Flythrough of my unfinished model of the Manhattan Bridge

submitted by happysmash27 from happysmash27.me

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[–]JasonCarswell 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

If you like engineering, building bridges, inventions, I have got a doozy for you if you're interested.

[–]happysmash27[S] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (5 children)

I'd be interested.

[–]JasonCarswell 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Besides my current distractions on SaidIt I have 3 projects.

I'm now on SaidIt more than /s/InfoGalactic where I (https://infogalactic.com/info/User:JasonCarswell) used to do more there and on Wikipedia.

I wrote this article:

And improved these:

My #2 project is this, though this is waaaaaay out of date, and if I could pull myself away from SaidIt I would update it, reorganize, and plan my production, with MUCH much much more focus and clarity than when I last wrote that:

My #1 important project is an epic hard-science fiction (zero fantasy!) cautionary tale set in 2045-2050. I intend to write it as a screen play or novelette, then possibly expand it, after I illustrate the whole thing like a storyboard-graphic-novel.

The technology is the background and mostly not different than now - until the 3rd act.

I have very elaborate very original designs for a hyperloop space-bridge tower that will be 20km tall. The space craft and and it's destination are radically unique too.

As "radically unique" as all these are, they are simply my most logical solutions for every problem I can imagine.

My space bridge is a concept combining a lot of ideas I'd studied, some original ideas and fusions, and some that I've since seen around, making me a little annoyed because I think I thought of it first, or at least parallel. I had mine on long before Elon Musk and his hyperloop is a scam and waaaaay to impossible or dangerous to be practical or real. My design, isn't really a hyperloop in the common sense, so... I don't know what else to call it, like many of my "inventions". But I've come up with my own terms, which in themselves need explanation too.

Oddly enough the bridge is set in Venezuela. I picked it as the location about a decade ago for many many reasons (a handful of which have changed and evolved), and long before this current political turmoil and probable war. In a narrow twisted way I'm happy about the future uncertainty because it makes my imaginary tower more viable in 30 years.

The space bridge's design uses a lot of the hyperboloid and tensegrity properties and is very complex. The location is a miracle of nature on many fronts. For much of the structure I have very strict needs and a lot of it is up in the air, both literally and figuratively as I haven't nailed down every last detail.

The craft and destination is obviously visually simple yet gains intense complexity and describing them clearly and concisely will be a whole other enormous feat.

I had planned on building these myself in 3D to nail down the design and perspective and then trace them by hand to seamlessly fit into my storyboards. All my projects I intend to be opensource, eventually if not immediately.

I joined SaidIt as a truther in search of a forum that was tolerant if not accepting of truthers and wasn't left or right, so I could get legit feedback on my projects, which have stalled as I've discovered and delved into the world of (not)Reddit.

This is barely a glimpse at the tip. Still interested?

[–]happysmash27[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Definitely! It sounds like an open source project I'd be very interested in contributing to too, especially since I have been wanting to create a story using 3D graphics for a while now. It could be a very good open movie or even comic! It seems to fit with my work-style too; I prefer to make what I make as well-made and physically accurate as possible, and often custom-designed. I have a partially-complete train render which exemplifies this, particularly with the partially-complete bogies: https://happysmash27.me/Upload/CG/trajno.png. The bogies, unfortunately, aren't very visible in this image, however, leaving the much less complete body to be at the foreground (even if the bogies aren't exactly fully complete themselves, lacking, for example, disk brakes).

Speaking of media types like storyboard graphic novels and movies, I've thought of one I would want to implement at some point, taking full advantage of the web 2.0. Basically, my idea is to have a media project be a series of web pages, which consist of text, embedded images, and videos, and simply switch between each sub-medium whenever one fits best. For example, diagrams could be used for worldbuilding, while videos could be used for action scenes. I have had many ideas that someone else has already done just as you have had, so I wouldn't be surprised if someone else thought of something similar before me in this case either.

[–]JasonCarswell 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I have not forgotten you.

First, great start on that train. My space train is VERY different. It will take several chapters to explain and bunch of sketches. And the interiors are whole other story. Everything has a purpose making it theoretically very practical (hard science fiction) and ultimately creating it's aesthetic by practical default.

Second, that sounds like an awesome interactive project. Maybe we could merge that with the Trutherism 101 thing. Off the top of my head it seems like it might be good for the countless terms truthers, politicians, and spycraft use. Also, my documentary outline might be a good map to navigate around if folks don't want to watch it linearly. Each topic is inexorably connected to almost every other topic, and this could perfectly exemplify the "full spectrum dominance".

Both of my big projects I want to do open source. I'm getting the domains on April 30 (when I can afford it) and then I can share the name of my #1 project and create a sub for discussion and a private wiki to present it and for just me to edit, or on the more robust InfoGalactic wiki with images, etc. Naturally being open source anyone is welcome tofork from my story, maybe even create a shared universe. A friend gave me a funny working title, "Foiled Again" (ie. tin foil hat), but it's got nothing to do with that, at least in the foreground. That's why I created the "Trutherism 101" project to purge out all the conspiracy stuff bogging down "Foiled Again", yet provide the contextual support and understanding for it as a platform to share those things I felt important and compelled to share anyway.

These are both looooooooooong term projects and will take years. One of the first things I intend to do is outline summaries, my roadmaps, and structures for them. Hopefully people will provide good feedback so I can address and apply improvements, as well as create a dialogue from which I can explain and quote from or just share my copious semi-organized notes.

Because Trutherism 101 seems a little simpler, I'm trying to develop that to a point where I can share and ask for feedback, then I can focus on the other for a while. Keep things interesting. So I'm making a non-digital painting that I hope to auction off one day to raise funds for stuff. This painting will be of the setting for the entire Trutherism 101 series. Spoilers: It's just a hilltop. Behind it are rolling golden hour clouds like Maxfield Parrish or NC Wyeth. 360 degrees. I'm thinking no visible sun (defies physics, and many folks may not even notice). And you can't tell if it's sunrise or sunset. Are you optimistic or pessimistic? It's up to you. The mountain/hill top has a surprise that will be revealed near the end: it's shaped like a momma grizzly bear and a deer buck curled up in an embrace of sorts, and his antlers are two gnarly Banzai-like trees. The ground and grass I'd like to basically be like A Bug's Life, but with a touch more gold and maybe rim lighting on things. The trees I want a very specific high contrast and vibrantly saturated treatment kinda like a few of these pine trees golden hour, but MORE. The 2 trees are actually 1, but a bolder rolled away leaving two pronounced branches/trunks. It's the Grizzly Deear Tree Of Life. A simple setting that is ripe for cinematic storytelling shots, engaging characters, and entertaining informative content.

This organic hilltop is very different from structured architecture so I understand if you don't want to participate in making that. If you are interested I can push myself to finish this painting and maybe some others too. And if you like I can share some character inspirations, my sketches, and start to do some concept paintings for the characters too. Modelling is one thing. Animating it a whole other thing. And the rig in between is critical. As much as I don't like rigging I also don't mind it. I'm neutral on it. It's tedious but powerful and important, so I'll prolly want to do the rigging unless someone with a lot of experience steps up to offer their skills. There's also the option of modifying existing rigs and overhauling the model to customize it for our purposes.

If you're not into organic modelling for the T101 project that's okay, though I'm not close to being ready to present you with the bridge or space craft yet. However, I can tell you in "Foiled Again" half of act 2 takes place on a fully-rigged extreme clipper tall ship. 5 masts is too many. 3 might be too few. I don't see many 4 mast clippers. I don't know if this is up your alley. I wouldn't be surprised if models already existed out there.

Also, we should find a place to share our open source models, rigs, animation, textures, etc. Somewhere that we can back up and ideally won't be censored. Any ideas?

[–]happysmash27[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I have not forgotten you either, but I do occasionally procrastinate on responding to messages :P

I think some kind of Git instance would be good. As for where to host it, as always, my server at happysmash27.me (among other domains) is very reliable with an uptime of over 174 days. For backups, I have a somehow less reliable, but at least off-site, VPS.

Organic modelling is one of the things I want to learn to do better :) . If I didn't like that, I wouldn't have made custom grass for the train (which ended up making it look much better in my opinion, by the way).

[–]JasonCarswell 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

No worries. I'm excited you're still on board. It will be slow at first. I have a lot to get out and make clear to communicate the ideas and vision and deep meanings and purposes.

I've had a shitty week and a half. My messages are backed up and I'm finally starting through them.

I'm regretting making a real painting rather than a digital one. In the end though it will be more valuable than a digital file, for fundraising purpose down the road. I'm taking photos of it every session to make into a short.

When that painting is done, you'll have a pretty good idea of what I'm talking about. The thing about the painting is that it's from one perspective. It looks like a grizzly and a dear as a mountain. The grizzly is a reddish-brown rock, and the deer is mostly grass covered.

I will sketch another perspective to show what it looks like from another angle, a Yin-Yang. And that's it. Nothing else matters except that it look like a typical mountain with these two specific perspectives where there's an optical illusion at each. I know it's possible to get a third or even fourth, but I don't need them. If something comes up we can add it.

I might start every episode from one op-art angle and end on the other op-art angle. Or, I might just save it for a critical moment. Or, I might get viewers used to some similar angles and minimal flying camera movements, then when they least expect it, give them the op-art. There's much still to be worked out and how to most effectively convey it.

As far as the photo-real aspect, I'd rather aim for a forgiving intentional stylization than aim for photo-real and fall short and look like shit. Stylization can also save time, energy, resources and be used to more effectively focus eyes where it matters. I'm open to all ideas. While aiming for A Bug's Life may be nice, it might also be worth adding much more textures, to the point of being excessive - creating a style.

Another style option is to post-process the hell out of it. Make a decent animated thing, that looks like typical average non-exciting CGI. Then apply to the animation some great graphic design stuff that you might see on edgy Photoshopped or Illustrator posters. Then you don't notice the average CGI aesthetic.

I'm postponing my cross over from Windows to Linux-Mint for a bit. By the time I get my ideas out on those subs in a clear and compelling way I might be able to go Mint and 100% FLOSS. I still prefer Photoshop to GIMP by a mile but I think that's just due to my lack of use of it. I'm better with Inkscape but still prefer Illustrator. And Blender is a whole other can of worms. Yay learning?

A decentralized/torrent-able Git might be good, for backing up, etc. I don't trust the cloud.

So yesterday I registered 3 domains and created new subs for my projects. /s/GlossedAndProfound a pun on Lost And Found, but Glossy like commercials and slick graphics, not to be /s/GlossedOver. Profound because I hope these projects work on many deeper levels. /s/Trutherism101 is the hilltop conversation, a series of shorts. And /s/BittersweetSeeds is my "epic" screenplay/storyboard/graphic novel concept. 3 of them are restricted, only for publishing stuff. /s/GlossedOver will be the central hub to discuss all of them. Our future conversations should happen there. Later we can make other subs as necessary, ie. LipGloss for facial/character animation stuff, HiGloss for rendering, etc. I'm getting too excited just thinking about it all. But just one step at a time.