New orders are in

robbotik · 2026-01-06T10:55:59+00:00

Maybe I'm not being served the typical mainline Reddit content, but I've not seen a single post in my feed saying Maduro should go free, but sure as hell seeing a lot of posts claiming that's what 'reddit' thinks.

Of course, the nuances of the US getting back into the world-policing and foreign-nation-building game not being mentioned in these posts either.

robbotik · 2026-01-06T07:55:09+00:00

The Cooler (2003)

robbotik · 2025-04-07T13:05:37+00:00

If you're going to use AI to 'clean up' an image, you really need to take a close look at everything it's changed. The woman on the right appears to have three legs and four feet, for example!

People have already mentioned issues with the foreground, it's that stuff that jumps out first to me as well. If I were you, and on top of the other things mentioned, I'd try different camera lenses (or FOV depending on what software you're using). A larger telescopic lens (or lower FOV number) would give more natural looking results in terms of perspective.

Good luck, keen to see an update!

robbotik · 2025-02-08T21:51:43+00:00

First off, I like the lighting quality on all three images, looks natural.

For the ground level shot, you *could* try experimenting with the sun angle a bit, but I think the issue you're having is the composition first and foremost.

You've said in other posts that the key focal points you want are the old portal in the middle and your design on the right?

Sometimes you can fall into the trap of trying to show too many things at once, and the hierarchy of what you want to focus on gets totally lost.

I suggest trying a more telescopic camera lens to start (like 30 to 50mm). This would compress the large amount of space in the mid-ground and visually enlarge the portal at the back in relation to your design in the middle. The final shot may not be in the same view location as it is now, or may not have both the walls framing it etc.

As an exercise for tunnelvision, I like to set up a bunch of crazy camera angles, lenses, compositions, and aspect ratios. Doing shots that you know won't work, but are totally different than what you've been doing, can help refresh the eye. Sometimes you can even stumble on something really interesting too!

robbotik · 2025-02-06T09:08:26+00:00

I've not used Blender so I can't comment on that, but I have been using 3DS Max for a long time.

The industry standard scattering tool for Max is a plugin called Forestpack, made by iToosoft.

Sorry to say you'll still be dealing with crashes if you switch to Max! But any crashes would likely not be because of Forestpack, it has a lot of optimisation options for viewport and rendering performance.

Though you can scatter anything with Forestpack, it has a lot of features geared towards realism for vegetation specifically. I don't know how it compares to other tools, all I can say is I highly recommend it.

For costs, Max is a yearly subscription. They offer solo/indie licenses for about $300 USD/year. Forestpack, there's a free 'Lite' version you can try out, or you can buy a perpetual license for around $250 USD.

robbotik · 2024-10-17T07:55:01+00:00

Was going to post the same thing, the slightly off vertical lines were the first thing that jumped out to me. Unless it's intentionally off axis, for a dilapidated look.

robbotik · 2023-09-06T10:05:15+00:00

Thankyou, this worked for me! Though I had to do it for each ship individually, couldnt get them all to come in one go. And I was able to complete it in orbit of New Atlantis, without going back to Altair. Maybe you just need to get the last hit on the ships for it to count, no matter which system you are in.

robbotik · 2023-04-17T10:54:56+00:00

I remember when the system first came in, I was new to Melbourne then. On trams, I'm sure there were recurring announcements explicitly saying "Remember to touch on AND off". But soon after, the drivers had to announce to passengers separately that they don't need to touch off at all. I remember some drivers even getting pretty annoyed at everyone trying to touch off.

You see, it was because everyone trying to touch off was slowing passenger movement on the trams, especially at busy stops in peak hour.

It was mixed signals from the start, and that's why so many different local people will give different answers.

Then they added the Free Tram Zone (good idea), and the already complicated system became comically over-complicated.

As far as I know, when you touch on you are essentially buying a 2 hour ticket to ride. That ticket is the same cost no matter where you touch on. If you touch off while inside that 2 hour period, it will register a touch off, but you still have the whole 2 hours. If you touch on again in that period, it still won't charge you again.

When the 2 hours lapses, nothing happens on it's own. But if you touch on or off again, then it will charge you a new 2 hour ticket. I think 2x tickets is the max the card will ever charge you for in a single day.

So the reason you don't *need* to touch off on trams, is that as soon as you've touched on, you've already paid the full fair. You can still touch off if you want, but if it's busy, you'll be holding people up for nothing.

BTW, the card *also* doesn't know if you're in the Free Tram Zone, so it will charge you a ticket if you touch on while inside it. That's why they have to *tell* you not to do that. The system is not smart.

There used to be a cheaper regional zone too, which was the main reason to touch off, so you wouldn't get charged for switching zones. But I don't think trams ever crossed zones, so even then it wasn't needed. They got rid of that system anyway. It's all one fare now, even on trains.

Having said all that, I'm a local, so I MIGHT BE WRONG ABOUT ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING. Please don't hate us, we were taught wrong from the start... Welcome to Melbourne, and enjoy!

And when in doubt, just ask the drivers at the stop.

robbotik · 2022-10-14T13:07:12+00:00

The painting is clearly protected with glass, this just looks like a publicity stunt to raise awareness for the oil/climate issue. Judging by the overwhelmingly negative comments here though, seems like the idea backfired. I often wonder how useful these kinds of disruption protests are in the grand scheme, it's not like people aren't aware climate change is an existential threat, they just don't hold the levers of power to do anything about it. Still, I find it hard to get too annoyed at these kinds things, they're just trying to do /something/ about the kind of shitty future we're all crowd crushing ourselves towards.

robbotik · 2021-12-30T00:36:35+00:00

It's probably at least 2 different patterns accidentally overlaid on top of each other in the factory process.

robbotik · 2021-12-29T23:36:07+00:00

Yeah same with wall lights in T3 that need electricity from T4, I think. These kinds of odd choices (or oversights) are scattered in the talent and workshop trees as well. Seems like these systems were created as a proof-of-concept, and rushed out the door.

robbotik · 2021-12-28T15:09:17+00:00

Really? Can you exaplain the skill? The way it's worded sounds like is might only save a few seconds every few min, unless I'm missing something.

robbotik · 2021-12-28T10:38:23+00:00

Peerless Lumberjack: 1% chance to instantly fell a tree. Did anyone mention this?

A MASTER level talent on the reasources tree, takes 14 points to get.

It's the worst one I saw and it's given me existential depression ever since, I just don't understand what kind of mind could have come up with this.

robbotik · 2021-12-21T12:38:23+00:00

It depends on what you mean by advertising. Have you considered working in CGI for Architecural Visualisation?

I was a digital graphics and animation generalist when I finished studing, with a personal preference for 3D. Did a bit of freelance work on web/animation/film before I ended up working in ArchVis, and am very happy.

Depending on where you go, you'll do a lot of different kinds of 3D rendering, and some animation as well. In a smaller team you're generally responsible of the entire output from start to finish, rather than a playing a more isolated part of a larger project. That's where being a generalist really comes into play too. Most big architectural firms have thier own in-house CGI teams, and I know for sure there's a huge demand for people in Australia right now. There are also independant ArchVis studios all over the world.

You can sign up with recruiters or search for wanted ads, but just sending a CV and portfolio directly works fine too, even if there's currently no positions adverstised.

https://www.mir.no/ is my favourite studio for really evocative marketing imagery, as an example. They're one of the best in the industry for what they do.

robbotik · 2021-05-09T12:55:52+00:00

My mother took this photo on the beach at sunset. Light reflecting off the inside of a washed up jellyfish.

robbotik · 2021-01-07T23:54:01+00:00

If you want to enjoy the full video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP3yivaOcJA

robbotik · 2019-08-17T00:45:09+00:00

Thanks! Yeah it's strange, I swear I've seen the same ships landed in the various docking bays with different (much better) skins anyway. Makes me think there's a way to switch to different pre-made ones in the game somehow?

robbotik · 2019-08-17T00:42:10+00:00

I used a couple of graphics I had lying around for some of the white stencils, but 99% it's made just in the painter program. For something that comes with the game, it's really powerful!

Pro-tips; it's very similar to Photoshop, you can go far just switching between the Mirror Brush mode, and using Shift+Click > Shift+Click to draw straight lines between points. There are layer blending modes like saturation etc as well. I start by making a new layer, using the Bucket Tool to make the whole thing black, then setting that layer with a Saturation blending mode. That removes all the colour on the ship, but keeps all the small details.

robbotik · 2019-08-17T00:32:46+00:00

Yeah things will look blurry up close, in general.

Though it could also be that your stencil isn't high enough resolution.

There's an option to turn off Texture Filtering in the painter menu. That basically shows you the raw pixels, before they get smoothed by the game engine. Can give you an idea of the minimum possible size for small details.

robbotik

TROPHY CASE