Saturday, October 25, 2003
So this morning Ryan had me run a test of some of the commercially available silkscreening software. To sum up my reviews, it's horrible. Just cheap Photoshop actions that can't actually do anything that a reasonably skilled Photoshop user couldn't do anyway. So I dusted off my old prototype screening software and took another look at it.
My software is optimized for one thing: taking full color input images, and producing multi-ink screens for extremely limited amounts of colors, in order to try and create a close representation using as few inks as possible. For example, in the image below, I chose red, white, and a pale blue, and asked it to screen the image onto a black shirt. I've included the screens, as well as the original and output images:
As you can see, some of the tones change very slightly, but on the whole it does a remarkable job. In the sample below, I've screen a different image onto an orange shirt, using white, blue, and black ink only — the software is able to cleanly integrate the shirt's tone into the image.
I have an endless stream of products I really should release commercially… This one just needs some tweaking and an interface and it would be ready to go.
The above software took an afternoon to write. Any reasonably skilled programmer could do the same (I'd never claim to be anything but a “reasonably skilled” programmer… there are certainly hundreds of people on IAM that are better) — it always amazes me what a lack of decent tools there is. I believe that it's due to the larger phenomena of how when people become engaged in a task, they lose the ability to see their goal. Because they see only their task, not their goal, they veer off course and act self-destructively.
Anyone who's worked in the industry for long (on the retail end of things) can tell you and endless stream of insane stories about stuff that competing shops have told customers. I got a kick out of this one; it's from a girl who got nipple piercings at one studio, and then when she was having problems asked another place for a “second opinion”.
I went to the place i usually get pierced at(who had also fixed my tongue ring that they had also messed up) and he told me that I had been pierced witrh fake jewelry called niobium and changed them for me to the silver.
It really takes some big balls to tell a customer that niobium is a “fake metal” or unsafe in some way… Have you ever heard a crazy story told by a piercer or a competing shop? Post it in the forum if you have.
(Original forum unavailable, sorry)*
This is c/o Ryan and it's definitely the funniest thing ever. As you probably know, Mel Gibson is doing a movie called The Passion of Christ, a telling of Christ's crucifixion from the point of view of an extremely anti-Semitic conservative Cahtolic. Many people have decryed the film as unholy in one way or another.
Anywy, for the second time in the filming, lighting has struck — literally. This time it hit both the actor playing Jesus, and the director again… They're both unharmed, but you know they have to be wondering: “Will God pull his third punch, or will that be the KO?” (more).
OK, I'm misleading you a little. The story above is true, but I'm supposed to indicate that this is actually the funniest thing ever.
Working on some stuff for BMEshop and the new printing company this morning, and then shortly we're off. I'm doing an experience update this evening, so if you have time, reviewing experiences makes that job go much better…
I'm happy to see that the US has had to release its hostages (more) — they were capturing and holding prisoner the wives and children of people they suspected of being opposed to America in order to attempt to convince them to turn themselves in (ie. turn yourself in or we abuse your wife type stuff). They'd been asked to release them “because such actions are provocative for the Iraqi people” — I suppose no one thought to mention that it's also a war crime (sounds familiar).
PS. 4,000 Americans have been maimed to the point where they had to be evacuated out of Iraq for medical reasons so far (more). Outside of the roughly one dead soldier a day, that's about 25 guys a day being evacuated due to their injuries. 20% of those suffered “severe brain injuries” (ie. they're now severely mentally handicapped), with 50% more believed to also have some form of brain injury.
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Now, I know that beans are the musical fruit and all — “the more you eat, the more you toot” — but to me it seems strange to actually market beans on that basis. Mr. Goudas calls their mixed beans the “9th Symphony” and it includes a singing bean saying, “Eat & Music will follow”… I wonder if the average person notices or not?
