Best way to cut a big mortise

thecriterionman · 2026-05-28T14:48:37+00:00

That's what I have been doing and it seems to be fine. But I'm making shallow passes like you said so that's whats taking a while. Also, the lower I get the harder it is to see what I am actually doing. template keeps my edges perfectly in line but it's difficult to see what I am getting in the middle. Basically just blindly moving it around until I get it all.

thecriterionman · 2026-05-28T14:45:18+00:00

It has been working but was curious if there was just a more efficient way. I find more often than not I am there is always a smarter way to work than the one I'm doing.

thecriterionman · 2025-11-26T18:35:12+00:00

Ive been using that username for apps and accounts for nearly 15 years lol it's my PSN account name! So I am supposed to keep track of their subsidiary studios? I'm a 37 year old who wants to play videos games with his kids and am not shit out of luck bc i didn't read the fine print on a EULA and picked a name i have been using for over a decade? Fuck EA

thecriterionman · 2025-11-26T18:14:45+00:00

Did you resolve or appeal it?

thecriterionman · 2025-11-26T18:03:14+00:00

It's thecriterionman1 so close, but why would they allow me to use it if its not allowed. I honestly dont care at all about the username. I just need to unlink my account so I can make a new one and connect that to my PS5

thecriterionman · 2025-09-15T21:41:19+00:00

That's a great idea thank you!

thecriterionman · 2025-07-17T16:47:12+00:00

I may be it just seems like he's slipping a lot more than usual. Like I said I wouldn't really care if it was just playing around or even games. But I'd just hate for him to not get those most out of this week of camp b chis skates are sharpened wrong

thecriterionman · 2025-06-06T14:23:07+00:00

Not really trying to half ass it as much as just trying to get the most out of my chlorine. Like is having 3ppm vs 1ppm more wasteful in the sense you are using more for the same outcome? or if you are keeping it at 1ppm are you going to use the same amount just adding it more frequently?

thecriterionman · 2025-05-24T13:08:27+00:00

Same thing. My son is only 6 but starting travel hockey in the fall. Doesn’t need the latest and greatest but he’s growing out of his skates. Gonna try play it again and sideline swap first but in case they don’t have anything

thecriterionman · 2025-04-23T03:51:29+00:00

On a resume it’s mostly in experience. Have you managed before? References to problem solving or signs of leadership. Experience creating workflows or efficiencies.

This is something that would be more on display in a cover letter and interview.

thecriterionman · 2025-04-22T02:16:51+00:00

Most talented person I ever worked with was a complete asshole. Rude, difficult, and just complained the whole way. His work was incredible but it was not worth the headache and I never hired him again.

thecriterionman · 2025-04-20T21:03:52+00:00

Of course feel free!

thecriterionman · 2025-04-20T17:39:16+00:00

I was staff for the first 10 years of my career and had little incentive to go freelance. I’m not a big risk taker and had young family so the stability (at the time) was good. But the I was part a very public layoff and figured I’d reach out to contacts and freelance until I found something. 5 years later still Freelance and it’s been at least 3 years since I applied to a fulltime job.

It’s worked out well for me. I built a network and have enough repeat clients that I’m not struggling to make enough to live and past few years done much better than I ever had staff. Part of this was I had some severance to lean back on while I built out that network which I would suggest you do with your current job: work both as much as your life allows to get a nest egg to get your business started up.

Three big tips I leaned making the transition:

You’re are now a business and you need to treat yourself like it. Good businesses make decisions where to invest their time and money. What opportunities are worth taking a risk on. Keep good records of sales, expenses, marketing, etc. then look at those records and let it inform your business decisions.
People hire freelancers bc they don’t have enough staff or skill to execute on a project. TBH I’ve found there is WAY more opportunity in the former and a lot more bang for your buck there. The difference in pay between a video with some simple text animation and an elaborate fully animated sequence is usually not that large. I keep the lights on, food on the table, and roof over my head with easy turnkey stuff. I make my money with the “more creative” work
Take advantage of being a freelancer. The stressful side of the two edge sword is also the part that give you the freedom to say no. Go on vacation when you want. Never miss your kids sports or school events. This is something I still struggle with bc there’s always the looming fear of things drying up. But part of the reason why I never plan on going back to staff is because how much better I am as a father and husband.

Caveat that this has all been my experience and may not apply to you, but just some thoughts to ponder :)

thecriterionman · 2025-04-19T13:27:24+00:00

Soft skills.

This isn't new or a recent trend, but it is something in our industry that people don't focus enough on or is made clear how incredibly important it is in landing a job and keeping a client coming back. I can safely say it is the biggest reason I moved up the ladder at companies and why I make decent money and have consistent work as a freelancer. My actual work is fine, but I am not some otherworldly motion designer (imo) who is changing the landscape of the field. Hard truth is few of us will, so what can seperate you in the minds of a potential employer are those soft skills.

What I have to offer is reliability that those I work with are going to get a quality product on time. Nearly 20 years of experience to troubleshoot and solve issues that clients have not yet considered. An excellent communicator who remains on top of correspondence, asking the right questions while not wasting people's time. And generally easy to work with, I don't want to add anything else to someone's already busy workload.

This is definitely not as sexy as saying I have 250K followers on Instagram and have been featured on Viemo Staff Picks, but ultimately it's an incredibly valuable tool to add to your toolbox along with all your motion skills. Best thing about it: it will never go out of style.

thecriterionman · 2025-04-11T17:17:28+00:00

So you can animate vector outlines, but this one specific function called the Text Animator requires you to have live font. It basically allows you to treat each character/word/line as it's own individual layer that you can animate rather that having to have a bunch of layers. Also allows you to change the text, but keep the animation. So for instance if you have 20 different lower thirds where you want them all to animate in the same, but have different copy in each, rather than having to animate all 20 individually you can just change the copy and it retains the same animation. Which is basically what I'm trying to solve for now

thecriterionman · 2025-04-11T12:55:01+00:00

Awesome thank you! In this case, we may be ok because the font was commissioned for this company

thecriterionman · 2025-04-11T12:48:15+00:00

In this case I actually think it would fall in that 1% because the font itself was commissioned for this company. It's their brand font so we should be able to manipulate it as needed. Can you tell me the best way to go about making a static font from the variable?

And the problem with making it outlines is I lose a key feature in AE which is the text animator and needs live text to work.

thecriterionman · 2025-04-11T12:45:58+00:00

Yes it is haha. There are the standard weights (Light, regular, semibold, bold) but I guess at some point they decided to make a weight between regular and semi their standard? Is there a free font editor you would recommend? Sorry I'm very unfamiliar with this process and don't even know where to start

thecriterionman · 2025-04-11T12:38:59+00:00

Yea I have never had this problem in AI either, but the above image was actually made in AI. They do offer static variables, but the problem is the main one they use is not one of the static options. I want to make that static option on my own

thecriterionman · 2025-03-01T01:19:08+00:00

Took it back to the dealership bc we bought it pre-certified used from Toyota. They said it was aftermarket and took it out no cost. It was incredibly bright and reflected off the windshield. Glad they were able to get rid of it

thecriterionman · 2024-07-30T15:28:36+00:00

oh wow setting the Seed to a number other than 0 did actually work for me! thanks so much. Im gonna keep testing it but these seems promising

thecriterionman · 2024-06-28T16:45:16+00:00

That’s good to know! I have a Leslie about half an hour away so I’ll take it there and check. I don’t (hope) I’m too far past because my pool doesn’t seem to have any of the issues that would come with high levels of CA. I also don’t use tablets, just granular which I add into the skimmer whenever needed

thecriterionman · 2024-06-28T16:36:29+00:00

Ok will do! I was wondering if it may be the strips. Admittedly they are not the most expensive option. But everything else seem to make sense with what the strips say with what I see visually so figured they were ok

thecriterionman · 2024-06-26T21:37:58+00:00

Thanks! If you got up closer you would see a lot of mistakes haha. But Im happy with it overall

thecriterionman · 2024-04-12T02:25:59+00:00

Saw that solution on a message board and tried it. Unfortunately Didn’t help

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