By Ian Hollidae, 2024/12/30

Entering 2024, there were a number of projects I wanted to get off the ground. One of those projects was this blog, and back in the spring, I made good on the attempt. Now that we're leaving 2024, this seems like the right time to reflect on my efforrts.

Why Blog? Why Now?

For a long time, I thought about starting a blog but I had my doubts whether I could do it well. What initially got me interested in blogging were some great sites I ran across over the years that published quality output even though the writers weren't professionals. I myself am not a natural writer which added to my interest and doubt. What held me back for so long was the constant question of why blog when it's clear the world turned to Twitter/X and social media long ago. Regardless, there was definitely a need to try. I should mention that I did try Twitter/X a few years back but it seemed so temporary and disposable. I didn't keep at it for long.

Along with all my doubts, I had a ton of questions. What exactly would I blog about? Should I have a broad focus on a lot of topics or a narrow focus on a few? I had questions about post frequency, post types and drifting purpose. The list of issues went on and on.

Sitting down and trying to answer these questions before starting a blog seemed like the obvious way to find answers. In most situations, it's better to go into something with some sort of plan. Turns out, at least in my case, this isn't entirely true. Having a plan was helpful but when you're about to press the publish button, there seems to be a dynamic I wasn't prepared for even after having been on Twitter/X.

A Few Reflections

The first thought that came to mind was that developing a style is a real thing. I seemed to get stuck between trying to be formal and "polished" and just going with the flow. Mixing the two in a single post absolutely doesn't work. Looking around at other blogs can certainly provide a guide but ultimately, you'll have to find your own voice.

Secondly, the depth to which you dive into a subject is another item that keeps cropping up. Doing a deep dive without rambling is basically akin to writing a paper for school or report for work. If you don't enjoy the outlining/rewriting process, this can really zap someones motivation. In some cases, I did fine with it because I really liked the topic. However, I have to admit, there were other times when a potential post faded away. And if there is a time element to your topic, an upcoming or recent event for example, depth level can truly be affected.

But I think the biggest item of reflection was the overall question of is starting a blog worth it. I came to the conclusion the answer was yes mainly because it's been a great learning experience even if the experience wasn't always smooth sailing. Coming up with entry topics ran hot and cold. Sometimes I had plenty of topics and plenty of ways to present them. Other times I had a few topics and no presentation seemed adequate. All the things I anticipated that could affect my post freqency (finding time to blog) got replaced by things that actually would affect my frequency (taking more time to complete a single post).

Effort Has Its Own Rewards

In the end, despite not answering all the questions I had, I've been happy with the final results. Maybe less really is more. Maybe getting it "right" counts more than I imagined. Or maybe starting off cautious and slow was the best thing even if that's not what I planned.

So will I ever find a style? Will I ever post at the frequency I'd like to? Do I care if the focus of this blog drifts over time?

Maybe these questions are what I can look forward to answering in 2025.

Tags: Blogging

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.

Photo Only

This post is a continuation of the Beginners Photography Project.

Tags: Feature Photos

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.

Progress Is Progress

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 media 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. But media generation is a fairly straightforward issue and I don't see much in the way of expansive use. Make a video. Make a photo. Generate some audio.

On the other hand, the use of AI in supporting tasks, activities surrounding media creation, seems like the area that will be impacted most. Since I think some form of AI will probably be with us for the foreseeable future, I thought it might be interesting to share a few items of what I'd like to see. I have to add that the services I reference aren't endorsements. They're just things I'm looking into.

A Few Easy Suggestions

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.

I Think I'll Stop Here

Obviously, I'm sure there are plenty of other ways AI can be utilized without replacing everyone.

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

For now.

Tags: AI

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 its (long term support). 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.

Tags: Graphics

By Ian Hollidae, 2024/11/01

This was one of those photos that made me think about how to push the limits of an iPhone and how I would translate what I've learned when I eventually switch to a "real" camera.

Originally, I wanted a picture of just the building with clear sky in the background. But positioning and repositioning didn't provide anything of interest so I decided to experiment with compositional balance. At first, I included the moon but eventually I added the contrail as well. The photo stopped being about the building and became more about what we can see over our heads.

In the end, I decided I liked the shot. Sometimes setting aside standard/rigid photographic rules can produce something you're happy with.

Photo Only

This post is a continuation of the Beginners Photography Project.

Tags: Feature Photos

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.

A Second Beginning

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.

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.

Tags: Web 3D

By Ian Hollidae, 2024/10/10