Lunar Bovine - Jason Cobill's Weblog » Uncategorized http://lunarbovine.com/blog Because sometimes I do things that are interesting. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:15:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Cookie Bender http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2011/11/cookie-bender/ http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2011/11/cookie-bender/#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:28:22 +0000 jcobill http://lunarbovine.com/blog/?p=2008 I’ve been on a crazy baking kick the past few days. I think with the cold weather setting in on us, I’m craving carbs to stay warm. These are some organic raisin oatmeal cookies about to go into the oven – organic to avoid the sulphite preservatives on raisins that Natasha can’t eat. That means they won’t last and we’ve got to eat them fast! ;) OM NOM NOM!

]]> http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2011/11/cookie-bender/feed/ 0 Fuzzy-edged Rectangles in Photoshop http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2011/04/fuzzy-edged-rectangles-in-photoshop/ http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2011/04/fuzzy-edged-rectangles-in-photoshop/#comments Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:03:19 +0000 jcobill http://lunarbovine.com/blog/?p=1739 Here’s another weird Photoshop quirk that I thought I’d post a fix for. As usual, no mention on Adobe’s help site, because I think they think this one’s a “feature”.

Since about CS2, when you’re using shape tools (particularly rectangles) sometimes your edges will mysteriously be fuzzy. It’s a little difficult to see at first, and you might wonder what the big deal is, but when you’re doing pixel-accurate work it’s a huge headache. Check out the light blue fringe here… only on three sides. :P

So what is going on here? The new(er) versions of Photoshop treat shapes as vectors, and it’s possible in their new engine for the edge of a vectored shape to fall on half a pixel (and then it’s anti-aliased). They did this to improve their font rendering, and applied it globally all over the entire application. You’ll see in the transform tool that you can shift just about anything over by a quarter of a pixel if that’s the kind of thing that floats your boat.

How do you ensure your edges are nice and crisp (and consistent?)? It’s not obvious at first, but in the shape panel, the options drop-down applies to EACH of the shape types, and not just the squiggly custom shape. Pick the Rectangle tool (1), click the dropdown (2) and ensure you have “Snap to Pixels” turned on (3). It’s off by default.

Once your edges are snapped to the nearest pixel, rather than floating around in the subpixels, you’ll get rectangles with nice clean, consistent edges, like this one:

]]> http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2011/04/fuzzy-edged-rectangles-in-photoshop/feed/ 1 Slitscanner http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2010/12/slitscanner/ http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2010/12/slitscanner/#comments Sat, 11 Dec 2010 20:06:06 +0000 jcobill http://lunarbovine.com/blog/?p=1544 One of my winter project goals was to finally get around to writing a Slitscanning tool. I’m hoping to eventually make a mobile version that uses a cell phone camera, but it ended up being surprisingly easy to write up a PC version using my webcam. I’ll write up a more elaborate how-to on another site shortly, but the general gist is that you take only a single row from your camera, and then tile the rows side-by-side over time, generating an image where the width is actually (prepare to blow your mind) the TIME axis. WOAH. ;)

What’s it good for? There’s actually lots of practical uses for being able to do this – it’s an old stand-by for film and television effects (the Enterprise going to warp in Star Trek used slitscanning to get that stretchy effect) but archaeologists use a variant on a pedestal to un-wrap vases and columns, and we can do all kinds of neat things with motion tracking… more about that later. :) For now – some absurdly distorted images of myself as I move around in front of the camera. :) (Actually, I’m moving the camera rather than my body in this particular case.. meaning the camera perspective is a CURVED line through time and space. Double WOAH!)

Lots of artifacts introduced from the bad webcam… it’s not a very good time machine. :)

]]> http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2010/12/slitscanner/feed/ 3 Antiviral http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2008/11/antiviral/ http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2008/11/antiviral/#comments Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:29:42 +0000 jcobill http://lunarbovine.com/blog/?p=97 I got my flu shot this morning! There was some “flu-proof club” fistbumping in the office earlier, but our zeal for secret handshakes diminished a bit as some of our arms got sore. :)

I didn’t get a cool band-aid, probably because I was off like a “shot” (haha!) as soon as the business end of my nurse visit was over. I’m not a big fan of needles and didn’t want to risk getting all woozy in front of my co-workers.

I’ve read articles about how having only a part of the population immunized protects the whole – a really fascinating concept. “Population immunity” really only requires a small percentage of the population to have immunity in order to protect the rest – it’s really neat.

]]> http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2008/11/antiviral/feed/ 2 Minor Updates http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2008/11/minor-updates/ http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2008/11/minor-updates/#comments Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:49:19 +0000 jcobill http://lunarbovine.com/blog/?p=85 So I had a rhythm going of a few posts a week before I left Winnipeg, and I’ve been really quiet lately, leaving a lot of people wondering if I’ve been abducted by aliens or something. I’m still around, I just haven’t had a lot of time between settling in to have zany adventures. A bunch of semi-boring tidbits probably add up to a half-decent update, so here’s goes:

  • We have furniture! :) Pretty much everything’s here now, except a ficus I need to pick up at an aunt’s house. We’ve very generously been invited out a bunch of times, and we can almost return the favour now, once we manage to clear the last few stubborn boxes out of the dining room.
  • I’m a master of Ikea shelving assembly and pretty handy with curtain fixtures, hanging picture frames, swapping fuses, gerryrigging antennas, and in a pinch I’ve taken apart and reassembled our door’s deadbolt. My toolboxes found a home in our living room for a while, because I was constantly digging around for screwdriver nibs. I’ve needed a mallet a few times but don’t have one. I should add one to my Christmas list, because my fist works as a stand-in but it hurts afterwards.
  • The weather’s turned nicer! I should be taking my bike in, but I’ve been waking up late (since I had my cold I’ve been kindof wiped out) and I have a very tempting bus pass… I need to get in a good “bike to work!” mental space while the mornings are warm.
  • I’m putting together some music CDs for friends’ birthdays, which all seem concentrated around the same weekend in November. I discovered I don’t have many blank CDs kicking around, so I have an excuse to go computer shopping! :)
  • Natasha’s got great decorating taste – I like her style.
  • I have to get my license switched over to Ontario before the end of the month. Apparently insurance is cheaper here than Manitoba? Crazy!

Wooot!

]]> http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2008/11/minor-updates/feed/ 0 The day you try to make a movie…. http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/the-day-you-try-to-make-a-movie/ http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/the-day-you-try-to-make-a-movie/#comments Sat, 16 Nov 2002 07:00:00 +0000 jcobill http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/the-day-you-try-to-make-a-movie/ So, I have the video camera, I have my storyboards, I have actors, I’m ready
to go out and film a short, and WOOSH! A fog rolls in. :)

So I’m going to do some laundry and hope it’s a bit clearer tomorrow
afternoon. Rotten weather. *mutter* Someday, when I build my weather
machine…
]]> http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/the-day-you-try-to-make-a-movie/feed/ 0 Give an idiot a camera… http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/give-an-idiot-a-camera/ http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/give-an-idiot-a-camera/#comments Sat, 16 Nov 2002 07:00:00 +0000 jcobill http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/give-an-idiot-a-camera/ This is why I have no right to criticize anyone’s photography for a while. ;)
What you’re seeing here is not a giant black fuzzy monster coming out of the
alley, but rather, my thumb.


*so embarassed*

]]> http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/give-an-idiot-a-camera/feed/ 0 Aeroplan http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/aeroplan/ http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/aeroplan/#comments Sat, 16 Nov 2002 07:00:00 +0000 jcobill http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/aeroplan/ I don’t know if I’ve gone on about this before, but I have to gush about
Aeroplan cards. I think they’re fantastic. I can’t go on enough about them. -
Every- time I fly on Air Canada or Tango, I just swish on past the 300 people
lined up to one of the (always available) kiosks, swipe my card, grab my
ticket, and walk through. People point and stare and are all confused. Last
time I flew back from Vancouver, this old lady started shouting “Why is that
man not standing in line? Where is he going!??!”

What a fantastic innovation.

I also usually travel with barely any luggage, so it makes it that much
easier… I don’t have to check anything in. It’s all just carry-on.

When they can figure out a way to search you faster at security, the world
will be a better place.
]]> http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/aeroplan/feed/ 0 The end of the the world as we know it. http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/the-end-of-the-the-world-as-we-know-it/ http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/the-end-of-the-the-world-as-we-know-it/#comments Fri, 15 Nov 2002 07:00:00 +0000 jcobill http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/the-end-of-the-the-world-as-we-know-it/ Science magazines everywhere are jumping on the Core bandwagon,
publishing bits and peices about our imminent polar shift with less and less
information and more and more sci-fi speculation. This is the sort of thing
we saw with Armageddon, when suddenly everywhere on the news was talk of
incoming asteroids and the end of civilization.

If you want your daily fix of paranoia, href="http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,837058,00.html">thi
s article should do it for you. :) Keep in mind that it’s 99%
garbage.
]]> http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/the-end-of-the-the-world-as-we-know-it/feed/ 0 How many So’s? http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/how-many-sos/ http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/how-many-sos/#comments Thu, 14 Nov 2002 07:00:00 +0000 jcobill http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/how-many-sos/ I just noticed that I’ve begun a whole pile of blogs with “So”.

Pretty weird, eh? I wonder just how many I’ve begun that way.
]]> http://lunarbovine.com/blog/2002/11/how-many-sos/feed/ 0