I Kill Zombies

Robotics Animation Night

2010-02-14T20:38:00.012-05:00

It certainly has been a while since I've posted here, hasn't it? This will be the first time in around 4 months that I've posted. A lot has happened in the last couple months. My high school robotics team has been taking a lot of my time in the past few weeks, with a lot of my time recently spent animating, making CAD drawings, and various and sundry other things like that. Also, my computer has been running with the awesomeness of a quad core for several months. Right now, I'll post some pictures of what I was doing for a LONG time yesterday and will do for many more hours today. We are animating a 30 second video for a robotics competition. We have been procrastinating for several weeks now, and it's due Wednesday. I have gotten 3 hours of sleep in the past 24 hours, and I don't expect to get much more sleep for the next day either. But now, here's the pictures.

A ping pong table full of quad cores!!!

John's computer: i7-920
Andy's computer: i5-750
My computer: Q9550

Here's some shots of Andy's computer, a brand new i5 rig. John, Andy and I went out to Microcenter last week and got the parts to build this new computer. Specs: i5-750, 4GB DDR3 1066mHz RAM, EVGA GTX 260 Core 216. I wish I had that video card, it beats my GTS 250 by a considerable margin.

Here's a picture of John's computer.
And there's my computer!

Another shot of all our computers.
Working hard...
Tux! Everybody say "Hi, Tux!"

That's all the pictures for now, I'll take some more tonight and post them sometime soon.

If you read this, I'm sorry.

2009-10-18T12:28:00.002-04:00

Hello to everyone who happens to see this. If you've been here before, you might have noticed that it's been a long time since I posted anything here. That's probably because I've been really busy since my last post, and I haven't had much to write about recently. So I'll try to write some stuff here more often, and we'll see how that works out.

Windows 7 Release Candidate

2009-08-20T20:16:00.008-04:00

I've spent a couple of weeks messing around with the Windows 7 RC, and so far, I think that Microsoft might finally have made something that works the first time. In 3 weeks of running it, I haven't had a single problem with anything. My hardware was detected right away, I haven't had any driver problems, and everything seems to work. It's certainly a big upgrade from Ubuntu, because I can actually game now! I haven't had a problem yet with a program not working on it, so that's also good. Also, Windows 7 has some cool features that make life a little bit easier. One of these is the new taskbar. Instead of having a little bar on the taskbar for each program, like in XP, it shows the icon of the program that's running, and when you have multiple windows running, you can see a preview of each window by hovering over it.

Here's a picture of that:

Another cool thing is that if you hover over the preview, it temporarily shows the window that is being previewed, and reduces the other windows to outlines.

Here's a picture of that:

Something that I especially liked is the taskbar icons also being progress bars for some programs. What this means, is that if you're transferring files from a flash drive to your computer, for example, instead of having to open up the file transfer dialogue, you just have to glance down at the Windows Explorer icon on the task bar.

Here's what it looks like:

So far, I'm really liking Windows 7, and I think I might buy it when it's officially released. We'll see... This is just a couple of the features that caught my attention. I'll put some more stuff up when I think of it.

PS: If you want my background, just ask me for it. I made it in Blender!

Computer is finished!

2009-08-06T22:29:00.003-04:00

I just got my 4GB of Kingston HyperX RAM delivered today, and that meant I had to put my Q9550 in the computer finally! I now have a very awesome computer. It seems like it renders more than twice as fast as the Pentium D did, and I can do lots of other stuff while rendering, too! This looks to be a very awesome CPU.

Motherboard and CPU

2009-07-30T09:16:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, I got the best parts of my computer upgrades so far. I was looking on Craigslist two days ago, and something caught my eye. It was a Core 2 Quad Q9550, which is normally $219 on Newegg, but for $150! Some further searching revealed a MSI P43 Neo-F motherboard, about the same motherboard as I was planning on getting, for $65. Both the processor and the motherboard were brand new, and now the only part that I'm missing for my upgrade is the RAM. I'm planning on getting 4GB of Kingston HyperX RAM, maybe I'll upgrade to 8 later. So here's a couple of pictures of the motherboard and the CPU.

Here's a picture of the motherboard, the MSI P43 Neo-F.

This motherboard comes with 4 RAM slots, one PCI-e x16 slot, 2 PCI-e x1 slots, 3 PCI slots, 1 IDE port, 6 SATA ports, onboard surround sound, 4 USB ports, onboard gigabit ethernet, and other goodies.

Here's a picture of all the stuff that came with the motherboard.

And here's a picture of the Q9550, still in the box.

The Q9550 is a quad-core, 2.83 GHz CPU, with a 12mb L2 cache, and a 1333MHz Front Side Bus. This should be a huge upgrade over my Pentium D 930, a 3.00GHz dual core CPU with a 2mb cache.

Finally, here's a picture of the CPU itself sitting next to the stock cooler, which I'm going to use until I get the Xigmatek Dark Knight.

That's it for now!

Computer Upgrade Summary

2009-07-26T10:19:00.005-04:00

So I've already posted some stuff about my upcoming computer upgrades, but I figured that I should post my complete plan for my upgrades this summer. This is what I'm planning on doing.
From:

Intel Pentium D 930 3.00GHz w/ stock cooler
Intel D102GGC2 Micro ATX Motherboard w/ ATi Xpress 200 Chipset
ATi Radeon X300 128Mb Onboard Graphics
1.5GB Kingston DDR RAM
Western Digital 80GB IDE Hard Drive
Ubuntu 9.04
Cooler Master 380 Watt PSU
No-name mini tower case

To:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz w/ Xigmatek Dark Knight cooler
MSI P43 Neo3-F ATX Motherboard
nVidia Quadro FX 1700 512Mb (upgrading to a GTX 250 later)
4GB Kingston HyperX DDR2 RAM
Western Digital 250GB SATA Hard Drive
Ubuntu 9.04 & Windows Vista Business 64 SP1
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Watt PSU
Cooler Master CM 690 Mid Tower case

That's my planned computer upgrade for the summer, I'll keep on posting periodic updates as I get new stuff, and change other things.

Power Supply Ordered

2009-07-25T19:01:00.003-04:00

I ordered my power supply upgrade Wednesday, a PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 watt. It should be here Monday, and I think that 750 watts should be enough for anything I'm likely to get in the near future. I'm excited to get this power supply because I'll actually be able to use the cable management holes in my case. My current power supply's cables are too short to make use of the cable management holes. If you want to see more info about this power supply, see here.

Coolermaster CM 690

2009-07-22T15:46:00.007-04:00

Today, I had a very special package delivered. Why was it special? It represents the beginning of this summer's computer upgrading bonanza, at least for me. This will be the first computer I've actually built myself, rather than just bought, and will hopefully turn out fine. Here is a picture of the package that arrived. This is the Coolermaster CM 690 case. Since this is my first time building a computer, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from a good case, but this case proved extremely roomy and easy to build in, with mostly everything tool-less. The case has many cool features, some of them are: Top input panel with 2 USB, headphone/microphone jacks, firewire port, and an E-SATA port; Tool-less hard drive trays; Wire management holes (unfortunately, until I have my new PSU I can't make use of these); Plenty of fan ports (7!); Tool-less 5.25" drive bays; and awesome airflow that cooled my ambient temperature by over 2 degrees (C). Installing everything was as easy as it could possibly be, the only things that required screws were the PSU, the motherboard, and the fans. The front panel is a bit scary to take off, requiring a great deal of force. I was scared that it was going to break, because it required so much force.
Here's a picture from after 2 hours of work (It's my first time), with all of my old hardware in the new case. Here's another picture of the interior of the 690, showing off the neat blue Apevia fans that I bought along with the case. Here's another shot of the computer, running with the side off (look at those LEDs!), behind it is our big TV, but unfortunately, I have to put my computer in the basement. Here's a shot of the 690 from the front. It's actually a fairly conservative case, not like other ones out there. And here's a shot of the 690 next to my previous case, a no-name case. The 690 is way bigger than the old one. I couldn't believe how roomy it was when I opened it up. In my opinion, the Coolermaster 690 is one of the best cases out there (But what do I know? This is my first build, after all). I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good mid-tower case with plenty of room. The largely tool-less design means that putting hardware in couldn't be easier. However, if weight is a concern, this case is rather heavy, weighing in at around 20 pounds. Also, the case only comes with 3 fans, if you want more cooling, you need to buy more fans, up to 3 140mm fans, and 1 80mm fan.

Logitech MX Revolution

2009-07-13T19:05:00.004-04:00

Today, I just got a new mouse, at a great price. This is probably the best mouse I've ever had. The Logitech MX Revolution is called by Logitech "The world's most advanced mouse," and with what I've seen so far, that claim is pretty much true. The first thing about the mouse that I noticed, is that it's comfortable. Really comfortable. While the price tag might be a little steep at $99, I got it on sale at Best Buy for just $39, making it better priced than a lot of inferior mice. The sensor is incredibly responsive on a variety of surfaces, so far I've tested wood, carpet, and paper, and I haven't noticed any jumpiness or twitches at all. The scroll wheel is one of the more innovative features of this mouse, as well. While most mice have either a smooth scroll wheel or a stepped scroll wheel, the MX offers both. Simply click the middle button to switch between an almost frictionless smooth movement, or a nicely weighted stepped movement. The mouse also includes a side wheel, which can be used as an Alt+Tab equivalent. It also includes two side buttons, and a search button, which, with the software included, will bring up the search engine of your choice. Here's another picture.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-04T22:12:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy 4th of July. For anybody reading this outside of the US, well, I hope you're having a good day!

New Computer Up and (Finally) Running

2009-07-02T06:36:00.003-04:00

After messing around with Ubuntu and Suse (another Linux distro) for 3 days, I finally have my new computer running! As is usual with computers, several problems gave me a headache. The worst of the problems was 2 nights ago, when I had to reinstall Ubuntu because of video driver problems. Hopefully I'll be done messing around with drivers and new programs by the end of the week, but things are rarely that simple. Already I can tell that Ubuntu will take some getting used to, because it's quite a bit different than Windows, but in a good way, from what I can tell so far. The only problem is that OpenGL stuff is messed up for my video card, so using Blender is painful at best, with weird graphical artifacts and other things like that.

Here's a screenshot of my shiny new desktop

New Computer!

2009-06-28T19:29:00.012-04:00

Today, I got my first personal computer. Before I had to share a computer with my entire family, but I was on Craigslist looking for possible renderfarm nodes for Matt, and I saw a decent computer for $40. Now, hopefully I'll be able to do more in Blender, since I won't have to share a computer with the rest of my family.

Here are the specs:

Intel Pentium D 830 at 3.0 GHz
1-80 GB Western Digital HD
1-160 GB Western Digital HD
1.5 GB DDR2 RAM
Video Card: Built in ATI Radeon Xpress 200 (128 mb)

Other than the video card, this looks to be a good computer. It's got a decent CPU, which is good enough for Blender, and enough hard drive space for a while. It's also got handy tool-less drive bays, which are really nice. It even comes with a fan that has cool LEDs. Hopefully I'll be able to get a new video card soon. I plan on putting Ubuntu on it, and I'm downloading that now. Here are some pictures of my new computer.

Here's a picture of the front, note the cool LEDs on the front fan.

And a picture of the back.

And a picture of the interior.

Here's a close up of the motherboard.

Here's a closer picture of the fan.

LEDs are cool.

And here's a picture of the tool-less drive bays, which are very handy.

And a picture of the front panel, not too special.

For some reason, the firewire port is covered, even though it's connected inside.

(WIP) Spaceship

2009-06-26T16:30:00.008-04:00

I finally got around to doing more with Luxrender than just messing around and testing features. I made a spaceship in Blender last night, and figured it would be cool to render in Luxrender. Most 3D spaceships out there are always in space, so I decided to do an in-atmosphere render. This is the most detailed ship I have made, mostly because I discovered the Discombobulator script, which puts extrusions and little details on things. This scene also makes my computer lag like crazy, because it's so high poly (~250k)!

This render was just a render to see how two ships in atmosphere would look. It ran overnight, but didn't really need to; it looks the same as it did after 2 hours.

I'm planning on changing some settings -like the DoF, which is too strong- and adding some other materials to the ships, I'll post more pictures as I render them.

Yaf(a)ray Animation

2009-06-18T14:19:00.002-04:00

A week or so ago, I wanted to try out making an animation in Yaf(a)ray, because all I had done before was stills. After Matt modded his computer, he rendered this for me. He said it took about 4 hours or so to render.

Cube Guy from Calvin Hedler on Vimeo.

Different Renderer Tests

2009-06-18T10:18:00.010-04:00

Hello, I figured it was time for a new post by me. I've recently been messing around with some different renderers, including Yaf(a)ray, Luxrender, and Indigo. Both Luxrender and Indigo are physically accurate, unbiased renderers, which means that they render a very noisy picture, and remove the noise until told to stop by the user. This means that they both take a very long time to render, if you want good results. Yaf(a)ray is a biased renderer, which means that it's faster, but it also requires more tweaking to get right. All of these renderers have their pros and cons, some of which I will explain here.

Yaf(a)ray:

More realistic than Blender Internal
Includes caustics and global illumination
Reasonably fast, because it's a biased renderer
Many Blender material settings don't work with it
Caustics are difficult to get right (I haven't managed to yet)

Example rendered in Yaf(a)ray in 5:18

Luxrender:

More realistic than YafaRay
Very little set up required
Tools for changing picture while rendering
Render can be stopped and then started again later
Physically accurate, no setting up caustics/global illumination
Very slow, takes a long time to remove noise, this is because it's an unbiased renderer

Example rendered in Luxrender in 42:56

Indigo:

Physically accurate
More realistic than YafaRay
Very little set up required, other than materials
Very slow, because it's an unbiased renderer
No integrated post processing tools, unlike Luxrender

Example rendered in Indigo in 22:13

Matt- Modding My Case

2009-06-18T09:58:00.010-04:00

Ok, last weekend I modded my case for better cable management, an orange interior, and a V8 cooler. Here are a few pics:

My messy case (pre-mod)

After everything has been removed...

Naked case primed for painting
That's some bright orange!Finished! But almost no orange shows... :(

Well that's all for mod 1 hopefully more to come :)

-Matt

Matt - My Comp

2009-06-12T13:14:00.008-04:00

Hi, my name's Matt. I do a lot of renders for Calvin since I just built a wicked-sweet rig. Here are the specs if you're interested:

Motherboard: ASUS P5Q-E
CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9750 3.16 GHz (No clock limits!)
Memory: 4 GB Fatal1ty DDR2
Disk: Lightscribe compatible DVD Burner
HDs: 1x 40GB HD (Ubuntu) & 1x 500GB HD (Windows XP Pro)
Graphics: Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 512MB GDDR4

All these components are wrapped up in an Antec 900 gaming case and powered by a 700 watt OCZ PSU. I built this comp in anticipation of finally being able to do some decent animation and CAD work, oh and games, they're good too :)

Anyway, over the next few months I am going to be working to mod my case into something that will stand out and that I can be proud of. But mostly something that just pwns all the other PCs around. Here's a brief list of things that need to be changed:

1. V8 CPU cooler needs to be installed
2. Repainting interior of case
3. Add fan controller
4. Get new fans
5. Lighting

These are pretty much just aesthetic improvements but nonetheless necessary. Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for pics.

-Matt

My Favorite Sci-Fi Movies

2009-06-08T19:25:00.010-04:00

These are some of the best science fiction movies ever, in my opinion. I think that everyone should see these movies, regardless of whether they like science fiction a lot or not.

Serenity- A movie based on the TV show Firefly, which was cancelled after the first season. It follows the crew of the cargo ship Serenity as they are chased by the Alliance. Probably my favorite science fiction movie right now.

The Chronicles of Riddick- An action-filled movie about an escaped murderer and an army of undead soldiers that has a lot of stunning CGI work.

Ultraviolet- A cool movie about vampires set in the future, where vampires are created by a virus, and then hunted to near-extinction.

Iron Man- A movie about a billionaire who builds an invincible suit of armor. That can fly. Probably the best superhero movie ever, but that's not saying much...

Transformers- A movie about giant robots fighting each other. All of the robots transform into vehicles, and one of them is a 2010 Camaro.

Star Wars- One of the best science fiction movies of all time. Arguably one of the most influential movies ever, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone that doesn't know about Star Wars.

More YafaRay Stuff

2009-06-08T16:34:00.010-04:00

I've been making stuff in Blender to test YafaRay recently, and since my friend Matt got YafaRay and Blender working on his computer, I've been rendering stuff on his computer. My computer has a pathetic dual-core Intel Pentium D 805, which runs at 2.66 GHz. Meanwhile, his computer has an awesome quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9750, which runs at a blistering 3.16 GHz. Here are some comparisons. The pictures are exactly the same, but note the render times at the bottom, in the YafaRay render parameters box.

This one is my render. Render time: 11 mins 34.44 secs

And here's Matt's render. Render time: 2 mins 40.02 secs

And another test, this time of a city. My render time: 26 mins 32.17 secs

And Matt's render time: 6 mins 40.27 secs

Basically, my computer is just about a quarter of the power of his. Even more pathetic is that he was doing CAD on his computer while rendering. And my computer still can't get close to the same render time. I plan on rendering most of my stuff on Matt's computer from now on. Hopefully he doesn't get annoyed with my asking to render everything I make on his computer. I really need a new computer.

Zombie Plan

2009-06-06T20:44:00.007-04:00

It is my humble opinion that everybody should have a zombie plan, in case they are ever caught in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Therefore, I will proceed to outline a zombie plan.

First, there are several things that are vital to survive in a zombie apocalypse, things that you wouldn't be able to do without. They are:

A first aid kit
A good knife
A flashlight, preferably one of the wind-up ones, so you don't have to worry about batteries
Non-perishable food, at least one month's worth
A supply of clean water, or a way of cleaning the water
A weapon, like a gun, a bow, or a machete. Things that don't require reloading, or can reuse ammo are preferred.
Shelter. It's suicide to travel during a zombie apocalypse. People who think that traveling would be the best idea are going to end up as a delicious - and easy - meal for some lucky zombie.

These are probably the most important things to have during a zombie apocalypse, ensuring that you will have the supplies to survive, provided you have the skills to survive. Now, once you have the appropriate supplies stockpiled, you need to figure out where you will go when the zombies attack, and how you will defend this position. One thing to look for in a possible shelter is the number of entrances and exits, and how easy it is to access them. A good shelter must have a small number of entrances and exits, and they must be hard to get at. This will ensure that zombies will have a hard time trying to get in and consume your brains. Also, a good shelter must have strong foundations, and be well constructed, with thick walls. If the building has thin walls, zombies will be able to go straight through the walls, thwarting your well-defended entrances and exits. This would undoubtedly ruin everybody's day. If you have a multi-level shelter, you should put all of your supplies on the top level, so that if the bottom level is compromised, you will still have access to your supplies. You should never, never, retreat to a basement, unless you know that you will be rescued in a short time. Retreating into a basement is suicide, as zombies have the advantage of unlimited numbers, and you have the disadvantage of limited ammunition.

Once you have selected an appropriate place to defend during a zombie apocalypse, you must shore up the defenses, to survive for a longer period of time. You should reinforce doors, bar windows, and install perimeter security systems, to be activated in case of a zombie apocalypse. Being prepared is the one of the most important things in a disaster situation. Your shelter should be able to take a lot of damage and still remain functional, because weeks of zombie attacks will wear down even the toughest building.

After you reinforce your shelter, you should take classes for weapons training. Weapons training does not just refer to guns, although that could be a part of it. Learn to use weapons such as swords, knives, and bows, as well as guns. This is because guns, while effective, run out of ammunition, and then become useless. Arrows, unlike bullets, can be reused, and as long as you keep a sword or knife sharp, it'll work for you. You should stockpile a variety of weapons, to make sure you're prepared for any circumstance.

Weapons aren't the only things you'll need to learn about. You should also learn first aid, so that you can treat wounds, and stay healthy. This is vital, because if someone dies, everyone else has to work harder to stay safe. First aid is also important to keep everyone in fighting condition. A wounded comrade is more of a burden than a productive member.

Even if you are adequately prepared, the chances are still high that you'll end up being digested by a zombie. This is because even the most elaborately concocted plans can end up failing you if you aren't careful. The most important thing to remember during a zombie apocalypse is to be careful. If you make one mistake, it could be the mistake that dooms you and the people you're with.

Remember, if you're not prepared, it's as bad as if you handed your brains to the zombies on a silver platter. Stay alert, and when the zombie apocalypse comes, you should have a plan.

Welcome

2009-06-06T19:03:00.016-04:00

Hello, I'm Calvin Hedler, and this is my blog. My favorite hobby is 3D modeling with Blender, a free, open source program. You can get it at www.blender.org. I also like video games, and Sci-Fi, books and movies. To start off, here's a bunch of my work, from when I first started back in 2008, all the way to today.

This is one of my first good pictures. It took me several hours to make, and about an hour to tweak the render settings. This was made and rendered in Blender.

This is another one of my pictures, from a few months ago, it took me around an hour to make, and about that long to tweak the render settings.This was actually made for contest #7 at www.darkscarab.com. This picture was made in Blender and rendered in Yaf(a)ray.

This is the second picture that I made of Cubeworld, made a few days after the first one. The kid with his teddy bear was probably one of the most fun things to make in my Cubeworld series. This took about 3 hours to make, and a long time to tweak. This was made and rendered in Blender.

By the time I made this picture, I was obsessed with making Cubeworld pictures. I made this in 2 hours, and rendered it in 20 minutes, with a minimal amount of tweaking. I really like the guy on the left. He looks like he's been there for a while, doesn't he?

This Cubeworld picture was the first (and so far only) Cubeworld picture with more than 5 people. It took me somewhere around a half hour to set up the basic scene, and around 2 hours to tweak the renders and add the particle effects to my liking.

This is my latest Cubeworld picture, and, although it's not done to my liking, I don't think I'll work on it again anytime soon. It took me 45 minutes to make, and 15 minutes to tweak.

These are some tests I made with Yaf(a)ray the past couple days. They are all made in Blender, and rendered with Yaf(a)ray.