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bonesiii

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  1. bonesiii
    Did you know it's possible to down an apple tree -- or half of one, at least -- merely by the weight of the apples itself?

    It is.

    Here's the reasons I have been very inactive in recent weeks:

    1) Half of the apple tree in our backyard fell down a few weeks ago. Remember I said I was dogsitting? Exactly one day after the dogs went back home, the tree fell. During that week before it fell, I had spent hours upon hours trimming the low-hanging branches, cutting off tons of weight, and then for hours upon hours upon days more we picked up and branches and apples.

    THEN the tree fell, but thankfully in the middle of the day when nobody was out there. Seriously, I came within one day of getting squished by a tree in my own backyard. Yikes. And all that is AFTER I cut off a ton of weight. Yeesh.

    Took out my nice shade area under a smaller redbud tree too; took off half that tree's branches.

    Pics and stuff. Don't blame me for the awful angle, Ojh took these.

    One
    Two
    Three
    Four
    Five

    So then for that whole week we spent hooooouuuurs upon hours, with chainsaw help from our next-door neighbor, who luckily for us cuts down trees all the time, chopping that up, sloooowly hauling away a ton of wood, twigs, and apples.

    Then we dogsat (past tense of dogsit? ) the week after that, and still weren't done with the tree. One of the dogs is dying of cancer, and she can't see very well, so we had to guide her around giant piles of sticks outside, etc. The other two dogs are extremely high energy and love to run like bullets, so we had to be careful there too so they wouldn't impale themselves.

    And while we were at it, the neighbor trimmed the other half that was still standing for us. It's standing at a less precarious angle than the other half, but still not totally stable, and so a ton of the weight, which also hangs over our garage, got removed. Later we removed some that hang over wires. Now what's standing is more like one third an apple tree, heh. So anyways, finally we got all that removed.

    What seems to have happened was this: Last year, we had zero apples, because of a late frost. Which was great, because we don't have the time to do all the proper things to keep bugs out, so they all just fall and rot and then we get reeeeally tired of picking them up every summer. But this year when the flowers came out, the whole tree was freaking white, there were so many. We knew it'd be bad, but it was clearly soooo much the weight was too much.

    There WAS a storm the previous night, but the tree was still standing then, and it fell when there was no wind, and it was dry. I had noticed while trimming it that that side was hanging waaaay lower than it usually did in apple season, and the trunk seemed to be splitting away from the other half. I hadn't quite put two and two together though -- never heard of a tree bringing itself down lol.

    So anyways. Pros: We'll get a lot less apples, at least for several years, now. Cons: We lost our best shade, and had to waste a ton of time on it.

    2) This came during the FCG contest entry period, which Ojh and I had already committed to entering. That combined with dogsitting took a lot of time. But:

    3) We also lost one of our two networked computers. Usually Ojh will code on the faster one while I do art on the slower one, so we can get work done faster. We lost that capability until the last week of the entry period, so that slowed us down even further.

    So our entry took twice as long as we planned. Go figure. At least we got it done.

    So anyways, that's all over with, unless the other half of the tree feels like falling (those apples are monsters now and still growing).

    I plan to get the Expanded Multiverse stuff up and running soon. Not yet sure if the BRC topic or the first main contest will begin first, but the contest is slated for July, which is here. So yeah. Swert and I still have to pin a few things down.

    Also, coming soon will be a major announcement related to the Greg Dialogue topic.

    --------------THIS ENTRY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:--------------



    --------------AND:--------------



    --------------SO LIKE, HAVE FUN AND STUFF--------------
  2. bonesiii
    Bionicle Paracosmos: Enigma Pacman

    Inspired by Pacman, taking place in the Bionicle Paracosmos location Twisted Island (from my fanfics), this is a one-map arcade game with a short "Adventure Mystery" storyline. You play as Enigma, a good-guy shapeshifter, collecting energy fruit to get Attack Mode, and earn points to earn more Attack Mode forms and other unlockables. The storyline parts can be skipped and played later if you prefer to get right to the gameplay.

    After the story end you can keep playing for as long as you want. I have beaten it in exactly one hour; about a third of the unlockables and about nine+ minutes of gameplay are available in the first ten minutes. There are also storyline-fitting cheatcodes (entered with arrow keys in onscreen keyboard) that change gameplay in various ways, and a fair range of settings in the pause menu, further increasing replay value.

    Have had two versions up, and fixed some things people brought up. Version Three is available now in the topic.

    Here's some printscreens:









    The members whose MOCs from the Twisted Island Beasts MOC blog contest are included are:

    Bundalings: Kofo-Leke War Slug (smaller version I made up of his Kunu Leke), Kamitsu's Pain
    -Zip Er-: Zu Rama
    The Pointy-Haired Boss: Pack Munchers
    kyuubi: Rahi Traps
    Atako: Nui Chiropt bats
    Toa Talvak: Scorch Ants
    TOA BIONUI: Macrovirus
    Vaka-Nui: Mahvoki

    Enjoy!

    Banner:

    [url="http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=307390"][img=http://www.majhost.com/gallery/bonesiii/SigStuff/bpepbnr.png][/url]
  3. bonesiii
    Attention all Paracosmos fans! Twisted Island is now fully reposted up to where I had left off before the "Dataclysm". The never-before-seen Chapter 18 is up!
     
     
     
    Speaking of Twisted Island, Ojhilom and my FCG contest entry, Enigma Pacman, is coming along great (it is set on TI in late 2006 story). The gameplay is pretty much finished; I just have to complete graphics, especially enemy graphics.
     
    For that, the smaller winners of the Beasts MOC blog contest (the creatures used in the epic TI) will be included as charset versions. A few smaller beasts invented by me will be featured, especially Deconstruction Raptors (from a not-yet-posted TI chapter), and both Bohrok and Visorak will be included. (Also, the Ghosts of the Kanohi will be the main enemies besides the various Rahi.) The only small one not to be included will be Twayivl, who is slated to leave TI in Endless Blue (2002 storyline). Possibly two of the large winners will be included, and a smaller "Kofo Leke" version of the top winning MOC, the War Slug, will be included. All those who entered the relevant MOCs will be in the credits.
     
     
     
    For the sake of others entering the FCG contest, Ojh and I will put up the previous version of TMOMN (since our newest version isn't finished enough), and include the graphics of Visorak and Bohrok (and Krana BTW) that I am doing for my FCG entry. All graphics in this upload, I authorize yall to use in your FCG entries (if you are using RPGMaker), as long as you cite me (bonesiii) and my brother (Ojhilom) for credit. I'm Mr. Freeware, but pixel art is truly hard; for that I prefer cred.
     
    NOTE: the Bohrok will be full-sized (so a little shorter than an RPGMaker 2003 charset maximum), and aren't drawn yet, but the Visorak are more like "Kofo-Visorak." They will be officially called that in Enigma Pacman. This is because I'm only doing single-event baddies (for the most part), and someone requested single charset versions of Visorak. Normal Visorak would be about twice as large as the ones I'm drawing, but I did make 'em as big as possible while still being set-accurate.
     
    When will that be up? Depends on when I finish the Bohrok and Krana art. Could be as early as tomorrow, but ehhhhhh. The "Kofo-Vissies" are drawn, though.
     
     
    Now go review the epic.
  4. bonesiii
    Alright, got tons of updates. TMOMN, Twisted Island, Endless Blue, Monster Mystery, FCG entry... tons. I've also had a Dreaded Real Life delay... well, two if you count the garage door opener that conked out, but I'll save that for a later entry; got photos to upload for it.
     
    1) TMOMN. We were a-gonna wait to re-upload after the "Dataclysm" till we finished V4, but we've given in and just put up V3.2 again. See the edit added to the firstpost of the topic: BP: The Map of Mata Nui. (Begins with the redbold part after the intro.)
     
    That has two download links, plus one Emzee was kind enough to provide while I was busy. Also, the walkthrough links are included in there.
     
     
    2) FCG contest graphics -- if any of you want to use the graphics from TMOMN, or some bonus ones (Bohrok, Visorak, mainly, as I mentioned in previous blog entries), in your own FCG contest entries, Ojhilom and I are fine with it. You don't need to ask permission (for content entries ONLY!); just remember to give us credit.
     
    And if you're gonna, hurry up 'cuz the contest's almost over.
     
     
    3) Twisted Island. I've rapidly posted several new chapters this week, up to chapter 24. In case any of my readers had been waiting till I had a fair chunk of new content up to read, now I do. It's at a good cliffhangery stopping point for this week now.
     
    Here's the link for Chapter 18, which is what I thought was the first new chapter up, though at least one person had seen it already so yeah.
     
    And I've been heavily revising later TI chapters. Chapter 23 got the most editing -- I even added several new paragraphs after posting it lol.
     
     
    4) I have started writing the opening of Endless Blue, trying out some different ways to do it. Before I can get too far Ojh and I have to choose the Blue MOCs winners, heh, but he's away for now. Will do soon...
     
    Got several awesome new ideas for some of the key scenes in that epic. It's going to get very scifi. One of my rules for every epic is to try to have an original scifi idea (and to make it mysterious), and I've got several for this'n. Should be fun.
     
    The best way I can hint at what you can expect in that epic, aside from mysterious sailing voyages on the Endless Ocean, is that I'm taking some of the main things Greg is doing in official story lately, and approaching it from a very "terrifyingly grand-scale mystery" angle. I'll let y'all puzzle over that for now.
     
     
    5) I've also started writing the Monster Mystery SS (well, short epic ), as promised in past blog entries. I'm hoping to get that posted either before or shortly after the FCG entry; it takes place before the new game.
     
     
    6) And, the vast majority of the hard work for our FCG entry is done. Now I just need Ojh to work his coding genius magic on a few things when he gets back next week. I think we'll get it done right on schedule. Of course, I've been wrong about schedules many times before. We'll see...
     
    I can't wait to see everybody else's entries lol.
  6. bonesiii
    In order to keep my blog from dying a long and painful death, I'm taking an hour or so today to launch a feature that I've been meaning to post on BZP for several years but never got around to it... This is a hand-drawn comic series I began drawing for fun many years ago (before I knew of BZP, I think, though my memory is faulty). It's based around a news reporter who is, how shall I put it... less than top-notch... Originally planned to post this as a COT topic, but I figure a regular feature in my blog will be a better way to put this up since it's easier to keep track of (and can't die ). So without further ado... meet Bo Ring!



    Collection #1 is the first 36 cartoons (including the intro stuff). Around 108 have been scanned and maybe 30 or so more drawn--they will be posted in succeeding blog collection entries. The first few I'll d-link here; the rest will be simple links. Feel free to comment on this entry--this has been a looong time coming so I'd love to hear what you guys think! Enjoy!













    Bo Ring Cartoon # 7

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 8

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 9

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 10

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 11

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 12

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 13

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 14

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 15

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 16

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 17

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 18

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 19

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 20

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 21

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 22

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 23

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 24

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 25

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 26

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    Bo Ring Cartoon # 29

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 30

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 31

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 32

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 33

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 34

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 35

    Bo Ring Cartoon # 36



    Gallery
  7. bonesiii
    Today the Bones Blog brings a walkthrough of tips to consider when drawing vector art with Powerpoint. This is Part 2 of the two-part feature begun here: Vector Art In Powerpoint: Quality, Inexpensive, Easy. That entry focused on the inexpensive and easy aspects. This entry should help with the quality aspect, listing many important concepts I use when I "coolify", though they can be used for original artwork too. I will use an avatar request from Great Being #1 to illustrate these concepts. Enjoy!

    Note that "quality" here is partly defined in my own tastes, since all I know how to do is my own style. A lot of what I'm talking about is my own definition of "cool", as previously defined by this blog entry: Ruthless Elegance: A Visual Guide to Cool. However, many of these concepts can be modified for other styles, and I will point out some techniques I use that can help with any vector artwork. If you don't see "cool" the same way I do, don't fret.

    Note also: Images will follow the text of each short section, as many are quite large (but not very wide so hopefully not screenstretching). Lemme know if these take too long to load. (I was too lazy to thumbnailify most of 'em. )

    Order is roughly a mix of relevance, and just the order of which subject comes up in order as I drew.

    Setup Artpad

    Okay, here you see the "artpad" that I created in the first part of this feature. Below the drawing area, I pasted the quote from GB's PM. That is the guideline I have to keep in mind as I go. To the left I put an image of the Ignika, so I can easily glance at it as I go.

    Since he's asking for a meld, I could have also pasted in a Miru pic, but I know its shape by heart so I didn't bother.



    Zoom In!

    Don't try to draw it at 100% zoom. I go into 300%, usually.

    Note that you should click the BZP Blue square before zooming so that the new zoom will center screen right on it. Otherwise it just goes into the center of the whole slide and you'd have to scroll around to get to the right spot. Zooming always centers on whatever you have selected.

    Conceptualize

    It helps if you imagine what you will probably end up with before you start clicking. In this case, I knew I needed to find similarities between the Miru and the Ignika. There are a lot; they're really the same basic shape except the Miru's nose area bulges out and the cheek areas have those biggrin gaps. I noticed that there's a line on the cheek areas of the Ignika next to those serrations that could have a gap added in, and imagined from there.

    So before I even clicked once, I knew roughly what the final product had looked like.

    I also sketched it on paper real fast at one point. That can be helpful if you're proficient at sketching (as I am). Try not to overthink the paper version, though, because you might end up drawing something so cool you'll wish you'd done it on the comp and then get lazy for that step.

    Note that if you have a scanner, you can also scan a sketch, paste it into Powerpoint, and draw lines directly over it. I have done that for some coolified Kanohi.

    Spikes

    Spikes are the key, IMT. What I love about sets like the Piraka or masks like the Ignika itself is spikes. It's a central concept to my style of "cool", and it's also very important for "coolifying".

    The Ignika has some spikes, but right off the bat, I notice that the four in the mouth area and three at the top could use extending. So I draw them sharper and longer.



    Serrations

    Serrations, like on the sides of the official Ignika, are another key to my style of cool. Serrations are basically three or more parallel ridges or the like.

    As I drew, you can see I originally put some "gap" serrations on the forehead. Dropped 'em later, but that's a type of serration too; long gaps arranged in parallel. Also used on tons of my coolified Kanohi. Serrated rectangular prisms, flat, are used on the sides of the mask later.




    Mock Curves

    You might recall I said that in the Edit Points mode, you can make a point on a line into a "curved point". This alters the mathematical formula behind the vector object to make the line literally curved.

    However, it's tedious when you're manipulating ten thousand points. If you're drawing a company logo, you would use that feature in a professional vector art program. For making an avatar, it's pointless because 64 x 64 is too small to see that kind of detail. Even 100 x 100, my avatar size, is too small.

    So you can make "mock curves" by simply clicking enough dots in a curve shape to mimic the effect when you zoom out. I never use actual curve points anymore. Too complex for free stuff.

    Use the Edit points mode to make any slight corrections needed if the result accidentally looks too "cornery" to you.

    This image goes back in time a little compared to the last one but it illustrates the concept. The dotted red line is a point I was moving when I printscreened:




    Line Coherence

    The above looked horrible IMT -- but it was fine for the moment because I got something down on paper (as it were). The beauty of vector art is that you can change anything you drew just moving points around, unlike pixel art. But why did it look horrible?

    Because there was no "line coherence". Coherence is a fancy term for not being a blob. If you look at a sword, it might have a curved line, but that curve is steady along its width. It doesn't waver wimpily like the goofy cheek area in the above attempt at the mask. The word also strongly implies that different parts of the same mask "line up" in ways that make the whole thing seem like a whole, rather than a conglomeration of different parts. Strong curves, lines, angles, and lining up those things all come together to form "coherence".

    So I edit points like mad until the whole thing feels "coherent" to me.

    Notice in the final mask in the banner: the outer edge of the cheek gaps lines up (continuing the curve) with the outer edge of the eyes. The inner edge of the gap next to the eyes lined up with the outer edge of the mask, and the outer edge of that gap lines up with the outer edge of the lower half of the mask. The mouth spikes all line up, and their outer edge forms a rough 90 degree angle with the lower edge of the upper half. A rough curve exists between the points of all the lower end of the spikes. Etc. All of this contributes to the mask's coherence.




    Strength

    Speaking of strength, remember that this style is supposed to be "ruthless" elegegance. But as I went, I realized those chin-spikes looked more "dainty" than ruthless. So I thickened them, and made the sharp "blade" point more like the number 7. Later I realized it needed to be even thicker and the thickening of it increased its appearance of strength.



    Detail vs. Space

    There are two conflicting ways to go with any given flat surface area. You can add detail, or make it "smooth", making a space with no detail other than maybe a gradient or texture, etc. Both are important.

    Detail can give a piece of art a greater sense of reality. If I make some details of a coolified Kanohi too small to totally make out in the zoomed out view, it creates the impression of a real object that you could see more of if you zoom in. Compare the final avatar with the banner for this blog entry; you might see a few details in the zoomed-in banner that you can't quite make out in the avatar.

    Space on the other hand can give the mind a sense of peace. If you just throw a pure wall of detail at someone, especially if most of it is too small to make out clearly, you just confuse them. Might even give 'em a headache. If you zoom out and have to squint at the screen to see your artwork, you need more space. Cut stuff out.

    This is always the hardest aspect to balance when coolifying, especially with the 64 x 64 avatar limit. I much prefer making avs for 100 x 100, but only staff can use those.

    As I went, I realized that I was trying to put too much detail on the forehead of this mask. Even after I cut some forehead serrations (that I forgot to printscreen), when I zoomed out, I had to squint. Had to edit several times. Helps to do so when you're very tired and your eyes are getting blurry at night, BTW.

    Even the final version of this might have too much detail; I'll leave that for GB to judge, heh.

    Usually these aren't problems with big art though.

    Set Autoshape Defaults (Color, etc.)

    Note that as you draw, you can right-click an object and select "Set Autoshape Defaults". If you do this with a green object with a black line, those settings will become the "default" for when you draw a new object. Useful since you want your whole thing to be in some color other than that weird bluegreen Powerpoint has as its default. This way you don't have to keep editing the colors of every new shape you draw.

    This will reset every time you make a new file.

    In the example, you'll notice that I had started out with blue, which had been the default for the objects in the last blog entry (I'm using the same file, obviously). GB hadn't given me the color he wanted until this point, so I had to edit them myself once he did.

    Then, I set the main green as default, and every object I made was this color. Note: still requires modification sometimes with gradients or shading or cast shadow objects, but in general it's easiest.


    Gaps

    You can "poke holes" in a mask by simply drawing a gap on top of it. That is, draw a new object in the shape the gap would be, and then just make it the same color as your background.

    Note that this isn't possible with any kind of gradient, texture, or image in the background, unless the gap is tiny enough that you can recreate the color from that part of the gradient to estimate. In general, use it only for solid color backgrounds like the BZP Blue background in this example.


    3D Thickness

    Remember you're drawing a 3D object. This might be a lot harder to do for a beginner than I can identify with, having been drawing 3D for years now, but basically, pick up a piece of plywood sometime and hold it at an angle. Notice it's not just a 2D piece of paper, it's got thickness.

    You can draw that sort of thickness into a Kanohi or other similar things with thin polygons drawn on top of gaps' edges. In terms of layers, these "thicknesses" on the eyes are actually above the BZP Blue objects that form the "gaps".


    Gradient Shading

    3D objects with curved surfaces have a gradient "shading" effect (not to be confused with a shadow; shading is on the surface of the object itself). You can mimic this with Powerpoint gradients that start with your main color and blend into a slightly darker version of it. With symmetrical objects, it's easiest if you simply aim the darker side of a gradient fill towards the outer edges of your mask or whatever. In this example, it is as if light is cast onto the green mask from directly in front, so the parts to the sides are dimmer.

    Be aware of diagonal gradients too. Also, to convey a concave shape, you can flip the gradient so brighter is on the edge and dimmer in the middle. I use that for mouth areas sometimes with Kanohi to convey that the chin is jutting towards the screen. Not used in this example.


    Cast Shadows

    Use a transparent black object with no line over parts where a light from slightly above would cast a shadow onto other parts of your artwork.

    In this case, I wanted to convey that this is half Miru, and Miru has a far-jutting nose area, so I used a cast shadow under that area, transparency about 80%.

    Be consistent -- if you use cast shadows in one part, pay attention to where else one would realistically be cast.



    Size


    Remember the zoom -- and that the size of each part might look big as you draw it, but when you zoom out to the real size (like for a 64 x 64 av), that part might look tiiiiiiiny.

    Was the case with the mouth area ridges on this mask. When zoomed out, I could barely even see them, so I had to enlarge them by more than double the original size. I did this in this case by Editing points and moving the outer edge points of each spike out even farther.

    This same concept helped judge "Detail vs. Space"; there was a lot more line detail around the eyes originally, but when zoomed out, I could see that that made the area look too "small". So I cut some of that detail, and it created the impression of larger parts.

    You're drawing a germ through a microscope. Keep that in mind.


    Ruthless Revision

    If a part of your artwork is looking ugly, don't be afraid to change it or cut it completely. Be your own worst critic as you're making it. You should design it to please yourself above all, since that is pretty much the only thing you can be an expert on. So be honest, is something you just made displeasing you? If so, change or cut.

    I cut almost half of what I drew with this mask, and the final shape is a lot different than what you see in the earlier pics. Maybe a grand total of 20 points are untouched out of the whole 200 (or whatever) since I drew them. Estimating wackily, but you get the idea. Even then I was not yet done, as the below is not the same as what you see in the banner or GB's avatar:




    "Proofscreening"

    You write a story, you proofread. You draw something that's designed to be printscreened, you "proofscreen." That is -- by all means, printscreen when you think you're "done", but don't let the ruthless revising stop there. Be honest -- once it's put into the final image, does it really look perfect? If not, is there anything you can still do to improve it?

    In this case, I again went back to the powerpoint file and widened the mouth parts once more to what they are now, even after I had actually uploaded one version to brickshelf and was about to PM it to GB. It just wasn't right yet.

    So I widened them, and went through the whole printscreening process again. Might sound tedious, but get it over with while you still have the file up, or you'll probably never go back to it. Don't let the "but I thought I was done!" idea discourage you from putting out your very best. Of course, if it's 11:30 at night and you have homework, like me right now, do call it quits and call it best job possible (for now). But otherwise, fix it. Shouldn't take too much longer.





    Also, one note about printscreening. It can be hard to get the line thickness juuuuuuust right for the zoom you need. Not to mention getting the zoom exactly right. (Remember the line thickness is not related to the size of the artwork, so if you zoom out, it seems thicker, maybe too thick.)

    So if you have a good program that can resize images without distorting them too much, feel free to printscreen a little larger than your final size, and shrink it a little. Remember to hold Shift to make sure its width and height stay undistorted. Also, if there's an "Anti-Aliasing" option, make sure it's turned on.

    (That program that I use for pixel/raster art is iPhotoPlus 4; just a prog that came with an old (now deceased) scanner. It roxors, but as far as I know, few have it, and pretty sure it is no longer available. But there are tons of other programs out there that can do simple resizing, including Microsoft Photo Editor, which, as I mentioned before, sometimes comes with Microsoft Office.)


    Aaaand, all that done, here's the final mask in two zooms:



    And here's the actual avatar, background turned transparent and converted to a .gif in Photo Editor, as sent to GB#1 already:






    You're welcome.
  8. bonesiii
    Today the Bones Blog presents the method I use to produce quality vector graphics with Powerpoint. I'll organize this by basic tools and concepts you need to understand, using screenshots to illustrate key aspects. Click image thumbnails for full images -- these contain important details too. Also note the cursor is auto-removed in these printscreens, so sorry for any confusion that causes.

    Part 2 is now available here: Coolifying With Powerpoint Vector Art


    Powerpoint as a Vector Graphics Program


    Many people have asked me how I make art such as my "Coolified Stuff" (see bonesiii_topics), and curiousity goes up when I say I used Powerpoint. A lot of people think "Powerpoint" means words in a slideshow designed to bore employees and students to death. If you read any basic description of Powerpoint, you will be hard-pressed to even find a mention of graphics creation.

    It can actually do a large percentage of what high-end vector graphics systems like Macromedia Freehand or Adobe Illustrator can do. This is great, because those programs are very expensive -- Freehand is listed on its website as 400 US dollars, for example -- but Powerpoint comes automatic with Microsoft Office, which most PCs have standard. It is about as close to free as you can get. Many of you probably already own it.

    I have used both Freehand and Illustrator, though I cannot afford to own them, and it is certainly true that if you want to get into professional graphic art, Powerpoint ain't gonna cut it. However, the most important tools those programs offer, Powerpoint can replicate easily, so when you buy those, you are paying for many extras you probably will never use, especially if you just want to make an avatar for your BZPower account that will be too small to make out many details anyways. So, do consider those programs, if you have a lot of disposable cash, but otherwise, Powerpoint is far more accessible.


    Note that this guide will be written for PC use. I hate Macs. Much of what I'm going to show you is a little harder with a Mac, despite what their ads might lead you to believe. Not even sure if Powerpoint comes with these options for Macs. But Mac users can make the best out of this, hopefully, figuring out the closest method to use. (For example, the Macs I've seen have no right mouse button so you have to hold down the CONTROL key on the keyboard to get the rightclick menu. Ugh.)

    Also note: The banner for this entry shows some of my favorites I made with Powerpoint. Note that the upper left hand image was an old avatar made with a different (raster/pixel) program, that isn't included in this guide as it's a rare program; I used that image for inspiration while making my currect av, which you can see in the center. To the upper right you see half of the new Reference Keeper Team shared account's avatar, and to the lower left you can see the original coolified Rhotuka drawing.

    One final note: I had planned to use an avatar request from Great Being #1 as the example of this entry, but I've run out of time and space to add it in, and as I went it was clear I could illustrate how to do this easier with simpler things made from scratch. Sorry, man. But there's so much more to the actual coolifying process, I plan on making a second entry focusing on that. When homework lets up again... in the distant future...


    Polygon/Freeform Tool


    Powerpoint has a whole range of various graphics tools, most of which you are probably aware of, such as drawing a square or circle. But one tool in particular is the key to vector graphics -- the polygon tool; also called the "Freeform" tool.


    Click for full image.

    Here you can see the "lines" toolbar with the freeform tool selected. In the full image, you can see how to get this toolbar; go to Autoshapes, Lines, then click the top part and drag out of the menu to make the toolbar stay in easy access. You can snap it into the bottom of the window with the other buttons or move it anywhere in the work area. I prefer to move it out right next to what I'm working on; easier to grab it.

    Also note where the zoom control is (the red arrow in the image above). You'll want to zoom in a lot, like 150% to 300% to draw your shape, so that when you zoom out to printscreen when you're done, any jagged edges in mock-curves will look curved, and just so that you can more easily control the mouse as you draw. Pay attention to what the line thickness looks line in the final zoom, the size you want your actual image to be, not the thickness when you're zoomed in.


    Before Using the Polygon Tool:


    Two important settings must be fixed before we can continue:


    Click for full image.

    Make sure these options are turned off. The grid forces each click into rigid squares that make artistic drawing nearly impossible. By default the first one is on, so you'll have to fix that every time you make a new file.

    Also, be aware that each time you make something with the tool, you'll have to select the tool again to make a new thing, so you won't accidentally make a new polygon everywhere you click, heh.


    Four Polygon Abilities


    There are four main abilities of the polygon tool.

    1) Click, release, move mouse, click release again, so you create a polygon. Close the shape by end-clicking where you started, or finish the unclosed line by double clicking. This is what I use most.

    2) Hold and drag to draw with a pencil. Only use if your hand-mouse coordination is strong. When you release it generates a polygon roughly in the shape you drew. I never use this.

    3) Filled areas -- usually, close the polygon and a fill color comes up automatically. Settings can also create this and manipulate it in some useful ways. I use this with gradient effects to create mock-3D surface lighting effects in my coolified avatars. Double click an object or rightclick and select properties to get to the color options.

    4) Edit points (right click on a made object for menu) -- after you've drawn something, you can edit the points of the polygon, even make them curve points, to fix minor mistakes without needing to start over, or even to reshape the shape completely. Sometimes I only put down two starting points and draw totally with this option.

    Here's an ubercheesy example of all four:




    Objects (Autoshapes)


    When you draw a shape with the polygon tool, the square, circle, or any other Autoshape tool, it becomes an object. It is not pixels like in Paint -- that would be raster art, but this is vector. These are mathematical formulas that can always be selected, moved around, modified, even after you draw other shapes.

    Click an object you've made to select it. It gets eight white dots around it, plus a green dot at the top. Right click it for a menu full of options, the most important being "Format Autoshape."



    Here are three major things you can do with an object just by selecting it and clicking something:

    1) Hold and drag to move it around. Hold Shift to force its movement into straight lines up, down, or to the sides.

    2) Drag the white dots to expand or shrink the object. Hold Shift to keep the shape undistorted as you resize it from the corner dots. Side dots stretch/compress it sideways.

    3) Drag the green dot to rotate it. Hold Shift to snap its rotation into the major angles like 45 or 90 degree angles.

    (The result of the above is #4 in the image below)


    Click for full image.

    Click on white space or another object to deselect an object.

    Here are some of the basics of the Format toolbox for objects:

    1) Fill Color options. Select from preset colors, mix your own, and more. More on this later.

    2) Fill Transparency. This can create cool effects with backgrounds. Note that any lines of objects behind will show through, which sometimes creates problems with complex multi-event objects such as my avatar -- if I made that transparent at all, lines of the skull would show through the mask, which would look weird. But used carefully, this is cool. Also, more on this in the color section later.

    3) Note you can also type in an exact transparency.

    4) Line color. Similar options as the Fill color, except minus some features since lines are one dimensional.

    5) Line thickness. I usually go with the standard 0.75, but sometimes if you're making an exceptionally large artwork, you'll want them thicker. Or thinner for tiny details, etc. Note that the line thickness is relative to the zoom, not to the artwork itself. If you zoom out far enough, the lines look way too thick compared to the artwork itself, as you can see in the second of the following images with my avatar art. More on this in the Printscreen section below.


    Click for full image.




    Grouping


    Multiple objects can be combined into one by grouping them. This makes manipulating a whole group much easier as you can select everything in the group with one click and reduce the chance of mistakes that would move one part of the whole artwork where you don't want it. Here's the details on grouping:

    1) Select the objects you want to group. You can click and drag a box over them, as shown in the example. You can also click one object, then hold down Shift as you click each object individually. Sometimes there might be one object in the box range that you don't want to include, so the clicking method can be used to avoid including it.

    2) Rightclick, go to Grouping, and click Group.

    3) This shows the grouped ubercheesy skull object.

    4) Click object inside the group to manipulate only them. Hold Shift to select multiple parts of the group. This option you will use less often, because you can do the same thing without grouping, but it can save time once you've already grouped something and you realize there's more to change about it.

    5) The results of manipulating parts of the groups -- a color change, obviously.

    6) You can also ungroup by rightclicking, selecting Grouping, and clicking Ungroup. If you want to move parts of the artwork around related to other parts, you'll need them to be ungrouped.


    Click for full image.


    Fill Color Options


    Note that I've drawn a polygon and a circle (with the actual circle tool) for this example.

    When you doubleclick an object or rightclick it and select "Format", then click the Fill Color menu, you get the following:


    Click for full image.

    You can select those colors, or select No Fill to remove the fill.

    If you click "More Colors..." you get this toolbox with two tabs, "Standard" and "Custom":


    Click for full image.

    Controls of those are pretty self explanatory.

    If you click "Background", whatever color the background of the slide is set to will fill the object you have selected. Not that useful.

    If you click "Fill Effects", you get this toolbox with four pages. This takes some in-depth explaining. First page has four main uses:


    Click for full image.

    1) Gradient. Most useful one. Gradients are one color fading into another. You can use this to create lighting effects, to an extent. Note that they cannot be curved in Powerpoint polygons, though -- this is the one main weakness Powerpoint has compared to the expensive vector art programs. Used carefully, though, it can still create roughly 3D lighting illusions, as I have shown with my coolified stuff many times. Just depends on where you put the gradients. Somtimes gradient objects with no lines can be effective, placed carefully in radiating formations to create an illusion of a curve. Here's a quickie example:



    2) Preset gradient. Try these out; they can sometimes be useful. Most of them contain more than two colors, which is impossible to create on your own with Powerpoint (at least not in one object).

    3) One color -- darkness or lightness gradient. Works off of the color you selected. Can be useful in shading effects.

    4) Double Transparency. This one is very useful; you can have one color non-transparent, but have the other totally transparent to create all sorts of cool effects. Perhaps the coolest is if you use the "From Center" option in a circle or oval with the edge transparent (trying "From Center" with all other objects gives an awkward squarish effect, but not so with circles/ovals). Can be used to make shining effects too.




    The second page of the "Fill Effects" toolbox has a selection of textures to choose from.


    Click for full image.

    Here's the Full Selection of Default Textures. You can also import other textures. Sometimes I draw my own textures with my other program and import them.

    The other two pages of "Fill Effects" are self-explanatory so I won't bother screencapping. Patterns are made of just two colors. Not that useful, at least not with "cool" in mind. Picture is useful if you have a photo or other such image you want to use to fill a shape, though I can't recall ever using it.


    BZP Blue


    One of the most important colors for BZPower avatar creation is BZP blue, the color that's exactly between the two slight variations of background blue in BZPower posts (for some reason, the two slightly different colors alternate with each new post, though it's hard to tell). This color can be used as a background sqaure for av art in powerpoint, like with the examples you see in the banner for this blog entry. Then you can make it transparent with a gif program later, and all pixel fading on the edges looks natural still when such an av is used on BZPower.

    BZP Blue's RGB settings are Red 237, Green 244, Blue 252.




    Symmetry


    Usually you want both sides of your artwork to look identical, although of course there are exceptions. When making most Kanohi, symmetry is essential. It's virtually impossible to draw symmetrically on your own -- the trick is to draw only one half of the artwork, on a vertical line, then copypaste and flip the half to form the complete shape.

    For example, when I designed the Kanohi Ehkuata, the mask of Reference, I began with a square (use the square tool) colored BZP blue. Then I put a vertical line (using the line tool and holding Shift as I drew it to make sure it's perfectly vertical). This gives me an artpad on which to work:



    Then I used the polygon tool to draw the parts of the mask that touch the vertical guideline, clicking on the line to start, and clicking on the line to end. Note that this gave me an unclosed shape, so by default it had no fill, as you can see in the first image below and the second showing it without the guideline. So I had to go into properties and give it a fill -- this can be done without closing the shape. These unclosed parts are essential to the final product, as it makes sure there's not a mysterious black line going down the middle of the final mask.



    I drew the rest of one half of the Kanohi. Note that from time to time you may want to skip ahead to the copypaste step and then delete the copied side, just to remind yourself of how wide the final product will look. Many times I have drawn what I thought looked reasonable when I was only looking at one half, but when I put the two halves together, it was far wider than I wanted it.

    Then I select all of one side (being careful not to select or click on the artpad and guideline), group it, and copypaste it. It's very important that you group it before copying and pasting, as you'll see. Note my use of transparency for the visor.


    Click for full image.

    So now we've got two overlapping identical halves. To put them together, we have to use a few tools.

    First, select both by dragging a box over them or by holding Shift and clicking both. Go the "Draw" menu, click "Align or Distribute", and click the bar at the top to drag the menu out to float. Make sure "Relative to Slide" is off, click "Align Left" then "Align Top". Now you've got both halves perfectly overlapped.


    Click for full image.

    Click in whitespace to deselect both halves.

    Then click the top half. Go to The "Draw" menu, select "Rotate or Flip" and click "Flip Horizontal."



    Hold down Shift and drag to the left until the two halves meet at the vertical guideline. Use the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard for precision once you've got it roughly in place, so that you cannot see the guideline through any crack in the middle. Be careful to use Shift and not to move either half up or down!





    Then move the guideline to the back, or delete it, and stitch up the errors in overlap in the center (see below for details).


    Layers

    Since these are objects, not pixels, each individual object is either on top or below other objects on the powerpoint slide. You can move objects to the "front" or to the "back", or select them and move them forward or backward with relation to other objects to change how objects overlap.

    For example, you might be drawing something, but realize you want one shape to be behind something you already drew. Simply draw the new shape, and send it back a few layers.

    The Layer control buttons are found by rightclicking an object, going to "Order", and pulling that menu out.



    1) Bring to Front

    2) Send to Back

    3) Bring Forward

    4) Send Backward

    After I've put both halves together, I usually send the vertical guideline to the back rather than deleting it, so it is behind the BZP blue square, and can be brought forward again in the right spot easily should I need it again.


    Click for full image.

    Now, you can see that there are overlap problems. This is because the entire left half-group is totally on top of the entire right half, and when I drew it, I must have been off by a pixel-width or the like. Rather than getting a headache trying to edit points and recopy, simply ungroup everything and rearrange the order as needed.

    In this example, I select all of the "gaps" in the mask's forehead (really shapes on top filled with BZP blue), and bring them all to the front, then move them left and right with the arrow keys until their fills meet. Make sure you move both sides the same amount towards each other -- count your taps of the arrow keys.

    Since all of those are now on top, nothing from the mask below will overlap it, and I can also move in the halves of the mask below that are overlapping. I also shift a few other pieces of the mask around and move them forward or back so there are no line-ends sticking out too much. Zooming out to 100%, I have a complete mask!


    Printscreen it!


    Zoom out to 100%, or whichever zoom makes the artwork fit the scale you want the actual image to be. Check your line widths again.

    Then press "Printscreen" on your keyboard, paste the image into Paint or some other image editing program, crop it, make sure it's within av or sig guidelines if that's what it's for, and upload to brickshelf, majhost.com, or another image hosting site. Voila, there's your pic. You can also use gif programs to select BZP Blue as the transparent color. I use Microsoft Photo Editor, which has also come with all my versions of Microsoft Office (though some people who have Office tell me they do not have this; there are free online gif programs too).

    Whaddya think? Should it be my new avatar?




    Post comment any questions you may have. And stay tuned, if you're not GB#1, for the guide to coolifying. If you are GB#1, stay tuned for that and your avvie.

    Edit: Part 2 is now available here: Coolifying With Powerpoint Vector Art
  10. bonesiii

    Em Tiebreaker

    By bonesiii,

    Alright, the judge submissions are in for the Name the Expanded Multiverse Contest, and Swert and I have discussed them. We are decided for the names for Central, Industrial, Tribal, and Tyrant; those will be announced later. For the others, we have narrowed the choices down and need you guys to select the final winning names. Here we go.
     
    Multiverse Tiebreaker:
     
    Comment which name you like best for the overall multiverse.
     
    1) Aethion
     
    2) Scionus
     
    3) Olmania
     
    Warzone Tiebreaker:
     
    Comment which name you like best for this planet.
     
    1) Zien
     
    2) Barrawahi
     
    Shattered Tiebreaker:
     
    Comment which name you like best for this planet.
     
    1) Reluha
     
    2) Clysmax
     
    3) Cothyst
     
    Enlightened Tiebreaker:
     
    Comment which name you like best for this planet.
     
    1) Galametrium
     
    2) Izumal
     
    Comment Format:
     

    Multiverse: # Warzone: # Shattered: # Enlightened: #
     
    (Replace the # with the number of your choice.)
     
    Tiebreaker Deadline
     
    Begins now, ends at midnight EST tommorrow (Wednesday June 3rd).
  11. bonesiii
    Here are the instructions for judging the Name the Expanded Multiverse Contest.
     
    Step 1: Judges (RKs and BS01 staff only) open a notepad file (or Word, etc.), and go through the entry topic, copypasting the "Multiverse/planet name: Blahblahia" lines you like best into your note file. In the case of a rule-breaker entering more than three planet names consider only the first three (if more than one multiverse name, only the first).
     
    Step 2: From this list, select your top three favorites for each of the eight slots (multiverse name, and seven planets). Feel free to mix and match which name you would prefer for which planet or overall universe; add a note to the originally quoted line in parentheses saying which one you'd like it to be.
     
    Example slot:
    Enlightened: [Top pick]
    Enlightened: [second pick]
    Tyrant: [Third pick] (change to Enlightened)
     
    Note that the eight slots are: 1) Multiverse (the overall universe) 2) Central (with Wiki-Nui and BZ-Koro), 3) Industrial, 4) Tribal, 5) Warzone, 6) Shattered, 7) Tyrant, and 8) Enlightened. Other than the multiverse name they are all planets.
     
    The result of step 2 will be an organized list of your top 24 favorite entries total.
     
    Step 3: PM or email your organized list of the top 24 to bones or Swert. Bones' email: bonesiii@gmail.com; link to PM him. Swert's email: swertmastra@gmail.com; link to PM him.
     
    Deadline for judge submissions is midnight EST Wednesday May 27th.
     
    Step 4: Swert and I will make a list of the most commonly picked ones by the judges (including ourselves), and choose the eight winning entries from this list.
     
    Step 5: Then we'll do Find searches for the member names of the winners and make the announcement.
  12. bonesiii
    The results of the ranking poll are as follows:
     
    1 = 100 ------ SPIRIT ---------------------- 1st Place
    2 = 60 ------- Nynrah Ghost --------------- 2nd Place
    7 = 59 ------- InnerRayg ------------------ 3rd Place
    8 & 9 = 39 -- Aneroth & Lady Kopaka --- ?
    5 & 10 = 37 - 55555 & Jedi Gali ---------- ?
    6 = 35 ------- Kagha ----------------------- 8th Place
    3 = 34 ------- Onuta Nuva ----------------- 9th Place
    4 = 16-------- Skullkid --------------------- 10th Place
     
    So we've got two ties to break. (Again, all ten are set in stone as winners; this is just to determine what order to use in the BRC.) Here we go. Please comment for both categories.
     
    TIEBREAKER A:
     
    Comment which of these two you like best:
     
    Entry 1: 8 Years, by Aneroth (Art)
     
    Entry 2: Heroes, by Lady Kopaka (Art)
     
     
    TIEBREAKER B:
     
    Comment which of these two you like best:
     
    Entry 1: History of A Universe, by 55555 (Collage)
     
    Entry 2: Lewa-Air, by Jedi Gali, Humorous short story (Text)
     

    Example comment format:
     

    TIEBREAKER A: # TIEBREAKER B: #
     
    (Replace # with 1 or 2.)
     
     
    This will be open either until midnight EST tonight, or whenever I get on tommorrow.
  13. bonesiii
    Updates:
     
    -- S&T5 Ranking Poll. Congrats to the ten winners! (That poll is just to determine order of listage in BRC. )
     
    -- Ojhilom and I love the theme of the first FCG contest so much we decided to go ahead and enter. We've got a test level about haaalfway completed -- the basic gameplay is already playable and it's addictive.
     
    I don't want to say too much, but I can say it's set on Twisted Island, will be the fifth Paracosmos Bonus Series episode (takes place after Mindfire in late 2006/early 2007 storyline), will center on a new character, and it will be titled "Enigma Pacman."
     
    [Edit: Oh, and it won't be what I mentioned in the contest topic that Ojh and I had been testing for TMOMN; it's a totally new game, though it does pull in a few tidbits of TMOMN code. What I mentioned will be saved for a bonus TMOMN minigame, most likely.]
     
    -- Now if you know anything about both the Paracosmos Bonus Series and simple arithmetic, you're probably wondering why Enigma Pacman will be the fifth episode, not the fourth. That's because the Monstery Mystery short story will be posted soon and will be the fourth. It will serve both to reveal the winner of the Powerpoint Contest and to lead up to the new game.
     
    Now, it might end up being a short epic instead of a short story, as a warning. If so, it would be posted both as an epic with chapters and as a series of blog entries. That might be more fun as you guys would be able to theorize.
  14. bonesiii

    S&t5 Tiebreaker

    By bonesiii,

    Sorry for the delay in working on the ranking poll. We've got someone tying for 2nd place in one of the Media polls. You have until midnight EST tonight (May 25) to choose which one of these two entries will be a winner:
     
    Entry 1: Bionicle 8 Years, by island master, Video
     
    Entry 2: 8 Years, 8 Haikus, by Skullkid, a series of poems in Audio form [Audio file] [Topic with text]
     
    Post here which one you select for the tiebreaker.
  15. bonesiii
    Random occurances, updates, and interesting stuffishness:
    I have decided to change my "every entry has a banner" tradition, and say that update entries like this will generally not have banners. It takes time. But major entries will always have banners, if I can help it. 'Twill make it easier to fulfill the "weekly blog" rule. These will be called "ION" entries -- "In Other News." 

    Twisted Island has been re-begun, and the Paracosmos Tapestry Collection Topic re-revamped. Now all that's left in that category to repost are the other previously posted TI chappies, and the two Altacosmos Chronicles short stories. I'll let yall know when TI is up to the first new chapter. 

    Time Capsule polls being worked on now. 

    Very soon I plan to get to those .ppt av requests. I plan on overhauling the blog imagery (and update the important entries links and such) along with my new planned av, using the highest quality .ppt art I can muster. 

    The bonesCAFE avatar website is nearly finished. I think I'll do a whole buncha new avs of Bionicle characters and such to accompany an artwork topic celebrating its official launch. Hopefully, that will be next week. For now, a new text line in my sig is advertising the site now. 

    Sometime between the beginning of the show and today, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (which I think is a ridiculous title; I just call it "Home Makeover" ) made over a house near us. Since I don't give out personal info like my location over the 'net I had to wait a random amount of time before talking about it on here. Zat time has now passed. So here's the story: 
    We live two houses away from a residential street intersection. One day, we were leaving the house early morning, and saw that a cop car had blocked off that intersection. We assumed there must have been a wreck or something -- this was right in front of a house that we know to have or have once had a cop living in it. We figured it was nothing.
     
    Later when we got back, though, the blockade was bigger, with tons of cars parked in people's yards. This was odd. Not knowing what to think of it then, we asked the neightbor who said it was the show. Eventually through the TV news and such we learned that it was a house just a block down, in our neighborhood.
     
    We used to deliver our local paper on foot in our neighborhood. Ojhilom usually delivered to that house; one time I took over for him. So I have hung a newspaper bag on the doorknob of a house that was demolished on national television. If I stand on the corner, not twenty feet from our front door, I can see the roof of the new house. When I walk dogs I usually walk right by the house.
     
    As word got out to the whole city, we saw tons and tons of cars drive by, wanting to get a glimpse of the action (or more likely hoping to get their mugshots on national TV ). Within a day or so they set up a parking lot a ways away and brought people in on golfcarts to see it. Personally, I hate the idea of being on TV, and I hate crowds, so I never went over there. They literally had hundreds of spectators behind ropes trampling all over people's yards over there, and that's not counting the workers themselves and cameramen yadda.
     
    The whole street the house was on was blocked off from cars, and the people in the houses there were offered hotel rooms in the city for the duration. The work went on night and day all week, so you could hear construction sounds even in the middle of the night. Afterwards they had to redo the whole street and the yards that everybody had trampled on.
     
    At one point, a marching band went down my street in the early morning. I was only half awake at the time, and wondered if I'd dreamed it -- that was one of the weeeeirdest things I've seen in my life. A parade down my street. Freaky. We think from watching the episode that the leaves on the extreme (pun!) edge of the tree in our front yard probably made it onto the show, but it's hard to tell from the camera angle. Since then I have noticed how bad a job most cameramen do at getting a clear shot that gives a good sense of where the shot is coming from -- but then maybe that's intentional.
     
    Anyways, the hoopla just got bigger as the week drew to a close. At one point we had fullsize city busses parking in our neighbor's front lawn, and cars (rather rudely) parking in everybody's lawn, including ours. We had to actually put out a sign saying to stay off the grass, both for that and because there were SOOOOO many people walking back and forth that many of them ignored our sidewalk and trampled OUR grass. We weren't part of the whole "we'll redo your lawn" dealio, so we didn't appreciate that.
     
    At one point, a massive construction vehicle got in an accident with our neighbor's car. Apparently, the worker in question offered to just hammer out the dent, XD. (That was a no-go; they wanted full payment, heh.)
     
    But the best incident of them all I really gotta be vague about. Our mayor is... how shall I say it... ah... infamous for a certain crime involving parking. He or she was caught in this crime before these events, and issued a public apology. But during this incident, the mayor parked across from the same unfortunate next-door neighbor's house, breaking this very same law. Photos of it were taken, showing our neighbor's house, and bandied about the city media websites. Far as I know, he or she didn't apologize again. The crime in question isn't a jailing crime, just a violation, but it does possibily involve the risk to life of living beings (if I said what it was it could be too easy to figure out what city I'm in, although maybe this entire paragraph is revealing too much lol).
     
    Finally, the construction was over and they did the whole "move that bus!" dealio, and after that, we had a LOT more traffic on our streets. Usually when I walk a dog now past the house I still see cars going past and slowing down in front of it -- obviously in the neighborhood just to see it. So I can officially say that I live in a tourist hotspot.
     
    Luckily our lawn escaped with minimal damage. The lawns of the other houses are back to normal. The memory of the incidents is fading. It was an interesting experience, both in how cool it is, and in how when you're in the thick of it, it's not as all-wonderful as the show would probably lead you to believe. When it's happening, it's a mess, it's chaos -- yet out of that chaos comes a freakin awesome house. Certainly way bigger than any other in our neighborhood, and looks very high-class.
     
    And several months later we actually watched the episode. We don't watch that show normally. Personally I can't stand the over-emotionality of the show, but that episode was tolerable given the extenuating circumstances.
     
    That's pretty much the story of that.
     

    This April Fools day, Ojhilom and I unintentionally pulled a prank on our mother. We were watching some kind of television; she had the remote. Now, we usually mute ads, 'cuz they are annoying. (Muahaha.) An hour or so before the show, I had found an old remote that miraculously still works, for volume only, on our TV.  
    When the show came back on, she wanted the vol' back up, and I pointed at the screen with nothing but my hand, and at my bidding, the volume rose. She freaked out, having no idea how I did it.
     
    Ojh had actually had the other remote and kept it below her line of sight behind a chair arm and he'd happened to think of turning the volume up with that remote right as I had raised my arm. I swear, it wasn't planned, and only afterwards did we realize it was April Fools. Thus, an unintentional but well-timed prank.
     

    I know, I know, our RPG computer game's download link is out of date. For now we're still planning to just quickly finish the updates we're nearly done with and put up a new version. If this stretches out through the summer we'll give in and put up the old link again. But I really think we SHOULD... shoooooouuuuld be able to do that sometime in May. Shooooooooouuuuld. But who knows. 

    So does anybody still use the Wii anymore? You see so many stories on TV of trampling incidents where a bunch of lunatic parents (or maybe adults wanting it for themselves) line up by the hundreds to get the darn things. But personally from the Wii some relatives have, for the most part the games aren't as interesting as GameCube or whatnot.  
    Where they now have a Wii, there used to be a GameCube, and at every holiday family gathering, us boys would be crowded around the GameCube. When they first got the Wii a few people tried it out halfheartedly, but most people just hooked up GameCubes to a different TV. Now the Wii is ignored at all family gatherings; I doubt most of the fam even remember it's there gathering dust. But the Gamecube is still the spot to be for the boys of the family.
     
    Maybe it's just a "different fanbase" thing, and I'm sure the makers of Wii don't care anymore since they be rich off it now. But it seems to me that the Wii, for most people, may just be one of the most successful fads of all time -- and nothing more than a fad. With exceptions, I'm sure. However the heck they pulled that off -- maybe just marketing, maybe who they chose to target instead of the usual videogame fanbase -- I'm sure it will go in the history books.
     
     
    And the ONE game I've ever actually played on the Wii was a Smash Bros, and everybody used gamecube controllers. None in our family are fans of the weird Wii controller.
     

    And finally, just a reminder that I am on the Poll-Making Squad. PM me poll ideas. Now that my break-from-BZP is over I should once again be able to put polls up quickly during weekdays.  

    LOST FREAKIN ROCKS.
  16. bonesiii
    Bones CAFE -- Coolified Avs Freeware Emporium

    bonescafe.webs.com

    New website devoted to making my freeware powerpoint avs easily available for all! Been working on it a while; still a work in progress, but the most important page is ready NOW. Check out the:

    |
    V

    --> Avatar Buffet <--

    ^
    |

    Nearly two hundred .ppt avs available in there. Not every recolor or version of the same face/mask is in there, just the best of the best IMO, but every face/mask that's available for free member use is in there. No sig credit required for any of these.

    What's unfinished is the topic links on the homepage; the newer topics aren't in there yet, and the .ppt guides and links pages aren't made yet. Those updates shouldn't take much time -- I'm very busy the next couple'a weeks but maybe that will be done soon.

    Enjoy!

    Sig banner:


    [url="http://bonescafe.webs.com/avatarbuffet.htm"][img=http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/SigStuff/avbuffet.gif][/url]
  18. bonesiii
    I've got all the info noted in one file that I need to make the polls, except a few technical details on some of the entries. Those members have been PMed.
     
    Assuming I get the answers before Tuesday, I intend to launch the polls then or Wednesday. Still gotta make thumbnail images for a lot of entries, but that should go fairly fast.
  19. bonesiii
    Looks like the category breakdown will be as follows:
     
    Media (4)
     
    Collage (2)
     
    Art (3)
     
    Text (1)
     
    4+2=6+3=9+1=10
     
    The numbers in parentheses are the number of winners the category will have, based on the percentages of those entered in the contest. That totals ten that will be featured in the BRC; ten that will be in the final "ranking" poll.
     
    The distinction between collage and art will be that collage is the combining of LEGO-company-produced images into one image, while art is produced by the artist that entered. There won't be a distinction between computer art and drawn art. Media will include mostly videos and at least one audio file. Text will include summary, poetry, and short stories (I use the plurals loosely ).
  21. bonesiii
    Edit: And that's it. A few entries were squeezed in, so glad I did that. Alright, from now on the only part of the contest that's open is the editing time, as explained below. Little under a week for that.
     
    Repub: One hour left!
     
    Repub: Four hours left now! No late entries have come in -- these four hours are your last chance!
     
     
    The midnight quoted below is referring to TONIGHT now, at midnight EST.
     

     
    So about nine hours left to submit late entries via PM!
  23. bonesiii
    All 21 chapters of the Bionicle Paracosmos epic Captain of Treason have finally been reposted. It would rock if someone would review. (I know some people said they were meaning to get around to reviewing for the final chapter, but the glitch got in the way.)

    Now I've gotta get around to restarting Twisted Island and reposting the two Altacosmos Chronicles so far.... and writing the SS for the Monster Mystery Contest... and doing a bazillion other things....

    Speaking of contests, great entries in the Blue MOCs contest (which is now closed)! Ojh and I'll have a lot of fun judging these. I've got a fairly good idea of most of the ones that will place near the top. Stay tuned for that.


    All the DRL nonsense I had to deal with is preeeeeetty much caught up. So I guess my break is over and I'll try to get back to weekly blogs now. Unfortunately I really can't guarantee I'll ever be able to go back to being as active as I used to be. So don't be surprised if "active bones" isn't much different from "inactive bones."

    Finally, remember the deadline for the S&T contest is just a few days away! Go enter! (See entry below.)
  24. bonesiii
    Alright, here's the theme I decided on for the next blog contest. This is another 2nd Chances contest and a New MOCs contest. It's the third Paracosmos contest -- winning MOCs will be in my fanfics. Yadda. So what's the dealio wit' da themeo?

    Make a blue MOC. Any blue MOC.

    It can be a hero, a villain, a morally-questionable, a beast, a titan, a small MOC, anything, as long as it is blue.

    The top four winning MOCs will be featured in my next Paracosmos story, Endless Blue (during Bohrok Saga, telling of a sailing voyage from Mata Nui into the Endless Ocean).

    Other winning entries could be used anywhere else in later stories, including Bara Magna stories. (I do think I'll tell some stories there eventually, though that will be after the main BP story arc ends.)

    For anybody that isn't aware, the BP is my adventure mystery fanfic series, with epics, short stories, and an RPG; all of those that are online listed here (or they will be whenever I get around to adding Twisted Island ).

    Basic Setup

    Bionicle Paracosmos Epic #5: Endless Blue, (BP Episode #10) will feature at least four winning MOCs from this contest.

    The title has multiple meanings, but one of them is the fact that there are mysteriously so many more blue characters in the Paracosmos than there are officially. No other color has this effect, and it's one of the big clues as to the nature of the Paracosmos's origins.

    My main character, a white and silver reptilian Toa-sized being named Bhukasa, is the last surviving member of an ancient race (as revealed in Captain of Treason). He was a ship-merchant at the time of Metru Nui; he was away when disaster struck his home island. He came to Mata Nui with the Turaga and Matoran and lived there for 300 years.

    Then he got curious -- is the Endless Ocean truly endless? Well between you and me, it's not -- there are other islands in the Paracosmos. He sailed out to investigate, and disappeared for 700 years. In Captain of Treason (2001 story), he returned, but his memory was totally gone.

    In Endless Blue he will begin to get his memory back in the form of flashbacks while exploring the truth of an enemy that strikes Mata Nui at this time. On his journey, he will meet characters he knew from these 700 years that are still out there on these islands. Rahi or other types of beasts can be included. Many of them will be blue.

    So this is where you come in.

    Note that the origins of these beings can be from anywhere. So you can enter Bara Magna characters and they can still win; it's just that I'll have to have some reason why they got transferred to the Endless Ocean planet recently. I do in fact have a standard reason lined up -- the enemy that rules the Endless Seas have teleportation powers available to them, which can have a degree of randomness attached and no distance limit. They can randomly reach out and draw a being from just about anywhere to them.

    Winners beyond the first four may or may not be used in EB. If not, they will be used elsewhere in the Paracosmos series.

    Regardless of where they're used, credit will be given to you, the MOCer.

    Rules:

    1) The MOC must "be blue." I'm not going to define percentages; if you use other colors like red or whatever they should be "mostly" blue, but if you use a lot of grayscale colors you can use less blue. (So black, gray, silver wouldn't count.) Use your judgement.

    2) Enter up to three MOCs per member. You can enter both categories but only three total MOCs allowed.

    3) Past BBC entries or past MOCs go in category 1 (2nd Chances). Please link to the MOC's topic or something else with a date attached. Anything else goes in the New MOCs category.

    4) Do not enter BBC-winning MOCs. Only non-winners (that's why it's called 2nd Chances).

    5) Past MOCs must have been made before January 20, 2009.

    6) Only enter your own MOCs, though you can ask others if they'd like to enter a MOC they've made.

    7) Follow all BZPower rules.

    8) I pick winners, but will listen to any "nominating" comments you make for someone else.

    9) No set number of winners; will depend on how many enter, and overall quality of entries. Four will almost certainly be in Endless Blue, but I won't rule out using more in it. (This is only because I already have a big cast of side characters for EB and I don't wanna overdo it; I'll only be able to judge this as I write it.)

    10) Oh, and don't enter MOCs from the last Bones Blog MOC contest.

    Entry Form:

    [img][/img] Category: MOC Name: Topic: Moral Type: Species Type: Bio:

    Explanation:
    [/img] (Direct link the image by pasting the pic's URL between the image tags.)

    Category: [2nd Chances, or New MOC]

    MOC Name: [You can go with an English nickname style, a Bionicle name, whatnot. Try googling Bionicle-style ones to make sure there aren't any (or many) uses of it already if you have time.]

    Topic: [link to topic for 2nd Chances category to prove they're old MOCs, link for new MOCs for MOC discussion yadda]

    Moral Type: [Hero, Villain, Questionable, "Citizen" (as in, not a hero with powers), Beast, Whatever (as in, you let me decide ). You can use your own wording.]

    Species Type: [Existing official/BP species, mutant, or species you make up. A "Bionicle-style" species name is optional but at least say it's a new species for such cases. Also, "Whatever" works here too; I'll judge based on the MOC mostly.]

    Bio: [powers, backstory if you want, etc. Again I will judge mostly based on the MOC; I can fill in details, but bios help me figure out how I could use the character.]

    Categories

    1) 2nd Chances -- old MOCs, especially old entries in BBC contests that didn't win.

    2) New MOCs -- either made for this contest or made after January 20 2009.

    Notes

    (You can skip this if its length annoys you.)

    1) No preference will be given to either category this time. Of the four that will definately be in Endless Blue, two will be from each category.

    2) I might wanna modify the descriptions somewhat for Epic 5 or for future BP story; will ask enterer for permission if so, though.

    3) As in the first BP MOC contest, only one of your three MOCs can win. However, I might have "Parawins" (honorable mentions) that might get cameos in the Paracosmos too.

    4) Note that I like non-humanoids. But preference for this contest will be given to the best MOC (in my and Ojhilom's judgement, and we try to be objective), so humanoids are fair game. Even Matoran are allowed.

    The rest of these notes are slightly spoilers and are long so into the tags they go; just some storyline and setting tidbits for Endless Blue that might help you decide what to enter:


    » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
    5) The main type of location in Endless Blue your characters are likely to be in has this description: A mysterious enemy known only by their name -- Kuambu -- captures beings and imprisons them on tiny islands that dot the Endless Ocean Planet's surface. These islands tend to be tall pillars whose coasts are high cliffs. At the bases of the cliffs there are narrow pebble beaches.

    The pillar tops are forested, with grass and smaller plants fairly thick between the medium-sized trees. Primitive wooden fences border the tops, and power nulling effect prevent powers from being used on the fences (the wood itself has that power). Each island is divided into one section labeled "Darkminds" and one section labeled "Lightminds". In truth, however, many on both sides are morally questionable, and it's possible that sorting mistakes may have happened.

    Each island has a tunnel from the beach to the forest prison areas, but a special gate much like the one Takanuva couldn't pass through to Karzahni allows only Kuambu in. From time to time, the Kuambu arrive in white-sailed ships, and they come up and hunt their prisoners in these places. Afterwards, all memories of the appearance and powers of the Kuambu are erased, but memories of the feeling of being hunted and certain glimpses of the battle are not erased, just to reinforce fear.

    6) There is also a large island with mutagenic sands (mentioned with some of the winners of the last contest) called Kriitunga Island. Kriitunga tend to be Matoran-sized with birdlike conical heads (my MOCs use a backwards Metru head with a ballsocket piece as the mouth in place of the Metru brain) and claws. But the sands mutate many to look quite different (their town in the center of the island, and a river that goes from there to the coast are the only non-mutagenic areas. You could enter Kriitunga mutants to live on this island. There is a Kuambu Hunting Pen here as well, along the river, and they raid the island often.

    The mutagenic sands can affect both form and powers, BTW.

    Standard blue Kriitunga are of the element Ocean -- they can heal wooden sailing vessels, breath water, and make tiny amounts of water. Usually blue and brown in color. White Kriitunga tend to be white and iceblue. Their standard powers I'm saving for the reveal in later chapters of Twisted Island, but mutated ones can have any power.

    7) There are also a few medium-sized islands, some with pens and others just grown wild where the Kuambu raid sometimes. Most of these I haven't set in stone, so yall can do what you want here.

    8) Note that in general both genders exist with any color/element in the Paracosmos. One exception: All Ocean Kriitunga are female, and all others are male (however a mutant male Kriitunga might become blue in his color scheme, and the white ones tend to have iceblue in them). With blue Matoran/Toa characters either gender works, and same with other species.

    Fun Fact: The above note is another hint to the BP origins.

    Another hint: Notice which number that note has -- eight.

    9) In your bios you can say how they ended up in Kuambu territory if you want, but if you win lower down and I don't use it in EB I might move them somewhere else (ex: if you enter a Bara Magnan and say he got teleported here I might not use that part, so they'd still be on Bara Magna waiting for future storyline use). I reserve the right to edit that part of bios sans permission (though I'll probably ask for it anyways heh).

    10) For purposes of EB story, sliiiight preference will be given to the morally questionable characters. They're more mysterious and there's more I can do with them in the storyline. But again judging will be mostly based on MOC.

    Methinks that's all; post any questions yall've got.

    Entry Period

    Begins now, ends April 28th (that's a Tuesday) at noon EST.

    Essentially three months.



    [url="http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=39&showentry=55912"][img=http://www.majhost.com/gallery/bonesiii/BonesBlog2/bluemocadbnr.png][/url]
  25. bonesiii

    Bah Humbug

    By bonesiii,

    Obviously I failyoord to keep up the weekly blog thing these past two weeks. Been even more busy than I thought and I just won't have time. So for the time being I'm declaring a mostly-total break from BZP. Will try to still answer simple PMs and contest questions and the like. Still hoping to have all this stuff done by end of April.
     
    Also don't forget about the Blue MOCs contest which is still open!
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