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untaitold · 6 years

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day 2 - canon lavrise (abt act 3)

me, literally a day after saying i’d probably forget to write something canon: write something canon

enjoy this very self-indulgent lavrise fic. self-indulgent as in i too dream of moving into an apartment one day with a girlfriend

also idk the specific timeframe for this but i think it’s some time after act 3

(crossposted on toyhouse which i almost forgot about)

. .

“And that,” Lavender announces, teetering on the tips of her toes as she passes Cerise the box. “Is that.”

Cerise’s shoulders jerk uncomfortably at the sudden weight in her hands. She pushes herself up, a bit at a time, bending her knees. She sets the box down at the base of the fortress they’ve created from its fellow cubes and straightens up properly to admire their handiwork.

“I give it a month and a half before Gran tries to auction this shit off on eBay,” she comments, smacking her hands together to dispel some of the dust.

Lavender shrugs. “She’s not going to get anything for that. How many copies of The Breakfast Club does one girl need?”

She reaches out a hand and helps Cerise to descend the ladder. The old thing wobbles at the slightest pressure, and so her other keeps it stable.

“Well,” Cerise says. “Three of them are different re-releases with interviews and bonus- you know what, you’re right. It’s not even that good a film anyway.”

Lavender hits her with a knowing smile. “Your Netflix history says you think otherwise.”

“Hush up, Nari.”

Back on safer grounds, Cerise casts one last glance back through the open door to her former room. The bed, shoved now into the corner, has been stripped of its sheets. Vibrant rectangles where her posters and the like had been peel through the faded orange. They’ve dismantled much of the furniture either to take it with them to the new place, or to sell it on. The room looks bare, now, almost unrecognisable. It’s relieving and sobering all at once.

She’s moving out for good. Not just to some crappy university accommodation for a couple of years. No, this time, she and Lavender will finally have somewhere just for them.

Alright, so it’s another apartment, but at least this one will have functional central heating.

“The landlord just texted,” Lavender says, and she tears her gaze away. Lav’s looking at her phone screen, bouncing on the heels of her feet. “It’s ready. We can head over now if you want?”

Cerise nods. “Yeah. You got your stuff?”

“Mmhmm. We’re really doing this, huh.”

“Yep.”

Lavender beams. She takes Cerise’s hand and squeezes it. Cerise returns her smile and tries to swallow her reservations. They’re on a streak of good luck. There’s not a lot that can go wrong here.

Damn it, now she’s said it, she’s probably jinxed it. Good thing Lavender’s her go-to for dispelling hexes and bad karma.

“Right,” she says, with a deep breath. “Let’s go.”

The tram ride is quick enough. It seems to last an age, and Lavender ends up bouncing from foot to foot to try and keep herself centered. Cerise keeps to staring out the window, watching familiar streets and faces go by. About halfway there she sees a plume of bright pink light shoot up to the sky. Two seconds later, her phone starts buzzing furiously.

“God damn it,” she finds herself saying in perfect sync with Lavender.

She goes to look at the message, but Lavender reaches out a hand.

“Whatever it is,” she says. “The others will sort it out.”

“But-”

“One hour, and then we can go check it out. Pleeease just let us get to the apartment.”

Cerise reluctantly slides her phone back into her jacket pocket. “Fine. But if, I don’t know, glittery pink zombies start crawling round the streets, we’re leaving stat.”

“Gotcha.”

They just don’t get a damn break these days. Cerise doesn’t think she’s stopped working between Hero and Aether. Taking a few days off with Lavender feels like a crime, in some ways, considering the state Taitale’s in, but it wasn’t until they were sat in the back of Café Dawn that she realised just how little time she’d been spending with her girlfriend. They need this. She needs this. So it’s just plain unfair that even now she’s worrying about the whole ‘saving the world’ crap when she should be excited about getting her first proper home with her first serious partner.

That’s just life, though. No point in whining about it.

She reaches back up to the handrail as the tram jerks to another stop. And when her phone won’t quit buzzing, she finally has the gall to put it on silent. Just for now.

The lock jams for a moment. It takes a bit of jiggling of the key, and then the door pops open.

“Alright,” Lavender says. “Here we go.”

Her voice wavers a little. She claps her hands.

“Aw, I just…” Her eyes water. She flicks away a tear.

“Hey,” Cerise wraps an arm around her. “Hey. You’re okay. We’re okay.”

“Yeah. Just… seeing it…”

Cerise isn’t really the super emotional type herself, but even she’s choking up at the sight of their apartment. It’s wide and empty save for the kitchenette and the chipped dining table with its mismatching chairs. Some of their boxes are piled up in the corner by the sliding doors. The blinds are pulled to, and the room is a cool dark save for slivers of light peeking through the gaps. The walls are plain white, the floor plain wood, and it’s nothing special, sure, but it’s perfect.

Because it’s not the stuffy, childish peach room she lived in at Francette’s. Because it’s not the mazelike suite of purple rooms pulled out of a Hot Topic catalogue Lavender stayed in. Because it’s not a tiny apartment shared with three other flatmates that constantly smells of pasta sauce. And because it’s not a pile of cushions stacked haphazardly in a goddamn laboratory.

Of course they’ve already seen it, when they were viewing it, but now it’s actually theirs. Their home. Maybe not forever. At the rate this is going the fourth sentinel might chase them all out of Taitale before they’ve even had time to settle in. Right now, she cares little for that.

There is a lot to do before this place will truly feel like she and Lavender are the ones who are living here. She pictures stacks of paper and notebooks all over the dining table; a sofa in the far corner, maybe; and undoubtedly enough throws and cushions to keep an army warm.

“The real question,” Lavender says. “Is how we’re going to get the coffee table up the stairs.”

Oh, yeah. The lift is tiny. It barely fit the two of them in, never mind their rucksacks. Every silver cloud… has its grey lining. Something like that. She’s not the writer in this relationship.

“I told you we should have dismantled it,” Cerise replies.

“We can’t. It’s an antique. It doesn’t dismantle.”

“Then… we need a new coffee table.”

Lavender gasps in mock offence. “Are you shunning the gift my parents bestowed on us?”

“Look, Lav, I love your parents to death and you know I’d never want to incur their wrath- but there is no flipping way that table is making it up these stairs.”

“With a little bit of elbow grease and a can-do attitude…”

“Nope. It’s not happening. It’s too narrow.”

“Oh, man,” Lavender mutters, closing her eyes. “Don’t tell me. Our future is full of flatpack furniture.”

“Yep. Looks like we’ll be heading to IKEA sometime this week.”

“We can’t afford IKEA.”

“...sometime this year, then.”

They fall silent, looking into the rooms that are theirs. It’s as if they’re about to step into a new world. The tips of Cerise’s feet just peek over the edge between the hallway carpet and the apartment’s hardwood flooring. They have faced monsters and magic and alternate timelines, but somehow, it’s this that’s got Cerise hesitating.

“Well,” Lavender says. “I guess we can’t stand here all night.”

“No,” Cerise says. “I guess we can’t.”

She takes her girlfriend’s hand, and they step over the threshold. Nothing mystical or bizarre happens, but it feels like a shift in the way of their world.

#cerise #lavender #rel: lavrise #this one is obviously shippy so #october writing

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twracehorse · 7 years

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Star Stable Breed Reviews

Did a review on breeds and their colors cause why not? This’ll be my opinion on these horses and is only for fun

Only doing newer animation breeds since it wouldn’t be fair to the older model horses (even though the starter models got an update they still aren’t on par with the brand new models)

To start off with we have the first brand new model with animations never seen previous to its release...

American Quarter Horse

Animations: Since they are the first breed not to have the same stiff movements as the starter models they get a break here. They were the first horses in game that moved like actual horses. Looking at them now their gaits are a bit weird. Their shoulders, knees, and neck are a little awkward. Though I do like how their ears turn when going into full gallop (even if I don’t like how pinned back they are). Their jump and I don’t know if this is some newer glitch type that showed up later or I’ve just never noticed before....the horse pops back up like a cut in animation between landing and on the ground running again. It’s seen best when you canter jump.

Colors: The black is your typical black and has some socks and a star for added color. The bay is a nice color bay, Star Stable’s recent bays have been the more darker bays and I’d love for them to do some lighter ones. The palomino is really nice, it looks like it has dapples, has a really cute face marking, and two different socks. The blue roan is okay, a little too blue, but still has some spots (corn spots). The grulla is a smooth coat and has a cute little moon-like marking. The grey is well.... not the best. It’s actually one of the greys I don’t like in game (and I LOVE greys). Though I do love it has a darker mane, it’s not the cutest of greys. The red roan is a pretty realistic one. Looking up pictures of real horses you can see it matches some of them. A good start to the first? red roan in Star Stable! The brown snowflake appaloosa has really good markings, it’s different, I hope we get more appaloosas in future breeds like this. The black and white “appaloosa” is kinda cool, not too flashy or eye catching. The chestnut paint has a nice color and crisp markings. The black and white splash paint is unique being the only splash paint in Star Stable, we need more of these too. The grulla paint has a nice mix of color in the mane and tail. The brown pintaloosa is okay, the spots are cute, I think it would look nice if we got more like it but with more detailed body color. The grey and white paint has detailed dapples which look really, really nice.

Overall Score: 7/10

(The animations are a good start and the colors are nice but could have improvement)

Morgan

Animations: Between the quarters and the morgans there’s a jump in how smoother these horses move. Being just the second horse with brand new animations, this is a big improvement. Their walk is smooth and realistic, the trot is light and bouncy, the canter is smooth, slow gallop is smooth as well. The full gallop, while looks good, does have some flaws. Main one is the character slamming their head on the neck of the horse. The neck of the horse also kinda seems to stretch a bit. Morgans are really good at jumping. I found that the morgans are the best breed to jump that three jump combo in the Goldenleaf Forest race.

Colors: The silver bay is a cutie! The body color is wonderfully paired with the darker legs, silvery mane and tail, and some socks with one leg that stands without one. A small bit of uniqueness. The cremello has a nice, soft color to it and has blue eyes to finish the job. The dark bay has nice shading and highlights to show depth in the coat. The black while is all black, it does have a more wavy like mane and tail. The silver dapple has more of a flat body color but comes with a shaded mane and tail with socks and a face marking to boot! The white is a nice mix of white with grey shading instead of it being all white. It has slight dapples on the side and the legs are different shades of grey. The buckskin is pretty nice. Everyone wanted this horse to be a Spirit. It’s a lighter color and not bright and flashy. The dapple grey has some nice dapples over most of its body. The mane and tail start off as a darker grey and fade into a lighter grey. This one has similar leg markings to the silver bay, but they vary slightly when comparing them side by side. Also something I never noticed before is that the areas between the body and the legs are smoothed out? Like someone took the blur tool and swiped over them. It looks inconsistent and in my opinion would look better if they continued to shade down to the legs instead of loosing texture there. The chestnut is a remake of the old chestnut morgan. This one has a more copper look to it and it pulls it off.

Overall: 9/10

(Animations have improved, the horses move more realistically. The head banging motion is the biggest complaint about this breed. The colors vary in uniqueness)

Shire

Animations: They’re pretty smooth. It might just be me but with how it goes through its paces it feels like they are bigger and have heavier hooves and bodies to move around. You don’t want the biggest horse in Star Stable to feel like you can turn it as fast as a morgan after all! They share the same animations as the morgans but it doesn’t feel like they do which is a nice thing to feel like it’s a different horse and not an oversized morgan. They are also the first horses to have a longer mane that has its own animation and not just stuck to the neck.

Colors: The dark bay is a solid color with its coat shine and has a blaze trailing down to its nose but no pinking. The chestnut is a nice color with an ombre mane and tail. It has a unique (and still not seen on any other model) marking that’s a badger face. The black is a solid black but has a stripe that has edges to it and isn’t just straight down the face. The black sabino shire would seem like another black shire but it has longer leg markings, a bald face, and a sabino marking on the under belly. Too bad they couldn’t give this one a blue eye on one side. The grey has dapples galore! An ombre mane and hair details on the body for the dapples makes this one a looker! The white has some subtle dapples and a little bit of pink on its nose. The white and black pinto is okay. If it had more black or a different body color it would be more popular I think. It looks too much like the white though it does have some splotching around the mouth. The dappled bay shire, like the grey, has some extreme dappling. It also has a marking to give some color to its face.

Overall: 9/10

(Animations are from the morgan but feel like it’s a different breed from how they look and turn. Colors could be added to this breed since shires have 5 common coat colors but that isn’t the end of color possibilities (just searching up “shire colors” and looking at the pictures shows there could be more!)

Icelandic

Animations: They are from the shire but look different on this tiny, fuzzy body. It has a different rear from the shire. This is the first horse with a special gait and that is the tölt! It’s very smooth and represents the real life tölt in game form.

Colors: The texture on these horses having the hair is wonderful. The chestnut is basic chestnut with a lighter mane and tail and a white star (I think this horse is based off a real one). The dark bay is a chocolate color with darker legs and a lighter tone near its nose. The grulla is a silver color with a dorsal stripe and some lighter tones in its mane. The bay pinto has a lot of white coverage on its back with a nice touch of mixed mane colors and a stripe down its face. The palomino horse is cute, a lighter color with a bald face. Though I have no idea what that strip on its throat is supposed to be. The white is a basic white but has some nice warm color eyes. The black is just all black. The grey has some dapples mixed in with the hair detail of its coat. Though it shares a similar face marking to the chestnut. The black and white pinto is like the bay pinto with more white in the back. No face marking and kinda just looks like the black and bay pinto had a baby. The silver dapple looks boring from afar but getting closer to you see the striking blue eyes and under the floof of the forelock there’s a sweet marking underneath.

Overall: 10/10

(While the animations are reused from previous horses, it fits this breed. The tölt is smooth and is a nice detail of the breed. The colors vary and some are standard issue but the texture on these horses are well done and look like they have fur. They are also the first of the newer animated breeds to be cold tolerant)

Thoroughbred

Animations: I remember when we first saw how this breed moved, everyone was looking forward to it. The walk and trot looked so smooth and realistic. The canter and slow gallop are well done. The full gallop on the other hand is what made people go “ehhh that doesn’t seem right”. The legs looked like jelly (though they look good in photos and in slow motion) and the head wobbles. The jump isn’t my favorite. I don’t like the way the head turns to the side while jumping and the ears are still flopping backwards on the horses.

Colors: The flea-bitten grey is the first we see of a flea-bitten horse in game. It looks lovely, the horse has shading so it’s not a flat color and the flea bits cover the rest. The chestnut is a nice lighter chestnut with socks of the front of its legs and a cute stripe on the face. The black is all black, a shiny black, and what could’ve been a snip marking just ends up being a smudge and looks more like a shine than an actual marking. The dark bay is mostly a solid color but has shading towards its face and near the back legs and an interesting face marking. The white is a nice touch of color. Most thoroughbreds are the usual bay, black, grey, etc. But there are accounts of pure white horses in racing. I wish we could see more colors of thoroughbreds that are also rare and eye catching! The bay is a darker brown kind of bay with small back socks. It has a small snip on the verge of smudge but still noticeable and has a star but it’s the same marking the grulla quarter has. The grey has nice dapples, the face seems a bit whiter than the rest of its body. The mane however would’ve looked better as a dark mane since most dark grey horses have dark grey manes and tails.

Overall: 8/10

(The new smoother animations are amazing on this breed and ends up being the base for future horses. The full gallop is a little all over the place though. The colors are nice and can’t expect much from thoroughbreds who have a select amount of colors)

Welsh Pony

Animations: This little body shares similar motions from the thoroughbred. Though they seem to “stomp” a bit more in the walk. Through the gaits they are pretty normal but their shoulder seems to move more and the skin under their back legs stretch out. It really stretches in the full gallop.

Colors: The bay is a light bay and I wish we could get more bays like this one. It has socks and a little stripe and little dapples on its side. The black is still an all black one but not as much shine to it and it also has some dapples. The palomino is a sunny coat with a whiter mane and tail, some socks, a blaze, and also dapples. The white is leaning towards a slightly grayer coat with more dapples and a cute pink nose. The grey is nice but the body color looks grainy? With darkened legs with ombre mane and tail, featuring two back socks, and a small stripe like the bay but differs slightly. The flaxen chestnut is a bright color and paired with the mane and tail color it actually pulls it off. The dark bay is mostly one color but has some lighter shades to it.

Overall: 8/10

(The pony’s movements are smooth and have their own little spunk to it. They do have that weird skin stretch issue with their underbelly. The colors are nice, a shame they can’t come in pinto colors)

Jorvik Wild Horse (Icelandic)

Animations: They are the same model as the icelandic. Though they are shaded different and it actually works because they look different.

Colors: There’s only three colors but with them changing colors it gives them more appeal than just being bright colors all the time. The purple in full color mode has a grey body color and has the lavender cob-webbing on its back and purple mane and tail with purple eyes. City color it has a darker mane and tail and also has dapples. The red in full color has a black body color with red mane, tail, and legs with red eyes. In city color it’s just all black. The blue is all blue, the body is a darker blue, the legs are lighter blue, and the mane and tail have a lighter blue shine and has purple eyes. City color is a steel grey with a lighter grey mane and tail and legs with blue eyes.

Overall: 9/10

(I like that they added these horses to have a normal color as well as their wild colors. The sparkles are nice so you know they’re changing. I just wish we could get rid of that “the magic is growing stronger” bar cause it gets in the way of photos)

Friesian/Friesian Sport Horse

Animations: The walk is kinda like the welsh pony walk. The trot is high stepping and is unique to the friesians compared to other breeds in game. The slow gallop and full gallop has the head bob and the motion follows through the rest of the horse. From the back it looks a little wonky. They have long manes so it has its own motion while moving.

Colors: Starting off with the normal friesians, they are all black with varying undercoats. One has a more blue undertone with grey eyes, one has a brown undertone with hazel eyes, and the third is dull and not as shiny as the other two with brown eyes. The sport horse colors are a charcoal grey that looks like the normal friesians until a closer look at the body reveals it has freckles and it has highlights in its mane and tail. The flaxen liver chestnut has a rich body color with a gold mane and tail and has socks. The grey is mostly all grey with some faint freckles and the legs seem to be lighter. This horse has orange-ish eyes. The white is a pure white with slight freckles on its body and a light grey muzzle and legs. The black and white appaloosa is a remake of the old friesian sport and it looks really good. I hope they remake the other two old sport colors.

Overall: 8/10

(Their high stepping trot is a nice touch to the breed. Their gallop is a little bit weird from behind. There can only be so many ways to make a black horse and I think Star Stable did a good job. The friesian sport horses need more colors! I’d love to see a chestnut)

Lipizzaner

Animations: These horses are fluid in movement and I am so happy with them. They are perfect for doing dressage and make it look right. They do have a bit of a weird neck while in full gallop. This is also a breed who has a special movement, the levade! It’s pretty close to how it is in real life with Lipizzaners doing the Airs Above the Ground performance.

Colors: The white is pretty basic as it’s the most common color for Lipizzaners. It does have some good shading but the hindquarter shading looks weird. The grey has some nice dapples and ombre mane and tail. The black is mostly black but has a little white star. The bay is kinda dark with some lighter areas.

Overall: 10/10

(There are a few weird parts with this breed but for the most part it is a beautiful example of a dressage horse in game. There’s not many colors as Lipizzaners mainly come in white/grey. I feel like they could add at least two more colors to this breed, a flea-bitten grey and a dark bay that’s more brownish with a snip (just to give it some sort of marking). Tbh I was kinda disappointed they didn’t have the Capriole as well since that’s a popular move but was probably too difficult to animate)

Mustang

Animations: These horses move so well there are little to no flaws about how they move. There’s no awkward joints and even the shoulders move well. A little thing I like is how when in full gallop their ears swivel back like how a real horse’s does and the ears are not floppy like other breeds. Though they still suffer from the “ears flopping back during jumping”. The only thing is the mane looks weird when it grazes. They are another breed with their own special motion and that’s bucking! They also have their own rear and it is so much better than the thoroughbred, lipizzaner, welsh pony, and friesian rear. It’s great for photos and gives off that movie like rear instead of the horse looking like it’s screaming to the heavens.

Colors: The bay is becoming a usual color for Star Stable and it’s always the same shade too. I’d prefer if they did more variations of bays instead of landing on the same coat every time. The black is lo and behold, all black. At least this one has a more matte body instead of shiny. The bay pinto is a slightly different bay.... slightly. The markings are good, they have a bit of hair detail at the edges. The leopard appaloosa finally has been added to a newer model! The spots are really nice and the pink muzzle has spots as well. The forelock of this horse reminds me of Cruella De Vil. The blue roan is thankfully not actually blue. It has corn spots and is well shaded but I think they could’ve added more black to the head. The bay roan shows a nice mix of the brown hairs and white hairs on its back. It also has a cute face marking. The sable cream is a nice light color with a brown mane and tail. The little star and long white stockings give this horse a unique look. The grey pinto is a cutie and the markings are done nicely. The white is kinda weird looking. In the foal app it looks fine but once it gets to the main game the shading just makes it look not as white.

Overall: 10/10

(These horses move beautifully in all their gaits. Their ears are wonderful in full gallop, sucks that jumping still has floppy ears. The rear is the best rear they have in Star Stable. The colors are good so far but they can do SO MUCH MORE!! Mustangs can come in so many colors and I don’t know why they haven’t added more, even if it’s in the foal app)

Jorvik Wild Horse (Shire)

Animations: These horses have the same animations as the shires. Their manes are sticking up instead of flowing down. The mane also moves when still which gives off a magical feel or maybe the wind blowing through their manes. The feathering on their legs is also different and looks slimmer.

Colors: The pink has a white body color with different colored speckles. It makes it look like someone flicked a paint brush at the horse. The mane, tail, feathering, and eyes are highlighter pink. Its city color is grey with darker grey speckles over its body. The mane, tail, and feathering are a light brown color. The green has a brownish/gold body color with a swampy color dusted over the back and a green muzzle. The mane and tail are a lighter green but the feathering is darker. The eyes are greenish/gold. Its city color is brown with white mane, tail, and feathering. The blue is black with blue mane, tail, feathering, and eyes. In the city color it is all black but the body is slightly lighter that the mane, tail, and feathering.

Overall: 8/10

(It’s nice to see more Jorvik Wild Horses. The colors this round weren’t too good. The pink is too bright but the speckles on both the city and wild color are nice. The mane, tail, and feathering for that one is just not as nice as the others. The green in wild color is iffy as well, what saves this horse is its city color as it is the best out of the three. The blue is just amazing. You can’t go wrong when you put that color blue and black together. The city color is a bit boring but it has its own uniqueness)

Haflinger

Animations: This is the first breed that is done by a new animator since Star Stable’s main animator Matthias left. They share animations from the welsh pony and lipizzaner. The major flaw with these horses is their joints pop and look unnatural. The neck is also stiff during the full gallop. The mane flows which is a nice detail but the forelock seems stuck to their faces when they blink.

Colors: Halfingers come in different shades of flaxen chestnut. Each of these horses has a marking to tell them apart from their color. The following colors are chestnut with stripe that has a pink nose, golden chestnut with a star, dark chestnut with blaze, dappled chestnut with a disconnected stripe, light chestnut with a trailing star, and dark dappled chestnut with little hair markings on its forehead.

Overall: 8/10

(These horses are cute but their joint popping is a little disturbing. Their manes are nice and the tail has some detail at the end where it looks wavy. Their colors are nice and I’m really glad Star Stable gave each one their own marking)

Arabian

Animations: They share the mustang animations and it kinda works until you get to the canter. The canter’s front legs look long and spindly like a spider’s. That’s why they have the name “spider legs”. There’s less joint popping which is an improvement but you can still see it slightly. The tail trails behind and sometimes looks like a flag which isn’t exactly a bad thing. Since they have the mustang animations they have the nice rear.

Colors: The blood bay is a lovely color and has a bald face and high socks and blue eyes. The chestnut is more matte and has a cute star and snip combo. It looks the most realistic. (I think this one is based off a real horse). The black is typical black but it has one white sock. It would be more appealing if it came with a face marking too. The grey looks too much like the grey morgan except a worse version. It needs more shading and it has a line starting from its neck to the back where it looks like someone smudged the paint. You see it better when you look down at the back of the horse (when you’re not on of course). I love greys but this one is just meh. The dark bay is a chocolate color which isn’t bad. The fact it has no markings is what makes this horse so bland. There seems to be an attempt at a snip but it’s just a smudge. The white is the only good one out of the three and that’s saying something considering this is just a basic white arabian. A popular color among arabians, they did this horse justice though it could have more defined areas.

Overall: 6/10

(While their animations aren’t too bad themselves, they’re still not the best. The spider legs are the major problem with their animations. They don’t have a smooth transition from one idle animation to the next if there’s a pause. Say the arabian starts to look around, it gets to the end of that animation run and all the sudden it snaps back into a starting position. It’s a minor thing you don’t notice till you pay attention. With the seasoned animator gone we dropped in quality but are slowly getting back to where we used to be. The first batch of colors was nice, the black was a little too expected only saved by one sock but that wasn’t enough. The second batch was lacking in creativity and detail. I hope if they do have foals for this breed, they’ll have more unique colors like an extreme flaxen chestnut (which makes it look palomino), a sabino, and a rabicano)

Hanoverian

Animations: They have the thoroughbred animations but aren’t an exact copy. They seem to stick their front legs out a little more in the walk. In full gallop they keep their head up more like the welsh pony. Their jump, oh my lord they have fixed the jump! Horses with the same animation as the thoroughbred, lipizzaner, welsh pony, haflinger, and friesian have jumped while turning their head to the side. The hanoverians keep their head straight! The best part is they also fixed the ears in the jump. The ears stay forward!! It’s such an improvement and I hope they keep it like that for future breeds. They would have been absolutely perfect if they had the mustang rear or a nicer rear of their own.

Colors: We only have three colors of them so far as they are the newest breed. The chestnut is a rich color which could have used some more defining with muscles. This horse has a cute snip and different socks, even the hooves having the corresponding color with a leg that has a marking (usually legs with no marking are darker and ones with markings are lighter). The black is hallelujah! Not all black! It has a blaze and four white socks. Making it look like the oldenburg, but it looks better. The white is not just pure white. It has little freckles all over its body. The mane and tail of this horse is a bit darker than its body color which is nice to see.

Overall: 10/10

(These horses are the best ones yet from the new animator (or animators). They move fluidly, there’s no joint popping, they perfected the jump, they kept the ears forward while jumping and it looks amazing in pictures. Their faces are also realistic and not bug eyed like the thoroughbred. Hanoverians can only come in the basic colors of black, grey, bay, dark bay, and chestnut but they are doing wonders putting markings on these horses to make them different and stand out! I can’t wait to see the next colors and hope they have markings to distinguish them (also a grey with a darker mane instead of a lighter one)

Things the Star Stable Team should take from this: Keep it up with different markings! I mean, not EVERY single horse has to have a marking. The ones with a more unique color can have a free pass if they have no markings XD Do different shades with horses. A bay isn’t always a reddish bay, it can be more brown and lighter in color like the dutch warmblood or welsh pony. Also grey horses can be lighter in body color and have darker mane and tails. Especially true with darker greys! Most darker grey horses have dark mane and tails instead of lighter ones. Do more rears like the mustang rear! More photogenic rears would be lovely. Keep the ears of the horses from being too floppy ESPECIALLY while jumping! If they can have more jump animations like how the hanoverian does then it’ll be a step forward! And finally more colors on certain breeds could be added and could be ideas for the “new color variations of old breeds” batch of new horses

#Star Stable #Star Stable Online #SSO #Whew this took a couple days to do

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thewormwood · 7 years

Text

A little in-between scene I wrote a couple weeks ago which is cute enough to post; Dagny is much chattier when he’s had a ‘drink’ or two. But he’s not gushing. What? He’s not.

The ceiling’s exposed beams arched overhead like the ribs of a breaching whale. In matching pairs, they ran the width of the room, the cool silvered-blue of weathered bone, or lichen. There were an abundance of greys in fact, from the floorboards to the wall paneling, to the soft wing-backed chairs held down by a patronage no few of which were also grey. The bar was paler still, a moth-white jigsaw made from hundreds of palm-sized rectangles; bone perhaps, or ivory of some kind. Dagny’s familiarity with the sort of wildlife Nexus had to offer trophy hunters was limited to being able to differentiate between something that was liable to consider him prey, and something which was safe to summarily ignore. The fact that he’d begun counting aurin among the latter may have meant something, were he required to be in contact with them for any duration. Once in a while, business in Thayd put him in the general vicinity of the small, colourful creatures, but following the mission which had sprung a swarm of them from a tiny dominion outpost, Dagny had made sure ‘general vicinity’ meant well beyond arm’s reach. The bar was, happily, not the sort of location one would have found an aurin, or a human. Neither species would be likely to appreciate the viciously morbid sense of humour lurking behind the decision to name a bar set over top a crematorium, Burn. Mordesh reality required such a sense of humour, for survival if nothing else, but it was difficult to tell at times if Trilby found this, or anything genuinely amusing. While the Long Night had changed them all, immeasurably, it had made Trilby of all people more closed, even to him. Although, in her defense, she was making an effort at present. Dagny on the other hand, was stubbornly refusing to engage beyond basic operational civility, purely for the satisfaction of watching her increasingly blatant attempts to try and jostle him out of it. It was the little things after all. “Ange says she has a contact in Galeras, but there’s nothing in Galeras right now except rock-picking humans and roans. If there’s an ICI spy embedded somewhere in that whole area, he’ll be easy to find.” “Oh?” Dagny had said ‘oh’ four times in the last six minutes, and Trilby was still pretending she didn’t notice the conversational toe-dragging. “For one, he’d be the only one with all of his teeth.” “You assume it's a man.” “Women make better spies. I wouldn’t have heard about them, if it were a woman.” Her drink was the colour of liquid rust, and viscous enough to cling to the inside of the glass for a moment after it was set down again. Dagny’s modulator offered up a sound that would have in another reality been a derisive snort; what came out was an ugly little grunt. His hands wanted a glass to fidget with, robbed of that option, he twisted the plunger on the empty syringe instead. It didn’t feel like much of anything yet, but then, the clever creature who’d realized a profitable portion of the mordesh population had lost the ability to drink but not the desire to, hadn’t gotten much of the engineer’s coin thus far. The alchemical concoction didn't have exactly the same effects as liquor, but the similarities meant anyone as focused on job performance as Dagny wouldn’t have had much use for it. The cleverness of calling the product ‘drink’ was hard to argue however. Trilby’s face finally betrayed something more than polite interest. She looked annoyed, and Dagny gave himself a mental point. “Maybe you should have another. What’s the dosage is required to reach ‘fun’?” His response was to wag the empty tube under her nose, until she batted it aside. “There are not enough of these in all of Thayd for that.” “And I had such high hopes after last week.” Dagny wasn’t sure for a moment if she was being flip or not, but relented. Twisting the cap off a second syringe, she lifted her glass at him in silent toast. “Last week? Were you feeling particularly delusional last week, or am I missing something?” The contents were almost certainly room temperature, but the slow trickle of the chemical cocktail into his system felt like flushing his veins with ice water. She was looking at him, flatly, impatiently, as though the answer were obvious. Dagny flashed a pale palm at her in a microcosmic shrug. “I honestly don’t know what you’re on about. I spent the first half of the week finding ways to keep myself from going mad with boredom while Markov rubbed his greasy little hands together over my suspension, and the second half being accosted by the professionally invasive attentions of a psychiatrist who implied more than once that I was emotionally unstable.” “Mmm,” Trilby hummed through a mouthful of liquid, then swallowed to continue, “I’ve yet to meet the emotionally stable mordesh, myself included. But you are, absolutely.” The engineer’s brows rumpled abruptly. “It was not the assertion that bothered me as much as the delivery. Pseudo concern, familiarity…” “Oh, were they too nice to you?” “You know very well what I mean. It was all professional concern, smarmy, insincere. I’m meant to believe she’s genuinely concerned for my well being while she’s judging me am I? Does anyone ever truly buy it? No one can be that gullible. The real insult is that she refused to drop the act. She's one of Markov's creatures, I'm sure.” Trilby fluttered her eyelashes at the near tirade. Dagny lifted his chin and huffed, rather imperiously. “Her eyes looked like raisins pushed into rising dough.” Her laugh carried over the audible-murk of a dozen quiet conversations. “I think it's working.” Dagny had moved from fidgeting with an empty syringe to trying to balance it on it's uncapped end. “Why, is this fun? I don’t feel particularly fun. I’m not sure I remember exactly what fun is. At very least I think our opinions on its definition are… divergent, these days at least.” If he’d been looking, he would have noticed the conspiratorial tilt to her mouth, the way her ears which had always been over-long leaned back slightly. “Maybe so. Your definition seems to be ‘can carry a tray without spilling things and pink hair’.” “Carry a- oh really. Trilby,” A prayer, a plea for mercy perhaps. Or at very least, an expression of disappointment, as though he’d thought better of the woman who had left more ruined relationships in her wake than an Arkite-Flu sufferer leaves wadded tissues. It was a testament perhaps to some unspoken depth of optimism in him. “I will even grant that she wasn’t bad. For being the help.” This time, Dagny found himself caught up in her laughter. “Oh, I'm sorry - do you outrank her then? No? I thought not. Either way, it was a…” here he made a small gesture with one hand, while the other continued to attempt a balancing act with the syringe, “small lapse in judgment shall we say. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and happened to collide with one of my more, fractious moods.” “Fractious isn't the word I'd have chosen. But, if there's a silver lining to your dalliance with a former servant, its that your standards seem to be rallying.” The woman behind the bar was yellow, more so even than the engineer; a searing, lemon-zest hue that seemed wildly out of wing with the desaturated palette of the room. She set another glass in front of the stalker, who smiled so beatifically in return that the woman’s cheeks went orange. During that fleeting exchange, Dagny had managed it. The syringe, in defiance of gravity, was standing point down on the bar, and he’d moved onto the second one. Trilby looked only, wholly unimpressed with the balancing act. “You worried me with that business about the skeleton.” “Don’t you dare thump that glass down on the bar right now,” Dagny’s brow furrowed in concentration. “What skeleton?” “The one with the good personality.” This time his gaze slipped sideways, concentration broken by suspicion. Trilby’s face gave it away, and Dagny wrinkled a nose he no longer had. “If your cynicism were a well, it would be fathomless in depth… and used regularly to drown kittens. He does have an interesting personality. Although it may be difficult for you to differentiate these days between a compelling person, and one simply feeding you flattery like scraps to a starving dog.” Anyone else would have been offended. Trilby’s amusement was like a patina poured over the steely edges of her base personality; a mere embellishment. “He is an ambulatory coat rack!” “You’re a metaphorical hive of wasps with nice hair, and it doesn’t seem to hold you back. Yes, I noticed your new one by the way, she is very tall and looks like the sort of person who thinks the ability to crush things between their thighs is the height of personal achievement. Congratulations.” “There’s no use trying to rouse my protective instincts in an attempt to change the subject. I have none.” “No, you don’t. Which I suppose makes the wasps comparison inaccurate; you’re more like… a nest of sand spiders with good hair. Be nice,” Dagny instructed, knowing full well it was outside the realm of her ability by about fourteen light-years. “I could have him kill you, and make it look like an exceedingly embarrassing accident.” Trilby didn’t guffaw, because that too was outside the realm of her ability, but she did cough, politely, around a mouthful of the rusty-red liquor. “I promise, it would be too great a challenge for that little bundle of twigs. From the look of it, opening most doors would be.” “When you sling mud, I know you have only mud to sling.” The second syringe wobbled dangerously as he removed his supporting fingers, slowly, like a magician revealing the apex of his trick. “He is rather clever, incidentally.” “And he never interrupts you, which I assume is the lion’s share of the allure. Difficult to be clever-” “When people don’t let you get a word in edgewise? Yes, I know a thing or two about that, speaking of harpies who love the sound of their own screeching.” Trilby dropped a fist onto the bar in retaliation, but the syringes had been positioned carefully, by a man quite familiar with the stalker’s destructive streak. They toppled toward one another, catching at the cross-beams, and remained balanced on their ends, in a perfect X shape. Dagny wagged a smug eyebrow at her. Trilby straightened on her stool, and took up her glass again with an air that was more exasperated than impressed. “Please, stop gushing. I’m embarrassed for you.” “You made me take two shots, and you can damned well deal with the consequences.” The gesture was a relic, one that once-upon a time would have been enough to make the honey-blond strands of his bangs flop charmingly over an eye. “His hair is.... cute.” “I’ve died. I’ve died, and this is some strange alien netherworld in which Dagny Vancura is squealing about a mouthless scarecrow. I need to speak to that psychiatrist… she’s done something to you.” “No that was Marta. She calls everything cute. It was only a matter of time before the word lodged like a poison dart in my vocabulary.” The engineer leaned forward, folding his forearms across the silvery bone mosaic that he could peer at shelves. The vague shine on bottles of every conceivable shape and size shifted with the gentle bobbing of the floating alchemical lanterns. The effect was nice; a bit like those little phosphorescent bugs. Absently, he wondered if Zoran would like it. “What exactly are you staring at?” “Hmm?” “You’re staring worryingly at that shelf, and I'm honour-bound to remind you, I’m a drink ahead.” “Is it possible to over-indulge in these?” Ruining his carefully engineered balancing act, Dagny snatched up a syringe and examined in critically. “We'll certainly find out.”

#wsrp #writing #wildstar #dagny #trilby #I tweaked it a bit because I wrote it hastily and FLOW DAMNIT #not perfect still but better!#trilby has mom-friend feels about Dagny's choices #but then she usually does

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astrxd · 8 years

Note

A temporarily blind Astrid Drabble?

A/N: Holy heck. I am, so terribly sorry that this took me so long to put out!!! I found it and decided to rewrite it aaaand,,, Well, this was the result! I’m so sorry that it took me forever to post this, @aracanabraeks!! :’)(I think this one might be a little heavier than what I usually write? I’m not entirely sure, but I feel as if it’s necessary to note that it’s not super light and fluffy, or anything!)

Blink

“Mostof the hindrances that you and your friends cause me are generally…unseen. And as the saying goes–an eye for an eye, no?” He’dsaid. “You needn’t worry, however. I’ve decided to be mercifulby letting you keep them, at the very least. How useful they’ll beto you is simply… undetermined.”

Therewas no ultimatum, no ulterior motive–Viggo wanted revenge for theRiders’ last stunt: the destruction of his marble stronghold. Theentire purpose of kidnapping Astrid was for the sake of making apoint.For the sake of gettingeven.

Hemade a formidable adversary, and part of that was due to the factthat he wasn’t afraid to employ tactics heavier on the…unscrupulousside…in order to get what he wanted. The fact that he so casually broughtthe Scourge of Odin back down upon the Barbaric Archipelago was proofenough, but yet another one of methods he utilized revolved aroundthe fact that prolonged and close-range exposure to an Armorwing’sflameresultedin (supposedly temporary)blindness–toboth dragon and viking. Such exposure was appropriately classified astorture.

…Andin both cases of blatant inhumanity, Astrid was a victim without a choice.

Thevery real threat of hurting Stormfly if she didn’t cooperate withthe Hunters was the only thing keeping her eyes open in the face ofthe Armorwing’s inferno. Every blink risked a scale off of her bestfriend’s back, a premature spine ripped off of her tail. Thistime… there was no way out of Viggo’s plot.

“Obedient,”he had mused from somewhere in the ship cellar, a tone of purecomplacency dripping from his voice, “I believe I expected a littlemore from you, Miss Hofferson.”

Shegrit her teeth and kept her hands–which had curled into fists–gluedto her sides.

Oneday, he would crumble at her feet.

Viggo’stricks were growing dirtier and dirtier, and the fact that Astridwasa prime target was–quite frankly–rapidly becoming veryirritating.

Shewas a pawn. A bargaining chip. She knew that, and while her capturehadn’t been her most graceful moments, she surely didn’t go downwithout resisting. In the end, whether or not she went with theHunters quietly or not didn’t matter, but it brought her a shred ofcomfort to know that she put up a fight. Of course, she promised togive them much morethanan axe to the gut and a kick in the groin when she recovered.

(…Ifsheever recovered. The thought made her heart sink impossibly further.)

Theyencountered her during her morning flight-slash-patrol around the island.

They’dtaken both her and Stormfly–again.

Theyhadn’t even bothered to restrain her, but they did disarm her–andtheyput her very own axe to her dragon’s neck.

Theyforced a captured Armorwing (who Astrid vowed to help free as soon asshe was able) to sustain its flame, only a few feet from her face.

Theygave her a choice that wasn’t even a choice.

Theygave her an option–lose her sight indefinitely, or leave with hersight and her life… but without her dragon.

Butneveragain.Never again would Astrid allow the Hunters to have Stormfly in theircustody.

…Andso she stood, in the center of the cellar, steeling herself for whatwas to come.

Shedug the soles of her boots into the grain of the wood and squared hershoulders, and she furrowed her brow in fierce determination from thevery, very beginning. The Armorwing loomed before her, and the heatimmediately bordered unbearable. It hadn’t been long before she felta sheen of sweat broke out across her forehead–but how hot her skinwas paler in comparison to the intense burnhereyes promptly experienced.

Theyquickly felt as if they were going to begin to shrivel at any givenmoment–but when she began to squint or nearly blinked, Stormflytrilled. Woefullytrilled.

ForStormfly, shechanted in her head.

Theentire time, the ones she held dearest to her heart were on her mind.It was from thoughts of them that she drew her strength, herendurance–that, and pure spite.IfViggo thought he’d be guaranteed some sort of twisted gratificationfrom seeing her suffer, then he was sorelymistaken,because she had no intention of expressing her pain. She was strongerthan this–stronger than him, and whatever he tried to put up againsther!

Andyet…

…Very,very soon came the point where Astrid grew numb to the dragon’sflame, but could hardly stand to keep her eyes open any longer. Hervision clouded and became glazed with white, everything becominglighter and lighter with each passing second. She initially refusedto give the onlooking Hunters holding down Stormfly the satisfactionof hearing her cry out in pain, and instead elected to bite down onher lip to muffle any shouts that threatened to escape–

Buteven the mightiest were susceptible to being felled.

Astrid,knees wobbly, ended up collapsing to the ship’s floorboards withinless than a few minutes,witha broken, choked, patheticgaspfor air that wasn’t heated. The sustained fire had done its job,but it also seemed to devour the oxygen in the air. Her firm resolvehad been melted by the Armorwing’s intense flames, and she resortedto pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes, as if doing sowould somehow numb the sharp, stinging sensation.

Itwas over surprisingly quickly, but every moment felt like absoluteHel.And the aftermath?

Excruciating.Every single secondofit.

Whenshe felt her dragon thunder towards her and curl protectively aroundher person, Astrid finally pried her eyes open and blinked. The sharpfwhipofStormfly brandishing her barbed tail filled her ears, but her eyes…

Shesaw nothing but white.

Theystung with both welling tears and the lingering pain of having staredat a bright source of light for an extended period of time–but shedidn’t cry. As soon as they oh-so kindlyallowedStormfly to escort Astrid back to their base, the Hunters made aquick departure in the opposite direction of the Edge… and that wasthat.

Hercondition served as a message. A warning. A taunt.

AndOdin knew what Hiccup would do when he found out.

Whenshe was safely on Stormfly’s back and well in the air, she stilldidnot allow herself to cry, because crying was givingin.She could not see the sun or the morning sky–she just assumeditwas still morning. She could not see their base in the near distanceor the rolling hills and trees beneath her. She couldn’t even seethe crown of spikes on Stormfly’s head, but she clung to thedragon’s neck with such dependency anyway. Astrid wanted to tellthe Nadder to take her somewhere secluded, but despite the dragon’sloyalty, she knew that Stormfly would take her to her friends. Itwasn’t until she reached a tentative hand to her face that sherealized that she was crying anyway. She tried to blink away thetears.

Intrusivethoughts swarmed her mind relentlessly–how uselesstosaid friends she was now that she couldn’t see, whether or notshe’d be able to see atallinthe future, how they would react. How Hiccupwouldreact. Just thinking about it made her feel guilty, as if somehow,she could have prevented this from happening.

Even though such wasimpossible, she knew she couldpreventthe impending carnage and cycle of revenge that was likely to takeplace when her condition was revealed, but how could she keepsomething such as being blindunderwraps? How could she pretend that her world wasn’t crashing down ontop of her?

Sheonly continued to imagine–no, predict–howher future was going to further fall apart.

Combatwould be next to impossible.

DragonRacing–if not just flying in general–was just… out of thequestion.

She’dnever see the sunset, or the exotic colors of every dragon theyencountered. She’d never see her mother or father or her friends oreven her future children–andit wouldn’t be because she wasn’t present, but it would be due toa physical incapability.

Everythingwas changing, all before her very eyes. The ones what she couldn’tseewith.

Evenafter Stormfly landed, presumably back at the stables, Astridcontinued to think.Her fingers trembled and her breaths were all ragged and strained,but she strove to find some reason deep within herself.

Wouldshe ever see again? Or was she stuck in a perpetually white world?The fact that she wasn’t seeing pitchblack waspromising, and it gave her a sliver of hope that she could somehowrecover. She clung to that shred of optimistic thought, because therewas still a chance for her to beat the odds and beatViggo,but as soon as she attempted to dismount Stormfly–

“Astrid!There you are!”

GreatThor.

Sheswallowed thickly and rubbed at her eyes as she slowly swung her legover Stormfly’s back. It was a motion she’s completed with suchease and confidence time and time again, but she’d suddenly…grown wary of her footing. All she wanted to do was curl up besideher dragon and reflect and be alone,butof courseHiccuphad to come around. Quickly attempting to recompose herself, heturned towards the source of his voice and blinked, thankful that herhearing was still intact.

Astriddidn’t know how long she could maintain the illusion that herencounter with the Hunters didn’thappenand that she couldstillsee, but she would try. She’d simply have to–for the sake ofkeeping order on the Edge. Her thoughts of her future and herhappiness be damned–they couldn’t afford to make any risky movesfor the sake of getting even, and getting even is exactlywhatViggo probably wanted them to do. If Astrid knew the Hunter’sleader at all, she knew that he tried to have everything planned downto the last confrontation.

“Hey,Hiccup,” she responded soon enough, offering a brief lift of herhand as wave. Her voice sounded unbearably tightandshe had no clue about how disheveled she may have looked, butStormfly ducked her head and nudged her shoulder so that she wouldface an entirelydifferentdirection.

Somuch for being secretive.

Astridplaced her palm on the Nadder’s horn for stability. She blinked.Her world went from white, to black, to white again.

Shecould only imagineHiccup’sperplexed expression. Literally. What he looked like at the momentwas a mystery to her and–

Oh,no.

No,no, no.

Whatif she forgets?

“…Astrid,is everything okay?”

Whatif she forgets what he looks like? His eyes. His smile–all of them.The goofy, crooked one and the jokingly serious one and the heartmeltingly adoring one and… What if she forgot her other friends,too? What they all look like? It was only a matter of time before anyand all hopes of her ever seeing again would be ultimately crushed,and then… And then she’d be stuck. She’d never see Stormfly orHiccup or her friends. She’d never see the sunrise or sunset orcoloratall–

Astridtried so desperatelytoremain composed and stay levelheaded, but with such a probablyreality looming on the horizon, how could she stay calmwhenit truly, finally hit her that her entire futurewasvery likely compromised? She relied so heavily on her sight thatliving without it…

…Wouldn’tbe living at all.

Sheblinked.

Suddenly,she felt her hair get tucked behind her ear and warm, calloused palmson either of her cheeks, and she stiffened, startled. The contactalone was enough to make her walls fall in around her, while herpreviously rigid expression crumpled into that of one conveyingagony.

“Astrid?Astrid,what–what happened out there? What did you see?”

Theirony.

Astridshook her head and barked out a single, humorless laugh. Her eyescontinued to burn with a dull intensity, partially because she wascrying even harder now, but she kept her hands to herself. The thingsthat she knewshecould do with her eyes closed now seemed to be completely foreign andimpossible–even throwing her arms around Hiccup in the way that sheusually did seemed hazardous.

Shesettled for squeezing her eyes shut. The darkness was comforting,because she could pretend that she was fine despite knowing shewasn’t.

“Astrid,look at me–”

“Nothing,”shefinally snapped, the sharp bite in her trembling voice evidently notdirected toward Hiccup. She pictured him wincing. “Nothing, okay? Ididn’t–I can’tseeanything.I can’tlookat you.” Astrid could hear Stormfly coo, and she imagined thatHiccup looked worriedly over at both of their dragons, seeking somesemblance of insight as he gathered her in an embrace.

“I–Idon’t–Astrid, what are you…?”

Shefelt his arms loop around her middle, so she managed to find hisshoulders. Astrid buried her face in the crook of his neck and simplystood there,leavingHiccup to try and decipher her cryptic response for the same amountof time it took for her to compose herself to the point where sheknewshewouldn’t break down. It was only when she became astutely aware ofthe fingers rubbing circles into the small of her back that she wasdrawn out of her bout of self pity.

Asingle name was enough to make Hiccup’s hold around her waist growsignificantly tighter. She was well aware of the shift in hisstature–from comforting to downright protectiveafterso much as hearing “Viggo” leave her lips.

“What,”Hiccup grit out, “did he do?”

Shetook a shuddery breath that wracked her chest and pulled her armsfrom around Hiccup’s shoulders. It didn’t make the pain subside,let alone help her fears for her future shrink, but the blonde soonset either of her hands on what she felt as the slope of Hiccup’sneck and slowly wrenched her eyes open. They stillburned.Everything was still bleary, still white.

Hiccupwas probably only inches away from her, but at the same time… Hewasn’t there.

(Butusing that logic, the moon didn’t exist and neither did theHunters. Astrid breathed deeply again. She blinked. It still didn’thelp.)

“Itwas an Armorwing,” she managed, willing strengthtoinject her quiet voice. Astrid knew that around Hiccup, there was noneed for her to remain strongindifficult times, but it was the only way she found herself capable ofspeaking to him. “Viggo–he, he wanted revenge. But you–youhaveto, to promise, promise me that you w-won’t do anything stupid.”

Astrid…Astrid was conflicted. On one hand, Hiccup had taught her thatemotion was natural,andthat they didn’t live in a world as brutal and ruthless as theyinitially thought. With the resurgence of a new massive threat intheir lives, however, that notion immediately caved in on itself.What wasshe,if not the resilient, hardy Hooligan that her people were known tobe? What happened to the viking who had so firmly believed inherself, and believed that she was stronger than anything Viggo triedto do to harm her?

“Astrid,”Hiccup said again, this time more sympatheticallyhurt,and it was as he’d said her name a million times over in the pastminute with different tones each instance. She knew that he wantedher to continue to explain.

“Hiccup,I’m–”

Shechoked on the next word, a sob ripping from her throat, becauseadmitting it made it real.Admitting it made it feel like Viggo won,and she’d be damned before she let something like that happen.Astrid felt Hiccup tense further, and she squeezed his shoulders,sniffling and breathing choppily.

“…Bl–ind.”

Itfelt like a massive wave crashing onto an unsuspecting shore. It hither like a Catastrophic Quaken barreling into her at full force,knocking the wind out of her lungs and sending her reeling.

Shewas blind.

Sheblinked. Astrid felt as if her mind was still foggy with disbeliefand sheer horror,but saying it out loud… It helped. Somehow, it helped, and deepdown, she knew that acceptingitwas the first step to overcomingit.

Hiccup’ssilence, however, was terriblyconcerning.Astrid lifted a shaky hand to thread her fingers through his hairwith slight uncertainty. She couldn’t use her thumb to smooth awaythe creases in his brow that she knew were there, so she had tosettle instead. His presence was grounding, and it made her thinkmore practically–it made her realize that the only thing left to dowas cope,notcry.

Ithurt, but knowing that he was worried about her… hurt more.

“Maybeit’s temporary–”

“Hiccup…”

“Wecan get you to Berk and have Gothi–”

“Hiccup–”

“Astrid,we can still–”

“Youknow,” Astrid interjected (again), “all I could think about washow useful those Deathsong amber goggles you made would have been,”she whispered, fingers curling at the hair at nape of his neck. Shethen pressed her palm to his cheek and leaned forward–he got thememo, thankfully, and their foreheads met. She thoughthehad his face committed to memory, but now that the situation requiredher to draw upon those memories, they were… Gone?

Notgone,but buried.

Byfear.

Byanger.

Byirrational thought.

Sheblinked. She smothered those feelings by reminding herself thatletting them fester would only make matters worse.

“I’msor–”

“Don’t,”Astrid interjected, both pleadingly and in warning. He wiped histhumb against the corner of one of her eyes, presumably to wipe awayher tears, but she squeezed them shut reflexively. “Don’tapologize.”

“…”

“What’sdone is done,” she said, her tone indicating that what she had tosay was final, though it retained its shakiness. Astrid tried sodesperately to sound okay,but…“Apologizingwon’t, c-can’t change–this.”Astridwaved a hand toward her face.

“Iwas… just going to say that–I, I’m here,Astrid. You were there for me, and… And now it’s my turn.”

…Itdawned on her then.

Thevalue she had was not determined by, nor was it reliant, the heightof the senses. Despite lacking her sight entirely, what she said wastrue–the only way to go about her life at this point?

Work past it.

Learna little morefromHiccup.

Swiftly,and with practiced ease, she pressed a kiss to the apple of his cheekbefore slipping out of his arms to find her dragon, ignoring thestrain of keeping her eyes open. The rough texture of Stormfly’sscales was beneath her fingertips in mere seconds–Astrid didn’thesitate once in pulling herself onto the Nadder’s back.

Shewasn’t okay. She was far from okay.

Butshe was guaranteed not to be okay for the rest of her life if she didn’t at least try to move forward.

“Whereare you–”

“Thefirst thing you did was fly,” Astrid reminded him, squaring hershoulders as she curled her fingers against the bar of Stormfly’ssaddle. She sucked in a deep breath. “And that’s exactly what I’mgoing to do.”

IfViggo Grimborn thought he could eliminate AstridHofferson fromthe game, he was painfully mistaken. Sightor no sight, she’d overcome the trials set out before her–shealways had, anyhow.

Sheblinked.

#DRABBLE #my writing #i'm sorry i actually kind of just wrote #and i didn't bother to establish a solid plot #blind!astrid rambling i suppose!!!#i dunno if it's t em p or a ry AHA ....#hiccstrid #hiccup #astrid #also lmao it got long im s orry #aracanabreaks

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whatspriceofthe · 4 years

Video

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Tablet Stand Adjustablehttps://amzn.to/3235dP0 #Apple_iPhone #Apple_iPad #MacBook #Apple_Watch #Apple_TV https://amzn.to/3235dP0 - Tablet Stand Adjustable I bought this to display my Fire 10 HD tablet in a comfortable, but sturdy fashion, while I type. The stand securely holds my tablet with no worries. As I said, it works well and I would recommend it to anyone. I can adjust this little stand up and down as I move, easily throw it in my bag to use anywhere, and it even has a cut out for charging while in portrait mode. Thats a feature many stand companies dont think about but it makes a huge difference in user friendliness. The adjustable hinge is sturdy and I have no worries about it becoming loose and drooping down over time. Tiny rubber feet ensure your stand stays where you put it. Thanks to the stands small footprint I can put it on my garden tub ledge and watch tv while I soak. Secure stable design. Works well with and without my leather case (iPad Mini 5). Perfect for me when watching tv downstairs and is able to hold even with a case on the ipad. I really really like this iPad/iPhone stand. I use it for both. I now have three; one for night stand, one for coffee table and one for my office. The only improvement I would suggest is to make the base flexible as well. I would like to travel with this and would absolutely take it with me if it were designed to fold flat for travel. Because it is not I worry about bending it by putting it in my backpack or my luggage. So I dont travel with it. Make that change and I will probably invest in another. Photo is of the one in my office. Bought the stand for my kitchen, to use my tablet for recipesWorking out perfectly!Tilts for better view and holds my Samsung tablet securelyLove it The stand works great lt with my 10" galaxy. Its surprisingly stable for how small the base is. The holder has rubberized strips on it which keeps the tablet in place very well. Its also a real "wrist saver" that you can use the tablet without having to hold it by just setting the whole thing in front of you. I would definitely recommend. Its made of high quality metal but I have 2 issues with it. 1. If you look at the photo its been severely misbent and my iPad sits at an angle. Either this is a fluke or poor quality. 2. Every time I tap the top in portrait mode or the sides in landscape mode my iPad 2018 version wobbles just slightly. I could probably get used to the wobble because I wouldnt be tapping a lot when it is on the stand but its still annoying.Update: Ordered another and returned the old one. The new one was a lot better. After using this for several months now I really like it. There still is a slight bounce when I tap but when using it I dont notice it any more. I got this specifically to give my iPad Pro the look of a tiny iMac and it did exactly this. It seems sturdy and Ive never noticed the hinge sliding down; it keeps the position that you set it at. Even though the hinge hasnt moved in the time Ive had it, I would never risk putting my iPad on this up high and leave it there but thats nothing against this stand; I wouldnt do that for any stand.The stand has rubber on the back of the stand and at the bottom so it shouldnt cause any damage to the iPad. The color and finish both look like any other silver Apple finish and should look good with other metal Apple products.NOTE: This stand will not work well with thick cases. It doesnt even work great with a thin case. This stand was clearly made with intention to be used with an iPad without a cover. This was a gift for my mom, she has a 3rd generation iPad in a thick cover. She struggled with balancing it on tissue boxes, napkin holders, books, while doing FaceTime with my family. This is perfect, the stand is solid and steady without being clunky. The angle can be changed but there is resistance so it doesnt move when you arent intentionally trying to adjust it. The cut out at the bottom and back provide access for charging. Overall, my mom was very happy with this gift. Seems well constructed. The articulating mechanism is positive. It holds my 9.7 inch iPadpro with the keyboard in the folded position. As some others have mentioned the edges have a few small burrs but nothing a fine grit polishing sandpaper wont smooth out. No big deal for the price. Clean design, great craftsmanship, xtra grip pads and looks like a mIni iMac without the Mac. Its great for phones or tablets in landscape or portrait mode. It even fit... by Shopping Reviews

#What is Price of

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heartbreaker-club · 7 years

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Best Bed Frame for Heavy Person – Extra Strong Bed Frame for 2018

If you are overweight, lack of enough sleep may make your health worse and so the best bed frame for heavy person can come in very handy.

Since they are specially designed to deliver ultimate support and durability for a plus-size person, heavy duty king size bed frames ensure you sleep quickly and sleep for longer.

And soon, you will be reaping the many sweet fruits of healthy sleep.

Now, I will go straight. Shopping for a sturdy king size bed may not be everyone’s cup of tea

Because of the plethora of choices available, you may find yourself hopping from one store to another yet still end with a so-so ‘strong bed frame’

But don’t mind- this post will cover all there is to know about plus size bed bed frames for heavy people

However, let see why I’m saying that a sturdy king size bed frame is a real deal.

Benefits of using the best bed frame for heavy person

To sleep well, heavy guys require additional support and this is not available in standard bed frames. Luckily, all heavy duty beds offer better support and strength.

These won’t budge even with as much as 800 pounds, so they are safer.

A heavy duty bed frame can also be used by your regular weight friends so they are more versatile

Disadvantages of a strong single bed frame

Perhaps the only major weakness is that a strong king size bed frame may cost more.

Common types of bed frames

While there’s a lot more, I will concentrate on the 2 dominant types of bed frames;

Box Spring Bed Frames

Bed frames with typical box springs have some advantages.

They increase your bed’s height ensuring your mattress doesn’t sag which in turn makes it last longer.

They have some space below the bed which you can use as storage capacity.

However, Box springs, don’t last forever, though you can prolong its life by turning it every few months

Platform Bed Frames

Platform bed frames don’t use box springs. This automatically decreases their height and makes them a bit difficult to get in/out of your bed.

However, for many people, low profile beds provide a more peaceful sleeping environment.

In addition, since they don’t require box spring, they are not that expensive.

And how much weight can a platform bed hold? In reality, platform bed frames hold as much as box springs so you have nothing to fear.

5 most recommended best bed frames for heavy person

As our tradition, we decided to save you the hassle of digging for the best bed frame for heavy person

And after lots of research and inquiries, we arrived at the top 5 best-selling heavy duty bed frames.

Here is our best bed frame for heavy person review

Zinus 14 Inch Elite SmartBase Mattress Foundation

This king-sized heavy duty bed frame doesn’t need a box spring and seems to have it all.

Valuable under the bed storage space, solid support, a headboard, optimal height …name it.

Then, you can easily move it anywhere – including through tight stairs thanks to its folding design.

Finally, you finish its tool-free assembly in a matter of minutes.

All in all, this is a gold-level heavy duty bed frame!

Features

14 inches high

Steel bed frame

Tool-free assembly

Folding design

Smartbase headboard brackets needed to add to the headboard

Pros

Assembly is so easy

very solid

Quite a nice height

Spacious storage space

Nicely finished

Cons

The frame may rust in the long run

Classic Brands Hercules Heavy-Duty 14-Inch Platform Metal Bed Frame

Sleeping has never been easier than the way it is with this highly versatile heavy duty metal bed frame.

It really gives you options.

For one, you can use it with or minus a box spring.

Then, it supports all types of mattresses- innerspring, latex and even memory foam mattresses

Plus, it has a Flat, rigid surface that superbly protects your mattress- whichever you pick.

Still, its legs are capped so your floors remain protected from scratches even when moving it

Moving on, it’s Available in all the standard bed sizes. This means it works with every type of bed.

Finally, its folding design makes it transportation a breeze.

Features

Heavy-duty steel frame construction

Folding platform metal bed

Used with/without a box spring and/or foundation

Optional headboard and footboard

14 inches high

13 inches storage beneath

capped legs

tool-less assemble

Pros

Works with all mattresses

Easily to transport

Reasonably high

Very durable

Easiest set up

Protects your floor

Cons

May start squeaking after prolonged use

Olee Sleep 14 Inch T-3000 Heavy Duty Steel Slat

This is one of the sturdiest sturdy king size bed.

It’s so strong such that it comfortably supports the heaviest posh mattresses.

In fact, it happily takes in whatever weight you throw at it- and you will never hear it protesting.

Supporting up to 1200 lbs., this is a truly high weight capacity bed frame.

And to ensure that your Mattress doesn’t slide or wobble, you embed nicely in the frame

Features

Steel slats support

All assembly tools and screws included

No box spring needed

Mattress is embedded

Maximum weight: 2200lbs

Hard plastic caps on feet

Pros

Mattress will never sag

Looks very nice

Feels super solid

The slats are super strong.

Ample storage underneath

Never scratches your floor

Cons

The underneath storage can’t fit totes

Malouf Heavy-Duty Adjustable Metal Bed with Center Support & Rollers

Coming with extra-wide rolling wheels, and enhanced central support, moving this stable king strong bed base is a piece of cake!

And to make it even more stable, the manufacturer fits in a pair of rollers lock that makes sure it doesn’t move as you get in or out.

The other major advantage of this heavy duty bed frame is that you can always adjust it to fit your favorite mattress- be it full, queen, or a twin mattress.

In terms of your safety, its universal headboard brackets can fit with most headboards so you will always end up with a very secure bed

And it’s not mean on looks- the gunmetal black matte coating keeps it looking awesome for years on end.

Features

Adjustable mattress sizing

Four extra-wide rollers

Center support glide

2 rollers lock

Extra center support bar

Tri-support braces

Universal headboard brackets

Gunmetal black powder coating

Pros

Great price

Easy assembly

The rolling wheels work excellently

Easy set-up

Has extra support

It adjusts to fit any mattress

You can create a designer look

Cons

Not very big

Sturdy but struggles with heaviest guys

Kings Brand Furniture 7-Leg Adjustable Metal Bed Frame

If you are looking for out of this world support, then you don’t need to look beyond this.

With 7 heavy duty Legs, solid steel metal standing, one-of-a-kind central support, freewheeling rug rollers with wonderful lockers, this is an elite heavy duty king size bed frame

Whether Working with full, queen, twin, full XL, and twin XL size beds, this adjustable bed frame is an epitome of strength, durability, quality, and resilience.

Then, as you would expect with one of the best plus size bed bed frames for heavy people, it’s easy to move and takes less than ten minutes to put up!

Features

7-leg adjustable metallic frame

Strong center support

Constructed with rolling wheels (fitted with locks)

Headboard mounts

Works with full, queen, twin, full XL, and twin XL size beds.

Pros

Awesome support

No squeaks or wobbles

Top level durability

Fully adjustable

Lovable movement

Very well constructed

Cons

Can’t work with a king-sized bed

You Might Also Like: Best Air Mattress For Heavy People

What to look out for when buying the best bed frame for heavy person

Let’s now briefly highlight the factors that you should have at the back of your mind when selecting a heavy duty king bed frame

Here they are:

Design and style

We saw that you have a choice between spring box and platform bed frames. And you already know the pros and cons of each.

Ease of Assembly

I am sure you want a bed frame that you can set up within minutes. We rejected some bed frames because they had very confusing assembly instructions or were missing some setup accessories such as screws.

How much weight can a king size bed hold?

Most of the big beds for big people have their maximum weight clearly marked on the packaging.

You can rest assured that picking a frame with a lower capacity than your weight is risky considering that it can even crash while you are sleeping.

So, go for a very sturdy bed frame

Your comfort

What exactly are your actual needs as far as your comfort is concerned? While it may take longer before you nail it, bear in mind that the best king strong bed base should be strong enough to hold your weight, without creaking.

Furthermore, it should have some padding and be tall enough to comfortably fit your giant frame. Accessories like headboards also add to your comfort

Mobility

It should be light enough to move around especially if you are a fan of outdoor activities like camping.

Storage capacity

A bed makes you more organized if it has some storage space where you can keep a reading material, phone, and some other personal items

Looks

You would hate to land an ugly heavy duty king size bed frame as it nullifies your best efforts at making your living space attractive for guests.

Bottom Line

From our best bed frame for heavy person write-up, it’s clear that you need not struggle with sleep problems just because you are overweight.

We have seen that a high weight capacity bed frame will sort you.

Then, from our best bed frame for heavy people review, you got some great insights into what you can expect with the very best heavy duty mattress frame

And with that, we hope you are now ready to get it right.

All the best mate.

The post Best Bed Frame for Heavy Person – Extra Strong Bed Frame for 2018 appeared first on Plus Size Expert.

source https://www.plussizeexpert.com/best-bed-frame-for-heavy-person/

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abigailsagemedia · 7 years

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Technical Shoot

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TECHNICAL SHOOT EVALUATION

Scene Analysis

Long Shot

This shot emphasises how busy the scene is, it also shows who is involved and also signifies that the actress may be important. It allows the audience to understand where the piece is set and what is going on in it. The long shot may be useful in future work to establish the setting of a piece and the mise-en-scene.

Medium Shot

This shot emphasises the relationship between the actors, allowing the audience to understand that the performers are close. It also shows body language, which could signify how each performer is feeling. The medium shot could be used in future work to present and introduce characters to help the audience understand relationships.

Close Up

This shot emphasises the emotion of the actor. It also emphasises his actions and may hint that what he is doing could be important within the piece; the shot provides humour for the audience as they can see that the performer is laughing. For future work, the close up shot may be used to show importance and establish emotion.

Extreme Close Up

This shot is used to show detail on the actresses face. It allows the audience to gain a personal connection with the performer as they feel as though they are in the present scene due to the amount of detail. It also may signify that the phone call is important later on in the piece. The extreme close up could be used in future work to show importance, and also give a sense of drama.

High Angle

This shot provides a sense of superiority, as the audience is looking over the set, it hints that the actress doesn’t know that she is being watched as it seems as though the camera is spying on her, this may give a sense of mystery, allowing the audience too feel more important and see what’s going on in the scene. This shot may be useful for future work as it provides another point of view.

Straight Angle

This shot emphasises what the actress is doing, it gives the impression that the camera is following her to see what happens next, this allows the audience to feel present in the moment of the shot, as they feel as though they are there, following the subject. This may be useful in future work as it gives a sense of relationship to the actor and the viewer.

Low Angle

This shot emphasises the secrecy of the scene, as it seems as though the camera is hiding from the subject – providing another sense that the camera is spying, giving the idea that the audience is inferior to the actor on screen. This may be useful in the future as it also provides another point of view.

Canted Angle

This shot provides the understanding that something un-natural is happening as the point of view is obscure, hinting to the audience that something important or strange has happened or is going to happen. The canted angle may be useful in future work as it can be used in an action scene or it can be used to show something abnormal.

Tracking

This shot emphasises the speed of the scene, it can also be useful to show detail and introduce the viewer to more of what is going on, for an audience this may make them feel present in the scene as they feel that they are following the actress and living the moment with them. The tracking movement may be useful for future work as can be used to build tension as well as establish setting.

Panning

This shot emphasises the mise en scene and the atmosphere of the setting. It also shows the audience what is going on in the scene. This shot may be useful in the future as it provides a panoramic view, allows the audience to feel present and establish the set.

Crabbing

This shot emphasises detail in the scene as well as showing importance of the actresses’ movement. It allows the audience to see the scene from a different perspective and feel like they are present as the camera is moving. The crabbing technique may be useful for future productions as it provides detail and different points of view.

Tilt Up

The tilt up shot emphasises the detail and outfit of the actress. It allows the audience to establish more of the setting and provides a different point of view to a regular shot. This may be useful for work in the future as it is a controlled reveal of information.

Tilt Down

The tilt up show emphasises the action of the actress, it shows that the phone has importance and also suggests different emotions based on her stance. This allows the audience to understand how the actress may be feeling and also start to question what is going on due to the slow reveal. This show may be used for work in the future as it shows mystery and establishes mise en scene.

Crane

The crane shot emphasises space and size of the scene. It shows how large the space is and also establishes the setting. This allows the audience to get a sense of size. The crane shot may be useful as it brings the audience in and out of a scene after or before a film.

Crash zoom (in)

The crash zoom emphasises the drama in the scene, in this case it shows importance of the emotion on the actors face. This sets the atmosphere for the audience and allows them to understand what’s going on. It may be useful in future work as it can create tension or humour.

Crash zoom (out)

The crash zoom out emphasises dram in the scene. Much like the crash zoom in it shows importance of what is going on, it suggest that something has happened on the phone. This allows the audience to realise of that the phone it may be a key point to remember. This may be important for future work as I can be used to create tension and humour.

Zoom (in)

The zoom in is used to create symbol in certain situation. It also creates tension and in some cases humour as its usually done over a slower time period. This allows the audience to understand that the scene is important. The zoom may be useful in future projects as it emphasises the scene.

Zoom (out)

The zoom out is used in the same way as the zoom in – it can be used in symbolism or create tension and humour. The audience can understand from a zoom out that a certain point in the scene was important and me be significant later on. This may be useful for work in the future as it sets the atmosphere in the piece and can be dramatic.

�� Issues and Problems during production

Within our technical shoot there were some problems that we had to face. The first problem was shaky footage; during our first shoot we struggled to control the camera and a lot of our footage came out very unstable. We took this as a learning curve and attempted the shoot for a second time with some more planning. During the second attempt we focused on trying to make the camera more stable and made sure it was securely fastened to the equipment to prevent any unnecessary wobbling.

The second problem was the framing of the footage. In our second attempt to receive footage we paid more attention to the location of the shot and made sure that it looked clean and precise.

Our third issue was making sure the camera movements were smooth, especially in the panning shot, craning shot and tilting shots as it took us some time to get to grips on how to make the equipment work fluently.

Our last issue was lighting in the scene. Initially we hadn’t planned our locations and chose areas that had poor lighting and casted shadows on the setting, after analysing the footage and deciding we were not satisfied, we then planned out locations and made sure that we chose places that were well lit.

As a result of our second shoot – the footage improved, however if given the chance, there are still some areas for improvement.

How has the shoot has improved my media skills?

The technical shoot has developed my camera skills massively. Prior to A-levels the only filming I have done is using a go pro or iPhone. I have used professional cameras before to take pictures, but never film real footage – so this turned out to be very exciting for me. The shoot itself has broadened my understanding on the effect of each shot and how it appears to an audience member, I also learned that each shot in a film must be planned out and has a reason as to why each certain shot has been used.

The filming itself has also improved my camera skills as we spent a lot of time making sure the footage was precise and smooth. The technical shoot has also given me the opportunity to take into consideration the mise en scene in a set – I now appreciate how much planning and work goes into each type of shot to make sure the footage shows exactly what it needs to. Regarding projects in the future, the technical shoot will prove to be very helpful as I can use it to make my content to a good quality.

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readpleasereview · 7 years

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Best DSLR Camera Stabilizer

Whether you’re a novice videographer looking to take breathtaking vacation shots or a professional photographer shooting production video, image stabilization is an essential tool for getting that great shot. We spent over 37 hours researching the best DSLR Camera Stabilizers to find the best in the business. After testing and toiling and taking hundreds of videos, we found the Zhiyun Crane V2 Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer to be the Best Overall.

Table of Contents

Best DSLR Camera Stabilizer

Runner Up

Gimbals and Steadicams Difference

Important Features

How We Selected

How We Tested

What We Liked

What We Didn’t Like

Reviews

Conclusion

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Best DSLR Camera Stabilizer

ZhiyunCrane V2 Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer

This unit is the top-of-the-line price when compared to our other top contenders, and with a myriad of special features and flawless performance, it’s no surprise that the Zhiyun Crane V2 Gimbal Stabilizer came out as our Best Overall choice.

This unit easily handled anything we threw at it. Once you get it properly balanced, it’s easy to see how efficient, powerful, and effortless it is to use this stabilizer.

The 3-axis stabilization design provided us with stunning images and a complete 360-degree rotation field, and we loved its Bluetooth capability that allowed us remote control of the unit.

It’s easy to see why this Gimbal is the go-to product for filmmakers, film students, and aspiring videographers.

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Runner Up

Neewer 24” Handheld Stabilizer with Quick Release

The Neewer 24” Handheld Steadicam stabilizer is a great product at a great price. We highly recommend this product as a starter unit if you’re just beginning to think about working your way off the tripod and onto a stabilizer. This stabilizer is sure to step up your videography game.

This stabilizer can adjust from 15.2” up to 24” which allows you to take both high and low angle shots. This stretch adjustment also allows you to easily balance cameras from approximately 1.1 pounds up to 6.0 pounds. You can also use the bidirectional base plate that includes a fine adjustment system to get this stabilizer in balance easily.

At the top, it offers a quick release plate which can accept any camera with a ¼” or a 3/8” screw hole. The quick release plate also has a safety mechanism that catches the plate if the locking screw comes loose – a nipple attached to the screw doesn’t allow the plate to fall off and drop your camera. We loved this!

The unit itself is constructed of a black powder-coated aluminum with a foam-covered handle.

Difference Between Gimbals and Steadicams

Gimbals and Steadicams are two distinct types of image stabilization accessories that can help the user capture sharp, stable, video images.The way these accessories work is by moving the center of gravity down from the middle of your DSLR Camera to the accessory itself – to better control movement and therefore stabilize the video. Depending on the make and model of your camera, image stabilization can even help you to capture sharp pictures at slower shutter speeds than was ever before possible.But that’s another topic…

Gimbals

Gimbals are a motorized (usually battery powered) type of stabilizer that automatically adjusts and stabilizes by using thenow-popular and affordable 3-axis system which keepsthe camera level with the horizon. With this technology, no matter how you move, the camera will stay pointing straight forward. The effect is amazing, and its purpose serves to simulate the way your eyes would view images in real life.

Gimbals are very easy to use because the mechanics adjust the stabilization without any (or minimal) input from the user. They can also easily adjust to small changes in weight such as adding or taking off a lens filter, whereas a manual Steadicam will need to have these minor adjustments made by the user.

As you might expect, because of the technology involved, Gimbals are more expensive option than Steadicams and could set you back a pretty penny.

Steadicam

A Steadicam is not a motorizeddevice. Alternatively, it usesgravity and weights to balance the shot and keep the camera steady. They require a bit of setup to get the balance just right for the camera you’re using and only need minor adjustments from there.

From what we experienced, the windcan effectSteadicams quite a bit. Unfortunately, we (more than once) found ourselves in a position where we didn’t realize the effects of the wind until after getting home and looking at the video. On the other hand, the automated adjustments made by the Gimbals we tested were much better at stabilizing our video in windy conditions.

Another thing to note about using a Steadicam is that if you want to adda filter to your lens, you will need to rebalance the Steadicam and adjust for the weight change, both when putting on and taking off the filter whereas the Gimbal will automatically adjust.

Despite it all, Steadicams are a fantastic and affordable next-step-up from using a tripod. If you are a beginner, start by using aSteadicam then move up to a Gimbal. Progressingalong in this way will give you the experience you need tolearn about stabilization, and you’ll also learn when you will and when you won’t need it.

Although we came across some users who handbuilt their ownSteadicams, we would encourage you to purchase an affordable model and learn about the process before you build one on your own.

Important Features to Note

Capacity Range (camera weight limits) – Capacity Rage refers to the maximum camera weight that the stabilizer can handle and still find a proper balance. Sometimes a stabilizer will even list a minimum weight range that it can handle.

Stabilizer Dimensions– It’s important to note the size of the stabilizer you’re looking at and be sure to consider the fact that you’ll be carrying it around quite a bit and even packing it up for travel. Many frequent users and professionals invest in a vest that can help hold the weight.

Stabilizer Weight– Remember that you’ll be lugging both the weight of the stabilizer as well as your camera around with you. Be sure to add these weights together, so you know what you’ll be needing to carry around as far as total weight.

ProAm USA Stabilizer Neewer Stabilizer PULUZ Stabilizer ZhiyunCrane Stabilizer FLYCAM Stabilizer Capacity Range Up to 6 pounds Up to 6 pounds Select Cameras Only 0.77 lbs – 3.95 lbs Up to 8 pounds Dimensions 18 x 4 x 10 inches 4.8 x 9.2 x 16.3 inches 10.4 x 6.7 x 2.4 inches 5.5 x 15.8 x 14.2 inches 21 x 7.5 x 6.5 inches Weight 5.3 pounds 4.6 pounds 1.7 pounds 6 pounds 11 pounds Type Gimbal Steadicam Steadicam Gimbal Steadicam

How We Selected

We started our search with over 900 DSLR Stabilizers that we needed to weed through. Obviously, we needed to look thoroughly at these to determine which five models we would test.

To start with, we knew we wanted only to test models that have a 4-or-more star rating (out of 5) regarding customer satisfaction.

Also, we wanted to test one higher-end model, but we wanted our choices to be more in a range that would be affordable for most users. Additionally, we wanted to be sure to thoroughly test a combination of both Gimbal and Manual-style of stabilizers.

Once we weeded out many of our options by using the above criteria, we were left with 23 choices ranging in price from $995.00 to $69.95. With such a wide price range, we surmised that the best choices would lie somewhere in the middle and we also felt that a decent stabilizer could be found without having to spend an exorbitant amount of money.

How We Tested

We took each of these five models through a range of tests – each test was performed five times – one time with each stabilizer.

Walking up a set of stairs – The wooded background of this test helped each stabilizer to give acceptable results. It seems that the background plays an important role and that you don’t notice stabilization (or not) as strongly with a busy background. There’s just too much to look at to notice much wobbling.

Running towards a picnic shelter–We chose this test because we felt the vertical post lines at each of the 4 corners of the shelter would help give perspective. Interestingly, at first glance, the video seemed stable, yet once you compared themovement to the 4 vertices, you could see how much better the Gimbals performed.

Walking along a railing above a river–Same idea here as using the vertical test, only this test was to determine the stability of horizontal lines. Just as we suspected, we experienced much the same outcome as the vertical test. The image was acceptably stable with the Steadicam, but you could definitely notice a difference when comparing themovement to the horizontal lines of the railing.

What We Liked

The Zhiyun Crane V2 Gimbal Stabilizer worked wonders for us. It could easily handle anything we threw at it. There is no question as to why this unit is the go-to stabilizer for so many videographers.

We were happy to notice that the ProAm USA Autopilot Gimbal was both designed and assembled in the USA. It’s hard to find any type of electronic accessory made outside of China these days,so this was a welcome bonus.

The Neewer 24” Steadicam Stabilizer performed well for an extremely affordable price. After getting the hang of getting balances, you’ll be well on your way to taking incredible video.

What We Didn’t Like

The FLYCAM 24” Steadicam Stabilizer was the heaviest of the five we tested. It definitely gave us a workout, and our arms started to become tired holding this unit.

The PULUZ Camera Cage Steadicam was a bit tricky to use and didn’t fully accommodate the cameras we tried in it. Some cameras even had the battery slot blocked which meant that we had to take the camera out of the cage to replace or recharge the battery.

The Neewer 24” Steadicam is the most basic of all the stabilizers we tested. This makes it a great starter stabilizer but also means that it is the simplest design and therefore it might take a bit of time to work out the balance on this unit.

Reviews

ProAm USA Autopilot Gimbal Stabilizer

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The AutoPilot Gimbal Stabilizer was introduced by ProAm USA, a company that both designed and assembled the stabilizer here in the USA.

We love that this stabilizer offers a camera platform that features both X and Y adjustments as well as multiple mounting holes for various camera positions and that the company provided us with a ¼ – 20 camera thumb screw.

As do most Gimbal Stabilizers, this model offers triple axis stabilization for smooth and flowing movements. The large, precision bearings of this Gimbal absorbed unwanted motion no matter what type of terrain we experienced while testing.

As did other models, this one offers a soft, foam-grip handle which makes handling very comfortable and the body is made of black anodized aluminum which reduces fingerprints.

The weight platform offers eight, steel plate weights which balance your camera on the stabilizer. We could easily add or remove weights based on our camera load.

In the end, we found this model to be a great introductory unit and the perfect step up from using a tripod since we saw a vast improvement in stabilization.

Neewer 24” Handheld SteadicamStabilizer with Quick Release

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We were impressed with the high number of positive reviews on this stabilizer and knew we had to include it in our tests.

The price is affordable, and we feel that this model is a great introductory unit that will get you well-on-your-way tounderstanding the feel of using a Handheld Stabilizer.

This model is typical of this design style which includes a long carbon-fiber frame with weights at the bottom. It also includes a quick-release system on top to easily mount and dismount any camera with ¼” or 3/8” fixture.

We like the rubber cover on the handle which helped reduce shoulder strain during long shoots, and also liked the fact that it can extend from 15.2” to 24” to adapt to different weight cameras.

In the box, you will receive 1 stabilizer and 1 Carry Case.

PULUZ Camera Cage Steadicam Stabilizer for Panasonic and Sony

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This Camera-Cage Stabilizer kit is designed to hold the following cameras: Panasonic G7 & Lumix DMC-GH4/ GH3, Sony A7/ A7S/ A7R/ A7RII/ A7SII.

We enjoyed using this camera cage stabilizer and love its adjustable rail rods and quick release knob. It uses an ergonomic camber design that provides a comfortable hold.

We found that the universal holes on the base plate made it easy and simple to attach our cameras.

The cage is a bit unforgiving with a few camera models and not all battery compartments can be opened while the camera is in the cage. However, this cage is a great base model that will do a suburb job of stabilizing your video if you’re willing to work with it a bit. It is a great value for theprice.

The package for this kit includes 1 – Camera Cage, 1 – Handle Grip, 1 – Cable Clamp, 1 – Base Plate, 2 – Rail Rods.

ZhiyunCrane V2 Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer

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The Zhiyun is the most expensive of our five contenders, but with good reason. It clearly outperforms the others by a wide margin.

This product allows 360-degree rotation along all three axes and supports cameras up to 3.9 pounds. A bonus feature is the lens support for longer lenses and offers 32-bit MCUs (Motor Control Units) that are running in parallel at 4000 Hz.

We found the balancing to be extremely sensitive which you would expect on a model at this price. Once we got it balanced, we found the shots to be smooth as silk.

Each camera we tried needed a bit of adjusting, but this Gimbal stood up to the test and was able to handle any changes without problems.

We loved that we could control the unit wirelessly from an iOS/Android app using the built-in Bluetooth system.

In the box, you will receive (2) 26500 Li-ion Batteries, a 26500 Battery Charger, a Micro USB Cable, a Lens Mounting Clamp, a Lens Mounting Screw, a User Manual,and a Battery Compartment.

The Zhiyun Crane V2 comes with a Limited 2-Year Warranty.

FLYCAM 24” Handheld Steadicam Stabilizer

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The FLYCAM brand is newer on the market but quickly proving to be a quality contender in the Handheld Stabilizer market.

This 24” Steadicam Stabilizer allowed us to take incredibly stable shots even when running, going up and down stairs, and while shooting on uneven terrain.

The foam-cushioned handle is easy to hold, and the quick release plate worked well – allowing us to attach and remove cameras quickly.

After spending a bit of time balancing the FLYCAM, you should only need to make micro adjustments going forward for precise balancing.

As the heaviest of all our choices (which is why it can hold the heaviest camera of all our choices), we might suggest using a body vest or arm brace along with this unit if you are planning to use it for any extended length of time. Using one of these will helpreduce arm and neck strain which we experienced while testing.

The box includes the FLYCAM stabilizer, a Heavy-Duty Table Clamp, a Unico Quick Release Clamp, and a Storage Case.

Conclusion

While looking for a great DSLR Stabilizer, you’ll find that there is a slew of choices from which to pick. You’ll likely find yourself wondering where in the world to start.

Our goal with this guide is to provide you with all the information you’ll need to make the choice that’s best for you. We’ve researched the difference between Manual and Gimbal Stabilizers and tested both to see which came out on top.

In the end, we determined that the best decision for you will be based on how you plan to use your stabilizer and how much money you want to spend on it. Be sure to read our above suggestions as we review five of the Best Stabilizers out there. We’re confident that our research will lead you to the purchase that’s best for you.

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mindthump · 7 years

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We tested all of AMD’s new Ryzen processors to find the value king http://ift.tt/2vLLWzf

The more Ryzen chips we test, the more we start to appreciate their value. AMD’s latest generation has taken a turn for the better after the less-than-stellar Bulldozer chips that launched in 2011, providing better per-core performance, power efficiency, and support for more modern technology. Of course, the question remains — which Ryzen CPU should you buy?

The Ryzen family is broken into three branches, with many chips in each to choose from, which makes choosing the “best chip” a bit of a trick. With the Ryzen 3 family arriving in the form of the $110 Ryzen 3 1200 and $130 Ryzen 3 1300X, it’s finally time to move past the question of whether you should buy a Ryzen chip, and move onto which one you should buy.

Buy Ryzen 7 for maximum multi-thread performance

When we discuss computational performance, we try and cover a wide spread of tasks a modern CPU might be asked to complete. To that end, we ran each of the Ryzen processors through a series of synthetic and real-world tasks.

These single-core tests should be taken with a grain of salt. Less cores means faster clock speed on each core, so the results are going to vary based on how many cores each chip has, whether it’s equipped with AMD’s Extended Frequency Range — denoted by an X after the number — and a splash of luck for having a highly-stable single core.

Aside from that, it’s rare to see a single-core workload that’s intensive in modern programs. Most programs not coded to use multiple threads will need minimal CPU power. There are exceptions – gaming can still be cited as an example – but we’ll dive into that later.

The multi-core scores, below, are a more direct evaluation of how much power each chip can produce in an ideal scenario, with a fully optimized workload. You’re unlikely to see that sort of use case in the real world, but it at least shows that the extra cores are working properly, considering there are more of them than Intel offers at the same price point.

Our first practical test, Handbrake, sets apart the chips by family quite succinctly. More cores mean more power, particularly when it comes to encoding video, and the most expensive Ryzen 7 1800X manages to crank out a much faster time than chips with less cores.

The Cinebench test, a benchmark created by Maxon, the developer behind Cinema 4D, delivers a gut check to your system’s rendering capabilities, and then sees how fast it can deal with it. The complex set of tasks benefits immensely from extra cores, and once again, the Ryzen 7 chips take a strong lead over even the well-equipped Ryzen 5 offerings.

Finally, the two browser tests are a bit scattershot, but they do reveal interesting trends between chips of the same family. The chips with extended frequency range all take a strong lead over their counterparts without an X after their name. Browsers aren’t typically capable of stressing more than one core, so the extra power left over from the other cores left idle can extended the working core’s frequency. The extended frequency range doesn’t always come into play, but in some workloads, it can make a difference.

The takeaway here is that users who demand a fast processor will see the Ryzen family’s performance laid out as the pricing suggests. Ryzen 3 is entry-level, and not really suited for such tasks, while the best Ryzen 7 chips run away from the pack.

However, the field is more compact if you have modest needs. You’ll see very little value out of a Ryzen 7 if you don’t put its extra cores to work. Even the Ryzen 3 is far beyond adequate for the everyday routine of checking emails, browsing the web, and watching video.

Yes, demanding workloads are also needed to see the most out Intel’s Core i5 and i7 desktop chips, but Ryzen’s reliance on core count for high-end performance creates an even less dramatic spread in single-core tests. A Core i7-7700K beats the snot out of a Core i3-7100 or a Core i5-7400 even in single-core tests. With Ryzen, the gap in single-core performance is smaller.

Buy Ryzen 3 for mid-range gaming, Ryzen 5 for the rest

Ryzen is obviously great for multi-core scenarios, but it’s also been marketed as a gaming processor. That seems odd, because games usually don’t benefit much from extremely high core counts.

To get to the heart of the matter, we’ve chosen the MSI Gaming X+ RX 580, a mid-range option, and the beefy Zotac GTX 1080 Ti AMP! Edition, to power our gaming tests.

Let’s get started with 3DMark, a synthetic test.

The 3DMark Time Spy benchmark pushes all our hardware to its limits, and the results are a bit boring. The scores slide up the scale in mostly equal increments, with a slight jump on the two highest-end chips when paired with the GTX 1080 Ti. Frankly, the results are what you would expect. More expensive processors score better.

While these scores represent each pairing’s potential power, it isn’t always indicative of real-world gaming, which is where our real-world game tests come into play.

Ah – now it gets interesting.

As we’ve seen before, Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1080 Ti conquers even the heavyweight Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, with performance sliding and wobbling a bit. That said, the difference in frame rate is only about a 15 percent swing from top to bottom, if you exclude the the lowest-end Ryzen 3 1200.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Pairing the Ryzen 3 1300X with a GTX 1080 Ti might seem notes, and we’d agree it’s not quite the right balance. However, it does show that, in this game, a fast video card is much more important than a fast CPU. If you had only $600 to spend on both, it might make sense to buy the $130 Ryzen 3 1300X, and spend the remaining money on a GTX 1070 (if you can find a graphics card at MSRP, which is hard right now).

The RX 580 makes CPU’s lack of importance even more dramatic. Its results are completely static when it comes to average frame rate. The game is already using all the GPU’s power, so there’s nothing extra for the processor to offer. Even the Ryzen 3 1300X is more than capable of playing with the RX 580. Upgrading from it to the Ryzen 5, or Ryzen 7, would get you nothing. Good day, sir!

That’s a good sign for those eyeing the lowest-end chips to pair with mid-range video cards. If you asking yourself which Ryzen CPU you should buy for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and other graphics-intensive games, the answer is the Ryzen 3 1300X (if you have a RX 580 or GTX 1060), or a Ryzen 5 (if you have a faster video card).

However, these results represent just one game. Some titles put more strain on the processor.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI and its predecessors have been mainstays of our game benchmarking for years, and likely will be for years to come. Not only is every game in the series extremely popular, but it they place a lot more strain on the CPU than most games do, particularly when the field fills with units and cities.

Even still, the whole pack falls within about a 25-percent performance spread regardless of CPU, again throwing out the results from the Ryzen 3 1200, which is left behind. That chip falls another 20 percent behind the Ryzen 3 1300X when paired with the GTX 1080 Ti, although just slightly behind when paired with the RX 580.

Once again, there are diminishing returns for gaming after the six core Ryzen 5 1600X, which takes a lead in most of the practical gaming tests.

A 25-percent spread is nothing to laugh at, so it would still be wise to target at least a Ryzen 5 1500X if you intend to play this game on a system with a GTX 1080 Ti, or AMD’s upcoming Vega video card. If you are playing on a more affordable video card like the AMD Radeon RX 580, however, you could get away with buying the $130 Ryzen 3 1300X.

Which Ryzen CPU should you buy? The long story

It’s tricky to recommend just one Ryzen chip, as the family extends across a wide range of price points, and offer a very smooth performance scale as you spend a bit more. As always, you should carefully evaluate your current and potential workload, and then build a balanced system within your budget that fulfills those needs. That said, one way to look at choosing a CPU is picking based on value per dollar.

The moral of the story here is that the Ryzen 3 1300X and Ryzen 3 1200 are both an excellent value proposition compared to the highest-end chips which, at three or four times the price, don’t offer three or four times the performance in most cases. In fact, the new Ryzen 3 1300X is a standout value, posting incredible results for a $130 chip.

That’s no big surprise. There’s usually a premium attached to high-end performance, and the faster processor is, the steeper the value curve. Still, it’s good to see even the budget-friendly Ryzen 3 1300X, at $130, pairs excellently with mid-range $200 GPUs like the GTX 1060 and RX 570.

It’s impossible to deny the value that offers to gamers, and it looks even better if you take a glance at Intel’s competing chips. At similar pricing, you’ll end up with a Core i3-7100, which has only two cores with Hyper-Threading, for a total of four threads. The Core i3-7100 also can’t be overclocked, while the Ryzen 3 1300X can. Plus, Ryzen is on a newer platform, so there’s the potential to upgrade to a faster processor in a couple years, without replacing the motherboard. The Core i3-7100’s platform is over the hill, so it’s almost certain you’ll need to buy another motherboard when it comes time to upgrade.

We think most people build enthusiast desktops for gaming, and few power them except when launching Steam. Users looking to play games at 1080p with a GTX 1060 or RX 570 should pick up a Ryzen 3 1300X. Anyone looking to step up the gaming performance a bit with a GTX 1070, GTX 1080, or GTX 1080 Ti, should look to the Ryzen 5 1500X or 1600X to prevent bottlenecking.

On the other hand, if gaming is an afterthought, and encoding video or compressing files is the most important metric, we still think the Ryzen 7 1700 is an excellent choice. Its performance is extremely close to the Ryzen 7 1800X, which costs $170 more at MSRP, and $160 more current Newegg prices. That’s a price leap of about 50 percent, for a performance leap that, in our multi-core tests, hovered between 5 and 15 percent.

Which Ryzen CPU should you buy? The short story

If you still feel confused, don’t worry. We’ll break it down.

Building a budget rig, for gaming or otherwise? You want the Ryzen 3 1300X.

Putting together a mid-range to high-end gaming PC? Pick the Ryzen 5 1500X or 1600X, as budget allows.

Need a workstation? Then you want the Ryzen 7 1700.

Whatever you choose to buy, AMD fans will be happy to know the Ryzen line is competitive across the board. Intel still has advantages, like superior per-core performance. Still, whichever Ryzen CPU you buy, you will end up with hardware that’s extremely capable in today’s most demanding workloads.

AMD is revving up the mainstream desktop market with its new Ryzen 3 processors

AMD is rippin’ store shelves with two Ryzen Threadripper chips in August

#IFTTT #Feedly #tech #future #good to know

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seosence · 7 years

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HOW APPLE COULD BRING AUGMENTED REALITY TO THE MASSES WITH ARKIT AND IOS 11

Some of the biggest tech companies — Apple, Google, and Microsoft to name a few – seem sure that augmented reality (AR) is going to take smartphones to the next level. So far, it’s all been talk, but that could change before the end of this year. Apple is preparing to unleash ARKit, a brand-new framework for creating this kind of content. AR has been a priority for Apple for some time. The company has spent a great deal of time and effort hiring staff and acquiring startups to ensure that it has all the talent it needs once the technology is mature enough for the masses. Now, we’re on the verge of Apple’s AR coming-out party: the release of iOS 11. To understand the implications of ARKit, we spoke to a developer who’s worked on augmented reality tech for the better part of a decade, and has already spent some time putting Apples developer kit through its paces.

The ground floor of AR

Jan-Hein Pullens and his team produce AR content for clients in the home furnishing and real estate industries – and demand for their work may skyrocket as Apple attempts to bring the technology to the masses.

Today, there’s sufficient hardware and infrastructure to allow users to run high-quality AR content.

However, when Pullens and Pieter Aarts founded RoOomy back in 2009, the technological landscape was very different. It would still be three years before the Oculus Rift Kickstarter campaign even brought virtual reality into the public consciousness. Google Glass, one of the first high-profile AR projects to get underway, wouldn’t be successfully prototyped until mid-2011. Pullens and Aarts were initially excited by the prospect of giving people a way to see how large pieces of furniture might look in their own home using AR. However, the hardware to run that kind of software simply wasn’t available to the public. “Eight years ago, for example, there wasn’t an iPad,” said Pullens when he spoke to Digital Trends on the phone last month. “People had desktops, and phones.” Desktop PCs aren’t ideal for AR content because you can’t move them around to see different angles. And back then, smartphones weren’t much better off. They simply didn’t have the horsepower (or the sensors) needed to present AR software.

Whether you’re trying to sell someone a luxury sofa, or a luxury apartment, it’s crucial that your virtual visualization plays to the strengths of the product. “It needs to be very realistic, otherwise it looks gimmicky and like a game,” he explained. Today, there’s sufficient hardware and infrastructure for some phone owners to run high-quality AR content. Google Tango is the most well-established platform on the scene right now. Unfortunately, it’s only compatible with two smartphones – the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro and the Asus Zenfone AR. Do you know anyone who owns those phones? Neither do we. But with the iPhone entering the fray, suddenly a huge chunk of smartphone users will be AR capable.

Apple opens the gates

ARKit will be supported by iOS devices that use the Apple A9 or A10 processors – the 2017 iPad, the iPhone 6S, and onward. Admittedly, that does leave the millions of users with older hardware unable to access AR content built using the platform, but it absolutely dwarfs the userbase for Google Tango, Microsoft HoloLens, and every other AR platform.

Sophisticated AR functionality requires specialized sensors, like a depth-sensing camera.

There is another complication. Some of the most sophisticated AR functionality requires specialized sensors, like a depth-sensing camera. It’s true that the iPhone 7 Plus has some depth-sensing capabilities, utilizing two lenses working in sync to measure relative distance. However, in the grander scheme of AR tech, it’s a relatively primitive solution. In February 2017, there were rumblings that the next iPhone would implement an infrared sensor similar to the one used in Microsoft’s Kinect accessory for the Xbox 360, as reported by The Verge. This kind of sensor would provide much more detailed information on an object’s relative position to the device than the current dual-lens set-up. It’s also rumored that Apple will introduce some kind of component that serves this purpose as part of its 2017 iPhone refresh (read the latest iPhone 8 rumors), but there’s nothing official yet. These new devices will be considered the baseline for AR developers moving forward, particularly because of the advantages associated with depth-sensing cameras. However, the combination of ARKit and current hardware is already bearing fruit. Pullens and his team spent some time with an early version of the development kit, and they like what they’ve seen. “The first findings that we have with Apple ARKit are promising, they’re actually very promising,” said Pullens. He praised the way the platform copes with occlusion, and its capacity to prevent virtual objects from interfering with one another.

For Pullens, the most impressive aspect of ARKit is its stability. Virtual objects can often ‘drift’ when they’re not properly aligned with their real-world surroundings, which can be a big problem for the type of visualizations that he and his team at RoOomy produce. “What I mean by drifting, is for example, a chair in an AR view,” he said. “You would like to see that chair be very stable – you wouldn’t want it to drift or tremble. So, the first findings that we have with Apple are very promising, because it’s quite stable.” A virtual leather chair isn’t much help if it insists on floating towards the ceiling, or wobbles like there’s a cat under the cushion. While Pullen had plenty of praise, he also raised some areas where Apple might make improvements. He noted the way ARKit renders light and shadow maps is alright, but added that he expects it to be even better once the platform is ready for release. He also suggested he can see its surface detection capabilities being refined significantly with an improved depth-sensing camera – so, it’d be ideal if the rumors of an infrared camera on the iPhone 8 prove true.

ARKit makes everything easier

AR developers are excited about ARKit because it should open the technology to a much wider audience. Apple seems heavily invested in AR, so we can expect this kind of content to be a priority for the iPhone and iPad. This is an appealing proposition for the people creating AR experiences.

We can expect this kind of content to be a priority for the iPhone and iPad.

Yet a bigger audience isn’t the only benefit of Apple’s development kit. ARKit also aims to remove a lot of the busywork from creating software, allowing developers to focus on how they can use the functionality to provide new and engaging experiences. “It helps developers like us to provide new features and make good use of AR technology,” said Pullens. “Otherwise, one has to build everything themselves.” For example, every AR apps needs surface detection that allows a virtual object to sit on a table or the floor. Previously, developers might’ve spent months creating their own surface detection algorithms, or make do with so-so middleware provided by another company. With ARKit, they have access to a highly sophisticated solution that’s already tailored to iOS. “You get a lot of features already for free in this kit,” added Pullens, referring to functionality like occlusion and light and shadow maps. “This will give a big push to the development community, for new AR solutions to be out there.”

Early ARKit creations are already impressive

Developers who are interested in a sneak preview of ARKit can get it by downloading the beta version of Xcode 9, which includes the iOS 11 SDK. It is already leading to new ideas. AR and VR feed MixedRealityDesign has set up a website dubbed Made with ARKit, which curates a selection of the very best projects around. The slightly creepy ‘A robot dancing in my living room’ demonstrates the superior stability that Pullens spoke about. An android performs some fluid dance moves in front of a sofa, and despite the camera moving around, the scene looks incredibly natural. The shadow that the robot casts on the floor is particularly impressive. ‘Inter-dimensional Portal’ places a window to another world in the middle of a city street. The graphics used to render this virtual space aren’t very refined, but the overall effect is arresting, particularly once the user walks through the portal. It’s easy to see how this kind of idea might be used in a location-based game along the lines of Pokemon Go. While these two examples are fun, ‘ARKit will change how we order food’ is much more practical. Rather than looking at flat images on a paper menu, an app produces 3D visualizations of HOW APPLE COULD BRING AUGMENTED REALITY TO THE MASSES WITH ARKIT AND IOS 11

#Apple

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