If you are a fan of the excellent Open Source 3D modelling and animation package Blender and work somewhere that has a lot of computers sitting idle (overnight for instance), then FarmerJoe is an excellent, free renderfarm solution that’s easy to set up, is reliable, and has a web-based GUI to monitor and schedule jobs.
Based on a set of PERL scripts, binaries are available from the FarmerJoe Website for Windows, Linux and OSX : http://blender.formworks.co.nz/. While you’re there, check out some of the other excellent scripts written for Blender.
Read the rest of this entry »
As designers there are a couple of questions that constantly pop up? “Hey, what font is that in?” and “What will it look like with a different font?” Sometimes the answer is easy, but not always. Here are two excellent type tools online that can help answer these questions in a pinch.
Read the rest of this entry »
A List Apart has created a web-survey to try to get a handle on how workers are distributed through the web design and development community. I think this is a valuable asset to our industry and would encourage all those who work in the industry to respond. Plus, you could win an iPod.
Link to the survey: http://alistapart.com/articles/webdesignsurvey
Microsoft has launched their re-branded rich internet application (RIA), Microsoft Silverlight, in direct competition with Adobe Flash. Considering Adobe’s current domination of the marketplace it will be interesting to see what type of an impact Silverlight is able to make; while it’s a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in, Linux and Apple users will be more apt to take a pass on installing the plug-in then the already ubiquitous Flash. Competition in this market is always welcome and we look forward to seeing how the market for RIA will continue to evolve. More information is available on Read/Write Web.
Occasionally you run into a free utility that makes complex tasks so easy that you ever wonder how you did without it. Virtualdub is a linear video processor that has been highly optimized for speed. The authour Avery Lee is, in his own words, “very impatient” which means that a lot of effort has been expended to make this application one of the fastest available for the tasks it performs.
Read the rest of this entry »
Subscribe to: