Thursday, December 15, 2011

How to Build a Door With Concealed Hinges

Many doors in a home install using standard hinges. These hinges show on the outside of the door where the door meets the wall. If you prefer a clean look to the door, concealed hinges offer a hidden alternative to standard hinges. These hinges insta...


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Animation Lighting

Advanced animators often consider lighting even during character design.

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Successful lighting for animation relies on a combination of thoughtful character design and carefully orchestrated lighting. Animators should design their characters with potential lighting schemes in mind, then stage and light their scenes for the clearest silhouette, and in a way appropriate to the content of the story as it unfolds.

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and character design are inextricably intertwined. In live action projects, the major factor that determines the shape of a character silhouette is the actor playing that character -- and to a lesser extent the costuming. In animation, you must take care to design a character that will read clearly in profile. As you make work on your character designs, periodically trace outlines of each and fill them in with black to see how your choices have affected their silhouettes. A character should be readily identifiable by a monochrome silhouette alone. If not, go back to the drawing board and rework your model sheet. Likewise, the silhouette of each character in a production should be distinct and different enough from the others that an audience member would be able to distinguish them from each other in a silhouette lineup.

Basic Lighting

Acclaimed cinematographer and USC professor Woody Omens recommends that his students "light from the bottom." In other words, begin with no light, and add lights thoughtfully and with intention until your scene has been adequately illuminated. The opposite approach involves setting up a bright key light, or main light source, and a fill light, or secondary light source, and then adding flags and bounces to adjust the results. Lighting "from the top" has a long tradition in cinema history, but thoughtless reliance on the method can potentially weaken a scene. Though bounces and flags do not exist in a 2-D animator's vocabulary, lighting from the top has been overused by classical animators as well.

One Object, One Shadow

In the real world, many sources of light fall upon any single object simultaneously, making a overlapping array of shadows. But in the artificial worlds of cinema and animation -- at least in most cases -- a character should have a single shadow. When using 3-D models for 2-D, characters pick out the most prominent shadow in a scene and do not attempt to recreate the rest.

Light and Emotion

Anyone who has seen a noir film from the 1940s or 1950s can attest to the potential power of truly emotional lighting. Imagine if "The Maltese Falcon" or Roman Polanski's neo-noir "Chinatown" took place in rooms as bright and sterile as a hospital room, instead of the dimly lit locales film fanatics have come to know and love. Low-key lighting can signal moodiness, mystery, sadness or suspense. Flat, even lighting feels neutral. High-key lighting can signal happiness, confidence or clarity. Take time with your choices and try to light for the highest emotional impact for the scene in question.

ReferencesJohn K Stuff: Animation School Lesson 7: Combining Construction With Clear SilhouettesPhoto Credit Jupiterimages/Creatas/Getty ImagesRead Next:

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How to Know if I Have a Bootleg Anime DVD

Anime is a medium for sci-fi and fantasy series.

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Japanese animation, commonly known by fans as anime, has perhaps become more recognized by filmgoers over recent years. English-dubbed anime programs such as “BeyBlade: Metal Fusion,” “Dragon Ball Z- Kai” and “Bakugan” are aired alongside Western animation on local and cable TV. As with any medium, anime DVDs and Blu-ray Discs are at risk for piracy. A keen eye can differentiate an authentic anime DVD from a bootlegged copy.

Related Searches:Difficulty:Moderately EasyInstructions 1

Examine the cover carefully for signs of piracy. Bootlegged anime DVDs often try to mimic the cover designs of their legitimate counterpart but can show signs of piracy. Pixelated, grainy or blurred images are often the result of bootleggers photocopying original artwork. You may have a bootlegged DVD if the cover features characters from other anime DVDs on it. Many legitimate companies use a hologram or some other premium printing service that's not easily replicated by bootleggers, indicating your copy is probably legitimate. Finally, examine the cover for foreign languages other than the country of origin of your anime. A DVD for an anime that originated from Japan but has Chinese or Arabic text on the cover may be a bootleg.

2

Identify the store or website that you purchased the DVD from. Fans of anime will sometimes create English subtitles in a process called fansubbing. Because fansubbers copy legitimate DVDs, all fansubs can be considered bootlegged copies and are not sold at retail. If you purchased the DVD from a website or specialty store that advertises selling fansubs, it's likely that your DVD is a bootleg.

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Check for a region code on the DVD cover. Many DVDs are coded by the region that they are released in to prevent piracy and identify PAL and NTSC discs. Pirated DVDs will often remove the region coding and market the DVD as “Region Free." Region 1 is the region associated with DVDs released to the North American market. While legitimate region-free DVDs do exist, the lack of a region code is often a sign of a pirated DVD.

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Check the film for production titles at the start of playback. All anime DVDs will feature title credits for the production companies involved in their creation in addition to an FBI warning found on all domestically-released DVDs. DVDs that lack the production company sequences or the FBI warning are likely bootlegged DVDs.

ReferencesMotion Picture Association of America: Types Of Content TheftPhoto Credit Junko Kimura/Getty Images News/Getty ImagesRead Next:

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Calais Daybed Installation

The metal-framed Calais daybed can bring an air of comfort and luxury to any bedroom or spare room. Easily functioning as both a seating piece and a bed, the Calais daybed offers long-term reliability and a classic style that will still fit in modern...


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A Guide to Kino Pets in MapleStory

Print this articleKinos are one type of pet you can purchase from the MapleStory cash shop, for actual money. These are one of the pets that are styled after monsters in the game. Whether you purchase a tempoary Kino, whose magic expires after ninety days, or a permanent Kino that always stays on your account. Like any pet, you can increase closeness and level or customize your Kino.

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The Kino is a pet that is styled after the orange mushroom monster. The Kino is much smaller and cuter, however. In fact, the Kino is one of the smaller pets that you can purchase for your MapleStory character. Kinos have an expressive mouth that reflects Asian artistic styles such as anime. The Kino can transform into a zombie mushroom and, when angry, a horned mushroom.

Commands

Like other pets on MapleStory, Kinos respond to commands. At Level 1, your Kino can respond to the following commands: "poop," "sleep," "sit" and "no." At Level 10, your pet will respond to new commands such as "iloveyou," say, "talk," "chat" and "bad." When your pet responds to the command, it will show an animation that correspond to the command, such as sitting. However, your pet may not feel like completing the command and may argue with you instead. The "chat" command allows you to make it seem as though your Kino is saying unique text.

Leveling

As you interact with your pet, it will level up. Leveling shows an animation and you can view information about your pet's level when you view your character information. Feeding your Kino pet food contributes to leveling as does using commands with your Kino. Note that you can use the same command up to three times in a row before the system encourages you to use a different command. When your pet becomes higher level, it travels closer to you.

Usable Items

You can purchase a green hat for your Kino from the MapleStory cash shop. The temporary item expires after 90 days and is currently available for 1,900 NX while the permanent version is 3,8000 NX. You can charge NX to your account by purchasing it from the MapleStory website. The Kino is also compatible with general cash shop items such as the Meso Magnet, which allows it to automatically pick up mesos that monsters drop. If you purchase the Pet Name Tag, you can rename your Kino. The cash shop also sells a Sprout, especially for that Kino, that increases closeness with your pet by 100.

ReferencesStrategy Wiki: MapleStory/PetsMapleStory: Pet EquipmentRead Next:

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How to Set Up Split DNS

Most homes or offices with an Intranet or internal browser network use the same Domain Name Service to resolve a single hostname (the dotcom name) on the network for internal machines and computers that access the network from the outside world. Usin...


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Dematting a Dog

Long hair matting can frustrate Fido and his owner.

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Feisty, long-haired dogs can be fun and loving pets. One of the challenges of owning these dogs is when they come to your porch with heavily matted hair. Dogs, like humans, feel the pain of a brush and react unfavorably. Follow some important steps to remove these mats and get your pet's coat back to a manageable condition.

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Train your pet to allow brushing and de-matting the same way you taught him to be obedient in other areas. Give him rewards for allowing grooming and offer negative feedback for reacting poorly. Before you begin the de-matting process, do the best you can to brush out your dog's hair, skipping the matted areas as necessary. After brushing, bathe your dog completely with shampoo, then with a commercial product designed to help you comb through mats such as silicone-based lotions. Begin de-matting while the hair is still wet. Waiting until he dries might reduce the effectiveness of your grooming.

Basics

The key to removing matting from your dog's coat is breaking large mats into much smaller ones, either with your fingers or with a tool available at pet supply stores. This is a time-consuming process because your pet's skin might be sensitive and he might respond in anger if you merely jerk out the mats. Pinch a small amount at a time and separate it from the rest of the mat, holding below where you pull to prevent the hair-pulling sensation. Work in some corn starch or a commercial equivalent as needed to make this process easier.

Advanced Technique

Hold your fingers below the now smaller matted areas, then pick through the areas with a pick to further separate the hair. You can also use a grooming comb for this application. Just be sure to hold the hair with one hand and brush with the other to reduce yanking hair. Some pet owners use forced air to help remove these mats once they have worked through these steps. If this doesn't work well, however, you might need to apply a lubricant or re-bathe your dog to begin the process again since his hair will be dry.

Other Considerations

Daily maintenance is critical the dematting process. If you do not allow your dog's matting problem to get out of hand through infrequent grooming, you will have far fewer problems in this area. Many owners also shave a long-haired dog periodically to prevent matting from getting to be a big problem in the first place. While this dramatically changes his appearance, it does make maintaining a mat-free appearance much easier. Alternatively, use thinning and blending shears, which are available at pet supply stores. These shears let you cut some of the hair in a way that does not leave large clumps of missing hair or unsightly bald spots on your pet.

ReferencesBichon Frise Information Station: De-matting TechniquesDog Breed Info: Grooming, Long Haired BreedsAndrea Arden : ResourcesDog Breed Info: Grooming Do's and Dont'sOh My Dog Supplies: Dematting CombNet Places: Demat or Shave?Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Brand X Pictures/Getty ImagesRead Next:

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