Monday, July 29, 2013

Bioshock Infinite a visual delight

Bioshock Infinite's Lady Comstock Apparition blew my mind..



In fact the game is generally a visual treat! ..







Each level thus far had a ridiculous amount of detail.. and looks spectacular in 1080p HD.









Gamers who arn't playing it.. are missing a true classic!

If your not a gamer,don't fret,

heres the whole game as a 3-Hour Movie :)






YouTube user Dangs08 took 14 hours out of his day to play through Bioshock Infinite and then edit all the footage down to a three-and-a-half-hour “movie”, which you can view in its entirety above.



via Inaccessible is Accessible http://my.opera.com/chaitanyak/blog/show.dml/77751122

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Ubuntu Edge.. what you need to know








Ubuntu Edge is a limited edition phone-puter that dual-boots Ubuntu and Android. Now when they say it runs Ubuntu, they don't mean it runs a stripped down, mobile version..



this thing has 4gb of ram and a little over 100gb of storage.. so it actually runs the full desktop version of Ubuntu! And its not just a dual boot in the traditional sense.. the two OS will be able to share data.. as in -

1) shared mail inbox

2) shared music libraries..

etc..



To know how the fundraising is going, and how much it would cost you to get one, check out the Indiegogo Campaign: http://igg.me/at/ubuntuedge/x/4049572



Mark Shuttleworth AMA: http://redd.it/1j166z



Heres a Hands-on video with the Ubuntu Edge prototype: http://youtu.be/Ojb08eNvJKU



And here are some of the top Ubuntu Phone Features: http://youtu.be/NSWOvw5N4nU



via Inaccessible is Accessible http://my.opera.com/chaitanyak/blog/show.dml/76234402

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

How to 3D Sculpt in your Web Browser

How to do a 3D Sculpt in your Browser(no expensive or complicated software to be downloaded)

.. and then optimise and texture the model using free/opensource software.



Welcome to Sculptfab. The sculpting software that runs in your browser!





Discovered this last night.. Sketchfab has an experimental browser based sculpting tool! More info on how they got around to it can be seen here. In brief, it started as a project called SculptGL by Stéphane Genier. As the project is under MIT license, the Sketchfab team decided to put together a quick hack to improve the user interface.



For something that runs in your browser its pretty robust! and runs fairly smooth.

I played with it a lot!

did a bunch of models right away

heres the first attempt(click the following thumbnails to see the models)



the second one was much cleaner..



3rd one i took to blender and did some texturing





and then documented the creation of this model.. as a tutorial







view it here:










the process is simple:



STEP 1) do your sculpting online at https://labs.sketchfab.com/sculptfab/]Sculptfab .. use a webgl compatible browser.. (apparently wacom tablets are supported as well).

am sure a version will come out soon that can handle the texturing online.



STEP 2) upload it directly to Sketchfab from there.



optional:

STEP 3) Download the ".obj" file. Import it into meshlab to optimise it.. You may directly take it to blender and see how your computer handles it.. that worked for one of my models .. but generally it probably will be better to optimise it.



STEP 4) After getting it to Blender, texture paint it and then upload the new modle and texture to Sketchfab.



optional:



STEP 5) open the texture in Gimp and convert it to a normal map.. add that to the sketchfab model.



Links:



Sculptfab - https://labs.sketchfab.com/sculptfab/

Meshlab - http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/

Blender - http://www.blender.org/



via Inaccessible is Accessible http://my.opera.com/chaitanyak/blog/show.dml/74533972

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Evangelion Entry Plugs

Evangelion fans, check it out..



Entry Plug for Eva Unit 00, with Pilot Rei Ayanami






Entry Plug for Eva Unit 01, with Pilot Shinji Ikari





Entry Plug for Eva Unit 05, with Pilot Mari Illustrious Makinami(Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance)





FOr those unfamiliar with the anime, the entry plug is a capsule that is inserted into giant creatures called Evangelion. The pilot then telepathically interfaces with the creature and can control it(the pilot also suffers the pain and some of the injuries the creature goes through).



heres a clip of Eva Unit 01 and Shinji in their first combat sequence.












Got these Kotobukiya Evangelion Entry Plug Chopsticks from an awesome merchandise store called Gundam Galaxy here in Bangalore. Check out their FB page facebook.com/GundamGalaxyIndia to see all the incredible figurines and collectibles they keep getting.. hurry, things get sold out really fast! I only got these chopsticks, because i requested them to save me a set.



Location:

12/36 (Garage Portion), Cambridge Road, Ulsoor, Bangalore, India 560008



Timings:

Mon: 11:00 am - 8:00 pm

Wed - Sun: 11:00 am - 8:00 pm



Parking:

Street in front and parallel to the main street



Contact Info:

Phone: 099 02 045059

Email: ceo@gundamgalaxy.com



via Inaccessible is Accessible http://my.opera.com/chaitanyak/blog/show.dml/70285882

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Impressive! Grasshopper's precision skills








On June 14, SpaceX's Grasshopper flew 325 m (1066 feet)--higher than Manhattan's Chrysler Building--before smoothly landing back on the pad. For the first time in this test, Grasshopper made use of its full navigation sensor suite with the F9-R closed loop control flight algorithms to accomplish a precision landing. Most rockets are equipped with sensors to determine position, but these sensors are generally not accurate enough to accomplish the type of precision landing necessary with Grasshopper.



Previous Grasshopper tests relied on the other rocket sensors but for this test, an additional, higher accuracy sensor was in the control loop. In other words, SpaceX was directly controlling the vehicle based on new sensor readings, adding a new level of accuracy in sensing the distance between Grasshopper and the ground, enabling a more precise landing.



Grasshopper is a 10-story Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle designed to test the technologies needed to return a rocket back to Earth intact. While most rockets are designed to burn up on atmosphere reentry, SpaceX rockets are being designed not only to withstand reentry, but also to return to the launch pad for a vertical landing. The Grasshopper VTVL vehicle represents a critical step towards this goal.



Grasshopper consists of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage tank, Merlin 1D engine, four steel and aluminum landing legs with hydraulic dampers, and a steel support structure.



via Inaccessible is Accessible http://my.opera.com/chaitanyak/blog/show.dml/68020962

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

India the Kafka State

For a more detailed analysis of the case so far read this thorough analysis.



India's biggest murder investigation.. the Aarushi-Hemraj Murder is a total farce..

set in a modern day Kafka state.








here's the story so far..



1) The main accused(the Talwars) have no forensic evidence actually implicating them



2) They arn't being allowed to present witnesses to prove their innocence.

A popular reason given by the judges and prosecution being that the Talwars are trying to waste time.. They asked for just 13 witnesses.. and were denied.



The prosecution was allowed 39.



3) They arn't allowed to plead to higher courts

The judges have actually threatened them with fines if they make further appeals.



4) Police and CBI refuse to look into other suspects

The first police and CBI team to investigate.. botched it up.. but actually had 2-3 other fairly promising suspects..

they were replaced by a new team which for some unexplainable reason have only focused on the Aarushi's parents.



Meanwhile the actual murderers have enjoyed freedom over the last 5 years that the case has been dragging on.







5) Police, CBI and the Court refuse to admit any evidence that proves the innocence of the accused. They have no real evidence to prove guilt.. and won't allow any evidence that the Talwar's try to present that could prove their innocence.. stuff like what?

Remember the first team? they uncovered stuff that has been totally ignored... stuff like alleged confessions.



6) 90% of the publicised theories about what happened on that fateful night were fed to the public(via The Media) by the Law Enforcement professionals.. apparently that doesn't count as libel in this country.



7) 100% of these theories seem to be unsubstantiated, and pretty much fiction.



read on for more of this shocking case..

read the comments on that page for bonus crap from the insensitive and biased voyeurs.





via Inaccessible is Accessible http://my.opera.com/chaitanyak/blog/show.dml/67830762

Monday, July 8, 2013

Ctrl+Alt+Del in Ubuntu

I get asked this often.. and sometimes i forget it myself. So decided to make a note of it for posterity :)



QUESTION: On windows when a program causes windows to hang, you can use Ctrl+Alt+Del to get to the Task Manager.. and then kill the culprit.. is there something like that in Ubuntu?



ANSWER: Yes, sort of. Ubuntu has an application called System Monitor which does this in the GUI.. however in case of most freezes.. you won't be able to get to it. You can however go into terminal and tell ubuntu to kill the offender.



on the odd ocassion that your Ubuntu machine "freezes" or "hangs" and you don't want to hard restart the machine.. for fear of borking the OS or something or other. heres what you do.



1) hit Ctrl+Alt+F2 or Ctrl+Alt+F6 , this switches to the terminal

(non GUI full screen blackness.. to go back to GUI use Alt-F7)



2) execute the following:

sudo killall <name of the application you think is the problem>

(you'll have to login as root)



3) go back to GUI using Alt+F7







note: if the killall isnt able to kill the app.. use -9

sudo killall -9 <name of the application you think is the problem>











via Inaccessible is Accessible http://my.opera.com/chaitanyak/blog/show.dml/67652772

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

In Saturn's Rings First Official Teaser

Award winning film maker Stephen van Vuuren first read about Saturn and Titan in Carl Sagan’s Cosmos as a child. In 2004, Cassini arrived at Saturn barely noticed by the world. Both exulted by the stunning images and disappointed by the lack of interest, he committed to finding a way to make a film that showcased the incredible beauty of Saturn and our entire universe, while exploring the reasons why most people know so little about it.



Heres the first official trailer for the film In Saturn's Rings..

and its in freaking 4K!!

you can see it here..






enable 4k if you have the bandwith, or a 4k screen..

if your like me, just oggle at it in HD.



The film is 100% created using only flat 2D photographs (often hundreds or thousands per frame) stitched together for massive hundred megapixel+ resolutions that are scaled and zoomed using techniques developed by the filmmaker, based on Ken Burns and 2.5D photo animation processes.







A computer is actually not even required to do this - it could all be done exactly using photoanimation techniques from 100 years ago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoani...).



No 3D models, texture mapping, 3D CGI, camera projection, cloning or painting or any other VFX techniques are used - every pixel is what was captured in the photograph. The photographs are processed as minimally as possible - much less than your average Instagram photo.



for more info check out

http://www.insaturnsrings.com/



https://www.facebook.com/insaturnsrin...



https://twitter.com/insaturnsrings









via Inaccessible is Accessible http://my.opera.com/chaitanyak/blog/show.dml/66108242