On the TV

Well folks, if you're keen, keep next Tuesday (28th Nov.) free - I'm going to be on the TV :D

I got referred to Good Game (the show by gamers, for gamers ;) ) over on Auntie-II, and they came into the lab a few weeks ago to interview me about my papercraft obsession.

It'll be on at 8.30pm next Tuesday night. Those of you who can't get to a digital TV tuner (or are outside of Australia) can grab the episode for download here (it'll be episode 11 when it comes up online).

Looks like I win 1e6 nerd points :D

Dude. Seriously.

Really, I'm alive. I'm even writing a blog post :P

End-game for the dreaded T-word is fast approaching.

Other things have been happening, but I really, really haven't had time to write about them. A quick peek at flickr will fill you in, if, for some reason, you desperately need to know.

I'll see you folks on the other side of thesis-land - soon.

Oh noes! The press!

CGW article

Jumpbutton article

It certainly looks like the papercraft work has taken a life of its own, and word of it has moved out of the blog domain and reached real publications (*gasp*)!

There's an article about the papercraft (and me!) on the excellent, Melbourne-based online Jumpbutton magazine.

There's also another article (mirrored on flickr) with a copy of page 24 from the August 2006 edition of Computer Gaming World :)

w00t :)

chomp!

OK, so I couldn't really delay this any longer. Half-Life 1 papercraft is ready to go - see here.

the hunting of the snark

I was in Melbourne last week, looking neat and tidy on a bit of random business (those who know about it, know about it). Seriously folks, Melbourne is a blast. You'll find a few grumbling Sydneysiders giving Melbourne the odd, friendly broadside, but, on the whole, its a nice city to be in. For a little while, at least :)

I spent a pile of time around Federation Square, sort of an cultural and arts hub in downtown Melbourne, just adjacent to the river. The buildings around the square sported a pinwheel aperiodic tiling pattern, not-so-subtly reminding me of all the computational geometry write-up that I still have to get around to finishing for my thesis write-up. If you are in Melbourne, set aside half-a-day or so to have a peek around - especially if you've got an interest in film & tv or game development (who? me?).

I've made some small updates to the Quake papercraft models page, adding instructions for the player (ranger!) model. A big thanks has to go out to Spirit from quaddicted for providing additional hosting for the .pdf files (yes, I know, rapidshare sucks). [edit: fixed spelling - Qantas, Quantas, its bloody ruined my command of English :P]

On that topic: to answer a question I've got a few times - yes, I do have Half-Life papercraft models in the works. I've actually finished two unfoldings (the indefagitable(??) snark and the indestructible crowbar), but I haven't tested building them yet. When I've done the test builds, I'll post 'em up online. And that will be early July at the earliest - sorry folks, but thesis writing takes precedence :)

boing boing boing boing boing boing...

Just a quick message for all those visitors from Kotaku, boingboing or wherever you are from all corners of the world wide inter-web:

Hi.

Leave a comment below if you'd like say hello ;)

Update:
Thanks to the penguinista for the phone call from Germany(!) advising of the boing-boingification :P I hadn't quite realised how many people were using news aggregators - it's fairly impressive. As of 0900 Tuesday, Sydney time, it looks like lots of people have dropped by to say hi :)

Quake paper models: done!

Ok folks, the Quake paper models are done :) Downloads and instructions can be found here: http://cow.mooh.org/paper

Enjoy ;)

paper quake models...

..are on the way!

I finished test-building the player model this morning, and it turned out OK. As you can see in the picture, I haven't spent as much time as I should have building the models (notice the dodgy seams on the shambler), but that was partly because the card stock I used was too heavy and quite difficult to work with.

I documented the build process by taking photos at critical stages; with a bit of luck, I'll have the whole lot (models, instructions, pictures) posted up online later today.

of someday shambles

With the last paper in, and a long stretch of thesis-writing ahead, I decided to fill the brief gap in-between with some much-needed distractions. First cab off the rank was upgrading my AMD64 desktop machine with an obscene amount of shiny memory.

Yes folks, that's a total of 3Gb of primary storage for my automated thinking device ;) I'm fairly sure this will do me for a good long while, until the urge to pointlessly upgrade bites me again :P

At the pleasant behest of Andrew B., we spent Sunday afternoon in the Eastern suburbs enjoying the sounds of some great American composers (you know, for a long time I never even knew such a thing existed!) at a performance by the Woollahra Philharmonic Orchestra. It was particularly interesting seeing Rhapsody In Blue being played - you get to realise just how difficult the signature clarinet solo at the start is to play. It's nice actually going to a gig to see orchestral music being played; instead of hearing music with just your ears you feel it with your whole body, and it's something I'd like to do more often.

Last cab off the rank are the paper models of Quake characters I've been working on :) I've designed and successfully made a paper model of a shambler. It supercedes the previous model in that it is a lot bigger, and a lot easier to build. I'll be posting up a .pdf of the model sheet and instructions on how to build it in a couple of days. I'm planning to add other quake models too; I have the player model sheet done, but I'm yet to test building it. For those who have been itching for it, stay tuned.. it'll be here in a couple of days :D