YesWheely

Thinking back to the scottish referendum... The voter turnout was pretty impressive. I thought surely that the UK was breaking up. For general elections (those popularity contests were identical puppets compete to allegedly represent peoples voices in a far away mystical tower of whiteness) the turnout is probably 65% which is infuriating. Are 65% of 18+ convinced by this illusion of choice? For the yes, no question 84.5% of Scottish people over 16 wasted their time voting.

I'm not saying it has always been a waste of time nor am I belittling the efforts of people who have campaigned about voter rights. I am saying today the political system is completely corrupt and not upto date. Why can't there be systems for immediate referendum and a more direct form of democracy. Like they have in Sweden but online. Then weird counting methods that look suspicious wouldn't happen.

Also Russell Brand did a book. It's pretty good. You can download it free* here: http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Biographies-Memoirs/Revolution-Audiobook/B00OKQJYG6
*as part of a free 30 day trial which is £7.99/month usually.

Oh and in other news, hoverboards soon.

In summer just passed while we were in London we met up with my brother and his girlfriend. We ate at 222 Veggie Vegan which seemed much less busy than it ought to be. Probably because we got their real early.
The food was excellent and eating vibrant food full of exciting flavours was really refreshing. It's definitely one of the best places I've eaten.
 It was a shame we didn't have the time to enjoy a three course meal. We had to get to the Empire immediately after we ate. I was quite disappointed I didn't get to try any of the deserts.
If you're ever around West Kensington, London head to 222 North End Road!

I've noticed that my most popular post was the one about sit-skiing but rather unannounced I had added a short animation featuring some rotoscoping I had done. So I don't know what's more interesting: the thought of me being dragged up a nylon slope face first or the animation.

Today I took off the animation and I'm going to write this entire feature that you have already started reading.

Rotoscoping

Firstly I'll show the animation then I'll explain the creative choices I made, the equipment I used, the sleepless nights, the technique, and some...
It boils. Boiling is a stylistic treatment. It simply means the lines jump around. It may seem like it's a rougher, quicker, and easier way of doing it. But it's not really because every line you want to boil needs to be re-drawn on every frame. To animate without boiling means you only need to draw the new bit.
Frames. To me frames are like something that doesn't need explaining. It's like oneness. A frame is an image. Motion pictures, tv, animation, games, etc all rely on the same premise. It's how the eye works. Further reading.
Line Drawing. This stylistic choice was made for two reasons 1. So I could meet deadlines. 2. Because drawing all the details would have made the animation quite cluttered.
Equipment. I was at uni at the time so I borrowed a camera and tripod to record the motion. Then I had a pen tablet attached to a pc which I did the drawing on. I used professionalI(student license) software back then but if I did it now I would use: Pencil (http://www.pencil-animation.org), avidemux (http://www.avidemux.org)
Planning. First you have to have storyboards or something so you can direct the motion capture part of the process. For me I like storyboards. I abhor stickman storyboards but I guess they do the same thing.
Filming. The first thing you'll do, well after the other first thing above, is to film the scenes to capture the motion. It doesn't matter if you shout cues while recording to micromanage people because you aren't even recording sound. You're the only one with the times, the storyboard, and the vision.
Drawing. Ok so all that now needs to be done is the time consuming and labor intensive task of drawing the frames. I hardly slept for 4 days fuelled by quadruple espressos and red bull.
Simply you take the video file, over each frame you draw the motion and then you remove the video from the view. I added a different background on a new layer that progressively drew afterwards. (That's right it wasn't filmed on location.)

I've started to write down another set of sequences for a rotoscoping idea I have as it is basically motion capture in 2D.

So I refreshed my blog look a little. New me looking logos and typefaces. A few days later I fixed up a Halloween look which will stay for a while. Since Halloween is a big thing for us.

Hopefully my electric wheelchair will arrive soon! I'm also hopeful about finding a new place to live. I really need to have a workspace with space to get a proper computer set up. My laptop just isn't powerful enough.

Oh yeah, I got a house design finished quite a while ago. However, I think I have some better ideas anyway I think I need to prioritise being rich first. I'm sure the new business will do that! Especially my secret division (which I'll tell you about soon). Anyway lets look at the house:

top left: Ground Floor, top right: 2nd Floor (roof) bottom left to right: Basement, 1st Floor, Overview

Since making this image I have added double doors and a balcony to the main bedroom on the first floor. I realised otherwise it'd be pretty difficult to get furniture up there. The spiral staircase would probably be in marble wrapped around the central elevator.

I wish I was an architect the trouble is I'm enjoying my crucial work in the Asbestos/Environmental industry! Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.Well anyway I need to be making games. That's what I want to do.

The UK Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, declared Lord Freud's comments, revealed yesterday, about "disabled" people as "deeply distressing" and "offensive". The Welfare Reform Minister suggested that "disabled" people might not be worth the minimum wage.

Those being critical of Lord Freud are being unfair they've sort of labeled the very notion as disgusting when it does have merit. It's the type of idea that needs exploring. 

I'm by no measure a conservative nor am I a liberal. My political ideology is closer to the sort of bubbles Russell Brand chats about on The Trews...

Click for enlightenment

Labour leader, what's-his-face, also attacked the conservatives for thinking outside the box.

I don't speak for all "disabled" people. However, I've experienced how difficult it is to find employment as a someone who uses a wheelchair. I also recognise that being unemployed does make you feel sort of useless, there is time you can do other things but at the end of the day, week, month, year, you've made no contribution to society. Often it's not because it's desirable but because "disabled" people appear unemployable.

I don't know why there is such fuss about this idea. It's not the best way of doing it and taken out of context (of the discussion) it can come across as devaluing "disabled" people and being a little insulting. However, the premise I agree with. Maybe they could offer tax breaks to companies that employ x% of "disabled" people. Which would do the same thing.

EG: Incentivise employers to employ "disabled" people and reduce the welfare bills.
Paying less (Reducing minimum wage) and topping up incomes with welfare will do the same thing. Though as we now know that sort of move will just create headlines.

That was probably the plan.