Planet Descent
From the Front Page => Soupe Du Jour => Topic started by: D2Disciple on July 02, 2009, 05:30:11 PM
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Despite what we would all like to think, it turns out that unceasing video gameplay is bad for one's mental and physical development as well as his mental and physical maintenance. It's sad, too. If staying healthy were related to how much time spent virtually jumping, running, gunning, and hunting robots, life would be so much easier. ;)
But there's a whole world out there waiting to be explored; we just have to take hold of it. With school and work as ever-present monstrosities in my August-to-May survival routine, I have little time to play video games during that time.
So I mountain bike whenever I can. It's good, healthy exercise; and it's also a blast. Sure, it can be expensive at times (repairs can cost upwards of 200 dollars for mishaps or wrecks), but there's nothing quite like the thrill of toiling your way up a mountain and then blasting down it at 25 mph over rocks, roots, and jumps. There is much reward for accomplishment, and I like that.
But that's plenty enough my kind of off-line entertainment. What do you enjoy in your spare time that's not necessarily in playing video games? Are you an outdoor fanatic when you're not logged into PD? Do you work on cars? Whatever you like to do that's not displayed in pixels and framerates, I'm game to hear it. ;D
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Well...I write. But I still use a computer for that. ::)
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Must ... mow ... the ... lawn .... :-\
Seriously, I'm not much of an outdoors type of person either. But when I do, I really like scenic vistas and (not too physically challenging) hikes/walks for the views. Swimming comes to mind (especially in a mineral springs pool). Camping is good too.
Non-pixeled activities include actual physical book reading, playing the piano, and an occasional craft or two. Other than that, if I can't do it with a computer, chances are it's actually work.
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I've got a bike, but it's been raining nearly ever day for about two months here in NH. I take my 11 year old son riding. We're going up the Mt. Washington road sometime this summer. Now that's a scenic vista for ya!
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I dont do much really.. Sometimes i will go Biking out in the desert every now and then. And i do have airsoft guns, well not now cause the ones i had broke. stupid plastic... I am trying to get another one though. :) And i have no money for it! :D Must mow the lawn.. and cut the bushes out front... Here is what i want. :P
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Darc, here's what you want! (or atleast what I want :P)
(http://e-weapon.com/catalog/images/china_p90_wscilencer.jpg)
THAT comes with a silencer, laser sight and a working flashlight. The ammo that it can hold is off the charts! My friend has this and he says that it can hold 400+ pellets! Real life it carries a decent clip too. 50 rounds. It has less recoil than a pistol in real life too! It is ambidexterous.
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I should mount that on the windshield of my bike! ::)
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Whenever I see that gun, I think "ZOMG RCP-90 EPIC WIN!" due to growing up on Goldeneye 64. :P
One of the more interesting news articles in the local Birmingham, AL newspaper.... Our (nigh-insane) mayor was carrying the proposition and plans for a large building project while escorted by two police officers sporting FN-P90s. Funny, last I checked the Birmingham police department uses Glock, Smith & Wesson, and Taurus handguns, not Belgian assault rifles. Oddest political stunt I'd ever seen. ;D
The video is even cheesier than the photo I remember seeing: Top Secret Plans (http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2008/07/mayor_larry_langford_escorted.html)
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Darc, here's what you want! (or atleast what I want :P)
[tehimage]
THAT comes with a silencer, laser sight and a working flashlight. The ammo that it can hold is off the charts! My friend has this and he says that it can hold 400+ pellets! Real life it carries a decent clip too. 50 rounds. It has less recoil than a pistol in real life too! It is ambidexterous.
Right, but the one i want can hold 500 pellets, and its metal, so i get more ammo and the feel of a real gun. :)
Edit: But seriously, this is what you *Should* want. :P
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D2J: Sorry, didn't mean to edit your post, meant to quote musta hit the wrong button... :-[
Whenever I see that gun, I think "ZOMG RCP-90 EPIC WIN!" due to growing up on Goldeneye 64. :P
One of the more interesting news articles in the local Birmingham, AL newspaper.... Our (nigh-insane) mayor was carrying the proposition and plans for a large building project while escorted by two police officers sporting FN-P90s. Funny, last I checked the Birmingham police department uses Glock, Smith & Wesson, and Taurus handguns, not Belgian assault rifles. Oddest political stunt I'd ever seen. ;D
The video is even cheesier than the photo I remember seeing: Top Secret Plans ([url]http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2008/07/mayor_larry_langford_escorted.html[/url])
Haha... major grandstanding EPIC FAIL!
And as long as we are talking guns, here's my toy:
(http://www.jcdevine.com/images/auction_2806/08-116-031.jpg)
Well, I got one looks identical to it, except mine has a strap. The pic is of a .303 Savage model 99EG. Mines a .300 Savage 99, but I'm not sure what exact model... Yes, it kicks... My camera sucks or I woulda' taken a pic of it...
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Eh... crappy camera, but I took some pics anyway, I think they came out okay...
My son, X-Ray (Curtis), age 9 modeling...
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Cool rifle. ;)
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The video is even cheesier than the photo I remember seeing: Top Secret Plans
Hee-hee, yep, definitely a little pubilicity stunt, that. At least you have to give the guy credit for having a sense of humor, though. :)
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@WillyP: Nice gun. I like that. A friend of mine has a Savage 7mm magnum rifle with scope and bipod that he likes a lot... He can hit a target 300 yards away with it pretty easily. It's good for hunting (which, that said, I've never seen him hunt, just snipe targets for the heck of it). :)
@Scyphi: Haha, he was indeed entertaining... until he spent the city bankrupt and was arrested on 101 counts of bribery and conspiracy. Fail. :D
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On topic: In Florida, where I live, they don't seem to have very many outdoors stuff to do except fishing, and that's just about it. You can't hike any mountains because I think that the naturally highest altitude is.... mmmm... oh 25 feet. The weather is hot and humid so playing sports in THE DIRECT SUNLIGHT IN FULL EQUIPMENT is out of the question for someone who lived in Oregon where it was nice and cool (getting acclamated to the weather is hard especially since I just spent a week in Oregon this summer). I might have to stick to lazy golf and slice a few into someone`s windshield.
Last night it was poooooring rain and thunder and lightning. Just so you know what it`s like when the sun IS NOT shinning.
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It's been pretty hot and dry here in Idaho as well (obviously not as hot as it would be in Florida, but still hot). :-\ There was awhile where we had a long streak of rain, though, which was nice, because then things stayed nice and cool and moist. I really liked it. Wish that would happen again.
Oh well, at least it's not snowing. Had that happen before. :P
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heh, you should see the long streaks of rain when a hurricane comes! :o
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On topic: In Florida, where I live, they don't seem to have very many outdoors stuff to do except fishing, and that's just about it.
What, no alligator wrestling? ;)
But seriously, what about hovercraft racing? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUEREhrC55A) That's gotta be the BALZ!
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Hah, I'd try that, it looks like fun. 8)
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Which? The alligator wrestling or the hovercraft racing?
I'd vote for the alligator wrestling. Fun challenge with death on the line! ;)
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Here's my concept of danger, at least in AL: Oak Mountain's infamous "Blood Rock" section of mountain biking trail. It's quite a bit tougher than it looks on-screen: it's about a 35 degree decline over little else but boulders and large tree roots. At the bottom lies about an 11 inch drop from a rather oddly-shaped rock. You take it wrong and you end up like this guy. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLKFl9WHzO0) ;D
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Real life vs. game life? Why do they have to be conflicting?
I have been off the forums since the bash working on a project that blurs the line between the two. First of all, some of my pastimes beside playing video games include 3D design and building scale models.
My latest project has been to take the radio from the video game Portal out of game life and into real life for my kids to take to Otakon.
(http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4749/image41.jpg)
The first step was to get some real clear screen cap’s of all the orthogonal views of the radio.
Front:
(http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/3166/frontq.jpg)
Top:
(http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/3071/topwxj.jpg)
Right:
(http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5959/rightuel.jpg)
Left:
(http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/3753/lefto.jpg)
Back:
(http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/1618/backaqk.jpg)
Bottom:
(http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/7631/bottomc.jpg)
Isometric:
(http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4600/frontiso.jpg)
Then I created a true to scale 3D model. The software I use is SolidWorks:
(http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/5294/radioviews.jpg)
(http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/4895/radio2009.jpg)
Once the model is created I create a detailed set of drawings from which the parts can be fabricated:
(http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1589/overalldims.jpg)
(http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/6217/stackx.jpg)
Then the real fun starts, taking the project from the intangible to the tangible.
Laminating the foam core:
(http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/638/img00011x.jpg)
Shaping the core (I kept a spare):
(http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/397/img00013wrz.jpg)
Laying fiberglass for the shell:
(http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/7185/img00024.jpg)
Wiring the electronics (internal MP3 player loops the music from the game):
(http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/2328/img00025z.jpg)
The unveiling at Otakon 2009 on 7/17/09 (making a note here, huge success)
(http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/1749/otakon.jpg)
So there doesn’t have to be a conflict between game life and real life. I like to blur the two.
Note: I have often considered making a Pyro, perhaps next year ;D
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lol... that's fabulous, and I didn't even like the game!
We've been working on a project constructed in a similar way, except instead of foam it's made of 1.5 inch thick plywood. This particular piece is a desk. We've been banging away at this job for nearly a year, another 6 months to go. The walls, ceiling, furniture, even the computer cases all grow out of the flooring. Amazing!
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You don't even like the game??!! C'mon now, just because it lacks any real means to fight back against the turrets and it lacks 6DoF capabilities doesn't mean it's bad. :P
Pyro! That looks amazing! Do you ever wear that lab coat to work? I know I would. :P
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No, that's not why I don't like it, although now that you mention it that would help ::). It's mostly the lack of game play and a dumb story line. I like to go into a game, travel through levels, and say "wow... what could be next?" instead of "wow... I have to do this basically same crap... AGAIN?" Sorry, not even for the promise of cake would I endure that again! The original portal at least had a cute monkey friend! ;) I never finished it, even my kids got bored after a few dozen levels... I heard the cake was a lie, anyway. :o
(No offense to anyone who is a fan of the game, of course, different strokes, ya' know! ;D )
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WillyP,
Wow, that’s a hell of a lot of plywood! It looks awesome though, very organic. I’m still trying to figure out what it is. Form and function? Might I ask how it was modeled? Also, are you cutting the sections by hand are do you have access to a CNC router? Either way it’s a lot of work, 1 ½ years.
As for Portal, good game play, too short, needs variety. You do have to admit that the AI GlaDOS was a hoot, Like HAL with PMS.
NUMBERZero,
No I don’t get to wear the lab coat. :(
That’s my daughter’s boyfriend in the pic’ holding the radio. The two of them went as Aperture lab technicians with matching his and hers lab coats.
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2480/3736592689_d3c739ab5c.jpg?v=0)
Due to an illness in the family I was unable to attend Otakon this year.
Last year we went as the (Speed) Racer family (I was Pop’s).
(http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/4669/outsideotakon2008.jpg)
For that I made a helmet to match the one Speed wore in the original Anime series. (It wasn’t called anime back then. The term hadn’t been coined yet. :o)
(http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs32/i/2008/222/2/9/Speed_with_the_mach_5_by_Stanice_on_wing.jpg)
We had the helmet signed by Peter Fernandez, who wrote all the English language scripts and did most of the voice acting for the series.
(http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/2794/peterfrenandezotakon200.jpg)
We are already working on plans for next year, still working on a concept.
Some of the other projects I have on the back burner:
A full scale replica of the type-15 shuttlepod from Star Trek The Next Generation.
(http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/5992/type15solidworks.jpg)
It’s still in the design stage, I have been working on this on and off for about 20 years. It’s the smallest of the shuttles, the cheapest to build and I believe has the most on screen time of any of the shuttles. I still need to work out some of the structure and interior details.
The Deep Sleep pistol used by the Sandmen in the 1976 film Logan’s Run.
(http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2043/dssolidworks.jpg)
I find this project interesting because the pistol was more than a mere prop, it produced an actual physical effect. The back of the pistol is charged with water and calcium carbide which produces acetylene gas. Depressing the trigger passes the gas over a hot glow plug in the muzzle of the gun igniting it into a burst of flame.
(http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/7775/firex2.jpg)
I’m almost out of the design phase and I’m looking for material sources. I still need to rework the gas valve, the originals were from a butane lighter, were known to leak and are no longer manufactured.
And as stated the Pyro GX is in there somewhere. ;D
I'm woking on accessing a Stereolithography (STL) machine that can produce plastic Pyro models directly from my files.
EDIT:
P.S. I did consider doing the weighted companion cube, but too many people do the cube, they just don't do it well.
This is a full rendering of my cube model.
(http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/5038/photoview4.jpg)
The design is slightly modified to make use of commercially available sizes of foam and to fit through a standard door.
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The plywood was cut with a cnc router. I'm not on the main crew that did this job, but I have put a ton of hours. We use auto cad normally, but I couldn't say what was used for this projects. There is a flat desk that goes inside that curved piece. Here is some flooring sections, the ramp-like end become a bench seat. And another view of the desk.
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I would love to see a pic' of this when finished. I assume this will have a clear finish to show all that woodgrain?
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Heh, pyro I remember you mentioning a lot of your projects on IRC one time -- It's cool to actually be able to see them! (http://basementnet.dyndns.org/ryan/phpbbsmilies/icon_razz.gif)
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Yes, it gets a clear poly.
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...and game life continues to creep into real life.
We've started the project for Otakon 2010, a sentry turret from Portal.
(http://www.planetdescent.net/profile_pictures/10_1249103224.jpg)
This is the first full render of my prototype model. This is a much more ambitious than the radio was. We’ve estimated, based on third person views from the game, that these turrets stand over 4 feet tall.
The features will include:
- Radio control of the 2 axis of the gun pods.
- Illuminated eye with laser pointer tracking along with the gun pods.
- The 4 gun barrels will reciprocate and flash when firing while the in game sound effects play.
- Play the various voice clips the turrets say in game.
I did have to make some concessions. The gun pods will be fixed in the extended position. There is no way the pods can be retracted into the main body as they are in the game, they just don’t fit. I will also need to make adjustments to the front legs. There is insufficient clearance for the pods to swing over them. In the game the pods simply pass through the legs.
There is a lot of work to do to bring this thing into real life, but it's going to be sooo cool when done. 8)
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lol. You spotted flaws in them that I never spotted in the game.
Great! Can't wait to see it!
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Cool! An ambitious project, to be sure.
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His next project will be GLaDOS... In full size I take it. ;)
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Why not just build the whole game full size?
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His next project will be GLaDOS... In full size I take it. ;)
Maybe not all of GLaDOS, but I did consider making the individual cores, especially the curiosity core, it has the funniest lines.
Why not just build the whole game full size?
One piece at a time WP, one piece at a time.... ;)
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Aww c'mon! What about the Cake Recipe Core?
... And sediment-shaped sediment... Twelve medium geosynthetic membranes... One cross Bohr hole electromagnetic imaging rhubarb... ;D
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Aww c'mon! What about the Cake Recipe Core?
... And sediment-shaped sediment... Twelve medium geosynthetic membranes... One cross Bohr hole electromagnetic imaging rhubarb... ;D
It's lacking something in the delivery. :(
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I never finished the game because I heard that the cake was a lie.
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I heard someone ACTUALLY make the cake! And I heard that it was pretty good (after the maker probably "forgot" to put in a few ingredients :D )