Archive | December, 2009

Install A Facebook Share Link Button On Your Blog Site

By on December 30, 2009 in Blogging, facebook, WordPress Tips

Have you been wondering how to add the Facebook share button to each of your blog posts? Simple. It’s as easy as using this share button Javascript directly from Facebook’s site. I just Googled facebook share links and it was the first item on the search list.

It gives you options to make it a button or a link. With the button option you can display a counter above the button, to the side or have no counter at all.

For those of you using the WordPress platform, copy the code and paste it into the body of the single.php file within the loop. I recently stumbled upon the ease of editing the PHP code by accidentally clicking in the editing window of one of the files. That’s all you have to do. To add code click on Presentation > Theme Editor > Single Post and click in the editing window. It will change from gray to white. Then paste the script and click the Update File button.

Placing the code in the Single Post file is what automatically creates the share button on each post. Give it a shot and see if you don’t have those great posts you’re writing passed on to a wider audience.

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Who’s Rockin’ That Sweet Dress?

By on December 17, 2009 in Business, General Interest

That’s the reaction you’re likely to have when you see the creations of designer Juliette Buford gracing the form of the lucky lady fortunate enough to be wearing one. Juliette is another of the amazing business owners I had the pleasure of meeting at the Chicago Urban League’s Entrepreneurs Social last week. If you ever have the opportunity to meet her you’ll find her to be quite the personable type. No wonder that the ladies like rocking her 71Jules styles. She’s as pleasant a person as her dress line is cool.

Her tag line says it all. One dress…Endless possibilities. It’s a flexible design or, more specifically, convertible. I’m not a high fashion kind of guy by any stretch but I checked out her business just as I did for everyone else I met at the mixer and I was duly impressed. The press also confirms my first impression. She’s one of Chicago’s rising design stars. Here are a few shots of her wares.

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Yep, talent. So if you’re that lady looking for something hot for yourself or that guy who wants something hot for your lady you can’t make a better choice than one of these. You need to get on it before December 22nd though if you want something in time for a Christmas gift so place an order with 71Jules and rock it Juliette Buford style.

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How to Import MAYA Images Into Photoshop

By on December 16, 2009 in After Effects, General Interest, MAYA, Photoshop

Recently I’ve been researching a method to pull images of some of my MAYA 3D characters into Photoshop. I needed a way to include them along with other file types in an After Effects movie. I finally figured it out this weekend. During the fall quarter my MAYA instructor taught us how to render images to see how our scenes might look on screen after production.

Well what do you know? That’s all I had to do in order to save my images and use them to update my film. So instead of continuing to waste time Googling for a process to import the 3D geometry into Photoshop, I stuck to 2D. Here’s how it’s done.

When you have your character or scene positioned, lighted and rendered to your satisfaction, go to the Render View menu, click File > Save Image > (enter a File Name) > choose the Photoshop (*.psd) option from the Files of Type drop down and save it to the Photoshop file location where you intend to use it.

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(Rendered Image)

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(Saving Rendered Image)

When you open the file in Photoshop you’ll see the default “Background” layer. Right click and change it to a layer name just as you would with any imported image file. Now you can manipulate it in the usual ways by scaling, rotating, etc. The one thing you won’t have to worry about is using the lasso, magic wand or any other clean up editing tools because the 2D file will import as a clean image. There won’t be any actual back ground to extract it from and no extraneous border material to erase in order to create clean edges for the figure as you sometimes have to do with sketched images, photographs and clip art.

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After you’ve completed your edits you can import the image(s) into your After Effects composition and manipulate them as needed on your time line.

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So there you have it. If you’ve been looking for a good short cut between 3D and 2D packages then use these tips to expand your tool set.

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Aqua, the World’s Tallest Building Designed by A Woman

By on December 15, 2009 in General Interest

If you’re an aspiring or practicing female engineer or architect here’s a technical shero worth emulating. Architect Jeanne Gang and her team at Studio Gang Architects designed Aqua, just north of Millennium Park in Chicago.

Chicago Tribune writer Blair Kamin wrote a great story about her and the grand building in the Sunday Nov 8, 2009 edition. He mentions the artistry inherent in the architecture, not the least of which are “balconies stretched outward, by anywhere from 2 to 12 feet, to capture views that would not be available otherwise”. Her design took advantage of what Kamin referred to as the plasticity of concrete in order to achieve the design goal.

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The environmental entities think highly of Aqua as well. It received a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. It also won an award from PETA. Since birds can see its curving balconies they are less likely to fly into the tower.

The artistic expression inherent in the design makes it live up to its name. It’s very wavelike. Gang’s team made the balconies deeper on the south side of the building than on the north to maximize shading. Thus the undulating wave pattern serves a practical purpose. They also applied optical illusion to full advantage by adding the balconies next to the living room spaces. This created the effect of extending the living room outward.

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It’s a truly innovative building. If you get the opportunity head downtown and take a look at Aqua, Chicago’s newest eye popping residential sky scraper.

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A Cursury Personal Review of The Great Gatsby

By on December 11, 2009 in General Interest

I don’t recall how we got on the subject, maybe I was overhearing someone else’s conversation, but one of my coworkers recently asked me if I had read The Great Gatsby. As much as I love literature (I jammed in American Lit and English Lit in high school) and consider myself a decently well read person I had never read this one. I’d heard of it but never been required to study the piece during my formal educational years and until now hadn’t been personally curious about it. So I checked it out of my local library.

It was reaaalllly slooowwww going at first but finally picked up the pace in the last few chapters. For those of you who haven’t read the book, in my first pass at it I’d describe it as a study of character and morals amongst the upper crust of society.

There’s lots of racial, prejudiced and condescending language used by self-important, egotistic people. Lots of people with no purpose in their lives except living for the next party. Lots of sexual references and marital infidelities leading to an accidental death swept under the rug and a murder-suicide.

I almost forgot my high school literature training, that you need a dictionary (online today of course) to understand some of the archaic early American English words that we don’t use any more like ‘wan’ (look it up people) and a few others of that sort.

You’d also have to research literary references that apparently would have been familiar to decently educated people in the early 20th century. Had to look up Trimalchio to understand what that referred to in this story (yeah, look that one up too – smile).

The analogies can be applied to all economic and social strata though and perhaps that was one of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s purposes for writing it. It turned out to be a well written, very layered read. I’d definitely recommend you give it a try especially if you weren’t required to when you were a student. And as long as it takes to get you to the full development of the plot it’s worth it to be able to say that you gave it a try. I think you’ll enjoy so nab it from your favorite library or book store today.

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What You Need Is…

By on December 10, 2009 in Business, facebook, General Interest

…the services of Cynthia Boykin, image consultant, wardrobe organizer, personal shopper and provider of vintage and unique purses. I had the pleasure of meeting this Facebook friend and owner of What You Need Is last night at the Chicago Urban League’s Entrepreneur’s Social with Emmy Award winning nextTV producers Tracey Scruggs-Yearwood and Ayana Bush.

This outstanding business owner was inspiring to meet. I enjoyed listening to her journey to entrepreneurship in a huddle of us who got to know each other during the card swap mixer. I was impressed by her professionalism and her willingness to share her personal experiences. She was one of many who made the night a great event.

And the lady has presence. It’s hard to describe but you know it when you see it in a person. I think it’s that “likeability” perception that she helps people develop within themselves. Well Cynthia has plenty of that and I’m sure I’m not the only who picked up on it.

So, if personal service is important to you then What You Need Is…

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Old School Friday – Gone But Not Forgotten

By on December 4, 2009 in Music

After a long hiatus from my favorite meme I’m jumping back in with a tune fit for the season. My artist for the day hailed from my home town of St. Louis and my current home of Chicago but our geographical paths flowed opposite each other. Mr. Donny Hathaway was born in Chi-Town but grew up in the Gateway City during his formative years.

My pick is one of his most favored tunes, a song that many of us really love to hear this time of year. We know the holiday season has formally kicked in when we start hearing “This Christmas” on the radio. Hope you enjoy this all time Donny Hathaway Classic.

Check out what these bloggers chose as their song of the day then sign up to join in on the weekly meme yourself. I’m going to check out some more tunes. Happy OSF!

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So What Are You Doing With Yourself Over the Thanksgiving Break, Martin?

By on December 3, 2009 in General Interest, Programming/Coding, YouTube

Dude! A ton. I’m catching up on some important technical reading involving 3D digital lighting technique that I’m sure we’ll be using more of next quarter. It involves inserting the right types of lights into a scene to illuminate the characters and the set appropriately. The book also explains how to cast shadows correctly. I’m reading a chapter a day of Jeremy Birn’s [digital] Lighting & Rendering. On chapter 6 today and should be done by the end of next week.

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I’m also scheduling time to revise some of my projects from the just ended quarter with stuff like better lighting rigs (thus the need for Birn’s book), animating some of the still models we created in MAYA like masks and shoes and hopefully adding audio which I hear is difficult in MAYA. It may have to be imported into some other program for more post production editing to add sound. I’ll just have to research it.

I’ve also been adding audio to my animation final film this week and I’m considering editing the ending graphics while I’m tweaking it. In fact here’s the latest with audio tracks added in to complement the graphics. What do you think?

Next week I want to make one or two more short films just to get more comfortable with the Photoshop and After Effects packages. There are some really cool tutorials on YouTube and other sites that teach advanced special effects techniques in After Effects. It is a really impressive package. I want to put some time in with Illustrator as well. I heard about this one a few times during the quarter so I want to get my feet wet with the program over the next couple of weeks. I’ll brainstorm a couple of ideas and see where it all lands before the Christmas holiday kicks in.

So, what are you guys doing with yourselves over the end of year holiday breaks?

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Celebrate World Aids Day Every Day

By on December 1, 2009 in General Interest, health

Guess what people? You can celebrate World Aids Day, beyond today, the multitasking way. Every time you donate blood or blood and platelets (apheresis) your blood is automatically tested for AIDS and the HIV virus. You can donate in either fashion mutliple times during the year. If you have AIDS or HIV or any other major health issues that are detected in your blood you will be informed privately to follow up with your physician for treatment and your blood won’t be added to the blood supply. The tests insure that tainted blood doesn’t risk endagering potential recipients.

If you are not privately informed about any issues detected in your blood then you know that you are healthy AND you’ve contributed red and white blood cells to the national blood supply. Read this apheresis information link for more details on the the procedure then find your local American Red Cross donation center and improve the country’s health on two fronts.

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