This figure might look nicer in wireframe, without colors or shades, as surfaces turn into nothing after they’ve gone behind what is up front. (Which is available now. Check the Linework link below the image.) I’ve tried to show this by adding gradients that fade away. Notice how the lines that seems to just vanish behind the bars end up being part of something else. I have a few personal principles I follow, like how I don’t just leave a line hanging somewhere, they have to connect to something.
Two days ago, that is Monday, the day started with the announcement that we had no water, as a water leak had been discovered near our building. During the day I saw various machines and people coming and going outside my window. At one point I was up on the top floor so I spent a couple of seconds snapping a few pictures from there. It’s not everyday that people sporadically dig up a large pit on in the lawn on the other side of the road. A change to my view.
We eventually got water from a nearby supply to keep the factory up and running, but midday yesterday things were like normal again, except for the pit then.
Oh, and while I’m talking about pictures… I have to sit down and pick some out from my vacation to post. Someday… soon, hopefully.
I also tried my shaky hand to record a zoomed in video to be able to create a loop. As you can see below my hands were indeed shaky, but at least it kind of loops! Next time I’ll make sure to get a tripod. I like video loops… but this one is a bit too wonky :P played back in four times the original speed.
For this figure I decided to transform a surface two times over a single object. Usually I work with a single transformation from one state to another, which can be confusing enough to look at. With two transformations the object needs to be larger, because if they are cramped together it will just look like a mess.
I was working with the center surface, to turn it into a ledge and a ridge, but then I realized that a greater illusion lies in the elevation changes that this generates.
Start at the right end of the bar. Notice how the elevation is at the top, but when you move towards the center, the elevation is at the bottom, and at the left end the bar has turned completely flat!
Earlier I posted that I had acquired a trampoline to put in my parents garden, as I myself live in an apartment. Shortly afterward I got curious of how well it would work in water, if at all. It was quite a strange idea, but it got stuck in my head, so I had to try it out.
To make it possible to launch off of the trampoline into the water I wanted to increase the height by extending the legs. I checked if it was possible to order more leg parts, as they were stackable, but that was only possible if you actually had a broken part to replace. Then I checked the price for manufacturing extensions, which was more than half the price of a completely new trampoline! So I ended up buying a second one and used those legs for the extension.
For the trampoline not to sink in the sand on the lake bottom I prepared boards to have as feet on the legs. These were then attached with a rope to stabilize the structure somewhat.
To test the rig out I brought together a number of friends and headed out to a beach belonging to the second largest lake in the country. It was in my first week of vacation so it was cold in the water, a friend guesstimated 14°C, but it was the only weekend this summer that this amount of my friends were available!
To see the process and the end result, watch the video below! Enjoy!
I’ve talked to a few people which give blood, and I’ve been curious to try it out, it does serve a purpose! What pushed me into really contacting the blood central and registering was a talk with a friend’s grandfather, which had been a blood giver all his life. I’ve also talked to my neighbor about it, as she also is a blood giver.
Two weeks ago I finally booked a time, after having left a sample before my vacation, and it went perfectly fine! When I got there I had to sit in line for a few minutes, then I got to lie down and they slurped out 450ml of blood through my left arm!
I think the biggest mess with leaving blood is the iron pills I get to swallow after it. Apparently it would take a whole lot of eating until you have restored all that iron you lose with your blood, but pills will fix you up! Just that they make you weird in the stomach.
For people with fright of needles, I caution you to look away. Well, I guess that’s too late now… below are a two pictures the nurse was kind enough to take!
If you live in Sweden and also want to get rid of some of your blood, for the sake of others, go to GeBlod.nu! I have to say it results in a good feeling, like you are contributing to society in a good way, in addition to paying taxes and abiding the laws.
In this figure I experiment with connecting things with different angles. This is actually a pole and a blocky arc connected through four bars. The pole, to the left, has a constant size, but when the bars connect to it from different angles, they adapt to their angle by varying their width to match the surface of the vertical bar.
I felt that this figure might be hard to comprehend for just about everyone, but I have added a small helpful instruction below the image.
On the left side four bars connect to a single pole, but at different angles, which causes the widths vary. To see this better, start at the right and follow a single bar to the pole, and then follow the pole while ignoring the other bars. Repeat this with the other bars.
I can’t open the windows in my office and the ventilation is not adjustable.
I use the fan to cool myself down after having rode the bike to work or after I’ve been running around in the factory trying to get things to work properly. It’s priceless to be able and cool down to stop the immense sweating!… yeah!
For 69SEK (~$10) at Teknikmagasinet it’s a dirt cheap way to make my working day more comfortable!
It’s very nice now when the air here is hot and damp, very high humidity makes it heavy to breathe. The first few days after the vacation ended it poured down outside, timing!
This figure was another experiment to work with non-orthogonal surfaces. It is a bit more work, both when drawing and shading, but the figures get a different feel to them. They don’t come naturally when thinking up impossible figures though, not yet at least. At first I was unhappy with this figure, as it was hard to make out how it actually looked, but then I separated it into three differently colored sections, which helped it make more sense.
This tribar has had its’ corners rounded, but it is still as impossible as a normal one. If you follow the curves counter-clockwise, you will notice that you keep going towards yourself.
This flight of steps is peculiar. It looks like it goes in two directions, or four, but if you start in one corner and walk diagonally to the other side, you will notice that you keep walking in the same up or down direction!
Two weeks ago we were visiting a couple of friends to test out pistol shooting at a pistol shooting club where they are both members. I set out with two cameras, my Ixus 75, and the borrowed Sanyo Xacti VPC HD1A.
My plan was to film both myself when firing and the target at the same time, I ended up partially successful. It was a bit stressful to set up two cameras while getting information and instructions of how to safely fire a bullet weapon, but I somehow managed.
During the day I tried different levels of zoom which made some material fairly blurry and worthless, but some of it ended up usable. To my slight surprise It was the clips recorded using the digital zoom in addition to the analog that would display enough detail, I guess it is a smart camera that uses those extra pixels in the sensor when zooming digitally.
Below are a few pictures from the event, and the resulting video from all that recording!
All in all a very interesting and teaching experience, thank you Jönköpings PK. I might join a club myself in the future, to work towards marksmanship.
