Burn

Ahh, crap. I smoke a pack a day and you tell me these missile launchers will never start to grow on my hips?

Nope, it's the spotlights on the roof of the new techno club in Macross City...

Sh*t, man, this one's even better than the VF-1 cigarette gal. So, yeah, can you send me both in hi-res so I can make 'em into T-shirts? That'd be awesome. You still got the address?

Not bad, but IMHO it still looks like a model. I dunno if it's supposed to look like a real flight of VFs (yeah, I *did* notice the SD Valk ) or a nice assembly of models? If it's the former, then would add a slight haze or some noise. But that's just my 2 cents...

Makes you think it'll break out of the side of your desktop in a moment. Great job. PS: Just out of sheer curiosity. I never get motion trails that good. How did you do it?

OMFG, I want a T-Shirt of that... I want her to light my cigarette (no pun intended). Kudos, man.

What I'd be interested in is how to make animated gifs like myk's avatar. Maybe rip an avi from a movie and have GIF Animator convert it into a series of stills?

Photoshop 6, Flash 5 and Ulead GIF Animator. I made the "scene" in the background from two anime cels (one of them from Macross 2 as it had Ishtar in it, the other one was some random chick, I think...). Then I adjusted the size to 64x64 pixels. I took a picture of Homer and resized it and made several versions of it with the eyes looking into a different direction in each version. Then I imported it all in Flash. I had the first 'normal' Homer pic move into the picture using a motion tween, then, where he stops, I replaced the normal pic successively with the other pics showing the different eye positions, then as the look around was completed went back to the normal pic, mirrored it horizontally and moved it out of the picture again. Then I checked the animation in Flash and exported it to a GIF. I imported the GIF into Ulead GIF Animator and optimized it with a wizard (color reduction etc) to reduce filesize. I am sure there are hundreds of ways to do this, but I know Flash better than any GIF animation prog so I just used that and finished it in, like, 20 minutes. If you want the FLA file so you can look at the Flash animation, tell me and I'll post it.

Abombz! was the one to really clean it up, so I'll let him explain that part. I guess he used the eyedropper and airbrush tools. Anyway, all I did was this: 1. I adjusted brightness and contrast. I lowered overall brightness and added contrast to get rid of a few irregularities, mainly in the dark areas like black and blue. 2. I tweaked the different channels. More luminescence and intensity on blue, red and yellow. Reduced green a wee little bit. 3. I used filters. I play with photoshop a lot for fun and for my job so I have all these little gadgets. I used circular selection areas on the explosions and expanded them, then used a vignette on these selections, which lets whichever effect you apply on them fade out towards the edge. Then I played around: The "Eye Candy 4000" plugins have an effect called Corona, which works like a normal gradient glow but adds a little structure as well, just like the Corona of the sun with flares blur and all. That filter I used a lot. I selected the white areas from the engine blast with the magic wand and added gradient glows and corona fx. Then I selected the light blue areas of the blast with the wand again and again glows and corona several times so the blues radiate into the surroundings. 4. To finish it off I applied a blur on the lowest setting possible. That's it. Hope that helped. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask...

Yeah. They changed the laws recently. Before it was even legal to disable copyprotection mechanisms, now its not anymore. Not that I have a lot of PS1 games anyway, just like 7 or so in total. But I don't care so much about the backups, as I buy most of the games anyway. The prob I have with a modded PS2 is that if I get a one, could the games that can detect modchips refuse to play normal games I bought? The way I understand it, this Matrix modchip isn't that good, at least not as good as the DMS3 or Messiah2 chips. So I wonder if a few PS1 games are really worth all the trouble (and 70 bucks)... So, can a modchip theoretically prevent me from playing future games (like Vice City 2 or the next Robotech game)?

I played around with it as well, it gave me an excuse to get away from work... Used some filters on it etc...

I just checked out CaptRico's Macross2 website and that reminded me that I did an update to my VF-2SS "Rampant Wolf" custom variant some time ago. Comments?

Or this one. I used it for a long long time on the old MW forums... My "cameotar"...

If I use animated avatars on a forum, I usually make them myself. For example this one I did as an animation in Flash, exported it to GIF and optimized it with Ulead Gif Animator. Did it just for fun to promote a fanfic of mine, didn't use it that long.

I did some research on the games I want to play and found out that basically all the games I want are also available in Europe. I don't care so much about the DVD issue because I already own two DVD players, one of them regionfree. I was just curious about for the case that my region free breaks. So the only problem I still have is playing my old PS1 games, some of which are backups (at this point I should mention that it is perfectly legal in Germany to make backups of games you own or rented from a store for personal purposes, as long as you don't circumvent any copyprotection mechanisms). I wouldn't be able to play them on an unmodded PS2, but then again, the unmodded offer is 70 euros less. (again, 1 euro = roughly $1) So it's either keep the PS1 and get an unmodded PS2 that's only 199 euros, or sell the PS1 and get the modded PS2 bundle with this "Matrix" chip, RGB cable and two (probably crappy) games. What should I do? ---edit--- BTW, I found a shot of the bundled games and attached it. The Chip seems to be called "Matrix MXL" and the games *do* look crappy... Here is some info on the modchip...

As far as I know, it doesn't matter much if you have an RGB cable and a TV that supports NTSC. I already did that with my first-gen PS1, I played the US version of "Die Hard Trilogy" on my TV, and it's in NTSC. Same applies to my region-free DVD Player, I can play NTSC discs no prob.

OK, I know this might be slightly off-topic, but I hope the mods don't delete it. Last weekend I played on a PS2 and now I want one. But since some games are either not available in Europe (pe. RT: Battlecry) or are sort of censored (pe. Vice City) I want a modded PS2 so I can play import games. I already saw a cool offer, a modded PS2 with 2 games and RGB cable for 269 euros (thats roughly 290 USD). But since I'm a total newbie to everything PS2 maybe you guys can help me with a coupla questions: 1.) The chip they used for modding the PS2 in the offer is supposed to be a chip called "Matrix", but I couldn't find any info about that chip anywhere on the net. Does anyone know something about this chip and its features? 2.) Does a modded PS2 also enable you to play import DVDs (for me everything not RC2)? 3.) Can you play import games on an un-modded PS2? Thnx everybody...

And of course, everybody just take them and distribute as you see fit, just give proper credit.

Thnx, everybody. CaptRico: That remark about the images being "for your eyes only and not to be distributed outside of this board" was just a joke playing on the supposed-to-be authentic nature of the pics. I know this may not be necessary to say this, but, of course the pictures are not real. I did all of these myself in Photoshop using photographs of modelkits.

This pictures shows the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) as it executes a sharp turn to starboard. Stennis, deployed two months prior to its scheduled departure date, and her battle group were operating in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. As you can see in the highlighted area, a VF-1(S?) is getting ready for launch as part of a combat test conducted by the US military as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Picture taken by unnamed photgrapher on Jan. 16, 2002 On the second picture you can see more clear evidence for the existence of Variable Fighter Technology. The Landing Signals Officer monitors a test pilot in a VF-1A in Gerwalk configuration on final approach about to land aboard USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). The source however states that the pilot experienced trouble with the (later revealed to be faulty) flight controls in Gerwalk mode which led to a wrong approach vector. Seconds after the picture was taken the machine crashed into the landing strip, its legs, gun and nose getting severely damaged in the process, the pilot remained unharmed. Picture taken on Feb. 8, 2002 Photo 3 shows a fighter designated VF-2SS ready for catapult launch from aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). Note the different coloring and the additional thrusters on the back of the plane, which points towards multi-mach capability and possibly use in space. Exact time and date of picture unclear, probably around Feb./March 2002 Photo 4, the most interesting photo so far, shows a VF-1A about to complete a VTOL landing in the so-called "Gerwalk Configuration" aboard the USS John C. Stennis. Previous problems with flight control system seem to have been solved. Picture taken by unnamed crewman on April 14, 2002.

OK, while I'm working on some new stuff, here's some pictures I did a while ago. I think I already had them up on the old forums, but anyway... Enjoy.

I'd like to give it a try. Can you give me a higher resolution of the Valk in front of a white background? Also, do you want the Valk to be all grey? If the reason's that the 3D model doesn't have a paintscheme yet and you don't want to/can't add one, then I could try and go for a pencil look... How does that sound?

Heh, no prob there, dude. After all, it's my own fault if I'm gone too long... Best of luck to you and your site. We need stuff like that. BTW, I don't have custom model but I have a VF-2SS variant that I did with Photoshop and a visitor to my site (and member of the old MWF) made it into a model. Can I post that too?

Sources I cannot reveal for security reasons gave me this picture of a camp of the US Army's 1st Armored Division in Iraq. In the front you can see some Airforce Soldiers on patrol, in the background what seems to be a Destroid that goes by the designation "Monster". More information will follow... NOTE: this image is for your eyes only and not to be distributed outside of this board... ---edit--- Damn, it should read "Say, is that a Monster there...?". Sorry 'bout that... :blush: ---edit 2--- Never mind, someone changed it. Thnx...

Hey Jeff, long time no see... You can still find the old line-art of the VF-1 and of other Valks in the lineart section on www.unspacy.de . (If your talking about the lineart garoquel used. I also have crazykanuck's lineart and... Ahh what the hell, just go and look for yourself... )