November 19, 2006
Finally, I’ve released the Moving Picture Machine. I’ve been meaning to release it a lot sooner, but something always came up that took precedence. There was even a time that I thought I had to finish putting the files together—only to find out that it had been finished long ago. Why don’t I remember finishing it?
I’m glad to say that I no longer have an excuse to horde the files. Many thanks go to Michael Allerton for coughing up a large sum of time and money to both purchase and scan the parts. I’ve done my best to clean the images up and to provide some supplemental instructions.
November 19, 2006
CD sales have been going fairly well. Since mid-October, I’ve been testing the bandwidth usage by freeing up all of the projects that were previously locked. So far, I’ve been able to cover the bandwidth costs, and I’ve received high praise for the CDs’ quality. As Martha Stewart would say, “It’s a good thing.”
If sales persist, we may not have to worry about bandwidth again!
November 19, 2006
This edition marks a big leap in icon compatibility. First off, I’ve worked diligently to upgrade every single icon to be compatible with all Windows systems, including Windows Vista. Each icon now has multiple sizes and color depths, the primary sizes being 32×32, 24×24, and 16×16. If you’re running Windows XP or Vista, you’re going to get the best quality.
Since I’m finding it harder and harder to take the time to create icons pixel-by-pixel, I’ve decided to begin using images. This means new icons will have even larger sizes, all the way up to the 256×256 compressed png format that is supported by Windows Vista. In fact, all of the icons in this edition were created from existing artwork.
And last but not least, Macintosh icons are now available! A word of caution, though: the Mac 256 color palette seems to differ from Window’s. Unless you display the icons at RBG w/Alpha, you won’t see the icons correctly. Other than that, the icons have the same functionality as the Windows versions. This is all experimental, and I don’t have access to a Macintosh computer, so I won’t be able to help troubleshoot.
November 10, 2006
Here’s a nifty tip for those of you who build my paper models (and other models in PDF format). If you ever find yourself needing to print a single model part or a small section of a page, you can potentially save yourself a lot of ink. Here’s what to do:
- Open the file in Adobe Reader.
- Select the snapshot tool.
- Draw a box around the part(s) that you want to print by holding down the left mouse button. When you release the button, the selected area will be copied to the Clipboard.
- Click the Print button, and only your selection will be printed.
The downside is that you can’t select multiple parts and print them on one page. And unless you print all parts with no page scaling, there’s no guarantee that they’ll print at the correct size.
"All I can say to you is WOW!!! WOW, WOW, WOW!!! That intro (2005) is amazing! You have done a wonderful job and I am truly impressed. I only wish I could learn to do something like that. Thanks for all of the time and effort you put into the site. I absolutely love it!"
--Lizzie