cat-fish themed mural

A quick cat-fish themed mural done over a couple of days at the studio.. using dry pastels.. not the best media for longevity, but i love the colors

The Displaced (VR Video)

This vr docu reportage is trending on twitter ‪#‎theDisplaced‬ if possible watch it on android(nexus or equivalent) in the youtube app(will work here on pc/mac in the chrome browser)

Its pretty depressing.. but wait till you get to the food drop shots..

Thank god i didnt watch it in my cardboard viewr.. that thing is not waterproof!

360 degree video of a park

360 degree video of a park created using a photosphere and footage shot with a mobile phone.. 
tutorial here

360˚ image overlayed with animated clips..

360˚ video overlayed with animated clips.. note: Google Cardboard compatible!!

Shot with a nexus 5
Illustrated and animated with a wacom and flash

sound from https://www.freesound.org/people/Pjkasinski3/sounds/171699/#comments

Heres my previous post, a tutorial on how to turn your photospheres into 360˚  youtube videos.

360˚ video shot with a Mobile Phone

This worked.. can't believe it worked.
My first 360˚ video(non cg mostly).. shot with a mobile phone.

Its rough and simplistic.. but proof of concept.
Heres how you do it.

Step1:
Shoot a photoshphere of the space you want a 360˚ video of. this will be a still photograph.. but we'll use it.
NOTE: not all phones can shoot a photosphere.. I used a 2yr old Nexus 5 

Its basically a 360˚ photograph that the nexus' default camera can shoot.
If you have a non nexus android phone, you can install the camera from the play store and see if the Photosphere option is available.

This is the Photosphere I shot. Its an installation I worked on with the artist Pith Bull. I created 3d objects and installed them all over the space and she created these lines, dots and shapes that run all over the room and the objects..

The whole space is lit by UV light. I was looking for a way to document it that would give the viewer a sense of immersion that the space had.. regular photographs were just not cutting it. The space was created at Walkin Studios in Bangalore.. do visit, if your in town.

Step2:
Shoot some short video clips without moving the camera. 
So basically footage of various moving elements in that space..
note: these are elements that move.. yet stay in the same spot..
ie: rotating objects, flapping pages, curtains, computer screens.. person sitting/standing in the same general area and talking..

try and get at least 4- clips.

here are the 2 clips i actually shot and posted on instagram.. and then later realised i could use here..

Glow Job drone/monolith 1 @walkinstudios

A video posted by chaitanya krishnan (@c2ktheotherartist) on Oct 14, 2015 at 9:35pm PDT

A video posted by chaitanya krishnan (@c2ktheotherartist) on Oct 14, 2015 at 9:45pm PDT

Step3:
After downloading the photosphere and the clips to your computer.. heres what you do. I used Adobe After Effects, but you could do this with any video editor/compositor that lets you align and compose clips this way.. 

Basically I used the photosphere as a base layer.. and overlayed the video clips over it.. aligned to their corresponding spots on the photograph.. some feathering to remove the sharp video edge.. and voila. Export a mp4

Step4:Go to this page and follow the instructions by Google, or read on below.

Download the 360 Video Metadata app for Mac or Windows

Un-zip the file, then open the 360 Video Metadata app. If you're on a Mac, you may need to right-click the app and then click "Open"

Select the video file

Click "Inject and save"

Enter a name for the file that will be created

Save the file. A new file will be created automatically in the same location as the original file

Upload the new file to YouTube

Wait for the 360 degree effect to process. This may take up to an hour.

Step5: 
send me links to what you did on twitter @chaitanyak or in the comments below.

Old hand lettered Digits

Custom font(digits only) based on some sketches i did on my phone using an old app called VS PAINT.

heres the full set - http://chaitanyak.deviantart.com/art/Sprocket-Head-wallpaper-108483198

heres the full set - http://chaitanyak.deviantart.com/art/Squigly-HTC-Home-Clock-theme-114652083

heres the full set - http://chaitanyak.deviantart.com/art/Engraved-Toxic-Head-numbers-105214577

360 degree Video from Blender

So ever since I got google cardboard, I've been fascinated by 360˚ Video.. watching it even without a cardboard device is really good fun. So then I started looking into cameras and other hardware requirement for making these.

Then out of the blue, one of my tweeps tweeted this 

First test of 360° rendering in blender So its eassy fun and i ll try to do more of that !! #vjcommunity https://t.co/eEAcSQ0aWd

— vjblind (@vjblind) May 28, 2015

So I promptly googled the process and followed this quick tutorial by StoneBrickProductions  https://youtu.be/tZgG7n-lhUc

Rendering panoramic video has been an old feature in most 3d programs, its just that with youtube 360 we finally have a platform to upload it to.

Anyway heres my model in blender. It took about 12hrs to render using Cycles. I couldn't find the panorama tools in old Blender renderer otherwise would have used that.

Heres a quick 3d animation I made in Blender..  to try publishing my own 360 video to youtube.Rendered a panoramic video with Cycles and then used google's meta data tool to inject meta data so that youtube can process it as a 360 video - https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6178631?hl=en

If you want to study the blender file, you can download it at the bottom of this post..

or view it below:

    360 Test 003
    by Chaitanya Krishnan
    on Sketchfab

Blender files - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B62uFDrorY3UODhuUGxiNnFtZ2s/view?usp=sharing

Key & Peele Neil deGrasse Tyson

Sketching with a Brush Pen

So a lot of my artist friends have been using these for ages.. I decided to try them out.
heres the first round of sketches with a brush pen.

I was able to get my hands on a couple of Shin Han Art Touch Brush Markers..

here are the results

Colored and shaded with crayons. 

How to Instal Ubuntu without a Live DVD or USB Drive

So my sister's Windows computer was having performance problems for a while.. basically its difficult for the average user to maintain a computer on their own.. and I just have the patience to run tools like Ccleaner and a virus scan. So after the 3rd or 4rth maintennance run i gave up and decided to install Ubuntu on it.

I'd already got my mother and several coworkers onto Ubuntu in the past, so this would be a simple enough thing to do. So I redeemed about 20gigs of free disc space for the task, then got out my trusty live USB drive and rebooted.

The laptop turned out to be too old to support USB boot options. I hadn't burned an optical disc in ages.. and was pretty sure i had no blank discs anywhere in the house.

So now I was stuck. On a hunch, I googled 

"How to Instal Ubuntu without a Live DVD or USB Drive"

That got me to this helpful Ubuntu forum post - 

http://askubuntu.com/questions/484434/install-ubuntu-without-cd-and-usb-how

Heres what you do:

1. Download Unetbootin from here. Its a tool that creates a bootloader with two options -
   Boot Windows  or Unetbootin.
2. Run Unetbootin. 
3. Now, from the drop-down menu under Type: select Hard Disk.
4. Next select the Disk image from which you want to install Ubuntu(or any other distro). Browse to the directory where you downloaded the iso file of Ubuntu.
5. Press "OK"
6. When you reboot, you will get a menu like this:
   a) Boot Windows
   b) Unetbootin
7. Select Unetbootin and you will get the "Try" or "Install" option there.
8. The rest is the standard magical Ubuntu installation process. I just have the habit of assigning a swap drive and root drive myself. And then letting it do its thing.

My sister is now on Ubuntu too.

Goldfish Keeper

After years of keeping cichlids.. have now switched to goldfish.
Basically we shifted house, and during the shift my two cichlid died. They had sufficient air during transport.. think it was a drop in temperature.

Anyway these were the last 2 cichlids I had in a tank that once had a community of over 15.

The thing with cichlids is that as they grow at different rates.. eventually the ones that have outgrown their tank mates.. will kill the rest. Also because of their size I couldn't afford to buy any cichlids of that size.. buying smaller ones would be a death sentence to the newcomers.. so for the last few years I just let things be.

Now that we'd shifted and all I had left was an indestructible pleco.. I decided it was time for a change. Decided to ditch the filthy sand.. and the pots are now decorating my moms garden.

These are my new inmates in a cleaned up and spacious tank.. with new lighting.
The old box lid was damaged..and so I decided to abandon it for this sleek solution.

These Angels where a gift from a friend who had to give up his tanks.

Oranda(Red Caps, white one above and the black one top right) ,Ryukin (bottom left colorful)) and the Shubunkin(single tailed .. carp like )

While I appreciate the vivid colors of the Chichlid family.. these are no joke either.. am loving the gorgeous colours, especially this Ryukin!

Have to figure out what to do for the rest of the tank.. the floor and some artefacts.. hmm.

Here are some video closeups of my favorites:

Update: 
Finished the floor with black sand and added some props

Have some wood branches curing in a tub, will add them in a few weeks. Theyre too big to boil on a stove.. so have to do it the old fashioned way.

A glorious animated tribute to Udham Singh

Wonderful animated and musical tribute to Indian revolutionary Udham Singh.
It follows the 21 years of Udham Singh's life following the Jallianwallah Bagh massacre in 1919, leading up to the assassination of Michael O'Dwyer and his execution in Pentonville Prison shortly after.

The team has done a wonderful job on this film, and I applaud all the artists involved. Good job guys!

You can read about O'Dwyer's involvement in the Jallianwallah Bagh massacre here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O%27Dwyer

Udham Singh (26 December 1899 – 31 July 1940) was an Indian revolutionary best known for assassinating Michael O'Dwyer on 13 March 1940 in what has been described as an avenging of the Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre.^[1] 

Singh is a prominent figure of the Indian independence struggle. He is sometimes referred to as Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh (the expression "Shaheed-i-Azam,"Urdu: شهید اعظم‎, means "the great martyr"). A district (Udham Singh Nagar) of Uttarakhand is named after him. - excerpt from wikipedia. Full entry here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udham_Singh

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919 when a crowd of nonviolent protesters, along with Baishakhi pilgrims, who had gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh garden in Amritsar, Punjab were fired upon by troops of the British Indian Army under the command of Reginald Dyer. 

The crowd had gathered to protest against the arrest of two nationalist leaders, Dr. Satyapal, Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew, although a curfew had been recently declared.^[1] On Dyer's orders, his troops fired on the crowd for ten minutes, directing their bullets largely towards the few open gates through which people were trying to run out. The figures released by the British government were 370 dead and 1200 wounded. Other sources place the number dead at well over 1000. 

This "brutality stunned the entire nation",^[2] resulting in a "wrenching loss of faith" of the general public in the intentions of Britain.^[3] The ineffective inquiry and the initial accolades for Dyer by the House of Lords fuelled widespread anger, leading to the Non-cooperation Movement of 1920–22.^[4]

Tribute to Kalam

tribute to kalam by chaitanyak on DeviantArt

Ex president APJKalam passed away this week.. He was well loved and probably the most fresh thinking president India has ever had.

Google VR 5.8 Prototype

A variation of my older SciFi helmet. 

    Google VR 5.8 Prototype
    by Chaitanya Krishnan
    on Sketchfab

Quick Blend - Sci Fi Helmet

Hadn't done a new model in a while, so whipped this up quickly today.

A quick 3d model. Done in Blender.
These are screenshots of the realtime PBR materials and bloom effect on the Sketchfab site.

See it in 3d rendered in PBR materials below..

    Scifi Helmet
    by Chaitanya Krishnan
    on Sketchfab

Weyland-Yutani Alien Survival Manual

The Weyland-Yutani Definitive Interactive guide to survive contact with a Xenomorph.
Mandatory reading for all personnel.

    Weyland-Yutani Alien Survival Manual
    by Chaitanya Krishnan
    on Sketchfab

Sicario (2015 Movie - Emily Blunt) - Official Theatrical Trailer

Dishonored 2 -- Official E3 2015 Announce Trailer

Squid Giving Birth

Fantastic footage of a squid giving birth.. skip to 3:00 to see the magic start. or watch the whole thing for context.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Watch the Assassin's Creed Syndicate world premiere and find out more about our new Assassin Jacob Frye.

In the 1868 London, lead your underworld organisation to fight those who exploit the Industrial Revolution era for their own gain.

Learn more about Assassin's Creed Syndicate onhttp://assassinscreed.com

Implosion: Warframe-esque action on Android

A while back I'd started following all the gameplay videos and other hype around a AAA title Warframe(PC and Consoles). While my computer met the specs.. I was right in the middle of some heavy animation projects that required every bit of space on my drives. So I satisfied myself with gameplay videos on youtube.. 

I've long wished there was a good mech/evangelion style game on Android.. that I could pull out at any time and get my gaming on.

That wish came true today in the form of Implosion by Rayark Inc.

Its available on both Android and IOS. Heres my experience with the Android Version.

Screenshots from my Nexus 5

The game perspective is at times.. dungeon explorer and at times side scroller.. am hoping a true 3rd person view will also occur.. as its shown in some clips and screenshots.. 

Heres what it looks like on my phone so far.
The spectacular graphics and silky smooth gameplay and animations come at a price. The game weighs in at 1.2gb(varies by device).. but looks gorgeous. The screenshots below are at full rez.

Update: one week later

The game is freaking tough.. its not as easy going as the first 6 free levels. Thats right the first 6 levels are free after that you make an ingame payment and unlock the rest. No extra download.. its all already installed.

The first level boss is tough.. but once you figure out the rythm of his/its attacks you can start dealing damage.. and slowliy era him down. He is fixed in place.. so that helps a bit.

The second level boss was bloody tough.. i actually had to give up and go into my character's confusing "Arc settings" and properly optimise all his powers and abilities before i could go back and kick his butt. Unlike his predecessor, this guy could follow me around the level.. pounce and deal heavy damage.


The graphics do not disappoint! I assumed the levels would get monotonous eventually.. but each level has loads of original prop meshs and textures.. not to mention lighting and the unique camera angles.. it fluidly goes from dungeon/adventure to sidescroller and even a 3rd person angle.

That holographic map on the table is animated!

Later some tanks like this break and these creepy human-xenomorph hybrids with wolverine claw blades appear!

The mid level bosses are no joke.. they look pretty nasty like this double torso medusa.. and some large robotic opponents..cloaking panther/wolf robots. This is where picking up gun upgrades helps.. these temporary projectile or energy weapons upgrades do some good damage.. but it usually comes down to the sword.

I can't comment on the story yet, as I havn't finished it.. but I like it so far.. not that original and predictive at times.. lets see what the finale brings.

TARS and CASE - Interstellar [Behind the scenes]

This is acting and puppetry at its best.

This is the story of TARS and CASE.. and how a Bill Irvin (who turns out to be an excellent puppeteer) and a team of physical vfx and cg artists brought them to life.