the-stasis-pod

[the-stasis-pod]

Ramblings, #2

OK, so... I've gone down a real rabbit hole...

Lemme explain: A few days ago, I decided to make my own Inkscape palette. I thought: "How hard could it be to take 1,545 colors in HSV notation and turn them into hex codes to use with a Python script to make a GIMP palette for Inkscape?"

Yeah. Not very bright.

Because I need 32 windows open, two pages per split-screen tab. And I need to configure shit manually.

What an idiot I am.

AND NOW I'M REALIZING I COULD POTENTIALLY JUST CODE A BUNCH OF COLOR BLOCKS INTO AN EMPTY HTML PAGE FOR FUCKS SAKE AAAAAAAAAAA-

AND I COULD HAVE SAVED SO MUCH TIME DOING THAT INSTEAD OF FUCKING AROUND WITH THE BROWSER!

[the-stasis-pod]

Third Update!

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE IT'S HERE IT'S MOTHERFUCKING HERE!

FINALLY! Sixteen terabytes of space to play around with! Now, I can get started on the intermediate assets; the last part was just the base assets.

I want to time it right, though, and start making these assets on New Years' Day 2025. And it's gonna take quite a while doing this. So there's that.

Ramblings, #1

Three terabytes... three fucking terabytes... that's how much storage I need - approximately - for part of my project.

OK, for the record, let's give a bit of context here.

For the past year, I've been working on a set of over 8,600 profile pictures.

So far, I have almost 80 source assets, plus almost 600 base assets

At 8192x8192px resolution, each asset image is approx. 257MB.

So far, the source and base assets are complete; next, I have to manage the filesystem and calculate how much space I will need for the intermediate assets and the final product.

It's entirely possible I may need more than 3TB of storage; I certainly need more than 2TB!

I have yet to run calculations, but I might need 12TB total.

Why do I have such an expensive hobby?!

Anyway, all the pictures will follow the same basic idea of a circular insignia inspired by the logo for the old Marathon video games (currently available free on Steam, by the way, but that's neither here nor there) with a Forerunner Promethean glyph like the ones from Halo (specifically, the Reclaimer Saga comprising Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians). 38 glyphs, 38 roundels, 6 basic designs.

Hoo boy.

Wish me luck.

[the-stasis-pod]

Second update!

So, not only did I manage to save space switching to WebP files with lossless compression, I also managed to find a backup of a file I thought I'd irreversibly fucked up - an important file containing the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics, for the uninitiated) source images for my assets. A few steps to bring the SVG up to date later, and it was good as new.

Still working to get that hard drive, but now, I've found a cheaper one with more storage on it. So I'll go for that one instead.

I'll keep ya posted on progress updates. Stay tuned.

Ramblings, #1

Three terabytes... three fucking terabytes... that's how much storage I need - approximately - for part of my project.

OK, for the record, let's give a bit of context here.

For the past year, I've been working on a set of over 8,600 profile pictures.

So far, I have almost 80 source assets, plus almost 600 base assets

At 8192x8192px resolution, each asset image is approx. 257MB.

So far, the source and base assets are complete; next, I have to manage the filesystem and calculate how much space I will need for the intermediate assets and the final product.

It's entirely possible I may need more than 3TB of storage; I certainly need more than 2TB!

I have yet to run calculations, but I might need 12TB total.

Why do I have such an expensive hobby?!

Anyway, all the pictures will follow the same basic idea of a circular insignia inspired by the logo for the old Marathon video games (currently available free on Steam, by the way, but that's neither here nor there) with a Forerunner Promethean glyph like the ones from Halo (specifically, the Reclaimer Saga comprising Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians). 38 glyphs, 38 roundels, 6 basic designs.

Hoo boy.

Wish me luck.

[the-stasis-pod]

Update on the above:

I found a way to reduce file size. I was using uncompressed PNG files like a complete dumbass. I'm fixing my mistake by switching to WebP files with lossless compression. That should bring it lower, knock on wood. I'll still need to run some post-conversion calculations, however, so I'm still standing by my 12TB estimate.

Stay tuned.

Ramblings, #1

Three terabytes... three fucking terabytes... that's how much storage I need - approximately - for part of my project.

OK, for the record, let's give a bit of context here.

For the past year, I've been working on a set of over 8,600 profile pictures.

So far, I have almost 80 source assets, plus almost 600 base assets

At 8192x8192px resolution, each asset image is approx. 257MB.

So far, the source and base assets are complete; next, I have to manage the filesystem and calculate how much space I will need for the intermediate assets and the final product.

It's entirely possible I may need more than 3TB of storage; I certainly need more than 2TB!

I have yet to run calculations, but I might need 12TB total.

Why do I have such an expensive hobby?!

Anyway, all the pictures will follow the same basic idea of a circular insignia inspired by the logo for the old Marathon video games (currently available free on Steam, by the way, but that's neither here nor there) with a Forerunner Promethean glyph like the ones from Halo (specifically, the Reclaimer Saga comprising Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians). 38 glyphs, 38 roundels, 6 basic designs.

Hoo boy.

Wish me luck.

[the-stasis-pod]

Ramblings, #1

Three terabytes... three fucking terabytes... that's how much storage I need - approximately - for part of my project.

OK, for the record, let's give a bit of context here.

For the past year, I've been working on a set of over 8,600 profile pictures.

So far, I have almost 80 source assets, plus almost 600 base assets

At 8192x8192px resolution, each asset image is approx. 257MB.

So far, the source and base assets are complete; next, I have to manage the filesystem and calculate how much space I will need for the intermediate assets and the final product.

It's entirely possible I may need more than 3TB of storage; I certainly need more than 2TB!

I have yet to run calculations, but I might need 12TB total.

Why do I have such an expensive hobby?!

Anyway, all the pictures will follow the same basic idea of a circular insignia inspired by the logo for the old Marathon video games (currently available free on Steam, by the way, but that's neither here nor there) with a Forerunner Promethean glyph like the ones from Halo (specifically, the Reclaimer Saga comprising Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians). 38 glyphs, 38 roundels, 6 basic designs.

Hoo boy.

Wish me luck.

[the-stasis-pod]

As promised, the remainder of the insignias!

In order:

Vehicons (I tweaked it in a way that would bertter suit a monochrome interpretation of the insignia)

Unicron and his minions, heralds, and followers (using the ROTB design because frankly, I love that particular design)

Mini-Cons (I ditched the border because I felt it to be superfluous)

Quintessons (I used the 1986 design because it was easier to vectorize - I don't understand why the War for Cybertron trilogy had to overcomplicate the new design)

Mercenaries

Aligned continuity Predacons

Star Raiders (originally called the Star Seekers; Hasbro must've realized that the name would cause confusion with the Decepticon Seekers and had it changed)

Prima

Vector Prime

Alpha Trion

Solus Prime

Micronus Prime

Alchemist Prime

Nexus Prime

Onyx Prime

Amalgamous Prime

Quintus Prime

Liege Maximo

Megatronus Prime/The Fallen

The Thirteenth Prime/Optimus Prime/Zeta Prime/The Arisen

Primus (IDW 2005 G1 depiction)

Solomus

Mortilus

Epistemus

Adaptus

Aligned continuity Predacons (prototype version)

Terrans

Ancient Transformers (Dreamwave G1 comics; later repurposed as a Builder insignia in Fun Publications' Beast Wars Uprising series)

Shattered Glass Primus (the only original creation in this roster; I felt that if there were an SG ROTB, ROTB-SG Primus would need an insignia every bit as evil as that of ROTB Unicron)

Functionist Council

Again, I know not all the colors line up, but... compromises...

Goodies, #1

Transformer Insignias, G1 Cartoon style

Fucked around with CAD software recently, making some SVGs that I then modified in Inkscape - I know, making SVG images in CAD software; not something you hear of every day.

Anyway, I was re-vectorizing some of the insignias, and I suddenly had a thought:

Why not go the extra mile and color 'em to look kinda like the G1 versions of the emblems?

So I did. I fired up GIMP, set to work on the gradients (I shit you not, it was a pain in the ass), did some other things, and badda bing badda boom!

That's just the first ten out of the 39 I re-vectorized. The remaining 29, plus an original-creation, will be up soon. In order:

Autobot

Decepticon

Maximal

Predacon

Combatron (upside-down G2 Autobot)

Cybertronian (G2 Decepticon, rendered upside down because I feel it looks better like that)

Ascenticon

Primon (also a mark indicating a Prime in the IDW Hasbroverse)

Optimus (the good guys of the Brazilian Estrella Transformers toyline)

Malignus (also from the Brazilian Transformers toyline by Estrella; no points for guessing their morality)

I know some of the colors don't really line up, but I had to differentiate them somehow.

[the-stasis-pod]

Goodies, #1

Transformer Insignias, G1 Cartoon style

Fucked around with CAD software recently, making some SVGs that I then modified in Inkscape - I know, making SVG images in CAD software; not something you hear of every day.

Anyway, I was re-vectorizing some of the insignias, and I suddenly had a thought:

Why not go the extra mile and color 'em to look kinda like the G1 versions of the emblems?

So I did. I fired up GIMP, set to work on the gradients (I shit you not, it was a pain in the ass), did some other things, and badda bing badda boom!

That's just the first ten out of the 39 I re-vectorized. The remaining 29, plus an original-creation, will be up soon. In order:

Autobot

Decepticon

Maximal

Predacon

Combatron (upside-down G2 Autobot)

Cybertronian (G2 Decepticon, rendered upside down because I feel it looks better like that)

Ascenticon

Primon (also a mark indicating a Prime in the IDW Hasbroverse)

Optimus (the good guys of the Brazilian Estrella Transformers toyline)

Malignus (also from the Brazilian Transformers toyline by Estrella; no points for guessing their morality)

I know some of the colors don't really line up, but I had to differentiate them somehow.

[the-stasis-pod]

Ramblings, #0

(Yes, I'm starting at zero, because I'm a nutjob and I do what I damn want with my systems of organizing shit! Sue me!)

'Sup, tumbloids? Welcome to the Stasis Pod, my catch-all for all manner of useless shit that's on my mind whenever I bother to post. Fair warning: topics will vary wildly. Ramblings, Trivia, Games and Shit, Plot Bunnies, Logo ShitBranding Crap (but don't ever talk to me about the AVID wiki - bad memories), blah blah blah.

Also, expect lots of... colorful lexicon. And plenty of usage of Tropespeak (if you don't know what that is, go to TV Tropes) and references galore.

OK, with that outta my system, lemme introduce myself.

Name's Sierra - that ain't my real name, mind ya; that's just my username elsewhere in some manner. I'm a young man with Autism, ADHD, mood disorder, blah blah blah. And before ya go sayin' anything, Sierra is the NATO phonetic value for the letter "S" - as in "Spartan," as in "Spartan-D421" - hence my online handle of Sierra-D421, representing a hypothetical SPARTAN-III Delta Company candidate, designated as #421 on the list (no, that's not a 420 joke - it's a math thing, actually; specifically, multiplying by 2 - exponents and geometric solids are two things I like that involve math).

I think you can tell from my little tangent that I'm a nerd, with special focus on Halo. Ironically, I didn't even get into it until 2019-ish, after I became disillusioned with Minecraft for personal reasons. I was sort of in between interests when I stumbled onto a Halo novel at my local library (I was a high-schooler at the time, and my class went there on a field trip). I didn't even know Halo had tie in novels, but this one - Last Light by Troy Denning - seemed really interesting, especially because it had a murder-mystery slant to it. One thing led to another, and soon, I ended up getting hooked. I still have a copy of my own somewhere, as well as an audiobook and a digital copy.

Of course, when the pandamnit hit (I started calling the Covid pandemic the "pandamnit" after hearing an anecdote online where OP's daughter said "pandamnit" instead of "pandemic" - this was a little kid, mind you), Halo was the one thing that got me through it. That, and copious amounts of fanfic, browsing on TV Tropes (where, true to the motto of the site, my life was irrevocably "ruined"), and lots of YouTube videos and Discord chats.

Fast forward to now, and I'm graduated (after having been held back a couple years), and now I'm trying to decide what to do with my life.

In the meantime, I'm working on all kinds of personal projects... vector art, mainly. That, and contributing to a KanColle fanfic, "Things Involving Shipgirls That Are No Longer Allowed" - a list fic that takes the ideas of Skippy's List and applies them to a KanColle setting.

Anyways, that's that side tangent. Now, where was I?

Oh yeah.

I don't really have a post schedule. If something pops in my head, I'll say it, but otherways... yeah.

Anyways, gotta go!