Welcome to the eighth Community Byte for coding in Python and completing the challenges presented to us by HackThisSite. These sessions are created to bring our community together, to learn from each other, and grow together. Everyone is welcome, from novice programmers to aspiring hackers.
Last Friday's mission was to accomplish solving HackThisSite, basic mission 8. This meant that we had to learn some more basic Unix commands.
Welcome to the seventh Community Byte for coding in Python and completing the challenges presented to us by HackThisSite. These sessions are created to bring our community together, to learn from each other, and grow together. Everyone is welcome, from novice programmers to aspiring hackers.
Fatherhood is difficult, especially when you're an octopus. That is the moral of the 2011 IGF Student Showcase winner Octodad, available for free from its website. This hilarious little title was created by a team of interactive media students at DePaul University in Chicago, and is the latest in a stream of successful indie games to come out of collegiate video game design programs. In fact, it's so successful that a sequel is in the works.
Video games consoles have long wanted to be more than just consoles. Nintendo Japan called the NES the Famicom because they wanted to make it the sole family computer. Obviously that didn't work out, and most efforts to make consoles into all-in-one entertainment systems have had similar fates. Sony has done the best job with the Playstation consoles, probably because they have experience with other types of electronics that most video game companies do not.
If you already have your basic keyboard shortcuts under control—we're talking classics here, Control-C (copy for PC) or Command-C (copy for Mac)—it's time to load up your memory bank. There are endless shortcuts available (truly endless—since you can customize them yourself), but you don't need to memorize them all, only those you expect to use most. Below, two cheat sheets for upping your keyboard maneuvering status from "basic" to "intermediate" for both Mac and PC users.
Since its inception in 2007, the Pwn2Own computer hacking contest has been challenging the vulnerability of mobile phones and web-related software. In 2010, the fruit of two full days of hacking came down to the exploitation of the following web browsers: Safari 4 on Mac OS X, Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7, and Firefox 3.6 on Windows 7. The winners walked away with the successfully hacked computer, plus a cash prize, but they left one Godly browser intact: Google Chrome. Even the savviest ...
How to Fix Windows 7 Slow Start Up Is your Windows 7 slower on start up? Wondering how to make Windows 7 super fast? There are various reasons why this operating system performs slower but one common reason is that mostly it happens because of too many start up programs and services running in the background.
PopSci has compiled an amazing list of 30 college labs that would tempt anybody to re-enroll. If you know any high school juniors or prospective grad students, pass this along. They just might reconsider their initial choices.
Whether you're already coding from home or are seeking help as a beginner, now is a great time to find a lucrative job in programming. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that more than 200,000 jobs were created in computer programming in 2019, with a median pay of more than $85,000, and the number is only set to grow over time. If you want to learn to code, The Master Learn to Code 2021 Certification Bundle is your ticket.
Connecting your new smartphone gadget to your desktop isn't just connecting these products with a USB cord. It is important to sync them to allow the transfer of data from your smartphone to your computer and vice-versa. This is desired if you wish to transfer information including images, music in addition to daily schedules from the PC to your portable phone.
In order to complete this 3D spinning cube using OpenGL and GLUT for C++ programming, you need to know the basics of C++ programming. This video lesson covers everything you should already know. Check out the other videos to get the full gist:
Kitzykk shows how to craft mini Pocky stick boxes for dolls in this video. She starts with a real Pocky stick box and carefully opens the box on all ends before unfolding it to lie flat. Using a printer and scanner, she scans a picture of the unfolded Pocky box and drags the scanned image into a program such as MS Word. Once the image is sized perfectly in the program, she prints it onto a sheet of white paper and it is an exact miniature replication of the original. Kitzykk then carefully cu...
Arceus is the 493rd pokemon added to the National Dex. It can be encountered at level 80 which is the highest level wild pokemon in the game. This video will show you exactly how to find and catch the legendary god pokemon Arceus.
In this video tutorial, learn how to get auto-tune into Audacity. This video shows you how to receive a ten day free trial. The success rate of this video is questionable, so if you have trouble: Go into edit/preferences/effects, and make sure all three VST settings are checked. Also make sure that "rescan" is checked. Restart Audacity, and it should work. This video is demonstrated on a PC, and should work for Vista users.
Watch this video from This Old House to learn how to choose exterior paint schemes. Steps:
This article will show you how to make an auto clicker program in Visual Basic Express Edition 2008. An auto clicker is a very useful program that makes your mouse click many times automatically, wherever it's pointed. It's a very good AFK (away from keyboard) program. Just point your mouse on your screen and turn it on! It's very useful for computer games (FPS, MMORPG, and others).
This video offers a few quick tips on how to simplify animation curves with a new feature in Blender 2.53. Whether you're new to the Blender Foundation's popular 3D modeling program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look. Simplify a messy animation curve in Blender 2.53.
In this clip, you'll learn how to bake ambient occlusion (AO) and tangent normals in Blender 2.5 and up. Whether you're new to the Blender Foundation's popular 3D modeling program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look! Bake ambient occlusion and tangent normals in Blender.
In this Blender 2.5 video tutorial, you'll learn how to create a branded coffee cup. This tutorial encompasses the modeling, rendering and texturing of the coffee cup. Whether you're new to the Blender Foundation's popular 3D modeling program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look! Create a 3D model of a coffee...
In this quick Blender 2.5 video tip, you'll learn how appending/linking can be used to bring in elements from another .blend file. These elements can be mesh objects, lamps, materials, or even sculpting brushes. Whether you're new to the Blender Foundation's popular 3D modeling program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions...
This clip demonstrates the basics of adding seams to a model, covering setting up Ambient Occlusion and Environment lights, baking them to a texture map, and applying it to the model. Whether you're new to the Blender Foundation's popular 3D modeling program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look. Add seams to ...
This video clip presents a quick lesson in using the Preserve Transparency switch in Adobe After Effects and why it may be more useful than using a Track Matte in certain situations. Whether you're new to Adobe's popular motion graphics and compositing software or a seasoned video professional just looking to better acquaint yourself with the program and its various features and filters, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including detailed, step-by-st...
This tutorial looks at how to create a map of the wetness left by a particle fluid, so that you can correctly render surfaces with a wet look. It looks at rendering out a point cloud with wetness information, and creating a bespoke shader to correctly render surface using the point cloud. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by ...
This quick three-part series presents an introduction to ForEach SOPs in Houdini 10.
This one-two tutorial offers advice on how to work with bespoke shaders and compositing networks in Houdini 10. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look. Refine 3D trails in Houdini 10 - Part 1 of 2.
This four-part series presents an introduction to some of the techniques for uv mapping in Houdini. This first part introduces the concept of UVs, and looks at UVProject as a way of adding UVs, and UVQuickShade as a way of visualising them. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, i...
This two-part tutorial looks at the techniques for rendering millions of particles in Houdini 10. The first part looks at using the popsolver to manipulate particles using both the standard pop nodes and dynamics forces. We use the interact pop, and random grouping of particles to build an ink like effect. We set up a smoke simulation and use the velocity field of that to advect (move) the particles. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned gra...
This video provides an introduction to basic compositing in Houdini. The first part looks at color and alpha planes, the use of matte shading. It also covers generator and filter compositing nodes, and the beginnings of masking. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including det...
This two-part tutorial looks at the basic techniques for emitting smoke from particles.
This clip uses a smoke example to examine source variations and upres (techniques which are useful preparation for the pyrofx tools). Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look. Upres smoke simulations in Houdini 10 - Part 1 of 2.
This two-part tutorial series offers a look at the basics of smoke simulations. This first part looks at setting up a simulation, the fields involved, how to visualise them. It also looks at temperature and bouyancy as well as vortex confinement. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more informat...
This clip presents a quick look at how to instance lights to particles in Houdini. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look. Instance a light to a particle in Houdini 10.
This clip presents a walkthrough of how to go about creating a particle based explosion in Houdini 10. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look.
This clip offers instructions on how to create your own lighting models using an illuminance loop in a VOP network. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look. Make lighting models in Houdini with illuminance loops.
This Houdini 10 user's guide offers a look at how CHOPs can be used to replicate animation from one object to many, or more precisely to vary that animation. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look. Replicate an object's animation with C...
This clip demonstrates how to create a caustic lighting effect using Houdini's Mantra PBR rendering engine. The first part starts with a refresher on refraction. More generally, guide looks at setting up normals correctly, then at the glass shader in Houdini, faux caustics and shadows, and using an environment light in PBR to generate 'background' reflections. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acq...
This tripartite tutorial series presents an in-depth look at how to use volumes in Houdini 10 — creating them using the volume and IsoOffset SOPs, and adjusting their values. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look. Create and use volume...
This clip offers an introduction to using attributes and local variables in Houdini. It covers vertices (vertexes), points, primitives and details. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look. Set attributes and local variables in Houdini 10...
Learn how to use the Houdini SOP solver to create a realistic burning match effect within Houdini 10. Whether you're new to Side Effects Software's popular 3D production program or a seasoned graphic artist just interested in better acquainting yourself with the application, you're sure to be well served by this free video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, take a look. Create a burning match effect in Houdini 10 - Part 1 of 4.
