A Liquid State

Hey guys! Welcome back for another blog post! Sorry I missed last Friday's post. I completely lost track of the days of the week! I did a little traveling at the beginning of last week, so my Monday and Tuesday were actually Thursday and Friday. Oops. But while I was traveling I had the opportunity to look into Shopify from a designers perspective.

Shopify, in case you haven't heard of it is an online store host. If you've got a product to sell, you can sell it with Shopify. For instance I could have a CGWise store where I sell shirts and posters... That's not a bad idea actually... Anyway, they provide the platform for stores to have an online presence. They also provide tools to run your business and customize your store website. And all of this is done through a browser in an online user interface. Many customizations and tools are available for sale through their site, and some of them are free. In fact, you could actually run your store completely having paid no more than the very small cost of the Shopify subscription.

Every store uses what's called a Theme. Some of these are basic (like the default free one), and some are more elaborate. For me, it's Themes that make the experience interesting. It's the graphical representation of your store online. Or more accurately, it is the representation of your users experience, and your own, when using your store. And Themes are completely customizable, from basic editing of existing elements to the more advanced editing of code. Every Theme's code is open for you to explore and customize. Or, you can even make your own.

I see this customization option with some irony though. I have always kept computer programming as a hobby, to the point where I actively made the choice not to do it professionally. I had a hard time finishing projects, as I tended to get over involved in the graphical side of things. Having made that observation, I'm steering myself toward a graphical job. Now, as I sit here actively pursuing graphic design I find myself diving back in to the programming world. You see, the customization of Shopify's Themes is done with a scripting language.

Scripting languages can seem daunting, in fact some are almost as daunting as programming languages. But in the case of Shopify's scripting language called Liquid, it seems to fit quite nicely along side HTML. HTML, if you don't know is pretty much the basis of most of the webpages in existence. It's something that I played around with back in the 90's, but HTML itself has gone through a lot of changes. Coding in Liquid is like taking simple pieces of programmers code and putting it inside HTML. And it provides some pretty awesome results.

For me, Liquid is a synergy of graphics, user interface, and programming. It seems very natural. I'm quite looking forward to getting in to it. Shopify makes that easy to do too. Just sign up for a free developers account and you'll find there is a ton of material free for you to view and educate yourself. If you don't actually want to work from within the Shopify environment, they've open sourced Liquid, which means that it's freely available for anyone to use however they see fit.

All in all it seems that I am embracing all of my skills on my journey in graphic design. I think that's the way it should be.

--Charlie Griffin

Stick with me, and we'll get wise together. 
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Lord of the Flowers

Stranger on a Train

SIGGRAPH 2017

Hey guys! Welcome back for another blog post! SIGGRAPH 2017 was about two weeks ago now, and anybody who's anybody in the CG world is abuzz online and offline talking about it. I was unable to go, but I hope someday I'll get the chance. In the meantime, I can catch up via the Internet.

First, a quick refresher. What is SIGGRAPH? SIGGRAPH is a conference devoted to the exploration and endorsement of new technologies in the computer graphics industry. The name stands for Special Interest Group for Computer GRAPHics and Interactive Techniques. The conference itself is run by a group called ACM SIGGRAPH. This year the event was hosted in L.A. from July 30th to August 3rd. Next year's is planned a little closer to home in Vancouver. If you're wanting to go, mark your calendars for August 12th to the 16th.

With that little bit of information, it's easy to say "Oh, that's neat." And keep moving on. But you don't want to overlook this conference. It's the biggest deal there is in the world of CG. This year more than 16,000 people attended (according to Wikipedia), and you can bet that out of those 16,000 you would have found the industry's leaders. And only some of them were at booths or giving talks.

Blender was there giving a talk on Cosmo's Laundromat and the Open Source Pipeline they used for the development. Disney animator and legend Floyd Norman was there. In fact he was the Key Note, where he talked about his career and gave advice to young animators. More about his Key Note talk can be found at http://blog.siggraph.org/2017/08/disney-legend-floyd-norman.html/. Nvidia was there with VR trained robots, and Popular Mechanics brought their deep learning robot. UploadVR was discussing the VR theatre, and to top it off, Medium announced the first ever brain-computer interface for VR. And that's only a small sampling of the talks that were available.

As you can see, SIGGRAPH has a lot to offer. And like I said, the industry leaders are all there, so the time in-between talks, and after hours events are the other big reason to go. During these times, you won't just be at the conference, you will be bumping elbows with these leaders. It's your opportunity to talk to people from Pixar, Digital Domain, Nvidia, or Blender. You might find yourself shaking hands with the established giants, or the future ones. You might find yourself exchanging business cards as a dreamer, or in deep conversation with someone you only dreamed of meeting.

Even if you attended SIGGRAPH, there's no way to have seen everything. There's just too much amazing stuff going on all at the same time. So it's time to knuckle down and catch up on what you missed out on. I've got a lot more reading ahead of me, and I'm willing to bet you do too. Here's a great place to start: http://blog.siggraph.org/2017/08/siggraph-2017-news-you-need-to-know.html/

--Charlie Griffin

Stick with me, and we'll get wise together. 
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Eye to Eye

Country Sunset

Reducing Polycount

Hey guys! Welcome back for another blog post! This week I finally completed a major phase of the project I'm working on. So I thought I'd share some tips I learned from that.

As part of an assignment for my 3D course, I am to model a detailed building. So I selected a church. A nice one built in the old style. As it turns out I got more detail than I bargained for.

As you continue reading, remember I am using an Open Source software called Blender for my 3D work.

I decided the best way to build the church was to build all of the components from within edit mode. Everything I've learned up until now involved starting with a generic shape and making extrusions and manipulating vertices. I may have even encountered advice against adding primaries (cubes, spheres, etc.) from within edit mode. And yet, that's what I chose to do. As I'm sure you can guess by this point, that was my first mistake. The result was a whole lot of overlapping faces, random vertices in the middle of nowhere, lots of hidden internal geometry, and many hours of clean up. I now understand the value in modeling via extrusion. Another option would have been to build things as I did, but with everything created as a separate object and then use the boolean modifier to union everything together.

The model turned out quite nice, but even now while I'm working on texturing it, I'm still finding issues with the way the mesh is constructed. I found myself asking "How did I ever put this together in the first place?" It was a rather confusing mesh. Anyone who knows anything about 3D art can tell you that the more polygons (faces) you have, the slower the final render will be. So when faced with this confusing mess of a model, I knew I had to find a way to simplify it. But doing so manually pretty much meant building the church over again, while using my original model as the blueprint... That... would be... a lot of work. There had to be a better way. And guess what? There is!

Step 1 is to save your work! If anything goes wrong with the following steps, you can always revert to the original work.

Step 2 was to Remove Doubles. This involves selecting the entire mesh in edit mode first. Otherwise Blender doesn't know what you want to work on. I actually did this a lot during the modeling process itself, but if you haven't done this by the time your model is complete, then make sure you do it before you go any further.

Step 3 is to run the Decimate modifier. What this does is it reduces the geometry of your model based on a percentage. It's a fantastic tool, but be aware it can cause a loss of detail. 1.0 (aka 100%) means there is no reduction at all. Effectively, the modifier is not in use. While 0.0 is maximum reduction, and a complete obliteration of your model. There's still a model there, but it's an extremely ugly version of your original. I imagine you will almost never want to use the maximum value, but it's good to play with it so you know the limits. Of course, none of this is permanent until you click the apply button (and of course you can undo if you decide you're not satisfied after clicking apply), so feel free to adjust the settings to get the best balance of quality vs geometry. I dropped down to 0.89 before a noticeable drop in quality. And even then, it was minimal, as you can see in the screenshots below. This single step caused the largest amount of reduction, and accounts for almost all of the difference between the Hi Poly and the Lo Poly models. This step must be applied before proceeding to the next step.

Step 4 is to use the Limited Dissolve tool. Again in the edit mode, select the entire model. Then press X to delete, and in the menu that pops up, select Limited Dissolve. In the tools section on the left of the window (you may need to press T to bring it up), there are options to customize the Limited Dissolve parameters. The chief option to change here is the Max Angle. The default of 5 degrees worked very well for me. I played around with this, but ultimately settled on the 5 degrees being optimum. Remember, that as with the Decimate modifier, there is a potential of lost detail, so make sure you find the right setting for your purposes.

Finally, the 5th and final step was to remove the interior faces which are completely unnecessary for the rendering, as they aren't even seen. To do this, we once again need to be in Edit mode, but this time we need to ensure that no parts of the model are selected to start with. Then, open the Select Menu, choose Select All by Trait and and choose the Interior Faces. With all the interior faces selected, you can now delete them (X, then Delete Faces). In my case I found that there were some faces that were in fact still necessary, so I deselected them before erasing them.

Hi Poly Model (Before geometry reduction)  - Note the Face count in the upper right

Lo Poly Model (After all 5 steps of geometry reduction) - Note the reduced Face count

When I first approached the dilemma of reducing the geometry in my model, I wasn't sure how to approach it at first. I hope that this post will help you to deal with this issue in a more efficient manner than I did.

--Charlie Griffin

Stick with me, and we'll get wise together. 

Taking a Day Off

Hi guys! Welcome back for another blog post! Unfortunately, I have to disappoint. I'm traveling and so am not able to make the usual blog post. I'll be back again next week. Have a great week everyone!

--Charlie Griffin

Stick with me, and we'll get wise together. 

Fear, The Insidious

Hey guys! Welcome back for another blog post!

So let's address fear this week. Fear sucks. Figuritively and literally. It drains our energy. It cripples us. It causes us to make some less than productive choices. Sure there's healthy fear. You can find information all over the place talking about the healthy aspects of fear. Clearly, that's not the subject I'm writing about though. Since I'm talking about the "bad" fear, I have to say it's a good thing I'm not afraid of anything. At least, that's what I've told myself for years. 

When I was young, I was extremely afraid of spiders. When I saw a spider, I would scream my best "scream queen" scream and run as far away as I could as fast as I could. At some point I developed the idea that as a man I couldn't be afraid like that. I think the idea was partly macho, and partly reason. So I began to face my fears and overcome them one by one, until finally there was nothing left for me to be afraid of.

Here's the thing though. Fear is such an insidious thing, that I have been living in fear my entire life without realizing it. It's easy to identify things like fear of spiders, or fear of heights. I have discovered that it's possible to even be afraid of fear itself. It's also possible to be afraid of telling the truth, to others or yourself. You can be afraid of change. You could have both together.

I have been telling myself for years that I am a person who embraces change. I embrace it so well that every couple of weeks I change the direction of my entire life. Interestingly, this has the effect of creating a changeless environment, because nothing truly changes and I'm left with an unsatisfying baseline. The definition of progress is moving consistently in the same direction. The truth is I've been lying to myself. If I truly was to be a person to embrace change, then I would allow the process of change to take hold. Instead, I've been standing behind the shield of "I've lost interest..."

A few weeks ago I started this blog. Another one of my notorious changes in a predictable schedule of change. As usual, this was precipitated by a series of other changes. This time though, I started this journey knowing that I can't stick to anything. I embraced this enthusiastically and wondered how long I would stay interested. Last night, I almost backed out. I almost called it quits on the blog. Fortunately, I've made a commitment to you guys, and I have an awesome wife who reminded me of how important this is to me.

It's so easy to fall victim to this insidious thing called fear. As I reflected on this it occurred to me that fear is something that stands in the way of a lot of creative individuals. I've talked in the past, rather vehemently about motivation in regards to art. I've said if you've got something to say, then you'll say it with your art. I've said there's no shortage of ideas for people who truly look for them. I've said that if you truly have a passionate message then you'll be motivated to do your art. Hands down, problem solved. But that's not the entire picture is it? There's this fear that we have. Will our art be liked? Will it turn out the way we expect? Will it have the intended effect? Will it get published? Will it take time away from other things? What are we missing out on? What will our friends think? These questions are all hallmarks of fear, and there are plenty more. 

The only advice I've ever accepted about fear is the need to face it and overcome it. Every time I've done so, I've always been better for it. This is no different. The nature of this fear may not be so tangible, but it's still something that needs to be faced and overcome. The first step is naming it. The rest falls into place relatively easily as long as I continue to steer the course of courage.

It's time to face my fear of change.

It's time to face my fear of commitment.

It's time to face my fear of completion.

It's time to commit to this change of course that I have prescribed for myself.

--Charlie Griffin

Stick with me, and we'll get wise together. 
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Day Wisp

Radioactive Breakthrough

Community Challenge

Hey Guys! Welcome back for another blog post! Yesterday a friend was reminding me of the importance of community. So I thought I'd address that point in this post.

Tim Ferriss often says "You are the average of the five people you most associate with." That's pretty true I think. I have spent a lot of my life surrounding myself with people who created drama, and found myself always caught up in drama, whether it was theirs or my own. Eventually I decided I didn't want to be living a life of drama and I distanced myself from the people that perpetuated the drama cycle. Guess what? The drama died away. I haven't yet surrounded myself with the people that I would more closely like to be identified with, as I haven't met them yet. But what I do do instead is make sure that I'm regularly exposing myself to the kind of influence I would like. This means the books I read, the podcasts I listen to, the videos I watch. And this is OK... But it doesn't encourage me. They don't call me up to exchange ideas, or go out for coffee. They really can't, because they're not actually people, they're merely concepts being expressed through a medium. I can see that associating with the right people would make a big difference, and I can see the value of my friends statement.

But where do I find a community? How do I consciously build up a circle of friends and associates who embody what I would like to be? Well, for starters, I should probably be where they are. Then, I should probably get over the social awkwardness that is only in my own brain and actually talk to them. But what if I don't know if they're the right people? Well... I certainly won't know if I never try to talk to them. Sure, maybe I could find some people on line, get to know them through blog posts, social media, interviews. But when I see these people in real life I suddenly find they really don't compare to the fantasy I've built in my head. So really, my only choice is to talk to them. Nobody said reinventing myself was going to be easy...

Okay. So now I know that I need to talk to them. I also established that I need to be where they are at. But where are they? If I continue in the routines that I've set for myself, I'm never going to find that place. It's time for me to step out of my comfort zone and change my routines. So, I started by looking into the different conferences. I've heard that the best part of a conference is actually the networking and socializing that happens between the panel speakers. It's a lot harder to find conferences than I thought it would be. I kind of had to dig a little. It would have been easier if I hadn't been trying to localize things. I tried to keep my search specific to Canada. This rather excludes conferences such as HOW Design, SIGGRAPH, or the AIGA Design Conference. But I have found there are a suitable number of conferences which happen to be pretty much in my back yard in Toronto. I was only able to find conferences related to Graphic Design, and unfortunately nothing really in regards to CG. I'll have to keep digging for that one at another time. The short list I compiled follows:

FITC - Future, Innovation, Technology, Creativity: This conference already took place in April, but there will be another in 2018. For more info, go to: http://fitc.ca/event/to18/

DesignThinkers Conference: Hosted by RGD (Registered Graphic Designers), this event takes place November 7 & 8 at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto.For more info, go to: http://designthinkers.com/toronto (There's also one in Vancouver on a different date.)

GTA Photography Conference: This one is rather short notice. It takes place on July 19th, and is only a one day event. It should go without saying that this conference is specific to Photography. For more info, go to: http://gtaimaging.com/conference2017/

Design & Content Conference: Another one with short notice, this 3 day conference takes place July 17-19... And it's in Vancouver, so not quite on my doorstep, but I figured it was worth including anyway. For more info, go to: https://designcontentconf.com

It seems to me that there is probably a resource that I'm missing somewhere in regards to finding a community without going to conferences, so I guess I'm leaving that open for advice from the audience!

--Charlie Griffin

Stick with me, and we'll get wise together. 
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Country Roads

Web of Light

Melting Forest

Deadline Dilemmas

Hi guys! Welcome back to another blog post! Unfortunately some changes demanded my attention this week. My personal hero swept in and saved the day, which is super awesome! But that does mean that I'm pushing the line on that deadline again this week.

The thing is, when you have a deadline, you do your best to meet it. In many ways it's like a promise, you simply never break a promise. I've heard mixed opinions on deadlines. They generate stress, and subpar work. However they also push you to get work done that you wouldn't otherwise have done. Imagine saying to your children, "I'll build the swing set for you." That's a non committal promise. You're saying you'll build it when you get to it. In theory, your children might not need the swing set by the time you finally gotten to building it. Now, if you say "I'll get the swing set built this weekend." You've already begun clearing the space in your mental schedule to allow for the swing set to be built. There may be unforeseen circumstances that make it so you don't finish the setting set on the weekend, but you've certainly made every effort you can. It's similar at work. Recently I had a project with an arbitrary end date around a month in the future. Time went by and I plucked away at the project. I figured I had time. Suddenly I learnt that the project was due the following day. You can bet I devoted all of my attention to the project to ensure it was finished! This is the power of deadlines. They are a call to action.

But what about quality? Won't quality for the project suffer? Maybe. If you've over booked yourself it will, almost guaranteed. Ultimately though, the deadline encourages you to put your attention into the project sooner rather than later. In my opinion, the quality is actually likely to improve. You're not letting other things distract you. You don't start, then stop, then remind yourself where you left off. When it's been so long since you worked on a project that you literally had to deconstruct the project to figure out where you left off, it's often easiest to scrap the project altogether. I've done this, and for some I'm still mourning the loss, years later.

Of course, if you leave all the work till the deadline, you're not doing yourself any favours. In that case, the quality may suffer so much that you might as well have never done the project in the first place. Just because you have a deadline doesn't mean you won't procrastinate. You still have to actually put that focus into the project you've committed to. The deadline is an agreement between all parties that you will do the best you can to get that project done. Note that's "the best you can," and not "whatever you get done in time."

Does everything require a deadline? Well, probably not. But if you want to get something done in a timely fashion, set a deadline.

--Charlie Griffin

Stick with me, and we'll get wise together. 
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In recognition of Canada Day, and Independence Day I have a comparison between fast shutter speed, and slow shutter speed:

Happy Celebrations!