Category Archives: the mindlab

d20 New Character Classes – Just These Guys

the mindlab

In spite of it’s many foibles I and many others very much enjoy the Dungeons & Dragons game, especially in it’s d20 system iteration. Perhaps one of the major reasons for game’s popularity both in it’s current form and historically is the evocative, tone setting, and somewhat customizable character archtypes it offers in the form of mythic races and heroic classes.

Character classes range from the simple (ie. Fighters) to the extravagantly abilitied (ie. Bards, Druids, Rangers), covering a wide range of occupational and lifestyle choices. However, one potential drawback of this sytem is that each sort of class is very much focused in a particular area of magical and/or mundane expertise. And this can be fine if you simply want warriors who kill things and magicians who sling spells about…

But what if you’re interested in playing a different sort of warrior: a cavalry man with who has studied history a bit and has better strategic, diplomatic, and leadership skills? Or a wizard who’s not just a walking toolbox of magical effects, rather a wise man who has studied up on arcane lore of all sorts, strange creatures, alchemy, poisons, spirits, and the planes beyond?

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“On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau

the mindlab

I heartily accept the motto, “That government is best which governs least”; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe—”That government is best which governs not at all”; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure.

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Backgrounds

the mindlab

Here are two unused backgrounds for a project. I like them both, but they are failures. I’m more partial to first one, but it is too psychedelic. The second one is too busy. However, the second features one divine bovine. The bovine is very similar to another drawing of a cow I did in High School for a commercial contest. My idea had to do with milk, but the actual commercial contest topic had nothing to do with milk. Everyone told me not to draw the cow – but I inisted. Needless to say, I lost.

Crazy Street
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DNG Workflow

the mindlab,

Here’s some workflow helper scripts for digital photography. A couple of assumptions are made with these scripts:

  • You use OS X 10.4 – mandatory since this stuff uses Automator.
  • You use Adobe DNG (version 3.2) – not mandatory, but you have to take out the dng conversion steps.
  • You want your photos stored in a date hierarchy, specifically /yy/mmddyy/yyyymmdd-xxxx.dng. The xxxx is the original number from the raw file. As an example, a photo taken on Aug. 11th, 2005 would be stored in /05/081105/20050811-2927.dng.
  • I use a Canon Digital Rebel, so the naming conventions are CRW_xxxx.CRW, CRW_xxxx.THM, and IMG_xxxx.JPG

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The Case of the Floating Sofa and How Cecily Wound up Under the Table

the mindlab

While storyboarding Ameviathan: The Green Machine, I have run into a number of visual problems that the scriptwriting process has not taken into account. One category of problems has to do with space, and in particular a floating sofa.

Before I get to the floating sofa though, let me say a word about these spatial problems in general. On some level, I had anticipated such problems and in drafting the screenplay was mindful that I should not get overly complex in what I sought to portray. Nonetheless, when I transferred what I had written on the page into three-dimensional space and actual frame-by-frame shots, I found there were still elements I had not fully considered, like the floating sofa.

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Storyboards 130 & 137 – Ameviathan: “The Green Machine”

the mindlab

Here are storyboards 130 and 137 from Ameviathan: “The Green Machine”. Tim found a way to better render the pictures in Photoshop to get them a little cleaner and smoother looking. So props to Tim for making the crappy sketches actually visible.

As of today I’ve storyboarded about half the script. My production rate seems to be around 8 frames a day.

I'm Cecily!

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