Graphics SIG report, October 2008
By Myles Strous

Yahya Abdal-Aziz announced that the Graphics SIG would join with the Music SIG and the Animation SIG in a Combined Christmas Party to be held on the third Monday of November, replacing the usual Graphics SIG meeting. (For possibly the first time in about twenty years, there will be no December Graphics SIG meeting in 2008! However, the January meeting will proceed as usual in 2009.) Members were reminded that, due to health and Safety laws, all food they bring needs to be commercially packaged. We have also invited the Video, Unix and Communications SIGs to the party.

We then proceeded with new members' introductions and the Question and Answer session. A member commented, to loud acclaim, that the MelbPC location map in PC-Update is outdated and no longer any help for anyone trying to find our office or meetings. John Swann undertook to follow up.

We revisited the idea of offering MelbPC members a Software Evaluation Service (SES) - software reviews that are trustworthy and in depth. Tony Clark believes the Graphics SIG is the natural first contact in MelbPC for graphics software vendors like Adobe, Corel and Microsoft. Yahya gave his opinion, based on experience, that to provide worthwhile reviews in a timely fashion requires an enormous amount of work, and finding people willing to commit to that work. He encouraged Tony to make specific proposals we can take to Committee.

If we do find enough serious volunteers to create an SES team, Yahya suggested, they might also help train Dial Help volunteers who offer support for graphics programs. Perhaps some existing Dial Help volunteers would like to join in. Tony Clark and Yahya Abdal-Aziz will discuss this further and report back. Other members are invited to contact either of them with advice, opinions and - of course! - offers of help.

The meeting's theme is using layers in graphics software. Myles Strous talked about their different uses. He then demonstrated the concept with a flipboard of three transparent sheets, asking members to help by writing or drawing on the different layers.

We visited www.getpaint.net to download the latest version, 3.36, of Paint.NET (pronounced "paint dot net"), a free image and photo-editing program for computers running Windows. It needs the .NET (pronounced "dot net") Framework, version 2.0 or later, installed first; we installed version 3.5 Service Pack 1 from http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/.

Using Paint.NET, Myles then showed the different layer blend modes available. He commented that although each mode has a precise mathematical definition, the best way to understand their effects was to experiment a little. For example, using multiply mode will automatically remove a white background. Most graphics programs that offer layers also include a very similar set of blend modes. Next, John Swann explained the principles of layer masking and showed how to use them. John didn't have his glasses on, and asked "Where's the monitor on this PC?" Admittedly, the LCD monitor is rather tiny, and Yahya agreed to look into getting a suitable upgrade.

Both layer presentations were well received. Members were encouraged to "try this at home" using Paint.NET or any other suitable program.Finally, Yahya gave a quick run-down of several interesting web resources:Terrarium (virtualterrarium):http://www.codeplex.com/terrarium2
Tapissary (constructed script): http://www.tapissary.com/ (Members interested in constructed scripts should also visit http://www.omniglot.com/writing/conscripts.htm/english)
PhysOrg (science and technology news): http://www.physorg.com/
KurzweilAI (science news): http://www.kurzweilai.net/ Volkswagen
Boffin School (noteworthy for its use of graphics in testing): http://www.vwboffinschool.com.au

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Graphics SIG report, Septembert 2008
by Myles Strous

This month's theme was creating animated GIFs. Yahya Abdal-Aziz demonstrated using IrfanView to create stand-alone slideshows and screen-savers. He followed this by showing how to use IrfanView to convert a set of images to GIF format, and then combine them into an animated GIF using UnFREEz. Both IrfanView and UnFREEz are free programs, readily found with Google. A more powerful prgram than UnFREEz is Ulead GIF Animator, but this is not free. On most web sites today, people prefer to use Flash for animation, rather than GIFs.

Tony Clarke led into a discussion about review copies of software. Many reviews in commercial magazines are superficial, reflecting only a short acquaintance with the software. Tony suggested we consider approaching vendors for review copies. Yahya commented that accepting software or books for review commits the reviewer to a serious amount of work, to thoroughly test every aspect of the software, and then to write a fair and balanced report on it, all within a reasonable timeframe.

Yahya showed the use of the Draw Opaque setting in Microsoft Paint, and how to create and use .ico files as custom icons for Windows programs. Afterwards, Yahya indicated some useful websites worth looking at, in the fields of software and photography.

After a break for refreshments and convivial conversation, John Swann returned to the meeting theme and took us through the process of creating the winking cat animation displayed on last month's Graphics SIG website. He used Xara XS to quickly create the image sequence. As usual, John's competence made it look easy. [What a guy!]

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Graphics SIG report, August 2008
by Myles Strous

This month's guiding theme was printing, and the Q&A session led to several suggestions for fixing fine cyan lines or streaks that were appearing across an A4 colour photo print.

Yahya Abdal-Aziz demonstrated printing from 'IrfanView' and the considerable range of options available, including a text footer, which led into a broader discussion on fonts, before we broke for our usual convivial cuppa, cheese and biscuits [Thanks to Pam and Myles Strous for the cheese platter - Yahya].

Myles Strous showed, and spoke briefly about, books on the golden section (or golden ratio), and some inspirational art-related children's books by Peter H. Reynolds,
'The Dot' and 'Ish' (see http://www.peterhreynolds.com/ ).
['The Dot' is the perfect answer to anybody who says 'But I can't draw!' - Yahya]

David Andreassen brought along 'Kitty Luv', an interactive game simulating pet care with entertaining 3D animations (see http://www.pixelparadox.com/arcade_games/kitty_luv_game.htm ).  As a bonus, setting up the game forced Yahya to give an impromptu demonstration of upgrading the video card drivers.