Saturday, March 31, 2012

Relatively Newer Tshirt designs

One of Earthwave's goals is to spread awareness about well known as well as lesser known endangered (and in some cases extinct) species of wildlife in india. these tshirts have been given away at schools during workshops, awareness campaigns etc.. they also go on sale whenever Earthwave make an appearence in public on occasion.

These have been screen printed in gorgeous 3 colour combos. The printing process involves water based inks..which are significantly less toxic than regular ink.. also the tshirts themselves are being made from organic cotton.

here are some new designs(well almost a year old actually), that have not yet been printed.

Ganges Shark

The shark, though poorly documented, is known to inhabit only freshwater, inshore marine and estuarine systems. Its feeding habits are unknown. Its maximum size is in the area of 2 metres (6.6 ft). It is probably viviparous, measuring 55 to 60 centimetres (22 to 24 in) at birth.
The Ganges shark is believed to be seriously endangered. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the Ganges shark is one of 20 sharks on the “Red List” of endangered shark species. Widespread and rampant overfishing has depleted the population of these sharks. Their oil, along with that of the Gangetic Dolphin is highly sought after.

Sumatran Rhinoceros

The Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is the smallest rhinoceros, standing about 120–145 centimetres (3.9–4.8 ft) high at the shoulder, with a body length of 250 centimetres (98 in) and weight of 500–800 kilograms (1100–1760 lb). Like the African species, it has two horns; the larger is the nasal horn, typically 15–25 centimetres (6–10 in), while the other horn is typically a stub. A coat of reddish-brown hair covers most of the Sumatran Rhino’s body.

Sumatran Rhinoceroses were once quite numerous throughout Southeast Asia. It is now estimated that fewer than 275 individuals remain. It is classed as critically endangered primarily due to illegal poaching and destruction of its rainforest habitat.

Click here for the whole set of endangered species tshirts

to buy the existing batch(dolphin, mallabar squirrel, vulture and tiger) check out the Earthwave shop

How to Block unwanted Calls and SMS in India

Don't want to read the whole post?
just do this: on your device type "START 0" and sms it to 1909. Then follow the sms instructions.
for further details read below.

People are generally confused.. or just have been ill informed about how to do this, so i decided to post a definitive guide on the subject.

To start with there are 2 things you can do. both seem to have had some effect on reducing the number of calls/sms i get from that scum of the earth that is the telemarketer.

Step 1
Register on the DND(Do Not Disturb)List
This is a service that your service provider will provide, you just have to look for it on their website. Since these website's keep changing, theres no point me posting links to them. But trust me theyre there. You should be able to find it fairly easily especially if you're already registered on their site(for paying bills, etc.)Just google "DND (add the name of your service prvider"eg: "DND Airtel" and you'l find it faster.

Pros: actually blocks a fair amount of unwanted calls
Cons: 1) still allows authorized telemarketers(guys who have arrangements with your service provider) 2) Somewhat difficult to find the web pages, numbers etc needed to register with.

Step 2
Register on NCPR (National Customer Preference Register)(heres the website)
This is the service started by TRAI, and is difficult to circumvent by your evil service provider and their telemarketer buddies.

the procedure for this is quite simple:
Customers (landline and mobile) who do not want to receive commercial communications can dial or SMS to 1909 (toll free) and register in either of the two categories:

Fully Blocked Category- stoppage of all commercial Calls/SMS
Partially Blocked Category- stoppage of all commercial Calls/SMS except SMS from one of the opted preferences

For registering option using SMS, for 'fully blocked category',
write "START 0" and send it to 1909.
Then follow the sms instructions.

For 'partially blocked category', send SMS 'START' with one or multiple options from the list of seven categories.

There are at present 7 preferences to choose from- Banking/Insurance/Financial Products/Credit Cards-1, Real Estate-2, Education-3, Health-4, Consumer goods and automobiles-5, Communication/Broadcasting/Entertainment/IT-6, Tourism-7.

For example: To receive messages relating to only Health products, then send SMS "START 4" to 1909. Similarly, for receiving messages relating to Real Estate and Education, send SMS "START 2,3" to 1909.

On successful registration, customer will receive an SMS confirming exercised options and a Unique Registration Number within 24 hrs. The registration will be effective within 7 days of placing the request with the service provider. The customers can check the status of their registration by clicking on "Customer Registration Status".

Customer can also change the preferences after 7 days of registration or the last change of preference.

Pros: 1) easy to set up. 2)Supposed to, and infact does block the rest of the unwanted calls
Cons:if you do get a call/sms, you need to manually report it by lodgeing a complaint (by dialing or sending an SMS to 1909)

Note: both DND and NCPR registeration will happen with expicit knowledge/cooperation/whatever of your service provider.. so ya.. its probably not going to block 100% of those stupid calls.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Some Animation i did last month

A friend of mine @aarthipartha was working on a video project and needed some animation done for it.
She did all the of the shooting and editing. I worked on the animations(including logo animations) in flash and blender(some very basic previz).

Basically the client was a Builder who wanted to showcase various experiences that his clients have had before they bought one of his properties. So we decided to do a series of interviews.. and then use animation to illustrate the narratives.

we decided to go with some elegant silhouettes and simple forms on a grungy background

that illustrate the experiences that the interviewees are narrating


Heres the final videos that we delivered to the client.




Tuesday, March 13, 2012

TEDX Larry Smith: Why you will fail to have a great career

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKHTawgyKWQ&rel=0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3]

Monday, March 12, 2012

P3d now supports textures

If you have a WebGL supporting Browser, you will be able to see the fully textured models below




Also discovered another site that lets you display your Models in WebGL - showwebgl.com
heres one of my models there.. i had better luck uploading textured models there.. for some reason not all my textured models display correctly on p3d .. however they have an irritating watermark.

Update: the watermark is now much reduced. Thanks to the ShowWebGl team.