foxpro.catalyst «

FoxPro workBLOGS and MORE… . . .

DeviantArt celebrated its fourth birthday last August 07. Considering that it is still three in the morning and I am located in this part of the world where I am ahead by almost twelve hours to where DeviantArt servers are located, that celebration was just yesterday.

It sports a new faster loading skin and a well-organized interface plus a web-based chat feature created by the brains behind the Sonique MP3 player, Andrew McCann. There are quite a number of improvements ‘experience-wise’ too that you have to see for yourself.

These days DeviantArt holds 7 million deviations already while catering 8.2 million page views a day. Of course there is more to DeviantArt than what those number can show.

Much much more.

Inspired by this, which has also greatly inspired me to start the Pixelcatalyst.Lair website four years ago, do expect some pixel-related blogs from now on. Post that deals on some Photoshop tips and HTML/web design related materials.

I will also be including once in a while the ‘creative thoughts’ behind some of the artworks I create in my free time, some tutorials and everything sex in between.

When I say ‘sex’ I mean the ‘sex’ referred inside those Sex and Cash Theories that are proliferating the blog-o-sphere as of late.

And not the other one.

Today’s article: Un-Dynamics of Software Development, or, Don’t Bite the Flip Bozo. A little ‘warp’ but interesting and true. Here’s a snip:

The Perfect Software CompanyThere is a perfect software company. It is where I work. The coffee is excellent. The chairs are comfortable, the computers are wicked fast, and we take a lot of video game breaks. The humidor is well-stocked with Cohibas, there is a killer library, and naps are encouraged. The furnishings are handsome, and the décor is pleasant. There are no cubes. The Managers sign checks and buy whatever software, computers, books, gadgets, and video games are desired. Schedules are not set until requirements are defined, software release dates are only announced after the features are done and rock solid. There are no suits. No ties. No cubes, and no timesheets. The work hours are very flexible but long, but I show up because I have more fun there than anywhere else.

Hmm… imagine when hard disks were this huge? Here’s an overview of that picture.

As expected Microsoft expands it’s quest for innovation. Yes… we do have different thoughts what ‘innovation’ really is. Now it’s crawling into searching, anti-virus (once there was MSAV right), mobile phones, XBox consoles, Tablet PCs and more.

Nice… but how come this move? Is this part of that promise a couple of months ago to fight and stop spam in the future?

Technology Review has something about Holograms, tweezers and teleportation. Now that’s news… beam me up, cowboy.

On the pixel-side of things, MIGHTY DEPTHCORE released the Infinity Pack. I don’t have any submission in that pack though since I’ve been busy battling out with Miss TCP/IP this week. But with or without me… the pack rocks.

And finally I caved into this technocarnalust of mine.

This involves the ‘monitor dilemma’ I mentioned earlier on my blog.

You see, yesterday (make that the other day since it is 2 in the morning already) after returning a refurbished 15” Samsung monitor that behaves as if it was dissected by three trigger happy aliens, I happen to bump into the shop’s delivery truck that delivered ‘fresh goods’.

The golden loot of that afternoon was a crystal crisp 21” Sun flat screen monitor displayed at the center of the shop, which the vendors are eagerly ‘marketing’.

But who can blame them… it was so lovely… even lovelier than the ViewSonic E70F flat screen monitor I have on my previous workplace in Davao… and ViewSonic has been on top of my list along with the different models of HP.

It’s a refurbished monitor but aside from the one returned, we have purchased around 9 refurbished monitors on that shop already (Samsung, NEC, Toshiba and Sony) and after 7++ months, these monitors are still A-OK. 15” monitor costs around P1,800 (1 dollar is approximately 55 pesos) and 21” sells at around P4,000.

This SUN monitor was being sold at a higher price… 4,500.

And there was I faced between a LackofImmediateNeed and, as Avatar puts it, the ThisOppurtunitySeldomComes data collection battling inside my head.

I was able to convince the head of that shop though to reserve the monitor to me up to 10:30AM the next day (the shop opens around 10AM), until I can decide if I should acquire it.

Back home I did a little research on these Sun monitors.

The ‘net showed that these monitors are really manufactured by Sony for Sun. Some even are bundled for Sun’s 20,000 dollar computer packages. The new model line of Sun 21” monitors even sells for around P52,000 (850+ euros and 952+ dollars if my memory serves me right).

Other reviews were good and convincing too.

There are also refurbished and second hand monitors being sold online but there’s a big difference when it is just around approximately 10 blocks away from your place and you have personally seen it.

The other factors that hinders me to buy the monitor are things I can override and justify but it’s the LackofImmediateNeed reason that for a spend-only-when-needed type of guy like me, makes things a little harder to decide.

So I let sleep and dreams process subliminally the data, the ‘values’ and other factors gathered.

The next day (that was yesterday morning) I found myself in front of the shop 15 minutes before it even opened, fast forward… and I was carrying a heavy load upstairs to our room and I get to enjoy too, the 1600×1200 wallpapers I created the way they should be displayed sans the resizing.

Now here at 2AM in front of this huge thing, that if I think is not suffering from a major jet lag, would probably be happily devouring me especially that there no one else’s is looking.

Ah yes… same reason why the room lights are still on.

Plastiqueweb Networks is back online… and the Pixelcatalyst.Lair as well.

Now that restores the balance in this chi of mine.

So here we are again… online after two weeks of being knocked off the ‘net.

Before I’ll post the events that occurred during that span of time… let us tackle first things, first.

What in Valhalla’s name brought us down?

Actually we’re still down. The RichardBase.com is still suspended and judging from the way things are going, it would remain that way.

Post.Deleted(Paragraph)

I did type a couple of paragraphs which I deleted considering that I don’t like to delve into the gory details. To summarize it one sentence… the friend who’s sponsoring my free hosting on that server using a domain I registered on its second year (was free during the first) had problems with his hosting reselling business that he decided to discontinue things.

But no negative chakras here. I’m still thankful for the hosting sponsorship for more than a year. It was a big help indeed.

Besides, I was planning to register a new one early this year to make things more non-person-centric. That’s the problem with domains using birth names. There are certain factors that limits the things that I wanted to do. You can now access the Portfolio 2004 using this link: RichardBase.NTSL119.com.

Time to move on… on a new server with hosting and domain paid using an income generated from our projects. (You see since the first day I posted something online and made the ‘online presence’, I was relying on freebies… up to this point Pixelcatalyst.Lair is still made possible through the kindness of a fellow artist at DeviantArt, Niko)

I did spent some time and effort behind that old Foxpro.catalyst but as I was saying to some friends last week, I will rebuild things from scratch if I have to. Besides greatness is measured on how you built good things that crumble from splinters again… and again.

That’s one thing you should teach a child… standing up every time they fall. Let’s just say I was taught well on that department.

Something yummy to start your week: Concept Art Productions for the Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions.

Here’s a collaborative artwork between me and ShadowElement. Expect more variations in the weeks to come.

Before today… make that yesterday, since it is already 2AM and I have just decided to call it a day in terms of database-related works, it was a consecutive three day client visits for me. It is quite a busy start for this week. And it will be busier in the days to come since I’m targeting to complete most of these projects by the end of May.

Haven’t done much surfing lately too so I can’t give you interesting links for now. What I do these days is copy the links that my RSSReader grabs for me and save this batch on an Excel file which I will later copy and paste inside HTTrack for some midnight-to-morning ‘pulling’. So far I haven’t read those articles yet.

I’m also planning to take some time to do some updates at pixelcatalyst.lair which I have been neglecting these days. PixelWorkz, the site from where pixelcatalyst.lair was derived will turn five years this 19th of May so probably I’d be uploading some stuff which I haven’t had the time to upload for months already. These would include the artworks I submitted to DepthCore during last month’s Submergence release and something related to the on going collaboration between me and ShadowElement. Add a batch of tutorials and some stock photos.

OK… this feed just came in: West Wind Html Help Builder 3.25 released.

I purchased a copy of Heavy Metal’s December 2003 issue yesterday. Bought it for a third of its original price (Is this starting to be a trend already?). The cover artwork is done by Boris Vallejo but inside a find out that Luis Royo, the fantasy artist that inspires me the most, released Conceptions II already. So I fired up Google to look for a gallery online.

I arrived a minute later at the front door of Fantaysia.com Forums.

I also stumbled upon an online gallery of Prohibited Books III in that site (though I later found out that it was uploaded already a couple of months ago at Therionweb.de, the site where I usually download fantasy-related artworks).

Needless to say, I spent the whole night until almost sunrise viewing, pondering, right-clicking and saving these images to my bloating hard drive. I have been collecting JPEG versions of the Luis Royo’s artworks since the day I found his Malefic series in the ‘net (Funny I was really looking for Anime that day).

It would need 19 pages or more if I have to describe the works a genius like Luis Royo creates. His artworks inspired the first website I published- collections.com and for those of you who first found this site before pixelcatalyst.lair, I also create digital artworks in my free time to release the tensions and pressures that database programming bring. One of my artworks, The Bar of Persuasion was inspired by Luis Royo’s Cross of Pleasure. Be warned though that most of his artworks contain materials and elements that might be ‘offensive’ especially to the conservative ones.

So what does this have to do with Visual FoxPro and database programming? Nothing really… though two of Luis Royo’s artworks, Light of Panic and Wings of Reflection, are always posted on the wall of the room or cubicle where I work since eight years ago.

One of those things you can find on my desk/cube that keeps the creative juices flowing and fires up the neurons.

···

More Luis Royo-related links:
LuisRoyo.com [Official website]
http://members.xoom.it/volker1 [Luis Royo Galleries]
TherionWeb.de [More amazing fantasy artworks]
Luis Royo artbooks at Amazon.com

Forget your ‘HTML-coding kung fu’… move your arse to Flash err… Flex.

Nah, not until I can get hold of that E-Paper. Remember Minority Report? The changing front page newspapers..? Yup… that’s the E-Paper I’m talking about.

Fascinating how movies influence technology. And vice versa. Here’s another article about Star Trek ‘powered’ gadgets being used in daily life. Give credits to the conceptual artists too… like Ryan Church. In a way their minds are behind these innovations.

I know this is supposed to be scribbled in the Pixelcatalyst.Lair news, but I just can’t help it: CG Channel interviews George Hull, Senior Visual Effects Art Director of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. George Hull also was involved with BIG movies such as Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Mission Impossible, special editions of the Star Wars Trilogy, Star Trek Generations, Twister and Forest Gump. Currently, he is the Art Department Creative Director at ESC Entertainment.

I fired up Dreamweaver (with EditPad and IE6) and decided to give myself something to tinker with while I’m in a relaxing-away-from-Foxpro-and-its-cruel-codes mood. But I end up in angst instead. It seems Dreamweaver conspires with IE6 and Windows to generate those out of nowhere errors. It doesn’t even refresh things for heaven’s sake. I spent quite a large amount of time tinkering with some javascripts, cursing and isolating each part I think was the cause of the problem only to find out that having this on top:

[!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN”]
[!– saved from url=(0039)http://www.richardbase.com/foxpro/news/ –]
(Replace ‘[]’ with ‘<>‘)

… prevents the execution of TARGET=”_blank” and ruins almost everything which in the first place is illogical. Now it is 04:03AM… I’m pissed and worse I’m hungry. Good thing there’s Mozilla for comfort. But I can’t eat Mozilla. This IE6 I have on this PC needs castration… really.

Avatar posted this cool flash work in the forum, Imagination at Work! More like ‘wasting time at work’… but a cool way indeed to waste time. I’m still in the process of convincing him to create a techblog of his own.

It’s 2:43AM already and i’m still working on the new version of that richardbase.com website. I have done 90% of the template last friday and i was able to chop things, add tables and rollover images already tonight (post.replace[‘tonight’, ‘morning’]). I’ll be using iFrame this time to minimize an extensive vertical scrolling for the main section. It has been months since i have last touched Dreamweaver, PaintShop Pro and Adobe Photoshop… so i’m having quite a hard time familiarizing things once again. I can’t even find the SNAP TO GRID item earlier.

I tend to give importance to the details when i’m working on GFX-related matters. I would even scrap a two hour work and start from scratch if i’m not satisfied with it. I’ve done that earlier this evening when i am faced with the dilemma of optimizing the image size using JPEGs compressed by 15 or 30 percent over a GIF format which reduces the overall quality of the image.

I end up using a rollover image with both a not-so-compressed JPEG as the main image and a GIF file for the ‘roller’. I don’t want to sacrifice quality this time… and since i’m using an iFrame, the loading of most images will only occur once. All other loading of files and images will be inside that iFrame which is not that ‘heavy’.

Once the main portfolio site is done… expect the foxpro.catalyst website to emulate that interface too. Hmm… do you really think this site will hold this text only type of look that long?

Technology Takes on Tradition in Animation. Wesner Moise has also an interesing insight about that topic in his 3D versus 2D Animation blog.