Making the jump to 'Maverick Meerkat'

Like so many others, I too downloaded the newest Ubuntu release version:10.10. Which happened to release on October 10, 2010. I did a fresh install today (over my existing 10.04.1 partition). From first glance, I honestly could't tell that much of a difference from 0.04. LTS). Sure, the new wallpaper looked nice. But the overall experience was still pretty much the same. Nothing seemed to be lost or gained in the new version of the Live CD.

Then, I launched the installer. And to my surprise, I was looking at a new install wizard. It had a few checkmarks denoting that my system had adequate free hard drive space, memory, and an Internet connection. Then I stepped through the somewhat simplified wizard and was underway with installing a lot quicker than I had remembered the process being. One of the big differences I saw were 2 new options before committing to the install.
1- Download updates during install.
2- the option to install 3rd party codecs like MP3 support during install.

I took both of the options for experimentation sake. And they worked flawlessly. My next steps were to download the restricted driver for my nVidia graphics card, run the Update Wizard (which came back as updated), and try out Gwibber. I was one of the many who were affected with Gwibber issues in 10.04.1 LTS. It just wouldn't function right (or at all in some cases).

For those who haven't used it, Gwibber is a social networking app that aggregates status updates from sites like Faceboook and Twitter (and several others). I setup my Twitter account with no issues. But the Facebook setup still wouldn't work. But no worries, Empathy picks up some of the slack; allowing access to Facebook chat instead of logging in only on the website. My next moves were to install some of the other apps I like to use (like Gimp and OpenShot). Which installed fine. I also setup Compiz with my desired effects, and downloaded Ubuntu Tweak (which I will have a review on very shortly).

After installing the Chrome web browser and downloading some custom wallpapers, and installing Docky to replace the bottom GNOME panel; I was once again happy with the way my Ubuntu install looks and feels. Cannonical has once again brought the world another great version of Ubuntu with many more features under the hood that I can't wait to try out.

By the way, a review will be showing up soon about the Ubuntu One features. And hopefully, I can find a way to replace my iTunes music shopping habits with the Ubuntu One music store that is integrated with RhythmBox. To my dismay, all of the songs I have purchased in the last week from iTunes for 99 cents, are on the Ubuntu music store for just 77 cents. What can I say, I'm cheap. LOL

Happy surfing!

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3D Fun!

Well, I've recently downloaded Blender and have been taking a stab at learning how to create 3D images (and possibly animations).  I have always had somewhat of a creative side; finding joy in drawing and painting quiet a bit in my younger days.  Due to time constraints and limitations in working space, breaking out the old paint set and easel isn't that feasible for me.  Plus the cleanup, nope.  Takes too long.  Ok, so I'm lazy.  Don't judge. :)

Anyways, I have been playing with digital painting in Gimp and have always been interested in what goes in 3D design and production.  Seeing as how I am a huge proponent of 'Open-Source' software, I figured I would try and learn in an open-source environment. 

The tools I use are: Blender 2.5 Alpha (has a nice new interface, and works pretty well too), The Gimp, and a program I stumbled on by accident: MakeHuman.  So far I have modeled some very basic things in Blender, but have been very proud of my accomplishment of adding fur to the pre-modeled monkey head that comes with Blender using a great tutorial site at: http://www.blendercookie.com/

I have yet to attempt modeling a human (they were always my weak spot in illustrating).  A long time ago I had tinkered with an old version of Poser; which did a great job creating and posing 3D models of people.  However, lacking $250 dollars to purchase a recent copy of Poser to help in my learning process, I found MakeHuman.

MakeHuman seems to do a lot of what Poser does.  It allows for quick and simple creation of human 3D models.  It allows pretty easy customization using sliders and toggles to configure the model the way you would like.  MakeHuman also allows exporting the models for use in other 3D packages such as Blender, 3D Studio Max, Wavefront, etc.  The setup reminds me a lot of character creation tools employed in video games.  But you seem to have quite a bit of control over the final outcome.  The models generated are pretty high-poly count models as well; so they should look pretty good when imported into your editor of choice.

The great things about MakeHuman: it does everything I need it to do at this time quickly, easily, and for free.  MakeHuman is Open-Source Software and has cross-platform support for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

There are other alternatives for people looking to break into 3D modeling and design.  If you're interested you should check out: Daz 3D Studio and Caligari TrueSpace (which are both free 3D software packages with great support).

Happy Surfing!

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