Creating a Virtual Pixar Gate to Open the Real Pixar Gate

Many of you know that I like experimenting with 2D and 3D animation. I've spent the last few years building my skills and working on small projects here and there. This time my focus is to work on a bigger project that involves an animated scene at the gates of Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, CA. My hope is that this will be a project with a steeper learning curve and one that gets me closer to becoming employed, professionally, with a post-production house, studio, or otherwise involved with a creative project.

Music for Morons is a Refined Sound Artistry

A friend of mine started podcasting a while back and I've tuned in from time to time. He seems to have reached a new level of refined sound artistry with the latest edition, 19: Kansas City Attack part 2 (N-Z). I've long been a fan of expertly crafted soundscapes and designs, and this one blows me away. Way to go, Aaron!

What jumped out at me the most this time around was the thematic thread that binds this aural landscape, and Aaron's thoughtful, careful additions from his sound palette.

Give his podcasts a listen sometime:

Music for Morons

How to Create a Composite Image With Photoshop

Photoshop and I are friends. The creative possibilities seem endless, and it always fascinates me to come up with a new scene by assembling and manipulating bits and pieces of existing photos. Here's a short tutorial. Keep in mind that there is more than one way to accomplish this scene, and the sky is the limit for your own creativity with this exercise. Maybe it will give you some ideas for your own creative projects.

How to Create a Composite Image With Photoshop:

1. Start with a photo.
   
   
   


2. Make a copy of the original layer.


3. Separate the foreground objects from the back ground. To do this, I'll use the levels control on a color channel: on the layers palette, click the 'channels' tab. You'll see four layers in the 'channels' tab if you're working in RGB color mode. Click on each channel to see which one give the most contrast between the background and foreground elements. In this case, it's the blue channel. Click and drag the blue channel down to the bottom of the layers palette to 'create new channel.'


4. Now we need to bring up the 'Levels' control. Use command-L on a Mac. Work with the 3 sliders on the histogram until you have as close to a black and white image as possible. Click OK.
   
   
   


5. Now 'load channel as selection' by clicking and dragging the modified blue channel copy down to the bottom of the layers palette. You should see a selection (dancing ants) between all of the white and black areas on the screen.


6. Now click on the RGB layer in the 'channels' tab to make the three original color channels visible. The blue channel layer copy that you made should not be visible anymore. Click back on the 'Layers' tab in the layers palette, and your selection will be made on the copy of the background layer that you made.


7. With your selection still active, go to the 'Layer' menu, and choose 'New,' then 'Layer via cut.' You should see the background separated in a new layer from the foreground objects. Deselect the background layer and you should see this:
   
   
   


8. Now it's time to have fun with the photo. I'm going to add a new background scene.
   
   
   


9. Maybe I'll add some neon to the sign
   
   
   


10. Now I'll desaturate the background and original foreground objects, darken the sky behind, add a couple of street light effects, and blur the edges of the foreground objects to blend into the scene better.
    
    
    

Compare with the original photo:



I've learned how to use Adobe Photoshop over the last few years through many ways; participating in online forums, watching tutorials, seeing live demonstrations by professionals, reading books, and just experimenting for hours. If you have some moderately advanced skills in Photoshop, and would like to learn a bunch of cool tricks to save you some time, check out this book by Steve Caplin:

How to Cheat in Photoshop: The art of creating photorealistic montages
(this book showed me how to create the neon sign in this tutorial)

More Fun With Photoshop - Curious Jesse

Great Valentine's Day Meal For Two (or more)

My Valentine and I had a delicious meal tonight, courtesy of my Google search query that brought up some menu options found on FoodNetwork.com:

• Risotto with Wild Mushrooms and Scallops (our version was sans scallops)
  
• Saltimbocca of Zucchini
  
• Individual Strawberry Trifles
  

I partook in a nice chilled Pinot Grigio whilst cooking. Me'lady declined and preferred apple juice in a wine glass due to the baby on board.

Great food and a mellow Valentine's date at home, with some Madeleine Peyroux for the ears.

ACME Music is My New Practice Place

So we moved to Oakland recently, and I always like to explore each new neighborhood that I move to, including the local music stores as my landmarks. Usually I look around the various local shops and have a conversation with the owner or managers in the way that a cartographer might use a compass.

ACME Music is responsible this time for giving me my bearings. The owner, Jay, has been in the business for a long time and is a die-hard, self-ascribed musician. He has some great stories and works with some talented folks (including a teacher that played with Miles Davis) to provide a place for music lessons.

An important aspect of a local music store, for me, is one that provides affordable, accessible rehearsal space. This one is the best yet. Jay and I talked about using the rehearsal space, complete with piano, during the non-peak times for a bargain price. I'm looking forward to popping in there once in a while to practice the trombone or play some piano.

And I'm working on doing a barter with him; a website for some practice time.

Fun with Photoshop - Sad Turbo

Joaquin Miller Park in the Oakland Hills

Wow. We went with some friends today to the Joaquin Miller Park for a picnic and to toss around the frisbee. Beautiful place. I'll have to go back and check out some of the trails soon, as we were only on one side, close to the road. If you're in the SF Bay Area check it out some time: Joaquin Miller Park

Tax Relief

We 'bit the bullet' and filed our tax paperwork. There's no relief in the sense of a refund (we're paying even more), but damn, it's a relief to be done with last year's return. I've believed Benjamin Franklin's whimsical comment on the certainties of the world to a large extent in the past:

Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. (source)

But I'd like to add that Uncertainty is also certain. The tricky part is how we deal with things both certain and un, right?
Anyway, I shook off the taxes and went for a run today, which was a very happy thing for me. The weather is gorgeous today!

Tasty Burrito and Mr. SuperBowl

O.k.; first, a nod to the tasty burrito that found it's way to my plate yesterday. And there were enough leftovers still today to recreate a similar version that just had to be photographed.

Another fun, happy moment: My wife and I went to the grocery store this evening and ended up being helped by a cashier with a sticker on his shirt that read "Mr. SuperBowl." I was curious, so asked him what it meant. He said that he went to the SuperBowl. So I said, "Cool-- unless you're a Patriots fan." He said "You didn't see the sign," and pointed to a plastic novelty parking sign on his checkstand that read 'New York Giants Fan Parking Here.' And then he proceeded to smile and lift both arms to flex his biceps. Hahahaha. Made my day.

Happy is the New Blog

Howdy Kids,

I'm acknowledging more and more to myself that I'm a happy individual. Today I'm feeling happy enough to share it with you all. The life of this blog may end abruptly, maybe time will speed up and I'll re-prioritize the 10 minutes a day it takes me to blog. Who knows? Anyway, thought I'd liven things up a bit by sharing some good stuff as often as I can.

There are many many reasons for my über-joyousness. Two in particular are worth throwing out there today:

1. I'm an expectant father and just got the first 'photos' of my kid yesterday. They're still making me smile right now, and it's difficult for me to know how happy I'll be when the kid is born.
2. Just had a really good burrito that I made, MacGyver style, from the leftovers in our kitchen:
• garlic herb wrap
• leftover turkey (from our neighbor's Super Bowl party)
• sweet jalapeño jelly
• shredded cheddar cheese
• roasted veggies (potatoes, peppers, onions)
• diced green onions
• chopped cilantro
• spinach

Man, it was tasty. Anyhoo, hope you're happy today too.