Now look at the screen shots of the 2013 Tomb Raider: Lara Croft looks just like a real person.  The graphics have now come to almost true life, with the extensive use of motion-capture technology to make gameplay feel more real life:

Moving the above towards mobile technology, graphics have improved dramatically primarily because of the immense improvement of technology.  With the first mobile game been developed in JavaScript, this limited the graphics.  Another huge factor was the speed of mobile Internet; very slow speeds hence limiting the size of the application.

However, today, we now have 4G technology, hence enabling the development of HTML5 applications.  Take a look at the latest HTML5 Tomb Raider slot from Spin Palace.

Situation:
You have been given a flash file and you want to extract the graphics which are all done in flash and convert it into a vector file. The software that i’m using here are Flash CS6 and Illustrator CS6. 

Solution:

1. Open the flash file.
2. Select the graphic you want to extract.
3. Go to File > Export > Export Selection > Save as .fxg
4. Open Illustrator and create a new document. File > New
5. Go to File > Place
6. To edit the lines, shapes and colors, select the object and break to symbol. Right click > Break Link to Symbol

There are times when the color is not imported properly into Illustrator, like when the flash file object has color blending. I can fix the color manually in Illustrator, but when I don’t have a lot of time, and If I don’t really need to edit the shape for the artwork, i’ll just export it as PNG. That’ll do the trick.

1. Macbook Air – $ 999

Why not a Macbook pro, you ask? I foresee that your designer friend already have a power Macbook Pro. Macbook Air is for portability like during a meeting with a client, photoshoots, or even when i’m travelling. I sure want to bring a laptop that’s light and sleek!

2. Wacom intuos 5 – $349

Wacom Intuos is a pen tablet used by creative professionals for digital painting, photo editing, and other digital artworks.

3. iPad – $399

Many within the design industry are using iPads for a whole lot of things. I mainly use my iPad for research, keeping up with design news, the latest design trends, finding inspiration, organizing tasks, presenting a design to client….etc etc..The list is endless. Doing all these in iPad is much easier than doing it in a laptop.

4. 1 Tb WDC My Passport External Hard Drive – $95

Designers need a lot of storage. We can never get enough!

5. SanDisk Cruzer Slice 64GB USB Drive – $39

Speaking of storage, we also love carrying a small and lighter file storage device. A 64Gb thumbdrive would be cool.

6. Pantone Color Bridge – $149

This Pantone color is for process printing or web design. It can be used to select PANTONE colors to determine how it will appear when reproduced in CMYK or to create optimal display of colors on monitors and web pages.

7. Design Magazine Subscription – $124.99

Although vast information about web and print designs can be found online, it’s difficult to find the best quality. One of the best gift you can give a designer in different creative fields is to help them grow through learning. Why not give them a year subscription of high-quality print publication like .NET magazine and Digital Arts.

8. Smashing Magazine Book – $39.90

Most designers have a book collection of their fields. The Smashing Magazine Book will be a nice addition to any designers’ book collection.

9. Moleskine Smart Notebook – $24.95

Moleskine is a high quality notebook use for sketching, conceptualizing or gathering ideas. This is popular among designers and it’s definitely in the wishlist of creative individuals of all types. Moleskine Smart notebook collides old and new world. It has scan friendly pages that uploads your notes online.

10. Jas Pro Aluminum Stand for Macbook Pro – $69.95

Designers are stylish individuals, even with their desk. JAS PRO is a Macbook and iPad stand. What’s great about this is that it really complements the aesthetics of Macbook Pro and iPad.

11. Bose Companion® 20 Multimedia Speakers – $224.95

Bose Companion 20 is a powerful and elegant 2 speaker system that produces great sound and complements well with a designer’s workspace.

12. Crumpler Skivvy Laptop Messenger Bag – $120

A lightweight padded protection bag for a 15″ laptop. It has seven storage zones for everyday digital and off line essentials.

13. Wacom Bamboo Stylus Duo – $30

A classy writing instrument. It’s a stylus for iPad and a traditional ink pen tip on the opposite end.

14. iPad Cases – $49.95

There’s a lot of stylish iPad cases out there. There’s one that will be useful. It’s an iPad case with a notebook. I know that the idea of an iPad is to get rid of the paper but sometimes, writing down on a paper is more convenient. Whenever I go to a meeting, i bring my iPad for presentation, but i still carry a slim note for jotting down notes and sketches with the client.

15. Logitech Comfort Lapdesk N500 – $49.98

Heat shielding stylish design that protects your laps from laptop heat.

If you’re on tight budget, there’s a lot of small creative stuff for designers – desk plants, colorful stationaries, notebooks for doodling, new colored pens, mugs, iPhone cases, cable management like CableDrops, organizing systems etc. These are all cool for creatives!

What not to buy:

Mouse – Mouse is one of the most important tool of a designer. A designer requires speed and precision to produce the design productively and comfortably. The speed and precision of the most expensive and latest mouse technology might seem the best, but if it doesn’t fit the hands of the user comfortably, it’s useless. I highly suggest not to buy this unless you know specifically what mouse the designer is eyeing for.

Happy shopping and Happy Holidays! :)

What’s your problem:
Same as mine! Really getting frustrated on how to transfer files from Mac OS X to Galaxy Tab’s internal storage

What you’ve tried:
An older version of Kies
An official installer from Android for Mac
Hacks and cracks

I’ve tried these too, excepts for the cracks and hacks. But I’m telling you, none of this works.

It’s really easy guys! Here’s how!

How to connect the Samsung Galaxy Tab to Mac OS X and Transfer Files

1. Go to Settings >; Wireless & Network >; USB and select Mass Storage
2. Now connect your Galaxy tab USB to your Mac. And tadaa! Now you’ll see the drive for it and you can start dragging your files.

I feel kinda dumb it took me ages to figure out. But there are 9 million searches of this problem. Who would’ve known a USB storage setting will be inside the Wireless and Network Settings =S

Anyway, hope that helps! :)

Kira: Stop lookin’ at me. I didn’t write down his name. He just had cancer.

The nendoroids mourn the death of Steve Jobs.

Check out this test shot with the 50mm f1.4D lens. Watch out for more in my flick.

This doesn’t have a Mac compatibility seal but it does work in Macs for standard use. It’s very fast at 2000dpi and very precise too. It’s very good for graphic design works, not just for gaming. The one i use in the office is Razer Krait. I’ve been using it for 3 years already and still works perfectly! If only my hands are a little bigger for Copperhead!

Please email me at luc@octwelve.com if you are interested. For Singapore delivery only.
I’m still looking for Razer Krait, so if anyone has any brand new, please let me know too! :)

Here are some pics of the mouse.

Technorati Tags: sale razer copperhead mouse, copperhead, razer singapore, cheap razer singapore

Soooo, I decided to make time for studying and enrolled myself in Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. I’m currently taking short courses of multimedia arts during the night. Going home around 10 pm feels zen. No traffic jam, no crowds, just me sitting in the upper deck  of the bus with my book.

There are 3 things that’s keeping me right now. Work, School, and Cityville. :P

I run into this problem when I tried to install Tweetdeck app on my new macbook pro with Mac OS X 10.6.4 Snow Leopard. Adobe Air installation is required before you can install Tweetdeck on any computer. I can install both Adobe Air and Tweetdeck, but when I open Tweetdeck, it shows up an error that Adobe Air is damaged blah blah blah.

I asked for support from Adobe’s forum and after 22 days of waiting, they sent me an applescript which solved the problem.

Click here to download the script to fix the installation problem of Adobe Air on Mac OS X 10.6.4 Snow Leopard