GRUPO JUNJOU ROMANTICA-GRUPO KEY GIRLS FC: ROBOTECH THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK -20th Anniversary...

GRUPO JUNJOU ROMANTICA-GRUPO KEY GIRLS FC: ROBOTECH THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK -20th Anniversary...: "Traigo en esta ocasion este magnifico disco de la serie que junto con Magic Knight Rayearth y Macross ha dejado una huella mas indeleble en ..."

More Excitement

Alright, It has indeed been a while since anything went on here, which is a sign of good and bad. Lots has been happening and the most recent of which is the new Thermal and a Quarter site.

My first site completely in as3 and man has it been a good ride.

The site is at http://www.thermalandaquarter.com/ - the art is by Khushboo Salian.

Go there, listen to the music, buy the album, da de da de da... you'll love it!

Also, and here's the zinger: I had to do a visual update on their myspace page as well.

Let me say first out: myspace SUCKS! (in some ways: mutiple millions of people can't be wrong).

But, once you settle in and get it balanced, it really is quite rewarding. Not that I'm condoning the crap. Myspace is broken. But well, it was a good afternoon of frustration and here's the result: http://www.myspace.com/thermalandaquarter/

And I need to thank Mike D for his kick ass article

And now back to Simpsons.

SoundMixer.computeSpectrum

I just can't seem to get enough of all the new stuff they've pumped into AS3.

Efficiency is finally respectable so even with my unfortunately wasteful programming, everything seems to be running smoothly. 

This simple little number is using the computeSpectrum method new to AS3. (check out Peter deHaan's piece where I learnt about it.)

Beautiful part is, once you've computed, you're free to do anything with that data.

And here's my first doodle with it. I hope this runs as well as it does on my machine:

http://www.therandomlines.com/shapes.html

I haven't built anything advanced in AS3 yet, but the prospects are promising and I look forward to it. Time I started giving back out to the community though... sometime...

3D baby! I'm finally exploring...

This feels so good.

So the holidays have passed, generally speaking. There is much merriment afoot, but the brunt of it is done and twas the time to start learning again. So I bit my lip and dived into AS3. I've been putting this off for a while now, because I'm scared. But the rush is incredible. I've done practically nothing and already the joys far outweigh the inconvenience of changing some of the way you think. There's a great lot of people out there who are really helpful and its made this a lot easier than I'd imagine, but the most fun of things to try will have to be Papervision 3D

Here's my first attempt to do something with it.

http://www.therandomlines.com/3d_02.html

It is absolutely fascinating. I'm not even going to pretend I know what goes on inside. The ease of working with it is amazing, and the hype isn't misplaced: this does change the future of the web.

Flash for the win!

Design and Commercial Art

So I've been spending my time reading because I'm in a bit of a lul productivity wise. And gladly I found a host of interesting articles specifically around design as a production system:spitting out steams of high quality work, and generally appreciating design as an art form. I personally do try and work with clients that understand this, give you time to work, understand some of the hardships and appreciate it when they are pleased. But this isn't always possible ofcourse when bills have to be paid, and as a growing business, this is always the case. Anyhow, on with the articles:

http://www.eleven3.com/freelance/good-cheap-and-fast/

http://veerle.duoh.com/blog/comments/deadlines_kill_inspiration/

http://www.eleven3.com/web-design/avoiding-the-designers-crisis/

I know there's heaps more. But this is where I started and links from both those sites are really interesting. Maybe one day, when the self-loathing is at an all time low, Ill find the time to actually write...

All Dynamic Random Lines

So.. we're live with a new site.
And as has always been the case, there is even more random in this one.
I messed with a good amount of php to get this going and the biggest addition is the Add Folio section. This allows members to add and manage their own folios. A practically seemless CMS environment. It's powered in the backend by PIcasa Web Albums for images. so thank you google. As is this blog.
All feels good. Everybody involved can start adding their folios, and hopefully, the world will be a better place as we go along.

New Random Lines coming...

So I finally put my head down and started working on a new site. As always, there'll be a host of new features from my various learnings since the last site. This time though I want to do as much as I can for the artists, so this site will have individual portfolio's and stuff like that. It's already awesome fun working on; dabbling in php and the like.
So hang on... and wait for it!

Happy Dipavali

शुभ दीपावली
Random Lines wishes you a very happy Diwali!
Blow up some of our floating boxes in celebration. (hit space to turn on the crosshair).
I miss being in India...

Maths can be fun

Seen on a Mathematician's shirt sometime in the recent past:- "God is real unless proven to be an integer."

Railway lines have an ambiguous familiarity I can't seem to completely account for. The journey's themselves; across the country; always meant you were heading for an exciting holiday or finally making your way home after one. Using one out of necessity is alien to me, and I presume it stems from that. But looking at the track itself today, with its assortment of anonymous rejects: bottle caps, expired tickets, a multitude of cigarette buds, well, I'm roughly amused. Nostalgia is just as new to me, and although I don't particularly condone the memory of India based on garbage and inefficiency, it is the little things that I notice, and that I take away from as memories.
The 11:44 train back home is an empty one. It's the last train. In comparison, my stint in Bombay saw me using trains as everyday transport, and the last train there (roughly 4AM) is absolutely packed. This city really seems to shut down comfortably before midnight. . So what's mindless banter doing on Random Lines... what its supposed to.

Between the odd and the same; you've gotta be rooting for the odd, don't you?
- Spanglish

No Great design is realised without conviction. Conviction my friend, is the absolute unwillingness to succumb to chains, constrains and mindless conventions. A "No-trade offs" mindset is the single biggest attitudinal driver in breakthrough success. A problem is not a problem but an opportunity to find a solution, it is a juicy challenge and not a reason to give in and settle for less.
Humm... I read this somewhere...

6 months

He walked over to the sink and poured himself a glass of water, downing it in two gulps, as if it had been beer or whisky.
- Neil Astley

It's been 6 months. 6 really diverse and terribly exciting months. And funnily it seems almost in vain to try and sum it up or anything. I really miss my bike though. Figured it would be nice to have a picture on the front page of the site. Make me feel better for a while. Need to get back on the open road though. And can feel the blood in my veins, disappointed as they return to the heart. But alas, it shall be a while.

Got heavily into 3D again. And completely blew everything I'd done before haywire. Working with the unreal engine to produce a mod. Potential is huge and much seems to be working out. So all feels fantastic.

The future looks full.

Artificial Intelligence

Everytime I sit down with Flash and try and push it around and try something new, I'm joyfully surprised. Flash is such a fascinating software. I wish Macromedia were paying me to say this but it really is a great product and a couple of days ago I went down the rabbit hole of Mathematics. I attempted (and succeded) in creating boids. Artificial Life. Well a start anyway.
Boids were developed by Craig Reynolds and I haven't done anything revolutionary. Its based on the flock motion of birds and simulates basic desires and purpose. my attempt is at http://www.therandomlines.com/boids.html
The great part about Flash is the fact that it handles advanced graphics. And the maths is only the beginning. Actionscript is a powerful language; object orientation is slow; but it has its moments and all in all it's a beautiful ride.