The Creative Endeavors of

Jared E. Bendis

Game Design Kit

These are the items included in the Game Design kit I have my students buy for my Introduction to Game Design class at the Cleveland Institute of Art.  I charge them $10 per kit, it costs us more like $20 per kit (we underwrite out of the department budget). To be at all cost effective you should purchase enough to assemble 10 kits.  Without shipping 10 kits would cost around $350. The following links are the exact items I purchase, they are affiliate links, so if you do end up purchasing anything, I thank you for your support. Everything is from Amazon except for the last item which is from the GameCrafter.

The logic behind each item in the kit can be found on this TikTok video:
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7268497982989864238

60 Pieces 16 mm Blank Dice Acrylic Dice Cubes
https://amzn.to/3KMpBJU
(2) packs (each had enough for 6 kits)

Super Z Outlet Standard 16mm Black Dice 100 Count
https://amzn.to/3sesjlh
(1) pack (each had enough for 16 kits)

DND Dice Set – 20X7(140pcs) Polyhedral Dice
https://amzn.to/47zXQOE
(1) pack (each had enough for 20 kits)

Tatuo 120 Pieces 4 Inch Arrow Spinners
https://amzn.to/3E0U6rR
(1) pack (each had enough for 120 kits)

Bicycle Standard Playing Cards, Poker Size, 12 Pack
https://amzn.to/3OHx3ao
(1) pack (each had enough for 12 kits)

LotFancy Blank Playing Cards, 180PCS
https://amzn.to/3QCJmHM
(1) pack (each had enough for 18 kits)

Cobalt Blue Glass Gemstone (1 LB)
https://amzn.to/44gNxfk
(2) packs (each had enough for about 5 kits)

Red Glass Gemstone Beads (2 LBS)
https://amzn.to/3KGevGf
(1) pack (each had enough for about 10 kits)

Learning Resources Centimeter Cubes, Set of 1000
https://amzn.to/3sew4XV
(1) pack (each had enough for 20 kits)

100 Wood Meeples in 10 Colors
https://amzn.to/3YEvRJy
(1) pack (each had enough for 10 kits)

128 Pieces 1 Inch Multicolor Plastic Pawns
https://amzn.to/3E0WWgx
(3) packs (each had enough for 4 kits)

Amazon Basics Snack Storage Bags, 300 Count
https://amzn.to/449D6u1

Pint Size with Expandable Bottom, 200 Count
https://amzn.to/3DYC6OQ

Quart Size with Expandable Bottom, 150 Count
https://amzn.to/3P0FVcD

Gallon Size with Expandable Bottom, 100 Count
https://amzn.to/3sjklaw

Game Designer’s Ruler
https://www.thegamecrafter.com/parts/game-designer-s-ruler

Walgreens keeps spamming me, why they need to stop, and this is why it matters.

If you have previously unsubscribed to a Walgreens advertisement and have recently started seeing emails from them again. Please reach out to their customer service and social media platforms, loudly and often.  Tell them Jared sent you.

As someone who has had regular access to email since the late 1980s, yes that makes me an old GenXer (not a boomer) and I understand this technology well.

I am inundated with email.  As a member of the media I am subscribed voluntarily (automatically) to every mailing list from every company at every trade show and conference I attend.  This is in fact legal.  And as long as the emails have proper headers, proper footers, and a working opt-out link, I have no problem with email marketing.

That being said, I am buried in email.  Buried! So many companies (and colleagues) format their email so poorly that I cannot rely on SPAM filters.  I even have to route emails that would regularly get caught by SPAM filters back into my inbox.

A few months ago, I sat down to purge my 13,000+ unread emails in my inbox. This is a grueling process.  Sometimes it’s easy. You find an email from a company that you don’t engage with – you unsubscribe – then you search for all the emails they have sent you. In a moment you can eliminate 5, 10, even 50 emails from one company at a time.

As I often use my phone to check email and this is more of a desktop task, I often have to table my cleanup activities until I have a nice block of time.

During the last purge, I remember thinking to myself that while I do indeed shop at Walgreens (for literally one item) that their advertisements never do me any good. So I unsubscribed and deleted all the old Walgreens emails.  This was more than 10 days ago.

Last week, after several weeks of having no emails from Walgreens, I started receiving emails again.  It was very curious.  One on Sunday, then one on Monday, and the Monday one was even more curious as the title was “Return to Walgreens”. At first I took the message as simply to come back and shop but after 3 of those emails – and one very peculiar email with the subject “[untitled]” the subject changed to “Let’s reconnect.”

Now I’m not just sitting here and accruing SPAM emails from Walgreens. Confused by the new emails I read the fine print:

You are receiving this email because xxx@gmail.com is signed up to receive Walgreens communications. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please click here. We’re always here if you’d like to come back.

Well first, it’s wrong.  I didn’t sign up. I had been signed up in the past but having removed myself from your mailing list I should have been moved to a blacklist of emails that they cannot send marketing materials to anymore.

Some of my followers on TikTok were afraid that this wasn’t really from Walgreens but a bizarre phishing exercise.  As mentioned at the start, I’m GenX, we invented phishing. The email was from walgreens@eml.walgreens.com and the reply field was to support@e.walgreens.com.

The link was a legit link BUT the link took me to a webpage that returned the following message:

It’s a shame to see you go! Would you like to fine-tune your inbox instead? Opt-out of select subscriptions to see fewer, more relevant emails in your inbox. (a warning graphic) There are no subscriptions associated with xxx@gmail.com. Manage your email subscriptions. (with no link).

This is bad.

Walgreens is emailing me, well after I have unsubscribed, falsely indicating why I was receiving the email, and then linking me to an opt-out link that reports that I am not subscribed so is therefore invalid.  All of this is in violation of SPAM laws both federal and state.

So I reached out to Walgreens customer service.

I also filed a case with the FTC. If I suspected how bad these emails were going to be I would have waited and filed a more complete version.  My interactions with customer service have been staggeringly bad.

The first reply was as follows:

Thank you for contacting Walgreens.com customer service. This is in response to your e-mail regarding unsubscribing.

Apologies for sending another e-mail but I needed to confirm this information with you. May I ask you to provide the following information so that I may mark your e-mail address from manual removal?

Name:

Phone number:

Zip code:

Thank you for allowing me to assist you. Have a good day.

First, they reframed my complaint about receiving SPAM as somehow simply having a difficulty in unsubscribing.  I had never resubscribed.  So my difficulty in unsubscribing could more easily be stated as Walgreens not abiding by their own black list.

Second, they asked for personal information. Now I understand this isn’t a lot of information, in fact most people could find those 3 items about me without much difficulty. But the idea that they wouldn’t or couldn’t help – without getting more information than just my email address is absurd.  And why would I volunteer any more information to a company that is currently abusing the information that they have of mine. I declined.

The response to my declining was insane:

Thank you for your response. I do understand your frustration, however I must explain.

Apologies, Under the Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), we are required by law to verify certain information before accessing your account . This includes modifying, disclosing, or altering any information or settings on your account. If this information is not verified, we have no way to confirm your identity.

If you do not want to verify your information you can block the following marketing address in your e-mail client to stop messages going forward: walgreens@e.walgreens.com. This is in compliance with the Federal CAN-SPAM act of 2003 by providing an alternative method of opting out for customers who do not wish to verify or confirm the account information.

I am sorry for any inconvenience caused, but we are unable to go against Federal regulations to comply with a request and it is expected that a member wishing to opt out confirm enough information so that we can assist you. You can confirm the information or use the option above to stop the e-mails going forward, as either will solve the issue for you.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. Have a good day.

We at walgreens.com look forward to assisting you.

This is absolute bullshit.

For them to hide behind HIPAA while violating the CAN-SPAM act is not just shameful but it is terrifying.  Are their marketing emails tied to HIPAA data?  Is their assertion that their possession of data protected by HIPAA somehow elevates these marketing emails so that they are exempt from the CAN-SPAM act? Again, their attempt to reframe my filing of a complaint and grievance into something transactional is terrible. And it’s scary.

At no time were either of these customer service people seem concerned or alerted to the fact that I was complaining that an email on their federally mandated blacklist was being sent emails.  If their email system is violating one federal law how do we know it isn’t violating any others?  If I did have sensitive data at Walgreens I would now be VERY concerned that their databases are combined and that something is amiss.  Somehow an email was sent to an email that was, or should be, in a database, that says never email.  How could this happen? Is this human error? A technical glitch?  A data breach? And to what extent is it happening and can it happen? Am I the only one?  Or am I the only one who thought to complain?

The second part of the email where they tell me that by telling me to block their emails they are complying with federal law by giving me an alternative way of opting out is despicable. Not only is this one of the most idiotic things I have ever read, but clearly it’s a boilerplate that someone told them to cut and paste.  It’s an actual policy to tell someone that to be in compliance with federal spam laws is to simply tell people if they don’t want anymore spam to just not read it. After all, that’s all an email block is, it’s a filter.  It’s like telling me if I don’t want to get mugged I shouldn’t walk down the street in their neighborhood.

I explained how both of these responses were bullshit and how they keep attempting to reframe my complaint into something that it isn’t.  Surprisingly I got another response:

Thank you for contacting Walgreens.com customer service. This is in response to your e-mail regarding unsubscribing.

I apologize for any inconvenience. I was unable to locate an online account using your email address, so I was able to manually opt you out of further emails. Please allow 10 business days for the emails to completely stop showing up.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. Have a great day.

None of that makes any sense!  So their HIPAA policy isn’t a policy after all? They peaked under the hood and saw it was all clear?  This person read my email and it made sense to him that the second person didn’t? How was he manually able to opt me out of further emails if I was already opted out of getting emails? There is nothing here that indicates that this is true and that anything will change.

As for waiting 10 days.  That’s also bullshit.  Federal spam laws give them a 10 day grace period when I opt-out – that’s true. But I am not opting out! I am complaining that they are ignoring the blacklist!  They don’t get a free pass and another 10 days for that!

Walgreens should know better. Walgreens is begging me to come to them with sensitive medical information about myself and at the same time being careless with my data.

Many of you probably think this sounds petty. And if you view it as simply 9 unwanted emails in my inbox you would be right.

But it is more than that.  It’s bullying, it’s bad customer service, it’s bad data management, its flagrant abuse of their blacklist for profit.

I suspect someone in marketing is using the blacklist as a tool for a marketing campaign.  And even if it is a 3rd party company, the law states that Walgreens is responsible.  The fines could be as great as $42k per email, liabilities here could be in the millions.  Customer service is so busy trying to reframe my complaint and push me away they aren’t even protecting Walgreens! They appear to be servicing no one.

Do I expect Walgreen to pay me $8 in damages for every SPAM email they send me? (That’s the most you get in Ohio per email).  Well I hope so!  Hell that’s $72 so far.  But if we look at it another way, right now it would be about $40 per week.  If Walgreens wants to send me advertisements for $40 per week they are welcome to!  But I still won’t do any extra shopping there, which is why I unsubscribed from the emails in the first place.

I’m not worried about SPAM from a random pornographer, I’m worried about companies who think the laws only apply to the random pornographers.  Let’s tell them otherwise.

Walgreens – what is going on?

If you have previously unsubscribed to a Walgreens advertisement and have recently started seeing emails from them again. Please reach out to their customer service and social media platforms, loudly and often.  Tell them Jared sent you.

Jared’s Amazon Suggestions

This is not my wishlist – these are just things I have suggested on my TikTok page! Yes these are affiliate links – if you don’t want to click that’s up to you!

10″ Heavy Duty Wrap it Storage Straps (instead of a belt!)

https://amzn.to/3LHcpXn

Camera Lucida

https://amzn.to/48bYL8l

Microwave Popcorn Maker

https://amzn.to/3F5Z72m

10 Color Pen

https://amzn.to/3KwbSHA

Travel Tech

VR SHINECON Virtual Reality VR Headset

https://amzn.to/3XuzZKE

AirTamer A302

https://amzn.to/3H7MOFh

Shokz OpenRun Pro

https://amzn.to/3ZBN8mI

ReliefBand Premeire

https://amzn.to/3XbimzC

EarPlanes

https://amzn.to/3kgWFzA

Zendure Power Pack

https://amzn.to/3w2744L

Mini Claw Machine Toy

https://amzn.to/3W44zdy

Horchata

https://amzn.to/3ESlS9S

Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms Second Edition

https://amzn.to/3g0MSf5

Celtic Knot Dice

https://amzn.to/3eq5Evy

Turtlemeter, The Baby Bath Floating Turtle Toy and Bath Tub Thermometer

https://amzn.to/3fLql5E

Hanafuda Games Book

https://amzn.to/3dve8RQ

Hanafuda Cards

https://amzn.to/3QYCYXL

Frankenquest

So these are the parts I use to build a more comfortable Quest VR headset. Prices and links are current for September 2022.

Quest Headset $500

https://amzn.to/3RRzp6t

HTC Vive Deluxe Audio Strap $80

https://amzn.to/3qM7SYZ

Adapter  $21

https://amzn.to/3DeUXpC

Battery Pack Holder $17

https://amzn.to/3eFZ1F4

Battery Pack $26

https://amzn.to/3RC5lfq

Upgraded Face Pad $35

https://amzn.to/3d4dXMZ

Desktop VR holder $28

https://amzn.to/3BvUEFL

Portable Case $43

https://amzn.to/3eFZSpf

VR Mat $65

https://amzn.to/3d1CeDi

 

Tools for researching for US copyrights that have expired into the public domain

Tools for researching for US copyrights that have expired into the public domain.

This is a supplement to a series of TikTok videos I made on a copyright misadventure. I will add the videos soon!

Bridgeman vs Corel Court Decision

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeman_Art_Library_v._Corel_Corp.

Stanford Book Copyright Renewal Database

https://library.stanford.edu/collections/copyright-renewal-database

Public Domain Day

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/

Catalog of Copyright Entries page with links

https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/

Copyright Office Virtual Card Catalog 1870-1977

https://www.copyright.gov/vcc/

Title II of the Music Modernization Act that explains exactly when sound recordings pass into the public domain.

https://www.copyright.gov/music-modernization/pre1972-soundrecordings/

 

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – TikTok Playlists

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia TikTok Videos from Leap2023 in February 2023

Travel Prep

Packing Power for The Trip
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7198973125470539054

Dying my Beard
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7198956935373278510

Home Safe from Saudi Arabia
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7198685689087593774

In Transit: Saturday

United Messes Up my Travel
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7196376044771822890

United Failed Me on My Way to Saudi Arabia
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200412579590753582

I make it to DC
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7196431530749644075

From Plane to the Hotel
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7198959174288674094

The 5 Star Hilton
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7198961278172302635

About Making the Connection in DC
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7198976681837825326

About the Flight to Riyadh
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7198978357256637742

Day 1: Sunday

To The Mall
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7198981398881930542

At The Mall
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7198981961321319726

Getting Groceries at the Supermarket
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199032940213620014

Day 2: Monday

Cut Myself Shaving and The ATM
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199271487251991854

The Epic Buffet at the Hilton
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199272597907852586

Nutella Pump at the Buffet
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199272653385977134

Date Shawarma at the Buffet
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199272782478249258

The Perfect Breakfast
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199272942482591018

Walking into Leap 2023
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199273823340940586

Water in the Speaker Lounge
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199274320428928298

Are You Canadian
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199031667669863726

From Leap back to the Hilton
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199276522035809578

The Uber Ride to Diriyah
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199278323632164142

Me at the At-Turaif District – a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Diriyah
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199279333553311019

More of me at the At-Turaif District
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199362587891371307

Bad Decisions at the At-Turaif District
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199414088693452078

The Gift Shop?
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199414273431375146

Sunset at the At-Turaif District
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199423328065506602

Which is the Men’s room?
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199425346574454062

Middle Eastern Mall Food for Dinner
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199426105521098027

Day 3: Tuesday

Masmak Fortress
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199810291205426475

Pistachio Shake
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199810449729228074

Garment District
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199815232263408938

Business Attire
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199815449477909803

Gala Dinner
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199819976113524011

Dancing on the Circle
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199820773505158446

Lost in Translation
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7199821238397570347

Day 4: Wednesday

On Networking at Leap2023
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200464708330097962

Hot Chocolate in World of Coffee and Tea
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200465192176717102

Leap2023 Show Floor
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200465592833527086

Leap2023 Robotic Rehab
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200467080850967854

Leap2023 Main Street
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200473880010493230

Lape2023 Water Access
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200474502873058602

Leap2023 Dates
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200475608768335146

Leap2023 SnapChat
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200477330001939758

Leap2023 Cool LED Stuff
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200480505349803310

Leap2023 Pepsi Pop Top
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200480872963853610

OMG Asian Fusion Dinner
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200481446073568558

Day 5: Thursday

Leap2023 Uncanny Valley
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200780809878424875

Leap2023 Roses
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200781361903357226

Leap2023 LED Corridor
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200781983826365739

Leap2023 Me Presenting
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200782134762622250

Leap2023 Drone Show
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200783106394164526

Quick Dinner
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200783470329695531

At The Mall
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200783746088570158

Airport Heading Home
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200784100884630830

TSA Fail at the Airport
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200787556504522026

Finally Home
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200787876555083050

Last Videos

Living in the Future
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200825552339520811

How did I get to speak at Leap2023 in Saudi Arabia
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200828035912830254

Thoughts on trip to Saudi Arabia including Difficult Questions
https://www.tiktok.com/@jaredx2/video/7200833144738680107

A Franken-Quest

So these are the parts I use to build a more comfortable Quest VR headset. Prices and links are current for September 2022.

Quest Headset $500

https://amzn.to/3RRzp6t

HTC Vive Deluxe Audio Strap $80

https://amzn.to/3qM7SYZ

Adapter  $21

https://amzn.to/3DeUXpC

Battery Pack Holder $17

https://amzn.to/3eFZ1F4

Battery Pack $26

https://amzn.to/3RC5lfq

Upgraded Face Pad $35

https://amzn.to/3d4dXMZ

Desktop VR holder $28

https://amzn.to/3BvUEFL

Portable Case $43

https://amzn.to/3eFZSpf

VR Mat $65

https://amzn.to/3d1CeDi

An Aesthetic Approach to Virtual Reality

The Aesthetic Approach to Virtual Reality is the technique taught in the 12 project Introduction to Augmented and Virtual reality course taught by Jared Bendis MFA at the Cleveland Institute of Art in the Game Design department.

Project 1: 3D Photography

Objective

Create 3D Stereoscopic Photographs both as Anaglyph Red/Cyan as well as side by side.

Software Needed

Stereo Photo Maker – http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/stphmkr/

Hardware Needed

Red/Cyan Anaglyph Glasses – https://the3dmarket.com/collections/anaglyphic/products/anaglyphic-plastic

3D Phone Viewer – https://www.berezin.com/3d/super3d.htm or https://www.berezin.com/3d/vr_viewer.htm

Pocket 3DVU – https://www.berezin.com/3d/pocket_3dvu.htm

Windows Computer

Tutorial

How to Shoot in 3D using a cell phone – https://youtu.be/b7NPVrZGfxw

How to Post Process in 3D using Stereo Photo Maker – https://youtu.be/PR8HHGn8J-E

Project 2: Anaglyph Drawing

Objective

To create a 3D red/cyan Analgyph illustration using layers.

Software Needed

Adobe Photoshop

Hardware Needed

Red/Cyan Anaglyph Glasses – https://the3dmarket.com/collections/anaglyphic/products/anaglyphic-plastic

Computer

Tutorial

How to Anaglyph a Drawing in Photoshop – https://youtu.be/ig_xNiZetqM

Project 3: Chromadepth Maya

Objective

To create a chromadepth render of a zmap of a Maya scene with lights and textures.

Software Needed

Adobe Photoshop

Autodesk Maya

Photoshop Chomadepth Color Palette – http://jaredjared.com/chroma/chroma.act

Computer

Hardware Needed

Chromadepth HD Glass – https://the3dmarket.com/collections/chromadepth/products/copy-of-chromadepth-hd-white

Tutorial

Chromadepth Maya Tutorial – https://youtu.be/TAcmWy13vKE

Chromadeth Web Tutorial – http://jaredjared.com/creating-chromadepth-image-from-maya/

Project 4: Chromadepth Painting

Objective

To create to create a depth painting using the Chromadepth Color Palette.

Software Needed

Adobe Photoshop

Computer

Hardware Needed

Chromadepth HD Glass – https://the3dmarket.com/collections/chromadepth/products/copy-of-chromadepth-hd-white

Tutorial

Website – http://jaredjared.com/chromostereoscopy-for-use-in-visualization/

Video Tutorial – https://youtu.be/7W56b5ZBnPY

Project 5: Laser Scan Head

Objective

To create experience and then edit a 3D model of your own head for use in other projects.

Software Needed

Blender – https://www.blender.org/download/

Hardware Needed

For Students – None

For Teacher – https://www.artec3d.com/portable-3d-scanners/artec-eva

(or cheaper equivalent)

Tutorial

Video Tutorial – Coming Soon…

Project 6: Photogrammetry Art Heist

Objective

To create a clean and watertight 3d model from photographs for use in other projects.

Software Needed

Zephyr 3D Free – https://www.3dflow.net/3df-zephyr-free/

Hardware Needed

Cell Phone Camera

Tutorial

Zephyr 3D Demo 1 – https://youtu.be/gYL_o0ZUZfQ

Zephyr 3D Demo 2 – https://youtu.be/SQ10wYirvn8

Project 7: AR Coloring Books

Objective

To color and experience AR via coloring pages and a smart phone.

Software Needed

Quiver for Phone or Tablet – https://quivervision.com/

Quiver for iOS – https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/quiver-3d-coloring-app/id650645305  or Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.puteko.colarmix

Hardware Needed

Quiver Coloring Sheets – http://jaredjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/QuiverPDF.zip

Phone or Tablet

Color Pencils, Markets, Crayons etc…

Tutorial

None – Just color the pages!

Project 8: Virtual Worlds – Map

Objective

To have an “experience” playing Zork, avoiding all Internet solutions, cheat, and walk-throughs, and to create a physical map of the journey.

Software Needed

Gargoyle Inform Reader – https://github.com/garglk/garglk/releases

Zork Data File – http://jaredjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/zdungeon.zip

Zork Directions (redacted for this exercise) – http://jaredjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ZorkDirections.pdf

Hardware Needed

Computer

Tutorial

Coming soon…

Project 9: Panorama

Objective

To create hand shoot and stitch a panorama (as best as possible). The panorama should be high quality JPG of a 2:1 aspect ration equirectangular projection that can be used as a sky box in future projects (even though only some of the full sphere will be completely by this limited panorama).

Software Needed

Adobe Photoshop

Hugin Panorama Stitcher – http://hugin.sourceforge.net/

LizardQ Viewer – https://www.lizardq.com/en/viewer/

Hardware Needed

Computer

Camera or Cell Phone with Camera

Tutorial

How to Hold the Camera Tutorial – https://youtu.be/-pDJjRtRJDI

Stitching Tutorial – https://youtu.be/oy-Vtyndpt4

Project 10: Myriorama

Objective

To create 2 panoramic strip images to contribute to the larger collection of artistic images that create an infinite panorama.

Software Needed

Adobe Photoshop / Adobe Illustrator

Myriorama Template – http://jaredjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Myriorama-Template.zip

Hardware Needed

Just a Computer

Tutorial

None

Project 11: Surround Sound Minute

Objective

To create a one minute surround sound experience using only public domain audio resources and no words.

Software Needed

Adobe Audition

Sound Files – https://freesound.org/

Hardware Needed

5.1 Speaker System – https://tinyurl.com/375p9cte

5.1 USB Sound Card – https://tinyurl.com/2p8xv2jz

Cables

Tutorial

Mixing 5.1 Audio Tutorial – https://youtu.be/npDaa9VDuXU

Project 12: VR Snowglobe

Objective

To create a scene in Unity that is as if the viewer was standing inside a snowglobe and looking out. The only navigation is panning and rotating the head. The scene will use the stone art model, the cleaned up scan of the head, and the panorama as a skybox. Other models and animations can be included as desired.

Software Needed

Steam – https://store.steampowered.com/

Steam VR – https://store.steampowered.com/app/250820/SteamVR/

iVRy Mobile Premium Driver for Steam VR – https://store.steampowered.com/app/992490/iVRy_Driver_for_SteamVR/

iVRy Driver for iOS – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ivry/id1210129937 or Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mediator_software.ivry

3D Models

Unity – https://unity.com/

Unity Steam VR Plugin – https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/integration/steamvr-plugin-32647

Hardware Needed

3D Phone Viewer – https://www.berezin.com/3d/super3d.htm or https://www.berezin.com/3d/vr_viewer.htm

Wired XboxOne Controller – https://tinyurl.com/mv7aun77

Phone with a Gyroscope

Tutorial

Coming Soon…

 

Records

The continuing saga…

The story!

I have a lot of records…

Why do I have so many records?

When I was a kid I was fascinated by records. My mom had records. They even had my initials on them – JB. It turns out back in the 60s you would put initials on your records so you could get them back when you went to parties. My father’s initials were also JB. I love my Peter, Paul, and Mary records! In fact I listed to them today!

As I got older I would purchase more here and there: Half-Price Books, flea markets, garage sales etc.

One day I got a phone call. A friend’s mother was going into a nursing home, would I want her records. Sure! A strange variety of 78s, 33s, and 45s.

I love my singles collection. At one point I had this giant trough of 45s.  Like 10 feet. I would get a lot of those at the Goodwill or other thrift stores.

One time I was at a used appliance store and there was a box of records sitting in the corner. The guy sold me the entire box for $20. It was all Kiss, Megadeath, and Led Zeppelin!

Then one day the weirdest thing happened.  I was at the local library’s annual book sale and flipping through their records. $1 each. I told them that $1 each is OK but nothing beats the thrill of buying a box for $20 and coming home to some real treasures.  The lady asked for my name and phone number. Weird.  The next day she called and told me that the deal was acceptable. What deal? $20. $20 for what? For everything. It turns out that the library was no longer lending records and for $20 the entire collection was mine.  I grabbed a buddy and a truck and suddenly I was buried in records.

Then another friend’s mother went into a nursing home, then another friend’s father died. And sight unseen people are just dropping off these collections at my house.

6 months later the library called and told me to come with another $20. I though I had all your records. They get donations, and after their semi-annual sale the rest was mine. It was a LOT! 6 months later they called again. Only a car-full but they didn’t want the $20. 6 months later I told them to stop!

During this time I’ve moved twice. And it was up to over 80 crates of records.  My basement is all Kallax furniture but I have NO idea what I have.

I promised myself – no more records until they got sorted.

Well… I was at a friends house. Little old lady. She wanted some of her records digitized. In the collection I saw some real treasures. We agreed on a trade. I got the collection as long as I digitized from her list.  Deal. But no more! I’ve been good since! Really!

And I mean it!  During this time I got rid of almost all of my audio cassettes – I had over 700, video cassettes – I had over 1,000 – 8-track tapes – I had over 600. I kept a few here and there but I’ve been making room.

So where am I at now?

I go cube by cube sorting out the ones I know I don’t want. For sure – not going to listen to.  I am keeping my eye out for anything of value though. If I suspect it could be worth something I do a quick eBay check or Discogs. If one is selling for $20 or less – it goes in the discard pile. Right now I am only culling, if I second guess a record – I keep it. This is only the for sure NOs!

My niece Olivia has become a record collector, which is good because I am sure once I weed out the bad stuff there will be dupes of a LOT of good stuff and some stuff that she will want but I won’t – like maybe all that Megadeath.

The collection is VAST.  I know I have a bunch of Yiddish humor records from the 40s. And tons of 78s. The 78s are crazy old.

A couple of years ago I had a flood. The records were fine but the mediation crew that packed them up and moved them so that the room could be re-done did a terrible job. Smashed a bunch of records.  They ended up paying me like $800 for some old 78s. I will do the 78s last because their might be some value there.

My friends all want to come over and see the collection but it isn’t a collection yet – it’s a warehouse.

I did find ONE valuable record so far. The Offs First Record has a nice street value so I put it up on eBay. I also found a Star Wars book and record I’m selling on Facebook Marketplace.  I really don’t want to be in the record selling business.  I want to listen and enjoy!

Oh, and I’m making a pile of all the Disney records. They aren’t worth a lot but someone will want the whole lot I am sure.

So originally I was going to sell them locally in batches on Facebook marketplace or to friends. I’m not interested in cleaning, grading, mailing, and waiting to get rid of these records. But no one was interested.

Then my friend Andrew called to make me a deal. He will go though the discards and take what he wants for free – but then he will load my truck, follow me to half price books, and unload. He also reminded me that between the broken 78s and the eBay record I’ve already made $1,000 off the collection so anything else is really gravy. And he’s right!

Half price books gave me $1.10 for a truck load. I’m thrilled. And Andrew for some great records. Can’t wait to do it again! Second load was work 25 cents – I think it’s because they hate me.

The first reject batch was 118 records – view them here.

The second reject batch was 167 records – view them here.

The third reject batch was 135 records – view them here.

The fourth reject batch was 299 records – view them here. 

The fifth reject batch was 615 records – view them here. 

The sixth reject batch was 349 records – view them here. 

 

 

 

30 years of email….

As someone who has been online since the mid 1980s, I often think about the amount of data I have generated.  In terms of the absolute number of files though – the bulk of it has to be in email.

When I first got online I would visit various bulletin board systems (BBS), each with their own phone number and special system that I would dial into with a phone line and a modem.  If I thought something was worth saving I would copy it into a running “plain text” log file I had created. In fact I still have many of these files even today. They are weird bits of scraps of humor or contact information or even emails or instant messages from days gone by.  Even then I knew that there was no archiving from a BBS so what I saved was up to me. Not that I was even thinking about archiving, just saving a scrap here or there.

My real Internet experience started with the Cleveland Freenet and more commercial services like American Online (AOL) and Compuserve that really put the BBS out of business.  People use AOL like a punchline these days, much like they do a flip-phone. But at the time they were cutting edge – it is only when you cling to things after their day is done that they become humorous. (Anybody need an install CD?)

Freenet had their own email system but as it was related to Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) you soon realized how client – server things were becoming. Even with AOL you could choose to have your local software create copies of all of your emails on the local drive.

The first email I saved in my CWRU email was a Happy Birthday message from one of my fraternity brothers. Dates 1/26/1990 it says – Happy 18th birthday.

From that day forward, unless it was absolute SPAM, I would endeavor to keep all of my email. The problem is that over the years I had many email accounts.  By this point I had ditched Compuserve but I had an active presence on AOL (with multiple accounts – because we all did). I had my CWRU email account and my main email account was from a little company called Earthlink.  Over the years they bought and sold other companies and I still have that email address (and pay a nominal monthly fee).  Of course I also had a Yahoo account and as time passed I also moved to Google.  I never was one for Prodigy and while I had a Hotmail email address I never used it. Ameritech was my Internet Service Provider and they gave me an ameritech.net ID but that also eventually rolled back into Yahoo.

So lets summarize: CWRU email, AOL, Yahoo, Earthlink, and Google.

Yeah that’s about right.

Now Earthlink was your standard email service. If you left too much on the server you would get into trouble so I had to use a client side program like Eudora or Thunderbird or Outlook Express.  I always avoided using regular Outlook as I knew it would create these monster data files that would get corrupted.

Once I used an email client I would configure it so that it would check as much as possible – so CWRU, Earthlink, and even Yahoo would all be in one place. At various times I tried to get it to interact with AOL but the AOL client was for a while superior (for accessing AOL).

I was very fearful of the cloud. I didn’t want to bifurcate my experiences or my datasets.  When webmail first came out I would use it – but I would always run home and my sure that my archive would get a copy of everything.  Changing computers was the worst as I would need to make sure I didn’t lose things along the way.

I was pretty good at sorting – not great – but I would sort friends and projects and things and especially mailing lists.

As I moved from client to client I would sometimes lose attachments. When I moved from Eudora to Outlook Express, all of my attachments became a folder and those files lived elsewhere on my system.  I didn’t lose the files but they were no longer part of the emails themselves.

Outlook Express was interesting as it would create smaller blocks of data and the more I filtered the more blocks I would get. Smaller blocks are of course safer. 

AOL would allow me to move around mail and mailboxes in a similar way.  All roads led to my CWRU email and my Earthlink account. And as I stopped using AOL, the question was: how do I keep that data?

Eventually I found a third party software that allowed me to port the old AOL email into Outlook Express.  That was really the end of my using AOL. I’m sure I still can log in but if you are trying to reach me there – good luck.

On a side note, I kept AOL running longer than expected because I setup my original Apple ID as an AOL ID. This was not jaredjared@aol.com it was literally JUST jaredjared.  So much got tangled by Apple and AOL in that system and many things got messed up and I had to repeat a lot of purchases and setup new Apple IDs. At one time both jaredjared and jaredjared@aol.com were valid Apple IDs. Oy – the good old days. Every so often a remnant of that pops up on an old Apple device.

Slowly I am trying to put all my eggs in one basket, and its a local basket. Again this was days before cloud backup so I was making sure that on a regular basis I was saving these files on hard drives. And the data was getting bigger and bigger.

I was also trying different email clients.  Which sorts better, which filters better, which forwards better? And with every different client was the delicate process of uplifting thousands of emails in hundreds of folders. These packages were never ready for me.

When the cloud hit – I was skeptical. I might like putting all of my eggs in one basket but I want it to be MY basket.  Is Google gonna stick around? How will I protect my data?

When Outlook Express was killed, Microsoft moved to Windows Live Mail.  At first I was going to go back to Eudora or Thunderbird, but then I discovered that Windows Live Mail stored all of the email in sorted folders of individual .EML files. EML files are plain text! So now I wouldn’t have to worry about large file corruption and I was in a standards based file format. Hooray!

Oh – but by now I have over 100,000 individual EML files. Windows hates thousands of little files. Also jump ahead a few years – so do cloud backup services.

At this point the university had moved our email into the Google environment and I was feeling better about Google.  My primary email had been narrowed down to my CWRU email and my Google account and my forever linked to various things Earthlink account.

So why not do something idiotic? Instead of relying on the cloud – I tried downloading it. I’m not a complete idiot, I used webmail like everyone else, I just on a regular basis would try to make a download of the online mail to have all my data in a single place.

But these email clients are terrible. They don’t like big data dumps and they don’t search and sort very well.  So anytime I tried to find an old email I would have to rely on a third party hard drive indexing system that had read in all of the plain text EML files. This is not efficient!

For the most part my email life can be divided into Pre and Post “The Cloud”. And it’s a pretty close division of around 15 years on either side.

I know I know. Who needs to read old email from the 1990s. Trust me – its more than just nostalgia – though some of it is nostalgia – some of my active freelance projects actually date to the mid 1980s!

The pandemic (of 2020) has given me a lot of time to play catch-up on certain work activities that I never do and a big one of them is file management. I’ve worked at the same job for over 25 years and have 10+ terabytes of data. (The organization of which is another blog article and yes it is all backed up in the cloud).

In my hunting through old folders I found some of those BBS log files.  Stories, jokes, instant messages, emails and phone numbers from people long gone (and often without area codes). 

And then I found my EML hoard.

With Windows Live Mail long dead, I would just open them via searching and the indexing client.  When I changed computers last year I didn’t renew the indexing service which means the data was just sitting there.

I wonder.

What email client could I get that would allow me to search and sort them? I’m not going to add any more email. My AOL is dead, my Yahoo is dead, and my Earthlink forwards to my Google.

Don’t laugh.

Mozilla Thunderbird to the rescue. Not only is it an active software package but people have authored all sorts of plugins for it.

So I set it up with no account (local only) and imported my old folders.

It didn’t take long for the 198,000 emails to load (my memory was that is was more like a quarter million but hey whatever).

Look at that I can see ALL my old email.

And then I had a really stupid thought.

Instead of trying to download from Google, could I send all of my email UP INTO the cloud?

Could I upload my hoard into Gmail and reunify my 30 years of email?

Kids, don’t try this at home.

It is in fact possible to have Thunderbird attach to your Google email. In fact if I wanted to I could download my entire Gmail account locally (which one day I might do). And then I made a folder in my Gmail called ZZZ and started dragging over the local folders into it.

You have to be careful.  It is a slow process and if it “times out” I find it is best to rename the folder that died and to start again. I don’t delete the old folder because in Google they are really labels and not folders and you might have created unexpected connections. I would rather deal with duplicates than loss.

Many years ago two of my bosses were arguing about a project I was working on and who was supposed to pay for what when.  In the middle of their finger pointing I pulled out emails from 8 months prior that resolved the situation. Both of them were shocked and said “Who keeps email for that long?” “I do.” “Why?” “Because of situations like this!”

I’m not that crazy anymore. When the email tells me there are snacks in the break-room, I delete it. I unsubscribe from unwanted lists and go back and delete things that just aren’t needed. I still have a hoard but its a better curated hoard.

I also have 12,000 unread emails in my inbox. I’m getting to those. That’s another blog entry. I’m getting there – every days I’m getting there.

But today I can say my email is all in one place. 

Happy 18th birthday Jared.

As I write this I am 2 months away from my 49th birthday.

Creating Chromadepth Image From Maya

This is a text supplement to a video you can find here:

 

1) Turn on Maya Render Layers – This is ONLY done one time. Once this is done your Maya will stay this way.

  • Windows > Settings/Preferences > Preferences
  • Rendering – Preferred Render Setup System – Legacy Render Layers
  • Restart Maya (Again you only need to do this once).

2) Load your file!

3) Make sure your file is lit properly.  Lighting is needed for the composited image.

3) Adjust the zoom and rotation of your camera until you are happy.

4) In your render settings, set the resolution to something high (such as 3000×3000) also make sure that Alpha Channel (mask) is checked!

5) Render your camera.  Make sure the image looks good. This is the base image you will be colorizing later so repeat until you are happy.

6) Save the image as a PNG file. We need to use PNG so that the non-image area is transparent and not black (even though it looks black on the screen).

7) Go back to the render settings and set to something low (such as 600×600) this makes the next steps go faster.

8) Choose the Channel Box / Layer Editor Tab on the right side of the screen.

9) Choose the Render Tab (Which you have because of step 1) (At the bottom on the right)

10) Select all of your objects. Select > All

11) Create New Layer from Selected Objects (this is the last icon when the Render Tab is selected)

12) Rename it something nice that you will remember.

13) Right click the new layer and select Attributes

14) In the Attributes Panel, click the Tab of the layer you just made.

15) Click the Presets button and choose Luminance Depth

16) Look for the slider marked Out Color. Click the little arrow button thingy at the far right end of it.

17) Right click on the Old Min and choose Break Connection

18) Right click on the Old Max and choose Break Connection

19) Render to see what you have. Keep the Render window open.

20) Adjust the Old Max number until you the image starts to get clipped (in the far) with black.

21) Repeat until there is no black in the rendered part of the image.

22) Adjust the Old Min number until you the image starts to get clipped (in the near) with white.

23) Repeat until there is only a touch of pure white in the rendered part of the image.

24) Set the resolution back to 3000×3000

25) Render the image

26) Save the new image as a PNG

27) You now have the original rendered image and the z-map image, both as PNG files.

28) Leave Maya

29) Download Palette file from here.

30) Launch Photoshop.

31) For the nuances of what happens next.. watch the video!

32) Open the Z Map file.

33) Image > Adjustments > Levels – Frame the data with the Black and White Point without clipping any data.

34) Create a new layer

35) Fill new layer with black

36) Move layer under the Z-map layer

37) Layer > Flatten Image

38) Image > Mode > Grayscale

39) Image > Mode > Indexed Color

40) Image > Mode > Color Table

41) You should now see a grayscale color table. Click Load… and load the Chromadepth palette you saved in step 29.

42) Image > Mode > RGB Color

43) Leave this image there for a minute.

44) Load the rendered file in a new tab.

45) Image > Adjustments > Desaturate (to get rid of any color)

46) Image > Adjustments > Levels (adjust as needed for a good contrast)

47) Select > All

48) Edit > Copy

49) Return to Z-map Image

50) Edit > Paste Special > Paste in Place

51) In the Layers menu. Set the Layer Blend to Multiple

52) Layer > Flatten Image

53) View, Save, and Enjoy!

Note> After step 33 you can go back into layers to distribute the graypoint to choose if the image has more warm or cool colors.

 

Anaglyph Made Easy – Again

So, here I am doing another 3D tutorial.  It turns out that as time passes it gets easier and easier.

Of course you have to know how to shoot a good stereoscopic pair, but let’s assume you’ve done that. You have used a 3D camera or have taken 2 images about 3″ apart that have no motion in them, and now you want to view them with your favorite pair of red/cyan glasses.  (I like the ProView from Berezin).

So here are my source files:

Note – all images in this tutorial are clickable to the source files.

My right picture:

My left picture:

The images above link to the source files if you want to play with them yourselves.  Since there are people in the shots we know I used a 3D camera (and didn’t ask everyone at the opening at the Met to stand perfectly still).

First I go to Photoshop and open both images.

Then, starting with the Right image.

  1. Select > All  [This selects the entire picture]
  2. Edit > Copy [This puts it into the clipboard]
  3. Navigate to the Left image.
  4. Edit > Paste [This creates a new layer from the contents of the clipboard]
  5. Navigate to the Right image.
  6. File > Close [This closes the right image]

Yes there are keyboard shortcuts, and yes you may use them, but this is a tutorial so I am taking it nice and slow.

If you look in the layers panel you will see you have two layers:

  • Layer 1 – which has the contents of the Right image.
  • Background – which is the locked background layer and has the contents of the Left image.

We need to do several things.

  • Double click on the words “Layer 1” and rename it “Right” (You must be on the words or you will open the Layer Style menu by mistake).
  • Since we don’t want the Background layer to be a “locked” background layer we need to convert it into a normal layer.
    • Double Click on the Background layer and it will prompt you to name a new layer.
    • Basically this converts your locked background layer into a regular layer and allowing you to rename it at the same time.
  • Voila, now you have two unlocked layers. Right on top, Left on bottom.

This should literally take a minute.

Now we need to make it anaglyph. I know about 20 ways to do this and I recently learned one that is so easy I feel stupid. Yes there are tools and software for alignment and things but I needed to write up a tutorial for my VR students and I don’t want them using those yet!

Personally, I prefer the grayscale anaglyphs. Unless you know your colors really well, you can get very weird vibrations.

So go to each layer and click Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. Remember you have to do this for BOTH layers!

Now this next part is where it gets funny.

Double click on the blank space after the name Right in the Layers menu. This brings up the Layers Style menu.

Or click Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options…

Right in the center of the dialog box, under Advanced Blending, uncheck the channel marked R (for Red).

And click OK.

You would think you would need to go to the Left image and uncheck the G and B channels but you don’t. (Unless the Left is on top in which case you don’t have to do the right).

Now you have an anaglyph image but it needs adjusted.

Select the Right layer, and then using the move tool, move it around.  Ideally you should only have to move it right and left but nothing is ever perfect.

As you adjust you will notice that sometimes the red and cyan on an area seem to go away and that part becomes solid grayscale. This is the plane of the screen. Anything behind it goes into the screen, anything in front of it pops out of the screen.

Now you have to be careful.

If you set the closest item to be the plane of the screen. The back part of the picture might have too much separation and be hard to view.  If you make the back the plane of the screen you will mess everything up because nothing should pop out of the screen that much – it is called violating the stereo window.

You want to find the sweet spot.

When you do. I would do two things.

  1. Save your project as a PSD file so you can keep adjusting later.
  2. Save > As your image as a JPG file so you can share with your friends!

PS You will need to open and crop the JPG file to get rid of the parts that didn’t have overlap. Look for it.

Here is the image aligned at the nearest point:

Here is the image aligned at a far point: (This is bad and hard to view)

Here is the image going set to about 2/3 into the screen and 1/3 out:

Enjoy!

 

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