dots AND lines

World Environment Day has just recently passed (5 June 2006), whether you know it or not, there is (there will always be!) a celebration for it to increase our awareness on issues that matters. (^_^)”"”

In Malaysia, Global Environment Centre in partnership with KL Performing Arts Centre (KLPac) are all set todo just that. Here’s what they got to say in their site.

For their venues and schedules, check them out here.

P/S: Seriously check out their site. Their logo I think looks superb!

Psst… Did you hear that? It’s Voices From Next Door compilation CD! It’s out now!

Check this CD out! It’s a physically-monotonous-black-and-white, double-CD compilation by our very own local singer/song writers! Each CD consists of 12 tracks lasting up to 40 minutes each, with various different genres. Initiated by Troubadours Enterprise, as a part of their KL Sing Song ‘06 project, this CD helps to promote the lesser known talents from the non-main stream entertainment.

The CD market price should RM 35.

Check the visuals and infos at this blog. Ian Chow, one of the featured artiste, has also mention about this CD in his blog.

“I believe that drawing is thinking and painting is feeling. Therefore, I draw what I think and paint what I feel. As there is no feeling without thinking, there is no painting without drawing. Sometimes I feel more comfortable calling my works painted drawings rather than just paintings.” - Charles Cham.

Vector graphics are the creation of digital images through a sequence of commands or mathematical statements that place lines and shapes in a given two-dimensional or three-dimensional space. In physics, a vector is a representation of both a quantity and a direction at the same time. In vector graphics, the file that results from a graphic artist’s work is created and saved as a sequence of vector statements. For example, instead of containing a bit in the file for each bit of a line drawing, a vector graphic file describes a series of points to be connected. One result is a much smaller file.

At some point, a vector image is converted into a raster graphics image, which maps bits directly to a display space (and is sometimes called a bitmap). The vector image can be converted to a raster image file prior to its display so that it can be ported between systems.

A vector file is sometimes called a geometric file. Most images created with tools such as Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw are in the form of vector image files. Vector image files are easier to modify than raster image files (which can, however, sometimes be reconverted to vector files for further refinement).

Animation images are also usually created as vector files. For example, Shockwave’s Flash product lets you create 2-D and 3-D animations that are sent to a requestor as a vector file and then rasterized “on the fly” as they arrive.

CONTRIBUTORS: Patrick O’Malley
LAST UPDATED: 24 Feb 2006
SOURCE: SearchWebServices.com Definitions (Powered by WhatIs.com) - Vector Graphics

Bitmap/Raster vs. Vector

When comes to digital pictures, you can categorise them into 2 kinds, Bitmap-based (or raster-based) and Vector-based files. These 2 types differ in the way computers analyze their content.

Vector-based images generally contain mathematically well-defined elements such as curves and shapes of various colours. Normally, you’ll found these elements in cliparts, western alphabets or Asian characters. However, it can also be pure graphics. Example, if a vector image contains a red dot, then information such as the location of the circle’s center point, the length of its radius, and the colour, red, would be the essential information for this image file.

Vector files are more suitable for illustrations that require precise measurements. Thanks to their mathematical attribute, they are easily scalable. The drawbacks, is that it is not suitable for for photo-realistic images such as a photograph because images of this type generally do not contain well-defined shapes and curves.

Extensions for vector image: *.SVG, *.EPS, *.AI, *CDR, or *.DWG.

Bitmap-based images do not rely on mathematical formulas to define their various elements. Each bitmap-based image is mapped into a grid. The size of the grid is based on the image’s resolution. For example, a bitmap-based image of 1 inch x 1 inch with a 600 dpi resolution would be defined by a grid of 600 x 600 pixels. Hence, a bitmap-based image is like a mosaic of pixels with each pixel holding a specific color value. (Imagine arranging small tiles with various colours to form a picture!)

This kind of file is more suitable for photo-realistic images that require complex color variations. And the con, they are not easily scalable because each bitmap image is mapped to a non-flexible grid. If a bitmap image were to be enlarged, it would lose its sharpness and edges would appear jagged/pixelated. Bitmap files are more common. Chances are you can get them anywhere in anytype of digital media.

Extensions for bitmap images: *.PSD, *.JPG, *GIF, *.TIF, or *.BMP.

In general, bitmap-based files require more computer memory for file storage than vector-based files. The former contains all information for every single pixel of the image while the latter contains only the defining mathematical formulas for each element within the image.

SOURCE: Mustek.com.tw - Bitmap vs. Vector

For anyone who is looking for free vector images for their own designs or projects, this should be a good news.

Open Clip Art Library is a project hosted to provide such services. It contains thousands of unique vector images (SVG), all sorted into categories for convenience (when I wrote this, the site claimed to have over 6900 clips). All of them are released into the public domain and may be used as royalty-free clipart. These images can either be browsed through the web or be downloaded as a gzipped tarball (yes, the entire thing). Any image contributions and/or mirrors for download are welcome.

There’s now a new vector graphic editor online called Inkscape. Here’s what they got to say in their site.

Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping. Inkscape also supports Creative Commons meta-data, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, direct XML editing, and more. It imports formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats.

Inkscape’s main goal is to create a powerful and convenient drawing tool fully compliant with XML, SVG, and CSS standards. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development.

Been to Melaka with D’Jungle People last weekend (Friday night till Sunday morn). Was working but it would have felt like holiday too!

I was walking around at Jonker Street at that time and found out this cool place called Orang Utan. Talking to the salesperson, I got to know that they have another 2 more shops elsewhere nearby but only this 1 sells T-shirts.

It was owned by an artist named Charles Cham. A local born in Melaka but based at oversea. Charles started off as editorial artist for few years in local scene and went to France after that to paint. He had exhibited in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bali, Australia, France, UK, Switzerland and Portugal. Now, aside from Melaka, he is based in Budapest.

His art tends to be more on tribal Picasso kinda art rather than any typical scenery of beach, coconut trees… which is why I like it and bought 1 of the T-shirts for RM30. By saying tribal Picasso, you might find in his art where the leg of a figure is bigger than the other.
In the shop itself, parked an classic red Morris, which is being sold for €1000! I love it so much but can’t have it so I took a photo of it instead. Haha…

The link is here.

fusionWAVE is now urging for any interested designer to become part of their project in designing skins for a virtual character, Dweey. Here’s what they got to say:
What it’s all about?
Dweey needs a wardrobe upgrade and she wants YOU to be the outfit designer!

This is also an on going activity where there are no deadlines involved. All works submitted will be featured in our Gallery section. Selected works will also be showcased in our November 2006 Fusionwave Design Exhibition, Malaysia.

Objective
To create a fun interactive activity where all who loves design and characters will be united to unleash their creative potentials, and share their passion towards art and creation with people all across the globe.

For more infos, check out their site Dweey.com or fusionWAVE

Just done and printed a design that I tried to do for the first time. It’s just a simple poster of a vector image of a female looking at a cube. Not exactly superb but I hope it is not entirely bad for my first try.

I had it printed in 3; 1 for myself (definitely!), another for the gallery owner of Galleriiizu for its celebration of “7|7 Opportunities” (check below), which was the purpose of why I created the design in the first place, and finally another for my fellow friend.

Hopefully, they’ll like it! And when possible, i’ll upload it in the “Typographical Touch” page. It’ll be in small thumbnail though. To see the actual design, email me at tendoujir@gmail.com. Hehe…

Date: 14 and 15 July 2006
Venue: KL Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC)
Presented by: Troubadours Enterprise

~ KL Sing Song 2006 is proud to be part of KL Fest 2006 ~

KL SING SONG
The first KL Sing Song 2006 was held in April 2005, featuring eight regional and local singer songwriters who came together to perform, hold dialogues and workshops. The event was presented by Artsee.net, sponsored by funds from Arts Network Asia, with support from International College of Music (ICOM) and the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage. The event was organised by Artsee.net in collaboration with Troubadours Enterprise. This year, KL Sing Song 2006 is organised by Troubadours Enterprise, with support from Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage and KL Performing Arts Centre. KL Sing Song 2006 is proud to be listed as one of the events of KL Fest 2006.

OBJECTIVE
KL Sing Song 2006 aims to create a platform where Malaysians can come together to appreciate the talents of local singer songwriters, further encouraging the development of local music, in line with the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage’s vision of bringing the arts closer to the people. KL Sing Song 2006 is the only workshop and performance event in Malaysia to focus solely on singer songwriters, which we feel is an exciting genre with a lot of potential for growth in the future, especially in terms of exposing our talents overseas.

For more info, check:
| Troubadours Enterprise | KL Sing Song | KL Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC) | Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage |