Reddit Hiking and Backpacking

If you enjoy hiking, like I do, or just some weekend walking then you should check out Reddit's Hiking Sub.  Lots of wonderful photos and advice on places to hike and gear to take with you.   It's also a friendly place where you can ask a questions regarding hiking and gear. 

If you are into more serious hiking, take a look at the Backpacking forum.

Navigating without a map

New blog for you to check out.  It's still new, but there is a collection of inspirational thoughts regarding life and health.
http://thenourishedsoul.ca/

Sketchup to Photoshop: Illustration tutorial looking at Ambient Occlusion

Photorealistic Architectural Rendering - Compositing Photoshop

Sketchup night rendering tutorial using Photoshop

Cool Kickstarter project to use Trekking Poles as tripod stands for your digital camera or phone.

Polepod: The missing 10% that transforms the hiking, ski, or tent poles you already have into a functional tripod

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1312251870/polepod-uses-the-poles-you-already-have-to-make-a?ref=live

ScanCard Systems

The Card system is a staple of my todo system... however they went away for about 5 years.  And now they ARE BACK!  Read a full review of the system I wrote several years back.

Check out a great review over at DIY
Buy them here.
or buy them and a nice leather organizer here.

Interior Computer Rendering - Photo Realistic

Interior Computer Rendering - Photo Realistic, a photo by Patrick Hoesly on Flickr.

- Interior computer rendering with an Painted Style process applied to the image. The next image shows an artistic style applied to this rendering.
- An interesting thing is you can see how I struggled with this very model about a year ago using Twilight Rendering Engine. www.flickr.com/photos/zooboing/5159677375/in/set-72157625... Twilight was (and still is) a very powerful rendering software, however I could never seem to get images that were nicely lighted... like I can now! KAPOW!

- Modeled with Sketchup and rendered with Shaderlight.
- Post work with Photoshop and Topaz Labs.
- Image is Copyrighted.

About Patrick Hoesly:
I’m a graphic illustrator, specializing in architectural illustrations and graphic design. I work with Game Designers, Architects, Interior Designers, and Landscape Architects, to help them visualize and sell their projects…. Basically, I get paid to play!!! Cool, Huh?
See more of my work at, www.ZooBoing.com

Shaderlight V2.4 Released

ARTVPS, makers of Shaderlight, has just released the next point version of their flagship rendering software.  Version 2.4 is expected to reduce memory requirements and improve rendering speeds.

"Users of Shaderlight can now render faster and more efficiently, thanks to the release of version 2.4 of the leading interactive and intuitive rendering plug-in to SketchUp.

Available to download from today, this latest update to Shaderlight delivers dramatically improved export and rendering performance to users when rendering complex components such as trees from 3D Warehouse or using Replace Me functionality.  In tests, Shaderlight 2.4 has reduced memory usage up to 90%."

  ZooBoing Illustrations will do a test of the new software and will report its findings here.  Stay tuned!

My Work is Available on TurboSquid!!!

I have provided larger copies of select textures on TurboSquid for those who want a larger version of the textures.  If you need a much higher resolution than I've uploaded, please contact me directly patrick at ZooBoing.com and I'll create one for you!

• Some of my textures are free, others are for sale… at reasonable market prices. (sorry, I also have to eat).
• Note: Some of my Flickr pages link directly to the larger textures, however due to volume and my limited schedule, others are linked to here... which contains a link to my main TurboSquid page.  http://www.turbosquid.com/Search/Artists/ZooBoing (then use the search feature).

Star Wars Alphabet!!!

Star Wars Alphabet... Just Damn Cool!!!

Real Time, Digital Water Pool

I ran across an animated, digital pool Website.  It lets the user pick up a ball and move it around a digital pool of water... with all the effects, splashes, and waves.  Really Cool Stuff!!!

http://madebyevan.com/webgl-water/

Backpacking tent care

Good backpacking tent care advice by REI.

http://www.rei.com/expertadvice/articles/caring+tent.html

Help Fund RISK! a funny funny podcast!

http://www.indiegogo.com/Keep-RISK-Running

Netflix freezing on iPad... and the Fix!

Netflix kept freezing up / locking up on my iPad every time I used it. This started yesterday and did it for every freaking show... but only on my iPad... not on the computer, iPhone or Wii. So what gives? Networking glitch with the iPad. All I had to do was reset my network connection and all is well.

Here is a great description of the fix!

Magic iPhone

Magic iPhone, a photo by petrus01 on Flickr.

Your smart phone, some tiny money, and a magic trick!

Taco Calorie???

So I went to lunch with a friend today at a local Mexican restaurant, Margaritas. This is a really wonderful place and the food is amazing.... however they flatly refuse to disclose nutritional information. I ordered 4 tacos (hard shell, beef, cheese, lettuce) on their buy 1 get 1 lunch special. So how many calories did I eat?
Again, as they refuse to post this information; Let me be the first to make a guess-estimation based upon several items online.

1. Eat this not that: Says I should have ordered a burrito instead of tacos because of the frying process the taco shells undergo. My first blunder.
2. The Lose-it app for the iPhone places general crunchy beef tacos at 571 calories each. DAMN!
3. Another app, GoMeals, places a taco between 160 - 200 calories depending on ingredients.
4. Comparing Margaritas tacos to Taco Bell tacos is not very scientific, but thankfully, Yum! Brands does give out nutritional information. Taco Bell beef tacos come in at 170 calories.
5. An unnamed person did a great job of gathering Mexican meal nutritional information. It appears 2 small tacos are: 395 cal.
   
6. Calorie Count website estimates a crunchy taco at 571! The same number as the Lose-it app. .... ugh... I can feel chest pains already.
   

So there is some discrepancy, so let me break this large fried taco down:

• Taco Shell (large): 100 calories
  
• Beef: 90
  
• Iceberg Lettuce: 10
  
• Cheese: 57
• Salsa: 10
• TOTAL: 267 calories
  

So... how many calories did I eat at lunch for the 4 tacos? Well I don't know for sure... but I will tend to error on the high side as Margaritas' tacos are a bit greasy (which makes them damn yummy... ya I know I disgust myself). So I'm guessing a Margareta fried taco is around 300 calories each. How did I get to this number. It seems to be within average of the online estimates and close to my estimate. I would love for the large restaurant to offer real hard numbers, but in the mean time, I'm sticking with my number.

Now for the sad part.... because I didn't eat breakfast, I was hungry and ate all 4. They filled me up... and added 1200 calories to my bottom line. Guess I need to get on that treadmill. :)

Twitpic and Your Rights

If you want to keep rights to your photo... DON'T post it to Twitpic

A celebrity photo agency called World Entertainment News Network now has the exclusive right to license and sell photos Twitter users post to their own accounts, using the app Twitpic.

LINK 1
LINK 2

Seven Tips to Better Landscape Photos

The New York Times has a good article on 7 ways to take better landscape photos.
Check it out here!

photo credit: paul bica