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[What is a Photoshop Phriday?]

What is a Photoshop Phriday?

Photoshopping isn't drawing a completely new image -- It's editing images to create a new image, such as editing one image or combining several images.

Also, you don't have to specifically use Photoshop -- Paint Shop Pro, MSPaint, or any other programs can be used.

See this link:
http://www.somethingawful.com/photoshop/

And for other examples, see here:
http://www.worth1000.com/

The two above websites should give a fair idea of what is involved.

-----------------------------------------------

This week's photoshop topic is...

YOU'RE ALL ASSHOLES!

What happens when you realise that a board you've come to for about two years slowly turns into a nazi regime, the ops are all assholes, and you can't be bothered with their shit anymore? Well, you leave in a way that will annoy them one last time by fucking up one of their stupid lameass competitions and will cause them to lock the thread...

And heres an example:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2004-163

Just came across this rather interesting article, and I started thinking, are we really the ones causing the polar ice caps to melt or is it because of this volcanic activity? After all the blame the last few generations have been putting on ourselves, it could be mother nature all along.

The article itself talks mostly about the fact that the automated satelite captured the images, rather than talk about the large amounts of lava seeping through the ice and rock at Antarticas Mt Erebus... but meh, thats not really that big of news...

Okay, so I'm trying to set up a little test where when you press a button on a GUI it adds a day onto the date, if it is the last day of that month, then it adds a month and then sets the day back to 1, and then if it is the last month, it adds a year and sets the month back to 1.

Now, the problem is that it adds 1 to the days and months each time I press the button, but when it reaches the last month (12), the next time you press it, it adds the year and resets the month to 1.

So whats going on that is adding a month along with the days? I can't seem to figure it out.

Script Header:

Code: ags

int dayno = 1;
int monthno = 1;
int yearno = 2004;

Global Script:

Code: ags

function adddate() {
  if ((monthno == 4) || (monthno == 6) || (monthno == 9) || (monthno == 11)) {
    if (dayno < 30) {
      dayno += 1;
    } else {
      monthno += 1;
      dayno = 1;
    }
  } else if ((monthno == 1) || (monthno == 3) || (monthno == 5) || (monthno == 7) || (monthno == 8) || (monthno == 10) || (monthno == 12)) {
    if (dayno < 31) {
      dayno += 1;
    } else {
      monthno += 1;
      dayno = 1;
    }
  } else if ((monthno == 2)) {
    if (dayno < 28) {
      dayno += 1;
    } else {
      monthno += 1;
      dayno = 1;
    }
  }

  if ((monthno < 12)) {
    monthno += 1;
  } else {
    yearno += 1;
    monthno = 1;
  }
}

http://www.davisdvd.com/bin/extras3.html

He must be trying to attain his "original" vision with this movie as well, which is completely bloody stupid. Does he not realise that people will hate him even more for this, even though he is just changing a few things, either cosmetically or completely...

I say he must die before he does try to change Indiana Jones in the future...

http://www.gothamcomics.com/spiderman_india/

I just found this article about a new Indian (as in the country, not american indians) Spiderman. It is an effort to make the character appeal to them more (no doubt because the movie is coming out soon) and the character will be blended with Indian mythology and customs.

It makes you wonder if they would try something similar in the future. Like Iraq Spiderman or something... what does everybody think about this? Think it's a good idea, or just a new way of getting the world to hate America even more (dont know how though).

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news04/swcovers.jpg

http://www.starwars.se/nyheter2004/nyheter20040618_1_stor.JPG

A site apparently has images of the covers for Star Wars IV-VI DVD set...

I think that they look great, and I just love that box. It fits perfectly in my opinion, though the Star Wars name should be in gold. What does everyone else think of it, that is... if it is the official box?

Well, my computer is totally screwed for a while until I get it fixed. Luckily though, I finished putting together the newest ezine to hit the streets... um, I mean net.

http://www.tdrdesign.net/downloads/tmrissue1.zip

The file is in .pdf form and is 700kb in download size. The mag was put together by Hotspot, so any congratulations should go to him, as I've only done the formatting/layout thingy. Kudos to everyone who wrote stuff for it, and definately VeryWeirdGuy who wrote out a great walkcycle tutorial.

Anyway, until next month... Keep Rogering...

["Superman"]

"Superman"
Teen Hollywood reports that Jake Gyllenhaal is reportedly the hot favorite to take over the role of Superman on the big screen. Hollywood insiders claim Ashton Kutcher and Brendan Fraser were both considered to take to the skies as Clark Kent's alter-ego but now the actor, who almost landed the role of Spider-Man opposite his girlfriend Kirsten Dunst, is set to take the role. Meanwhile, Beyonce Knowles and Keira Knightley are being considered as the new Lois Lane in Charlie's Angels director McG's new Superman film.[/i]

For the love of god, what the hell could they be thinking? Donnie Darko as Superman?! Beyonce Knowles as Lois Lane?! Who here thinks that these two would be the most spastic casting rumours of the last few years?

Jake Gyllenhaal, I'll give it to him that he is a good actor, but he is not a Superman... he hasn't got the build, he's not big enough, and hell, he's too creepy and looks like he is always stoned... yeah, great person to play good old Supes!

And then Beyonce Knowles?! God, who the hell came up with that? If I'm not mistaken, the last time I checked one of the Superman comics... LOIS LANE WAS FUCKING WHITE!!! She isn't a crappy R'n'B artist who can't act for shit... didn't they learn their lesson from the god awful Austin Powers: Goldmember?

Turning Supes into an anorexic midget and Lois Lane into a black person would have to be some of the worst casting decision that could ever be made in the history of film, no... in the history of... no, wait, yeah... film!

[Brad Bradson II: The Red Shirt Saga]

Brad Bradson II: The Red Shirt Saga
--Update 14th June, 2004--
Heres a little demo which contains the title sequence (might change), and the first few rooms of the game. There isn't any real puzzles here, or plot development, not all interactions for these rooms have been done, and not all animations have been inserted into it yet and just serves as an early look of how the game's gui will be like, and a few of the game mechanics used...

http://www.tdrdesign.net/downloads/bb2demo.zip

----------

--Update 11th June, 2004--
Well, heres a few screenshots of a few various things...


The title in the title sequence...


The Entreprase... the starship you are assigned to...


The GUI system I've made up, which is a right mouse click thingy to change and left to use...


A bar inside the Entreprase...


------------

--Update 7th June, 2004--
Before my computer had died, I managed to get a fair bit of work done on the game. I have now completed the intro sequence, with a hokey Enterprise on strings to add that extra level of old Star Trek cheesiness, coupled with a lame animation of stars flying past it as it speeds off. Humour is getting piled on by the bucketloads, as almost every interaction in the game so far includes a bit of humour, some dry, some dumb, but most just insane and stupid.

I have created a few more animations which I will upload as soon as I can. The backgrounds have also been worked on and I have now created about 12 different rooms for the starship at the beginning of the game, and implemented 5 so far into the game. The starship is a cross between AGI, with the 2 pixel widths to each vertical pixel, except for some things like objects that are important so that I could get maximum detail for them.

Nothing else to talk about... so I bid farewell.

--------

This is the sequel to the smash hit Brad Bradson game, Key Quest where Brad has lost his keys and set out on a daring quest to find them... and get home. In this game, you are a member of the starship Entreprase, who leaves on an away mission to the planet Aurora 5, along with your captain, Jamie T Krik to discover the whereabouts of a group of ConFederale Mining Colonists...

The first game was a complete joke, but this sequel is of a more serious tone... as can be heard by these brilliant audio recordings:

http://www.tdrdesign.net/downloads/bloopers.zip

Of course, no game would be complete without its star:

BRAD BRADSON!!!


And exotic locations:

http://news.google.com/news?q=andy%20kaufman&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&sa=Nab=wn
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/5/emw127003.htm
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040519/234/726q1.html

All I can say is holy crap!

edit: oops, i gave the wrong link!

[Numbered left to right:]

Following up on the success story that is Brad Bradson (:), I am making a proper character sprite of him, and decided to do it based upon the old AGI sprites.

Numbered left to right:
1, 2, 3, 4 - Brad Bradson...
5 - Visy (Creator of Lassi Quest) as a Rastaman...
6 - Brad beaming in...
7 - Brad shooting...

Original Size:


2x Size:



4x Size:


Any C&C? I'm going to be adding more and more as soon as I've done them, so keep checking back.

[COMMENTARYBy Christopher Bahn]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4980465/

COMMENTARY
By Christopher Bahn

We've got one more year before George Lucas finishes up his “Star Wars” prequel trilogy with the as-yet-untitled Episode III, and he certainly has his work cut out for him. Not only does he have to resolve the ongoing storylines of “Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones” in such a way as to lead directly into Episode IV, the original 1977 “Star Wars,” but he has to overcome two of the most soul-killingly dull storylines ever put on film. I mean, really â€" I've seen more interesting films on sandwiches I left in my fridge too long. Is there any way for Lucas to salvage the series in a single movie? It would take a great disturbance in the Force, but it's not impossible.

Hire some real behind-the-scenes talent
Considering that most of the worst ideas in the last two films came from Lucas himself, he might start by handing over the reins to another filmmaker.

It might be difficult to convince Lucas to go along with it, but if necessary Lucas could probably be tricked by telling him that Joseph Campbell is waiting with a documentary crew to massage Lucas' ego by interviewing him about his wonderful mythic imagination. When Lucas shows up, knock him out, encase him in a block of frozen carbonite and put him out of the way somewhere until the movie is out in theaters.

Give creative control entirely to a new directing and writing team â€" it almost doesn't matter who â€" and tell them to ignore “Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones” entirely. Rethink Episode III as a standalone story with one simple plotline: Anakin Skywalker has just married Padme (who is, unbeknownst to him, pregnant with the twins Luke and Leia who'll show up in the next film). Seduced by ambition, Anakin leaves behind his wife, his life and even his own name to join the evil Emperor Palpatine as Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith.

It's a story that lives or dies depending on how skillfully and sensitively a filmmaker can deal with the emotional content, and Lucas is not a filmmaker who appears capable of doing that anymore. Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia in the original trilogy, has said that “When George was directing, he'd only say two things: 'faster' or 'more intense.'” Fire Lucas as director, who has no sense of control over his storyline, encourages flat and affectless acting, and shellacs every scene with such a frenzy of special effects that they assault your senses like a strobe light.

While you're at it, fire Lucas the writer, who has not come up with a single witty or memorable phrase in the four hours of prequel trilogy out so far. The first trilogy didn't have this problem: For instance, “The Empire Strikes Back” had the help of the great noir writer Leigh Brackett.

Having better writers would save Lucas from amateurish nonsense like his decision to give Anakin Skywalker the emasculating nickname “Annie.” Perhaps he was planning to have him break out into a rousing chorus of “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow”?

Or the totally unnecessary invention of microbial “midichlorians” to explain how the mystical Force gives Jedi knights their powers, perhaps the stupidest idea to come out of “Phantom Menace.” And that's really saying something considering all the cringe-inducing, thinly disguised sci-fi rehashes of racial stereotypes like Jar-Jar Binks. Thankfully, the “midichlorian” concept quietly dropped from the story in Clones.

Recast Darth Vader
Alfred Hitchcock's dictum that “the more successful the villain, the more successful the picture” is of primary importance to Episode III, since the rise of Darth Vader is the heart of the story. Lucas has already done more than enough work on another Hitchcock maxim, “Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.”

Fire Hayden Christensen, whose single emotive capacity is sullen petulance, and whose attempts to put on the magisterial rage that must become Darth Vader's hallmark instead sound like a tenth-grader whose dad won't let him borrow the car. This is essentially the story of a guy who becomes Space Hitler, which is already hard enough to get people to take seriously without casting a scowly teen. And cut off that stupid-looking ponytail too, for crying out loud.

Clear out the dead wood
While you're at it get rid of Natalie Portman, who as Queen Amidala has all the regal presence of a mallrat shopping at her local Fashion Bug. Keep Samuel Jackson, Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels, and Ian McDiarmid, and thank your lucky stars that you've got Christopher Lee, who's been showcasing his considerable talent in Z-grade horror flicks for decades and knows better than perhaps any living actor how to pull a terrific performance out of truly awful material. Tell Ewan Macgregor, who's proven elsewhere he's a fine actor, that it's safe to come out and emote now. Fire everyone else.

Hire Ed Wood
In many ways, “Phantom” and “Clones” were the answer to the unasked question “What would the director of ‘Plan 9 From Outer Space' have done with a talented effects crew and a $200 million budget?” Well then, why not bring Ed Wood back from the grave to direct Episode III? Sure, it's a farfetched idea, but it's easier to swallow than “midichlorians.” We can see it now: Darth Vader develops a sudden fetish for angora sweaters, and mocks people who fall for his Jedi mind tricks with “See! It's your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!”

Rip off more Kurosawa
It's no slur on the genuinely great first “Star Wars” that much of the plotline and characterization was lifted straight out of Akira Kurosawa's “The Hidden Fortress.” Reusing older plotlines is a terrific way to shore up the fact that you have no interesting plots of your own. And after all, the extremely talented Kurosawa dipped into Shakespeare's well of ideas more than once â€" and Shakespeare himself lifted many of his plots from earlier plays. For Episode III, rip off Kurosawa's ripoff of Shakespeare's “Macbeth,” and retell the “Throne of Blood” storyline as Darth Vader's journey into evil.

Parody the whole concept
Maybe the best thing to do would be to get Anakin to embrace the Dark Side as quickly as possible, perhaps by forcing him to confront some terrible disappointment that will haunt him for the rest of his days. We suggest this two-line scene set in a Coruscant restaurant:

WAITER: Here's your green salad, sir.
ANAKIN: What? You fool, I told you NO CROUTONS! Aaaaaaargh!

Anakin puts on his black helmet and storms off to his local county clerk's office and fills out the paperwork to have his name legally changed to “Darth Annie Vader.” (He later quietly drops the middle name, realizing it doesn't help his macho image.) And then for the next two hours, it's all special-effects spaceship battles, which is the real reason most of us will go to the theater anyway. Fade to black.

-------

It all sounds good to me. Lucas needs to do a Kubric and die before the film is finished... then Steven Spielberg can come in and save the film...

Its been a long time coming, but finally, tdrDESIGN (okay, okay... me) have released their first game, a psychological thriller that messes with your mind. :o

You control Brad on his quest for The Key, a mysterious item that grants access to the building known only as The House. Can you help Brad retrieve it? And can you do it before the world comes to the end... play, and find out!

DOWNLOAD BRAD BRADSON 1: KEY QUEST

Features:

- Riveting drama and suspense!
- Mind blowing graphics!
- Dangerously brilliant sounds and a compelling soundtrack! :o

ALL IN ONE GAME!!!

I just opened up AGS 2.6 and got an error when I went to look at the sprites. It shouldn't be happening as I just downloaded it here at TAFE and then started a new game from the blank template.

www.tdrdesign.net/images/ags.jpg

Sorry if this has been mentioned before...

[Want a baby? Have sex!]

http://www.news24.com/News24/Backpage/BetweenTheSheets/0,,2-1343-1346_1528125,00.html

Want a baby? Have sex!

London - A German couple who went to a fertility clinic after eight years of marriage have found out why they are still childless - they weren't having sex.

The University Clinic of Lubek said they had never heard of a case like it after examining the couple who went to see them last month for fertility tests.

Doctors subjected them to a series of examinations and found they were both apparently fertile, and should have had no trouble conceiving.

A clinic spokesperson said: "When we asked them how often they had had sex, they looked blank, and said: "What do you mean?".

"We are not talking retarded people here, but a couple who were brought up in a religious environment who were simply unaware, after eight years of marriage, of the physical requirements necessary to procreate."

The 30-year-old wife and her 36-year-old husband are now being given sex therapy lessons while the university clinic undertakes a study to try to find out if there are more couples with a similar lack of sex education. - Ananova.com

edit: Dont know why the link wouldn't work...
----

This has to be one of the stupidiest stories I have seen in a long time, and it also shows why I hate deeply fanatical religious people... it makes you wonder why there are any left when you see things like this.

Well, um... I have no idea why I made this background... and I didn't have any idea as to what I wanted... but, here it is. I've never done a background in this style before, with just flat colours, as I always tend to add some sort of texture to it... anyway... C&C if you please.




edit: Odd... I dont remember using any gradients on this background... hmm.

edit: Okay, I've added a little bus sign on the left, which is a way I could probably fill that side in a game... by having a character stand there, waiting for the bus, and you need to do some puzzle or something.

I got bored the other day when I wasn't working on Bluecup, trying to think what I could do, and I started working on a new logo/title screen thing for one of the games I haven't worked on for a while... anyway, I've got two versions the old, and then the new... but both are on the same starfield so you can compare them...


Old


New

I  really like the new version, as it seems much more professional or something... even though its basicaly just text.

[fopen( ) ;]

I'm trying to setup a PHP form on my site, which will just be a simple feedback form that sends the data the person submitted to a text file. I had originally had it in ASP, but I have found that my web server doesn't have a ASP client installed, so, no ASP.

I've only started learning PHP, so I don't really know how I could do it and things I've searched on google haven't really been helpful. Can anyone help me with this, as I don't really wanna register with a PHP site and post there (i'm too lazy)...

So far, all I've got is:

Code: ags

<?php
   $filename = "feedback.txt" ;
?>

So you can see, I have hardly any idea as what else to do. I figured you'd need a way to open the file to write to it, and I found fopen( ) ; would do that, but how would I write to the text file without removing anything that was previously there?

http://leo.typepad.com/tlr/2004/05/comcast_fires_t.html#0001356944

I've really annoyed about this, cause we only started getting TechTV over here in Australia and its become one of the only channels that I watch. This is really weak...

[BIG -> SMALL]

Have you ever seen a movie that you thought was so awesome, that you were amazed they never made a sequel to it? Or maybe even just a movie that had no way of making a sequel, like the main character getting killed, and you though up a way to make a sequel... well, why don't you share it here and now...

Heres mine:

BIG -> SMALL
I thought up this a fair while ago now, and I mentioned it in #ags (which gave me the idea for this thread). Anyway, the thing would be Tom Hanks character Josh would be grown up now, played by Tom Hanks. He is all bored with adult life, and really wants to be a kid again. Walking along a street at night after work, he passes an arcade and spots the old Fortune Telling machine, but its getting old and looks a bit busted. He goes in and puts his coin in, and wishes to be small...

Well, he goes home, and awakes to find that his wish has been granted... but it isn't exactly as he wanted it... instead of being a small boy, hes turned into a midget.

He then goes through a whole lot of fun and wacky things as he tries to turn back to normal...

Alien -> Alien: Evolution
Okay, we've all had ideas for the Alien series, I'm sure. I came up with an idea shortly after I bought the Alien Quad Boxset and watch all the movies right through including both versions of each and the special features. Well, the movie would have a few elements of all of them, most specifically a mix between Alien and Aliens.

The movie would start with a lone space frigate flying through space only to be stopped, as the crew wake from Hypersleep. The ship stops at a planet and is recieving a very, very weak signal, seemingly a distress signal. They embark out onto the planet, and come face to face with the derelict. They go and investigate and we know what happens next. (the derelict might might not have been destroyed by the thermo-nuclear blast in Aliens and any records of it was lost when Weyland-Yutani stopped operating, as said in Ressurection).

Now considered fugitives after crashing the USM Auriga into one of Earths oceans, and resulting in the lost of lives of millions of people, Ripley and the crew of the Betty (from Resurrection) are working as smugglers in a nearby system. They get contacted by a man, who works for a transport company, and tells them that one of their ships did not arrive at its destination on time, and their beacon went down in the vicinity of a planet identified as LV-426. Ripley hears the name and takes the job immediately, and heads off towards the planet.

They discover some of the crew, dead, but their ship is gone. Going into the derelict, they come across the Space Jockey, and then advance in more... going into the egg chamber, which is completely empty... not a single egg is there. Ripley spots a small crack in apart of a wall and breaks through to discover a new room, which has another member of the Space Jockeys race... dead as well, with its ribs burst open. Some panels are on, still running after all these years, perhaps thousands of inactivity. Call hooks into the system somehow (hey, its hollywood, they could come up with some obscure way as to how she could patch into a centuries old incompatible computer system) and preceeds to download information about the ship, and we finally find what the derelicts nature is... a prison transport ship... though the aliens weren't the prisoners, some long dead species that didn't fossilize like the Jockey did were the prisoners, one of them got caught on the aliens homeworld though, after having a facehugger attached to his face.

I haven't thought up much else about it, though they will finally go to the Xenomorphs home planet, find out that a descendant of Weyland-Yutani's owner at the time of Aliens and Alien3 is responsible for the ship now going to LV-426 and he stole the eggs but haven't thought up what he does with them yet... though Ripley will somehow work into that. Um, I can't think of much else I would do, except kill off Ripley somehow, but not the Xenomorphs...

Deep Rising -> Deep Rising 2
The first movie was left WIDE open for a sequel, after escaping the ocean liner and escaping the emoba thingy, the three survivors ended up on an island, seemingly deserted. Then you heard a huge roar and the camera pans out to show that the island is big and freaky with all monsters and shit...

I have no idea what could happen for this sequel, but having the survivors on the island geting chased is a must and they must find a way off of it... seems simple enough.

The Last Starfighter -> Starfighter
Who else loved the first movie? It had everything you could want, a cool video game, a great cast of characters, great (for the time) special fx, a great story and last but not least, a flying car, that wasn't like some lame one like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...

A sequel would have been great, and having it set a few years after the end of the first one would be best. My idea for a sequel would be that the Frontier has been repaired, Alex Logan is now the one of the Star Leagues top starfighters, and has been targeted by forces loyal to Xur. Xur, is now rebuilding his forces, after escaping the Kodan and wants revenge upon Logan for stopping his plans of domination.

Well, nothing much else comes to mind as to what could happen, except a few little things, like the battles could be a few times larger, and they can include many more Gunstars than just The Last One like in the original. The Death Blossom is now a fully operational feature of the gunstars and has been beefed up and is now two times more dangerous and more missiles and lasers and all this other shit comes flying out to destroy everything in a short radius to the ship...

Um... anyway, now... thats all I can think of really. Now, what are YOUR ideas for sequels?