Taking another stab at visual assignments, I opted for Switch up the Mood, mostly because I had a few photographs that I had taken with a colleague’s top-shelf digital SLR camera the other day. Consequently, shooting in RAW format, I … Continue reading
Archive for the ‘Camp Magic MacGuffin’ Category
Messing About with Mood in Image Composites
Saturday, June 9th, 2012Hey. Have you heard about my band?
Friday, June 8th, 2012A lot of folks are doing some really fun album covers, so what the hell. Let me get in on the create too.
Here’s what you need to know:
Band name: Galeophobia
Wikipedia does not have an entry for Galeophobia, so if you have some time to kill perhaps you could fill that Wikipedia void. Wiktionary says that Galeophobia is (1) a fear of cats and (2) a fear of sharks. I have no idea how sharks and cats are related. There is also another term for the fear of cats. It’s called ailurophobia. But all of this is boring. Back to the fun stuff.
Album title: Part of Your Essential Being
I didn’t have a specific photo editor in mind. I knew I wanted to use something I’ve never used before. I did a search for web photo editor and selected Befunky, because it was kind of near the top and I am not discerning. It’s an easy tool to use though the font choices are limited. There are lots of photo effects though. I also like the fact that the tools can be used without registering as a user.
I’m pretty sure that Galeophobia is a metal band, so I selected some gothic fonts and made them as hard to read as possible, which is what metal bands are wont to do. I did the “Galeophobia” first and applied my changes. I wanted to change the positioning of the band name after applying said changes, but was unable to figure out how to do that without redoing the image. I then added the album title, played around the with coloring, and called it a day. Here it is:
First go
I was having fun though and I had some time to kill before graduation, so I decided to do another cover. Fun times!
another album cover, because a band has to have choices.
On Being A Monkey
Friday, June 8th, 2012
This is a preliminary post which will be added to over time. Members of the ds106 digital storytelling group The Monkey House may be interested in some of these resources and hints for use with MineCraft.
1) Monkey Skins are available for your MineCraft dude (while you are waiting to customize your own).
The Skindex currently shows 23 skins when you search for “monkey.”
You can either download the .png skin file for use further editing, or you can upload it directly to your Minecraft profile so that you immediately look like a proper chimp.
2) Monkey House Texture Pack: Following on a question from @BenjaminHarwood, I investigated the Texture Pack feature, and created the beginnings of a Monkey House theme that substitutes a banana for the apple, and introduces some simple monkey artwork. To achieve this end,
a) download the Monkey House Texture Pack: MC_mONkEyhouse_v1.zip to a spot you can locate on your computer. The texture back is in a ZIP file format. Do NOT unzip it.
b) Run Minecraft. If you already have Minecraft running, make sure you save and quit the world: you need to be in the main menu to continue.
c) Click Texture Packs button.
d) Click Open Texture Pack Folder button; this will open the folder where minecraft stores all texture packs. If nothing happens, you need to find the folder manually. Depending on your operating system it is:
- Windows XP/Vista/7:
%AppData%\.minecraft\texturepacks - Linux:
~/.minecraft/texturepacks(This folder may be hidden in the Home Folder) - Mac OS X:
~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/texturepacks(This folder may be hidden)
e) Do not close Minecraft. Place the texture pack (ZIP file) in the opened texture packs folder, do not unzip.
f) In a few seconds the texture pack will appear in Minecraft. Select it and click Done. The texture pack is now applied, you may load your world and see the difference.
You should now see the world through a Monkey’s eyes.
This texture pack will likely evolve over time. I need to address the object naming, create a golden banana, and turn the regular cake into Banana Cake. Other suggestions?
There is more information about Texture Packs on the Minecraft wiki.
Here is a shot of some of our members of The Monkey House posing in front of one of the monkey pictures, with the pile of “apples” replaced (from my perspective) with bananas.
Members of The Monkey House with bananas and monkey art
3) Building Branches in The Monkey House tree.
While a short video tutorial has been requested (might be a nice little project), the basic process that I’ve used to build branches involves using the following bits.
1) the basic wood block for our tree
2) the dirt block
3) the fourth sapling
4) bone meal
5) the dark green leaves
6) the vines.
By placing a sapling on a dirt block and applying bone meal, a tree can instantly be grown on a branch. (remove the dirt block after and replace it with wood). Then add additional leaves and vines to arrive at your aesthetically pleasing result.
NOTE: For when creepers, zombies, skeletons, and spiders come wandering around, having the bow and arrow handy lets you get rid of the monsters without any explosions or collateral damage to The Monkey Hut.
Here’s an external shot of The Monkey House tree with the original large big branch. The plan will be to add additional large big branches such that each monkey can build a tree house of their own in the upper reaches of the foliage.
"The Monkey House tree" by aforgrave, on Flickr
4) Select and Name Your Temporary Bunk: We have prepared a good number of bunks in the main level of The Monkey House tree. Select an unoccupied bunk, and then update your sign (break, then replace) with your name, your twitter name, and the type of monkey you would like to be.
"One Funky Monkey Bunk(s)" by aforgrave, on Flickr
5) Members of The Monkey House can use our #tag when posting to Twitter:
We are #mONkEyhouse106.
The Shape of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet
Friday, June 8th, 2012In the last couple of days I have been wrapping up a Shakespeare experience of Romeo & Juliet with my ninth grade students. In an effort to keep things light and entertaining when introducing students to Shakespeare, I use a … Continue reading
Movie Scene Creeper and a story
Thursday, June 7th, 2012Call me butter, because I’m on a roll! Wheeeeeeee!
Here’s a visual assignment that Jim Groom can maybe appreciate.
A long time ago (almost 3 years ago) I had this life where I watched movies and read books and listened to music. Then I had a baby (now a toddler), and I don’t do any of those things anymore, because my time is spent trying to raise this child to be a decent human being.
Back when I watched movies and read books and listened to music, the husband and I would visit our friend Matt Mills (who can be seen playing drums in the video below).
Matt Mills worked/works at Video Fan on Strawberry Street in this lovely city called Richmond. Here’s a picture of Video Fan that I didn’t take:
Matt Mills was a horror/exploitation/cult movie aficionado. We spent a lot of time watching questionable movies like White Dog and Tenement and gems like Spider Baby. He talked a lot of Argento and Bava. Matt was sweet enough to lend Will and I his Bava boxed set after my son was born. Unfortunately, I was too sleep-deprived to remember any of what I saw.
I do, however, remember the shadows in those Bava films. After reading the prompt for “Creep on a movie scene,” I thought about those Bava movies and I thought about this great picture I have of myself mopping up someone’s spilled drink at a party. The picture is a shadowy, dark, and creepy:
The original photo is in color, so I just did a quick edit in iPhoto and changed it to black and white. I then open the photo in Photoshop. I found the still from Black Sunday through a Google Image search. I downloaded that photo to my desk top and opened it in Photoshop too.
There was a lot of fumbling around in Photoshop, which I’ve never used before. I created two layers–one with the mopping photo, the other with the Bava still. The background from the mopping picture was deleted. I experimented with the brightness and contrast. Then I dragged the altered image into the Bava still. I looked like a giant compared to the characters in the Bava movie, so I sized myself down a little.
I’d like to repeat it all just to make sure I have the hang of it.
Evil truly does lurk in the shadows. Here’s the proof:
Muwhahahahahahhaha!
Trollin’, Trollin’, Trollin’
Wednesday, June 6th, 2012I spent some time visiting the blogs of fellow campers this afternoon. I stumbled across the Troll Quotes assignment on Marcey’s Blog and knew that I had to do this one. I decided to use a handful of pop divas. Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Cyndi Lauper look out! Here’s the result:
I found an image of Madonna by searching Google Images. The quote is supposedly from Lady Gaga. I haven’t heard Lady Gaga say this, nor have I read it in print, but it came up in a Google search, so it must be true.
I imported the Madonna pic into Adobe Fireworks. I then added the text and green stroke effect. All of this was added using Fireworks too.
Crafty Business
Wednesday, June 6th, 2012So! Campers have started to explore the MineCraft incarnation of Camp Magic MacGuffin in droves! Last Friday evening, a good number of folks showed up simultaneously within the virtual space, and by Tuesday evening, the area surrounding the Camp Centre had been transformed with a whole slew of new construction. With a multiples of folks now working here and there, the opportunities for group photos start to occur. Of course, why settle for a static pose when you can go for the ubiquitous simultaneous-on-the-count-of-three-everybody-jump shot. Three images (one repeated, then looped) to produce a little animation.
Giulia, Shannon, and Ben on the Beach at Camp Magic MacGuffin on Tuesday evening
Of course this becomes more difficult with an increased number of people.
Not only was the co-ordination of the jumping a bit less synchronized with five, but the rapid capture of screenshots using the native MineCraft screen capture (F2 key on PC, FN+F2 on Mac) introduced a whole slew of filenames superimposed on the successive images, which I had to edit out. But the result was worth it.
INSERT 5-PERSON ANIMATED GIF HERE (revised image to come … )
After getting switched to Creative Mode (to avoid the MineCraft Monsters), folks have been getting the basics of manoeuvring and flying down. @timmmmyboy, @mburtis, and @leelzebub have been particularly helpful and responsive in getting new arrivals out of danger (Survival Mode) and flying around.
Quite a few crafters now have customized their Minecraft Steve with a unique skin. (Search The Skindex if you want to choose from a huge selection of pre-made skins, or see the embedded skin editor, Skincraft, at the end of this post.)
After getting oriented, most folks are getting together with their bunkmates and working to build their bunk houses. The Camp Centre has taken a few hits as Creepers continue to roam and blow stuff up, but everyone seems to be pitching in to make repairs.
After seeing that Bunkhouse Five (The DigiOuijas) was casting a nasty shadow on the centre camp at high noon (causing the night-creatures to come out at mid-day), @timmmmyboy graciously removed and relocated Bunkhouse Five and introduced a shadow-free transparent floor at the same time! Tuesday evening he spent a good chunk of time working to get his piston-elevator system working. I had a chance to test it out — and while we both encountered a bug or two …
You Moved Too Quickly (Hacking?)" by aforgrave, on Flickr
… it did manage to transport my MineCraft self up to the top of the world.
"Top of the World" by aforgrave, on Flickr
@BenjaminHarwood and @GiuliaForsythe chose a location for Bunkhouse Two (The Wäscälly Wäbbits) and did some serious digging in, both in terms of into-the-cliff-burrowing, and front-entrance garden planting. They also spent time working on a Pirates of the Caribbean boat attraction, and I had an opportunity to experiment with MineCraft TNT at their site while trying to create an exit for the trapped boats. Check out the proud Wabbits in front of their collaborative digs.
"Two Wäscälly Wäbbits" by aforgrave, on Flickr"
@shauser and I returned to the site of the new BIG HUGE GIANT tree for Bunkhouse One (The Monkey House), and spent some time working to make it bigger and more tree-like. – It’s getting there. But we also had some fun when we managed to fall out of the world while visiting Ben and Giulia.
- aforgave fell out of the world
- <aforgrave> did you cover up that hole?
- <shauser> yup, planted that sapling where you fell through
- <aforgrave> how deep is the dirt?
- <shauser> like three deep? should it go deeper?
- <aforgrave> tree?
- <shauser> i don’t know, i had a sapling on hand so i planted it
- <shauser> in memory of you!
- <shauser> but you didn’t really die
- aforgave fell out of the world
- shauser fell out of the world
- <aforgrave> yes — unless we want to make it really thin and let others follow!
- <shauser> haha yes lets fix
In fact, the experience was so enjoyable, we enjoyed it a couple more times:
- aforgave fell out of the world
- shauser fell out of the world
- aforgave fell out of the world
- shauser fell out of the world
We then repaired the original hole at the Wabbits site, but not wanting to say goodbye to the fun, we built an amusement ride for all to enjoy at the Camp Magic MacGuffin beach — The Fell Out the World Fun Ride. Enjoy, everyone!
"'Fall Out the World'Fun Ride" by aforgrave, on Flickr
Shannon and Tim and I also took a little excursion to try to find some of the sights I encountered during my Lost in the MineCraft Wilderness Expedition, and some more work was completed on The Monkey House tree house, but those details will remain for a later post …
Skincraft: A MineCraft Skin Editor
See? I made a Gumby skin for my MineCraft dude
Why settle for some off-the-shelf Steve skin, when you can Create Some Art and make your own with this handy skin editor?
The editor gives you a tiny little .png file. This is what I uploaded to my profile at minecraft.net to skin my dude as Gumby …
Who would you like to be in MineCraft? What key features do you need to capture to make your character’s skin instantly recognizable and unique?
Use the embedded editor below. Just click Play. Make some MineCraft Skincraft art!
(It’s a .swf file, so you’ll need to edit on a device that supports Flash)
Skincraft © 2011 The-Swain | Afro-Ninja | Mike Welsh Sponsored by Newgrounds
Remixing Some Sci-Fi Cult Classics
Tuesday, June 5th, 2012While I am already a bit behind and feeling some self-imposed pressure to keep working in DS106, I took on my first visual assignment. I am, after all, still trying to wrap up the school year with my own students … Continue reading
Adventures In Minecraft
Tuesday, June 5th, 2012I’ve been really busy on Minecraft these past couple weeks! Here are some highlights of the things I’ve built (you can see the whole “Adventures in Minecraft” album on Flickr):
Rainbow Bridge!
An observatory
Inside the Observatory. You can watch the sun and moon!
- A myseterious pond… Won’t you throw something in?
These creations are actually old new news, but I’ve been away from my blog for some time. I guess things have been busy on the “first world” side of the computer universe. I’ll be sure to take some screenshots of new happenings and update the Interblags about my travails when I can.
Camp Magic Macguffin in Pictures
Tuesday, June 5th, 2012Spent some time exploring camp and taking some pictures. I’m using the oh-so-popular Pinterest to house photos. I’m keeping all of my camp memories on a Camp Magic Macguffin board.
Things are getting weird here. Bunk X makes me kind of nervous. I’ll talk more about it in my letter home when I figure out what’s going on.
