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antoniosvivaldi · 1 year ago

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Neural Filters Tutorial for Gifmakers by @antoniosvivaldi

Hi everyone! In light of my blog’s 10th birthday, I’m delighted to reveal my highly anticipated gifmaking tutorial using Neural Filters - a very powerful collection of filters that really broadened my scope in gifmaking over the past 12 months.

Before I get into this tutorial, I want to thank @laurabenanti, @maines , @cobbbvanth, and @cal-kestis for their unconditional support over the course of my journey of investigating the Neural Filters & their valuable inputs on the rendering performance!

In this tutorial, I will outline what the Photoshop Neural Filters do and how I use them in my workflow - multiple examples will be provided for better clarity. Finally, I will talk about some known performance issues with the filters & some feasible workarounds.

Tutorial Structure:

Meet the Neural Filters: What they are and what they do

Why I use Neural Filters? How I use Neural Filters in my giffing workflow

Getting started: The giffing workflow in a nutshell and installing the Neural Filters

Applying Neural Filters onto your gif: Making use of the Neural Filters settings; with multiple examples

Testing your system: recommended if you’re using Neural Filters for the first time

Rendering performance: Common Neural Filters performance issues & workarounds

For quick reference, here are the examples that I will show in this tutorial:

Example 1: Image Enhancement | improving the image quality of gifs prepared from highly compressed video files

Example 2: Facial Enhancement | enhancing an individual's facial features

Example 3: Colour Manipulation | colourising B&W gifs for a colourful gifset

Example 4: Artistic effects | transforming landscapes & adding artistic effects onto your gifs

Example 5: Putting it all together | my usual giffing workflow using Neural Filters

What you need & need to know:

Software: Photoshop 2021 or later (recommended: 2023 or later)*

Hardware: 8GB of RAM; having a supported GPU is highly recommended*

Difficulty: Advanced (requires a lot of patience); knowledge in gifmaking and using video timeline assumed

Key concepts: Smart Layer / Smart Filters

Benchmarking your system: Neural Filters test files**

Supplementary materials: Tutorial Resources / Detailed findings on rendering gifs with Neural Filters + known issues***

*I primarily gif on an M2 Max MacBook Pro that's running Photoshop 2024, but I also have experiences gifmaking on few other Mac models from 2012 ~ 2023.

**Using Neural Filters can be resource intensive, so it’s helpful to run the test files yourself. I’ll outline some known performance issues with Neural Filters and workarounds later in the tutorial.

***This supplementary page contains additional Neural Filters benchmark tests and instructions, as well as more information on the rendering performance (for Apple Silicon-based devices) when subject to heavy Neural Filters gifmaking workflows

Tutorial under the cut. Like / Reblog this post if you find this tutorial helpful. Linking this post as an inspo link will also be greatly appreciated!

1. Meet the Neural Filters!

Neural Filters are powered by Adobe's machine learning engine known as Adobe Sensei. It is a non-destructive method to help streamline workflows that would've been difficult and/or tedious to do manually.

Here are the Neural Filters available in Photoshop 2024:

Skin Smoothing: Removes blemishes on the skin

Smart Portrait: This a cloud-based filter that allows you to change the mood, facial age, hair, etc using the sliders+

Makeup Transfer: Applies the makeup (from a reference image) to the eyes & mouth area of your image

Landscape Mixer: Transforms the landscape of your image (e.g. seasons & time of the day, etc), based on the landscape features of a reference image

Style Transfer: Applies artistic styles e.g. texturings (from a reference image) onto your image

Harmonisation: Applies the colour balance of your image based on the lighting of the background image+

Colour Transfer: Applies the colour scheme (of a reference image) onto your image

Colourise: Adds colours onto a B&W image

Super Zoom: Zoom / crop an image without losing resolution+

Depth Blur: Blurs the background of the image

JPEG Artefacts Removal: Removes artefacts caused by JPEG compression

Photo Restoration: Enhances image quality & facial details

+These three filters aren't used in my giffing workflow. The cloud-based nature of Smart Portrait leads to disjointed looking frames. For Harmonisation, applying this on a gif causes Neural Filter timeout error. Finally, Super Zoom does not currently support output as a Smart Filter

If you're running Photoshop 2021 or earlier version of Photoshop 2022, you will see a smaller selection of Neural Filters:

Things to be aware of:

You can apply up to six Neural Filters at the same time

Filters where you can use your own reference images: Makeup Transfer (portraits only), Landscape Mixer, Style Transfer (not available in Photoshop 2021), and Colour Transfer

Later iterations of Photoshop 2023 & newer: The first three default presets for Landscape Mixer and Colour Transfer are currently broken.

2. Why I use Neural Filters?

Here are my four main Neural Filters use cases in my gifmaking process. In each use case I'll list out the filters that I use:

Enhancing Image Quality:

Common wisdom is to find the highest quality video to gif from for a media release & avoid YouTube whenever possible. However for smaller / niche media (e.g. new & upcoming musical artists), prepping gifs from highly compressed YouTube videos is inevitable.

So how do I get around with this? I have found Neural Filters pretty handy when it comes to both correcting issues from video compression & enhancing details in gifs prepared from these highly compressed video files.

Filters used: JPEG Artefacts Removal / Photo Restoration

Facial Enhancement:

When I prepare gifs from highly compressed videos, something I like to do is to enhance the facial features. This is again useful when I make gifsets from compressed videos & want to fill up my final panel with a close-up shot.

Filters used: Skin Smoothing / Makeup Transfer / Photo Restoration (Facial Enhancement slider)

Colour Manipulation:

Neural Filters is a powerful way to do advanced colour manipulation - whether I want to quickly transform the colour scheme of a gif or transform a B&W clip into something colourful.

Filters used: Colourise / Colour Transfer

Artistic Effects:

This is one of my favourite things to do with Neural Filters! I enjoy using the filters to create artistic effects by feeding textures that I've downloaded as reference images. I also enjoy using these filters to transform the overall the atmosphere of my composite gifs. The gifsets where I've leveraged Neural Filters for artistic effects could be found under this tag on usergif.

Filters used: Landscape Mixer / Style Transfer / Depth Blur

How I use Neural Filters over different stages of my gifmaking workflow:

I want to outline how I use different Neural Filters throughout my gifmaking process. This can be roughly divided into two stages:

Stage I: Enhancement and/or Colourising | Takes place early in my gifmaking process. I process a large amount of component gifs by applying Neural Filters for enhancement purposes and adding some base colourings.++

Stage II: Artistic Effects & more Colour Manipulation | Takes place when I'm assembling my component gifs in the big PSD / PSB composition file that will be my final gif panel.

I will walk through this in more detail later in the tutorial.

++I personally like to keep the size of the component gifs in their original resolution (a mixture of 1080p & 4K), to get best possible results from the Neural Filters and have more flexibility later on in my workflow. I resize & sharpen these gifs after they're placed into my final PSD composition files in Tumblr dimensions.

3. Getting started

The essence is to output Neural Filters as a Smart Filter on the smart object when working with the Video Timeline interface. Your workflow will contain the following steps:

Prepare your gif

In the frame animation interface, set the frame delay to 0.03s and convert your gif to the Video Timeline

In the Video Timeline interface, go to Filter > Neural Filters and output to a Smart Filter

Flatten or render your gif (either approach is fine). To flatten your gif, play the "flatten" action from the gif prep action pack. To render your gif as a .mov file, go to File > Export > Render Video & use the following settings.

Setting up:

o.) To get started, prepare your gifs the usual way - whether you screencap or clip videos. You should see your prepared gif in the frame animation interface as follows:

Note: As mentioned earlier, I keep the gifs in their original resolution right now because working with a larger dimension document allows more flexibility later on in my workflow. I have also found that I get higher quality results working with more pixels. I eventually do my final sharpening & resizing when I fit all of my component gifs to a main PSD composition file (that's of Tumblr dimension).

i.) To use Smart Filters, convert your gif to a Smart Video Layer.

As an aside, I like to work with everything in 0.03s until I finish everything (then correct the frame delay to 0.05s when I upload my panels onto Tumblr).

For convenience, I use my own action pack to first set the frame delay to 0.03s (highlighted in yellow) and then convert to timeline (highlighted in red) to access the Video Timeline interface. To play an action, press the play button highlighted in green.

Once you've converted this gif to a Smart Video Layer, you'll see the Video Timeline interface as follows:

ii.) Select your gif (now as a Smart Layer) and go to Filter > Neural Filters

Installing Neural Filters:

Install the individual Neural Filters that you want to use. If the filter isn't installed, it will show a cloud symbol (highlighted in yellow). If the filter is already installed, it will show a toggle button (highlighted in green)

When you toggle this button, the Neural Filters preview window will look like this (where the toggle button next to the filter that you use turns blue)

4. Using Neural Filters

Once you have installed the Neural Filters that you want to use in your gif, you can toggle on a filter and play around with the sliders until you're satisfied. Here I'll walkthrough multiple concrete examples of how I use Neural Filters in my giffing process.

Example 1: Image enhancement | sample gifset

This is my typical Stage I Neural Filters gifmaking workflow. When giffing older or more niche media releases, my main concern is the video compression that leads to a lot of artefacts in the screencapped / video clipped gifs.

To fix the artefacts from compression, I go to Filter > Neural Filters, and toggle JPEG Artefacts Removal filter. Then I choose the strength of the filter (boxed in green), output this as a Smart Filter (boxed in yellow), and press OK (boxed in red).

Note: The filter has to be fully processed before you could press the OK button!

After applying the Neural Filters, you'll see "Neural Filters" under the Smart Filters property of the smart layer

Flatten / render your gif

Example 2: Facial enhancement | sample gifset

This is my routine use case during my Stage I Neural Filters gifmaking workflow. For musical artists (e.g. Maisie Peters), YouTube is often the only place where I'm able to find some videos to prepare gifs from. However even the highest resolution video available on YouTube is highly compressed.

Go to Filter > Neural Filters and toggle on Photo Restoration. If Photoshop recognises faces in the image, there will be a "Facial Enhancement" slider under the filter settings.

Play around with the Photo Enhancement & Facial Enhancement sliders. You can also expand the "Adjustment" menu make additional adjustments e.g. remove noises and reducing different types of artefacts.

Once you're happy with the results, press OK and then flatten / render your gif.

Example 3: Colour Manipulation | sample gifset

Want to make a colourful gifset but the source video is in B&W? This is where Colourise from Neural Filters comes in handy! This same colourising approach is also very helpful for colouring poor-lit scenes as detailed in this tutorial.

Here's a B&W gif that we want to colourise:

Highly recommended: add some adjustment layers onto the B&W gif to improve the contrast & depth. This will give you higher quality results when you colourise your gif.

Go to Filter > Neural Filters and toggle on Colourise.

Make sure "Auto colour image" is enabled.

Play around with further adjustments e.g. colour balance, until you're satisfied then press OK.

Important: When you colourise a gif, you need to double check that the resulting skin tone is accurate to real life. I personally go to Google Images and search up photoshoots of the individual / character that I'm giffing for quick reference.

Add additional adjustment layers until you're happy with the colouring of the skin tone.

Once you're happy with the additional adjustments, flatten / render your gif. And voila!

Note: For Colour Manipulation, I use Colourise in my Stage I workflow and Colour Transfer in my Stage II workflow to do other types of colour manipulations (e.g. transforming the colour scheme of the component gifs)

Example 4: Artistic Effects | sample gifset

This is where I use Neural Filters for the bulk of my Stage II workflow: the most enjoyable stage in my editing process!

Normally I would be working with my big composition files with multiple component gifs inside it. To begin the fun, drag a component gif (in PSD file) to the main PSD composition file.

Resize this gif in the composition file until you're happy with the placement

Duplicate this gif. Sharpen the bottom layer (highlighted in yellow), and then select the top layer (highlighted in green) & go to Filter > Neural Filters

I like to use Style Transfer and Landscape Mixer to create artistic effects from Neural Filters. In this particular example, I've chosen Landscape Mixer

Select a preset or feed a custom image to the filter (here I chose a texture that I've on my computer)

Play around with the different sliders e.g. time of the day / seasons

Important: uncheck "Harmonise Subject" & "Preserve Subject" - these two settings are known to cause performance issues when you render a multiframe smart object (e.g. for a gif)

Once you're happy with the artistic effect, press OK

To ensure you preserve the actual subject you want to gif (bc Preserve Subject is unchecked), add a layer mask onto the top layer (with Neural Filters) and mask out the facial region. You might need to play around with the Layer Mask Position keyframes or Rotoscope your subject in the process.

After you're happy with the masking, flatten / render this composition file and voila!

Example 5: Putting it all together | sample gifset

Let's recap on the Neural Filters gifmaking workflow and where Stage I and Stage II fit in my gifmaking process:

i. Preparing & enhancing the component gifs

Prepare all component gifs and convert them to smart layers

Stage I: Add base colourings & apply Photo Restoration / JPEG Artefacts Removal to enhance the gif's image quality

Flatten all of these component gifs and convert them back to Smart Video Layers (this process can take a lot of time)

Some of these enhanced gifs will be Rotoscoped so this is done before adding the gifs to the big PSD composition file

ii. Setting up the big PSD composition file

Make a separate PSD composition file (Ctrl / Cmmd + N) that's of Tumblr dimension (e.g. 540px in width)

Drag all of the component gifs used into this PSD composition file

Enable Video Timeline and trim the work area

In the composition file, resize / move the component gifs until you're happy with the placement & sharpen these gifs if you haven't already done so

Duplicate the layers that you want to use Neural Filters on

iii. Working with Neural Filters in the PSD composition file

Stage II: Neural Filters to create artistic effects / more colour manipulations!

Mask the smart layers with Neural Filters to both preserve the subject and avoid colouring issues from the filters

Flatten / render the PSD composition file: the more component gifs in your composition file, the longer the exporting will take. (I prefer to render the composition file into a .mov clip to prevent overriding a file that I've spent effort putting together.)

Note: In some of my layout gifsets (where I've heavily used Neural Filters in Stage II), the rendering time for the panel took more than 20 minutes. This is one of the rare instances where I was maxing out my computer's memory.

Useful things to take note of:

Important: If you're using Neural Filters for Colour Manipulation or Artistic Effects, you need to take a lot of care ensuring that the skin tone of nonwhite characters / individuals is accurately coloured

Use the Facial Enhancement slider from Photo Restoration in moderation, if you max out the slider value you risk oversharpening your gif later on in your gifmaking workflow

You will get higher quality results from Neural Filters by working with larger image dimensions: This gives Neural Filters more pixels to work with. You also get better quality results by feeding higher resolution reference images to the Neural Filters.

Makeup Transfer is more stable when the person / character has minimal motion in your gif

You might get unexpected results from Landscape Mixer if you feed a reference image that don't feature a distinctive landscape. This is not always a bad thing: for instance, I have used this texture as a reference image for Landscape Mixer, to create the shimmery effects as seen in this gifset

5. Testing your system

If this is the first time you're applying Neural Filters directly onto a gif, it will be helpful to test out your system yourself. This will help:

Gauge the expected rendering time that you'll need to wait for your gif to export, given specific Neural Filters that you've used

Identify potential performance issues when you render the gif: this is important and will determine whether you will need to fully playback your gif before flattening / rendering the file.

Understand how your system's resources are being utilised: Inputs from Windows PC users & Mac users alike are welcome!

About the Neural Filters test files:

Contains six distinct files, each using different Neural Filters

Two sizes of test files: one copy in full HD (1080p) and another copy downsized to 540px

One folder containing the flattened / rendered test files

How to use the Neural Filters test files:

What you need:

Photoshop 2022 or newer (recommended: 2023 or later)

Install the following Neural Filters: Landscape Mixer / Style Transfer / Colour Transfer / Colourise / Photo Restoration / Depth Blur

Recommended for some Apple Silicon-based MacBook Pro models: Enable High Power Mode

How to use the test files:

For optimal performance, close all background apps

Open a test file

Flatten the test file into frames (load this action pack & play the “flatten” action)

Take note of the time it takes until you’re directed to the frame animation interface

Compare the rendered frames to the expected results in this folder: check that all of the frames look the same. If they don't, you will need to fully playback the test file in full before flattening the file.†

Re-run the test file without the Neural Filters and take note of how long it takes before you're directed to the frame animation interface

Recommended: Take note of how your system is utilised during the rendering process (more info here for MacOS users)

†This is a performance issue known as flickering that I will discuss in the next section. If you come across this, you'll have to playback a gif where you've used Neural Filters (on the video timeline) in full, prior to flattening / rendering it.

Factors that could affect the rendering performance / time (more info):

The number of frames, dimension, and colour bit depth of your gif

If you use Neural Filters with facial recognition features, the rendering time will be affected by the number of characters / individuals in your gif

Most resource intensive filters (powered by largest machine learning models): Landscape Mixer / Photo Restoration (with Facial Enhancement) / and JPEG Artefacts Removal

Least resource intensive filters (smallest machine learning models): Colour Transfer / Colourise

The number of Neural Filters that you apply at once / The number of component gifs with Neural Filters in your PSD file

Your system: system memory, the GPU, and the architecture of the system's CPU+++

+++ Rendering a gif with Neural Filters demands a lot of system memory & GPU horsepower. Rendering will be faster & more reliable on newer computers, as these systems have CPU & GPU with more modern instruction sets that are geared towards machine learning-based tasks.

Additionally, the unified memory architecture of Apple Silicon M-series chips are found to be quite efficient at processing Neural Filters.

6. Performance issues & workarounds

Common Performance issues:

I will discuss several common issues related to rendering or exporting a multi-frame smart object (e.g. your composite gif) that uses Neural Filters below. This is commonly caused by insufficient system memory and/or the GPU.

Flickering frames: in the flattened / rendered file, Neural Filters aren't applied to some of the frames+-+

Scrambled frames: the frames in the flattened / rendered file isn't in order

Neural Filters exceeded the timeout limit error: this is normally a software related issue

Long export / rendering time: long rendering time is expected in heavy workflows

Laggy Photoshop / system interface: having to wait quite a long time to preview the next frame on the timeline

Issues with Landscape Mixer: Using the filter gives ill-defined defined results (Common in older systems)--

Workarounds:

Workarounds that could reduce unreliable rendering performance & long rendering time:

Close other apps running in the background

Work with smaller colour bit depth (i.e. 8-bit rather than 16-bit)

Downsize your gif before converting to the video timeline-+-

Try to keep the number of frames as low as possible

Avoid stacking multiple Neural Filters at once. Try applying & rendering the filters that you want one by one

Specific workarounds for specific issues:

How to resolve flickering frames: If you come across flickering, you will need to playback your gif on the video timeline in full to find the frames where the filter isn't applied. You will need to select all of the frames to allow Photoshop to reprocess these, before you render your gif.+-+

What to do if you come across Neural Filters timeout error? This is caused by several incompatible Neural Filters e.g. Harmonisation (both the filter itself and as a setting in Landscape Mixer), Scratch Reduction in Photo Restoration, and trying to stack multiple Neural Filters with facial recognition features.

If the timeout error is caused by stacking multiple filters, a feasible workaround is to apply the Neural Filters that you want to use one by one over multiple rendering sessions, rather all of them in one go.

+-+This is a very common issue for Apple Silicon-based Macs. Flickering happens when a gif with Neural Filters is rendered without being previously played back in the timeline.

This issue is likely related to the memory bandwidth & the GPU cores of the chips, because not all Apple Silicon-based Macs exhibit this behaviour (i.e. devices equipped with Max / Ultra M-series chips are mostly unaffected).

-- As mentioned in the supplementary page, Landscape Mixer requires a lot of GPU horsepower to be fully rendered. For older systems (pre-2017 builds), there are no workarounds other than to avoid using this filter.

-+- For smaller dimensions, the size of the machine learning models powering the filters play an outsized role in the rendering time (i.e. marginal reduction in rendering time when downsizing 1080p file to Tumblr dimensions). If you use filters powered by larger models e.g. Landscape Mixer and Photo Restoration, you will need to be very patient when exporting your gif.

7. More useful resources on using Neural Filters

Creating animations with Neural Filters effects | Max Novak

Using Neural Filters to colour correct by @edteachs

I hope this is helpful! If you have any questions or need any help related to the tutorial, feel free to send me an ask 💖

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netscapenavigator-official · 29 days ago

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Honestly, I do feel bad for old people. There's nothing really wrong with not wanting to get involved with new technology. As long as you understand it's benefits, but take on a more... "This just isn't for me. I'm okay with out it," mentality, then I don't think there's anything wrong with rejecting modern tech.

The problem is that corporations want everyone to switch to the new tech, so the older tech starts getting enshittified WAY harder than everything else, and it starts making the old people angry and spiteful towards ALL modern renditions of technology, old and new.

The amount of flip phones my grandparents have gone through because all modern ones just SUCK is horrendous. It's almost a better option to just give them an old iPhone and permanently put it into Assistive Access mode.

I get frustrated with modern flip phones, and I've put fucking Debian 12 on a MacBook Pro. So, tbh, I don't really blame old people for shaking their fist at big tech because, like, yeah... They really are getting the shit end of the stick when they're just trying to mind their own business and stick to what they're comfortable with.

#rambles #tech #technology

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posttexasstressdisorder · 2 months ago

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Today was kiddo's 8th-grade "Promotion Ceremony", marking their going on to High School this fall. Hard to believe...I still remember the day her dad called me to tell me she was on the way. The ceremony was very nicely done, they each got their name called (150 or so kids), and got to walk across the stage, and get their "Certificate of Promotion".

The kids were all dressed up, she was in a sweet little spring dress and had matching shoes; they had the big doin's at the College of Alameda Gym, so it was plenty loud and raucus when everybody cheered for the kids. My lower back's a little worse for the wear from having to sit on bleachers, but it was worth it.

I caught pretty much the whole thing on video, as that seems to be my duty in these matters...I've recorded every one of her middle-school band and orchestra concerts, since her dad died in early 2021, before she started jr. high.

And since she's going off for the summer to be with her cousin and uncle (her dad's brother) until August. Her mom's going to have the piano guy come out and fix the pedal and touch-up the tunning again while kiddo's gone. She's going to be in/out for the summer herself, so I'll be taking care of The Bunny Named Gerbil, which I love doin'...she knows I always give her a treat when I walk in the door.

So since I will be having a little bit of extra cash coming, and because it has been such a stressful 6-7 months around staying housed and now adjusting to new roomie, I gave myself permission to give myself a treat for having survived. Now, y'all know I'm broke as fuck, and there is never "extra" cash above bills. But since there will be "bunny money" coming, I decided I could.

What was it? Something I've wanted for a long, long time: a very nice example of the final 11-inch MacBook Air, with 8GB RAM soldered in, from early 2015. It's got Thunderbolt and USB3, and uses a 128GB SSD blade that I can replace with a faster 1TB blade for pretty cheap.

And with a slightly newer (by three years) design, it will run on Catalina (the final OS X), as well as Big Sur (OS 11) and Monterey (OS 12), and since it will be strictly a writing and tumblr machine, I can leave my two mid-2012 machines at my preferred OS versions for both. The tower needs El Capitan for the piano software plugin I use with my keyboard. The MacBook Pro is sitting at High Sierra, which still works with the software I use for the keyboard and for graphics.

So with this little machine to take over the lightweight stuff, I'll be much more apt to update the OS to either Catalina or I may go all the way up to OS 12...I'll see how it handles Catalina first.

It's responsive, quick, and is light-years different from the last Air I had (2010 "Core 2 Duo" with only 2GB RAM!), oh, what a pokey little thing that was...this one feels up to the challenge, with 8GB. Firefox launches fast and is just as quick as I'm used to, so I'm happy.

And the cool part was it was only $129, $141 with tax. From a certified Mac refurbisher, and it's immaculate...everything works, it has backlit keys (YAY!) and so far has been rock solid.

So yippee for a new toy.

I earned it.

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wanderingaldecaldo · 2 years ago

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Two Vals, Two Years of Fem V Friday

107 weeks ago, which is just over two years, I made the first Fem V Friday post. I didn't expect it to take off. As a fic smut writer in rarepair hell, I ran a tiny blog. I had barely started taking VP, if you could call it that. I've talked before about bootcamping my MacBook Pro; I did unspeakable things to that poor machine.

I'm """old""". I know I'm older than some of your parents, a fact which inflicts serious psychic anguish at times. I didn't grow up with women as playable characters in video games, or with women as video game characters at all, really. I never got into Lara Croft because I believed she was created for the male gaze, something I could never get past, though I absolutely understand why so many women love her! A woman as the playable hero of the story! At last, someone on the screen who looks like me! Kinda! (Side note: I recently learned from a huge Lara fan that the creator was unhappy with how she became sexualized, and that makes me feel better. Maybe I'll finally give it a try.)

It wasn't until Bioware that I finally got to play the badass women of young Wash's dreams. Given the option, I haven't played a male character since. This past Pride I wrote about my complicated relationship with gender, and having the ability to play as a female character — especially ones that allowed me to express my butch side — is key to my journey.

107 weeks ago, the week that Masc v Monday began, I made a comment or tagged something about being sad there wasn't such a thing for fem Vs. At the time, my dash was full of masc Vs because of who I followed: people who posted male OCs. I was still new to tumblr and hadn't met all of my friends whose Vs wives you see me regularly reblog. So many of the fem Vs who crossed my dash looked like more of the same sexualized characters created for the male gaze. I wanted the ones out there who looked like my own Val; fem Vs who looked like real women.

That following Friday, August 12, I started the tag at someone else's suggestion. I thanked him genuinely for it whenever he commented on the post or reblogged it or however the interaction occurred.

107 weeks ago, I posted Val, and many people responded. Many people reblogged and added on their fem Vs, while others posted separately. I was overwhelmed. I never expected the response I received.

107 weeks later, I still love Fridays. I love seeing all of your fem Vs in all shapes and forms, because I will never get over seeing this representation. I will never tire of seeing all the different female characters that people make.

This is why I made the first Fem V Friday post. I love Fridays, y'all.

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kosztalma · 2 years ago

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41 napja nincs telefonom - olvasd el a valósággá vált rémálmom

Szeretek vigyázni Apple eszközeimre, de tudom, hogy az ördög sosem alszik, ezért mindig kötök rájuk AppleCare+ biztosítást, hogy ha mégis bekövetkezne egy baleset, akkor nyugodt lehessek.

Augusztus 28-án leejtettem az iPhone 12 minimet és akkor még azt hittem, hogy az a tragédia, hogy összetört, de sajnos a valódi tragédia az az, hogy azóta sincs telefonom. Hogy történhetett ez?

Annak ellenére, hogy a kijelző és a hátlap is sérült, MacBook Pro-mra dugva tudtam még készíteni róla egy biztonsági mentést, majd bevittem egy hivatalos szervizpartnerhez, hogy leadjam javításra. A szervizben megnyugtattak, hogy ha minden jól megy, akkor augusztus 30-án szerdán már mehetek is érte.

Az Apple szabályai tiszták: ha a telefon elő és hátlapja is törött, akkor általában az AppleCare+ biztosítás keretein belül készülékcserét állapítanak meg. Ezt a cég csehországi központi szervizében állapítják meg, ezért a szerviz kiküldte oda a készüléket.

Az esetemben azonban az Apple úgy döntött, hogy még megmenthető a készülék, ezért az elő- és hátlapot, készülékházat, kamerát és akkumulátort cserélték, majd feladták postára szeptember 1-én számomra.

Az Apple támogatási oldalán továbbra is ez a telefonom státusza:

Szeptember 5-én hívott a szerviz, hogy sajnálatos módon a visszaküldött és javított telefonom elveszett a UPS vecsési logisztikai központjában és most megpróbálják felvenni a kapcsolatot az Apple-lel, hogy intézzék el a UPS-szel a problémát.

Szeptember 6-án újra hívott a szerviz és tudatták, hogy a UPS elismerte az elveszett telefont és az Apple ezért küldött egy új telefont, az enyémmel megegyező modellt, ami napokon belül meg fog érkezni. Itt már több mint egy hete nem volt telefonom, de legalább örültem, hogy hamarosan vége lesz ennek az egész helyzetnek és nem sokkal később csak egy vicces történet lesz, amit majd esti sörözések során mesélek a haveroknak.

Ezután csak teltek és múltak a napok, a szerviz próbálta felvenni a kapcsolatot az Apple központi szervizével, de semmi értelmezhető választ nem kaptak tőlük.

Szeptember 12-én az Apple központi szervize adott egy követési számot a feladott új telefonhoz, de a UPS ellenőrzőoldala szerint az egy nem létező csomagazonosító. Ennek ellenére a szerviztől megnyugtatást kaptam, hogy azon a héten már minden bizonnyal rendeződni fog az ügy.

Szeptember 28-án elfogyott a türelmem és felhívtam az Apple támogatási telefonszámát, hogy érdeklődjek a telefonom helyzetéről. Az ügyintéző hölgy megnyugtatott, hogy mindent meg fog tenni az elveszett telefon felkutatásában és hamarosan kapni fogok tőle egy emailt, ahova el kell küldenem a szervizbe adást igazoló papírom és kérte még a telefon vásárlását igazoló számlát is. Utóbbit kicsit furcsának éreztem, de elfogadtam.

Ezt követően nem kaptam semmilyen emailt az Apple támogatástól egészen október 2-ig, amikor is azt kaptam tőlük, hogy többszöri alkalommal is próbáltak keresni telefonon, de nem sikerült elérniük.

Ma több alkalommal keresetem Önt telefonon, sajnos sikertelenül. Felvettem a kapcsolatot az [szerviz neve] szervizével, erről szerettem volna tájékoztatni. Kérem jelezze, ha továbbra is segítségre van szüksége.

Természetesen nem volt nem fogadott hívásom sem a privát számomon, ami az iPhone 12 minimhez volt rendelve, sem pedig a céges számomon, amiről az Apple támogatást hívtam korábban. A legjobban persze az utolsó mondat fájt, hiszen az Apple támogatás rendszerében is látszik a telefonom utolsó státusza, vagyis hogy szeptember 1-én postára lett adva és nem érkezett meg. Ezt figyelembe véve természetesen szükségem van továbbra is segítségre.

Az Apple támogatástól kapott emailre válaszoltam és megírtam benne mindkét élő telefonszámomat és másnap fel is hívott az Apple támogatás egy ír telefonszámról.

Itt már október 3 volt, vagyis 37 napja voltam telefon nélkül. Az ügyintéző hölgy elmondta, hogy semmiben sem tud segíteni, ugyanis nem az Apple támogatáson keresztül adtam le a készülékemet, hanem egy szervizen keresztül és így nem tudja felvenni a kapcsolatot az Apple központi szervizével.

Megkérdeztem, hogy ebben az esetben mit tudok tenni és azt tanácsolta, hogy adjak fel egy panaszt, ami majd be fog kerülni az Apple virtuális panaszkönyvébe. Ezt meg is tettem és panaszt tettem az Apple központi szervize ellen. Ezután azt az információt kaptam, hogy el fogja küldeni emailben a panasz szövegét. Ez sem történt meg, egy sablon üzenetet kaptam csak, amiben ez szerepelt:

Köszönjük, hogy felkeresett minket. Válaszolhat erre az e-mailre. A következő munkanapomon válaszolok Önnek.

Most október 7 van és szombat, vagyis már 41 napja nincs meg az iPhone 12 minim és nem érzem úgy, hogy az ügy közelebb lenne a megoldáshoz, mint bármikor az elmúlt közel másfél hónapban.

Hiába kötöttem meg az Apple legjobb biztosítását, az AppleCare+-t a telefonomra 2021-ben és azóta is fizetem folyamatosan, hiába adtam le egy hivatalos Apple szervizben a telefonom javításra, hiába vettem fel a kapcsolatot az Apple támogatással… senki sem tud vagy akar nekem segíteni.

A szerviz az első csúszásoknál említette szeptember elején, hogy ez nagyon ritka, de előfordult már a múltban is, hogy a vecsési UPS központban elveszett egy készülék, de pánikra semmi ok, az Apple mindig pótolja a készüléket.

Később azonban már a szerviz is elismerte, hogy az esetem teljesen egyedi és még sosem történt ilyesmi. Gondolom mondani se kell, hogy ez a legkevésbé sem vigasz számomra. Jobban örülnék, ha a munkámban, párkapcsolatomban vagy az életem bármely területén lennék egyedi és nem abban, hogy az én telefonomat veszítette el a legjobban az Apple.

Hogy mi a tanulság? Az sajnos nem igazán van, de azt tudom tanácsolni, hogy nagyon vigyázz eszközeidre és imádkozz, hogy semmi probléma ne legyen velük, ugyanis ha mégis így lesz, akkor elképzelhető, hogy soha többet nem látod majd.

Ha pedig szeretnéd, hogy az Apple támogatás egy kicsit is segítőkész legyen, akkor rajtuk keresztül add le a készüléked javításra, más esetben nem támaszkodhatsz rájuk.

Az Apple nincs jelen Magyarországon saját üzlettel vagy saját szervizzel, csak hivatalosnak hívott viszonteladók és szervizek vannak, de el kell fogadnunk, hogy ebben a balkáni országban nem olyan támogatást nyújt a cupertino-i cég, mint amit a külföldi oldalakon olvasott beszámolók alapján várnánk.

És hogy mi lesz velem? Nyeljem le, hogy az Apple megkárosított egy közel 200 ezres telefonnal és sétáljak be a legközelebbi Apple Premium Resellerbe és vegyek egy újat? Aztán majd arra is kössek AppleCare+ biztosítást?

Vagy esetleg vegyek egy androidos telefont és engedjem el azt az eszközök közötti integrációt, ami miatt az Apple-be szerettem egykoron?

Őszintén tanácstalan vagyok.

Te mit tennél a helyemben?

#AppleCare+#iPhone 12 mini #Apple #iPhone #Magyarország #tragédia #rémálom #diary

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create-7932 · 3 months ago

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プロフィール

初めまして。アムリアです。色んな創作がしたい未熟者。

来歴

2015年　吹奏楽部入部。フルート希望だったがオーディションでホルンへ。

↪️実は同期は自分も含めて皆ホルン以外を希望していた。経験者だからとF、B♭、ダブルを全部中学のうちにやった。自前は古いダブル。

2018年　中学三年で昭和楽器デュオコンで銅賞。（相方はTb）

↪️　音域が一緒すぎて楽譜なかったのでTbデュオ譜面を移調した。

2018年　埼玉県立松伏高等学校音楽科ホルン専攻入学。

2020年　適応障害から不登校になり単位不足で高校転校。通信制へ。

2021年　尚美ミュージックカレッジ音響・映像・照明学��入学。

同年12月　6月に新型コロナウイルスに羅漢。後遺症と精神疾患の再発で中退。この時期に適応障害が双極性障害になり、発達障害が発覚。

2022〜2024年　生き方を模索。一番足掻く。

2025年　自立支援事業所をきっかけに本格的に小説以外の創作の練習を開始。３月末アレルギー性の喘息を発症。

本人の概要

アカウントの名前の「アリウム」は花の名前。花言葉は「不屈の心」。

これだけは絶対に折れないという願いを込めてつけた。他の趣味アカウントもほとんど花の名前が由来。

小学生から音楽に触れ続け、ついでにあちこちのヒーローを男女問わずに履修。結果的には一番昭和ライダーにどハマりしたオタク。知らないヒーローの方が恐らく少ない。世代2005〜2015年あたり

大体見てなくても名前は全部知ってることが多い。ロボ系は普通。エヴァは好き。

最推しを1人に絞れない人。

小6から授業は板書だけしていつも小説を書いている生活。

もう10年近いが、二次創作しか完成したことがない。一次はやったことはある。心理描写と本編に沿った追加の独自設定が強み。

文字数増えがち、筆爆速。

寄り道でアイドルを通ったおかげで聴いているジャンルはJ-POPとK-POP、J-POPはHIPHOP以外は大体好きなら聞く。アニソンも好き。逆に言葉の意味がすぐ分かりずらいことから洋楽はあんまり得意じゃないけど、好きな曲もある。最近はインストもやっと好きになってきた。ただ、ピアノやオーケストラしかストレスなく聞けない。

これがきっかけで軽くなら韓国語読み書き可能。

ボカロ中毒。マイナーな曲ばかり好きになるのでカラオケに無くて悲しい思いをしがち。機種はJOYSOUND一択。まねきねこヘビーユーザー。最大6時間一人で居座ったことがある。カラオケ中毒でもある。基本一人で来てずーーっと歌ってる。一緒に行ってくれる人募集中。

専門で作曲に触れたことから制作を志すものの、難しすぎて断念。歌詞だけは書ける。詩的でストーリーがはっきりしているのが特徴。2025年に再開。

イラストは元々苦手意識があったが、脳内のイメージをちゃんと形にしたいと少しずつ始める。将来MVを作れるようになりたい。

楽器演奏はホルンがメインだが、ピアノも少しやってた。家にはトランペットとアコギ、エレキがある。でも元から爪が長いせいでギター系は練習しずらい。楽譜はリズム読みが壊滅的。読み方知りたい。

発達障害と精神疾患があるうえ、体もあちこちボロボロだが案外元気。

別に同情とか配慮とかしてほしくて書いてるんじゃなくて「こうなってもここまで来れる」って思って欲しいから。

座右の銘は「諦めなければなんとかなる」「善は急げ」。

死ぬほどせっかち。

この人生の苦しみに意味があったと思えるように、自分の作品で誰かが「あと少しだけ生きてみよう」と思える作品を作りたくて覚悟を決めた。

コミュ力に割り振るはずのステータスを創作に全振りしたかのようなスペック。なるたけ誠実でありたいけどまだ難しい。

好きなアーティスト（敬称略、順不同）

A.B.C-Z

Ado

DECO*27

DIVELA

doriko

（G）I-DLE

HIMEHINA

Juice=Juice

n-buna

Neru

PENTAGON

P丸様。

VERIVERY

ZOCX

*Luna

アンジュルム

うぴ子

すいそうぐらし

とあ

トラボルタ

バルーン

ファントムシータ

ワルキューレ

中島美嘉

中川翔子

大原櫻子

嵐

米津玄師

など。その他多数。これなら知ってるって人も多い。

環境設定

使用PC…MacBook Air 13.6インチ　M2 16GB 250GB

DAWソフト…Studio One7 Pro

オーディオインターフェイス…PreSonus STUDIO24c

MIDIキーボード…M-AUDIO KEYSTATIONMINI32 MK3

マイク…audiotechnica AT2020

スピーカー…CREATIVE Pebble Pro

イラストソフト…Clip Studio Pro

使用タブ…One by WACOM CTL-672

編集ソフト…wonder share Filmora12

文章エディタ…Word

好きなものをやってたいだけなのでこの自己紹介で「ん？」って思った人はフォロー非推奨。ただ、基本精神疾患等の話はしません。

話すジャンルは全部垢分けしてあるので気になった人はご連絡ください。

#小説 #作曲 #イラスト #自己紹介

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laurelins-light · 3 months ago

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Help me pick my laptop!

Option 1 - Framework 13 - https://frame.work/laptop13?slug=laptop13-diy-amd-ai300&tab=specs

Option 2 - Macbook Pro 14in https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/14-inch-space-black-standard-display-apple-m4-pro-chip-with-12-core-cpu-16-core-gpu-24gb-memory-512gb

I've used my ipad as my "laptop" for years now and I finally want to replace it but I can't decide which one I want to go with so I'm putting it to the masses. I've been saving up for one so cost isn't a factor more just what I will finally go with. I'm leaning towards macbook, but I LOVE the concept of the framework laptop.

#poll #personal #laptop #macbook #apple #framework laptop

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thetechrobot · 1 year ago

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Spacetop G1, World’s first Laptop that uses AR Glasses instead of a Display

A laptop that employs augmented reality glasses as a display was called the Spacetop G1 system, and it was shown to a thousand productivity pioneers by the tech firm Sightful last year.

The upgraded Gen 1 device removes the requirement for the user to stoop over a tiny screen when working remotely on a laptop by placing a 100-inch virtual display directly in their eyes.

In this blog, The TechRobot will showcase the World’s first AR laptop: Spacetop G1. So let us begin.

What is Spacetop G1?

Sightful’s Screenless Laptop, the Spacetop G1, combines a computer with comfortable, lightweight augmented reality glasses. Running on the device is SpaceOS, a spatial operating system with an emphasis on online operations intended for productivity.

The weight of the AR glasses is 85 grams, but the Vision Pro, depending on the Light Seal, weighs between 600 and 650 grams. The keyboard is bulkier compared to a MacBook Air or iPad Pro, measuring less than 12 inches in width and weighing three pounds.

Cost of AR Laptop

The Screenless Laptop, Spacetop G1 charges $1,700 and is just a keyboard with spectacles attached.

Spacetop G1 Specs

Spacetop G1, features a Qualcomm Snapdragon QCS8550 CPU, Kryo GPU, Adreno 740 AI, dual eNPU V3, 48 INT8, 12 FP16 TOPs, 16 GB LPDDR5, 128 GB UFS3.1 storage, and 8-hour battery life.

They have two OLED display screens, a 50° field of vision, a 90Hz refresh rate, and very crisp text rendering.

The glasses enable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 5G, and a 5MP camera. They also contain a microphone for use in online meetings.

Benefits of AR Laptops

1. Endless View

With Spacetop’s Virtual Desktop, you may get amusement and information without having to navigate around, making it a convenient substitute for real screen space. Although it’s not the only solution with this functionality, this one could be the easiest to use.

A standard keyboard and touchpad, Spacetop’s AR glasses, and a perhaps lower price tag might allow customers to enjoy endless screen areas without sacrificing functionality. For individuals who would rather have a more ordered workstation, this would be a time-saving alternative.

2. Absolute privacy

Multi-monitor laptop attachments should not be used in public areas due to the increased danger of uninvited eyes peeping at private information caused by an excessive number of physical displays. Although privacy screens are available on certain computers and monitors, they are limited to one monitor.

To solve this, Spacetop is a Screenless Laptop, letting the user see their screen alone until it is shared with others. But it also means that those standing close to the user can’t see the screen without their glasses.

3. Improved posture

Laptops’ screens are firmly attached to the keyboard, making them portable yet uncomfortable. Some people find relief from this neck pain by attaching a desktop monitor.

The screenless laptop, Spacetop, provides a more comfortable height and does away with the need for arms or ergonomic monitor supports. Due to this, laptops are a better choice for use at home or in the workplace.

4. Laser Focus

Spacetop G1 is an Augmented Reality (AR) device that reduces visual distractions so users can work productively and enjoy their free time. The apps it may utilize, including Windows or macOS-based software and limited gaming, are restricted by its Android-based operating system and mobile hardware.

Notwithstanding these drawbacks, Spacetop provides a more practical experience than a typical computer since it places all of the necessary components in front of and surrounding users. Instead of letting others decide for them, users may choose whether to allow virtual distractions to affect them.

Highlight – Introducing Travel Mode For Meta Quest Headsets

Best AR Glasses for Laptops

1. Apple AR Glasses

Apple plans to develop AR glasses that look like conventional spectacles with a built-in display. A prototype of the glasses has a thick, attractive frame and resembles high-end luxury sunglasses. With references to Project Starboard and reports of a glassOS, the prototype is anticipated to function on iOS 14.

Though it could take a few more years for a public release, rumors indicate that Apple has already started the second phase of development. The glasses will have the ability to add prescription lenses, gesture-controlled instructions that connect with the Apple Watch, and a true vision display on both lenses.

Possible capabilities include the ability to use virtual things in real-world settings, do activities without using a phone, and enable immersive phone conversations and remote collaboration software.

2. Meta Glasses

Rebranding Facebook to Meta, Mark Zuckerberg is concentrating on augmented reality glasses and headsets. The business plans to deliver Meta spectacles, a prototype of their augmented reality spectacles, in late 2024. The Project Nazare and Project Aria prototypes provide a fully functional augmented reality experience, with 3D visuals and an elegant design. It is anticipated that the Meta Glasses will include an immersive experience with radio, speakers, and cameras, a holographic display with built-in projectors, batteries, and sensors, and a broad field of vision. In 2024, the prototype is anticipated to be released.

3. Xreal Air 2 Ultra

The Air 2 Ultra glasses from Xreal are an improvement over the Air 2 model and are aimed at competing with Apple’s Vision Pro and Meta’s Quest 3 headsets. Complete positional tracking, a form factor akin to eyeglasses, and compatibility for immersive AR apps, TV viewing, and flat-screen gaming are all features of the Air 2 Ultra.

It has a 52-degree field of vision, 500 nits of brightness, two cameras for environmental mapping, hand tracking, and compatibility with Xreal’s Nebula AR environment.

Is AR safe for your eyes?

Prolonged use of AR might result in headaches, nausea, and straining of the eyes. This is a result of our eyes continually focusing on objects at different distances when using AR. This can cause pain and eye tiredness.

Conclusion

The future of laptops with AR like the Spacetop G1 marks a breakthrough in laptop technology by utilizing augmented reality to provide a 100-inch virtual display that improves user posture, productivity, and privacy.

The Spacetop G1 presents a new option for remote work by addressing typical ergonomic concerns associated with standard laptops by mixing AR glasses with a powerful computing machine and the SpaceOS operating system.

Despite several drawbacks associated with its Android-based operating system and the possibility of eye discomfort after extended usage, the Spacetop G1 breaks new ground in augmented reality technology by offering consumers a more useful and engaging experience.

#spacetop1 #ar #vr #ar glasses #laptop #virtual reality #augmented reality #mark zuckerberg #elon musk #meta ai #facebook

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