screaming red ass sock monkey

There was a quick exchange on twitter earlier this week. It brought to my mind the changes that need to take place in the way we define professional, corporate, or even "appropriate". The next morning I had an email from a friend in Asheville. She asked if I had any advice for her son: a recent design school grad having trouble finding a job.

I absolutely hate the process. I refuse to self promote and am more willing to enter any job at the bottom of the food chain and fight my way up. I don't have a drawer full of resumes, nor a recyclable cover letter. I bring that same attitude to the table when I'm on the hiring side too. Of what worth is a well crafted resume and letter, if self-marketing was the long term focus of each? They tell nothing more than how well the applicant can create a resume and cover letter. If 300 people have already done the same thing, and read the same "10 Best things to include in a cover letter" article, what could you possibly do better?

Folks had better change their game plans. After a letter read, an interview, a resume check- do you ever relate to that new hire in that way, with that tone, again? If not, what have you achieved?

So I'm not a professional job seeker. I wouldn't look to hire one either. Is my advice worth while? Not sure- I don't define myself by how I earn a living. Can I still play?

As a near perfect coincidence, the next morning a past employer posted an image to facebook:

This is what I sent to the Victorian Manor when I applied for my job there. Times were different, of course. But I got a job.

There was a flap in too few blogs earlier this week over an announcement that Amazon had acquired a patent on a "Method and apparatus for programmatically substituting synonyms into distributed text content". In an attempt to mark e-books to track where illegal copies come from, Amazon will randomly substitute synonyms for the original words in eBooks. Each eBook sold could have slightly different substitutions so that the specific substituted words in illegal copies would point directly to who bought the version the copies were made from. The flap was from a few writers claiming any altering of text was wrong: texts were crafted artifacts with nuance of the art turning on exact phraseology. Why is it that anyone would need to explain this? Maybe they'll be able to subtly alter harmonics as a way of branding music downloads, too? Most people don't read on the level that the author wrote and few listen on the level that musicians play, so who would notice, right?

I'll freely admit that nuance sometimes doesn't make a difference. Store brands often work just fine. But we aren't talking about toilet paper here. We're talking about the vestiges of deeply felt and deeply expressed human sensibilities that have evolved right along with our erect stance and large brain pan. Nuance is important. Maybe everyone won't notice, but they have a right, more an obligation, to try.

Perhaps someone will realize that this sort of system might be used to change high volumes of potentially sellable student papers enough to pass through Turnitin? Perhaps that will rally some indignation? Well. Something should.

Last month I posted about a guy who does paintings from scenes in Google Maps. I sent off several notes asking about permission to make derivative work, received a very nice note from the artist, Bill Guffey, and just got a note back from those rascals at Google. I asked them if I could make pictures from Google Map street view, too; and they said:

Hi David,

Yes, you can!

In fact Bill Guffey is running a monthly virtual paintout competition you can join :) http://virtualpaintout.blogspot.com/

We appreciate your interest in Google, and thank you for taking the time to write.

Regards,
The Google Team

Thanks, Google Team. So everybody: crack open a browser and get painting.

Just getting a feel. I wanted a style pretty far removed from computer 3D, and figured a rough scratchy drawing would work on several levels. I sketched a room loosely, snapped a grid in Photoshop and saved the "room" to a 3D layer. I was able to open individual texture "walls" and adjust the drawing a bit. In the object, I could adjust the view, then copy and flatten a version for one panel leaving the 3D object untouched to generate another view. I was far more concerned with the technical workings than the drawing and have a long way to go- but I see a lot of potential for sequential art. Why should this stuff just benefit the movie industry? Then again, maybe it's already being used and I'm running like hell to catch up.

I follow the Axiotron forum feed. They're the people that produce the modbook, and occassionally I hear some useful stuff. Over the past several weeks, though, every post is garbage:

I am 30 years old. I began to get terrible joint and muscle pain…

Please choose your favorite live action Disney movie of recent times…

And on my own blog—my current as well as my older blog—the dam seems to have broken about the same time:

Wow! Thank you! I always wanted to write in my site something like that.… [over and over, with links to products]

Hi, I can't understand how to add your site in my rss reader… [with links to products]

There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made…

If I get in early, I can read the same or similar spam in colleague's feeds before they've had a chance to clear them. Because I'm tired of it and because no conversational good really develops here, I chose to turn off comments. Now, hopefully the buggers've passed and won't be back this way for awhile. This time I won't automatically accept all comments. And, I took out the "a href" tag from the list of accepted html tags. If you have trouble, let me know. I can always add links as a footnote in the body of a post.

Sorry about the hassle. More sorry that the media always ends up being defined by the dregs.

About two years ago, I had a post in my old blog about the new Vanishing Point mode in the extended version of CS2 Photoshop 9. I noticed it, used it, but never really explored the territory.

Last week, Digital Common's video magician Justin Miller showed me how to extend my grasp on Vanishing Point: Justin showed me how he uses it to create environments. See the photo at the top of my post? We took that last week in the conference room on the fifth floor of Rider. The problem was that the room is supposed to be empty.

My process for doing something like this is generally a long and tedious one. One of the more difficult aspects is replacing patterns and textures that have been photographed in extreme perspective. Even flat walls have a texture that can make or break a viewer's sense of authenticity when viewing the piece. This image has a grid ceiling and striped carpet—things that would normally take a long time to match effectively. For this image, though, I used Justin's method: the grid system in Photoshop's vanishing point.

Snapping a Vanishing Point perspective grid over the walls in the room let me then open the 'room' as a 3d object in Photoshop. Surfaces in the photo that had been trapezoids with distorted textures were now plumb and square texture maps. And anybody can clean this stuff up.

.

If you have a vector Penn State identity mark, or just grab these, you can use it to create your own custom shape in Photoshop. Here's how:

I was forwarded a request for Penn State identity marks earlier this week. I sent the link to my mark download page with its collection of official campus specific marks; but really, if you regularly use the marks in web work, you need the Photoshop Custom Shapes.

Download the small set here.

I've made screen cap videos about how to make, install and use these custom shapes, but the Photoshop Help files give you what you need. The marks are important but hassling with them is silly- custom shapes make it so easy. I even have an Action that, with the click of a button, puts a properly sized and placed vector mark on whatever header I'm working on. Really.

On my download page, there's a larger set. It goes so far as to include two master marks- the "5"s in the date are old style numbers with extended, pointed bottoms. At small sizes the points fill in, so one mark has sharp finishing strokes on the "5"s and the other has rounder finishing strokes. There are considerations, too, when arranging this pile of vectors on a pixel grid- but for now, just install these shapes. You'll like 'em.

Maybe if I get around to organizing a graphics rodeo for the web conference we can talk about it.

If you're at Penn State, you have access to the incomparable LYNDA.COM videos. After you're logged in, you can check out the relatively short collection of videos on GridIron Flow. I used the software for a month in beta, then a month in the trial version on my mac tower and another on the modbook. It tracks your project files. It tracks time spent on the files. It tracks the interconnectedness of files. It tracks and remembers versions. It does everything the company claims while taking none of your time and little of your cpu's energy.

I intended to do a review and I intended to do a video with SnapzPro. I couldn't have matched the LYNDA.COM collection. And after all my work with it, I can appreciate its quality and utility- but I'm not the best judge. Maybe you are. It will export all of it's information in a spreadsheet- what the hell would I want with that?

Among you is the project manager who could appreciate and recommend this product. Check it out.

When you have to communicate, you have to know who is listening. Communications in our larger group have, according to some, been less than ideal: we have technicians, programmers, instructional designers, graphics people, writers, system admins all in the same large group. RSS works with some, while others want email newsletters, and some want posters. How do you craft communications to reach everyone effectively?

It dawned on me that there are only three groups in ITS, and the same three are spread across Penn State:

•  The first group busts their rear. They work hard, never look at the clock and always do an excellent job. They work to get better, they work to understand their job and they fight to do, to know and to understand.

•  The second group has a job. They get in on time every day, take very little sick time and make sure they do what's expected. They're dependable, consistent, and always do a creditable job.

•  The third group is here out of obligation. An obligation is owed the union. An obligation is owed your brother, sister, husband, wife. An obligation is owed to some one who once did Penn State a favor. Or an obligation is owed to someone's memories.

Members of each of these three groups can gather, understand, and use information the way others in their group do. It doesn't matter if what they do is draw pictures, answer phones, or write software. Know them by which of these three groups they work in, and they'll get it every time.