo.com/1392786

18 10, 2008

Speed test for Firefox, Chrome and IE

By μο.|2016-01-12T21:10:52+02:00October 18th, 2008|technology|0 Comments

Here I provide a benchmarking test regarding the start-up speed of firefox 3.0.3, Chrome and IE 7. The test has been done with more than 30 identical tabs for Firefox and Chrome and with one tab for IE (it was actually crashing when storing more than 4-5 tabs.) I also provide a benchmark with MarineTraffic. Here is the video: [flv]http://xylem.aegean.gr/~modestos/mo.blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/benchmark.flv[/flv] Download high res video. The test was performed on an Intel Core 2 Quad 9300 2.50 processor with 4Gb RAM.

1 10, 2008

time to withdraw and think.

By μο.|2016-01-12T21:11:04+02:00October 1st, 2008|politics|0 Comments

In New York on the last day of an American tour, absorbing the demise of Yankee Stadium and maybe of Wall Street as we thought we knew it, Zizek’s talk is a blast-furnace but not a blur. The theme through all Zizek’s gags is that the financial meltdown marks a seriously dangerous moment — dangerous not least because, as in the interpretation of 9.11, the right wing is ready to impose a narrative. And the left wing is caught without a narrative or a theory. “Today is the time for theory,” he says. “Time to withdraw and think.” speech Here is the original post.

22 09, 2008

zotero runtime error 6, overflow

By μο.|2016-01-12T21:11:04+02:00September 22nd, 2008|technology|4 Comments

If you are getting this error, then you probably reached the limit of VBA script. I guess to many bibliographic entries... The solution to this is simple and it is a bug in zotero code that has been identified by Mat Hickman. Here is my zotero.dot file it you are interested. :: Here is the process (I copied and pasted from his post here): Vba is visual basic for applications and is a programming language by microsoft that allows you to automate programs in their office suite. Patching the code is, basically, safe. Anyway, just take a copy of zotero.dot before you start playing! Step by step instructions follow... 1. Shut down all instances of Word. Find zotero.dot and right click on it; choose open (default is 'New'). 2. You should be faced with a blank document. Press Alt+F11 and the vba editor will appear. On the left [...]

20 09, 2008

new-media student demoreel 2008

By μο.|2016-01-12T21:11:04+02:00September 20th, 2008|art, design, graphic design, Interaction Design, product design, user experience design (UX)|10 Comments

This is the new-media demoreel that we first presented at the animasyros festival. It includes student projects from the following modules: traditional animation, computer animation, advanced animation, computer games, multimedia design, audiovisual design, virtual reality, as well as some parts from final year theses. [flv width="600" height="320"] http://xylem.aegean.gr/~modestos/mo.blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/aegeansyros-demo-reel-newmedia.flv[/flv] Download: Low Resolution - High Resolution

18 09, 2008

Bernard-Henri Lévy & Slavoj Žižek: Violence & the Left in Dark Times

By μο.|2016-01-12T21:11:04+02:00September 18th, 2008|politics|0 Comments

Bernard-Henri Lévy, France's "rock-star philosopher," and Slavoj Žižek, the Slovanian "Elvis of cultural theory," will scrutinize the totalitarianisms of the past as well as those of the future, as they argue for a new political and moral vision for our times and investigate the limits of tolerance. Does the advent of capitalism cause more violence than it prevents? Is there violence in the simple idea of the neighbor? asks Zizek in Violence: Six Sideways Reflections. Are human rights Western or Universal? How is it that progressives themselves-those who in the past d efended individual rights and fought fascism-have now become the breeding ground for new kinds of dangerous attitudes? asks Lévy in Left in Dark Times: A Stand Against New Barbarism. speech Live from the NYPL is here.

10 09, 2008

Nokia N95 firmware v30.0.015

By μο.|2016-01-12T21:11:04+02:00September 10th, 2008|technology|0 Comments

So, here is the new firmware update for the N95 series. The changelog includes quite a few features: New* welcome application Update* Nokia Maps 2.0 is now built-in + some corrections for the GPS software. Many users observed that GPS now takes less time to lock signal. Update* New version of Adobe FlashLite 3 with improved viewing for sites with video content i.e. YouTube Update* Nokia Search 4.0 with Google plug-in New* Share online 3.0 New* N-Gage client Update* Download! application updated (v 3.1.50) Update* for the Music Player Improvement* Current consumption improvements (for e.g. WLAN scanning) New* baseline for VoIP (with significant error corrections) New* themes Some Improvements to the camera software New* Rotate screen under display settings And a video with some of the new features: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvY0zzjjO7I

5 09, 2008

Incognito browsing for Firefox

By μο.|2016-01-12T21:11:04+02:00September 5th, 2008|technology|0 Comments

Would you like to hide surfing trails that the Firefox browser leaves behind? The solution is the distrust addon for Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1559 This addon is similar to the incognito Chrome tab, AKA Private Browsing. Once turned on this extension monitors FireFox for its activities. Once turned off Distrust will remove history items cache and cookies that were used during the distrust session. Note: that cookies are not removed right away but only when FireFox is closed. Distrust does not remove the cookies but makes them expire when FireFox is closed. distrust icon

2 09, 2008