By Ian Hollidae, 2024/12/03

This was a photo opportunity that arrived fast and left even faster. It's the front edge of a late afternoon storm. At first, all I could think about was getting home before it hit. But as I was measuring how to beat the storm, this shot appeared directly overhead and thought it was too good to pass up.

In order to capture the shot, I knew I didn't have time to line things up perfectly. So I decided to try and frame the shot with as wide a framing as needed. I would simply crop what I wanted in editing.

On an iPhone, zooming is digital. If you're a (relative) beginner like me, you'll come to realize that it's useless. But one thing I've learned is if you enlarge the ratio setting, you can get a little more coverage of the shot you're trying to take. In this case, I took shots in a ratio setting of 4:3 (default on my iPhone) and 16:9. Both ratios gave me the shot I wanted.

Fortunately, I was able to get off a number of shots because two minutes later, the entire sky was covered. Afterwards, I wondered to myself if I had been using a DSLR would I have caught this shot. Until I move in that direction, I guess I'll be left wondering.

This post is a continuation of the Beginners Photography Project.

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By Ian Hollidae, 2024/11/20

Up until now, I've been hesitent to make a post about AI mainly because it's a topic that's already received plenty of attention. What more is there to say? Sometimes new technology makes a big difference and sometimes it has minimal to no impact. In a lot of cases, new technology is just an evolution of something that exists.

Obviously, AI has been the big rage in tech over the last couple of years. If you listen to most of what's being written, AI threatens to end civilization as we know it. And while I'm not here to dismiss peoples concerns, this is why I decided to try and sprinkle in a few thoughts that are a little less gloom and doom.

Looking back over history, everyone can name a case where technology actually did replace something. The automobile replaced the horse and carriage. The electric lightbulb replaced oil lamps and candles. Internal combustible engines mostly replaced steam engines.

On the flip side, there are plenty of examples where technology didn't replace anything at all. Television didn't replace movies. Microwaves didn't eliminate cooking. Movie theaters weren't replaced by VCRs. It seems to me that the history of new technology falls into one of four categories regardless of what the new invention is:

1. New technology completely replaces XYZ
2. New technology leads the way in a new process with humans working in support
3. Humans lead the way in a new process with new technology working in support
4. Nothing happens at all

Right now, the big issue in multimedia is the AI generation of audio, video and photography. Can it replace professional photographers, videographers and musicians? Things are clearly in the early stages and I think more new questions will arise before a lot of concrete answers appear. However, it's obvious the success of AI will be as simple as answering the basic question of will it be useful. Since I think some form of AI will probably be with us for the foreseeable future, I thought it might be interesting to make a list of what I'd like to see. Here are three items that relate to multimedia since this is one of the main focuses of this blog. I also have to add that the services I reference aren't endorsements. They're just things I'm looking into.

The first item I would like to see is the ability to use AI in predicting weather conditions at a desired shoot location. It would be nice if a service could could access as many weather models available to show all possible conditions. Making predictions as far out as possible would be even more helpful. Right now, it seems the most popular method of seeing weather conditions is to look at a bunch of different weather apps and guestimate. Services such as Atmo and Climavision already seem to be laying claim to this space.

Second, using AI to find "off the beaten path" shoot locations. Similar to my weather request, an AI service that's a combination of 3D Google Earth and a popular sun tracker to find shoot spots could attract a nice audience. Location and tracking apps already exist but I'm thinking AI could provide far more advanced visual and data presentation features.

Thirdly, I'd like to see a dedicated AI texture generator. As someone who does X3D, finding or creating the right textures can take quite a bit of time. With AI, just input a text prompt, get back a texture. All the current leaders in imaging, namely Adobe, seem to be focused more on traditional-ish photo creation. I'm sure I could use their AI tool for textures but I'm thinking about a far more task related service. Services such as OpenArt and Polycam look to have a headstart.

Obviously, there are plenty of other ways AI can be utilized without replacing everyone. But while I've been reviewing AI uses for my own purposes, I have to wonder if anyone else notices the irony of all the doom and gloom. The main area AI seems to be really transforming is web services. And this seems to make a lot of sense as services are the one thing that have been automated for years. Would anyone really notice if your email service handled all of the filtering, tagging and flagging of incoming messages based on your prompts? Services would be the easiest of inroads for AI to take.

Anyway, who knows how this will all finally turn out. One thing for sure is that actual results will eventually replace all the talk and with that, I'll let that be my brief dive into the AI discussion.

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By Ian Hollidae, 2024/11/08

It's been a good year for open source graphic tools. Back in the summer, Blender released version 4.2 lts (long term support) [https://www.blender.org/press/blender-4-2-lts-release/]. Last month, Inkscape released 1.4 described as the "geek" version. And now, GIMP has finally gotten around to unveiling a release candidate for the long awaited version 3.

The GIMP release actually came as somewhat of a suprise. The new version was scheduled for early summer, but when that didn't happen, and no real movement was evident during the fall, I figured they wouldn't do anything at all this year.

One interesting thing about the announcement was an entire section dedicated to the change in GIMPs release process. The norm from now on will be smaller releases:

What [GIMP] ultimately want is to make smaller and faster release points. We gathered features we want to work on in separate roadmaps, though they may be spread through several releases, or oppositely released in a single GIMP version.

For now, it's just nice to know things are really moving forward. Maybe I'll break my own rule about avoiding broad/general reviews of new software (I tend to focus on task related items). However, if a new GIMP is out, I guess anything is possible.

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By Ian Hollidae, 2024/10/23

In the early 2000's, I ran across my first example of VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language). It was a panaramic photo someone had stitched together. The image was used as an image texture on a circular wall and the user, sitting in the middle of the circle, could swirl around 360 degrees to view it. The swirling didnt work very well but the idea of VR web comtent was fascinating. I wondered in general about what else could be achieved.

Unfortunately, I never got the time or had the need to dive in further. Eventually, VRML faded away. It didn't seem to really make that much of an impact to begin with. Flash won the plug-in wars and that was about the limit users were willing to put up with in slowing down the browsing experience.

Fast forward to 2020, and just by chance, I stumbled upon VRML's successor, X3D. It was a complete surprise the effort was still around. Out of curiosity, I began browsing through the documentation. Just as before, I began asking who would be interested in using VR on the web in the age of walled-off social media. However, as I kept reading, the one thing that stood out was that a plug-in was no longer a needed. It was all pure XML and Javascript.

My own personal interest was rekindled.

Fortunately, I was able to find the time to truly get into X3D. I spent several weeks making small demos in order to get a handle on things. Eventually, I decided to create my own basic tutorial, VRIGNETTE, so others could make use of X3D. It was also to aid my own learning.

During my exploratory process, I discovered existing X3D examples and while most were good for visual demonstrations, they weren't very useful. After some time, it became clear my main goal for using X3D was for interactive webapps. Some of the possibilities of interest include:

1. 3D photo presentation (Example)
2. 3D photo galleries
3. VR product showcase picture (Example)
4. Simple games
5. Virtual space demonstrations

I'm sure there are plenty more uses than the ones I listed. It seems the only limit is your own imagination. Of course, items such as performance comes into play. The larger your application is, the more you need to download, constraints have to be applied. You get the picture.

So now that I've been using X3D for a year, I thought it would be a good post to share a brief assessment. This is in no way a comprehensive review. Just some thoughts about what has stood out the most.

X3D As A Markup Language

The XML-based script integrates well with HTML along the lines of SVG. In fact, there are some rough parallels between the two.

The grouping of objects, transforms and object reuse are a large part of both markups. The X3D 2D component, the ability to draw 2D objects in a 3D world, is basically an SVG equivalent.

The ability to create custom shapes in X3D using prototyping goes well beyond the SVG <PATH> tag. But even if you don't want to go that far, there are several path-like constructs that get the job done on the customization front.

For simple embedded displays, no javascript or complex animation, getting up and running is no more difficult than standard web development.

X3D Libraries

What you get out of X3D is largely dependent on the library you use. The two libraries I know of are X3DOM and X_ITE. Both have somewhat different approaches to providing X3D functionality.

X_ITE is a full blown player and framework. It's programmable and configurable. It also seems to be a more complete implementation of the two.

X3DOM, on the other hand, is closer to a straightforward library for web use. Fewer moving parts and not much different from other standard javascript libraries in usage.

Each library has plenty of benefits and I use them both.

X3D Tools

A generic text editor will do the job for basic and moderate tasks. For now, this is what I do. But for more advanced content, dedicated software is needed. It seems there are two choices: Sunrize and Blender.

I currently don't know much about Sunrize (I wanted to focus my learning on direct coding efforts) but Blender has long been considered a beast. And Blender isn't specifically an X3D tool. It just exports content to the X3D format.

Will tools be a problem for X3D down the line? Given the size of X3D, compared to HTML and SVG, it's possible. And the more complex the construct, the more cumbersome X3D can become without dedicated tools. Where those tools will come from is anyones guess.

The Past Is The Present?

As I said before, my main use for X3D is embedded web apps. In a lot of ways, this sorts of mirrors the old days of Flash and Java applets. However, there doesn't seem to be the huge performance issues Flash and applets suffered from. At least for small things.

One other difference from the past is that X3D implementations are all javascript based and X3D is an open standard. Anyone can provide an implementation and that means there is fair chance that X3D development won't get bogged down by corporate concerns.

Conclusions To This Point

I think X3D has a lot of potential to offer content creators and developers. Will X3D get broader adoption? Like any other technology, it's hard to say. I think it really is a matter of finding appropriate uses.

Obviously, one person may or may not make a difference but for my part, trying to output regular content is one way to help spur adoption. Besides my basic tutorial, I created a portfolio page to show what can be done. Who knows how things will unfold. Maybe a year from now, I'll write a two year assessment of X3D where everything has changed.

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By Ian Hollidae, 2024/10/10

A couple of years ago, I got a notice that AT&T was upgrading their network. no big deal. Upgrades happen. However, the upgrade would require me to get a new phone. Up until then, I hadn't really jumped into the higher end smart phone market. There simple wasn't a need. But I decided to conduct a due diligence and realized iphone had done a lot to improve their camera capabilities. Some were saying the iphone camera was approaching DSLR level performance. Not sure I bought into that at the time, but it's quite a statement.

So why is any of this significant?

For a long while, I had wanted to give photography a second try but I didn't want to spend a ton of money on equipment only to have my interest fade. Since I needed to buy the phone, I saw an opportunity to start a photography project that I had sketched out. I set up a few ground rules so the project wouldn't just drift aimlessly. The main framework of this project revolved around the following guidelines:

1. Use only an iPhone

This would be my "primary" camera. Nothing fancy. No lenses, no equipment bags, no tripods. Nothing. My effort at "good" photography would be limited to whatever iPhone could capture.

2. Take photos in only mundane areas (office park, playgrounds, walk along the street, etc.)

Since I didn't have the time to travel around to the interesting locations you see on photo sharing sites, and only had an iPhone anyway, I decided to keep it simple. The idea was to capture photos from places that weren't photogenic. If everyone (photographers) ignored the place, that's where I would go. And if I could get decent shots under this condition, I could probably get them anywhere.

3. Shoot whenever you had time regardless of light or weather

Countless Youtube tutorials will tell you to shoot only in good light. Occasionally, there are tutorials about shooting in less than ideal situations but they seem to be an exception. The goal here is to just deal with whatever light is available.

4. Basic editing only

This is about keeping it simple. Apple photos, ocassionally GIMP. It also means i would have to focus even more on composition upfront as opposed to rescuing the shot in post-production.

5. Do this for six months or more

Since I would have this phone for a while (I tend to hang on to phones), it gave me plenty of time to practice and learn.

Once I worked out the guidelines, it was simply a matter of finding the time. Initially, I set aside two total hours a week. Then I started getting in shots time permitting. I started this project in spring of 2022 and ended it summer of 2023. Unofficially, I'd say it's still going on. And while I've yet to commit to buying a "real" camera, it seems pretty inevitable at this point.

I think the next phase of my photography project, beyond sharing the photos, is to share the learning experience. For whatever reason, there aren't a lot of outlets simply for photography discussions. I can't be the only one learning and wanting to hear other peoples learning experiences. I do have a social media account but another one of my other projects is to start moving away from it in favor of a dedicated website.

In the meantime, I'll post the standard photos here and the interactive presentations (2D and 3D) at the sister site, Glinting Pixels. I hope my future posts about this project is helpful to someone.

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By Ian Hollidae, 2024/09/30