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So I have always liked submarines, I think they are pretty neat.  I have wanted to create a 3D sub for a while and finally decided to get started on one..  Instead of going with a more modern design I went with one of the most popular submarine designs of old; the German type VII.   I also have to admit that another reason for this design is that I like the game “Silent Hunter” and the fifth installment of the game is coming out this year.

As I work on it, I’ll post images here to show where I am at and as with all my other posts the top most image will show the latest image or render.

I’m creating this entirely in Modo 401 using my Wacom tablet with the intent to make it as photo-realistic as possible.  That’s gonna be tough because it will force me to model everything in sub-d and it will really make me have to pay very special attention to my models materials, the shader tree and lighting..

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Holy crap, SRS Solutions has done it again..  Previously I pretty much gave up my own theme creation in order to simply use their EOS theme.  It was superior to what I was creating and saved me a whole bunch of time.. But this time they have out done themselves.

The Arjuna theme is outstanding..  I especially like that it works in the exact same way as EOS and so theme switching is 100% seamless!  Thank you guys a bunch.. This is awesome..

I highly recommend this theme, or the EOS theme.

So something that I have been pondering is the creation of a rapid application framework/IDE similar to Delphi for javascript, in javascript..  Bear with me..  This is more or less theoretical conjecture at this point, but it amuses me and I wonder what kind of value there would be to be had from such a platform.

Where Delphi has always excelled, even to this day, is where its IDE and it’s VCL meet – you design the look of the application first, and then slap code in behind it second.   Not the other way around.   Users are given a “form” on which they can drag components from the visual component library.   The VCL is a vast palette of components and elements really allowing you to make your program look however you want..   Afterward positioning everything and making the program look “correct” you go into each component and add the various bits needed to make them do what you want.  

When it comes to rapid application development, Delphi is king.   It beats VB, VC and Java hands down for easy of program design.  This is my opinion of course and largely an opinion based on my experiences with it years ago.   I don’t use it any more but I know a lot of folks still do and it’s doing fairly well..  I also see a lot of elements of Delphi’s innovated IDE in other IDE’s out there.. (*cough*Eclipse*cough*)

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Social Bookmark Icons

So I have added several links to social networking bookmarking sites to each of the pages within the theme..  I really wasn’t sure which ones most folks used so I went with the 4 that I knew the most.. I’m sure I’d be better served by adding twitter, google and others.. but really I’m not sure which ones most folks use.

I had thought of using an addthis.com bookmark button but I don’t know that I want their button on my site.. it’s kind of ugly plus I don’t know that I want to link to them.  I think they do popup ads and I’m not really keen on that..

If more networks are required I’ll likely create my own button system to house them all..

SRS Solutions EOS

So while I am still working on my Windows 7 Wordpress theme, I wanted to go ahead and update off Microblue.

I scoured the internet looking for a theme that I thought looked good and went well with my style.. as well as being well written and designed such that it would be easy to upgrade and edit.

I settled on SRS Solutions EOS.  A very well written theme that has everything I wanted.   Firstly its not a CSS or design nightmare that many themes tend to be.  The colors are well planned out and everything fits together quite nicely.

I have already started to make modifications and I hope to one day get the PSD file for the LayoutBgs.jpg so that I can make minor graphical tweaks..  In a day or two I hope to send them an email asking for the PSD file so I can proceed with my ideas but I’m pretty sure they wont just give it to me.. its their business after all.. 

I just hope they understand they aren’t losing money by giving me to it, as I have no intention of paying for their help (I can do it myself) and that if I have to recreated the PSD file myself I will..   If anything it would only serve to endear me to them even more by giving it to me..   We shall see..

Either way, the folks over at SRS did a good job and I’m more than happy to give them credit where credit is due.

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WPOS7 Screenshot

So I have been plugging away at creating my OS7 theme.. I previously stated that IE8 sucked completely and I have to take that back.   It doesn’t suck completely.. infact, it sucks a lot less than I realized..

I found that I was using IE8 in “quirks mode” and of course it behaved quirky.  My main question is;  What the hell is the point of quirks mode?!  “Here have our browser in a mode that is completely broken.” I just don’t get it.. I guess quirks mode is basically IE6 as they seem to render similarly.. (I have IE6 on my laptop still for testing purposes..) If that’s the case it couldn’t be better named..

Apparently since I had a misspelling (or something) in my doctype it defaulted to quirksmode.. Once I found that I was in the wrong mode, found out why and fixed it, I started to test my new UI in IE7 and IE8.. It actually works!!  Ever so minor bug in IE7, but its hardly worth mentioning..   IE8 works fine, but a little slow. er.. in fact, a lot slow.. IE8 ain’t zippy at all.. continue reading…