The Space Opera Working Thread

reply to post by silo13

Will do...
Just get the No.36 bus to Altaire 4, the freighter 'Banton's Way' will be parked
outside and tell the driver 'Joe sent you'
He'll drop you off at the Ship.

Oh... take some pistachio nuts, he loves pistachio nuts.
BIAD.

BAID and NENO!

Let's see who gets to Silo first! (Chumley and Carpet just insisted on going)! So you might even meet up with them before even getting back to Ship.

Then again, those two might not make it to Cim's cabin before you guys do... They still have one more post left on Ship before they go.

Well, there it is.
I dunno why - but it's done.
Carpet's written himself out and is no more.

So, next post, Chumley will land near Silo's cabin.

Will he see you all there?

*A hush falls over the crowd*...

peace

reply to post by silo13


ButButButBut... Carpet's dead? Not to worry - as I recall, the child was part "Carpet", too.

Carpet lives on!

For the moment...

reply to post by nenothtu

Nope.
Carpet's done shot out into space and as much as I'd love to have the Rootka just happen to find a blanket outside their cave and use it for the baby they kept from Silo and 'Evil' CindyMars? Well, that aint gonna happen either... Just too impossible to be believable - Carpet in a Blanket from the future just coincidently falling from the heavens to land on the doorstep of the Rootak of the past... Naw, too far fetched... Or...is it...

That filthy Deez! Gotta deal with him and the cocoons someday...

EDIT NOTE:

DANG IT!

Now that I wrote this post I want to go back and take out my whole last installment in the Opera!

I'd love to have Carpet go to earth with Chumley and get left behind - (eluding to his death) - but have him do just that - get taken by the Rootak to the cave to ‘wrap the baby in’...

What do you think? Cause honestly I had NO idea that Carpet was going to go like that. I just started writing and it happened... When that happens (Characters writing their own story line) I go with it even though it goes against what I'd set out to write.

Well, I guess I better leave it. It wasn't at all the fate I had in store for Carpet but he got his own way - he 'wrote it' so I'll just stick it out and see what happens next...

And no I'm not a weirdo - you writers know what I mean about 'characters writing themselves'...

peace

reply to post by silo13


Nope, I meant "carpet lives on" in the sense that we all leave a little bit of ourselves around to carry on in our progeny when we "get shot out into space". Since the child is "part carpet" too, in some way that I can't fathom, and probably don't want to dwell on over much, "carpet lives on"!

Edit to add: are you using some sort of 3D modeling/rendering software for the pictures of Chumley, or just Photoshop? I'm wondering because I've seen him from several different angles now, I think.

reply to post by nenothtu

Still just Photoshop. I 'made' him in Sculptris just that once and have never incorporated it into pictures. But I've really got to start learning 3D. I'm glad you reminded me - thanks!

peace

Hi you-two,
I suppose I'm lucky with my images of BIAD, he just comes into the room and
I take a piccy!!
Seriously, I think you should just run-with-it regarding the tale, we'll meet somehwere,
I'm sure of it.

I'm a little concerned I'm 'underplaying' Nenothtu's wrath... I'll have to come up with a scenario
where he can't vent his stuff fully!

This is great!

During the story and I can only presume, there's more to come... the topic
of 'after-life' probability and outcome and the Universe's future as arose.

After in-depth research... (Neno will appreciate the 'Herschel' amount!)... this
FACT video will possibly explain my levity on the subject.



James Mason's (Mr. Jordan) quote at the end of the clip is a fitting saying
for all conspiracy theorists!!

Originally posted by silo13
reply to post by nenothtu

 

Still just Photoshop. I 'made' him in Sculptris just that once and have never incorporated it into pictures. But I've really got to start learning 3D. I'm glad you reminded me - thanks!

peace

If you can "export" him from Sculptris as an .obj file, you can then import him into Daz3d (as a static model - no posing unless you can whip up a .cr2 script file to accompany the mode) and render him, or he can be imported into Terrgen2 and rendered among landscapes beyond imaginable - but also as a static model (no bending - but Terragen doesn't allow for posing anyhow). In those cases, I usually get the pose that suits me in Daz, then export as an .obj and import the already posed model into Terragen. No .cr2 file to tell Daz where to "bend" Chumleys limbs would preclude that for the time being, though.

Both are free software, and can be found via a Google search. The Daz is about a 100 mb or so download, though. Terrragen is only around 6 mb, I think. I'm still learning on Daz (and probably always will be), but am working on figuring out how to write and mate .cr2 files to .obj models to make bendable figures at the moment. I'm still in the most rudimentary stages of that effort.

If you want to e-mail me the Chumley model you worked out (any file format - I've probably collected a converter along the way for just about all of them but .max), I'll try to drop it into a scene and show you what I mean. It'd probably be an outdoors scene at the moment, though. Currently I'm working on an Earth Carboniferous Era (ca 300 million years ago - long before dinosaurs) landscape, so that's what I'm up to my elbows in at the moment. Looks like a jungle, but Terragen does near photographic quality work in it's renders. Daz would likely be a better choice for "indoors" or shipboard scenes - assuming I had the proper background for it already done. I'm crap with Photoshop.

Edit to add: One other thing about Daz - if you render Chumley in Daz, with NO background at all, it renders out on a blank white background, which can then be made an alpha channel, adjusted for transparency, and composited into nearly any sort of scene you whip up elsewhere. Just have to take care with the lighting direction, and make sure it matches.

Originally posted by A boy in a dress
Hi you-two,
I suppose I'm lucky with my images of BIAD, he just comes into the room and
I take a piccy!!
Seriously, I think you should just run-with-it regarding the tale, we'll meet somehwere,
I'm sure of it.

I'm a little concerned I'm 'underplaying' Nenothtu's wrath... I'll have to come up with a scenario
where he can't vent his stuff fully!

This is great!

Nah, you're playing neno just right in those circumstances. It's turning out so well, that I'm afeared to jump in, and potentially throw a kink in your story line!

One word of caution: in the real shootout, the rooming house/photo studio where Doc and Kate were staying formed one of the walls (west wall, I think, but not sure ATM) of the alleyway where the shootout took place, and Ike had gone in there the morning of the shootout looking for Doc, speculation was that he was up to no good at that time, and probably intended to provoke Doc. Kate was in the room at the time of the shootout, but didn't have a clear view of the killing grounds because of the way the window faced.

She said Doc came back into the room after the shootout very upset, and just sat there for a long time, either near tears or actually crying, saying "That was just AWFUL!". Not real clear if he meant the shootout in general, or his "execution" of McLaury.

A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, though!

reply to post by nenothtu


I'll check out both the programs you posted about. Something I really need to do. I hope my computer will play along nice too (the beast that it is)...

Can you post a couple a pics of what you're working on - if it wouldn't be a colossal pain?

Oh, and instead of sending you Chumley from Sculptris - I should have said it's only his head so far, lol. Give me a bit to get that big bod a his going.

In the mean time I really wish I'd of taken that post out and substituted it for Chumley leaving the 'Blanket' (with Carpet) behind... I'll just sing the 'oh well' blues for a bit. That or maybe 'Carpet' will come up with something even better... (Crossing my fingers)...

peace

Hi All -
Well, dunno what to do now. My computer is trashed and have no idea why.
Not the one I'm on - I'm on my old one that takes years to boot up and get around on, but, needed to post here.
Anyway, the computer I usually use? After I went to Gmail this morning I shut down the system, and when I went and opened it back up??? No browser will work. Not IE not FireFox. I can connect to the Internet - (Skype would work) but not any browsing. So, not sure what that means for the Space Opera for the next little bit.

If I'm not back and leaving a message here tomorrow or by let's say what Wednesday? Please feel free to meet up with Chumley at CindyMars cabin where he‘s headed at the moment to find Silo. Chumley will also have in his possession a tele-tab to take everyone back to Ship. Just stick Silo in her PHARS (in her cabin) and let her be.

Thanks tons!

peace

Originally posted by silo13

Can you post a couple a pics of what you're working on - if it wouldn't be a colossal pain?

I was going to do that in my post last night, but I hadn't slept at all the night before, then worked 12 hours, and when I posted that I only had about 2 hours to go before I had to do it all over again, and I decided not to take the time at that point. I have more time now, so here are a couple:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/36674e2cb512.jpg[/atsimg]

3 carboniferous plants on a mountain background, singles so I could see how they looked. These are all "trees" of one sort or another, ranging from 15 meters or so up to around 45 meters tall. The tallest is actually a Sigillaria, a type of giant club-moss 45 meters tall. The shortest is a type of fern called a tree-fern, 15 meters tall.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/722a956558a4.jpg[/atsimg]

Scene 1, all tree-ferns.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7192b22f6836.jpg[/atsimg]

Scene 2, same as above but with Lepidodendrons (another type of giant club moss) added in for a upper, more open, jungle canopy.

The roots in the foreground are secondary roots from a Lepidodendron - sort of like the roots you see in a mangrove swamp, used primarily for support.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c84db705f013.jpg[/atsimg]

Scene 3, same as above but with more Lepidodendrons, forming a denser, but still open, upper jungle canopy, and with the Lepidodendron support roots removed from the foreground. I haven't really started working on ground-cover yet, I've mostly been tinkering with the trees themselves, and getting a "jungle" feel to them. Actually, they would be better set on flatter ground, or in a swamp, with mountains in the background.

I had to crop part of these (on the left-hand side) out to post them here. I have another somewhere more like the second, but with more Lepidodendrons and after I had added the Sigillarias in, but can't find it at the moment. This is sort of what the area I was raised in would have looked like (as well as the coal fields of the UK - they were the same place at the time) 300 million years ago.

Oh, and instead of sending you Chumley from Sculptris - I should have said it's only his head so far, lol. Give me a bit to get that big bod a his going.

Sure thing! I have a lot more to learn about rigging the models so that they can be posed anyhow. No rush.

In the mean time I really wish I'd of taken that post out and substituted it for Chumley leaving the 'Blanket' (with Carpet) behind... I'll just sing the 'oh well' blues for a bit. That or maybe 'Carpet' will come up with something even better... (Crossing my fingers)...

I was thinking... Death can drop us back any old time he likes, since he's time-traveling us anyhow. A day here or there doesn't mean much in a 2000 year context. There's always the chance he can dump us just as Carpet is being jettisoned, as in "Hey! What IS that thing floating over there? Yeah, the thing that just shot out of Yydryl?" just in time to save him...

Something to think on... then to figure out a way to get to you on Earth-That-Was... in yet another time-frame.

Originally posted by silo13
Hi All -
Well, dunno what to do now. My computer is trashed and have no idea why.
Not the one I'm on - I'm on my old one that takes years to boot up and get around on, but, needed to post here.
Anyway, the computer I usually use? After I went to Gmail this morning I shut down the system, and when I went and opened it back up??? No browser will work. Not IE not FireFox. I can connect to the Internet - (Skype would work) but not any browsing. So, not sure what that means for the Space Opera for the next little bit.

If I'm not back and leaving a message here tomorrow or by let's say what Wednesday? Please feel free to meet up with Chumley at CindyMars cabin where he‘s headed at the moment to find Silo. Chumley will also have in his possession a tele-tab to take everyone back to Ship. Just stick Silo in her PHARS (in her cabin) and let her be.

Thanks tons!

peace

It may help to uninstall, then re-install your browsers. Back up the book marks first, then zap Firefox (have to leave IE - it's built in, but can be re-installed freshly over top of itself - backup the bookmarks anyway, just in case). The only thing you need to figure out is how to download the browser installation files, and how to get them to your computer. Obviously, if none of your browsers are working, it will have to be done on a different computer, then transported to yours for installation.

reply to post by nenothtu


Wow! those images are fantastic... I wish I could do 'em.
True, if Mr. Death can 'dumop' us anywhere-anytime, we should be able
to agree on a place to rendi... rendev... meet up.

Damn you Neno! I have to stay close to the original account of all this to
keep it flowing... my head is aching with getting BIAD to sit still.

Those pics make me just drool wanting to learn! Thanks for adding them.

No luck with uninstalling and reinstalling the browsers (and Itunes).
I renamed FireFox.exe to MyFF1.exe, made a copy, moved it to my desktop and I can use FF from there, but, IE will not take that trick - keeps replicating itself and ITunes is shot. Funny thing is, whatever is going on Avast, Adaware, SkybotS&D, Kaspersky, Iobit - NONE of them are picking up anything - no virus, no Trojan, nothing. VERY strange.

About Silo. It's up to you. I was throwing out idea so you two didn't feel 'hung up' if you wanted to get back to Ship. No rush.

And Carpet? Well, he let me know (finally) what's up with him, so no worry there. Don't bother to 'find' him anywhere, ‘wink*.

Thanks again for the pics, I can't wait to get this computer thing figured out so I can try my hand!

peace

The pictures I've done above are just for composition, not the final render products. Terragen2 is capable of much more "real" looking, photo-realistic quality work. In particular the tree ferns in those pictures appear to be having problems with handling the alpha channel in the leaf textures (shows the alphas as black rather than transparent), and I've got to figure out how to fix that before final renders.

Here's another picture, made by a different guy, but it looks like the same software (Terragen) was used to me, as well as the same plant models:

Carboniferous forest in the afternoon light.

Here's a link to his galleries, most of which appear to me to have been done with Terragen:

Gallery.

Look through it, and you'll get a better idea of what the software is capable of than you can from my cheesy pictures above. He also has different subject galleries, some with some fairly spectacular imagery of "alien planets". Link to main galleries page

Here is a link to the home page for the software:

Planetside Software.

There are two versions of Terragen2, a freeware version and a paid version, which are both pretty much the same under the hood. A software "key" from Planetside will unlock the free version and change it to the paid version, but all I've really noticed about the paid version is that it will render larger (higher resolution) that the free version, which is limited to 800 x 600 pixels, and you can set the "quality" settings higher, which improves quality but a little, but vastly increases render time. The older "Terragen Classic" (also freeware) is easier for me to use, and has a more user-friendly interface (to me), but I'm trying to step into the 21st century here. Also, the older version won't use imported models, which to me these day is a must. All you can really do with it is vast, sweeping landscapes, no close-ups of trees or objects.

BIAD: you're doing a great job! I'm just trying to keep it to the point where anyone reading it who knows the actual history will say "damn! It coulda happened just that way!". I tend to approach things from a technically accurate (not to be confused with technically detailed) perspective. In other words, I personally might say "Zork blasted the intruder with a laser pulse resulting in a smoking hole in his chest" rather than "Zork blasted the intruder with a jam-plasma zapper, resulting in a rainbow effect of milticolored starbursts of flesh shards", but I wouldn't say "Zork pumped 352 milliquarks of modulated UV/radio emissions focused into a tight beam by a crystalline matrix focus nodule powered by twin quantum power engines manufactured by Holo-Quanta Ltd, and housed in the grip handle, resulting in the complete cellular disintegration of the intruder on a sub-molecular level." It may be hard to see, but there IS a difference there! Technical accuracy keeps it "real", "believable", and moves it along, technical details bog it down, and loses the reader. I'm finicky, but not manically so, and your mileage may vary.

Silo: It might be getting close to time for another system overhaul, with a wipe of the hard drive and a fresh installation of everything. That's a real pain in the fanny, especially if you don't have the Windows installation disks handy. Even if you do, installation of all the subsequent software is a bear. As I recall, the last time you had to do that, you had to put it in the shop. Still, sometimes bugs find their way into a system, refuse to be hunted down and destroyed, and then the only thing that can be done to be rid of them is a complete overhaul involving a wipe and fresh installation of everything. Either that or find workarounds and live with the bug. Wish I could be more help there. It might not be a "bug" in the virus sense of the word - it really sounds more like some sort of software conflict, brought on perhaps by a recently installed program that doesn't play nice with the others. That would mean it would have to be something that affects both of the browsers, like a new Flash Player install or upgrade or something like that.

The fact that a re-named and relocated Firefox fixed it strengthens that notion. The "bug" isn't affecting the new version, because it doesn't know where to find it. Look for something that used to work in the old version, but doesn't in the new, and you may have the culprit. IE can't be moved, because it's an integral part of Windows Explorer, the core of it, and Windows has to be able to know where to find it, and so "protects" it from being re-named or moved. It normally won't allow the program itself to be "cloned", because running both at the same time could result in system instability and a crash due to the "cross-talk". It's probably just cloning more links or shortcuts to the same program module. Running those actually runs the same old thing, from the same old place, with the same old problems.

reply to post by nenothtu


Don't worry... er, Sir, it's as you say -better to stay near the account and therefore
folks can... if they want, check it against the original and remark as you said.

I visited Tombstone many years ago and the 'research' is bringing back great memories!

reply to post by nenothtu

Yeah I think it's time for an overhaul but this time no shop - and never again - they rui more than they do good! Thanks for your help.

I should be able to post by tomorrow. Chumley and Adam have something cooking on the back burner so they'll be going to get Silo.

peace