Liz Jones is Credit Crunched in the end.....

dopester

fc123 wrote: »

Oh, and DS, if you ever go commercial on customised flicker books in the style of a shoot em up game.....that is easy to do...pls let me know. My nephew would love it.

Ah. Just a quick explanation (sorry to go OT).. it can't yet be done very easily.. (to create your own virtual world then make an instant video, or moving image such as a GIF.. but it wouldn't surprise me if the next generation of consoles are beginning to make it easier for casual users.) I don't think I could make a simple program for someone to do it all simply and near effortlessly.

I used to build my levels with mapping software (but I no longer do that apart from for fun) and it does require some patience for newcomers to learn. At first it is like looking into the Matrix and not being able to see or understand anything. You build into the void using 'brushes' for walls and buildings... positioning and shaping them for the effect you want. Choose your textures to cover/fit them. Has to be all sealed so there are no leaks into the void else it won't compile. Add entities, script it, get your shaders right, and a bunch of other stuff.

When compiled you enter your world in a game-style and take a wander, drive about, shoot stuff up, take down the enemies.. whatever you've story-board included.





A moving image though, such as a gif, is just another form of image like a jpg. They are easy to make in something like Abode Image Ready, and if you find a moving image on the internet (unless it's flash or something) you can hotlink add it here on the forums as easily as you do a regular jpg non-moving image.

PasturesNew

I always use http://www.virgintrains.co.uk because I can see the costs/times of lots of trains on the screen having picked the from/to and date/time ... and I can also click through to check if two singles would be cheaper than a return. I don't use trains, but I do like to look up a lot of potential train journies.

There's also no registration, you just use it.

GeneHunt_2

lostinrates wrote: »

Actually, I have a choce of line, but one of them yes, if I left in the morning I would have as much as thatleft over. Nuts, isn't it?

I stand corrected Liz is obviously a money saving expert;)

fc123

dopester wrote: »

Ah. Just a quick explanation (sorry to go OT).. it can't yet be done very easily.. (to create your own virtual world then make an instant video, or moving image such as a GIF.. but it wouldn't surprise me if the next generation of consoles are beginning to make it easier for casual users.) I don't think I could make a simple program for someone to do it all simply and near effortlessly.

I used to build my levels with mapping software (but I no longer do that apart from for fun) and it does require some patience for newcomers to learn. At first it is like looking into the Matrix and not being able to see or understand anything. You build into the void using 'brushes' for walls and buildings... positioning and shaping them for the effect you want. Choose your textures to cover/fit them. Has to be all sealed so there are no leaks into the void else it won't compile. Add entities, script it, get your shaders right, and a bunch of other stuff.

When compiled you enter your world in a game-style and take a wander, drive about, shoot stuff up, take down the enemies.. whatever you've story-board included.



A moving image though, such as a gif, is just another form of image like a jpg. They are easy to make in something like Abode Image Ready, and if you find a moving image on the internet (unless it's flash or something) you can hotlink add it here on the forums as easily as you do a regular jpg non-moving image.

Sounds techy confusing still ..but possible for a non techy type to do in the future if someone develops the software.

I am desp for some spare time to book a few short courses but can't see it happening for a few months at least.

Fishcake_Random

Wow all the things I could do with 150kpa.
I could buy a vacuum and not have to sweep my carpets like a 40`s housewife for a start. Forget the Beemer, a Hoover is where its at.
x x x

dopester

fc123 wrote: »

Sounds techy confusing still ..but possible for a non techy type to do in the future if someone develops the software.

I am desp for some spare time to book a few short courses but can't see it happening for a few months at least.

The basics of Abode Photoshop/ImageReady are easy to learn fc. There are so many tutorials now on the net - including clear to understand video tutorials which go a long way to making it so easy to learn the basics.

Image resize, crop image, to lasso and cut out the part/person/item you want from a photo. Just google/youtube what you're trying to do for a tutorial. Same for free video tutorials helping on the more advanced stuff. It is how I learned to do things with Photoshop, although I don't use it often and am not an expert with it.

Here is a tutorial on YouTube where he shows clearly how to make an animated gif in Adobe ImageReady. Very similar to how I do it, but instead of loading each image separately, I start with File > Import > Folder as Frames (having previously resized the images to my liking).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z93Z1v5dypE

Here is a gif image I just made using same method as in his tutorial. I already had the images in a folder because the Wilsons are part of a FBI style "shooting-gallery" cardboard enemy map/game I created.... where the Wilsons randomly quickly pop-up/disappear at the windows of a cul-de-sac full of FTB style houses.. mixed in with some cardboard cut-out images of young smiling would-be FTB-type couples whom you've got be careful not to accidentally shoot.

Edit: The Wilsons image Gif removed by understandable request.

lemonjelly

Am not surprised that the locals are infuriated by this woman. Reading the article, I have no sympathy for her. With a |(relatively) huge income like hers, it borders on incomprehensible to the average joe how she can overspend the way she outlines. As has been said earlier in the thread, there is a basic failure to actually budget. You have to wonder why? Is it because she believed her income to be so high she didn't need to budget?

Yet this is also quite indicative of society. It isn't any different to most days I experience at work. The vast majority of debt I experience is through overspending & a failure to budget.

So is this a social problem as well as a personal problem?

I'd argue it is. As an example, I am aware of 1 CAB (covering a city - a major city) who last year dealt with £64million worth of debt. For a city with a population of over 1,000,000, that is (IMO) a phenomenal amount! & of course, that amount is the level dealt with by 1 local organisation, it doesn't account for those with IVA's, or dealt with by other charities etc.

lemonjelly

Dopester, can you get rid of that gif now? Only usually I'm a very mild-mannered person, but am struggling to fight the urge to take a baseball bat to my PC.

carolt

dopester wrote: »

Here is a gif image I just made using same method as in his tutorial. I already had the images in a folder because the Wilsons are part of a FBI style "shooting-gallery" cardboard enemy map/game I created.... where the Wilsons randomly quickly pop-up/disappear at the windows of a cul-de-sac full of FTB style houses.. mixed in with some cardboard cut-out images of young smiling would-be FTB-type couples whom you've got be careful not to accidentally shoot.

Love the game, dopestar.

I think you could market that one quite successfully...especially in certain SE towns...

lostinrates

lemonjelly wrote: »

Am not surprised that the locals are infuriated by this woman. Reading the article, I have no sympathy for her. With a |(relatively) huge income like hers, it borders on incomprehensible to the average joe how she can overspend the way she outlines. As has been said earlier in the thread, there is a basic failure to actually budget. You have to wonder why? Is it because she believed her income to be so high she didn't need to budget?

Yet this is also quite indicative of society. It isn't any different to most days I experience at work. The vast majority of debt I experience is through overspending & a failure to budget.

So is this a social problem as well as a personal problem?

I'd argue it is. As an example, I am aware of 1 CAB (covering a city - a major city) who last year dealt with £64million worth of debt. For a city with a population of over 1,000,000, that is (IMO) a phenomenal amount! & of course, that amount is the level dealt with by 1 local organisation, it doesn't account for those with IVA's, or dealt with by other charities etc.

It oes sound like a huge income but, the costs of good land managment are not negliable, as this same group of people are now finding. It all builds up: especially if you are using contractors for things, but of course then you save the maintanance of machinary.

Its not a matter of buying a field and then costs over: let aloe buildings farm mainataince and insurances etc. Insurance (and rates) are increasingly a problem.

DH and I were wondering yesterday, for exampe, if a livery yard where the yard manager taught but only those in livery with her, and not necessarily them, just if they wanted it, was technically a riding school or not. It matters you see, for rates and insurances. We know people who operate under the basis it is only a livery yard: but many (most?) people running livery yards would do a bit of teaching on the side.

If Li had someone in keeping a horse at her place with Li's horses the correct insurances might cost as much as one or two horses livery would pay. So people do it without the insurances, and simialrly evade the rate this would incurr. That, IMO, is wrong, but while it cntinues to be too expensive to do it properly why would people come under the banner?

Public liability insurance is pretty important for any land owner really.