#and sure it's a cool use of the parallax effect

[superchlorine]

first question: why are there heads in the river?

second question: WHY ARE THEY WATCHING US?!

her eyes at the start of the clip:

her eyes at the end of the clip:

i'm scared...

[gertritude-art]

your carrd is super cool! do you mind telling how you made it? it looks like its coded (aka i had NO idea you could make something like that in the app) and its vibe fucks ^^

Sure! The only two unique pages are the home page and cast page, so I'll just describe those real quick. If there is anything else you want to know about, I can elaborate on that too. This is my first time using carrd, so I'm really no expert here!

On the HOME PAGE, the background is a container with a parallax (which causes the scrolling effect). I also faked the homepage UI by making the text buttons images and adding a brighten effect when hovered over. "DEMON DETANGLED" is a separate image overlaid over everything.

The CAST page is a series of two-column containers. The writing is actually an image, with text in the alt text for screen readers. (saying this and realizing i forgot to put alt text on the other images!!! oh no!!!) This was mostly done to both save on how many assets I was using (since carrd only gives you 50) and also because I wanted everything to be written in that specific font. Unfortunately, I then got lazy, so only the cast page is written in it.

Anyway, no coding used! Just me fiddling with layouts.

[jestersdlc]

Random notes and thoughts from me rewatching Gravity falls first ep (now that im not questioning if its the gnome episode....)

under cut for spoilers....? Mayhaps????

-IT HE in the intro! I can't pause at the right time to FULLY see the page image but it HE! Bill Cypher!!!! He's thereeeee.........(and like triangle motifs all thoughout the 3rd book anyways...

-I continue to love the intros theme music....its so funky!!!! :DDD

-it seems most of the scenes with the cart being driven is with a 3D model....but not always, sometimes its more like a DRAW OVER of the cart with some elements still as 3D assets (the banner thingys on the cart) along with what looks like a 3D model version of Dipper....but its only like this when the cart is smaller on screen...

when up close its usually just 2D animation instead! :DD

-And it looks like the chase scene (and other scenes with the cart speeding and the background blurred trees) is using 3D models for the background and its really funky cause they're lower poly but they look good enough to not draw the eye cause the blur and other visual elements!

-AND THE PARALLAX EFFECTS AHHHHHHHH SO FUNKYYYY

-...the general music within the mystery shake is cool......vaguely spoopy and smoothly fades in and out during convos between Dipper and grunkle stan so far......love the sound of it!!!

-.......who plays X and O's on a journal for supernatural stuff ON THE PAGE FOR VAMPIRE BATS???? (....I know a lot of the little numbers and triangles and other ambiguous shapes and notes are probably not ALL important...some probably are and some are just fluff/filler/red herrings but STILL)

-....the comedic foreshadowing moments of the GNOME page of the book......

-....8190 the arcade in the twins attic room......

-....purple bunnnyyyy on random person in the crowds shirt as grunkle stan argues over the rock that looks like a face FNAF?!?! ....ya probably not but I can pretend still

-Something about Mabel reminds me of Cass, not sure what....hmmmmm......Cass is Mabelcore or Mabel is Casscore /pos

-SMEBULOCK. (....I am likely butchering the spelling)

-..........it looks like all gnomes EXCEPT Jeb (don't like you, you are annoying mr. gnome.) and Smebulock have sharp teeth (....and maybe some normal flat ones....or that was an animation error on the one next to Smebulocks mouth.....) cause they have generic pearly whites and...2 teeth, respectively (the respectfully only applies to Smebulock not Jeb.)

-...ok no, it might not be an animation error, Jason just has weird teeth sitch.....

-.....or they can just change teeth to be sharp.............mayhaps I should stop questioning the teeth of the gnomes so much........Jeb had nubby sharp teeth tho. So it could be a way to appear more harmless to gain favor....like a mimicry behavior for hunting....(like Pinks flase mouth...and other creatures.....traits to give a more docile appearance to be underestimated.....)

-The chase scene music gives spooky retro video game vibes...and I love that so much (...also gives me early 2000's vibes a wee bit at times.......but that could just be my brain comparing it to eps of What's new Scooby-Doo cause <333)

-Ooooooh the leafblower when Jeb's face is being smooshed might be a rig! :DD

-....awkward sibling hug is just.....hug.....but between siblings??? its just a regular hug???

-Grappling hook!!! ......I hope whatever was in the fragile box that was not over wasnt important.....

-....sneaky old man..........mystery rooms in the mystery shake in the place of much mystery and eccentricity.....

-I know he's probably fine but with the (likely intentional for atmospheric affect) vending machines lights go out I wonder if he's just trapped back there now cause it ran out of juice......again he's probably fine but its a thought

-.........I would hate to think of how long it took them to get the audio for the GNOME PUKING in the credits and how many possible retakes they mightve had to do cause it is LONG bloody 'ell....

Watch through number 2 complete! Now some time to digest it before watching again :3

[lovelylogans]

parallax

parallax, noun: the apparent offset of a foreground object against the background when your perspective changes. at a given instant, the moon appears among different stars for observers at widely separated locations on earth. astronomers directly calculate the distance to a nearby star by measuring its incredibly small positional changes (its parallax) as earth orbits the sun.

warnings: staying up late, unhealthy study habits, please let me know if i’ve missed any!

pairing: virgil/logan

word count: 2,211

notes: this is for day 2 of @analogicalweek! the prompt of the day is “song/stars” and i have decided to write about stars! please enjoy!

⁂

“Barlow lens,” Virgil reads off the notecard.

“A lens that’s placed into the focusing tube to effectively double or triple a telescope’s focal length and, in turn, the magnification of any eyepiece used with it,” Logan recites. His glasses are off, his hands are over his eyes, and if not for the absurd amounts of coffee they had both consumed and the bright lights of the empty classroom they are occupying, Logan would probably fall asleep.

If not for the fact that Logan loves astronomy so much, he would gladly fold it in for the night and get some much-needed rest. As it is, Virgil is also in his class, and he does not hold the same inclination for the subject.

And also, Logan has a massive crush on Virgil and would likely do anything he asks, except Virgil doesn’t know that part. He likely thinks that Logan is helping him study because of his deep love of science.

“Good. Me now.”

Logan picks up a notecard at random and squints it, resettling his glasses on his nose. “Nebula.”

“Great clouds of glowing gas, lit up by stars inside or nearby.”

“Dark nebula?”

“Not lit up and are visible only because they block the light of stars behind them.”

“Latin for?”

“Cloud.”

“Good,” Logan says, tucking the notecard at the bottom of the pile, or as close as a pile as he can get. Their study materials have made quite a mess. The notecards that Logan made are sprawled across the table, some tucked under their notebooks, and Virgil’s pens are tossed along the table within easy reach. The whiteboard is already filled up with mixtures of both of their handwriting, highlighting key concepts that they’d wanted to go through in this study session. They’re almost all crossed out—all that’s left is general review of key terms.

“Oh, here’s a hard one for you,” Virgil says. His black hair is sticking up in tufts, because he’s been running his hands through it and tugging at the ends for the entirety of their marathon study session. It makes him look very cute. “Albedo feature, and tell me a prominent one.”

“A large area on the surface of a reflecting object that shows a significant contrast in brightness or darkness compared to adjacent areas,” Logan says. “And Syrtis Major, on Mars.”

“You didn’t even hesitate,” Virgil says. “You’re definitely gonna ace this final.”

“Well, obviously,” Logan says, and it only occurs to him to perhaps pretend at humbleness when Virgil snorts. Logan feels his face heat, and he says, “I mean—”

“Nah, nah, it’s cool,” Virgil says, stretching out his long, pale arms, and Logan hopes he isn’t too obvious as he stares at the subtle lines of his biceps, his triceps, his flexor carpi radialis. He had taken off his hoodie two hours in, and his binder not long after that, leaving him in a loose black cap-sleeved t-shirt. Seeing him in it is its own unique brand of torture. Surely if he can manage to recall terms while staring at Virgil’s collarbones and the hollow of his throat he will be able to withstand whatever foot-tapping and pencil-chewing will occur in the large lecture hall during their final.

“You’re the one who’s gonna go for a doctorate in this, it makes sense that you’re incredible at it,” Virgil says. “I know it’s a big deal for you.”

“It is,” Logan says. Virgil knows this. They know quite a lot about each others’ life stories—Logan is the first in his family to attend college in America, let alone achieve a doctorate here. His parents immigrated from Nigeria shortly after his birth and all of them have worked hard—his parents, to provide a life for him here, Logan, to get into a good university in the first place.

“I’m the one who has to worry about making it out of their lab elective with a decent enough grade.” 

He knows that Virgil works hard, too. Their scholarship depends on maintaining a certain grade point average. There is no way Virgil would have achieved this scholarship if he did not work hard, let alone the fact that they have been studying in each others’ presence for the entire school year.

“You’ve done wonderfully this semester,” Logan says stubbornly. “The only way you will fail is if they feed the scantron in wrong while they’re grading and that’s easily remedied.”

Virgil’s brow quirks. “Thanks, specs,” he says, then makes a face, as if realizing how much he sounded like Roman just then.

“It’s just,” Virgil says, then hesitates before he shrugs and looks down at his notebook, avoiding Logan’s eyes. “I dunno. Um, I never really thought college would be an option, ‘till I got my scholarships.”

Logan, familiar with this story, just nods.

“And I,” he sighs, before he says in a whisper, “I really like it here. At university. I didn’t expect to like it so much. I need—if I want to stay, and I do. I need those good grades. And I want to stay, and the scholarship’s let me put aside enough money so I nearly have enough for top surgery, which I won’t be able to do if I lose my scholarship. So. I’m a bit.” A drum of his fingers. “A bit anxious.”

Logan surveys Virgil for a few seconds.

Virgil’s black bangs has swept over his face, obscuring most of his expression from Logan’s view. But he can see the muscle in Virgil’s jaw jumping, his shoulders practically hiked up to his ears. Even without the verbal acknowledgement, Virgil is portraying enough of the physical signs of anxiety that is obvious even to Logan’s emotionally oblivious eye.

Logan pauses, before he reaches across and places his hand on Virgil’s wrist. He likes the feel of it there—Virgil’s skin, chilled from the air conditioning, cooling Logan’s warm palm. He likes the look of it, too, the contrast of them, Logan’s skin seeming even darker against Virgil’s paleness. Considering Logan is black, this is something of a feat, and Virgil would likely have some sort of joke about how he is so absurdly pale that he manages to refract light.

Virgil looks up and chuckles awkwardly.

“But, y’know,” he says. “When am I not a bit anxious, right?”

He does not dislodge Logan’s hand, though. Instead he covers Logan’s hand with his own—his hand is quite large, and it is also cool from the air conditioning. The temperature of Virgil’s hand does not quite explain the jolt in Logan’s stomach.

Logan considers him for a few more moments.

“I have another astronomical term for you to learn,” Logan says decisively, and slides off the desk, standing on his own two feet “But you’ll have to follow me to learn it.”

Virgil’s lip quirks up. “Yeah?”

“Yes.”

Virgil smile widens. “All right, then.”

Logan’s stomach flutters, and he quickly turns his attention to gathering his notecards and notebooks as tidily and swiftly as possible, placing them into his backpack.

Virgil puts all of his things in his own backpack, and when Logan asks him if he’s ready, he simply ambles along after Logan as they walk out of the empty, quiet building on their university campus’ quadrangle. 

Logan leads them to the center of the grassy area, looking around, before he nods decisively and sets his backpack on the ground. He opens a pocket and fishes out the compact travel blanket he has in there.

Virgil laughs as Logan unfolds it. “You have a blanket in there?”

“Of course I have a blanket in here,” Logan says, shaking out the blanket before he lays it out on the grass. “Blankets are ideal for providing significant warmth and offering protection from hypothermia and precipitation.”

“You and your Mary Poppins backpack,” Virgil says, but there is a tone in his voice that Logan... hesitates to describe.

Is it, perhaps, fondness?

No. Logan is likely projecting his crush onto Virgil. He has a tendency to do that. Wishful thinking has been studied by various disciplines of thought and it is a very common occurrence for many people.

Logan wishes it would not be so common for him, though.

Virgil sits on the blanket, then.

“So,” he prompts. “That astronomical term you wanted to teach me?”

Logan smiles, just a little.

“Star party,” he says. “A gathering of amateur astronomers for the purpose of observing objects and events in the sky.”

He tilts back so he’s lying down on his back. He would be looking directly up at the sky, but he tilts his head so he can see Virgil instead.

Virgil’s smile has gone soft. “You want to star-gaze with me?”

As an answer, Logan pats the blanket, as a silent entreatment for Virgil to lie back. Virgil grins, shaking his head, before he acquiesces, settling on the blanket.

It would be so easy to reach over and touch him. It would be only a little bit more effort to roll and balance himself on his elbows, so his face hovers above Virgil’s. And from there it would just be the slightest downward tilt—

Logan redirects his attention to the night sky.

Though it is, obviously, not quite as good a view as they would have had in a more rural location—light pollution is a given on such a large campus—it is still quite a nice night. There are very little clouds in the sky and it is late enough that the moon hangs almost directly overhead. 

Logan points upward at a slight slant, using his right arm rather than his left, so that he will be able to look over and see Virgil’s face without having to lower his arm. “Polaris.”

Virgil shifts, close enough that it would only take the slightest jostle for their arms to touch. “The north star,” he says, and squints up at the sky. “Which means,” he reaches up to take Logan’s wrist in hand, using his outer arm, not the arm that is nearly touching Logan’s, and directs it slightly and Logan can’t breathe, “that Ursa Minor is right over here. Shame we can’t really see it.”

Logan hesitates, biting his lip, before he directs both of their hands again. 

“We can slightly see Ursa Major, though.”

Virgil shifts again, his shoulder pressed against Logan’s. “Huh. We sure can.”

Logan traces the shape in the sky, Virgil’s hand cool, loosely wrapped around his wrist. Logan hopes that Virgil cannot feel how quick his pulse is. “Colloquially known as the Big Dipper.”

Virgil shifts again. Their legs are pressed together now.

Logan continues, trying his hardest not to react, “Though of course, the Big Dipper is only part of Ursa Major. An easy point to find so you can see the rest of the Big Bear, which is—which is a more direct title for Ursa Major.”

“Mhm,” Virgil hums. He can feel the warmth of Virgil’s breath at the shell of his ear. “Hey, I think I see Orion?”

Logan would look up at the sky to continue his quasi-lecture, but instead he turns his head so that he will be able to see Virgil.

Virgil turns at the same time. There is a soft smile on his face.

Logan swallows hard. A hand around his wrist. Continually shifting closer to touch him. What he’d thought might be fondness in Virgil’s voice.

Conjecture: perhaps... Logan isn’t submitting to wishful thinking. Perhaps Logan is simply observing.

“Virgil?” He whispers.

“Yeah?”

“Are you flirting with me?”

Virgil’s eyes crinkle up as his smile widens.

“Logan, I’ve been trying to flirt with you all semester.”

“Oh,” he breathes out. “Okay.”

Virgil lowers their hands from pointing at the sky so their arms rest upon their bodies, and he shifts his hands so that his fingers intertwine with Logan’s.

“I really like you,” Virgil says. His voice is trembling. His hand is shaking in Logan’s.

Logan’s eyes sting. He squeezes Virgil’s hand tightly. “I really like you too.”

Virgil laughs, but it sounds relieved more than anything.

“Um, okay,” Virgil says, looking a little stunned, as if he did not expect this to go as well as it is going. It’s very likely he did not, considering his anxiety disorder. “Cool. That’s—yeah. Great. Um. Wow.”

“I,” Logan says, and he bites his lip. “I do not have much experience with this. Liking boys. Dating, at all. I would like to have that experience with you. Would it be acceptable if I were to kiss you right now?”

“Incredibly,” Virgil says, “Incredibly acceptable.”

Logan releases Virgil’s hand, and carefully rolls so that he is hovering over Virgil the best he can. He has never approached kissing anyone like this before.

He has never kissed anyone before.

Logan takes in a deep breath, swallows hard, and figures he may as well just make an attempt. His heart is thundering in his chest. His hands are sweaty. He angles his face toward Virgil’s and closes his eyes.

Virgil’s hand settles on Logan’s back, and their lips meet.

And very suddenly, the two activities presented to Logan right now are star-gazing or kissing Virgil. And now he is kissing Virgil. He finds that he does not want to stop kissing Virgil.

Star-gazing would have to wait.

[ask-de-writer]

LEZON (part 2 of 3), a Science Fiction tale.

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to Science Fiction

Lezon

by

Glen Ten-Eyck (De Writer)

17837 words

copyright 2020 by Glen Ten-Eyck

written, 2003

All   rights reserved. This document may not be copied or distributed on  or   to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the   express  written consent of the author.

//////////////

Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users  of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.   They may  reblog the story.  They may use the characters or original  characters in  my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or  fan musical  compositions, provided that such things are done without  charge.  I will  allow those who do commission art works to charge for  their images.  

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fictions is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

Detection failed to answer. She was unconscious. A head wound showed how her primary screen had been broken. Fire control, stanching a cut forearm answered. “Ma’am, it was a pulsed tachyon burst with a signature like none that I have ever heard of. There were seven pulses of ten megatons each, spaced unevenly over a period of less than one second.

“The Talon’s power capsule let go. That’s what caused most of the damage. I spotted the targeting ping and secured the shields. If the Talon had still been at our shield boundary, as it was before I tightened up, we would have been destroyed by the blast. We have retained sufficient fire power to defend ourselves and have no damage to the main engines…”

“I just heard sixty five percent. That sounds like damage to me,” M’ase stated.

“We lost two of the five primary superconductor cables, Ma’am. I talked to engineering just moments ago. Most of the damage in the power room is due to superconductor saturation blast. It will take them about an hour to clear the damage enough to string and cool the replacements. We have full in-system power but lack fine maneuvering capability.”

“Why did you call engineering? Was it about your gun batteries?”

“No Ma’am, I already knew their condition. I was trying to identify the nature of the pulse weapon. They’ve never heard of anything like it before either.”

“I see,” M’ase cocked her head at fire control and asked, “Recommendations?”

“The ragged nature of the pulse spacing is hard on our shielding generators, especially now, with them damaged. Under no circumstance should we get closer to this weapon than 15 C seconds if it can be avoided, until the generator repairs are complete.”

“Good, fire control. Do you have any knowledge of where the shot came from?” asked M’ase, urgently and intensely curious.

“I found that by accident. The blast scar can still be seen in the atmosphere of the nearby gas-giant. I returned fire with all surviving batteries as the tumbling of the ship rotated them to bear. I doubt that I did any damage, Ma’am.”

“Cease fire. I will log a commendation for saving the ship. You may get your first Name from this.”

/////////////////////////////

Below the clouds of methane ammonia and hydrogen, Lezon, true to her determination, had fired her one carefully set up burst and boosted the D’ancer away from the spot as swiftly as she could go. She was maintaining their speed by watching the skin temperature readings, going just slow enough not to burn the ship by friction as she tried to put the bulk of the planet between herself and the enemy. The impact blasts of the return fire from the Hand of Claws could be felt jolting the ship until they got well clear.

She was barely holding her tears, knowing what she had done to those enemies that she had once known so well. Her lifelong training in the Warrior’s Way stood her in good stead.

Lezon had her emotions under control by the time that a dripping wet K’ress joined her. “I went into the tank with the kits until the worst seemed over. What can I do now?”

Lezon looked at K’ress with approval. In spite of all of the shocks and horrors of the day, K’ress stood ready to help. “Activate 14-25 again. I need to know what we did before we jump into their jaws.”

K’ress settled into her crash couch and began to call up information. “You have been busy, haven’t you Lezon? The big ship is tumbling. It looks to be out of control. I can only find one thing that might be a Talon but the computer isn’t sure and flagged it with an uncertainty icon. Here, you take a look.” She put the information on Lezon’s screen while Lezon concentrated on flying the D’ancer like an aircraft in this soup of an atmosphere.

“That was a Talon. It’s destroyed but mostly intact. Give me scale plus one hundred on the Hand of Claws,” Lezon instructed.

She studied the new images for a few moments. “Damaged, not out of action,” she pronounced. “The time to make our break is now, before they get the tumble under control.”

As Lezon’s hands began to dance across the controls, K’ress asked, “What was that funny pounding we felt?”

Lezon absently said, “You mean their return fire?”

“No, we all felt that too,” K’ress said positively. “I mean our salvo. It felt wrong.”

“Lady K’ress,” said Lezon carefully, looking like a kit caught raiding the galley for snacks, “I modified our batteries for more effective fire-power. Each gun now fires a ten megaton pulse that is brief enough that the five kiloton continuous fire provision is observed. We just hit harder for a shorter time.”

“Lezon, is that even legal?”

“As I have read your laws and treaties, yes. The T.C. sealed it as legal. I am sure that Commander M’ase would disagree. She was on the receiving end. That often gives you a different point of view.”

“I see,” said K’ress dryly. “What was it that we did in the power room?”

“Lady, we gave the grav compensator power to the inertial drive. Comfort is a luxury that we cannot afford when it consumes nearly one fourth of all of our power. The Restriction field and primary inertial drive together will energy lock us and prevent us from feeling acceleration changes once we can start them up.

“We need to run now, before they regain control, which they will soon.” Her hands were busy with the engineering controls and the piloting computer. K’ress could see that the routines that Lezon was calling up were ones that would never, could never, be found in a proper Clan ship.

The routines cut too close to the ship’s absolute limits for safety and that was only the beginning. There were alterations being made to the shielding generators’ programming. The Contraction Restriction fields that allowed light to be outpaced lost their safety interlocks. All of the guns in each battery were set to do automatic independent targeting when not directed. Just seeing what the small ship that she had called home might be able to do caused K’ress to shrink inside just a bit and also to be glad that she had the help of somebody like Lezon who knew how to do these things properly.

As Lezon reached for the Restriction field controls, K’ress said in a small voice, “We are still in an atmosphere.”

Lezon just said, “I know that, Lady. There is nothing here to harm.” She touched the activation key.

///////////////////////////

M’ase watched as the damage control workers were replacing the broken detection screens. She fumed a bit, at the loss of long range scanning ability but it would soon be online again.

Damage control was far more concerned with replacing the tachyon radiator in order to restore faster than light capability to the ship. That was nearly done. She had allowed the ship to continue tumbling even though attitude control had been restored. It would deceive her adversary about their true abilities.

In the meantime, fire control was keeping a close eye on the gas-giant with the targeting arrays. The Clan ship was down there somewhere, hidden in the natural tachyon noise of the planet.

Fire control almost yelled, “Found them! They’re breaking out toward the primary!”

M’ase spat a few choice M’cratti curses, while admiring her adversary’s skills, ability and daring. She could see the rising fireball spreading across almost a tenth of the planet’s visible area. When it could rise no further, it sat there, a huge glowing wart on the side of the planet. A glaring point of efficiently fusing hydrogen rose, apparently off center in the wart, due to parallax.

“Fire!” she called, and when nothing happened called again, Fire! They’re getting away!” Finally, seconds after the order, the big disruptors of the Hand of Claws came on line. There was a small puff of vapor from the fleeing ship as it got clear of the salvo. The pilot, acting without orders, was already sounding the maneuvering warnings and stabilizing the ship. Her action had taken the operational battery out of the line of fire, regrettable but necessary, if they were to follow the Clanner.

“Damage analysis,” announced fire control. “We have iron, titanium, copper and rubidium. They lost one of their tachyon radiators.”

The ship began to shake in the irregular lack of pattern already seen in the unusual weapons of the enemy. “They are laying down a very effective suppression fire. Every time that one of our functional batteries comes to bear, they hammer it, preventing us from returning fire. When there is no other target, they concentrate on our shield emitters. They may actually damage us with those guns if we get too close.”

M’ase wrinkled her muzzle in amusement at that. “Little fear of getting too close for a while. I wonder how they pulled off that trick down on the planet? And how they survived it.

“They have the jump on us but we can outrun them in a long chase,” said M’ase in satisfaction. “We got one of their tachyon radiators. If they try going too fast, their Restriction field generators will overload and save us the trouble of destroying them.”

The damage control technician reported, “Long range scanner is back to function, Ma’am. It needs proper calibration before it will be much use for detail work but it will keep us pointed in the right direction and warn us of hazards.”

M’ase absently acknowledged the report and got a new person on the detection console scanners. Her restless pacing brought her behind the pilot. “Pilot, how fast can you get us up to ramjet ignition speed?”

“Less than an hour, Ma’am. Faster, if engineering can finish the cable repairs for the inertial drive. We only have seventy five percent of full power right now.” The pilot was already boosting the Hand of Claws out after the fleeing Clan ship that was making a dive straight for the primary at a crushing acceleration.

“They’re doing a Lezon Dive,” the life support officer observed. “I wonder if they plan to make a powered cometary orbit and come back at us in a classic Lezon attack or if they will leave the system?”

M’ase paced past the new detection officer, pausing to check the quality of the scanner for herself. As the technician had said, it was too inaccurate to tie in to fire control properly. Still, it told a useful story.

“They are going to leave the system,” M’ase observed over the detection officer’s shoulder. “Do you know how I know that?”

This detection officer was young and new to the bridge crew. She desperately wanted to impress the Commander. She called up the observed operational profile of the fleeing ship and its class details along side it. Her eyes widened as she read. Tapping her information screen she said, “This is wrong. They are far out-performing their class limits.” She closed the useless class material and concentrated on the observed data.

“Ma’am I think that I see it. If I read what I see from the targeting array correctly, they used the Restriction field and the ramjet fusion igniter deep in the atmosphere.

“A few thousand tons of the hydrogen in the atmosphere fused when they did that. The detonation was both the fireball that we saw and the launcher that got them up to ramjet speed. They are already up to 0.085 C in a Lezon Dive and accelerating. Assuming that they are using full power to get away from us, they haven’t got enough engine power to pull a cometary that could be used for an attack. Also, the weapons that they have used are too light to attack us successfully. There is no point to a wide orbit that opens them up to our longer range weapons, so they are going to keep right on boosting and leave the system.”

The detection officer shuddered at the thought of someone doing such an insanely risky thing as the method that the Clanner had used to launch itself. Under most circumstances, a pilot would be executed simply for activating a Restriction field in an atmosphere because of the damage it could do to both planet and ship. Firing the ramjet’s fusion igniter in a hydrogen rich atmosphere was only a flavor dip for the snack.

“Well reasoned,” M’ase complimented. “You are a fine Warrior. Find me their possible courses. We are going to lose them against the radiation and tachyon flux of the sun shortly.”

Engineering got the last cable repaired and they achieved ramjet speed in only a little more than a half of an hour. The chase was on.

As the Hand of Claws began to catch up, the stern batteries of the D’ancer began to pour a nearly continuous fire of ten megaton pulses at the shield and Restriction arrays of the pursuing ship.

////////////////////////

K’ress came to, groggily aware that the D’ancer’s guns were firing. She gazed about the control room and saw superficial damage, caused by a massive acceleration, only partly shielded and compensated. They were still accelerating. She could tell that by both the screens and the pressure that held her into her crash couch. Lezon was wasting no power on frills like balancing out the ramjet thrust. The forward view showed the star swelling almost as she watched. She needed to check the course to be sure that they were going to miss it.

The rear view screens were being used for targeting. Lezon was not only alert, she was making constant, minute adjustments to the point of aim. Even at nearly 15 C seconds range, she was still aiming her fire with an accuracy that would have been deadly if her target had been less well shielded.

“Lezon, what happened? This says that we have only been underway for an hour and a half. How did the fusion ramjet get lit? It takes us three hours on inertial drive to get to ramjet speed.”

Lezon did not spare a glance for K’ress, concentrating fiercely on her targeting. She did, however, answer. “Lady K’ress, we have been at ramjet speed since the first one minute and eighty five seconds from launch. What we did back there is the reason why it is against the law to establish a Restriction field in an atmosphere.

“The field, along with our shields, protected us at the same time that it initiated fusion in a dense atmosphere rich in deuterium and tritium. The blast was somewhat larger than I expected but it has damped out. We rode the shock wave of the explosion as a launcher. As soon as we were clear of the atmosphere I started the ramjet. We never needed to use the inertial drive to get up to speed at all.”

K’ress digested the information in silence, studying the screens. “They easily have the power to catch up to us. Their shields seem to be strong. Why are they hanging back?”

Lezon gently bit her tongue before answering. “They have a very good fire control officer and their detection officer is no slouch either. They suspect, and rightly, that I would kill them if they got closer.”

Suddenly, K’ress’s attention was caught by one number in the data on the screens. “Lezon! We are nowhere near C and the Restriction field is already up to point three six! If it hits point seven the overload will blast us out of space for the M’cratti.”

“I am aware of the problem, Lady K’ress. And so are they. That is why they are following us so tightly. They are giving us no chance to repair the one good hit they got. The number three tachyon radiator was destroyed as we went past them while launching from the Gas-giant. Their fire control officer is good, or very lucky. Good, if I know M’ase.”

“Is there anything that we can do about the tachyon radiator, Lezon? I don’t want our kits to die.”

“Lady K’ress, I don’t either. There is something that you can do. I cannot leave my post. In the power room, connect TY-330-rd and TY-331-rd across to the extra connectors on ARS-4-1/7.

“Get the kits out of the exercise tank and have them help you. Put T’cill at the engineering comm to let me know as soon as you have done it. Stay at your posts. There will be more to do after that is finished.”

“Yes, Lezon. We’ll get it done as fast as we can.” She went down the central passage and collected T’cill, T’lass and K’sere from the exercise tank.

In engineering, K’sere was the first to find the TY-330-rd and TY-331-rd cables. Little T’lass scrambled around the cables that had multiple ends and found the ARS-4-1/7. K’ress had the kits hold onto the first of the two cables as she pulled the quick-connect handle. There was a brief spurt of vapor as a little liquid nitrogen in the joint evaporated. The kits took the weight of the cable as it came loose and K’ress guided it to the proper connector and latched it into place.

“Mother K’ress?”

“Yes, K’sere?”

“This is hard work but you and T’cill could do it all by yourselves. Why did Lezon send us all down here?”

“Hold the cable, Little One, while I get the connector loose. There … I think that she sent us all to the best protected part of the ship.”

“I see … push it between these two, Mommy. It will go straight to its connector … Why is she fighting so hard to protect us?”

“T’cass would never allow us to treat her as a slave so she has always been a part of the family. The M’cratt are not supposed to love anybody. It doesn’t mean that they can’t. I think that after she was raised without love, she found it here with us. I believe that she treasures love more for finding it late.”

K’sere considered this information for a moment, brow wrinkled and whiskers twitching with concentration, before changing her line of questions. “Why wouldn’t Mommy,” she swallowed a lump in her throat before saying the name, “T’cass let you treat Lezon like a slave?”

“At the battle of K’stall, T’cass flew a fighter and battled a Talon to a standoff. Neither could gain the advantage needed to destroy the other. T’cass ran out of ammunition and weapon energy. The Talon pilot got into tight formation with her and gave her a M’cratt Warrior’s Salute and signaled that they would fight again if the goddesses permitted. That Talon escorted T’cass back to the safety of Clan territory.

“Later, after the battle at Monafar, T’cass found a wrecked Talon that she thought was the same one that she had fought before, at K’stall. Lezon was in that Talon, alive but seriously injured. T’cass spent all of her war booty and battle pay to heal Lezon and always believed that Lezon was the pilot who had spared her life.”

T’lass entered the conversation as the connector was drawn up tight. “We were talking about Lezon while we were in the tank. We think that since those bad people killed M’rel, Lezon should marry you and become part of the Clan. She’s taken care of us and taught us. We already love her.”

While her kit was talking, K’ress was trying to get the connector to close up. It was resisting. Worse, it was leaking a spray of liquid nitrogen. She released the connector and saw that an O-ring was damaged. She consulted the information etched into the metal of the connector and said, “Get a number thirty seven O-ring. T’cill will know where they are. Run!” K’sere ran and told her sister what was needed. K’ress and T’lass heard the sound of rummaging in a supply locker. T’cill bounded in with the needed O-ring and K’ress quickly fitted it into place. This time, the connector closed up properly.

T’cill called Lezon and told her of the completion of the errand. The response, heard over the unsteady pounding of the stern battery, was, “Good! Now pull the P-12 off of the ARS-4-1/7 and hook it to ID-2. Then everybody get back in the tank except K’ress. I need her up here.”

K’sere spoke for all of the kits when she said, “Lezon, why do we have to ride in the tank? I want to see what’s going on.”

“K’sere, I have sworn to get you safe or die in the attempt. I need all of the power I can get for drives and guns. The tank will shield you from radiation if we have a shield breach and buoyancy will shield you from acceleration changes. It already has.”

The dejected kits were making their way back to the tank when T’cill was hit by inspiration.

“We can set up a projection computer link by the tank and focus it on the ceiling. If we put a comm link beside it, we can communicate with the bridge. It will only take a few minutes! Can we do it, K’ress?”

“If Lezon agrees. We are in her hands, now,” K’ress said, pausing by a comm link. She talked for a few moments and turned beaming to the kits. “She thinks it is a good idea. You have five minutes to set it up before she begins our next maneuvers.”

The kits were gone in a flash to get the equipment and set it up. They reported to the bridge in four minutes that they were ready and in the tank.

K’ress was in her crash couch and waiting, watching as Lezon’s hands danced, constantly updating the instructions to the targeting computer. She spoke, still glued to her screens, “K’ress, we will soon be putting the bulge of the star between us and the Hand of Claws. Already, the accuracy of our fire is suffering from passing through the photosphere. They are trying to close up on us, to follow our turn as tightly as possible and cut us off if they can. I want them to. There is a surprise awaiting them at the end of this dive, I hope.

“On your screen are the figures for the maneuver. You fly the ship and I will handle the guns.”

K’ress looked in awe at the figures. “I had no idea that the D’ancer was capable of doing something like this. I will fly it as you have it. I just noticed that the Restriction field is down to point two, where it belongs, how did we get the tachyon radiator fixed?”

Lezon grinned ferally. “You did that when you routed the field flux cables into the guns. As long as we keep firing, we can hold the field down to safe levels.”

“I see. Ingenious. Do M’cratti ships use that dodge to dump surplus tachyon flux?”

“Not unless they figured it out since the last war. Do you see the Restriction field buildup to point five in the turn?”

“Yes, is that because we will be around the star from them and don’t need to shoot?” asked K’ress, setting up the piloting computer.

“Only partly. That is part of their surprise. We are going to use the engineering maintenance bypasses to shut off the remaining radiators. Then we are going to collapse the field manually on my mark because the computer is programmed against it. When we do, the energy of the field will transfer to every atom of the ship and either we will explode or it will leave us on our new course at about 0.54 C. Then we get the joy of trying to restart the field quickly.”

K’ress said nothing to this. She knew that the maneuver was dangerous and risked severe damage or the destruction to the D’ancer. Certainly, the risks from wrecking the Restriction field generators were less than the risk of staying under the guns of the Hand of Claws. She opened the locked engineering panels and began to set things up.

When she was done, she announced, “It’s set, Lezon. All that you have to do is cut power to the inertial drive and switch it back on.”

////////////////////////////

“Ma’am, I have the Clanner’s likely courses in this blue cone, probability sixty percent, given their speed at the end of the dive as .3 C and the gravitational pull of the star. These courses all add energy by gravitational slingshot principle. The red cone is less likely, being ones in the ship’s observed combined drive energy potential they are graded by shade. The tight yellow cone is where I personally think that they are trying to go. There is a Clan colony at this star, only 32 C years away.” Detection leaned forward to tap her screen with an extended claw at the indicated star.

M’ase looked at detection’s display. She could find no fault with the reasoning. That, in point of fact, was what bothered her.

She placed a hand on detection’s shoulder, a familiarity of high praise for one with a Name to one without. Thoughtfully she advised, “This adversary is as unorthodox as Lezon was. What could she do if she tried something else? Think outside the normal rules. You have seen some of her tactics already. She is not afraid to risk her ship to catch us by surprise.”

Detection tapped her right fang lightly as she thought. Then she began to query the computer’s known facts about small family class Clan ships. Shortly, she began to type information into the computer’s course generation program.

M’ase watched as the new possible courses began to unfold. “What did you assume to produce these?” She asked, amazed by the array of possibles.

“Ma’am, I assumed that they might use the collapse of the Restriction field as a source of energy for changing course. It seemed likely, since she has already used the Restriction field in an unorthodox way.”

M’ase laid a hand on detection’s shoulder for a second time. High praise indeed. She studied the huge array of courses that had opened up and reached several conclusions. “I see three destinations that I would rank as highly probable. What do you think, detection?”

Detection expanded her scales to include the four nearest Clan colonies and studied the result. She felt the hand on her shoulder as a weight of responsibility and trust. She pointed first, then added yellow highlights to make her choices clear. “Any of these colonies are less than six months flight time away. If I were in her place, I would therefore not head for any of them. I would go for this closely spaced trinary system.” She added a white highlight for the course.

Detection heard a slight hiss of breath drawn. M’ase was looking at the display in both delight and dismay. All that she said was, “Brilliant.”

M’ase reached over detection’s shoulder and tapped keys on detection’s console. The display had been sent to the pilot with an order. “Alter course immediately, full power.” To detection, she said, “The star hides her from us. It also hides us from her. If she does do what you have guessed, think deeply on your first Name.”

//////////////////////////

K’ress finished her piloting computer setup and asked, “Why not just head for one of these colonies? The Clan there will protect us and we could make our claim.” She highlighted the four colonies on the screen. “We would come out of the maneuver at nearly 0.7 C if we went in their direction.”

“That is true, my Lady. Unfortunately, we would never arrive. The Hand of Claws is faster than we are. If we went directly for one of the four that you have chosen, they would fall back out of range of our guns and finish their repairs. Then they would catch up and we would have to fight a flock of Talons that know what we can do. We would not survive the encounter.”

Lezon adjusted the scale and highlighted two different courses about the star. “The red course is the one that they will follow if they think to pursue us to the colonies that you have chosen. The yellow one is the one that they will follow if they think to try cutting us off from the trinary suns.”

“Now you have made me very curious about those stars,” stated K’ress. “What is special about them?”

“Education time,” Lezon announced through the computer more cheerfully than she actually felt. “Does anybody see anything about those three stars that is unusual or useful?”

Dubiously, T’lass, the youngest, ventured, “They’re awfully close to each other — only about a C hour apart. That makes them rotate around their center awfully fast. I don’t know how useful that is.”

T’cill suddenly had it. “The space-time curvature around them will be fierce and generated by a three-body problem. It will be impossible for a ship to simply follow us through! The orbits change so quickly that they will have to figure their own course solution and if they miss on which system we are going to, they will lose us for good.”

Lezon beamed approvingly as she continued to pour fire at the oncoming ship. “You remembered your relative frames of reference theory, T’cill. I am proud of you. You too, T’lass. You laid the base of information that T’cill used. You are both right. Snack points.

“Astronomically these stars are only mildly interesting. Tactically, they are M’ase’s worst nightmare. If she falls back out of range to make repairs she can’t catch us before we turn. If she stays close enough to be in range, radiation from our guns will prevent her from repairs to missile launchers and Talon bays.

“The stars are only three weeks flight from here and we can use them for a gravity slingshot to any of these three colonies” Lezon completed her lesson by highlighting their possible destinations.

/////////////////////////

“Commander M’ase, we have lost them against the background of the stellar flux,” detection said calmly. “Just as expected, they appeared to be shaping their orbit to aim for the Clan colony 32 C years off.”

The pilot interposed, jealous at detection’s two touches of familiarity and praise, not to mention the promise of a Name so soon, “It is not too late to pursue. The system that we are shaping for is not even a good hiding place. The gravitational situation is too complex. That’s why close triples never have planets…”

“And big blue stars never have anything but giant planets. Either stony-giants in close or gas-giants further out,” M’ase finished for her.

The pilot laid her ears back in embarrassment. She held to the full power course change thinking to herself, “Following that kit’s advice will lose them for us! The Commander is getting soft.”

Moments later, fire control sounded the action alarms and began trying to track a target crossing their orbit less than two C seconds ahead but moving at over 0.5 C and boosting. She almost had it locked on when it fired first.

The first pulse, just at 140 megatons, was a direct hit over the forward tachyon battery, next to the sensor grid, the second, hit the Restriction field emitter a glancing blow. If the shields had not been up at full strength, the Hand of Claws would have been destroyed. The pilot had just time to chop off drive power as the ship was hurled tumbling off course. The Restriction field was, mercifully, still operational. The long range sensors were out of action and damage reports were coming in from all over the ship. Mostly crew injuries, this time, and one major hull breach forward.

Fire control still had the enemy on her screens but there was nothing that she could do. Her only functional forward battery was a disruptor with a maximum range of only 30 C seconds and easily shielded against at any range over 10 C seconds. The hull breach was all that was left of the only forward tachyon battery that had survived the Talon blast.

The pilot was working carefully to regain control. The moment that they could begin to boost out along the course that the fleeing Clanner was following, she did. It was the course predicted by detection.

M’ase turned to fire control. She had just one word. “How?”

Fire control was studying her records of the chase and had the class information for the enemy up along side it. Her answer was, “I’m not certain but I think that I see how they are doing it. I need a little more analysis time. My previous warning to hang back at least 15 C seconds stands.

“They may have outsmarted themselves this time, though. They have tried to restart their Restriction field. Twice. So far, without success. They are going too fast for it to be easy to do. Starting threshold energy increases with speed.” She showed her fangs in a wide grin.

The pilot put in sourly, “I could collapse our restriction field to boost us after them but the manual says that the maneuver is restricted to emergencies.”

M’ase agreed, “And it’s right, too. I’ve seen ships blow themselves to less than atoms trying that stunt during the last war. They weren’t all ours either. We will pursue by standard means while detection and fire control work together on what that Clanner has.”

As soon as M’ase said it, fire control and detection took it as an order and began to pool their data. M’ase watched in approval as they began to compare information.

Damage control gave her the welcome knowledge that the long range detection array had survived. It would need external work to restore alignment for best accuracy. It had been knocked out when internal safeties had blown from EMP overload. Two to three hours to fix at most. The tachyon battery was a total loss. The shields had stopped all but about a kiloton of the enemy’s attack but that was more than enough. The hull breach had been sealed and efforts shifted to repair of the other forward battery. Six hours should see it back into action.

//////////////////////////////

K’ress tried the Restriction field for the third time and failed to reestablish it again. “Lezon, I can’t get enough threshold power to get the Restriction field up, we are going too fast. What do we do now?” She did not need to add that she could easily see the Hand of Claws finishing her interrupted turn in pursuit.

Lezon could see the screens as well as she could. Better, in fact. Lezon’s lifelong battle training showed her how to analyze what she saw. She found it hard to believe that the small resources at her command had done so much damage to a ship that she knew to be one of the best of her class.

The automatic bombardment programs that she had worked up could handle things for a while. She shifted her screens to share K’ress’s piloting information. The fusion ramjet was working well, adding its minuscule but steady thrust to the D’ancer. It was also adding a huge torrent of power to the collectors and giving the inertial drive the ability to push the ship at nearly three hundred gravities of acceleration. Without the Restriction field, it would all be for nothing.

The Restriction field controlled the contraction in length and increase in mass dictated by Relativity Theory and practice as any physical object approached the speed of light. The faster you go, the shorter you get, the more massive you get, and time slows too. The result is that light speed cannot be exceeded, unless there is some mechanism to interfere with the contraction and mass gain.

The Contraction Restriction field solves that problem by taking the mass increase and converting it to energy. The ship then takes the excess energy from the field and disposes of it through its tachyon radiators. This interruption of the relativity equations prevents the other consequences of approaching or passing the speed of light as well.

There are two serious limitations on the use of the Restriction field. The faster a ship is going, the more mass has to be disposed of to get the field established. This threshold energy increases rapidly with speed. The other restriction is not one of theory, merely engineering. Huge amounts of energy are involved and the best equipment will overload if the field gets too strong. This also imposes practical limits on the speed of ships.

“K’ress, I have looked at the ship’s power budget. Store everything that you can in the power capsule. I am going to cease firing at the Hand of Claws, hopefully, in a fashion that will lead them to believe that we have had a malfunction in the gun battery. Store it all until my mark. That should get us the energy that we need.”

<==Previous ~~ Next==>

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to Science Fiction

[nafa1900-blog]

Brief 2 - The Impossible. Fantastical structures.

I think the Fantastical structures are more like the structure of building or facility which cannot be made in reality. Penrose stairs are the best example of fantastical structures. The Penrose stairs can`t be made in reality, but it can be reproduced by using CGI technology.

The Inception movie was using lens parallax and CGI, making out the Penrose Steps, that scene made me feel incredible, and it stayed in my mind for a long time. I want to reproduce the Penrose steps or other ‘illusion’ structure in my assessment. 

Inception Penrose Steps

(Inception Penrose Steps, 2010)

Research Time:

Mc Escher: Illusion art, Geometric transformation & illusion 

According to the Moodle's guidelines, the first man that I'm gonna research is Mc Escher, who is a famous illusion art illustrator. 

I have seen his illusion artwork - Drawing Hands in my childhood. It provides me with some horrible feeling, it was hard to tell why, but it does give me a kind of violation. 

Drawing Hands 1948 Lithograph while in Holland

(Escher, 1948)

When I started to research his Impossible Constructions series, his unconventional structure makes me fascinated, and I want to reproduce the illusion art in my assessment because it can be causing my audiences fell shocked, and I love to show more cool stuff to my audience.

Convex and Concave. March 1955, Lithograph

(Escher, 1955)

Belvedere. May 1958, Lithograph.

(Escher, 1958)

Ascending and Descending. March 1960, Lithograph.

(Escher, 1960)

In addition to movies and illustrations, mobile games can also bring me some inspiration for fantastic structures. Monument Valley is a puzzle game which allows player walk-in a maze of illusion and impossible geometric objects to reach the destination of each level.

(Dent, 2015)

(DORMEHL, 2014)

(Bradshaw, 2018)

The artist and designer of the game, Ken Wong, talked about the intent to make a "building-based game.", which inspired by MC Escher's Impossible Constructions.

Penrose triangle

I`m trying to figure out the theory of Penrose triangle as my assessment practice.

Penrose triangle is one of the impossible objects (the objects that cannot exist in the real world, they can only exist in 2D space, the optical illusion formed by projecting a two-dimensional image into three dimensions using the instantaneous consciousness of the human visual system.) which initially produced by the Swedish artist Oscar Reutersvärd in 1934. British mathematician Roger Penrose and his father also designed and promoted this pattern, and it published in British Journal of Psychology in February of 1958. They call it 'the purest form of impossible'.  Penrose triangle impossible to exist in reality, because if it exists in reality, it must violate the Euclidean geometric rules. At first glance, the Penrose triangle appears to be a 2D depiction of a 3D triangle constructed from cuboid. However, any 3D object cannot implement the properties of this 2D graphic. Therefore, the Penrose triangle is the "impossible object."

(Tribar, n.d.) (Newworldencyclopedia.org, 2019)

Penrose triangles in Waterfall by M. C. Escher

Actually, I don`t need to create a real triangle, but by using the human`s illusion to create an ‘Impossible’ triangle.

First of all, I need to draw some sketches about the structure of the Penrose triangle.

This is a typical sketch of Penrose triangle structure, I think it is the basis of the illusion structure. It`s a simple structure that will help me to understand, deconstruct and create an illusion 3D model. 

I`m trying to use MAYA to make a ‘real’ Penrose triangle, and it is not difficult for me. 

3D modelling is not a difficult thing to me, but the real challenge is to research and understands the theory of illusion art and how to achieve it. Accounting to the book of Illusion in nature and art (Gregory and Gombrich, 1980),  at the very early on, people believed the illusion is part of the art. But for science, the illusion seems to be nothing but a sensory cognitive error that can be avoided or corrected. The magicians we know are also taking advantage of sensory cognition errors and using the illusion to bring amazing performances to the audience. The Illusion art subverts the common sense of people, and it is not common in our life. The illusion may be hidden in a magic show, an architectural design, or in artwork, even hidden in video games. An illusion structure may not able to make in our real world, but this kind of ‘Impossible, fantastical structures’ can be reproduced in 2D/3D artworks. 

The CGI I made will more than just reproduce the single Penrose stairs or Penrose triangle, I want to add some illusion building structures to perfect my assessment.

Advanced Practice:

Final Design Model

I gave up some complicated concepts, focus on modelling the waterfall which was painted by M.C Escher.

 10-second Animation was limited in time requirement, I`m gonna display how the waterfall illusion works and gives the waterfall a Particle effect for the batter perception.

Mainly I will through the rotation of the camera to achieve the effect of displaying illusion art. 

Waterfall Texture:

Water ripple Texture：

Update: I consulted with my tutor, she thought the style of my original design looks similar to the Monument Valley. I did borrow some elements from Monument Valley and Mc Escher, the final rendering does look like a replica from it. So I decided to add some original elements, to avoid copy with Monument Valley. 

I’m gonna add some tower and Venice elements, which I really love to display in my model, and I will change my model material, to make sure it does not look like the Monument Valley.

Artwork: "Old Tower of Defense". Artist: Archie T. Newsom, France WWI. 

Sketching model:

Inception Penrose Steps. (2010). [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvSD1EAlAUQ [Accessed 1 Oct. 2019].

Escher, M. (1948). Drawing Hands. [sketch] Holland: Lithograph.

Escher, M. (1955). Convex and Concave. [Sketch] Holland: Lithograph.

Escher, M. (1958). Belvedere. [Sketch] Holland: Lithograph.

Escher, M. (1960). Ascending and Descending. [Sketch] Holland: Lithograph. 

Newworldencyclopedia.org. (2019). Penrose triangle. [online] Available at: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Penrose_triangle [Accessed 2 Oct. 2019].

Tribar, P. (n.d.). Impossible Triangle. [online] The Illusions Index. Available at: https://www.illusionsindex.org/i/impossible-triangle [Accessed 2 Oct. 2019].

Dent, S. (2015). Apple game of the year 'Monument Valley' is now free on iOS. [online] Engadget.com. Available at: https://www.engadget.com/2015/12/02/monument-valley-free-on-ios/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LnVtYmxyLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIOOhIz7VgkWRmmcRV2P7s1xMndWZqdubesL0AEECk2uvV2rgdPvxyJWn_-eUjt3tgk3veOK5jKHcwYwysgc0jsF0SKye7U5lq_AjJBag820BA93Q9RLBmJ4NmtL6oi4MObLupCnGwNRIrZmUdFrWZ7dlHu9lbZ91TL0kA_2L2fJ [Accessed 2 Oct. 2019].

DORMEHL, L. (2014). Inside Monument Valley: How 'Impossible' Sketches Became An Amazing Game. [online] Cult of Mac. Available at: https://www.cultofmac.com/273790/inside-monument-valley/ [Accessed 2 Oct. 2019].

Bradshaw, P. (2018). Monument Valley Movie Coming. [online] Den of Geek. Available at: https://www.denofgeek.com/us/games/275898/monument-valley-movie-coming [Accessed 2 Oct. 2019].

Gregory, R. and Gombrich, E. (1980). Illusion in nature and art. London: Duckworth.

[sprintwebdesign]

Design: 10 Tips for a Flawless Layout

Design: 10 Tips for a Flawless Layout https://ift.tt/2IXq9gI Mattie Reynolds

While each web designer or web development company has a different plan for building a website, there is a list of what to do in common for most such projects. We created this checklist that we made with the essential items in the construction of a good web interface that is consistent, easy to use and aesthetically pleasing.

Space between elements, personalized quality images, effective internal search tools, and creative ways to invite the user to the interaction. These are the elements that together define the user experience that accesses one of your pages.

Creating Infallible Layouts

We will present here ten elements that you should prioritize on your site, followed by practical examples of each of them and tips on how to use it in your next site creation project . We’ll see what little details make all the difference.

1. Spacing

Spacing is one of the most important elements in layouts . The space dictates the visual flow up to and speed of reading (or readability). Designers are beginning to use space in ways we have not seen on the internet in the past decade mainly because of the popularization of touch screens.

There should be a consistency in spacing and space relations. Similar elements should include similar spacing. The amount of space between the lines of a paragraph should follow a pattern (or proportions), as well as the size of the margin around the images.

Space is also important when creating a focal point for the perception of the interface. An image or block of text surrounded by white space may appear to be larger and more important than one allocated along with other blocks of information and in a tighter part of the layout.

It is also worth remembering that space should not necessarily be white. It refers to the absence of elements and may well be a dark background color or a well applied texture.

Choose the center element, such as a menu, form, or a featured image. White space can highlight this element in the visual hierarchy.

Make sure the information is organized in a way that includes consistent spaces between the elements. If a content block replicates across multiple pages and site sessions, its spacing must remain the same.

Make each button or block of content stand out with due weight in the information hierarchy.

Do not divert the user’s attention to unimportant blocks. One part of the layout should not dispute attention with another at the same time.

2. Navigation

Navigation should not be complicated! It should be easy to identify and use. It is also important to keep the navigation menus simplified, so they do not overload the user with a lot of information.

Web browsing also includes tools that help users stream through the site. Sites with parallax effect , for example, often include arrows that guide the user. A layout should be user-friendly . The easier it is for people to navigate your site, the more likely it is to get what you’re looking for before you leave.

Swing. The more menu items, the lower the depth, and the less, the more hierarchy levels displayed. Balance the navigation.

Use conventional navigation patterns . The user will not study a manual to learn how to use your site. The main menu of a site is in the header; the main logo is usually a link to the home; and so on.

Keep a standard for the weight and position of the links. The user expects to find a consistent experience. You also need to know at what level of the hierarchy a page is (the deeper, the more specific) and always have the option to return.

Give feedback. Tell the user where in the site he is currently browsing. Breadcrumbs are the most appropriate layout block for this – position them discreetly in a visible position without scrolling (above the fold).

Create interactive solutions with javascript and css – sticky headers, which remain on the screen as the user performs page scrolling, are a simple solution to keep browsing always within easy reach.

3. About Us

The “About Us” page should tell users who you are and what you do . It can be used to present the company’s philosophies and goals, or how the site was developed. It can also be the right place for positive testimonials and reviews of users and customers, as well as company success stories. This type of page can also serve directing the user to related pages and social networking profiles.

The biggest problem with the “about us” pages is that they tend to stay long and very descriptive. Keep the page as straightforward as possible; give users only the information they need to be interested in the business, not bored. Remember to keep the design interesting and invite them to get to know the rest of your site.

Use the “About Us” page to give your brand more personality. Photos of the team and place of business lend credibility to the brand. Consider an employee centered approach in the About Us and Team pages.

Tell your story. Storytelling is more than conveying information; it is surprising, provoking empathy and generating interest.

Remember that people today do not have that much time, so be brief and direct. Use image media and videos to communicate subjective values ​​and sensations without prolonging too much.

Invite the user to know the rest of the site. Add links to strategic site sessions.

4. Contact

Contact information appears in two of the most common ways: at the top or bottom of the site or on the “Contact Us” page or similar.

Either of these ways can work well, depending on the information architecture of your site. The key is to do it in a highly visible way. Presenting information like phone, address or a form to contact the site owner is the best way to give legitimacy to your project. It is frustrating for the user to try to contact you and not succeed (unless it is purposeful).

Add contact information in places always visible. This information can be displayed in the form of links to planned actions (eg, Send a message, Make a call). Buttons for automatic message via WhatsApp have been gaining popularity in sites of various niches, especially for the mobile user .

If you get customers at a physical address, include the location (a map widget like Google Maps, for example, it’s fine), if you get a lot of contacts over the phone, leave the phone in a prominent area.

Consider adding a form so the user can send emails straight from your site (and do not forget the success and error pages).

5. Call to Action

What is the purpose of your site? Your website is the gateway to your business, and you should build it thinking about what it should be most efficient. Whether it is a sale of products, services or some information gathering, you must ensure that it is being designed to meet this conversion and the invitations to that interaction should be direct and obvious – no question.

Some of the tips we’ve given here help guide you in the right direction. Dropbox, for example, is very interested that you register early, so you already propose this right on the first page. And you, are you directing your homepage to get your conversion as fast as possible?

Direct and persuasive call-to-action writing  . A striking title accompanied by a short and explanatory caption with an image, button or form.

Position the  calls-to-action  on the home page and above the fold.

Buttons should be of contrasting colors and say exactly what they are for: Buy Now, Participate, Download, Sign Up .

Conversion buttons can be repeated along the page if the user has not engaged at all.

6. Search

Not everyone has the time to search for specific content by site navigation, so search is such an important tool. Draw the search box in a discreet and easy-to-use form, but make sure the box is large enough and always visible. If you want an icon for the search use the magnifying glass without fear, it is a universal icon.

The most popular search box location (in the west) is at the top and the right.

Prioritize the simple and straightforward box design, which will be at the top of your page for search. Add advanced filtering options only when strictly necessary . Leave the search field visible whenever possible.

Do not forget the layout of the results listing.

Perform search tests, checking if the results are ideas for the search context. An example of a serious mistake would be a virtual store, whose search primarily presents blog posts rather than product pages.

7. Footer

The footer is a way to summarize your site and bring forward pages that relate to the institutional part of your company, such as social networks, address and contact. Because its location is at the bottom of the page, it is also the ideal space for a small site map, relevant links and a brief description of what the site is.

Make the footer simple and useful . When creating a footer that exposes links or buttons, the important thing is to be visually integrated with the site. It may even have a much more minimalist touch than the whole, but give it a personality.

Repeat information found elsewhere on the site (the search field on the site may be at the top of the page, in the main index, and again in the footer, for example).

Enter elements previously mentioned in this post if there is no other logical place for them in the layout.

See other footer tips in this cool post we have prepared.

8. Buttons

Every button on a website should be recognized as a button (know what Affordances are ). They must have the same effects regardless of their location or purpose. Creating a set of different buttons can be a challenging task in the case of sites with many clickable items. Consider creating a button kit to maintain consistency and visual cohesion throughout the site.

Do not forget to use statistics tracking tools like Crazyegg or Google Analytics to measure with A / B tests that button colors or sizes are giving more result.

Develop a unique set of buttons for your site that is easily replicated. It should be consistent across all pages.

Provide a large and comfortable click area. The mobile user should have no difficulties in touching.

Perform A / B tests to measure the efficiency of each button. Try changing the text, colors, and position in the layout, and measure the impact of those adjustments on the conversion rate.

9. Pictures

People love to see things in action. Create stunning visuals to please users on your site. Good pictures or illustrations are an easy way to do this. With a small set of great photographs you can display products, people, or anything to encourage the engagement of users in your website or app .

As the internet is at a stage where the weight of images is not a factor that compromises access to the site, we have more freedom to use higher resolution images, but remember to offer an alternative to mobile devices. Also be careful when using image banks ( stock images ) as a source for your site does not lose identity.

Look for a photographer or illustrator to develop and create a unique set of images. If using free stock image media, consider adding a color or effect filter so that they are, to a certain extent, unique to your site.

Offer a unique visual experience. Consider transitions and done in JavaScript or CSS.

Capriche in the resolution of the images , always with an eye on the final file size .

10. Web Fonts

Once upon a time … The time when the web was ordered by a restricted set of sources because the options that were recognized by most browsers were very limited (Arial and Verdana, who never?). Today this limitation no longer exists and we have great Open Source tools to use a much wider range of unique fonts like  Google Web Fonts  or Adobe Fonts .

However, native fonts are still very important for two reasons: compatibility and performance, so do not abuse loaded fonts and take advantage of those already available in the system. Webfonts can also be important for positioning the website in search engines (SEO) if used in place of images that would have text to say something.

Use a service with a library of free fonts, such as Google Web Fonts.

Avoid too many font variations in layout. The need to load multiple weights from the same typographic family can degrade the performance of the site.

Using webfonts to pass a message will usually be more effective than loading an image for the same purpose. Decrease page weight and better meet web accessibility standards.

Conclusion

These are 10 tips that we consider very important for the design in a blog project, virtual stores and institutional sites here in Man Machine. They will certainly help you in creating a layout that helps you achieve your brand goals and also serves the visitors.

To make an incredible layout you have to take into account the typography, colors in the interface and use a responsive design . But let’s take it easy, one step at a time. The basics you’ve already learned here

Make the best layout the world has ever seen. Do you have any tips to share with us? Leave in the comments!

The post Design: 10 Tips for a Flawless Layout appeared first on Web designing Bangalore.

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J June 29, 2019 at 05:52PM

[ranjeetacademy-blog]

Newest Trends for Designing a Website

When a website becomes your business identity, it’s important to make it perfect and the first clause of the perfect website is its perfect design. Your website represents your business’s visual outlook. An eye-soothing design is equally important like the responsive web design. Web world is ever changing. There is only one constant in the world of web design and development and that is transform. Changing is a trend which you have to follow to survive the race.

Here are some of the latest trends we have sorted out for you. We bet you’ll love this: 

Single page website The concept continuing itself from the previous year. But it’s been proved that the single page-long scrolling web format is here to stay in few more years. A possible explanation to it is that users are so accustomed to vertical scrolling that it’s actually become unreasonable to split the content in several parts on separate pages – users have to make extra effort to get the full content.

 Use photo background Another design which is in trend and you should try it for your own site, is the background photo. For quite some time centers around photography become quite popular. Pioneered by fashion brands and photographers, this design approach is now successfully used virtually in almost every industry. Photo backgrounds are great for branding and presentation purposes when your main objective is to make a strong visual statement. This is why it’s used so often by fashion brands, travel companies, and many others creative workers.

 Hidden menu Adopting design for smaller screens has also affected how menus are displayed and with space being at a premium, fly out, slide out and hidden menus are becoming more popular across the board. It’s all about bringing an app-like feel to an whole site.

 Flat design Flat design is one of our personal favorites. It is how it sounds, design by using objects that are uniform in color or appearance. It’s a minimalist approach to design. A few years back, textures were very popular. Now, with mobile devices and responsive design, it is harder to make these textures work well across multiple devices. Flat design gives the feel of layers and depth with flatter colors and minimalist design techniques. This way it’s much easier to make the design work on multiple devices.

 Brick like format The format is also related to flat design concept. This trend generally introduces a brick-like design, kind of grid featuring blocks of solid color coupled with blocks of photos or text. Users and designers stick with it because of its simplicity. The contrast between blocks of colors and images/text blocks create a strong visual interest which usually stimulates users to explore more.

 Parallax Parallax is a design and coding trend that is very popular nowadays. Parallax means two or more parallel objects moving at different speeds.” Parallax scrolling technique is used to break up the linear monotony of a website by having various objects scroll at different paces. Parallax will really become much more popular as more modern browsers support it, but even now there are already a lot of beautifully designed sites utilizing parallax scrolling. But this is the one thing you want to be very careful with. Sometimes the effect can be a little huge to your audience. But rather than that, it is visually compelling and can add motion to a site without using Flash or video. Parallax will give the appearance how the background is moving at a different rate than the foreground of a page.

 Ghost button Ghost buttons are those transparent empty buttons bordered with a very thin line and containing light. They are usually in sans-serif font. You have definitely seen them over the last year, and you can certainly expect to see more.

 Simplicity is best As far as possible make it simple. Eliminate unnecessary concept and pages. You should not overwhelm your viewers by giving multiple choices. Rely more on design rather content. It will drive more conversation. Use large visual heading for make it attractive.

 Typography Nowadays typography is in trend. Sometime back, designers had their limitation for using typefaces, as they had standard typefaces available in their computers. But those days are gone. Web font foundries such as Google fonts and Type kit allow you to use a virtually unlimited number of fonts for your web design. Designers have been taking advantage of this opportunity for some time now, and more and more sites are built with strong attention paid to typography.

Your website’s first and foremost criteria should be you audience. Website design shouldn’t be a matter of what one individual thinks is cool. Your design serves a purpose. Think about your audience’s needs. Use these techniques above to fulfil their demand. Design can be fun; it can be interesting or even ground breaking. But, always make sure it supports your goals.

If you are looking for the best Web Development and Digital Graphics Designing Company in Udaipur, then you should go with Ranjeet Computer Academy.

 Contact us:

Mobile No: +91-9460324253, +91-8239991144

Website: http://www.ranjeetcomputeracademy.com/

[dda-unit8]

Overview / Discussion / Final Evaluation

My animation is a nice head bopping, entertaining that ends in a realistic possibility. My main objective that I had from the beginning of the project was to have the character being looped in the city ( or should i say just being looped constantly / technically a GIF ). I was able to stick to that idea to the very end ( If someone plays the video on repeat.  Video start off with black intro is Immediately about smoking which fades into the character driving. At the end it fades back into black and could smoothly transition back into the beginning. The beginning of the animation shows a very quick bright yellow text about smoking. Because  it appears so fast I hope for the viewer to either replay the video or try and keep what the text said in their mind. Later on the character gets in an accident. I wanted the animation to not only be a interesting animation with a guy driving a car but also trying to portray a tiny story. It could be portray and shown on the BBC website for smoking and health for kids. It can also be an ad on you tube that can be shown. Because you tube is one of the top mainstream company's that kids, teens and young adults use, The ad could be seen more. 

When it comes to “ If I understood the specialist are of design my project was centered on “ I would say that I had a pretty big understanding on how Parallax animation worked. Before I even new what the name was for the type of animation, I had known what it was and how it worked. Because I showed interest in animation and how different types of animation works when I was younger, I feel like that has given me an advantage. For future referencing though, I would make sure that even the most unnecessary things that I might not think needs to be in a separate layer, go in a layer. 

When It had come to research, I figured I didn't do a bad job. I didn't just go on YouTube and look for ideas or stuff that Inspired me. I ended up taking my time and relaxing at home. Enjoying what i love, which is watching different animations. All different styles of animations. I even used myself when it came to how I wanted my character to be placed in the car. When it came to the sources that I used for references, I don think I used to much. In fact I would say I used a moderate amount of varied sources. With what I had researched I made sure that I could get the maximum output of it. For example, There was a lot of simple and short tutorials on you tube that would give me an easy way to do a smoke fx or a quick and easy explaining video of parallax animation. I didn't want that . I wanted to get as much knowledge and do the best I can do. I think next time I will actually go and travel to a different place like Birmingham or lecister to see and get better references. I will branch out more, use more fx, tools and create something even better.  

As far as problems, I came across actually deleting half of my progress when I started. I was pretty upset but I could not go back and change the past so all I could do was continue and work harder. I also had the problem of time management and not sleeping. That has always been a big problem for me and Im honestly trying to change that as each day goes past. I would tend to stay up from 24 - 48 hours. If i have learned anything it would be to take breaks a lot more.

What I was also shocked about is how I was keeping a steady pace in my work and not stressing to much over time. Until I had to go to work I was using my schedule and I never lost sight of the due date. I had always kept in my mind when it was due. I even had alerts on my phone to keep me updated. I tried to stay as focused as possible. Even when my idea slightly changed towards the middle / end I didn't want to panic and overthink. I had to focus and relax for a second. For this specific animation, there are indeed things I wish I could have added in if I had not had to start half way over. I would have loved to add ambient sound of highway traffic ( cars going past ) and the song thats playing in the background to sound like its from the radio. I would have also loved to add a night street light that passes every so often ( with starts and a moon in the sky ). But because I didn't add those things, does not mean that I cant create something better or add them later on. This summer I can practice not only my drawings but my animation. I could practice practice practice

I used more than what I had learned in class. 

When it came to the animation, I had to draw everything as a draft as what I envision and how I see it in my head. I had to then make the lines more fine. Add more detail. Add color. Sort out all the layers. Make sure the layers are stacked correctly. That was all in Photoshop. I had to add all the detail in Photoshop and that takes time. I then had to transfer what I made into after affects to ANIMATE it. That takes time. I could have done a simple animation like I had made before but I wanted to exceed that. I wanted to try and add different effects that I have not used before. I wanted to branch out myself and look at different techniques I can use and learn myself. I have attained new techniques and skills because of this animation. I can improve on the new skills and techniques i have learned by practicing this summer. Try and create fun projects, films, animations.

So yeah ... Looking at my animation now. I can see what more I wanted to add. I am proud ( comparing the previous animation I did ) of the animation that I have made. I am still learning but that is why practice makes perfect. I want to learn more effects in after effects and see all the possible effects I can use in animation or even film. I will branch out this summer and practice using the software myself, Practice more drawings on perspective, foreshortening, mecca, human anatomy and even simple shapes. One thing that I noticed was different about my drawing this time, is that i tried to draw less anime / manga related. I tried to focus on a realistic anatomy, head shape and where the eyes, ear, hairline etc would be. Doing so I also took the time in shading.

To ensure that I have a lower chance of making the same mistake again , I will make sure ( If possible ) not work so many days when I have a week of from college. I will try and priorities my time more.

looking at my blog from when I first started Unit 8 ( how well its structured ) it looks organised and labeled pretty decently. I made sure that the topics where relatable to what was being said. I made sure important things where in bold. I will be honest and say that I was lacking a little in screenshots of my progress in the animating side but I tried to remember each time. That doesn’t mean that my idea, experiments and creative process cant be explained and presented in a clear way. I specifically made sure that each section flows to the next and shows what was to come, what I did and how the week was. I do appreciate all the help that the teachers gave me and opinions that they had on my work.

One thing that I think would be cool is to do a collaboration and create something super cool. Yeah you have animators that do animations by themselves but  I can imagine what cool things I can make by doing collaborations and sharing ideas and skills with another person. In doing so Im sure I can create some interesting work. I could do short and narrated stories. I have already done a voice over for my first animation so it wouldn't be to difficult. Because I have gotten used to the software a little more than before, I feel more comfortable in creating different things. 

The cool thing about possibly doing a collaboration is the endless possibility of what we can create. If we wanted too, we could create a music video, short story, fight scene anything. With the skill that I have learned, I can also reach out to different company's and see if they would like to do a collaboration. This would then get me work experience. 

[jbohn]

Illustrating in 360°

When I decided that a 360° illustration was going to be my first project of 2019, I never would have guessed, how much knowledge I would gain and how much enthusiasm I would develop for this topic. In the course of just a few tutorials I was able to learn everything to make it work properly. Therefore I decided to share those tutorials and links with you.

3D illustration is generally a topic that evolves these days, with VR technologies becoming more and more common. Especially if you have a look at Artstation or the portfolios of concept artists, you find a lot of really cool worlds that you can experience by moving around inside of them. We are used to see 360° photos but it’s breathtaking to see fantastic worlds and imagined stories coming to life when you explore a spherical illustration little by little.

Terminology

Before starting, I want to make sure we’re all talking about the same subject. It’s not about flat images with a perspective grid (1/2/3-point-perspective), nor about an image with a parallax effect. We mean a drawing on the inside of a sphere, where you have a fixed standpoint but can change your view by turning and also looking up and down.

Software & setup

I started by buying and testing the app Panopainter on the iPad, ending up firstly fascinated and soon frustrated because of bugs and constraints that made it hard to establish a constant workflow. For example, I searched forever for a way to deselect a selection, turned around and found half of a picture deleted that I didn’t even work on at that part of the process or I did not manage to import a png without a transparent background.

So I watched this wonderful tutorial and decided to use the good old photoshop: Pano painting tutorial by Jama Jurabaev In it, he explains the basic setup for using a spherical map in photoshop and he created a 3dimensional grid for downloading that helps so much to navigate.

Summarized, the workflow goes like this:

create a big canvas with an aspect ratio of 2:1 (e.g. 6000x3000 px)

load a grid (like the one in the tutorial) or another picture that works like a 360 photo and make sure this layer is selected

(in the current Adobe CC:) click on „3D“ – „spherical panorama“ – „new panorama layer from selected layer“

you now only see a part of the picture and can move around already and draw directly on the sphere

you can also double-click on the spherical map that works like a smart object, and work directly on the map

Workflow

For the drawing process, this tutorial was very helpful: Edit spherical panoramas by Photoshop Training Channel Although it shows and explains everything based on a photo, it contains the best tips about a non-destructive way of working.

The problem is this: when you sketch something on a new layer in the normal mode and move around, the new layer moves with you. If you want to fixate the drawing to the spherical map, the steps are:

open the spherical map and create a new (empty) layer, make sure the layer is selected

save and close the spherical map

in the normal view, draw on a layer directly above the spherical one

when ready, right-click on the drawing layer and choose „merge down“ (if you are not sure you’re ready, keep a copy of the layer)

the drawing is now part of your spherical map, but it is on the layer you created before

Preliminary 3D model

For my personal workflow in the future, the next tutorial on how to build and export a scene as a 360° panorama in Cinema 4D might come in handy as well: Panorama Rendering by Konstantin Magnus I’ve successfully tested it already. The scene that is described is random but the export of it is quite tricky. The program doesn’t offer a direct way yet so there’s a little workaround:

in render settings, choose the format „Quicktime VR panorama“

the default resolution and the output size should be the same (aspect ratio 2:1)

unclick „save“ in the render settings

render and then save the image as a picture manually. Tadaa!

I hope these tips help you getting started. Are you as excited as I am?

[lilgruntsshane]

Week 8

This week I finished another background for the project, which is a variant of the previous bird cage one, focusing in on the head of darkstar. The perspective was important and slightly more challenging for this one, as It had to match with my previous background and also fit with the pose that darkstar is in, so have the storyboard panels was a good aid in finding the correct perspective as I had the storyboard panels, with a reduced opacity, over the top of my background whilst I was drawing it. 

This was again produced using a size 6 hard round brush in photoshop, with slight easing of the pen pressure in the background and occasionally a smaller size brush for the furthest elements, such as a size 4. I tried again to emphasise the foremost trees and the cage in the scene and I feel the placement of these elements, either side of darkstar, helps to dramatically frame him whilst effectively showcasing these elements at the same time. I am always aware that too much emphasis of trees and foliage could results in the scenes becoming muddled, and as such I try to keep a hierarchy in my backgrounds with much of the foliage having lighter lines. This is a fine balancing act however, as we want these scenes to feel like they are really taking place within a jungle, so there has to be some level of emphasis on the trees and foliage even though its less of a problem in these last two birdcage backgrounds which take place in a clearing, 

I think an effective way to achieve this balance is to integrate some of the foreground scenes with the jungle, such as having a vine wrapped around the birdcage, which I feel is simple but effective, rather than just having a metallic birdcage planted in the jungle, which may feel at odds with the environment.

We had a meeting with Niall this week, and in regards to the backgrounds he said they look cool, they are good solid background art and he likes the jungle we have designed, which was positive to hear. He said we could use parallax movement in our backgrounds as we have elements on different layers, and said it would be a shame if we didn't utilise our backgrounds fully. Whilst this would be a nice touch, we feel as a group that we should leave this until the end and make sure that we get the most important parts, such as the animation completed before anything else is considered. This is also the case for the visual effects, as we are running low of time in regard to animation, and these will have to be left until the end to see if we can squeeze them in.

26/03/23

[chaturbate-profile-images]

Master The Skills Of Web Design And Be Successful.

A free CSS website theme There are many free CSS themes available online. The WebHostingService is a free service that works with both domain registrars and web hosting. The WebHostingService is a striking and modern design that speeds up the process of redesigning your site. It also comes with a ready-to-use interface. You should be cautious about making mistakes, as they could easily ruin the appearance of your website. A great CSS website template will help you make a first impression. Banker, a free template, includes a full screen banner and text slider that are perfect for blogs of any niche. The preview link also includes a drop-down navigation. The preview link can be shared with other users to let them see your blog. Once you're happy with the design of your website, you can publish it to attract new clients. Free CSS website templates can make a big difference in your business. Transcend is a multi-purpose, free CSS website template. This template is ideal for creative agencies. It has many features that will enhance your company's brand image. This template has a striking banner that creates a great first impression. It can also be used for other projects. Halo is a great tool for photographers. You can create an online magazine that is elegant and professional for your business using all of the tools included in Halo. Bold is another free CSS website template. Bold is a free CSS website template that features a minimalist design. It can be customized to your liking. It comes with a subscription to the newsletter and an inquiry/contact page. This template is packed with tons of useful features that can make your website shine. It offers all the essential elements as well as a premium look. You can easily create stunning websites with these features. You can also download other CSS website themes for free. Snipp is a free CSS website template. Its clean design and parallax effect make it appealing. It's also completely free. You should have basic HTML knowledge to be able find the perfect CSS website theme for your business. Satner is a great option if you are looking for a template that will help you market your business. The Agenda is a free CSS theme. This theme is ideal for concerts and forums. It is customizable in design and uses high-resolution graphics as the header. The template's content-based elements can be used to make your website more appealing and spark visitors' interest. You have the option to make your header longer or shorter, and you can also use the same color scheme as your text or images. Choose from the available templates to get a free CSS theme. There are many options for themes. Some templates are more costly than others. You should first try the free templates. Some are free while others cost money. Small businesses and non-profits will love the free versions. Don't hesitate downloading them and getting started designing your website! You just need to choose the CSS theme that best suits your needs. You can give your website a professional look by using a free CSS theme. A free template can save you both time and effort. Instylr templates include many cool features that will help you create beautiful websites. Instylr, unlike other templates is a simple HTML template. You can modify the HTML code to fit your website's style or requirements if you are not sure of its syntax. The free CSS Website Theme will help you speed up your website creation. It is also easy to use and update. Some themes are free and include special features. These themes are free and available on the Internet. These CSS themes will help you launch your business. Your online presence is dependent on your choice of theme. You need to choose the best CSS Website Theme for your site if you want it to stand out from others.

[kifosafa]

Ten Advices That You Must Listen Before Studying Web Design.

A free CSS website theme There are many free CSS themes available online. The WebHostingService is a free service that works with both domain registrars and web hosting. The WebHostingService is a striking and modern design that speeds up the process of redesigning your site. It also comes with a ready-to-use interface. You should be cautious about making mistakes, as they could easily ruin the appearance of your website. A great CSS website template will help you make a first impression. Banker, a free template, includes a full screen banner and text slider that are perfect for blogs of any niche. The preview link also includes a drop-down navigation. The preview link can be shared with other users to let them see your blog. Once you're happy with the design of your website, you can publish it to attract new clients. Free CSS website templates can make a big difference in your business. Transcend is a multi-purpose, free CSS website template. This template is ideal for creative agencies. It has many features that will enhance your company's brand image. This template has a striking banner that creates a great first impression. It can also be used for other projects. Halo is a great tool for photographers. You can create elegant online magazines for your business with all of the tools included in Halo. Bold is another free CSS website template. Bold is a free CSS website template that features a minimalist design. It can be customized to your liking. It comes with a subscription to the newsletter and an inquiry/contact page. This template is packed with tons of useful features that can make your website shine. It offers all the essential elements as well as a premium look. You can easily create stunning websites with these features. You can also download other CSS website themes for free. Snipp is a free CSS website template. It is attractive because of its clean design and parallax effect. It's also completely free. You should have basic HTML knowledge to be able find the perfect CSS website theme for your business. Satner is a great option if you are looking for a template that will help you market your business. The Agenda is a free CSS theme. This theme is ideal for concerts and forums. It is customizable in design and uses high-resolution graphics as the header. The template's content-based elements can be used to make your website more appealing and spark visitors' interest. You have the option to make your header longer or shorter, and you can also use the same color scheme as your text or images. Choose from the available templates to get a free CSS theme. There are many options for themes. Some templates are more costly than others. You should first try the free templates. Some are free while others cost money. Small businesses and non-profits will love the free versions. Don't hesitate downloading them and getting started designing your website! You just need to choose the CSS theme that best suits your needs. You can give your website a professional look by using a free CSS theme. A free template can save you both time and effort. Instylr templates include many cool features that will help you create beautiful websites. Instylr, unlike other templates is a simple HTML template. You can modify the HTML code to fit your website's style or requirements if you are not sure of its syntax. The free CSS Website Theme will help you speed up your website creation. It is also easy to use and update. Some themes are free and include special features. These themes are free and available on the Internet. These CSS themes will help you launch your business. Your online presence is dependent on your choice of theme. You need to choose the best CSS Website Theme for your site if you want it to stand out from others.

[president-everett]

Website Parallax Animation

So, two weeks back I submited a post about a Taxidermy company and how amazing a taxidermist's art is. Well, in the recent months I've been working on creating the foundation of the bussines, which is their brand identity.

I've been doing so much research on what they stand for and what makes them different from other taxidermy companies. From this research, I was able to create thing like animations and logos, and icons, etc.

But here is the "thing I've never done before" part. I'v enever created a website and I'm not studying for it either. But that won't stop me from trying.

Some websites are pretty cool and deserve more attention from their audience and some are just overrated. I think the difference is that people don't like reading. They want to see things, they want to go on journies. Well, that requires something original.

I thought that the first thing we need for the home page (the first thing anyone will see when they open the website) is color. But of course people dont want see the color palette in blocks, they want to see th in pictures relevant to what the website is all about.

I love making parallax animations and knew it would be a great idea. A parallax animation is where images are inserted on a 3D field and move at different rates in all directions, and telling a story by moving.

The above animation is what I came up with. The client loves it. The elephant (main element of the animation) has a lot of resemblance to the logo (coming next week). As the elephant is moving forward, the mountains are surely moving backwards each at their own speed. The sky is moving towards the camera, and just to make the animation feel more alive, without adding too much (remember its only a welcoming screen), I added a couple of birds flying behind the elephant.

How did I achieve this? Simple. Using Adobe Photoshop, I cut up all the elements that I want in my scene from the seperate images, which I downloaded from pixabay.com, deep edged them (deep edging is when one feathers the cut parts of an image to make the image blend in) and placed them where I wanted them.

After that, some magic happens in Adobe After Effects where I made the elements 3D objects and added a camera.

Cool, right?

[coolwebdesigner]

Web Design Trends of 2020 – Complete Edition

Just just like the spectators on the theatre are waiting for their favored actors to play their elements within the performance, internet designers and builders meet each New Year looking forward to the brand new traits with a purpose to appear on the stage very soon.

It's been 1 month left before the tons-expected party of the New year 2020. We have simply celebrated the New Year, so it’s time to speak approximately cutting-edge web site design trends which might be in all likelihood to spread within the path of 2020. Only lazy bloggers don’t speak about traits now and we aren't from their cohort.

There is most effective one trouble with the trends and we can attempt to remedy it for you. There is constantly an excessive amount of facts on them at the net. We have examine nearly 70 articles, which took us almost 3 days to enter the coronary heart of the matter.

However, you will be able to get the complete collection of 2020 traits in internet design with none tedious research. We bet our version of this beneficial analyzing will take you no longer more than half of an hour or perhaps even less. Moreover, you may pass the trends you are not inquisitive about in the meanwhile and glance through the statistics that is vital at the moment. We made up a form of article plan for the motive. Each item is an anchor main you to the relevant facts. We need to be a one-stop-keep for you, hopefully this may workout. Do check: hybrid app development services

When human beings meet the New Year, they always don't forget the best moments of the previous yr and the high-quality matters that had befell to them. We discovered a whole lot of terrific developments in 2019. Some of the tendencies listed under reached or have almost reached the pinnacle in their reputation, so we are looking forward to their further development and improvement in 2020. In other phrases, please don’t be amazed to meet your exact old 2019 pals on the list.

We tried to summarize, systemize and put into order all the available cloth for you, hopefully this will assist and you may start to sense flawlessly secure speaking about internet layout trends of 2020.

⚡️TOP Web Design Trends 2020: Best UI, UX Examples & Predictions

Why Is It Important to Follow Web Design Trends? What's the purpose of your internet site? Aside from having good pictures, your net page desires to have a sure history that could appeal to the internet target audience and convey emotions. Need an instance? Just think what attract you on Instagram? That's a beautiful presentation and well-idea-out enterprise of branded profiles that encourage you to stay on an internet page for longer. The succes and developing variety of income via the community verify this trend.

What's the trick? A customer thinks that he will pay for a product, but in fact he makes a speciality of the picture that stands in the back of it. While perceiving a catching presentation of a product or a provider in a selected surrounding, a purchaser imagines how cool this product will on him.

The identical strategies are implemented to web design. An appealing and remarkable web web page can capture a consumer's eye, encouraging the target audience to discover more about your brand or order your services.

WHAT WILL NOT CHANGE

Mobile-first

Load time

Chatbots

WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2020

FLAT AND NOT-SO-FLAT

FLOATING ELEMENTS

GEOMETRY

VIDEO BACKGROUNDS

BROKEN GRIDS

EXPRESSIVE TYPES

DAMAGED, LAYERED IMAGES

CHAOTIC INTERACTIVE TEXTURES

DREAMY COLORS

BRUTALISM

HAND-DRAWN ILLUSTRATIONS

INTERACTIVITY

OLDSCHOOL AND GAME-LIKE

3-D OBJECTS

WHAT WILL NOT CHANGE

Mobile-first Now it’s legit: there are more people browsing websites from cellular gadgets than computer computer systems. In 2019, we’ve visible the rise of micro-interactions, roll-out menus, and custom icons. This fashion will no longer change, however only benefit momentum. In 2020, you will now not want a internet site this is just responsive; you'll need one this is cellular-first.

Load time This is a bit bit controversial. In 2019, many professionals believed that clean minimalistic websites would take over the internet due to their rapid loading speed. But that didn’t appear.

Instead, we see how new technology are adapting video and picture content to the needs of the cell-first era. In 2020, designers and developers will preserve looking for a compromise among creative Java designs, full-width unique content, and decreased load time.

Chatbots E-commerce web sites will still need to transform in 2020, and chatbots have established to be an effective manner to do it. In 2020, the web shopping for revel in will keep striving closer to more personalization and extra state-of-the-art AI technology. So, in 2020, we are able to see smarter and greater interactive chatbots on top e-commerce web sites.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2020 Now allow’s pass directly to the principle internet design tendencies we’re watching for to look in 2020.

FLAT AND NOT-SO-FLAT

Flat design, as a website esthetics, has been with us given that 2017 and is right here to stay. Web owners love flat design for higher mobile revel in and better search engine optimization rank. Designers and users enjoy clean layouts, vivid beautiful imagery, and masses of whitespace.

Flat internet design philosophy postulates that a site with fewer pix can be as dazzling as its picture-heavy and sluggish loading analog from the 2000s.

Looking at the beneath examples, who wouldn’t agree?

Here is an instance of a fantastically made flat design website. There are few illustrations, however all of them are very charming. When you travel thru the internet site, you see that each new web page functions a specific instance. Traditionally for flat layout, there’s enough whitespace and clean navigation.

This website demonstrates what flat layout can deliver if you add heavy animation and interactivity to it. The pages feature lots of texture and exquisite transitions. Viewers may also even get a little overwhelmed by way of what’s occurring on the website. It seems, but, that that is exactly what the designers were after.

The semi-flat approach permits adding intensity and motion in your minimalistic designs and having all of the advantages of flat with you. In 2020, we can see even extra versions of this.

This design capabilities incredible product photograph compositions with custom illustrations, Parallax, and excellent interactive factors. I additionally enjoyed the animation that makes the web page sense heavy and deep under your scroll. Here we can also see how a long way semi-flat web layout will reach in 2020.

FLOATING ELEMENTS

In 2020, website designs will defy gravity. This fashion is not absolutely new: we all understand that chaotic layouts have been already trending in 2019. Next 12 months, we are able to see many interactive elements doping up right here and there, converting shapes and awaiting a cursor to hover over them.

Open compositions can also be the mainstream of internet layout in 2020. So, put together to look designers ditching borders and leaving interactive 3-D elements to go with the flow at the pages.

[responsivemiracle]

WordPress websites are called the leaders of the simple building. But besides the ease of use, WordPress also follows different modern design trends. So, if you want to make people curious about your website, you will need a WordPress theme with Parallax effect. The best websites rely not only on engaging content, but on impressive design and a smooth user experience to excite visitors and convert leads into customers. That’s why you should consider using a parallax theme for your website – there is something particularly jaw dropping about browsing a site that features parallax scrolling. In case you aren't quite sure what parallax is: it’s a technique in web design where background images move down the screen more slowly than foreground images, which creates a sensation of depth and adds to your user’s immersion and heightens their browsing experience. Parallax design is a combination of parallax scrolling and single-page design. This creates a really cool illusion of depth on a 2D web page. Parallax helps you to make an excellent presentation and surprise your visitors. It is great way to tell your brand’s story in a memorable and attractive manner. Everyone wants to see something more than an ordinary website, that’s why it's very catchy for an eye. If you like the parallax web technique of smooth scrolling, site elements floating in and out, moving backgrounds, spinning, sliding and fading elements or else, you will surely find suitable parallax WordPress themes for your needs and requirements. Parallax WordPress themes are available for all types of websites and we pick the most innovated and creative parallax scrolling themes around. With wonderful and cool visual effects, parallax themes are perfect if you want to offer your website a unique design. It also helps brand differentiate from competitors and engage visitors in an interactive way that creates leads and conversions. Sounds good? Choose one and give your visitors impressive experience.