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travelmd · 1 year ago

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Pixel Perfection: Ensuring Your US Visa Photo Size is Spot On

Planning a trip to the United States can be exhilarating, but amidst the excitement, there's a critical aspect that often gets overlooked: the US visa application process. Among the myriad of requirements, one essential detail is ensuring your visa photo meets the specified size guidelines. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore everything you need to know about US visa photo size, including specific considerations for applicants in India and the dimensions in centimeters.

Understanding the Size Requirements for US Visa Photo

Before delving into the specifics, let's understand why adhering to US visa photo size requirements is crucial. The US government has strict standards in place to ensure consistency, accuracy, and security in visa processing. A properly sized photo is essential for identification purposes and helps streamline the application process.

Standard Size for US Visa Photos

The standard US visa photo size is 2 x 2 inches (5 x 5 cm). This dimension applies to various types of US visas, including tourist visas (B1/B2), student visas (F1), work visas (H1B), and more. It's imperative to ensure your photo meets this requirement to avoid delays or rejection of your visa application.

Key Specifications

In addition to the size, there are several other specifications applicants must adhere to when submitting their visa photos:

Color: The photo must be in color, with no black-and-white or sepia-toned images accepted. This ensures clarity and accurate representation.

Background: The background should be plain white or off-white, devoid of any patterns or textures. This ensures the focus remains on the applicant's face.

Expression: Applicants must maintain a neutral facial expression with both eyes open and looking directly at the camera. Avoid smiling, frowning, or tilting the head for optimal results.

Attire: Wear everyday clothing that you would normally wear. Avoid uniforms or attire that may resemble official garments to ensure a natural appearance.

Headgear: Generally, headgear such as hats or religious garments are not permitted unless worn daily for religious purposes. Even then, the face must be fully visible from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead.

Eyewear: If you wear eyeglasses, ensure they do not obstruct your eyes and that there is no glare from the lenses. Sunglasses and tinted glasses are not allowed in visa photos.

Quality: The photo must be of high resolution with no pixelation or blurriness. Proper lighting is essential to avoid shadows or overexposure.

US Visa Photo Size for India

For applicants in India, adhering to US visa photo size requirements is equally crucial. While the standard size remains 2 x 2 inches (5 x 5 cm), the process of obtaining a visa photo may vary slightly depending on your location within India.

In major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata, numerous professional photography studios offer services tailored to US visa photo requirements. These studios are well-versed in the specifications and can ensure your photo meets all necessary criteria.

However, for applicants in smaller towns or rural areas, finding a studio familiar with US visa photo requirements may pose a challenge. In such cases, it's advisable to communicate the specifications clearly to the photographer or explore DIY solutions using online tools or mobile applications designed for visa photo editing.

Converting US Visa Photo Size to Centimeters

While the standard US visa photo size is commonly expressed in inches, applicants may find it convenient to work with centimeters for accuracy or personal preference. Converting the dimensions is simple:

2 inches equals approximately 5.08 centimeters.

Therefore, the US visa photo size of 2 x 2 inches translates to 5 x 5 centimeters.

When preparing your visa photo, you can utilize rulers or measuring tools to ensure the dimensions align precisely. Many online photo editing programs also allow you to set dimensions in centimeters, streamlining the process further.

Tips for Obtaining the Perfect US Visa Photo

Now that you're familiar with the requirements, here are some tips to help you obtain the perfect US visa photo:

Choose a Reputable Photographer: Opt for a professional photographer or a well-established photo studio with experience in visa photos. They will be familiar with the requirements and can ensure compliance.

Communicate Clearly: Clearly communicate the specifications to the photographer, emphasizing the importance of adherence to US visa photo guidelines.

Review Sample Photos: Before finalizing your photo, request to see sample visa photos taken by the photographer to ensure they meet the standards for size, background, and clarity.

Check Photo Quality: After the photo is taken, review it carefully to ensure it meets all requirements. Pay close attention to details such as facial expression, background color, and lighting.

Keep Extras: It's prudent to have extra copies of your visa photo in case they are needed for additional applications or renewals.

Conclusion

Navigating the US visa application process requires attention to detail, and ensuring your visa photo meets the specified size requirements is paramount. By adhering to the standard US visa photo size, along with other guidelines for expression, attire, and quality, you can facilitate a smooth and efficient visa processing experience.

Whether you're applying for a tourist visa, student visa, work visa, or any other category of visa, remember that meticulous preparation pays off. By following the guidelines outlined in this article, you can confidently prepare your US visa photo and take a significant step toward realizing your American aspirations.

#us visa #us visa process #us visa for indians #us visa application

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k00295122 · 2 years ago

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Peter Doig is a landscape artist whose brightly coloured works have influenced my own.

He uses loose and organic shapes in his work, rough strokes of the brush making usually straight and geometric lines crooked and wobbly. His colors aren’t blended, instead overlapping with each other. It gives the painting a blurry or glossy look to it. That, paired with the warmth in each painting, makes the whole thing feel nostalgic – like you’re looking back on a memory. His style reminds me of Early Impressionism, which I like to use in my own work because of its vivid pallet and the roughness of the shapes.

Doig’s own color pallet is appealing. There’s a clear understanding of color theory, and his paintings are still very warm because of their orange and green undertones. There seems to be a limited but complex color pallet, keeping at max 4 colors in one painting.

This painting could be simplified down to ‘orange and blue’, but hundreds of varying shades of green and orange are used. It feels like every individual shift in hue is saturated.

This reminds me of ‘hue-shifting’ in digital art, where shaded layers are slightly adjusted between its analogues pallet. This is a technique used a lot in pixel art to add a vibrant quality to simplified shapes. Otherwise, the paintings can look muddy.

I want to capture Doig’s pallet and nostalgic gloss in my own art. Maybe painting, risograph or digital art is a good way to pursue this. Painting is his medium, which helps him create that rough texture. Digital art would give me access to vibrant colors and let me hue shift much easier. Risograph’s bright inks and layered style would help me deconstruct a background and keep the colors unblended.

#disrupt #artist research

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canmom · 4 years ago

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would love your thoughts on the animated video for Levitating by Dua Lipa that just dropped

Ooh, @mogsk told me about this but I never got around to watching it, appreciate the reminder. Here's the video if anyone's curious:

youtube

So the immediate impression I get is that they have the late 70s-early 90s anime look absolutely dead on, down to all kinds of little details like subtleties of head shape, film scratches, the low drawing count, light bleed on the photography, variable chromatic aberration the colour palettes straight out of Sailor Moon... looking into it, that turns to be exactly the project of NOSTALOOK, who describe themselves as a "70’s-90’s style nostalgic looking animation art project". I can't say whether that's one person or several (although the credits for this video cite a few other Japanese animators); in any case, they have evidently made a study of that period of anime as only a devotee can.

(They're not the only person I can think of who's deliberately cultivating an 80s anime look... nsfw artist/animator bluethebone does something pretty similar.)

In theory there's no reason why we can't make 80s-looking anime today, after all pixels are just numbers and if we can encode 80s anime to video then we should be able to create that effect, but a lot of attempts tend to miss the mark. (Look at the number of music videos that try to riff on Akira crossed with the received idea of '80s imagery'...) There's lots of reasons for this difficulty...

For one example, modern anime pipelines essentially draw the lines as indexed pixel art (at the douga stage, equivalent to 'cleanup' in a traditional western pipeline) then digitally anti-alias them after colouring. This tends to give a distinctive, very even look, especially when studios work in 720p as is common in TV anime which adds a slight blurriness. By contrast, old school anime tends to have slightly more textured lines that subtly reflect the way they were inked. (This is a generalisation; there are digital shows that deliberately use more textured lines, recent examples including Ufotable's Demon Slayer and the last couple arcs of Bleach. But this is another look again.)

Another technique you never see anymore is backlight animation. This was accomplished by having an opaque cel with a hole through which light can shine - you see it all over 70s and 80s OVAs, and films like Akira. In theory you could accomplish a similar effect with a shader, at least reasonably close if not every subtlety - but for whatever reason, this is not a digital effect people go out of their way to create. I guess because it'd clearly be a nostalgia gesture there are now a lot of other options if you want to digitally process an animation frame.

Returning to Nostalook, although I think pursuing nostalgia is not really my aim when it comes to art, I respect the effort to understand the aesthetic elements of past works and decide how to repurpose them. And that era of anime is obviously one I'm pretty fond of! (> implying there's an era of anime i dislike, i acknowledge, weebishly)

Anyway, as for this specific video... beyond the overall aesthetic, I admit the editing didn't grab me that much, but I guess the aesthetic is basically the entire statement here! I would be interested to know a little more about the musical context for someone more familiar with her work.

#animation #animation notes #anime

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 5 years ago

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HASO, “Not Yet Ready.”

Hope you guys enjoy the story for today!

Dr Umbra set down the holo pad on the table with a grunt and turned to look at the human sitting across from her at the table. She hadn’t worked with many humans, so the way its eyes hovered over her was enough to make her squirm in her seat nervously. If she could have hazarded a guess, she would have said it looked hungry, ready to crawl across the table and take a bite from her, but she shook off the thought and set the holo-pad down on the table.

Outside, the glassy planet swirled and undulated below them, the ground most obscured by thick wafting vapors of red, blue and green. On occasion large swaths of the ground would be uncovered giving them a distant view of barren landscape dotted with black spires, before being plunged back into the mist again.

This human wasn’t likely to do that.

“And this is your account of what happened, nothing left out.”

“The human memory isn’t exactly reliable, but that is what I remember.” The human said sitting back in his chair. In comparison to her, he was a very large creature, maybe two feet taller than she was with creamy skin and light tawny hair. His eye though, was an unsettling shade of bright green that felt unnatural in this lightning. All around them the other scientists murmured in surprise and consternation, not really sure what to make of the human’s account.

One of the other Tesraki scientists stood, “It might have been telepathic, like the starborn, and used some sort of mental manipulation to make you feel the way you feel. I would not be entirely surprised, though how something could have survived for so long without access to nutrients or other Stimuli, I do not know.”

Their only Vrul scientist, aside from Dr. Krill stood, “There is only one way to sort this out. We analyze his memory directly.” He said pointing to the machine o nthe other side of the room, calmly sitting on a side table and waiting to be utilized.

Dr Umbra turned to look at the human, “Are you willing?”

“Whatever you need.” He glanced at the machine, “However, I must warn you, I don’t think…. What I remember is something that machine will be capable of capturing.”

The Vrul waved a hand, blowing him off slightly as he stood and walked over to the other side of the room.

The group of scientists bunched together, gathering around as Admiral Vir took his seat in the chair, and allowed the Vrul to fix the nodes of the machine to his head. Dr. Krill stood close by both sets of arms crossed over his chest.

Dr. Umbra glanced at him repeatedly unnerved by the strange way in which he stood, arms crossed, leaning on two set of feet more than the others, his head cocked unnaturally to the side for a Vrul. Even the way he moved was unsettling, but she supposed that is what tended to happen to you when you spent too much time with humans. He may have written the book on the humanization phenomenon, but that clearly didn’t make him immune to it.

The projector was set up to face an empty wall, and the science crew gathered around.

The human leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

The picture that was brought up before them was obscured in red. The memory boosting capabilities of the machine projected the image in sharp relief against the wall, in almost cinematic quality. Seeing through a human’s eyes was rather disorienting, such a narrow field of view but with such sharp edges. The fog swirled around him as he explored through the strange monolithic city, until, at some point, he did fall through the wall and into the dark room shining with little red bulbs.

The memories had been sharp up until this point, but as soon as he came into the room where the strange contraption was described… suddenly the memory went hazy. When his eyes were focused on the thing before him, the memory was blurry and confused, constantly moving pieces of the object as if it couldn’t decide where to put them. It was like trying to watch a very old computer render an object that was to complex, until the brain gave them a watered down version of the object that was nothing more than a ball of twisting shapes without any texture or refinement.

All around them the crowd muttered in nervous surprise.

Sitting before them, the human breathed deeply.

On the screen, he reached out a hand…. And his fingers made contact with the strange alien contraption.

The screen before them went blank, and they staired at it for a long moment.

Dr. Krill rose from his seat, just as the human spasmed. His back arched and his head was thrown back violently. His eyes were open now but were focused on nothing. His hands were clenched into claws, before them the screen erupted into light and dark. At first blinding white light and then a sudden collapse before thousands of stars whirling past in spiral arrays. The image flickered and faded and twisted and blinked.

The human seized again violently tipping himself over and onto the floor.

“STOP the machine!” Someone called

Smoke erupted from the power source of the contraption as all the circuits started to smoke. The image in front of them had degraded into nothing more than pixels of light and dark swirling around in a confusing mass of chaos.

Then the lights on the entire ship began to shutter and blink.

A lightbulb burst nearby.

Everyone yelled, startled and dove under the nearest table.

The human was on the ground still locked in a horrible rictus, back arched hands balled into claws feet on the floor knees somewhat bent, pink foam dusted the corners of his mouth.

Dr. Krill raced forward and ripped the nodes from his head in one foul swoop.

They came off with a loud popping noise leaving behind tiny circles of red on the human’s skin, but as soon as it was gone the smoking died away and the human slumped back to the ground.

Then the room went dark.

They could hear it, surprised and startled cries from around the ship as the entire electrical circuit went out. Someone turned on a pocket light, giving Dr. Krill just enough room to examine the human, who now lay unresponsive on the floor in front of them.

The lights blinked back on a few minutes later as the secondary generator pulled power from the fusion core. The lights were slightly dimmer to alert the staff that something had gone wrong with the main power grid.

So it was in that eerie yellow light they watched as the human slowly came back to himself. He looked groggy and confused his single eye distant as he sat up to look at them, and when he did the entire room stepped back in fear. No one could have said exactly why, but when the human opened his mouth it was not his voice that emanated from inside.

You Are Not Ready

The entire room staggered to their knees as the booming voice shook the very ship rattling the glass in the observation deck, and causing spidering cracks to appear on the surfaces of some of the holopads.

Every last human aboard that ship was brought to their knees, hands over their ears,and every last alien went completely prone passed out on the spot.

No one knew how long they laid there, but when the awoke, most of the humans were still crouched on the floor, their hands over their heads. They stood slowly, looking around the room.

Admiral Vir was lying on his back unresponsive, and no amount of prodding or nudging could get him to wake up.

The lights overhead were constantly in a state of flickering.

“What in the hell was that.” Someone muttered

Off down a long dark corridor, someone would find Conn in a similar state of unresponsiveness as he floated, unmoving in the hallway.

***

Admiral Vir received an MRI, CT and and EEG from the groggy and somewhat confused medical department before he finally started to come too. He groaned and rolled to his side as a couple of the doctors stepped in to steady him.

He lookd up and around in confusion at the people staring down at him in concern.

“Is everything alright….. What happened.”

“I….. we aren’t entirely sure, how dod ou feel?”

He reached up a hand to rub at his head, “I…. I’,m not sure…. I…. I can’t remember.”

They waited.

“The last thing I remember was the science team arriving and then…. nothing .”

It was hard to describe what he felt, it was like his entire mind and body were soar. It was similar to the feeling he might have gotten after a particularly difficult test during the academy, but magnified tenfold. It was so bad that he could barely string two words together the mental exhaustion was that profound. And that wasn’t counting the physical soreness, in his throat,and his chest, and his lungs and his entire abdominal cavity and all the muscles therein.

He felt as if….. As if…..

well ….

As if someone had worn him like a glove.

That was hardly something he bet that the others would understand, so he didn’t mention it, and lay back on the bed eyes closed. No one distrubed him when he slept for a continuous seventy two hours afterwards. In the end Dr. krill couldn’t decide if he had been in a coma or not.

As for the electrical components of the ship, many of the major circuits had been fried and required replacing, and the entire power box on the first interface ahd to be replaced. Everyone else aboard the ship, no matter their shift or their history of sleep disorders, slept for just over ten hours solidly and without waking up.

The nonhumans were also affected. Those of them that were capable of sleeping slept almost as long as the humans did, and those that were not, like the Vrul saw a significant drop in their energy and IQ quotients for the remaining ten hours as if their cortical zones were trying to reboot themselves.

Below them, that red planet continued to swirl and undulate, seeming peaceful though somehow dangerou.

Like a predator lying in wait.

The group of them tried to decide if they should even continue their scientific venture. Clearly something was going on that none of them quite understood. Perhaps it was something they were better off leaving alone, but whatever it was….. One thing was for certain.

Something strange was going on.

When one of the scientists tried to pull out a recording of what had happened, the electronics inside his camera was completely fried.

There was no physical evidence that what happened to them had happened, aside from a collective memory muddled and confused that took up about an hour of time for all of them. Once everything was back to normal it was almost impossible to believe that anything happened at all.

The Admiral awoke after his seventy two hours bright and cheerful as if nothing had happened still not remembering anything that had taken place, and below them, the planet continued to swirl with its strange and unusual mist.

***

Admiral Vir supervised the loading of the shuttles, watching as a near ton of scientific equipment was moved into the back of the shuttle. His hands were resting on his hips, though he could hardly feel anything through the gloves of his space suit: white this time and emblazoned with the GA scientific symbol.

One of the other science officers passed by carrying a crate, and paused long enough to set it down on the metal floor rolling his shoulders inside the space suit, “So we are still going along with this?”

“I hardly see that we have any other choice.”

“Whatever that was, it ook our our entire ship with just a memory. This is one of those times I think it might be best not to poke the bear.”

Admiral Vir nodded, “I am inclined to agree with you to some degree, however,” he motioned to the assorted aliens as they supervised the loading of the shuttle, “They plan to go with or without us, and I would rather not leave them unprotected.”

“No chance we can talk them out of it?”

Adam shook his head, “I don’t think that is going to be possible.” He turned to look at the other man, and seeing the dour expression on his face, he smiled and perked up patting the man on the back, “Besides, nothing is going to happen to us, you want to know why?”

“Why sir.”

“Because we are just too pretty to die.”

“You’re quoting a movie I haven't seen, aren't you?”

“You know me too well.” He turned back to the door crossing his arms over his chest as Dr. krill came to join them.

“I am with our friend here. I think what you are doing is very very stupid.”

Adam raised his hands in mild offense, “You know what to be quite fair, THIS time it isn’t me. I tried to talk them out of it, but they say then need to go down and study it. I take no responsibility for the stupid decisions being made right now, none at all.”

“You could order them to stop.”

“No I can’t I am in charge of the GA’s Military fleet, not their scientists.”

Krill grunted, “You know, despite this being there Idea, I somehow get the impression that you are the one who is going to suffer for it.”

He scratched his head, “Things do seem to happen like that don’t they.”

“Don’t touch anything weird.”

“Well I think I have proven incapable of keeping that kind of promise. However, I promise I will TRY not to touch anything that I shouldn’t.”

Krill sighed, “I guess that is the most that we can hope for.”

“I am bringing some marines along with us and hopefully that will be enough to keep everyone safe. I am having them briefed quickly on the methods of data collection that the scientists are going to be using, mostly so they don’t get in the way.” hge held up a hand as Krill opened his mouth, “And YES I have been briefed as well, and do not plan on getting in the way of the smart people while they do their work.”

The scientist glanced at hm as he spoke, “Don’t you have a degree in like…. Orbital physics or something.”

Adam rested a hand on the other man’s shoulder, “I actually have what might be the equivalent of a Ph.D in flight mechanics, and that does include orbital physics. However, I will be the first to admit that those facts aren't because I am naturally intelligent, I just worked really hard in the academy, and somehow it paid off. So next time you want someone who can calculate the flight trajectory of a rocket by hand, I am your guy, but when it comes to studying weird rocks…. I have no idea what I am doing.”

He glanced back at his assembled marines, circling the group of aliens as their protection detail, and not for the first time in so many months he wished that Sunny was here.

He would feel a lot better if he knew she was watching his back.

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thefoxburyinstitute · 3 years ago

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Hello, and thanks for all your awesome work!! I'm trying to recolor a piece of cc (and have done so before) but when I get the cc in-game, there is patchy-ness/pixellation on it, which was not there in s4s. (that was with importing as png) I tried importing into s4s as dds, and now the pixellation showed up in s4s and was possibly worse in-game. Do you have any idea what might be causing this, and how to fix it? I'm just trying to make a recolor for personal use. Thanks so much for your help!

i'm guessing it's an object and not CAS stuff?

- this might fix https://www.patreon.com/posts/blurry-textures-47015425

- maybe upping the quality low quality textures. instead of 512x512, try 1024x1024 or 2048x2048.

if you're using png, export (ctrl + shift + alt + s) as web. when you do regular PNGs, they're a bit too big and compressed. the save for web option is fine and make sure you hit PNG24

i hope this helps! i think the first option might be the culprit bc i think it resets after every update.

there's a hq mod you can put in your config override that avoids this but if you use a lot of HP objects in your game you might get a bit of lag

https://www.patreon.com/posts/simp4sims-01-51380490

edit: this game is a mess with quality but the above help make it look slightly better. if anything, reshade and topaz denoise in post can hide some of the blurriness

#xldkx-text #answered #casclothing #senior year

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agatharights · 8 years ago

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Gun.

For @tinyfiestyrosiekitten and @darklordofcutlets because I know what you guys are about and what you’re about is an AU where Megatron is a rifle, and a human Orion really likes firing him off. Everything after first paragraph under the cut.

Gun. Part One of Perhaps More.

The first thing that registered to Megatron’s static-laden senses as he came back to fully online status was that everything hurt. A persistent, full-body prickling, aching sensation- the residue of stunning energy, which explained why...well, nothing seemed to be working right now. His core systems came first, but his sensory suite was muffled, every last mobile part of him seemingly unresponsive.

Paralyzed, he thought, and after a moment, he was aware of the cold dirt pressed against his side, how it lay flat against a long barrel, against blocky shapes instead of limbs. Paralyzed in altmode. This may be a problem. The understated thought of the millenia, surely- his immediate memory scrambled to untangle itself. Was he mass-shifted? How had he fallen? A series of flickers swept through his processor.

Alien planet. Dirt. Disgusting, organic mudball, ripe for cyberforming. Hostile natives. Fragile natives. Annoyingly persistent natives.

No, that wasn’t recent, that had been...months, the local calendar defined it as? A handful of decacycles, at least. Remember, he urged himself. Fractions of a second were passing, to his mind, but when one was trapped...time was always of the utmost essence.

Natives. No. Quintessons. Quintessons, here, seeking them out, fighting on both fronts. The natives didn’t seem to like being subjugated by the squids either. Who were they again?

His train of thought was interrupted briefly by movement, a shifting of position. His vision spun, nothing but pixellated, blurry shadows, struggling to focus and redefine- audio coming in a rumbling wave of tones pitching up and down. Someone speaking, perhaps? Held comfortably in someone’s hands-

Rumble! They had been fighting. He’d gone smaller, then, handed to the deployers to be used from the sidelines- he was mass shifted, yes, but if they’d found him-

Not someone, something. Hope fell quickly, replaced by disgust and impotent fury. The servos that held him weren’t even that- sized same as the deployers, but without the thickness of their powerful, mechanical fingers, without the smooth metal and textured grips. Instead what held him was...soft. Pliant. With an uneven roughness forming patches between each joint, microscopic whorls of pattern pressed to his smooth, virtually perfect metal.

He was being held by a human.

If he could have struggled, he would have, his automatic revulsion to the fact that an organic had picked him up, was hefting him up experimentally as if checking the balance of his form, overwhelming and almost dizzying. It certainly helped to start snapping his senses back into place, however, trying to focus. He couldn’t speak, not yet, but his biolights flared to life as he struggled to take it all in.

“Oh. Oh shit, it’s uh...glowing.” One of the shadowy shapes he could make out said, translation running smoothly despite everything.

“Everything Cybertronian glows, Ratchet.” The one holding him, then, shifting his weight from hand to hand. “I think it’s just re-activating, must’ve been a dropped weapon when the Quintessons set off that EMP.”

“Put that down before it blows up in your face.”

“Hold on, just let me-” Megatron’s world shifted upside-down, then right-side up again, bobbing precariously. His EM field crackling with rage, biolights pulsing- and nothing actually working. It was infuriating! “Do you smell ozone?”

“This whole battlefield smells like ozone and molten slag, so...yes. It’s all I can smell, anymore.” The other shadow growled, moving further away, while the one holding him continued to study him- it was unsettling. The human’s hands pulsed with the blood running through them, a residue of oil left where they touched, always bobbing, shaking slightly, trembling with their motions- so unlike a Cybertronian’s smooth, fluid movement. “Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh what?”

“Incoming!”

There was a thunderous sound, resonant vibrations in the air, and Megatron was falling- rolling, soft, warm weight landing on top of him. And...the familiar cackling, crackling sound of a Quintesson, half laughter and half nonsensical babbling as far as he was concerned. The humans, he knew, likely couldn’t understand a word it said, but to Megatron, the translation was clear. A Quintesson’s favorite subject when dealing with enemies- a promise to take them apart very slowly for it’s own entertainment.

He expected fear.

Instead, in one motion, the human’s hands were supporting him again, and his balance rolled as he was bought up, settled- and a finger lay against his trigger. His vision came back as it all happened at once- presenting him with the view of the Quitnesson- half-turned away (if is was possible for one of these particular breeds to be turned away, for it’s two additional faces rested upon the rear sides of it’s body at the moment) and focused on a heavyset human with stern features- trying to crawl back away from needle-point tentacles jabbing forwards-

And the human holding him exhaled, condensation from their breath wet along him as they sighted- and the tremors, the bob of their hands, stilled entirely.

Megatron was helpless.

The human was not, though, and he depressed the trigger smoothly.

The Quintesson half-burst, scattering cybernetics and meat alike, a sizeable hole carved through it, sizzling and burning from the fusion bolt. After a moment of stunned confusion, Megatron reeled- the excess energy must have been building up in him, while he was paralyzed, and it certainly hadn’t helped his struggles to reset his systems. But he felt...clearer. Better. Even if he was still held in sure, steady human hands...which quickly started to jostle him with a whoop. “Holy shit!” The human yelped, scrambling to their feet as the Quintesson’s gravity field gave out and it dropped, limply.

Lucky, Megatron thought, he must have hit the brain on the first shot.

“Did you see that?!” The human crowed, breathlessly, holding Megatron to his chest.

“...hard to miss, kid.” The other human muttered from where he sat on the ground, wide-eyed. “Jesus Christ, Orion, watch where you point that thing! Put that down-”

“No way. This is my new best friend-” The human holding him hefted him up with a grunt, for he was still sizable in comparison to it. A broad smile showing their segmented dentae, eyes a deep shade of blue, dark hair clipped short- but starting to grow along their long, broad jawline. Human features were always so...rounded, compared to a properly angular Cybertronian face, and Megatron tested his rootmode functionality, only to find it spat an error message back at him. So no transforming, not yet, perhaps physical repairs would be necessary before that. “-aren’t you? C’mon, lets head back towards the others before any other Quints show up- you, me, and this bad boy-” leaning Megatron against his shoulder- and despite the dirt, oil, and condensation that had gathered on him, the human tilted his head-

-and pressed it’s soft lips against him.

Being handled? Upsetting, but acceptable. Even being fired off was a necessity and it had relieved the oppressive charge in his form. But a kiss? Megatron immediately discovered his vocal capabilities had returned, and he howled in offense.

“CEASE TOUCHING ME AT ONCE, HUMAN”

The humans screamed, and Megatron hit the ground jarringly as he was dropped. Well, it wasn’t dignified, but it stopped the kissing..

#my writing #kinda megaop #maccadam #my fanfiction #orion no #idk what this setting is beyond decepticons come to earth to cybeform it #and the quitnessons follow them #and things go south from there #this is how they meet #they're not gonna get along for a goooood long while

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dailytechnologynews · 8 years ago

Photo

Marseille mCable Gaming/Gamer vs. Cinema Edition Write up + Pictures

I recently bought both the gaming and cinema editions of the Marseille mCable, their respective pages are here and here. I apologize ahead of time for the image quality, they are PNGs on a registered imgur to avoid lossy compression, but I do not have a dedicated hardware capture device so they were taken with a 6S plus.

Feel free to ask any questions about either and I will do my best to answer them (I do not yet own a 4K panel, so I won't really be able to answer questions involving them).

Note: both cables provide different forms of color processing, these are noticeable in Bloodborne, but the color differences in RDR are largely due to the changing weather, so focus on the color changes in BB.

I chose to use Bloodborne as an example game as anyone who has played it knows how terrible the image quality was due to excessive chromatic aberration and a complete lack of anti-aliasing. All of these will be set at 1080p display resolution since if you set it to 720p the ps4 just supersamples the image as the internal rendering resolution is locked at 1080p regardless of output resolution.

This is what BB normally looks like: Imgur

Clearly, there is a lot of aliasing on everything and the CA gets worse the farther things are from the center of the screen

This is what just the gaming edition looks like: Imgur

We can see really good anti aliasing, but there is a noticeable texture blurring which gives them a kind of oil-paint look. Also notice that the chromatic aberration has been substantially reduced, giving a much cleaner and clearer image

Here is the cinema edition: Imgur

Oddly enough, the cinema edition which is supposed to be aimed at TV and films has anti-aliasing, though not as strong or as good at edge catching as the gaming edition. CA is slightly reduced. The cinema edition has a particularly strong sharpening filter and does not have the oil-paint effect the gaming edition has. It introduced noticeable halos due to the sharpening, but I am honestly starting to prefer this version. Testing in 60fps games like Nioh it has no problem handling 60fps content.

Finally, this is what you get if you combine the gaming edition plus the extra sharpening and image processing of the cinema edition: Imgur

Honestly I do not know what to make of this one yet, it seems like overkill and doesn't really give much return for the $240+ you would spend on the cables (they are both $120).

Here are some scaling results with RDR which uses 2xmsaa and a 1280x720 rendering resolution. I set the X1S at 720p output resolution to avoid using the built in scaler by the console.

First is the base game being upscaled to 1080p using the better than average scaler in my BenQ XL2430T. Imgur

Even with the 2xMSAA the game uses it just looks awful, the game looks quite good being scaled 1:1 though, so a lot of clarity is being lost trying to play at 1080p sadly

This is the game being upscaled using the built in scaler in the Xbox One S: Imgur

The scaler in the X1S gives a slightly sharper image than the XL2430T, but it still looks pretty bad, not much else to say here.

Here is the game being upscaled using the gaming edition: Imgur

Obviously a lot better than either the built in scaler or the one you are going to get in a monitor, with additional anti-aliasing on top of that. Honestly, the game looks pretty decent but as you can see the results are pretty blurry. Using a TV you may be able to counteract this by using additional sharpening.

This is what the cinema edition looks like for comparison: Imgur

Very similar results to the gaming edition, but a bit sharper due to the additional sharpening the cinema edition provides. The anti-aliasing isn't quite as good, but if you are only interested in upscaling last-gen titles, this may be the better option you are not a fan of the oil-paint effect the gaming edition introduces.

Finally, this is what happens if you use the gaming edition for upscaling then the cinema edition to sharpen and clean up that 1080p signal coming out of it: Imgur

Obviously the sharpest results here, but there can be subtle visual artifacts here and there on small details due to the doubling up of image processing.

Ultimately, it is kind of mixed bag--neither is perfect but they both give much better results than without. Buying decision should depend on what you would rather have: excellent anti-aliasing plus blur or okay anti-aliasing without. I have tested how the cables work with different forms of AA and can confirm they have no problem being used on top of FXAA, which a lot of games use (it actually cleans up the missed edges and sub-pixel artifacts caused by this form), temporal AA which is becoming increasingly popular, MSAA which is sometimes used by older games as post-process methods didn't exist yet, and neither have any problem being used with games that have dynamic rendering resolutions, such as Nioh which can drop to below 720P on action mode on a base PS4. I didn't see any issues being used on games which have film grain either, such as The Order 1886.

#hardware #Computer #Technology #Tech #News

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aiviyna-blog · 6 years ago

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Final Project Installation

I started my project by experimenting with both analog photography with the pinhole camera and digital collaging through the group project in week 4. My final project looks at the evolution of photography and media through collaging of images in multiple ways. My pinhole image, looks at time in two ways, the amount of exposure makes the different sections of photos look more or less light or dark depending on the size of the pinhole, whilst the subject and photos taken in each of the 9 sections are taken at exactly the same time. The black box beneath my pinhole image is my DIY pinhole camera with 9 sections, and my intention for making this was to create a collaged image without any digital work or collaging through editing or manipulation (ie. trimming, cutting and pasting). My aim was to capture a single subject at a single time and make collaged image with a single exposure. Even though the photos are taken at the same time, due to the different exposures they look slightly different and show different parts and movements of the branches and leaves. My digital collage was made on photoshop by trimming and editing a scanned version of my pinhole image. Different parts of my pinhole camera was used to create a collage of the branches however if you look closely all the branches are connected. the ability to interact with the digital work allows viewers to ‘follow’ the lines or paths created by the branches. Similarly to my pinhole image, the digital image has repeated compositions of branches, however trimming and rotating them has made them look slightly different, whilst zooming into the image allows viewers to look at the photograph and its details closely. however, zooming into the image distorts the digital collage, creating a pixelated image that is similar to the blurry textures of the pinhole image.

My aim was to look at how photography has changed and developed through the invention and incorporation of digital media such as photoshop. Through the digital manipulation of the pinhole camera, I lost the clarity of the image, however I also gained the ability to multiply and repeat images in my digital collage, making a digital collage that had multiple images of the same photo, eventually creating a bigger collage than my analogy photograph. Additionally, my digital collage is a never-ending cycle of branches, where if you start following one, you keep going in circles as you follow the path of branches. Thus, my project delves into the endless cycle of collaging and manipulation technology can allow, even on a photo that has been taken at a single moment in time, whilst the manipulation of my pinhole image is a static type of manipulation, where only the time and conditions of my pinhole camera can create and manipulate the image at the single time of exposure.

My main inspiration for the digital collage was the ‘Joiners’ series by David Hockney that I researched, however unlike traditional joiners that use two or more images to create a collage of the subject, i have used a single image to create my ‘Joiner’ collage, thus further creating more of an illusion that multiple photographs have been used, whilst in reality only one photograph taken with one exposure has been cropped multiple to create this illusion.

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chloe-fmp-gamesdesign · 8 years ago

Text

Evaluation

For my Final Major Project my goal was to create a comic book style story or part of the story I created for an RPG style game. I believe I have succeeded in creating this comic although only 4 pages I believe it tells my story well.

In my proposal, I said that I wanted to achieve a DC like semi-realistic art style I do not think I achieved a DC like art style However I do believe that the art style I did achieve fits the RPG style and although not as realistic as I originally intended I am happy with it as it still looks like a western comic rather than eastern which I was trying to stay away from for this comic.

My target audience for the comic book was originally 17-18+ although little blood and gore is present other than wounds on Clarke’s face I still believe that this is a valid age range for this comic if I had been able to continue it further through the story.

In my research, I talked to Sam Johnson who creates Geek Girl comics he told me that he comes up with the ideas, the plot and script, then he passes it onto an artist, he then edits these pages, then passes them back onto the artist for corrections. This allowed me an idea of the progress however he had at least two people in his team whereas I was working by myself for the whole process so I think this put me at a disadvantage and made it harder for me to hit the deadline.

I looked into games which have comics and one of my inspirations for the game is Dragonage who I found out also have comics. I believe that despite not being the same art style as Dragonage my game has a lot of elements similar to Dragonage for example I believe that the RPG style of their games translates well to comic book form to add to this I named my character by only their last name as Dragonage does in their games to keep the RPG feel in the comic. I also have fantasy like elements which Dragonage also uses such as demons and magic.

I also researched Overwatch; a game which does not have a story mode of any kind and does not implement its story through the game but uses comics and animations to create its story. My aim was to do the same and explain the story of my game through comic rather than through a game demo or trailer. I believe I did so, although short I think that it does well to tell the story I intended it to tell.

I analysed some comics that I owned and like the art style of these were “American Vampire”, “Northlanders” and “Unwritten” Although I looked at all three of these rather realistic looking art styles I believe that my art style for my comic is more similar to that of “American vampire with its used of colour and shading as the other two have fine lines and look quite photo realistic in contrast to American vampire’s bold colours and use of shading which looks more cell shaded as mine does.

I did some brainstorming deciding on various things that I had not decided when giving the general idea of my story such as name, age, gender, members of family, and how much of the story I would be including. Most of these ideas have stayed the same although the amount has been reduced from what I first although I never had a concrete amount however I believe that this amount is sufficient to give the reader the feeling that they want to read more. I also added have named the little boy in the story which I never did in the planning however I settled on Eugene using the same technique I used to find the protagonists last name.

I believe I did more than enough story planning I carried out my storys planning by bullet pointing each event and added pictures to give myself a prompt for creating some sketches later on. However I do believe that I spent a lot longer than was necessary on this part and if I had condensed this I could have met the deadline much easier.

I created a sketchbook full of concept art and sketches for each page. I believe that these sketches were of high quality and were ongoing throughout my project however I created the pages in my sketchbook before moving onto my graphics tablet and I believe that this process helped immensely when it came to creating the pages digitally.

When I came onto creating my digital finalised pages I used my own graphics tablet to avoid some time lost with complications with equipment in college. However, I had tried using photoshop but the drivers on the college computers didn’t seem to be picking up on my pens sensitivity so it was difficult to draw accurately and it made it difficult to draw a head. I kept this document to show the differences however I was very unhappy with how it was turning out.

In the end, to combat this I used Sketchbook Pro using a trial version that I had not yet redeemed as my subscription ran out, I had to then pay for my subscription when the trial had ran out this caused an inconvenience however it was quickly solved and I was able to use this software for my entire project.

During my project, I created screenshots and talked about each frame and how I created them all from start to finish I believe that I created them all to the best of my abilities with as much detail as possible using a variety of colours and brushes to create different textures and techniques I also believe that I told my story well in the form of narration, sound effects and speech and that the facial cues of my characters tell the reader which emotions my characters are displaying.

Throughout the project I also sent screenshots to Kieran Taylor to give me feedback, he managed to notice a few consistency errors and on a few occasions helped me to improved my work such as on the necromancer the arm was not very visible and so this allowed me to make improvements making the arm a lot more visible, improving the shading and allowing me to add an energy orb into the image and for it to work well with the arm rather than float as it seems to do in the sketch version. He also brought it to my attention that in one particular image my character looked as if she was “crying blood from her eyes, rather than being mortally wounded.” This allowed me to create much more realistic looking wounds. I believe this helped a lot as having a second opinion meant that I could improve my artwork and prevent consistency errors.

During my post production feedback I received feedback from both Shannon Hegyaljai and Kieran Taylor both liked my art style, colours shading and storyline however there was 2 bad points from them both; Shannon Hegyaljai: For a point of improvement, consider making the shading around the neck darker as at the moment it is light, and is somewhat hard to tell where her chin finished and her neck starts. Kieran Taylor: The bottles artwork is slightly blurry/ pixelated; however, the labels have a decent level of detail. If I had, had slightly longer I may have been able to correct this however I feel these are minor problems and overall, I and my peers seem happy with the finished project.

In conclusion, I believe that I did well in creating a high quality final project and am happy with my art and how I delivered my story however I do believe that I could have managed the time better if I had not spent as much time on the story looking back I feel that this was unnecessary and I could have used this time to improve on aspects that my peers had brought to my attention but other than this I believe that my project turned out well.

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forgedobsidian · 8 years ago

Text

Aphelion

A MHA fanfiction. Chapter 3.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

AO3

Summary:

Izuku has been kidnapped by All For One, for reasons the young boy doesn’t understand. He is forced to stay at a rundown facility, surrounded by villains and, for all he knows, completely without help. In-between his attempts to escape or learn why he has been stolen, the young boy spends his time with a near-comatose man who seems strangely familiar.

Trigger Warnings for: kidnapping, body horror, medical torture, needles, and pain

Special trigger warning for this chapter: burns (it’s brief)

A buzzing TV stood in the corner of the police station, playing a late afternoon news channel. The spokesperson on screen glanced down at the papers in front of them before looking up at the camera, their expression professionally blank.

“Now, as to the strange events of yesterday, we’re still gathering information.”

The screen cut to a scene of destruction. It had been a local open-air shopping market, but now all the stalls were piles of scrap wood and plastic. There were rotting piles of food and ripped clothing lying all over the street.

“As far as eyewitnesses could tell us, a group of law enforcement officers had been pursuing a suspect through what had been an outdoor shopping complex. Apparently, in order to cause a distraction to help them escape, the suspect actually injected several customers with a dose of trigger, a drug well known to amplify quirks to a much more powerful, and uncontrollable, level.”

A blurry video eased its way across the screen, showing bloated limbs and quirks that had gone out of control. It was clearly a recording from someone’s phone, pixelated and jarring as the person holding the camera was jostled by the crowd.

“The suspect has yet to be detained, as officials were quickly occupied trying to lead everyone to safety. No one was injured, though those affected by the drug have yet to be released from the hospital. Normally trigger wears off after a few hours, but the victims seem to still be undergoing the painful transformation nearly a day after their exposure.”

A police officer showed up on screen, talking with a reporter while clean-up efforts took place behind them. Their face was controlled as they spoke into the microphone. “The extended effects of the drug that the victims are experiencing aren’t completely new. It has been known to happen when a bad batch hits the streets, and they are expected to make a full recovery.”

The camera switched back to the main reporter, who was carefully ordering their papers on the desk in front of them. “Now, as to whether or not these current events will push forward the proposed trigger antidote is still uncertain. Reports of a recent break-in attempt at the facility where the antidote is being tested have brought into question the true effectiveness of local law enforcement, especially considering the on-going absence of the pro-hero All Might . . .”

Naomasa Tsukauchi rubbed at his eyes and leaned on his desk. A mess of papers was spread out before him, road maps and photographs and little scribbled marks of writing on sticky-notes leaning out over the floor.

An old cup of coffee rested on the edge of his desk, day-old grounds sticking to the bottom of the porcelain. Naomasa shot it a glare as he scrubbed one hand over his short beard, fingers tangling in the hair.

I need a trim, he thought, one hand rubbing over his cheek. The usual crisp cut of his beard had disappeared, long nights taking away the typical cleanliness.

He’d keep his beard, though. He hadn’t shaved in four years, and he wasn’t about to start now.

The particulars of the Midoriya case had taken over his work station, files and phone numbers and pictures gathered around the edges of his area. The case was on the verge of being ground to a halt. The trickle of information had come to a stop several weeks ago, and Naomasa spent his nights going over old data in an attempt to find something he missed.

He was drawn out of his thoughts when Sansa stopped by his desk, one gloved hand gently tapping on his shoulder.

Sansa smiled when Naomasa looked up at him. “We might be in luck. Kuznetsov and Ricci brought in someone you might want to see. Says they know something about your case.”

Naomasa nodded, straightening up and resting his hands on the small of his back as he stretched. “I’ll be over in a moment. Room 2.”

Sansa nodded, walking away towards the other end of the precinct.

Naomasa shook his head and stretched his arms towards the ceiling. One hand scratched at his beard as he relaxed, the other grabbing a notebook and pen from his desk. His doubt at any new information falling into his lap grew as he walked over to the questioning rooms, stopping by the second door. There were two people in police uniform standing outside the door.

Officer Marco Ricci was short and lithe, built more for speed and stealth than force. Black and orange markings decorated his skin, bead-like scales adding a variety of textures and small shadows to his face. A broad nose spread across his face, and a thick jaw held sharp, pointed teeth. He was talking to his companion, one hand - yellow claws carefully filed - resting on his partner’s shoulder.

Officer Dana Kuznetsov was physical opposite to her partner. Muscle-bound and tall, her size gave her great advantages in questioning and chasing down stubborn suspects. A pair of ram horns sprouted from her bald head to curl around her slightly pointed ears, the thick muscle of her neck twitching as she shifted her weight from side to side. The lights of the station reflected off her deep bronze skin, and as Naomasa approached the pair he heard her mutter in what must have been Russian.

“I’m telling you, this place has the best coffee,” Ricci said, a tilt to his slitted eyes.

“I’ll believe you when you actually bring me some.”

Naomasa walked up to the duo, a faint grin on his face. “What’s all this?”

“Ah, detective. Hello.” Ricci bent over in a brief bow. “My partner is denying my coffee-tasting abilities. I intend to prove her wrong.”

Kuznetsov shrugged. “If you’re paying for it, I have no complaints.”

Naomasa gave a wan smile and shook his head. The amusement faded from his face as he gestured at the closed door. “So, who do you have for me?”

“A fellow by the name of Nishi Aki. He found us, actually. We were just completing our rounds and he comes out of nowhere, waving his hands and looking frazzled. It was interesting,” said Ricci, crossing his scaled arms and tilting his head. “When we asked him, he said he had information about, and I quote, ‘That missing Midoriya kid.’ We decided to bring him in after hearing that.”

Naomasa nodded. “Is he in our system?”

“Just petty thievery several years ago, sir.” Kuznetsov nodded. “Nothing big. He’s only had to do some community service.”

He sighed. “Well, let me see what he can offer us.” Naomasa walked into the room alone, pulling the door closed behind him. Several chairs rested around a table, an inlaid one-way mirror settled into the wall next to the door.

Someone was sitting at the table. The man who looked up at Naomasa was of middling height with close cropped hair. There wasn’t any evidence for a quirk, except for the pair of gills that flared up his neck.

“Nishi Aki, I’m Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi. I’ve been told you have some information for us?” Naomasa said, pulling out a chair and gently sitting down.

Aki nodded, an anxious look on his face.

“Why don’t you tell me what you think we need to know,” Naomasa said, prompting the man to start speaking.

“W-well, you see, I was just hanging out at the bar the other day.”

“Which one?”

“That one next to the old gym, across from the railway. Can’t remember the name, but a lot of folks from the nastier side of life like to go there after the sun goes down.”

“Alright.” Naomasa nodded. His quirk hadn’t flared - Aki was telling the truth.

“So there I was, just nursing my sorrows as one does, and these two folks come in. You could tell they were in something deep. Shadows on their eyes and looking like they have a wrecking ball chasing after them. This pair sits down behind me, yeah, and starts talking. And drinking. Not the good stuff, either.”

“Do you think you could describe the two individuals?”

“For sure, yeah. You don’t forget faces like those.”

“Alright. I’ll have someone talk to you once I’m done. What did they talk about?” he asked, making notes on his pad.

Aki leaned across the table. “They were complaining about a kid, detective, sir. Said they was tired of chasing him around, and that he should just learn to sit down and keep quiet.”

“I see. And what makes you think this might be connected to the Midoriya case?”

“Well, you see, I remember seeing that news showing where they posted a picture of the kid to get people out and looking for him. The two crooks I was listening in on talked about the kid and his green hair, and that flicked something in my head. They left afterwards, and I asked the barkeep where they hung their coats.”

Naomasa nodded, registering everything as the truth. “So you did some sleuthing of your own. And?”

“I couldn’t find out much, but the two fellows did have a lot of dust on their feet and I was told they tend to come into the parking lot from the west side.”

Naomasa held back an excited smile, jotting down several notes on his pad. “This could be useful information, Aki. Thank you.”

“No problem, detective. I’ve got a soft spot for kids.”

Naomasa nodded. “I’ll have someone stop by in the next few minutes to hear your descriptions of the two people. Thank you for coming in.” He clicked his pen and stood, the chair squeaking as its legs skidded over the floor.

“Good luck, sir.” Aki gave a little wave, which Naomasa returned as he left the room. He made sure to pull the door closed behind him.

The two officers were still standing outside the door. “Kuznetsov, Ricci, he has some information on descriptions. I want you to get those down and see if they match anyone in our files. Maybe have him go over our facial database.”The two officers gave acknowledging bows before Kuznetsov headed down the hallway and Ricci went to talk with Aki.

Naomasa walked back to his desk, a restrained grin on his face as he pulled out a large map and started scanning it up and down.

“Looks like someone’s excited,” Sansa said, walking up to stand next to Naomasa. “What are we looking for?”

“Anywhere west of here,” Naomasa muttered, pointing one finger at a large complex. It was surrounded by train tracks, and Sansa could faintly read out the symbols for a gym near Naomasa’s finger. “There’s a lot of places we’ll need to search and patrol, but I think we can cut down on the territory by a lot. And there’s a chance the kid is still alive.”

Sansa nodded and started looking over the map, occasionally marking a place with a red pen he pulled from his pocket. “This is based on your new information?”

Naomasa grinned. “Yes. I think we’re finally getting somewhere.”

Endeavor walked down the hallway, careful to keep his steps muted. He generally didn’t take security jobs - finding them tedious and boring - and a part of him hoped that the criminals from several nights ago would make another try for the vault.

He couldn’t help but grin at the memory of how the security force had all but begged him to stay.

“Endeavor, sir, we just can’t afford to lose to these people. We need the strongest there is, and that’s you.”

He had accepted in good grace, of course.

That didn’t stop the niggling thought in the back of his head that they had only come to him because All Might was a chronic no-show.

They just want me because he’s not here.

His mood soured, Endeavor kicked his foot along the ground and continued his patrol in a sullen silence. He made it around several corners before the communicator in his left ear crackled with static.

“Suspicious activity on the north wall, please advise.”

“North wall . . . I’m nearby. Keep your men back in reserve.” Endeavor gently tapped on the earpiece, signaling the end of his communications. He walked silently down the hallway, ears straining for any noise that seemed out of place.

The communicator screeched. “We’re under attack! They’ve taken the wall!”

Adrenaline spiking, Endeavor slammed his hand down on the earpiece. “Give me a position!”

“North wall!” Something briefly shorted out in the communicator, and Endeavor could faintly detect the rattle of gunfire and the crack of concrete moving against itself. “They have someone stron-” The earpiece went quiet.

Endeavor clicked at the communicator, shouting into the mouthpiece. “Who is -”

The wall exploded.

Endeavor jumped backwards, managing to not trip over the rubble that flew around his feet. A shattered brick hit his head, and he felt a cut open along his cheekbone. He fell back into a fighting stance, one shoulder towards the opening in the wall, and waited.

The dust didn’t have a chance to clear before a large something slammed into him, the hero barely managing to lift his arms in front of his face before he was being pushed backward. He felt a meaty hand fasten around his waist, and the world tipped upside down as he was dragged up and over a wall of muscle.

He twisted, determined to not hit the concrete head-first. A flare built up in his hands, and he blasted his opponent with a compressed fire shot. He hit the ground on his shoulder and rolled backwards, hands immediately fisting as he prepared for another attack.

The dust had cleared, and Endeavor got his first decent look of his opponent. It was tall, quite a bit taller than him, and completely filled-out with muscle. A mask covered it’s head, tinted lenses keeping him from getting a good guess on their appearance. Two canisters rested along it’s jaw, and Endeavor could hear the faint scream of compressed air. Strangest of all were the strange circular fixings that wound up it’s scarred arms and torso.

Endeavor’s eyes fell to the shadows moving behind his opponent, people sneaking past the hero and into the recesses of the hallway. They were trying to get inside the office proper.

The hero fell into an aggressive fighting stance, hands up around his ears and one shoulder towards his opponent. He threw a punch, a fireball launching from his fist and roaring down the hallway. It never landed.

Instead, the hulking figure seemed to blur out of existence and materialized right in front of Endeavor. The fireball sputtered against the concrete and went out.

A fist collided with his face and Endeavor was sent head-first through a nearby wall. Something hot and wet dribbled down the back of his head.

He tried to stand, but the world tilted sideways. Throwing his hands out, he tried to lay out cover fire to give him a moment to breathe. He wasn’t fast enough. By the time he had made it to his knees, his opponent threw its arms around his waist and slammed him into the ground, grinding his back into the cement. A muscled shoulder landed on his chest, pushing the air out of his lungs.

Endeavor gagged and grappled at its broad back, hands scrabbling for purchase. His fingers brushed against something hard, and even as a part of his brain realized that the strange circular fixings must be on his opponent’s spine as well as it’s arms and torso, one hand fixed around a port and yanked.

This better be a weak point, Endeavor thought as he felt his ribs start to give.

His opponent’s legs shook and it feel to one knee, but the grip didn’t loosen. Endeavor grunted, struggling to see through the spots popping up before his eyes. Fire blasted from his hand to coil around the figure’s shoulders and back. Endeavor could smell the sticky scent of burning muscle. His hand fixed again around the port, fingers trying to dig under the heated edges, and he pulled.

Something gave in his opponent’s back, and it collapsed over onto its side. The pressure left Endeavor’s chest, and he pulled in a halting breath of air. His hand was coated in blood, and several nails had torn free.

The villain was twitching on the ground, blood dribbling down it’s back to pool in the cement. Endeavor tried to get to his feet, knowing that there were other villains to take care of, but everything seemed to tilt around him and he could only manage to flop down to the ground. He tried to a careful eye on his downed opponent, but it was difficult through what he guessed was a developing concussion.

He rested his back against a chunk of rubble, gently feeling around the back of his head. A rising bump met his fingertips, and he hissed when he pulled his hand back.

There was a blur of air and wind, and Endeavor felt hands fasten around his arms and drag him off the ground. He realized too late that his opponent hadn’t been put down permanently.

He was held at face level, his blurred eyes meeting the tinted lenses of the mask. The thing seemed . . . confused. It didn’t kill him right away, which would have been easy to do in his compromised state. It just turned it’s head to the side, and a quiet voice came from beneath the mask. “Enj . . .”

Something hissed from the canisters around it’s jaw. The figure threw back its head and screamed.

Endeavor took advantage of it’s hesitation and and squirmed free, planting a solid kick in his opponent’s face as he fell away. It didn’t seem to notice the canister that was knocked askew.

A woman ran by and latched onto the figure’s shoulder, serrated nails digging into it’s skin. “Oh, no you don’t!” A green wave went down her arms to flare around where she had clawed it’s shoulder. Endeavor didn’t take time to notice anything else.

He clapped his hands together, a wave of fire blasting from his hands to rush to each corner of the room. He took advantage of the visual distraction, sidling up closer to the woman and the larger villain. He landed a solid punch on the woman’s shoulder, sending her careening away from the two fighters with a shout of surprise and pain.

Whatever confusion his first opponent had been grappling with had faded. An elbow cracked into Endeavor’s cheekbone and he threw a fire-laced punch into it’s neck in retaliation. They grappled, Endeavor trying to augment his movements with blasts of flame to compensate for his lesser strength.

It didn’t work.

A strong arm wrapped around his neck, and Endeavor knew he had lost. His hearing was fading, and his eyesight was getting spotty. Prickles ran up and down his arms as he started to black out.

“Snap his neck! Snap his neck!” The woman was screaming, but it sounded far away.

Endeavor felt the arm around his neck tighten, and the world went dark.

Shigaraki watched as Sensei looked over a small digital chip, resisting the urge to scratch at his neck.

A woman was with them, idly fiddling with her short hair. Her fingertips were tinted green. “It’s getting harder to control it out in the field.”

“Explain.”

She leaned against the wall and rubbed the back of her neck. “My pheromones aren’t lasting as long, and it went against direct orders. I had to get a little physical with it in order to meet our objective, and even then it wouldn’t finish off Endeavor like I ordered.”

“Is he dead?”

She shrugged. “I couldn’t tell. More heroes showed up before I could make sure, but it looked like he just got choked out.”

“Unfortunate. I wanted him permanently removed. We’ll just see if he gets back to his feet after this.” Sensei clipped one nail off the edge of the chip, a plastic sound echoing throughout the room. “Still, this will help our foothold greatly. Well done, Ito.”

She nodded. “Happy to help, boss.”

“Feel free to do what you wish with the men. They’ve outlived their usefulness to me.”

A wicked grin bloomed across her face.

“Tomura, with me.” Sensei slipped the chip into one of his pockets even as he stepped towards the door. Shigaraki followed him out into the hallway, a thought slowly growing in his head.

They walked quietly down several corridors, their feet scuffing along the cement floor.

“Sensei.”

“Yes, Tomura?”

“If that thing breaks loose, there’s no telling what damage it could do.”

“Hmm. You could be right.”

They rounded a corner, Shigaraki lengthening his steps to keep up with his teacher. He didn’t say anything as they walked down the corridor, noticing the way Sensei’s hands were held behind his back and the way his fingers twitched.

He’s thinking.

They passed under a light, and Sensei spoke up. “We’re getting close to the day where it’s usefulness will be null and void. I’ll have you dispose of it when it’s time.”

Izuku sighed and turned another page of his notebook. He idly scratched at his arm. The spots where he had gotten the shot and his blood drawn were sore and bruised, and it hurt to move. He was in his room, trying to stay warm under his jacket and the thin blanket.

He set the notebook down with a sigh, the page open to Cementoss’ bio. Izuku wished that he still had his pens and pencils, just for something to do, but those had been taken when his school bag got searched.

Izuku shifted on his bed and stared at the handle on the door. It was fairly simple, only a rounded knob with a keyhole in the center. Of course the lock could only be turned from outside the room, otherwise Izuku’s escape attempts would have been far more numerous. He was tempted to try picking the lock, but he didn’t have anything to use as a lockpick, and he doubted he’d get far anyways.

He sighed and gave and impulsive kick at the wall. The problem is that I have no idea where I am. I might be able to get out of the building if given the chance, but beyond that I’m completely in the dark. I might not even be in Japan any more.

Izuku sat up and wrapped the thin blanket around his shoulders, one hand coming up to pinch at his lip as he thought. If I could get closer to Shigaraki, I might be able to find some things out.

The older boy had taken a strange liking to Izuku, possibly because of his youth. For all that Shigaraki looked to be in his late teens or early twenties, he seemed to act more like someone around Izuku’s age. He’d taken the captive boy for walks around the base several times, though they never left the complex and Izuku hadn’t been able to find any windows to look through.

Shigaraki liked to talk about his sensei and the faults of heroic society when he wasn’t watching Izuku. He always had a strange, almost strained, expression when he simply looked at the boy.

Izuku tended not to talk back. He didn’t know how his fanboy tendencies would be received among his captors, but he was willing to bet it wouldn’t be favorable.

“If I’m careful, I think I can, though.” Izuku nodded to himself.

If I’m careful, I can learn what I need to escape.

Author’s Note: The base for Ricci is a gila monster, if anyone’s curious. He’s just a lot quicker and less beefy than the actual animal, though he does produce venom in his lower jaw and his bite is still pretty painful.

This is my first time writing an actual action scene. It was really fun to write, and it’s always a good day when I get to put my martial arts experience to use!! Also, getting this chapter posted is kinda a big thing for me. The last time I got into a Big Fic Project I stalled after the second chapter. Getting to this point sort of feels like I’m finally overcoming that weird hurdle, so thank you for your support and reviews!!

Thanks for reading!!

#mha #bnha #toshinori yagi #izuku midoriya #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #naomasa tsukauchi #endeavor #aphelion #confession time: i have no idea how to write shigaraki #my bad #forged fanfiction

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jmsebastian · 8 years ago

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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Polygon Faces

Sometimes we just have to be honest with ourselves. There is an undeniable charm to many games from the early 3D era. While often unrefined, a style developed that now breeds nostalgia in the way blocky, squat pixel mascots did in a generation prior. Pushing polygons rather than sprites was a new art form, and not many had a clear vision as to how it should go. Many made the push toward photo realism, and in doing so, ended up drowning us in a new surreal, a limbo of concrete and abstract representation. I have a deep fondness for the 32/64 bit generation because it gave way to a new visual language for video games, but like I said before, we have to be honest with ourselves. Sometimes the language being spoken with those ground breaking graphics was unintelligible. Sometimes the results were downright unsettling.

Let’s start with this police officer from Parasite Eve II.

All things considered, this police officer really doesn’t look too bad. He’s got some nice shading and some real definition to his features. This being a 1999 release, it’s pretty clear that Squaresoft had made some real improvements over their earlier forays into 3D gaming:

(Ahem.)

The problem with the officer isn't so much in the level of detail, but really the content of those details, specifically his eyes. With Aya approaching him, his gaze seems to be aimed at nowhere in particular. Given that this game features no voice acting, it isn’t really odd that he would have a neutral expression, but neutral is not really an appropriate description. He looks eerily absent, as unresponsive as a mannequin. Compare that to the beautiful pre-rendered cutscenes that pepper the game and you have yourself quite the disconnect.

Obviously, no Playstation game is going to be rendering characters that look as good as that on the fly, but even compared to Aya’s in game face, the officer looks odd.

This closeup reveals a hint of determination, but also a sense of calm, similar to how she was characterized in the cutscene above. The officer, on the other hand, looks as though he’s never experienced stimulus of any kind.

(There’s just nothing going on in there.)

Parasite Eve II is one of the more technically impressive Playstation games, and as such, its crimes against humanity barely even register. There are modern games that can’t get characters to emote, and their faces can actually move. By that measurement, Officer No Soul is a crowning achievement. Let’s take a look at a game in the same genre and released the same year. Capcom’s Dino Crisis featured a female protagonist, Regina, with the same kind of gun totin’ sex appeal that Aya Brea brought to Squaresoft’s character lineup. For reference, when we thought about Regina, this is what Capcom would have preferred we have in mind:

The unnaturally red hair seems geared at portraying Regina as a fiery, adventurous type. Her look is pointedly alluring, which doesn’t complement the theme of the game in any way, shape or form, but was par for the course after the debut of Lara Croft. Let’s see how well this dinosaur murdering seductress translated into the actual game.

(Oh, god!)

The “come hither” look from the cover seems to have melted like a wax figure. Similar to the officer from Parasite Eve II, Regina lacks any meaningful expression on her face. The texture mapping is slightly misaligned as well, making it so her lips appear to be sliding off to the side of her mouth. What’s most disappointing has to be the way her hair is rendered. This was long before things like cloth physics or individually animated feather blowing in the breeze. I’m empathetic to the constraints of the platform, but I can’t help but feel discontent when I’m teased with distinguished hair strands and am instead given a rust colored crescent moon with some highlights capping her skull.

By 1999, the Playstation had been on the market in Japan for five years. Dino Crisis and Parasite Eve II were games developed and published by big players in the industry. While it’s all well and good to poke fun at their badness now, they were still among the most advanced graphics that could be achieved on the platform. While looking quite dated by the dawn of Sega’s Dreamcast, in the same year as these releases, they managed to hold their own. Results from games much earlier in the system’s library tell a very different tale.

This is from King’s Field, released in North America in 1995. You may have noticed that this man here has no face. There’s an extra polygon showing for his nose, but other than that, we are just staring into the void. Bad faces are unsettling, sure, but no faces is the stuff of nightmares. This game is technically the second in the King’s Field series. The first game, confusingly also just called King’s Field in Japan, released early on in the Playstation’s life, December of 1994.

While many of the established studios were busy mixing pre-rendered backgrounds with polygonal character models in order to maximize the amount of detail they could squeeze out of each scene, From Software decided to go all in on 3D right from the beginning. Nearly everything in this game is built using polygons. Even more impressive, the game continuously streams data from the disc, meaning load times are practically nonexistent once play begins. In order to accomplish that, corners had to be cut. A lot of those corners were in the details department. Most objects are made of simple shapes with little or no texturing. Edges are sharp in a way that feels unnatural. This extends to every face in the game, and is the biggest barrier to buying into the game’s world.

There is something inherently unpleasant about holding conversations with people sans mouth. It was bad enough when characters couldn’t move their lips, but to not have a visual reference for where the speech is supposed to be produced from puts the player in a tough spot. On the one hand, there is plenty of space for the player’s imagination to take over. They can create any character they want due to the faces being literal blank slates. On the other hand, of course, the inability to visually relay more detailed information about its characters through facial expressions means King’s Field has to work harder at the language that’s used when NPCs communicate directly with the player. Overall, the trade off of having a large, fully 3D world at the expense of detail was risky. Given what we know about texture mapping in the ‘90s, I’d say From Software made the right call, even though it meant talking to no faced monstrosities.

I wanted to point out a few bad examples of polygonal faces in order to demonstrate that some games took a completely different approach to the whole 3D thing: mainly, they tried to maximize their capacity to convey information visually by only including the most vital information. In Mega Man Legends, the characters are incredibly blocky. The basic shapes and sharp edges make it so that it looks as though everything was a paper cutout. When looking straight on at a character’s face, all you see is a flat surface with everything simply drawn on top of it. It may not be the most technically impressive, but it allows for a great deal more emotion. Mega Man expresses more with his face in one scene than any of the previously mentioned character do throughout their entire adventures.

Here, Mega Man shows some clear confusion. The simple frown and solid coloring gives him a great deal of personality.

In this shot, Mega Man’s sense of fulfillment is very clear, and all it took was a different mouth texture over the same facial structure. Sure, he doesn’t have the lips and his hair looks poised to pop any balloons that might be floating by, but the anime style art design allows for visual storytelling in a way that many early 3D games just couldn’t pull off.

Another great benefit to Mega Man Legend’s art style is that it has prevented the game from appearing as old as many of its contemporaries. Dino Crisis may have looked really good when it came out in 1999, but when magnified and displayed at resolutions above those that would have been possible on TVs of the time, it’s very obvious what era of video games it was made in. Games with pre-rendered backgrounds look especially bad at higher resolutions because character models and the environments don’t scale together. A character might upres quite well, but then clash horrifically against the blurry, pixelated mess of a backdrop. For anyone playing on the original hardware hooked up to a television of the era, these issues are lessened, or even non-existent thanks to the resolutions and adaptability of CRT technology. When played by more modern means, say on a Playstation 3 via the Playstation Store connected to a nice LCD screen, you can get some very unfortunate results.

Mega Man Legends’ visuals may not hold up perfectly in the modern era, but they can be blown up significantly and still maintain most of their quality. The techniques of simplifying visuals would pay off big for Nintendo just a few years later with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for Gamecube. Basic shapes combined with newly developed cell shading techniques allowed the game’s visuals to be expressive in ways even modern games struggle to match. When played at modern resolutions, The Wind Waker hardly skips a beat.

(That is a look of some serious, and easily distinguishable distaste.)

The increased processing capabilities of the Gamecube meant that visuals for its games would automatically outpace the Playstation, but visual techniques pioneered on that platform gave 3D games a way to circumvent the inherent limitations of the era and technology available to them so that they would have lasting power. It’s important for games to push the boundaries when it comes to visuals, and a cartoonish style certainly isn’t appropriate for every title, but I can’t help but wonder how many times this cycle will repeat. Games developed for the Playstation 3 are already starting to show significant visual age when compared to the newest released on PC, so much so that I almost prefer the abstract horror of bad face texture mapping to settling in the uncanny valley. Graphical fidelity never felt as important as artistic design, a reality that feels more true now probably than ever before.

#ps3 #Dino Crisis #parasite eve ii #playstation #gamecube

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