Recent posts

#41

Off Topic / Re: The Brassgoggles Model Mak...

Last post by James Harrison - January 12, 2025, 05:11:33 PM

Some very cruel closeups but... materially she's about complete. 









There is, of course, a lot of cleaning up, painting and detailing to be done yet.

#42

Off Topic / Re: YET *EVEN* MORE things tha...

Last post by Xenos - January 12, 2025, 01:36:54 PM

I've banged out 5300 words of original fiction in the past 3 days, but only over about 8 hours of actual writing.

It's not the best writing. But it's the vomit draft.

I'm shooting for a goal of just shy of 1700 words a day, for the next 21 days. I'd like to have a full book the size of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe done by early February. Will I succeed? Cross an elephant and a rhino for my answer there, but I've got several friends (and a couple of family members) checking in on me daily/weekly for word count.

I'm currently up by 3689 total, or if you only count today's words, 139. I'm going to be writing more after I get some sleep.

What's the plot, you ask?

Character of mine (that's a multiversal planeswalker, D&D character that I've converted from D&D to an original character--basically just sanitized all the IP off of him) is on a particular plane (my own invention), the adopted prince of a northern kingdom, icy all the time. They're at war with a southern kingdom, bunch of theocrats. He's assigned a bodyguard and takes exception to that (he doesn't like the idea of people possibly dying for him).

Classic romance shenanigans ensues.

Oh, also he's gotta stop the war. And maybe some Hawkeye M*A*S*H type stuff along the way (he's a healer, literally have a few paragraphs already where he spends several hours in a surgery tent doing what doctors do).

Is it good? Probably not. Am I having fun with it? Absolutely!

#43

The Engine Room / Re: A New Fine Arts Board?

Last post by madamemarigold - January 11, 2025, 04:25:24 PM

I love the idea of a new "Fine arts Board" though I will leave the semantics of what defines the sub categories to those with more/and finer knowledge and taste than mine. It sounds wonderful. 

#44

Off Topic / Re: The Brassgoggles Model Mak...

Last post by James Harrison - January 11, 2025, 12:55:32 PM

I managed to widen the cab without too much difficulty, I've now built up the frames under and around the lead axle and I've set that in place.



It will negotiate a 2nd radius (438mm) curve, but it looks faintly ridiculous doing that, with the leading wheel practically popping out from under the running plate. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuMlnDKK3aA

She rolls quite smoothly and happily too, as you can see. 

#45

Tactile / Re: That 'big project' I've be...

Last post by James Harrison - January 11, 2025, 12:45:05 PM

Today's fun has been putting some insulation into my attic space. 

The first thing I did - last week actually - was to have a look up there to see what my construction was, and then do a bit of research as to how best to insulate it.  I've heard some real horror stories how placing insulation without any real thought has resulting in blocking air gaps and causing issues such as rotting timber beams. 

Well, I've got exposed timber rafters with a coaming board around the perimeter of the attic.  Because I've got a steeply-pitched roof, and the attic is only right at the very top, I had the opportunity to look down the line of the tiles.  I could see daylight at the bottom.  That told me all I needed to know that the roof was built to breathe, meaning I have to keep an air flow around the timbers. 

The only insulation I'm aware of in the roof at all at the moment is a layer of cellulose and paper in the depth of the ceiling joists, which are then boarded over.  This is only very thin and it's not very effective, so essentially I may as well be starting from a position of no insulation. 

I bought a couple of rolls of 100mm thick loft insulation - I can only get two in my car at a time. And, actually, that was enough to completely cover the space once over and double up on about half of it. 









This on it's own should be enough that I can start to tell a difference - I'm expecting to hear the boiler cutting in that little bit less often. 

#46

The Engine Room / Re: A New Fine Arts Board?

Last post by J. Wilhelm - January 10, 2025, 01:54:06 PM

As in entirely outside of fine arts?  My argument in another thread is that collage and AI are more similar to each other than people are willing to admit. Also, in this thread above, I point out that photography was once rejected altogether as art.  "How could the photographer be an artist if all he does is point and shoot?" Was the argument.  The answer is of course, composition.  AI also has premeditated composition, but the machine scours data sets to make and blend a collage.  Again, just my opinion.

I wasn't thinking of it being outside but as another subcategory. There is an art to creating using AI but I would argue that it is very distinct from human-made 2D artworks.

As you say, it isn't like photography, in that the skill of photography is composition and design, neither of which are that controllable in AI art (at least currently). But I would agree that it has a lot of similarities to collage. I'm not against all AI, I'd just rather that my artwork wasn't used by it without my knowledge/permission*.

* I just discovered that some of my art has been 'recreated' by AI in one of the Avengers movies, so it's a bit late for that. It did mess it up and got almost everything wrong, even the most basic rules, but it did try, bless it.

Actually my point was that there IS composition in AI, and there's a lot more control than you think, but it varies a lot depending on the computer operator  (if you want to avoid calling them artists), and the generation of AI you use.

I'm sorry to hear you got copied with AI. That's a common grievance raised in art fora, and I read a lot of similar stories on platforms such as DeviantArt, but out of all of what I read, I get 2 impressions:

1. The worst AI offenders are not even creating a composition.  They're just pressing a button after a brief description, and they create literally thousands of pictures in a matter of days. Some are just inputting an image directly (stealing) and letting the AI change style. They're not actually composing, they're just asking the computer to iterate. Thus, they flood platforms with garbage. That's the operators' fault.

2. AI has changed a lot, and now you have "models" within each type of AI, that are original and affect the composition, thus reducing the "copy" aspects of AI.

Also, you now are at the point where AI feeds from itself, meaning that databases are robust enough to not need new input from the Internet. People don't realize that; they think every single time you push "generate," the AI has to go to the Internet to steal something similar to what you requested. Actually it never did that: training is a separate stage. And wholesale scouring of the Internet for training was true for early generations of AI. Nowadays is done with permission from the media platform where you post.  Don't post on Facebook, and X !!

And many tools now allow you t o edit your image using digital art techniques (ie GIMP+ Flux AI). I don't actually let AI do all the work.  Photoshop and GIMP now have incorporated AI into their tools set, whether that's generating a whole image or just editing a small part of an image.  That's where AI really will start blending into more traditional digital artwork.

But Traditional Artists™ aren't really even looking at how AI has changed over the last two years and exactly how operators develop composition. Basically there's no interest in the technology,  just antagonism, and depending on which platform you are, they'll just ban anyone from even displaying AI.

So it's been a very painful introduction of AI into the art community.  That's exactly how it was for photography nearly two centuries ago. That was my point.


"When Photography Was Not Art"
By: Jordan G. Teicher, from JSTOR Daily.
February 6, 2016
https://daily.jstor.org/when-photography-was-not-art/

#47

The Engine Room / Re: A New Fine Arts Board?

Last post by Sir Henry - January 10, 2025, 08:04:32 AM

As in entirely outside of fine arts?  My argument in another thread is that collage and AI are more similar to each other than people are willing to admit. Also, in this thread above, I point out that photography was once rejected altogether as art.  "How could the photographer be an artist if all he does is point and shoot?" Was the argument.  The answer is of course, composition.  AI also has premeditated composition, but the machine scours data sets to make and blend a collage.  Again, just my opinion.

I wasn't thinking of it being outside but as another subcategory. There is an art to creating using AI but I would argue that it is very distinct from human-made 2D artworks.

As you say, it isn't like photography, in that the skill of photography is composition and design, neither of which are that controllable in AI art (at least currently). But I would agree that it has a lot of similarities to collage. I'm not against all AI, I'd just rather that my artwork wasn't used by it without my knowledge/permission*.

* I just discovered that some of my art has been 'recreated' by AI in one of the Avengers movies, so it's a bit late for that. It did mess it up and got almost everything wrong, even the most basic rules, but it did try, bless it.

#48

Off Topic / Re: GAAAAAHHHHHH Mk.VI: The Re...

Last post by Xenos - January 10, 2025, 07:28:44 AM

working on my new years resolutions, one of which is to edit and post the rest of my makerspace interviews from before the pandemic, cobbling together external screen, keyboard and mouse to the ruined laptop the video and audio are all trapped on.
in amongst the files are photos and video of my old life. And my friend who killed himself in late september. Video of feeding his toddler when we all lived together. And one of him performing the cups flipping and singing "you're gonna miss me when I'm gone..." to his son.
Well I' a useless mess now for the last two days.

Quite understandable. Wish I had words in situations like this. Be as well as you can, and take the time  you need. Was just talking with a mate today about how grief is a process, and a long one at that (on account of my own issues with it over Calypso's death a year and a half ago), and some days you'll be better'n others, while other days you'll barely be able to move cause it feels like the air's been ripped from your very lungs.

Just hold in there, and take the time you need.

#49

The Engine Room / Re: A New Fine Arts Board?

Last post by J. Wilhelm - January 10, 2025, 12:25:38 AM

Should there be a separate category for AI-made images and videos? They can be creative, but in a very different way to the 'crafting' of human-made arts. And they seem to be gaining popularity.

As in entirely outside of fine arts?  My argument in another thread is that collage and AI are more similar to each other than people are willing to admit. Also, in this thread above, I point out that photography was once rejected altogether as art.  "How could the photographer be an artist if all he does is point and shoot?" Was the argument.  The answer is of course, composition.  AI also has premeditated composition, but the machine scours data sets to make and blend a collage.  Again, just my opinion.

I would consider AI-generated works to be in Fine Arts, but as a separate subcategory.

Just call it Artificial Intelligence?

Should there be a separate category for AI-made images and videos? They can be creative, but in a very different way to the 'crafting' of human-made arts. And they seem to be gaining popularity.

I don't know if this is helpful, but here's a broad definition of Fine Arts with an explanation of how subsidiary arts were ranked (main division and subdivision).  It shows how photography and film fit into it.  Surely AI does as well in some way.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_art

#50

Off Topic / Re: The Brassgoggles Model Mak...

Last post by James Harrison - January 09, 2025, 06:44:16 PM

That 6D looks good.
All the major dimensions seem to match.
Keep in mind: Things look worse on the workbench.
As soon as the loco/wagon is painted it looks like the pieces belong together.
Before, you see all different parts in different colours and this enhances any errors.
Later on the layout at normal viewing distance, the small inaccuracies become even less visible as the loco is inside proper landscape and pulling something.

There's a lot to be said in favour of this approach, and in fact it's one I subscribe to.  Broadly, if something's as accurate as I reasonably make it (without lying awake at night worrying that the rivets don't look real enough), I've succeeded. 



I don't have a bare brick wall to pose her against, so I'm afraid you'll have to be content with a decoupage box. 





The most obvious issue to me is that the cab is a bit too narrow, I'm going to try and rectify that tonight. 
Other than that, I'm approaching the point where I'm going to need to think about painting it (now that will be fun...)