IZation Labs

For one of my SAG (that’s Simulation, Animation, and Gaming) classes this semester I had to create a flash animation based on a child’s fairy tale story. The story I randomly chose was named ‘The Three Feathers’. After picking it we wrote out a basic synopsis of the story, did some character drawings and storyboards, and set to work. We had much more than a month to do it. I waited until I had a little less than 2 days worth of ‘time’ until the submission cut off, then got to work. First, I worked on the backgrounds. (Click the images below to make them larger.)

The evening before the project was due, I realized that I had managed to nearly overachieve myself into oblivion. I had made it too long, too clunky, and had high goals and aspirations that my talents in Adobe CS4 wouldn’t allow me to reach. In my mind, the project had been set up and planned like the ReElect the Dead film we created last summer. In the depths of my mind, I had known that was a bad idea. The next thing I worked on was the script and music.

I resolved that I would not sleep until it was finished, or finished enough to show in class. I animated. I fiddled with the software, trying to understand the keyframes and motion tweens. Trying most of all to figure out how to sync the audio track to the animation itself.

I did not sleep that night.

At 11:45 the following morning a haggard, bearded, dead exhausted man was sitting at his desk, sighing at his unfinished work (unfinished as far as personal standards are concerned) and packing up his gear, ready to head to his noon class.

Click here to read the rest and watch the final animation

I’ve been doing a lot of research lately concerning CNC Mills, homemade ones in particular. Now, I won’t get too in depth before I give anything away, but I found some very interesting full size CNC machines with five axes of movement. What’s that mean?

Well, most entry level or home made CNC mills/routers have three axes of movement. X, Y, and Z. What this means is that the movement of the cutting tool is to the ‘left and right’, ‘up and down’ and ‘in and out’. This creates a decent range of movement, and works especially well on mostly two dimensional parts.

Click here to read the rest and watch the videos

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Wed, Dec 16th, 4:03 PM

It’s been almost a month and a half now, and there isn’t much left in the way of an incision mark, just a patch of new pink skin and a bump where the needle broke the skin. I’m not having any problems with the implant. There’s no migration at all, and my body seems to have nestled it in place quite well. What I mean is that it used to kind of float in place, whereas now there must be an impression in the flesh beneath it that holds it steady. It is pain free, though I’m still careful with it. On the few occasions when I’ve strained my hands, be it lifting or catching my balance, things of that nature, it may have been little sore afterwards, but to such a small extent that I may just be imagining it.
Click here to read the rest of the article

Once again, I know, I’m a week behind, so here’s another double post, and if all goes well, some photos too, which you can click for a full size view.  If you are horribly squeamish and can’t stand the sight of a tiny bit of dried blood, ignore the pictures. If you’ve missed the other posts describing what’s going on, just click here, and don’t forget to subscribe to the posts using the link at the top of the page!

Nov 5th, 2009
10:57 AM

I find it very fitting that the implant was done the day after my birthday, and the day before the 5th of November. (Guy Fawkes night.) My birthday represented the start of my third decade of life, and Guy Fawkes night represents not just one man trying to make a difference in the world via the movie V for Vendetta, but standing up and wanting to make a difference in general. Plus, I love that movie.

Another thing this project has made me notice is that I’m a very impatient person. Not impulsive, I didn’t jump right into this project without thinking. I did tons of research before even considering the possibility. In fact, I first did research on RFID implants nearly 2 years ago. It wasn’t until I revisited the subject that I decided I should start asking questions of the people involved and collect as much data as possible so I could consider the pros and cons. Obviously the pros outweighed the cons.

Click here to read the rest of the article

Sorry everyone, I neglected my posting duties last week, so here’s a double post to make up for it. Here’s the next part of my journal, as well as the implant video. If you don’t feel like doing all of the reading, skip to the bottom of the full post to watch the video.

Nov 2nd, 2009
11:11 PM

I’m sitting here in my dorm room, eating one of my favorite snacks, a chocolate bar with crunchy peanut butter, my favorite movie running on the screen above my laptop, and listening to the mellow sounds of my roommate talking to his girlfriend on the phone. It’s all just background stuff compared to what’s going on in here, inside my head.

Two RFID glass tags have been ordered. One is the smaller 12 x 2mm tag, which can be swapped out and injected using a kit. The other is a 13 x 3mm tag, which cannot be injected with the kit, but has an extended read range by comparison. After exchanging information with Amal Graafstra, I’ve decided that when the range of the tag is already dropped by the flesh in the hand, every little bit of distance helps.

Read more »

In this post you’ll find the first entry I made in my journal, in which I made my first endeavors to find someone willing to do the injection for me. As you’ll see, my research paid off.

Oct 27th, 2009
6:13 PM

After some initial introductory emails to a local Tattoo/Body Mod shop here in Ypsilanti, Michigan, (Liquid Swordz) I took a field trip there to meet the man that does all of their piercing work, Dave. He was in the back of the tidy shop, and upon asking if I could speak with him, one of the other men at the counter told me he would be right out and we could talk to my hearts content. Dave seems like a nice guy, albeit were one to run into him on the street they might not think so at first glance, if raised in a small rural town such as myself. Read more »