Category Archives: Art

Art, Computer

3DMouse and blender

UPDATE: 2022-09-29

Yesterday i got two 3DConnexion 3D CAD mouses (mice) from my friend Vincent. While we where fixing his Mikrotik network i got to play with these cool devices.

I always wanted one of those, but they are quite expensive

First i tried to install the Software from 3DConnexion. It kindda worked but needed some workarounds and still wasn’t okay.

Downloaded 3dxware-linux-v1-8-0.x86_64.tar.gz (Maybe this version is TOO new, SpacePilot i a little ouder)
there is a install-3dxunix.sh, but it was made for Suse/Redhat

This program needed motif .. and a lot of libraries (libmotif/libxm)
After that some fonts xfonts-100dpi xfonts-75dpi


workaround was starting by 
sudo /etc/3DxWare/daemon/3dxsvr -userName ${USER} -d usb

After that the demo program worked perfectly … but Blender didn’t
After some tinkering it work a little, it was far to sensitive, and was all over the place.

Luckily i found a opensource replacement. https://spacenav.sourceforge.net/
git cloned the package, then i notished .. there is a precompiled version for ubuntu!

apt-get install spacenavd .. start the service .. and go!

i cloned the test demos (libspnav) and compiled those test programs.

apt-get install libglu1-mesa-dev
git clone https://github.com/FreeSpacenav/libspnav.git
cd libspnav
./configure
make
... fly is a nice little test program

So lets start blender

Pan tilt roll .. nice!

This wil speedup modeling, and for sure sculpting !

Some settings which worked for me .. let the tweaking begin!

UPDATE: 2022-09-29

I removed the version in the apt repository, and installed everything from git. Now i have a cool configure tool

Art, Photography

Photoshoots again

Today we did a photoshoot again. (Arja needed some pictures again). Nice to have some practice again.
I’ve been setting up a little studio in our shed. i’ve got a nice interchangeable background with multiple colors/fabrics. (White/Black/Chromagreen/Blue cloth)
I also installed the semi professional lights below.

Nice lightweight stands, with a lightbox, and a remote trigger system.
It has two modes. Flash and permanent lighting. It’s a nice piece of equipment, don’t get me wrong. But lately i’ve been using this!

These are led panels, meant for installing in suspended ceilings. I’ve got these from a friend.

Backdrop
Power supply in front of panel

I like these because they are white, and the other one a little yellow. And produce a lot of light!
Unlike the permanent lighting mode of the FalconEyes. (When using the permanent lighting mode you see what the lighting wil be. Unlike using a flash. (Which is also great, when going for other photographs)

When using a reflector like below, you can see the effect instantly.

We used the golden part to get a little warmth into the pictures.

I’m using my big painting-easel to hold the led panels. I just placed the picture holder upside down.

Those led panels are cheap, and you can get them in 3000k,4000k and 6000k (Kelvin) those three i’ve seen in online shops doing a quick search.

The rest of my equipment is for another post.

  • Nikon D750
  • Nikon D7100
  • Lenses: 60mm/35mm/200mm and 300mm

Art, Computer

Blender 360 degrees test

Next to try is a VR setup.

Another blender project i’m planning to do this week is a movie displaying my logo to overlay on my videos.
So i have to render a transparent movie for this.

Howto:

Open a scene, i took the liberty to get one from blenderkit.

Change output to cycles, eevee doesn’t work

Make x/y large enough in output tab. X = 2 * Y !

Next select your camera, and open camera tab

Change Type to panoramic and then you can change panorama type to Equirectangular

Position your camera and hit F12, it wil take a long time!

You get something like this

Use a proper plugin for your website, or view with your VR glasses!

Art, IOT / Domoticz, Tech

MCH2022 Badge

Almost … friday will be the day i’ll attend May Contain Hackers.
Besides the awesome villages and talks.

UPDATE: 20220727
UPDATE: 20220812

You get a hackable badge, this one is more amazing as previous versions.

I can’t wait to have a go at this cool gadget. I personally could do without the pcb fancy design.

  • Espressif ESP32 Wrover-E with 16MB of flash storage and paired with 8MB of PSRAM, for front-end badge computing and compatibility with the badge.team ecosystem back to the 2017 SHA badge.
  • Lattice ICE40UP5K FPGA for hardware-accelerated graphics and user FPGA hardware designs.
  • Raspberry Pi RP2040 for advanced USB communication and board management.
  • 2Ah LiPo battery to give you a full day of fun on a charge.
  • 16-bit DAC with stereo output to headphone socket, onboard mono speaker.
  • ILI9341 2.2 inch TFT display with a 240 by 320 pixel resolution.
  • Bosch BNO055 orientation sensor.
  • Bosch BME680 environmental sensor.
  • The usual array of addressable LEDs.
  • SAO and Qwiic expansion connectors, FPGA PMOD expansion, plus onboard prototyping area.

Downloadable apps, micro python, Arduino ide programming.
All kinds of GPIO pins, leds buttons, sound.
Check out https://hatchery.badge.team/

You can play with this virtually here!
https://wokwi.com/projects/335445228923126356

So much potential! Great start for a DIY project.

I won’t post about the workings, thats all well documented online.
I shall post about the hacks/findings i personally did.

UPDATE: 20220727
Made a micropython program to keep your NameTag level to the ground (Better version)

UPDATE: 20220812

Someone made a 8bit logic analyser using the pmod connector !

Art, Computer, Movies

Wanted to make a videowall for a video project

I’ve seen some commercial solutions, and some free blender solutions which where too complex or too much hassle.

I’m not paying anything when you can do it yourself for free.
And i wanted a easy to setup wall, using movieclips or pictures.

So below is a blender howto

Above also shows howto enable displaying keypresses for making howto movies and a plugin for distributing objects.

Little example using method above
Art, Movies

Add effect to movie using bash

mkdir -p videoframessource videoframes
ffmpeg -r 60 -i sweden.mp4 videoframessource/%05d.png
cd videoframessource
ls *png | while read file ; do ../convert2comic $file ; echo -n "." ;done ; echo ""
ffmpeg -f image2 -r 60  -i videoframes/%05d.png  -vcodec libx264 final.mp4
#!/bin/bash
# convert script .. call me convert2comic
convert -quiet $1 +repage -depth 8 -selective-blur 0x5+10% ./tmp1
convert ./tmp1 -level 0x80% -colorspace gray -posterize 6 -depth 8 -colorspace sRGB ./tmp2
convert ./tmp1 '(' ./tmp2 -blur 0x1 ')' '(' -clone 0 -clone 1 -compose over -compose multiply -composite -modulate 100,150,100 ')' '(' -clone 0 -colorspace gray ')' '(' -clone 3 -negate -blur 0x2 ')' '(' -c
lone 3 -clone 4 -compose over -compose colordodge -composite -evaluate pow 4 -threshold 90% -median 1 ')' -delete 0,1,3,4 -compose over -compose multiply -composite ../videoframes/$1

# Another nice effect
convert frame.png \( +clone -negate -blur 0x6 \) -compose ColorDodge -composite -modulate 100,0,100 out.png