#This entire image should stay the same size

[oscarwetnwilde]

Bless that Merchant Ivory documentary for blessing me with a high-quality and detailed version of this beautiful image from Maurice.

[alicenthighstower]

TILE TRANSITION TUTORIAL

a couple of people have asked me for a tutorial on how I did the penultimate gif in this set, so here goes! this is my first tutorial, so please feel free to reach out with further questions if anything's unclear.

note: this tutorial assumes you know the basics of gifmaking, can create the base gifs, and are familiar with timeline mode.

STEP ONE: create the base gifs! I'd recommend staying between 25-40 frames for each gif, since the transitions we'll use later tend to increase gif sizes. these are the ones I'll be using for this tutorial:

STEP TWO: create the guide layouts for both base gifs. for this panel, I chose a 4x4 grid — I would recommend keeping the number of "tiles" low because it can get tedious, but have a minimum of 9 (3x3 grid).

now your canvas should look like this:

STEP THREE: create the tiles. this is where the going gets rough; there might be easier ways to do this that I couldn't think of 😭 if there are any please send me an ask!

essentially, in this step we'll cut up the base gifs into smaller squares so that each tile can be manipulated separately when we put both gifs together. to do this, first create a square using the rectangle tool and the guides. then duplicate the base gif, move it above the square, apply a clipping mask, and then convert the clipped gif and square (selected in the image below) into one smart object.

ALTERNATELY: you could duplicate the original base gif and use layer masks to isolate tiles. create a layer mask for the duplicated gif layer and, with the layer mask selected, drag your mouse over a square (using the guide layout) and press delete. then press ctrl/cmd + i to invert the layer mask so that the gif only shows in the square of your choosing.

now repeat until you've got the entire gif in tiles, and do the same for the other gif!

since the transition effect is achieved by staggering the crossfades for each tile of the final gif, you can cheat by having multiple tiles "flip" at a time, ideally no more than four. this means you need to cut the base gif up into fewer pieces. to do this, simply draw multiple squares instead of one and then merge the shapes, before duplicating and clipping the gif onto them.

if you do this, it's essential to remember that you have to divide both gifs up in the exact same way. each piece of the b/w gif has to correspond to a piece of the purple gif!

this is what the layers look like for each gif once I'm done:

I have them lettered so that it'll be easier to match them up in the next step.

STEP FOUR: this is the complicated bit that took me two days to figure out. I'll do my best to explain but don't hesitate to reach out if something isn't clear!

to begin, open up a new psd and import both base gifs into it. (remember to click "create video timeline" and ensure that your gifs are all in order before proceeding.)

now, the trickiest part about this transition is ensuring that all the little tiles sync up so that the larger gif is coherent. so first we'll create some markers (just empty layers) to ensure that everything lines up as it should. — marker 1: at about halfway through the first gif (b/w in this case) — marker 2: at about a quarter of the gif length — marker 3: close to the end of the gifs

at this point we're ready to start bringing in the tiles. I'm going to delete the base gifs from this new psd just to keep things cleaner!

first thing to do is import my b/w tile. move the timeline slider over to marker 1 and split the first gif. (if it helps, rename the split gifs and add (start) and (end) to the two halves.) then, move the (end) half to the beginning of the timeline, and the (start) half to line up with marker 3.

the purple tile is easier to manage. simply import it into the psd and line it up with marker 2.

your timeline should now look like this:

notice the overlap between the gifs at their beginnings and ends — this is where you'll be able to cascade the tiles flipping, so it helps to have a significant amount of overlap.

crop the three gifs for this tile as you see fit! since this is the first tile I want to flip from b/w to purple, I'll crop gif 1a (end) all the way to the current position of the timeline slider (red line with blue tip) and leave the beginning of gif 2a uncropped. for the flip from purple to b/w, I'll crop both gifs a bit.

once that's done, drag all three gifs onto the same level in timeline so they form a video group. your timeline should look something like this:

now you just repeat the process for all the other tiles! as long as you made sure that all the tiles in one gif correspond with tiles in the other gif in step three, this should be a fairly painless process. make sure to crop the starts/ends of the gifs separately so that they don't all flip together.

this is what my layers look once I've done all the tiles:

and the gif!

STEP FIVE: transitions! click on the half-white square (top right of the left column in the timeline, beside the scissors) and select the crossfade transition, then drag it between two gifs in a video group. it should create a two-triangle symbol and shorten the overall length of the video group.

apply the transition to all the tile flips, ensuring that the duration of all transitions is constant. this can sometimes be tricky because ps likes to change the duration of each transition, so right click on the transition symbol and manually change all your transition durations to be the same.

your layers should now look something like this:

STEP SIX: draw the grid. bring back the guide layout from step two and using the line tool (I like 2px thickness), trace the grid. adjust opacity as you see fit (50-80% is usually a good idea), so that the canvas looks like this:

STEP SEVEN: export and celebrate! you're done!

I hope this tutorial made sense and was easy to follow, and happy giffing! my inbox is always open for any questions <3

[imabeautifulbutterfly]

Congrats on the followers!

If it pleases you, Wrecker with 12 and 27.

Hasta próximo!

Hola @merkitty49, thank you for the love and for the request, mi compadre. I hope you enjoy this little fic with Wrecker.

Love oo,

I'm Here

Warnings: Unrequited love, mentions of death, loss of a loved one, crying, fluff, cuteness. I think that's it, if I miss anything please let me know.

Main Master List   |  Star Wars Fic Roulette

Wrecker was trying to find his spritely little explosive technician. Not that you were really needed, since he handled all the explosives for The Bad Batch anyway, but he didn’t mind when you joined. He even made sure Hunter agreed to let you stay. 

He liked you, maybe a lot more than he should’ve. After all, you wouldn’t be interested in him, right? Whenever they went to a village or town, all the women always flocked around his other brothers. It was rare for any of them to bother with him. Maybe it was the scar on the side of his face, or the prosthetic eye… maybe it was his size. 

There were times when you looked at him that he thought, maybe … maybe there was something more between the two of you, maybe there was a chance you felt the same as he did. Yet, he reminded himself that he was being delusional. 

“There you are!” He practically screamed for joy when he found you sitting on the highest point of a boulder, he did his best to climb up to you, although his armour was a little in the way. “What are you doing up here?” He chuckled as he sat down.

“Everything looks beautiful from up here.” You answered sincerely as you kept your eyes on the horizon, the valley below was lush and the leaves were changing colours, the usual green was sprinkled throughout with orange, yellows and red. It made the war seem a distant memory.

Wrecker followed your gaze and hummed in agreement, “Yeah, you’re right. It is beautiful.” His eyes glanced over to your face, there was a perfect sense of serenity encompassing your beautiful face, your eyes were filled with joy and peace. It was a rare sight to see you like this and he’d treasure this image all the more. 

“Were you looking for me?” You forced your eyes to look at Wrecker, not that you really needed to force yourself to look at him. After all he was Wrecker, the man with big muscles, a big smile, and an even bigger heart. The moment he introduced himself, you were besotted; and you only wished you could’ve opened your heart to him. Only wished you could take his hand and declare how much he really meant to you, but you weren’t ready. It hadn’t even been two years since you lost your fiance when the Separatist invaded your planet, and as much as you wanted to move on, somehow it just didn’t feel right to. At least not just yet. And truthfully, Wrecker didn’t look at you like that, why would he?

“Hunter says that we’ll be heading into town soon to get supplies and dinner, I wanted to check if you wanted to come.”

“Yeah…” You stretched, easing out your muscles from sitting too long on not the most comfortable boulder, “I need to get some supplies. I found a formula that could make our explosives ten times stronger, and more efficient.” You slowly stood, Wrecker’s hand following you to make sure you didn’t fall.

He let out a laugh, “Ha! Now there’s someone after my own heart.”

You chuckled, shaking your head, “Come on, I’ll tell you what I have planned.” And you did, the entire walk to and from the town, that’s all you and Wrecker talked about, explosives, the formula, possible uses, it was perfect really. You never had to put on airs around Wrecker, never had to act like you should be interested in other things, you both loved explosives, and that’s all that mattered. 

“You should’ve joined our crew sooner.” He shouted triumphantly when his own heart shouted for joy that there was someone else who understood him better than his brothers. Who didn’t question his love of things exploding. 

His eyes focused on your beautiful face, as the setting suns gave you the most radiant glow. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t pull his eyes away. 

“Well that may have been difficult, my life … was very different a few years ago.”

He’d known about your fiance, it was one of the first things he learned about you when he found you crying and clutching the pendant on your neck. And even though you’d been with them for almost a year now, he could see how you still clutched it, under your tunic. 

“Right.” It was the only acknowledgment he wanted to offer, he hated seeing you sad, gloomy wasn’t you, you were happy, usually smiling, so he made an effort to not let you get downcast while he was around. “Well, I’m glad you’re with us now. Now, I have a buddy who can blow things up with me!”

You smirked, his joy was always beyond infectious, and inevitably you were laughing. 

“Thanks, Wrecker. It means a lot. You guys always made me feel like I belonged, and … I appreciate it. It’s nice to have family again.”

Wrecker took a chance and brushed some of your hair gently off your face, after the wind had pushed it there, “We won’t leave you behind, cyar’ika. You’re stuck with us for a long time.”

You’re not sure why, but at that moment it struck a chord with you and you couldn’t stop crying, he didn’t hesitate and pulled you in for a hug. He was grateful his brothers hadn’t lingered around outside when they got back to the Marauder, so no one would see you fall apart, “It’s okay, I'm here.”

You nodded, wiping your tears as you laughed, “I’m sorry, I’m just … really happy.”

“I’m glad cyar’ika.”

“If you two are quite done” Crosshair seethed out, he wanted to rest, but with Wrecker’s loud voice it was always difficult to actually fall asleep. 

“Sorry, Cross. We’re coming.” You offered, you both gave him your best puppy dog eyes to appease him. 

“Oh, don’t be cute.” He mumbled in annoyance, at the two of you. 

You laughed, wanting to goad him a little more, “Wait, you think I’m cute?” Both you and Wrecker falling into a fit of laughter. 

“Ugh! Shut up” was all Crosshair offered as he headed to his cot, to get some rest before you all had to leave for your next mission.

Main Master List   |  Star Wars Fic Roulette

Tag list:

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[angel-in-shibari]

god, okay

so I'm in this discord server that's for a bunch of ao3 authors who mainly write kink and stuff. for some reason, the owner made me a mod for that server. I didn't have an interview with her or anything, she kinda just told me "you're a mod now". and idk, I think it's been really weird for me.

so there's a rule that chats stay in one channel and images and videos go in other channels, just to keep conversations separate. and of course in the media channels, people will chat in response to the media. but there's not supposed to be full on conversations in the media channels. and I try to enforce that rule but I don't know what counts as a conversation. like, five messages back and forth? ten? a different mod said two full pages is her limit, but that means different things depending on your screen size.

and then just today, I had a different situation. so I posted something I found hot in the nsfw media channel. I will admit, it was pretty heavy and definitely not for everyone. but I didn't think it needed a spoiler tag. so when someone posted a barfing emoji, I was like "oh yeah, haha, I guess my kinks are a bit intense even in this very heavily porn-centric server *nervously laughs*" but the person who posted the barf emoji said it as a joke I think? I'm not entirely sure. so anyways, a few minutes go by, and the owner comes and she times the barfer out for 24 hours for kink shaming. and like, I know that kink shaming is against the rules. I should have said something. but I felt like then I'd be abusing my power as a mod.

idk. the owner is a super close friend of mine, and she trusted me and made me a mod. so I feel like I kinda of owe it to her to try. but I'm constantly worried I might say something that'll piss people off or accidentally kick someone for something really minor that isn't a huge deal.

and then the owner will complain about things in the private mod channel, like how certain people will piss her off but not technically break any rules and how she just doesn't like some people. and I'm worried that if I'm not a mod, she would say the same about me behind my back. but she doesn't ever ban or kick the people she doesn't like. and I'm too nervous to do it for her. sometimes I wish she'd just run the server like an absolute dictator and sorta use me to enact her will. because then at least we'd still be friends. but she'd probably piss off a lot of people who read her stories. so she'd never actually do that.

idk. being a mod is stressful.

[birgittesilverbae]

mary x shannon + darkness

should have expected the comics to contribute to brainrot but as usual I instead jingled my way to the guillotine like the painted fool I am

//

Night has long since fallen, shrouding Cat's Cradle in darkness, but the convent remains alive with activity as groups of Sister Warriors return from their patrol routes. Shannon sits in the refectory, knee bouncing anxiously beneath the table as she attempts to maintain an outward appearance of calm. 

In the weeks since she arrived at the Cradle, Shannon's become fast friends with Mary, so it's normal to seek her out after a patrol. It's entirely normal. Expected, even. That's what the other sisters do, after all: linger restlessly in the entry hall and refectory and chapel awaiting the return of their comrades. So if Shannon's sitting at her usual seat in the refectory, face lit from below by the desk lamps, a plate of food she'd saved for Mary growing colder with every passing moment, it's normal.

Minutes pass, stretch long around her, a burn growing in her calf at the constant circuit of plantarflexion-relaxation-plantarflexion-relaxation. The room grows quiet as patrol after patrol filters through, grabs a bite to eat between debriefs and visits to the infirmary and armoury. Finally, when only a few sisters remain, when only one patrol remains unaccounted for, Shannon hears the roar of a motorcycle engine coming up the drive.

She starts up out of her seat, one leg getting so tangled in the bench that she has to hop to tug her foot free. She crosses the room at a measured pace – definitely a walk, absolutely a walk – and reaches the entry hall at the same moment the outer doors swing open. 

In the shadow of night, the shape is indistinct, but then Mary steps forward into the light and she's–

"Mary, did you steal a child?"

"Got her for a pretty penny, actually. Thou shalt not steal, and all that." There's a familiar rasp to Mary's voice that for some reason calls to mind those few sessions of combat skills Mary had taken part in of her own volition, before she'd caught a strike to the throat and sworn off them altogether. She trudges across the entry hall, adjusting her grip on the child resting on her hip. A girl, from the bits Shannon can make out sticking out from beneath the oversized jacket she's wearing. She looks too old to be carried in that manner, her limbs gangly with new growth, but the grip she has on Mary's sweater makes her seem far younger than her size belies. "Shan, this is Beatrice. Beatrice, this is Shannon. I've got to go, but–"

Beatrice's voice doesn't quite fit the image Shannon's cobbled together in her quick scan. She remains prim and proper despite needing the sleeves of Mary's jacket rolled up to free her hands, despite the knobbly jut of her bare feet, skeletal tree limbs brushing the open air. "Please don't leave me."

There's a splatter of blood under Beatrice's left ear, visible only when she buries her face in the hollow of Mary's collarbone. The sight of it makes Shannon's gorge rise, but if Mary is this calm then it must not belong to either of them. 

She's not sure that it makes it any better.

Mary presses her hand to the centre of Beatrice's back, her eyes wide when they find Shannon's. What do I do? she mouths. 

Shannon shrugs helplessly, but steps forward, holding her arms open. "Hello, Beatrice," she says gently, but the girl doesn't raise her head, and her grip on Mary's sweater only tightens further.

"Please stay," Beatrice says, the sound almost lost in the folds of fabric. "Please stay."

Mary lets loose a resigned sigh. "Okay, kid. Okay. I got you. I got you, Beatrice. I won't let go." 

[hayaku14]

hello why is kaishin more popular than shinkai or what i mean is why bottom shinichi is like the most widely believed one? lol not really in the fandom just vaguely familiar with the anime from childhood it's just my mutuals likes this ship. i'd thought shinichi being the top would be more popular given his personality.

anon sorry for the late answer!!

imma be real honest with you, anon, i've loved the kidco dynamic since i was conan-sized but i only realized kaishin should be making out around 2021 so i don't know if i'm the best person to answer this question LOL BUT, i'll give you an answer!

tbh, i think for fandom shipping in general, the main character more often than not is the chosen bottom and whoever else is the other party is topping them. in japanese media especially, the ship names are mostly born from putting the kanji of their names together wherein the order of which indicates the seme and uke. since this happens early on, we kinda get stuck with that as the popular ship name whether you prefer the other way later on.

perhaps kaishin is more popular but not entirely by a lot compared to other ships where it's completely skewed to one side. i see a lot of shinkai too. ofc there are people who prefer one way over the other exclusively and that's completely fine!

personally, i think confining them into seme and uke or top and bottom does a great disservice to the kaishin dynamic because to me we should be looking at their sub-dom dynamic more and why they're actually peak switch sub and dom!!!!

that's fucking right kaishin is actually peak switch and i will die on this fucking hill!!!!!!!!!!

when you say shinichi would be the "obvious top," i'd like to assume in your heart you actually meant "the obvious dom" (LOL) but i think that could also apply to kaito.

i think the appeal of kaishin is the push and pull between them. the give and take. they're always trying to one-up each other. sometimes one pushes and the other gives way, sometimes it's the other way around.

i will be honest, perhaps switch pairings might just be my preference but I have never encountered a pairing that felt this completely equal in the switch department more than kaishin. like for other ships i'd sometimes be like, "yeah they switch but A is 70% more dom than B." But for kaishin I'm like, "oKAY THEY'RE 50/50 THEY'RE EQUALS THEY'RE PERFECT HALVES RAAAAAHHHH"

now how does this answer your question? well, i have no proof and im going off of vibes and like i said im no veteran in this ship fandom but, i think a lot of people do enjoy the other way around as you think it would've been. it's just that...it's something that can just be filed under the kaishin tag too. because it's basically the same sometimes. the only different thing is who's topping and bottoming. like sometimes i'm scrolling through twitter and i'd see art that's giving shinkai but it's tagged as kaishin and vice versa lol.

also personally i prefer calling them kaishin because i love the letter k and i associate the name shinkai more with makoto shinkai so every time i see people refer to kaishin as shinkai, my mind just conjures up an image of kaito, shinichi, and makoto shinkai together and i know that's fucking hilariously weird but it sometimes happens!!!! LMAO so even if i'm thinking about shinkai stuff, i still prefer using the name kaishin lol.

(but having the kaishin/shinkai distinction is definitely still useful especially for people who want to filter through one way or the other so fuck yeah to the ship name shinkai you're here to stay!!!)

anyway in conclusion, top shinichi is popular too dw lol, or maybe i should say bottom kaito is popular too lol i see yalls

also sorry that this answer is not only late but also a whole essay that doesn't even straightforwardly answer your question lol my bad anon

[antimonyandthyme]

martian inception au

In Seb’s notebook, in his scratchy scrawl Mark has grown very accustomed to reading:

Side effects – no dreaming

That’s it, no dreaming. Seb doesn’t write, Failure differentiating reality and dream, because any dreamer worth their salt should know which boundaries they strictly do not cross. They create and shatter worlds in their heads and the one thing they give up is the ability to do this without being hooked to a PASIV. That’s not too bad, considering.

But if you bothered to flip the page:

Sub side effects

Entire paragraphs dedicated to specific complications for each role, extractor, chemist, architect, point man. Under forger:

Loss of self

The first time Mark realizes it’s happening, Seb walks by him in a dream. Seb walks by him and ignores him, as if Mark were merely a projection of the dreamer.

Bewildered and irrationally hurt, Mark goes, “Seb?”

His voice is the safety click off a gun. Seb flinches and looks around wildly. Projections aren’t supposed to speak.

It takes a moment before Mark looks down at his hands, and realizes they’re the wrong ones. He turns his back to Seb, and changes to what he assumes—hopes—is the appearance he should be wearing.

“There you are,” Seb snaps. He only gets like this when he’s worried. “I couldn’t find you.”

Mark makes up some ridiculous excuse. Got turned around in the maze, or something like that, as if any of them would ever get turned around in a maze.

Seb looks at him. “Don’t let it happen again.”

Mark doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t make promises he can’t keep.

--

Ironically, it’s Seb who notices last. He’s not being careless. His faith in Mark is just so unshakable that he doesn’t look back when he hears the fall of Mark’s footsteps behind him. Among the hardest things to forge is a person’s gait. Distributing weight and sound according to the target’s walking habits is an intricate and tedious task. Seb can always tell it’s still Mark, even when he wears a different face.

So Seb doesn’t look back.

Jenson does, though. Coming out of a dream, all of them nearing the final kick, and Jenson looks back.

Mark is wearing a stranger as his skin.

Jenson waits until Seb’s gone on ahead. And then he punches Mark so hard Mark will probably feel it for a week in reality.

“Are you trying to break his heart?”

Mark looks down at his hands again.

“Get your shit together,” Jenson demands.

Mark shifts back, and when he wakes, he places two fingers on his own face, and is surprised to see them appear correct.

--

He forgets his totem once. Forgets it, because the last person he was forging doesn’t have one. So he leaves it behind when he goes to get groceries. Chocolate chips and bananas, because Seb wants to make chocolate chip banana bread.

When he gets back, Seb is waiting for him. He has Mark’s swiss army knife cradled in his hand.

Seb knows every stitch of Mark’s totem. Seb helped create Mark’s totem, reasoned that they could custom the knife so elaborately that no extractor would be able to recreate the exact version which belonged to Mark. Sometimes Mark thinks his totem is better off residing in Seb’s hands. These days he shifts so often he doesn’t need it any longer. In reality his hands stay the same. In dreams, his hands change shape and size and colour.

There, no totem needed. Seb doesn’t even need to worry.

“Mark.” Seb’s voice is wobbly. He’s gone and figured it out. Because of course he has.

Mark places the grocery bag on the table. The veins running atop his hand are as unfamiliar as the hundreds of dendrites splitting out from the Indus River.

“Side effect,” he says.

“No more jobs until this stops,” Seb says. Mark can hear him trying to be authoritative, brave. Seb comes close, and wraps Mark’s fingers around his totem. “Don’t ever leave this behind again.”

Seb’s hand above his. Mark tries to memorize the image, but he’s not sure if it’ll take. Almost trickier than an Inception.

--

Jenson puts his research skills into good use, and finds an island off the coast of Victoria that houses a population of zero. He arranges transport and food and beer to last Mark a month at least. Mark spends the first two days drinking his way through the supplies, and considers radioing Jenson to send more.

He holds up his hand to the sun. It’s gotten severely tanner. Jenson forgot sunscreen. But the shapes are good. The knuckles aren’t sewn together by someone playing at god. The angles won’t cut him open.

Mark drinks away the sting of abandonment. The team’s in Toronto for a job. He wonders who their forger is. He drinks some more.

In the third week he dreams.

Real dreams—they’re confusing. There’s no story, no plotline. There’s no job. There's no point. Mark’s falling down a chasm of mirrors. The faces reflected back are not his own. Mark’s smashing every mirror with his bare hands. Mark’s watching the blood run down in rivulets, real enough to taste.

On second thought, maybe these dreams are the ones that make the most sense.

--

Even after an alcoholic induced state lasting three and a half weeks, Mark’s still capable if he wants to be. He finds a way to get off the island. And then he goes to find them.

More specifically, he goes to rescue them from some botched mission.

“I leave for one month,” Mark says. He’s allowed to be dramatic, and a little smug. He pulls them out of the third layer, and then the second layer, and then the first. Each time with his own goddamn hands. It’s as if he has the strength to bend steel.

Seb doesn’t let go. Refuses to let go even as they exit the dream. Mark looks down at their joined hands. Seb’s hand fits perfectly in his, as it has always done.

Yeah. That looks just about fine.

[headspacedad]

excitement time

so - how many of you don't watch your feet when you walk around inside your house? And how many of you go barefoot in the same conditions? I want you to remember your answer.

Because this morning I got up and wandered into the bathroom, sat down on the toilet and looked, naturally, back the way I'd just come. Now, my eyes aren't the best when I first wake up and I thought to myself: 'self, that is one big ass piece of fabric lying there in the doorway you just came through'. Because Sam, you see, likes to chew fabric and so I'm used to small pieces of it scattered everywhere thanks to his hole-punch jaws. But this - this was big for a Sammy scrap of fabric and it was -

pointy.

Lots of pointy in fact.

'There is no way' I thought, still seated, 'that that is a spider. It's not round enough.

But it sure as hell looks like a spider with those legs.'

I'm from Florida. In Florida we get Bugs. There's a lot I can deal with. Not happily but I can deal. Careful, I lean forward a little bit and squint and yeah - that's not spider.

Also yes, it is Very Definitely A Bug.

A golf-ball sized bug

before you added the legs.

Well by now I'm not happy, very carefully getting some pants on, not looking away from it. It hasn't moved and its sitting there in the middle of the floor so I'm thinking its dead (bugs have a weird habit of crawling out into the middle of my floor in this current place I'm staying before they die). That thought - I have lived a long life upon this earth and I am not about to get stupid now when it comes to a giant bug I don't recognize that might be dead but might not.

Briefly, probably longer than I should, I consider attempting to clear the doorway the bug is blocking to get my cell phone to take a picture because 'holy shit, I need a record of this thing, mostly to share with friends to gross/creep out but also, perhaps, to identify it later'. Luckily, my non-social media side of my brain kicks in and points out that just because its not moving now doesn't mean it won't be moving soon and if I take my eyes of this thing and it disappears I'm going to have to take my rabbit, put him in my car, and then lose my security deposit because I'm going to have to burn the entire trailer to the ground.

I find a nearby box of hair dye and carefully position myself in my well honed 'cockroaches always run just as the box drops' position which means I'm ready to immediately leap onto the toilet lid. I slam it down. The bug is crushed underneath the box!!

But is he really? Because its a box of hair dye, not a book. There are a lot of light things in a box of hair dye, it doesn't have a lot of solid weight behind it. I do the grind and twist method with it. Then I very carefully lift an edge, ready to retreat to the sink top this time. The bug is dead! Very squished and very dead. I am triumphant!

I still have no idea what the bug was.

Taking my sister's advice, I type "Big ass North Carolina bug" into the search engine of my laptop and hit images. I regret hitting 'images'. I persist. And there! There it IS! Sure enough - it is, indeed, a big ass NC bug'.

It's a Camel Cricket.

I'm going to put it under a read more because I love you, dear followers and potential stranger.

That was what was in the doorway of my bathroom. That I did not see, as I walked with my bare feet into the bathroom. Somehow some guardian angel somewhere, caught my foot just enough to have me step over this thing and settle down, soles of my feet unmolested.

I also feel I should point down that, last night, before the BAB was found in the bathroom, Sam, sleeping under the covers of the bed with me, woke me up thumping. I reached down, patted his head and then eventually moved him when he kept thumping at me. He went back to sleep. I went back to sleep. The night was very dark.

For my own sanity, I chose to think Sam was thumping, something he never does, for an entirely unrelated reason.

[unknown-goose]

Raison D’être: The Reason For…

In which anomalies are brought to light, yet there’s still so much unknown

A Transformers:Prime Story

———————————————————————

"I’m not sure if it will be of much help to you, but I suppose there’s no harm in offering a helping hand." Void proposed

"Are you certain you are willing to part with such a treasured relic?" The Prime inquires

"Absolutely. Anything for a noble cause far greater than my own." Zero hesitation in her words

Void then turns around, powers flickering to life in her left hand, coating it in a thick, black, venom-like substance. With her newly formed claws she waves her hand in a sharp diagonal slash through the air, opening a vaguely rectangular portal to The Deep Sea roughly half the size of the average bot. Only a few feet in the distance could it be seen. View mostly clear, its image slowly etching its way through the dark.

It was massive, taking up almost the entire height of the portal. Its sheer size alone drew a number of questions about its origins. Its blade was held at an angle by the sand below. There appeared to be a small, vaguely diamond-shaped cutout in the hilt for what could only assumed to be a gemstone; of which Void had known to be long since lost to time. Despite the missing stone the remainder of this exceptional blade was in pristine condition, appearing as though it had been forged only yesterday. The color however was difficult to discern, muddied by the portals dark haze. It struck Optimus as familiar, but unable to put a pin on how exactly. He quickly decided to wait until he got to hold it before inspecting further.

The Jasper Trio watch in awe from the other side of the room, Miko jogging towards the portal to get a better view despite the words of her peers.

"Is that what the bottom of the ocean looks like!? And just where did that thing come from anyway!?" The young girl jumped in curiousity, not so sneakily peaking out from behind the goddess’s shoulder.

Void chuckles and nods her head yes

"In this portion of it anyway, not all seas are created equal." She smiles through her words, bringing her right index finger to her lips to signal it as a secret. Selectively ignoring the second question to hide her lack of knowledge.

"Awesome!!"

Miko smiles wide before running back to her human friends, crafting up all kinds of theories in her mind.

Void once again faces the portal, a split second away from stepping inside and retrieving the sword when the booming, authoritative voice of the Deep Sea calls out—

“You may not proceed. This relics removal is prohibited.”

Void’s face crinkles in both insult and confusion. “And just why is that?” She demands. “You haven’t given it a single thought for millennia, and neither of us have any use for it.”

“But we do need it, a lot more than you know.” The Deep Sea’s tone was less aggravated and more protective this time, almost concerned.

“I find that hard to believe given its blade has been stuck in the sand since the dawn of time. But clearly you have a story to tell. Don’t think for a second that I ignored your tone.” Her response was rightfully bitter, given there were supposed to be no secrets between the two as they are one and the same. No punches held back.

The ocean sighs as if defeated, resigned to whatever fate its following words may bring. “I suggest you take a seat my dear friend, it’s about time I disclose you of our only secret from you.”

The Autobots turn to each other before turning back to the scene before them, questioning if they should be there in the now uncomfortable silence. Void then turns to face Optimus, the brief eye contact and a gentle nod signaling that it is ok for them to stay. “Regardless of what the outcome is, I believe it is for the best that you all know.” A gentile smile gracing the goddess’s features.

“As you wish.” The Prime returns in kind, briefly returning the same gestures

“Alright then.” The Deep Sea speaks up “Now let’s Begin.”

“You see, this is not your average blade. This was once known as the Prism Nebula, a sword forged among the stars containing a fragment of what Cybertronians know as the All Spark. For reasons it would not disclose, it fell through the atmosphere, landing itself in our hands. Despite the All Spark granting it a consciousness of its own we would coexist in peaceful silence for millennia. Until one day it proposed a deal of equivalent exchange: That I would inherit the power of the All Spark fragment in exchange for the blades eternal protection. I quickly agreed, restoring it to its former glory but leaving my new power untouched until the evolution of mankind. It was then I used that power to create you my dear. That is the truth of its disappearance, because it gave everything it had to help make you, you. Not only can it not be drawn from the sand because of my oath of protection, but with the fragment now gone from its hilt it is now rendered a shadow of its former self in terms of power. Even if it could leave my presence consequence free, I am afraid it would be of little use to you now. I sincerely apologize for crushing any hopes you might have had.”

The entire room was floored. The base was so littered with silence you could hear a pin drop in the next room over. Optimus Primes’ suspicions were now confirmed, it was indeed the weapon of untold power that went missing not long after the Cybertronian Civil War began. All historical records claimed it had been destroyed in an unknown accident and yet here is was right before him.

Meanwhile Void had been shaken to her very core. To think that only a few short years ago she had learned of planets other then her own, so now being told she only existed was because of a stone from another planet was far beyond anything she ever expected.

“…But, how? Why…W-Why?….Was, I just a tool to you all this time? Is that why you waited so long to tell me?” She could barely get the words out let alone think, but she wasn’t going to let it stop her from knowing more. No matter how much it hurt.

The Deep Sea considers its next words carefully, trying to soften the blow as much as possible. There was really no easy way of putting this. “Truth be told my friend, I hadn’t intended to wait to long. The only reason I waited at all was because I was afraid of what would happen if I disclosed this too soon. Prior to your existence I had zero experience of handling or creating a being so close to being human such as yourself. I was concerned that telling you right away you would reject your calling, abandon humanity and seek out a planet that’s not yours to roam.”

Voids heart shattered at that last phrase, veins gone cold and body numb.

“I didn’t want to even consider the course of action I would be required to take if that came to be. Otherworldly pact be damned, you couldn’t give me the planet to end a being of my own creation!…I just didn’t want to lose you. It was a childish concern of the past, I know far better than that now…” It trails off, leaving a rather odd sense of melancholy to settle though out the room.

In that moment the goddess’s emptiness quickly turned to a disgusted rage. “How…How fucking dare you! From day fucking one I made my intentions clear as day that I would stick by your side till the end of time! Even with the knowledge of our slowly impending doom I wouldn’t dare turn my back on humanity until it was time! My roaming the earth’s surface for the last 20 years hasn’t changed a damn thing! How on earth could you even begin to think so little of me after carving me in your own image…” The longer she went on all that rage slowly warped it way into despair.

Fists clenched, Void stared daggers into the concrete below. Unable to bear the pain of looking through the portal any longer. Turning her back towards the one who she considered to be family, shutting her eyes tight in order to fight back the tears.

“I sincerely apologize for not seeing that sooner, I never intended to hurt you. Those concerns died out millennia ago when you swore you would protect our home with your life. I am forever grateful that the All Spark brought you to me my closest friend. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me—.”

Exhausted, Void spits back—“That’s enough!” The portal closing rapidly with a loud snap of her fingers. “We’ll just have to see about that now won’t we.”

Both the Autobots and the children look to her in a mix shock of and concern. Void takes a few deep breaths amongst the silence before addressing them, attempting to save face even if for a moment.

“I apologize you had to hear that everyone, had I known it was going to take that kind of turn I would have moved the conversation elsewhere. I will be absent for sometime, but if the need calls for it I’m sure you will know where to find me.” With a passive wave of her hand Void turns to walk down one of the many long, empty corridors of the abandoned military base. The shadows casted masking her from sight only a few mere seconds later.

—————————————————————————————-

Void had spent the next several days dissociating, laying in the middle of the floor in the one the many empty storage rooms. Most of the rooms in the building had gone unused simply because the bots were too big to comfortably fit, assuming they could enter it to begin with. Retroactively this created a number of wonderful spots for Void to hide in. The kids would often end up using them when playing hide and seek too. With her sense of time once again warped beyond comprehension, for the brief moment she had clarity it had amazed her that no one had found her by now. Those moments never lasted long though, slowly deluding her mental state back into the sludge that got her here in the first place. Thankfully she lacked the basic self care needs humans and cybertronians did otherwise she would be in far worse condition.

She would have to go back home and talk with the Deep Sea at some point, but for now this was what she needed. Nothing but just her, her thoughts, and the concrete below. Or at least what she thought she needed, until a concerned yet friendly face enters the doorway.

[PART 1] FIN

[shadowhaert]

Hi! I hope I'm not bothering you but I really love your yellowjackets gifs and was wondering if you could do a detailed tutorial on blending gifs?

hi! not a bother at all, thank you <3

i'm not the super best person to ask about this because i just kinda say fuck it we ball and don't actually know what i'm doing but i can do my best

this is under the assumption that you know how to make gifs. this isn't a hard thing to do, but if you're not familiar with making gifs or making gifs into a timeline then it will be incredibly difficult until those steps are mastered (really it'll just be a little more time consuming because it can sometimes force you to edit frame by frame when you're not in timeline format)

we're going to use this WIP of misty for this.

this is my start. remember, i imported to frames to layers, then converted to timeline and smart object. @/usergif has great tutorials on that if you aren't sure. then i just put on a sharpening mask (also usergif) and changed the fps and now i'm ready to edit

BEFORE RESIZING i have found that my adjustments stay clearer when all completed before changing the image size. you do not have to do it this way, i just do it. change image size is my last step.

here is the gif with all of my adjustments. you can see the purple lines on the timeline bar, that's what you want to see the entire time for this to work well. go ahead and resize the image (under the image tab) whenever you're finished

now that the image is 600 px like i want, i go to select, all layers, and then my layers in the right side toolbar should be highlighted. on my mac the command is 'command+g' to group layers, so that's what i do. now they're in a cute little group called 'group 2' (so creative!)

after it's in a group, right click on it and select 'convert to smart object'

ta da! it should look like this now. what this basically means is that, including all of the coloring adjustments and sharpening and masks that you've made, you can now move them as one group. before doing this step, you would have had to move around each layer as an individual. now, it's locked together. makes it easy for the next part, because now that it's locked together, any adjustments made to the first gif will not counteract the adjustments made to the second gif (you'll see what i mean)

go make your second gif the same way, do whatever you want to it, follow all the same steps, and the click and drag over to your other gif so that they get stacked. because they are grouped smart objects, the green from the second gif will not make the first gif green, so that's why the previous step is so important; it keeps them isolated from each other

after they're stacked, highlight the top gif and go up to that drop down menu and change it from 'normal' to 'screen'

bing! now they're blended together. the screen makes it so that the light parts of the bottom gif bleed through the dark parts of the top gif. when i do this method, i try to choose two light scenes or two dark scenes, not one of each as it gets complicated sometimes

if you are unsatisfied with the blend or want to blend a certain part more, make a certain part stick out, etc, then just highlight the top layer and then click the rectangle with a circle (this is a layer mask). a little white box will show up next to your highlighted group. make sure there's a blue rectangle around that box to indicate that you are editing on the mask itself, and then grab an eraser or black paintbrush and edit whatever you need! the eraser will erase parts of the top gif and the paintbrush will erase parts of the bottom gif

obviously this is a terrible explanation but again, i am not the person to ask for help unfortunately. my brain doesn't exist when i edit i just test things, black out, and then post. but i hope it was a helpful starting point!

[crisiscutie]

Can you describe more of this mysterious house in HoS? I have a hard time imagining it without any reference.

Also, i'm imagining the house basement is actually a dungeon somewhat similar to Persona, but the layout changes daily, just like some proceduraly generated dungeons in certain type of games. In that case, darling can get her adventure inside with whichever Sephiroth that stayed with her at that time. But upon further thought, not much of a challenge with Sephiroth staying with her. He'll probably annihilate everything before his darling finish blinking.

So... maybe a basement room with puzzles like the game escape room will be more interesting?

I dunno... I'm throwing out random ideas and stretching out my imagination too much, or maybe you had an entirely different vision in mind? XD

(I'm still trying to figure out the details myself, so my explanation won't be complete or fully intelligible)

I gotta pull out my favorite aesthetics to help me describe this:

I'd imagine the house be elevated on a hill or maybe even a mountain, surrounded by various creepy woods. And it has an eerie and ominous atmosphere, with a goth/woodland goth theme that made the darkness seem to linger, even in the daylight.

Overgrown weeds and tall grass had begun to take over parts of the house, a testament of nature taking back its domain. I think the Sephiroths would be unnerved deep inside when it comes to the nature aspects, hehe. The house is most likely more comparable to a mansion due to its huge size, still going to call it "The House" though.

And despite the wide, open hallways of the dark house, the darling will often feel a sense of being closed in, breathing in the stale air. Is it the mad Yanderes making her feel like that or this peculiar house?

These reference pics won't be exactly the same as the others but should get my point across. Some aesthetic daydreaming under the cut.

(The Conservatory)

(The Kitchen)

(Likely part of the Darling's Room)

(Woods Beyond the House)

(Main Bathroom)

(Entrance to the garden. One of the few places darling has peace and quiet since the Sephs hate going in there and sometimes wait for her outside of it.)

(I like to think there's a creepy ravine close to the house like this. I wonder what's in the seemingly shallow water?)

(I imagine the backyard holds a serene, nature-made pool like the pic. The water's color is eerily reminiscent of mako. This is definitely one of the few places the darling can go to soothe her troubles away.)

If you guys would like share aesthetic pics or suggestions of your own, go right ahead! Especially if you got house exterior, living room or basements pics to share. I couldn't find anything to match the vibe/aesthetic closest.

And yes, that is a lovely idea for the basement and lower levels of the house! Being an absolute mindfuck for the darling AND the Sephiroths. I'd imagine that, in the lower levels of the house, there are some places that are relatively safe, like the cellar where the darling had taken refuge in the staircase during C.C.'s rampage. And Jenova and OG's Sephs bodies are probably just chilling nearby somewhere too... But once you descend beyond the safe zones, then that's when the fun begins.

To make it crazier, why not add a full blown catacomb system underneath it too?

Hope I gave you a better image of the house!

[seakicker]

Miss Seakicker HI! 🦦 anon here, I just wanted to pop in and ask a question but before that;

How have you been? I’m loving the new theme and layout for your blog! I hope you’re drinking enough water and taking enough breaks. We can’t have Fertility archon Juju getting sick!

I started playing Tears of The Kingdom and there’s a place called Joju-u-u Shrine in the game (we almost had Juju Shrine!) I went bra shopping earlier (nothing spicy, just needed some new ones).

I’m not really sure how else to ask this but do you have any advice for when the insecurities about one’s body image start to get…loud? Like some days I’ll feel good in a pair of pants because i fill them out really well but then there’ll be bad days like the time i spent 2 hours on an online site buying a kazuha cosplay because I didn’t want to admit i was a size bigger. (I bought the bigger size in the end and that one fits like a glove)

Feel free to answer this whenever you like! - 🦦 anon

HELLOOOOOOO SWEETHEART GAH i’m very late in answering this because i’m just tryin to find the motivation to use tumblr consistently again, but i was thinking about this ask again today bc i’ve had it in drafts since you sent it to me. i’ve been working a ton but i’m alright; drinking water and working on eating healthier for myself 😊❤️ what kinds of things do you think we’d do at a juju shrine… 🤔👀

as far as the insecurity part goes, honestly i’ve found that staying off the internet entirely on days where you’re maybe feeling a little worse about yourself is extremely beneficial. with how prevalent bodychecking and diet culture BS are on tiktok and instagram in particular and with how advanced filters and photoshop have gotten (remember when people considered it impossible to use filters/edits on videos? good times), taking a bit of a detox and staving off of doomscrolling rlly go a long way on days where i may not be feeling the best about myself. like, i’ve seen people recommend eating an entire block of cream cheese under the guise of health because keto influencers love spinning nonsense and trying to make you genuinely believe that an entire brick of cream cheese is inherently better for you than a single piece of bread for toast, lol.

at any rate, i think it’s good to remind yourself that you are real and your body is real and not everything you see online is real— most people are able to (rightfully) internalize that they shouldn’t compare their bodies to digital art or anime characters, and i think that mentally should extend to just about any 3D picture you see online— while i’m not inherently anti-photoshop or anything like that, i DO think it’s harmful for these people who participate in photoshopping their pics or using filters to pass it off as (A) all natural genetics and/or (B) simple diet and exercise because no amount of genetics, diet, or exercise are gonna give you a 13 inch waist and 42 inch hips. even pictures of real life people can be twisted to the point where they might as well be fictitious, but your body is real when you look at it and real in anything and everything you wear, so why worry about how it stacks up compared to a picture that’s certainly edited?

i first read this on pinterest in like high school but it’s honestly sound advice and something that’s really stuck with me— we don’t get mad at our feet for being too small/too big/too wide/too narrow when shoes don’t fit, we just buy a different size— shouldn’t the same idea extend to all our clothes? our bodies aren’t made to fit clothes, clothes are made to fit our bodies— and buying a bigger cosplay to fit you better isn’t a fault of yours nor your body’s. you got this ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[roguegrove]

okay, i need to talk about this straight up right now. it's gonna be long, it's gonna be honest, and probably pointless, but i wanna talk about it.

this? it sucks. it sucks so bad and many of us were fooled. including me.

the thing is, it should have been obvious. but social media moves fast, fandom culture is thirsty for more always, and people have their own art styles and journeys. hell, i'm on an art journey spurred by this community, myself.

and yknow what? art is HARD. bottom line, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. it comes naturally to some, but i promise you that the only reason someone might be "better" than someone else is practice. well-meaning people often talk about "talent" in art, but i don't believe in it. ANYONE could have my skill level or better if they had devoted the same kind of time i did to learning, and i think most artists would agree.

you see inconsistencies in art a lot, especially when someone is learning something new. heads and body parts weird sizes, a particular area that doesn't get as much attention as others, sometimes even whole bits are missing. and all of that is replicated in AI generations and easily overlooked as well as easily masked.

but the thing you will not find with a fan artist who LOVES a character enough to post so many pieces of them? big character details being wrong or changing every time they post something. and i'm not talking style things. i'm not talking about deliberate choices.

my alarm bells went off for fridaypls's work pretty early on, but i ignored it. i really loved a lot of the choices they made in posing, in ideas, and even though there were a bunch of details that just felt wrong, i ignored it. i thought maybe there was a reason, that maybe i was being critical or mean by being a little off-put about some of it.

but if you love sam winchester enough to pump out a shit-ton of drawings of him, you're gonna know what side of his nose that little mole goes. if you love halsin as much as it seemed like friday loved halsin, you're gonna know where his scars and tattoos are. and you might not draw them the same way every time, you may drop one or more for a particular piece if it's not meant to be canon. but you don't put out multiple pieces where the details move so much that they're on the wrong side and swap back and forth between pieces. you just can't care enough to spend that much time on something and not notice that consistently.

if you scroll back through friday's blog (if it stays up and you still can), you can SEE that they cared about these characters. before the art is a lot of meta, a lot of commentary. it's clear there was a love there.

so explain to me how this happens:

the bottom is an official rendering of halsin, just for reference.

art is about observing and then translating, right? so what do we see? the tattoo missing details we can let slide because the thing is damn complicated and getting the general idea is enough. but the placement? get the fuck out of here. it flip flops back and forth between each image. the scars? some are missing entirely, some are, again, on the wrong damn side.

i thought this must surely be a choice, and it is. but not the choice i was thinking. this isn't about style, this isn't about playing with a character: this is about pumping out art quickly that will catch people's eye.

if you really want me to nit-pick, i can. if you want me to talk about the broader inconsistencies or the way things are hidden, i can do that too. but the op and the people who have been looking into this did a great job on that already. i could talk about it all, but i'm trying to make a much simpler point.

my point is that people who love characters will not be so flippant about their defining characteristics. we're the ones who OBSESS over them, scour the internet for every detail. we eat that shit up.

you know what doesn't give a shit? AI generation. AI isn't even generative, it's basically just editing. it's editing a bunch of information together to try and make something "new". and when you edit, what happens? pruning details. you take out what you don't think is important. but you know what else AI can't do? fucking THINK. it doesn't KNOW anything. it doesn't KNOW about halsin's she-bear scars and why that's important to him, so it doesn't CARE where they go.

god, now i'm actually pissed. i'm pissed someone who seemed to love these characters as much as we do would let that happen just for clout and money. it sickens me. like damn, bro. you could have at least taken the time to fix that stuff while you were slapping on filters. if you traced over AI, at least fix the GLARINGLY OBVIOUS bits. couldn't even be bothered, huh?

man, i just want AI to do my laundry, not try and replicate passion. why are we even here with this crap in general?

eta: do not even get me started on astarion renders. do not.

Normally I wouldn't bother making a post like this but it came to my attention yesterday via a twitter thread that tumblr user fridaypls is using AI elements in their fanart. Now, if they were doing this because they didn't feel entirely confident in their artistic ability, and they were just doing this for fanart they posted online, then I'd shrug my shoulders and go "eh, whatever"

However, I then found out that fridaypls is selling this fanart and even making posts like "buy my Gale print and get Tim Downie to sign it" and I just can't sit idly by whilst someone makes profit off AI 'art' and there are so many other artists (myself included) trying to make a living off our own art.

The tweet thread about the use of AI by fridaypls can be viewed here and here but I'll also copy and paste some of the examples under a cut line in this post.

So far on twitter, fridaypls got wind of the thread going around about them and they deactivated their account rather than take accountability. I'm probably going to be blocked by them for making this post, but I encourage you to reblog this and spread the word and please, PLEASE don't buy artwork from someone using AI generated images. There are so many other hardworking artists out there making amazing fanart and merch that you can give your money to instead.

Examples from twitter:

[rapid-prototyping-project]

Level display

The main reason I only have a health display is because I couldn't find a way of displaying everything else and keep it all looking as good. Regarding my level display, it doesn't need to stay on screen - I can have it just pop up when starting a new level.

The first thing I did was add thin black bars covering the entire screen. I then manually added a layered animation where they would grow in thickness from 0.25 to 1.5, and the opacity would scale from 0 to 1. Every other bar would have a 1 second delay, hence the 'layered' bit. Unfortunately I forgot to actually make them disappear at the end, so I went about fixing this. About a quarter of the way in, I realised I had not beeen doing the same to the scale so I spammed control-z, then UE5 decided to autosave

It stayed like this. And then crashed. I have removed the entire animation because i genuinely do not care anymore and i regret even thinking about it. oh god its happening again

After that debacle I came to two realisations. 1 - I am unfathomably stupid. 2 - I can just use an image with the texture of a hell of a lot of bars instead. And it worked.

I made a 1px wide texture of black and transparent, and applied it to two images. Since I couldn't apply a fade in a direction without obscuring the text below, I decided to move the images as I changed their opacity. It creates a different effect but god is it easier to deal with. However, as soon as the animation finishes it disappears - it should reverse to load the next level. I realised this was probbaly due to the level being loaded during the animation, resetting it. My best bet would be to have the screen black by default, it transition when the level loads, and transition back to black when the game is over.

I DID IT

Turns out, you can create widgets in game instances. I shifted my widget code from the player to the instance and, after a bit of tweaking, it actually worked oh my god

I originally used a Do Once node and a boolean check but these broke it - so i took them out to see what would happen and it actually worked good lord.

Next, I had to make the text for the level counter. I reused the code from the tutorial, casting to the game instance and looked through a few fonts for a thematically appropriate one. These were the fonts I narrowed it down to, and eventually selected E4 Digital Arcade as it was the thickest and most readable whilst being in keeping with the arcade feel.

The first thing I did for my level display was set the colours to a random array of colours taken from the game. I was actually going to change it every 1/4 second or so but I'm happy with how this looks. My next problem is that the level display updates immediately - I need it to update after the transition as that's the point between the two.

This was as simple as adding to instead of incrementing level in the instance, and incrementing it after the transition. Huh, neat

This is my animation. I encountered a problem where the text would blur when scaled up. Although there doesn't appear to be a fix, the below post suggested I set the text size to really big, then scale it down in the animation immediately - which very much worked. The animation also reverses once complete using a Get Play Length plugged into a Delay. I'm VERY happy with this The opacity track was a suggestion from Reece I'd forgotten to implement - the flashing text was a bit abrasive, so fading it in long enough to read it then fading it out at all the beginning of the level fixed this.

[mealvaan]

Cutting Corners

TW. Animal disfiguration.

The chalkboard is adorned in clean arcs. Dots and lines fall into perfect orbit with their circular core and remain static. Whether they love him or hate him, Mr. Korla is a man of painstaking detail. Each diagram is a work ready to be published, then dissipated into powder and dust. By the end of it, there is a full arcane sigil drawn from memory — that which summons the Emerald Carbuncle, the first in a tried and true syllabus. 

As Mr. Korla dusts off his hands, some of the chalk dust gets into his snow-laden hair and ancestral marks along his jaw. No one notices. 

“It takes a while to draw, does it not?” he asks the class, pacing along the front row but regarding the whole of the fifteen-or-so person class. “You may ask yourself — why bother? Are some of these lines not repetitive? These circles, overlapping for most of their bodies? What is the point of this auxiliary appendage?”

He gestures towards a singular ‘tail’ to the geometry that extends outwards. 

“What is the point of summoning a being with these excessive accoutrements if it means using all this expensive aetherial ink? These are questions I asked myself when I started my studies at the Gate. Perhaps it isn’t even that — perhaps you think yourself beyond the basics, and you believe you’ve devised a quicker, more efficient way of doing things. I won’t argue with that inherently. You’re welcome to prove me wrong, but you should be prepared to lose some of that precious ink in the process. 

‘As I said, I had the same thoughts. So allow me to make demonstration of my findings, that I might save some of you the trouble.”

In one swift motion, the eraser swipes the visage of that auxiliary appendage off the board entirely, ending in a puff of white smoke. 

Mr. Korla turns to the diagram and breathes in deep, chalk dust be damned. He raises his palm, beginning the somatic gesture better suited over his own picatrix, tilted back vertically to hover over the board’s face. The students watch in abject curiosity or offended bewilderment.

There is barely any aetherial conduction in the chalk itself, and none in the board whatsoever. Were it made of wood, perhaps there would be some conductivity to salvage. Alas, between the difficult material and the sheer size of the sigil, the effort takes thrice the amount of aether it would normally. The most perceptive of his pupils can see the tendrils of aether blurring the edges of his palm, though his corporeality isn’t threatened in its entirety. 

From the board emerges the spitting image of an Emerald Carbuncle. Its button nose, its large lops, its short front quarters, its fluffy belly—

But its tail is nowhere to be seen. It’s a clean cut with no ragged edge or seam — its hind rounds off in a logical arc, and then it lands onto the teacher’s desk. 

It stays wobbled on its legs, but not for long. The weight of the ears on its head greatly imbalances the poor familiar, and it topples over square onto its face. Teetering on the edge of organic and inorganic, it merely exercises a grunt of acknowledgement — not of pain — when this occurs, but one pupil still draws his hands to his mouth and squeaks in pain on its behalf.

Mr. Korla dismisses the carbuncle with a wave of the hand.

“The tail is important because it is designed to create precise balance for the carbuncle. This type in particular will jump for latitude in its spells, and it requires perfect internal balance to ensure its landings are sprightly and clean. Otherwise, you will lose valuable aether you have channelled in the process.

‘Now, what about these?” He gestures towards the overlapping circles. “Surely this could be represented by one line through the arc—” He draws it as such— “Instead of unnecessary loops?” He erases the circles around it, leaving that newly drawn line in their place. “Let’s see.”

“Sir, we get the point…”

“Let’s see,” he reiterates curtly but calmly, channelling his energy into the board once again. He feels his head swimming, and his eyes shut tight to set off the visual vertigo that might ensue thereafter. There’s less on the board now, though, and thereby less aether needs to be reshaped. He can see the thought process behind such whimsy of efficiency, after all.

Limping out of the chalkboard is the victim of his laziness.

The carbuncle is without a muzzle. Each intricate slope that comprised the creature’s mouth is erased, and the result is a mere stub that goes from its cheek to its cheek — a plateau of aether. It attempts to chirrup, but what results is a garbled, muffled noise. The student that had gasped earlier nearly faints.

Mr. Korla’s steely gaze does not yield. His arm extends forward in a wordless command. The carbuncle attempts to gather winds in its maw, but the breeze merely blasts into its nose and — perhaps predictably — topples it backwards in its own shock.

His point made, he dismisses this carbuncle as well, returning it to the ambient aether.

“These sigils have been developed over thousands of years. Through the most ambitious of ancient societies in Allag, to our closer predecessor in Nym. Thousands of sigils, thousands of hands, and thousands of new iterations.

‘I have the utmost faith that in the future, should you study hard, you will be able to manipulate these sigils. One of you will find a shortcut somewhere where it was missed, or a new geometry that changes the entirety of the structure we use on this sun. One of you may develop an entirely new school that branches from arcanima, and we will all wistfully remember your time as a neophyte caster in this classroom.

‘For now, remember this. These are the most simplified sigils that this school has to offer, looked over by at least an epoch of trained arcanists. You would do well to learn them and understand each purpose. You do not have to do it in the way I have demonstrated,” he casts a quick look at the boy of a faint heart, “but perhaps a more practical application would be suitable for some of you, since the theory did not click.”

He rattles off the sennight’s assignment and leaves the class in a brisk walk. In a storage closet away from the hustle and bustle of the training grounds, Mr. Korla smuggles a sip from a bottle of whiskey kept in the depths of his book bag.

[getinstagram]

Common Instagram Marketing Mistakes You Should Avoid

Everybody should learn from others so that you won't repeat the same mistake. Your mistakes can be upsetting for you and others can also get hurt. In this article, you will find the most common but serious mistakes that lots of Instagram marketers should avoid.

Never post random Media files

Whether you are associated with some big company or you are just the one man company, who runs his own business. When you are trying to grab the audience on Instagram for your business promotion, you have to be very mindful of some important things. You may like to share randomly selected photos and videos, which can be a photo of your cat, or maybe a new food made by you.

When you make your account for your business then you should stick around your business only. Don't wander here and there for promotion; just be clear about the purpose of your Instagram business profile. It is good to be social but this is not the right way to get in touch with everyone.

You should post things that are relevant to your business, which can be your product details, photos, and videos. But never post random photos on your business account. It didn't seem like a professional profile when you do this blunder. Try to make balance in your random posts and the brand posts.

Never Set Privacy on Business Account

You always want to make your profile safe and for this purpose, you put privacy on your account. But when you are using Instagram for business purpose and also have made a business profile, you should never set your account to private. Because when you enable privacy settings your posts and your profile will not be shown to anyone. You might have made this mistake by chance and this is one of the common but major mistakes.

It is obvious that you have made the account for personal use when you set your photos and videos to private. This can never happen for a company or business profile because you require lots of followers to spread your business and successful sales. Put your profile on public mode and all the photos and videos on the general public preview.

You may find any company or individual who has the same interests and same niche in what you have been offering. You will be limited in your profile once you have set it to private. Set your profile to the public and increase the chances of growth in your business.

https://syndicatedsearch.goog/afs/ads/i/iframe.html Use High-Quality Photos

If you really want to land among top business profiles, you should be professional in terms of every aspect. Just try to be as professional as you can. People evaluate your product quality according to the photos and videos you have posted on the Instagram. When you post low-quality photos or videos which are presenting your product, it will really hit you badly. Your product might be awesome but people have never seen your product, so your low-quality photos leave a bad impact.

Always use high resolution and HD photos, and you will be directly connected with the label of high quality and professionalism. Make sure your photos are double than the recommended size so that your photo will turn out to be a high-quality image. When you post high-quality photos on Instagram, make sure to instagram  upload on your business website. Also send those photos to your entire social media accounts and friends circle.

Hashtags are Similar to Breathing z

Hashtags for Instagram posts are as important as you require breathing to stay live. You are using hashtags with your posts but you might be using them in a wrong way. Your hashtag should be searchable, which is the main purpose of adding hashtags. The correct usage of hashtag also includes short, precise and clear-cut wording. Make sure you are following all the possible familiar hashtags which are related to your niche.

Hashtags are being avoided by many people which is a major slip-up and lots of Instagram marketers do it consciously. Hashtags provide the route to your profile or product and people can easily access you by searching for your brand keywords.

Always beware of the most common and big Instagram marketing mistakes fake Instagram likes and ger followers Fake etc, and stay away from them at any cost! Because sometimes even the smallest mistake leads to failure!