Saturday, April 5, 2014

Arduino MIDI Controller Development


We have updated our site with a short article with source code for a Arduino Mega 2560 - Midi Merging Analog Controller

The article is a about a quick mock up of a controller with MIDI IN, MIDI OUT and 3 analog controllers that send MIDI Controller Messages, on the MIDI Channel it receives from the MIDI IN.

The system could be adapted to not use MIDI OUT, and only send via the USB.

We are doing this as a first step in making a controller for VST instruments in our music production environment.  We will be expanding this with more and other controllers.

It could be possible this will also work with the AlternateSerial that produces an extra serial port in software for the UNO version.

This is a short demo video of the mock up



We can be contacted at Art & Technology.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Alleged Facebook Fraud, YouTube, Buying Likes, Subscribers and Social Media


We determined some time ago that Facebook for our business was a waste of time. It just showed the posts I made to such a small percentage of those that LIKED the page that it is a complete joke compared to our actual website and even this blog page views.

And this video seems to explain why.  Even though I haven't bought likes or advertised, I think many people, including myself get impacted by this fraud activity.

I think my subscribers on Facebook AND YouTube (and I would assume all other Social Media Sites too) are mostly on my channel and page to "fool the fraud algorithms".
They have no interest in what I do, but get paid to like or subscribe to OTHER pages and channels, and need a few pages they aren't getting paid to like to make it not so obvious what they are doing.

As of today, my YouTube channel has some 68 subscribers, quite a few from the countries mentioned in the above video, yet I post a new video and get only 6 views, in 3 days and get zilch engagement.

The views on YouTube are also such a small percentage of the our website views that I have often thought it is a waste of effort too. It just happens to be fun to produce the material I post, as it combined our original music and images.

12 months ago I read a few Kindle Marketing Books, and many discussed using fiver.com and other places to buy likes, spam, reviews, comments with links on other sites and such crud.  I haven't done any of that.  I haven't even written my own glowing review of my book on Amazon.   And have now seen that EVERYBODY else does.

Thing is Facebook, Google and the other walled communities profit from this fraud too.  Gives the impression of activity and interest, which keeps people coming back to post more stuff and exposure to the advertising there.

We can be contacted at Art & Technology.






Monday, March 17, 2014

Time Lapse Drawing Car Cartoon "Music" Video - Our Webcomic Style


The first time lapse drawing video we have done.

Put together a "vertical tripod", a sturdy frame that holds a video camera pointing straight down at the work surface. Used on hand shelf construction angle to make a stand that sits on the desk, about 1 meter wide and 58cm tall, with the camera support in the center top.


This is our first go at a 2 minute drawing video. Doesn't start with a blank page, just the photo blue pencil rough, but drawing that looks just like the redraw in ink shown here.

The video is sped up 4x normal in Sony Vegas Movie Studio.  Would like to have it faster, as cut off the start and end to get it to fit here. That requires some pre-processing of the video. Will try that next time.

The drawing style is what we have done for our webcomic. Loose black ink with Photoshoped colour.

The soundtrack was produced in Reaper, our DAW of choice, using real guitar and a bunch of VST synthesisers along with a KORG Monotron....



The Webcomic itself can be found here

We do freelance design work too. We have more examples of vector work and can be contacted at Art & Technology.  



Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Car Comic Strip - Heavy Metal Garage: Car CARtoon Webcomic




Always thought a scribbled single panel style like "Non Sequitur" by Wiley Miller is something I could do... and sustain.

We have put our webcomic at Heavy Metal Garage - Car CARtoon Series webpage.

The scribbled pen is not the normal way we finish things, but this style works.

We also have our eBook there, and have put the webcomic at the top of the page. We are using code based on the ComicGallery php code with additional error checking and fixes.

The font we are using is Heavy Mettle from Blambot.  Seems right for this.

There are enough day to day events that are just weird and funny to fill an infinite number of comic strips and books. We are currently updating it twice a week...

And the truck cartoon above relates to being bullied by trucks on the main roads of Sydney. A pretty common thing.... had an incident recently where a truck from Bastin Transportation , a Sydney Trucking company, pretty much tried to run me, and at the next M2 entry point, a yellow Hills Bus, off the road. Stupid, real Stupid.

And here is one of our a short music videos on the process, with one of our original soundtracks...



We have changed the process a bit and now use a photo blue lead and don't need to erase it after inking. Just select the blue channel in an RGB scan into Photoshop and the blue is gone.

And this Car Renovation strip is available as a tshirt..... 



Contact us at Art & Technology






Monday, December 23, 2013

60s Monster UTE Hot Rod Car Cartoon


60s style Monster Car Cartoon

Now this is just over the top, and is a mess as far as being a great illustration... but it has a few fun things in it.

1. A Hot Supercharged V8 UTE, yes a UTE(!), not too different from the world of Big Daddy Ed Roth.
2. An Ozzie Blue Tongued Monster Driver.
3. Lots of MAD's Don Martin Sound Effects, all taken out of context. Your inner 10 year old loves it.
4. And a Comic Book style Intro.

Yes it is a messy illustration, but it has a whole bunch of nostalgic things in there!

Happy Holidays!  Merry Christmas! Happy Whatever! And have a great New Year.

Contact us at Art & Technology.