overview for Thevenin

Tutorials, Guides and How To Start For a Noob in c/[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If resin is a non-starter for you, FDM printing can also make cool miniatures, but it will take more effort and the details won't be as fine.

People are getting good results printing minis on the Elegoo Neptune printers which are around USD$190. The latest fad is multi-material printers like the Anycubic Kobra 3 combo (USD$380) and Bambu A1 combo (USD$490) which can make colorful figurines at the cost of wasted plastic.

Tomb of 3D Printed Horrors has been getting pretty good results and is a good channel to follow if you go down the FDM route.

(Elephant-in-the-room sidenote: If you look at FDM printers, you'll run into fans militantly promoting Bambu Lab as part of an ongoing corporate-sponsored flamewar, and the community has a laundry list of grievances against the company. It's a mess. Bambu printers are good but not spectacular, and easy to use but hardly the only user-friendly printers out there.)

Tutorials, Guides and How To Start For a Noob in c/[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I think for a small, detailed figure that you're going to photograph, I'd recommend resin sprayed with a food-safe clear coat such as shellac.

Resin of all kinds requires rubber gloves, cleanup, and a well-ventilated room because it's smelly and generally bad for you in its unfinished liquid form. A small resin printer will cost under USD$200. Creality has one on sale for USD$100. They also sell washing/curing stations -- I built my own stations out of junk, but for USD$99, I'd go with theirs. Much more compact.

Nerdtronics made some excellent videos introducing resin and explaining how and why we print the way we do. These days, almost all printers are plug-and-play and the software is super smart, but I think these videos are highly educational anyways.

Tutorials, Guides and How To Start For a Noob in c/[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (5 children)

First, what kind of models are you curious about making? Big, small, decorative, springy, strong? Cosplay helmets, bike parts, tabletop miniatures?

This will inform whether you should look at tutorials for FDM (filament) printing or MSLA/DLP (resin) printing.

Leakage at First U.S. Carbon Capture Injection Well Proves that CCS Can’t Work in c/[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

It's more about the how and why.

How: CCS pumps liquefied or pressurized gas into an exhausted oil or saline reservoir. These reservoirs didn't hold pressurized gas before, so it's difficult (if not impossible) to prove they won't leak. In the Decatur case, about 8 kilotons of CO2 and saltwater either found or created a crack in the reservoir, exactly as critics predicted. Locals are worried about groundwater contamination.

Why: CCS is largely unregulated in the US, and the companies interested in it are ones with awful environmental track records -- ADM is no exception there. To claim the 45Q tax credit, they only need to store the CO2 for 3 years. Why would they care about preventing leaks if they already got their payout? Doing shoddy work is in their best interest.

Does this event prove that underground CCS is literally impossible? Of course not. But feasibility isn't a pass/fail test, it's judged by factors like cost and risk. This event proves the approach isn't foolproof and the companies aren't trustworthy. So it's high time we stop acting like they are.

IPL Effect on Laser in c/[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago

It seems that IPL effectiveness varies a lot based on the texture of the hair, not just color. It eventually worked on my legs, but not my face.

Beyond-All-Reason: Open source RTS game built on top of the Recoil RTS Engine in c/[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Beyond All Reason is my favorite RTS at the moment. I enjoyed Planetary Annihilation (despite its flaws), and BAR provides the same sense of exponential growth, escalation, and strategic pivots.

One of my favorite things about the game is that it's not ridiculously APM-intensive. The controls have a learning curve, but they enable you to "fire and forget" most of your tasks.

If you want to get a sense for the game before diving in, Brightworks does some good casting for both competitive and community-level games. https://www.youtube.com/@BrightWorksTV

best GBA games? I need recommendations in c/[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is one of my favorite games of all time. It's the last isometric Zelda game, and they made it a swan song. The main quest it pretty short, but it's the sort of cozy game where doing the sidequests just feels right.

In the game, you shrink down to the size of a mouse to traverse rafters and explore tiny temples and float on lillypads. It's the sort of thing that would be no big deal in a 3D game, but is wildly ambitious in 2D. Not only do they pull it off, but they fill the environments with lush, lived-in detail that springs to life when you shrink down and look at it up close. The art style still sticks with me after 20 years.

Also, forget all the "hey, listen" stuff, your sidekick Ezlo just sasses you the entire time. It's great.

Fantasy anime with magical cozy feeling in c/[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

a bit melancholic sometimes

Viewer be advised: If you've ever lost someone you took for granted, or hurried through what should have been a formative time in your life instead of slowing down and appreciating it while you had it, then this show knows how to punch you in the tender bits, and it will not stop.

I cried during every one of the first four episodes.

10/10

Uhhhh...Goomba? in c/[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Playing hardball.

Rethinking Apartment Buildings in c/[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The graphic there looks like an Embassy Suites hotel without the roof.

I'd strongly suggest a retractable canopy for the peristyle (Atrium? Courtyard?), because you basically have an enormous chimney -- on windy days, the draft pressure caused by a flue that size would threaten to break peoples' windows or suction their doors shut.

Who would your preferred Dem be for the new nominee? in c/[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

She doesn't have the bona fides for the presidency, but I'd love to see Katie Porter show up to a presidential debate carrying that whiteboard.

The Only Kind of “Political Violence” All U.S. Politicians Oppose in c/[email protected]

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Disagree. Every state will characterize the violence it receives differently than the violence it enacts. Even a well-intended egalitarian state can never equivocate acts of violence against its officers with those done by its officers, because if the state fails to produce an immune response against one attack, it will soon find itself overwhelmed by more. The state has to treat vigilante justice and especially attacks against its officers as illegitimate on principle, or else it will cease to be.

States claim a monopoly on legitimate violence, and I'd even say that's what makes a state a state. If a given geographic region has a hundred different entities that can enact violence without each others' permission, you don't have a state, you have a hundred states.

You cannot ask officers of the state to equivocate violence by and against the state. That's not their job. That judgement is our job.

(You can also argue that the state shouldn't exist, but that's a different and far more interesting discussion than the one the article poses.)

111

egg🐧irl (beehaw.org)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

29 comments fedilink

So I've been thinking about Linux recently, and I'm told this is where the Linux experts hang out. I have a lot of questions that I can barely articulate, so I'm just hoping someone gets where I'm coming from.

I always knew there were more than two operating systems, but the closest I got to open-source software was dabbling with Firefox and OpenOffice in college. I'm an engineer, and trying to stay compatible with all the engineering programs means you're probably going to use Windows whether you like it or not, so I never seriously considered another OS until now. I'm proud of being good at Windows, but also bitter about it… I can't shake the nagging feeling that I've been missing out.

So I started looking up guides on Linux, and I have so many questions.

I'm astonished by how many distros there are. It's not just Ubuntu, we have Mint and Zorin and MX and enough options to make my head spin. So how do you choose a distro? Do you just know, or do you have to try them all? Trying one is daunting enough. I'm afraid people might lose respect for me and the open-source software movement if I change my mind. Is there some place where you can try distros on for size without the trouble and risk of migrating multiple times?

How do I know if Linux is right for me? How do I know Windows is wrong? If I loathe my user experience with Windows, is that the fault of Windows or just me? If Linux starts feeling comfortable, how do I know it's because I've made the right choice and it's not just inertia setting in? Does that even matter?

I'm at least good with Windows, but I lack the intuition of the average Linux user. Could I really master Linux the way I have Windows, or would my awkward personality relegate me to being a permanent tourist?

Is my hardware too old to start tinkering with OSs?

I know your choice of OS should take priority over your programs, as long as those programs aren't vital, but I have a full Steam library and don't look forward to losing any old friends. Can I partition my drive? Is that worth the trouble, switching from OS to OS depending on circumstances? I hear some distros these days can run some windows programs, and that you don't have to leave your old programs behind the way you used to, but can I count on that trend continuing?

Will losing touch with the Windows environment make it more difficult for me to succeed in a Windows-dominated career?

Sorry for the ramble. I'm probably overthinking this. I overthink everything. But I also grew up in a time and place where changing OSs meant you risked losing everything.

EDIT: The post title has been updated from “Need help with Linux” to “egg🐧irl” to meet local standards. This post happened because I was writing a post for a tech forum, but had other things on my mind, things which I’ve yet to find the courage to verbalize directly. I appreciate the advice and encouragement, both about migrating to Linux, and… yaknow… “migrating to Linux.”

1

My latest tabletop mini painting efforts (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

0 comments fedilink

I've been getting back into printing and painting D&D miniatures lately I'm not very good yet, but I felt like sharing some of the things I've learned.

Bearded Devils https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/635943923575160832/1129061019772256376/20230711_085409.jpg

I printed these from a Loot Studios 3d file I got a few years back. The skin is a basecoat of purple with a wash of Citadel Reiksland Fleshshade. I did not use primer, and time will tell if that was a mistake. For the clothing, I used a different color for each model, because I like color coding my enemies instead of numbering them. I used basecoats like Reaper Bleached Linen with a watered-down topcoat. I find that if you get the consistency right, watered-down acrylics act almost exactly like contrast paints, so that's my go-to for fabrics.

A Bearded's Devil's beard is supposed to be prehensile and snakelike. I tried drybrushing, but it didn't make the tentacles look slimy. I tried edge highlighting, but I don't want to spend 30 minutes painting a monster that will die in 29. I settled on a base of lime green with a topcoat of watered-down Armypainter Angel Green, and while it's a smidge messy, it's the right ratio of effort to results for my taste.

Drybrushing added a bit of white to all the horns and sun-facing surfaces. I'm still getting the hang of drybrushing, so it looks a little dusty on some of them.

I wanted the ground to look like umber or lignite, so I used Citadel Contrast Wildwood directly on the grey resin. I'm very happy with the outcome. I think most people paint their bases before gluing the minis on, but I learned the hard way that you have to leave a bare patch for the feet or else the CA glue won't stick.

The devil front-and-center is a lesson in persistence. Its entire left leg failed to print below the knee, but print failures are just kitbashes waiting to happen. Instead of throwing it out, I added a nail as a pegleg, glued down with a few dots of resin (stronger than CA glue, IMO). It's now my favorite of the group. As I like to say, "Some resin and paint make me the printer I ain't."

Chain Devils https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/635943923575160832/1129061020388819105/20230707_174901.jpg

These were conceptually simple but technically challenging. I used Army Painter Pure Red as the basecoat and highlighted the chains in Leadbelcher, which was time consuming. The whole thing got drenched in Agrax Earthshade, which is my favorite way to make skin look dirty and metal look rusty. I think that making the Chain Devil look like a tetanus dispenser should a good way to prevent your players from calling them "chain daddies," but we'll see. I followed up with some Reaper Filigree Silver drybrushing to make some of the points look sharp.

I wanted the bases to look like mud or clay, and Snakebite on the bare grey resin accomplished just that.

Spined Devils https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/635943923575160832/1129061020091043911/20230707_174926.jpg

These were a ton of fun. A basecoat of purple, a wash with Agrax, and drybrushing with Army Painter Pure Red to put some blush on the spines. They come pretty close to the pictures in the book.

For the ground, I wanted chert or flint, something sharp and unpleasant like the creature itself, so I painted it matte grey and added white drybrushing to the edges.

Kobolds https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/635943923575160832/1129062753911459861/20230707_175014.jpg

These are Reaper Bones miniatures I've had around for a while. I spent way too much time painting because these models have so much personality I couldn't help myself. Since Kobolds mostly wear skins, I made heavy use of Contrast Snakebite and Wyldwood, alternating basecoats for different color tones. The inventor's wicker basket is Wyldwood directly on the white mini. I think some light drybrushing on the two on the right would help bring out their skin texture.

I'm pretty disappointed with the sorcerer's fireball. It doesn't seem very energetic. Some glow effects could help here, but I haven't learned how to do object-source lighting yet, and these minis are punishingly tiny.

If anyone has advice or feedback, I'm all ears.