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chaoticdragonartisan · 3 years

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Bryce 7.1 Free Download Mac

Daz 3D Forums>General>New Users

Bryce software, free download

Bryce 7.1 Free Download Mac Pro

Bryce 7.1 Free Download Mac 2019

Bryce 7 Pro Free Download

Bryce 7.1 Free Download Mac Fonts

Alternatives to Bryce for Windows, Mac, Linux, Steam, Autodesk 3ds Max and more. Filter by license to discover only free or Open Source alternatives. This list contains a total of 22 apps similar to Bryce. List updated: 7/9/2019 4:24:00 PM. Bryce is an award winning, fun, feature-packed 3D modeling and animation package designed to allow new users to quickly create and render stunning 3D.

edited February 2014 in New Users

It used to be that some versions of Bryce were offered for free download (Bryce 6 comes to mind). Now though, I can't find any mention of Bryce 6 on your website, nor can I find any mention of a free version of Bryce on your website. Please help. Thanks in advance.

Post edited by benhut1 on

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edited December 1969

There is no longer a free version of Bryce. The Current version of Bryce is Bryce 7 Pro, and it is a reasonable price from the store at the moment. http://www.daz3d.com/bryce/bryce-7-pro

edited December 1969

That's because there isn't one..

The full version of Bryce 7 is only $20, though..

edited February 2014

There is no longer a free version of Bryce. The Current version of Bryce is Bryce 7 Pro, and it is a reasonable price from the store at the moment.

'>http://www.daz3d.com/bryce/bryce-7-pro

Is there a cheaper version of Bryce 7? You say there is a Bryce 7 Pro. What about Bryce 7 Standard? Usually when a company offers a version called 'pro' or 'professional edition' it implies that there is also a cheaper version, usually called 'standard' or 'standard edition', that is also available. Is there such a thing for Bryce?

Also got another question. I found this on a website that distributes freeware http://www.schoolfreeware.com/Freeware_Bryce_Download.html It appears to be a legitimate freeware version from back when Bryce was offered for free, and not a pirated copy of the full version of Bryce. Is it legal for me to download still existing copies of the Bryce freeware version from 3rd party websites? Or is this in itself considered piracy, now that the company that makes Bryce has stopped making a freeware version of Bryce? I'm asking this, because I had a freeware copy of Bryce 6 a number of years ago on a computer, but I can't find it now (I think I uninstalled it, but forgot to keep the install/setup file), and am wondering if it would be legal to download a freeware copy of Bryce from a 3rd party source that still happens to have a copy on their server.

Update to last question: I did click on their download link but it just took me to a software search engine type site that keeps up to date links for software, which meant it simply linked back to daz3d.com rather than to an actual download URL for the Bryce 5.5 installer. But my question still remains. If I can find a copy of the old freeware version of Bryce somewhere on the net, is it legal for me to download it?

Post edited by benhut1 on

edited February 2014

Twenty US Dollars is pretty cheap for a program and over 1 GB of content..

And that link goes to C-net's download page which, now, links back to the Bryce 7 Pro store page..

ETA: Do you remember your registration details from back then? Because if you do, then the serial and stuff would be in your account.

As to legit ways..finding a magazine disk with it on..that's about the only way.

Post edited by mjc1016 on

edited December 1969

No, there is no less expensive version of Bryce any longer. With the release of version 7 DAZ decided to go with a single version, and since that version contained all the bells and whistles of the pro version, they followed that naming convention. There is no longer a standard version.

In answer to your second question, no. DAZ does not offer their software products through third party sites. They are only legally available here. Not only are sites offering downloads of DAZ software doing so illegally, but such downloads would only be useable anyway if they included a serial key. DAZ does not include serial keys with the downloads of their software, but makes them available separately through the user's account here on the site. Any software downloaded elsewhere could only include an illegal key.

So, as others have clearly stated, the only way to obtain a copy of Bryce of any version, whether previously offered for free or not, is through the DAZ store. Previous versions are only available to those who already have valid licenses. The only version otherwise available at present is Bryce 7 Pro, as others have stated, and it is not free.

Hope that clarifies everything.

edited December 1969

Ok. I see. But what about Bryce 7 Standard? Usually when a program is called 'pro' it implies multiple editions of the software. Usually the other edition is called 'standard'. So if there's a Bryce 7 Pro, I'm guessing there is also a Bryce 7 Standard. Although I've not been able to find software by that name on here.

edited December 1969

As just SAID there is NO standard ONLY pro edition now. They no longer release other versions except FULL versions no matter the name.

edited February 2014

Bryce 5.5 was free, is no longer free. That download link will not get you any version of Bryce, it does, as MJ said, take you to Download.com, who in their turn no longer offer a free version of Bryce but simply pass you on the the DAZ 3D site to buy Bryce, the current version.

When Bryce 7 first came out there were 3 versions available, Bryce PLE (the free version) Bryce 7 and Bryce 7 Pro. However it was always exactly the same download, the serial number was what triggered the extra features for each version. Then for quite a long time DAZ 3D were offering a 100% discount on Bryce 7 Pro, as part of a 'free' suite of programs which worked together.

Once that offer ended Bryce 7 Pro was changed back into a paid for version, but with a very much reduced price ticket and the Pro serial number only. So for today's price you get the version which was previously offered at $199.95 back in 2010, when it was first released.

Pimp your screen mac free download. So it is a bargain price. There are very few so highly specified programs which cost so little. For that price you get the Pro version, with all it's additional features compared to the standard, plus an amazing amount of content, {670mb of content).

There is currently only one version of Bryce available, and that is the one in the store here. Any other version that you find offered on the net is not a legal version.

Bryce 5.5 was released in early 2006 and Bryce 6 in October 2006.

Post edited by Chohole on

edited February 2014

Slightly related to the topic (yet also a bit side-tracking) but in my opinion important enough to mention: although Bryce may not be free any more Daz Studiois. And although I'm well aware that both programs have different (but also somewhat overlapping) goals I can't help mention how the combination of both environments is (in my opinion should) be a no-brainer to get hold of.

I went the other way around; started with Daz Studio and ended up picking up Bryce (and Hexagon, but that's a different subject) and even though I'm a hobbyist I never looked back or around for other solutions. The way both environments co-operate and work together is so extremely smooth and well laid out that, as mentioned before, it should be considered a no-brainer to pick them both up.

An example, maybe not the best but the best I can come up with: You have a terrain with a house and you want two people in front of that house. You could build that pose (the house and the people in front of it) entirely using Daz Studio (which provides a lot of options and posing controls) and then export the whole environment into Bryce where you can build the surrounding environment.

Within that reasoning I think it's safe to say that Daz Studio even extends on the whole 'Bryce experience'. So you could also reason that you now got the option to grab two programs for the price of one. And I honestly think it's something you should consider.

Bryce software, free download

Just my 2 cents mind you.

Post edited by ShelLuser on

edited December 1969

My problem is that I've been teaching Bryce to high school students for the last 15 years. One of the big draws is that students love the program and can download it at home to do longer renders. When you have 52 minute periods, some scenes just don't have time to fully render -- and I won't even get started on the time it takes to render animation.

Even though I have purchased [as have the schools I have taught for] every version of Bryce so far (including back when it was a few hundred dollars under Macromedia), without the ability to let students download and run it at home, I'm going to have to shift gears and move toward a more 'modeling' software -- like Sketchup. :/

edited December 1969

Also, I like how it says 'New Member' but as you can see, I've been a member since 2009.

edited December 1969

Also, I like how it says 'New Member' but as you can see, I've been a member since 2009.

When the forum software was last updated (major update, a couple of years back) all account info, other than join date was reset. The 'level tags' (new member, etc) are based on post count and nothing else..so if you had 10,000 before the update and haven't made one since..you'll be a new member, all over again.

edited December 1969

Or you could contact customer support and see if they can't provide you with some options.

edited December 1969

Blender 3D is absolutely free 3D modelling, rendering, and animation suite.

Terragen is similar to Bryce. There is a free, not for commercial use version and a paid version so you would probably need to ask about academic use.

Bryce 7.1 Free Download Mac Pro

edited February 2014

Bryce 7.1 Free Download Mac 2019

Bryce 7 Pro Free Download

Have you seen the Academic Addendum in the EULA

2.0 Academic Addendum

The terms of this addendum 2.0 are in force only when the User has fully qualified as an academic or educational customer. User can request this qualification by contacting the DAZ sales team by submitting a help ticket or via telephone at 801.495.1777.

Once the User has been notified in writing by DAZ that he/she qualifies as an academic or educational customer, the terms of this addendum 2.0 apply to all DAZ Content the User has licensed via their online DAZ store account. DAZ Content can be identified in the online DAZ store using the following criteria:

Super mario maker free download mac. In the description field for the product, the DAZ icon appears: DAZ Icon When the User moves the mouse pointer over the icon, a text box appear with the words “DAZ Original”

The terms of this addendum 2.0 do not apply to PA Content.

You can view the full EULA by clicking on License Agreement, bottom right of every page on the DAZ 3D site.

Bryce 7.1 Free Download Mac Fonts

Post edited by Chohole on

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utopia-game · 4 years

Text

War Hungry War Birds 7:7

---------------------

UTOPIA NEWS

---------------------

JANUARY EDITION 1 Yr 4

WarBirds (7:7)

Aka Smiles’ Kingdom

Aka 99 Problems Today we are looking at Warbirds (7:7), a great story for anyone looking for guidance on how to build an organic 25 player kingdom! I spoke with the Monarch of Warbirds and this is what he told me about their kingdom.

What is your position and do you enjoy it?

My name is RedBird, and I am the elected monarch and co-founder of Warbirds, though most probably know us just as "smiles' kingdom" or by our server name "99 Problems". We are a warring kingdom that started out in age 83 as a teaching and training kingdom for new players that evolved rapidly as we found ourselves competing at higher and higher levels.

Why was the kingdom created and what is your modus operandi?

I was a few years off from Utopia (and enjoying sleep), it was in late 2017 I think, when Smiles asked me to come back for an age and play with him and puncher in a revived TFC. I was hesitant at first, but he sold me on the idea of a 25 faery kingdom, said he would be running the wars, and I couldn't say no to that -- I believe that Smiles is the best war leader in the game. It was a terrific age (age 81) with a killer setup and we crowned honor and WW, top 3 land and nw. I'd really only planned to come back for a single age, but that success made me want to stick around. I did one more age with TFC, but the magic was gone. Drama began to appear in the kd, there were personality conflicts etc., and it just wasn't a great age. I'd been bit by the uto bug though, so after age 82 I just decided to random into a ghetto and fool around for another age.

The Kingdom I randomed into in age 83 was a kingdom of 100% random provinces. No one in the kd had played with anyone else there before, so there was no leadership or discord or anything like that. I didn't really have any interest in trying to be in charge, this was supposed to be a sort of "age off" for me where I could just play casually. But when it became clear that no one else was going to step up, I just put myself out there and offered to do what I could. Little did I know...

A lot of the players were brand new to the game; some were experienced but had spent most or all of their time in the ghetto. There were a few people with more substantial experience as well, but I would only slowly discover that as we went along. I set up a discord (very trial and error, as I had never run a server before) and started teaching people how to use bot, and take intel before attacking, and how to properly do ops, etc. It was slow going. In the first week I got I think... 5 people into the discord server? Most people were shy, and just wanted to use the chat bar or in-game forums.

It took a lot of coaxing, but slowly more and more people started popping in. The first few people I trained became my "LS" by default, and they helped the new arrivals learn bot and all the rest. Very, very basic stuff. Expectations were minimal, it was all about making people feel comfortable and safe and welcome. Our kd location was 9:9, so we called ourselves "99 Problems" in honor of the basket case of a kingdom we all instinctively knew we were.

Well, little did I know, Smiles had done more or less the same thing as I had! He'd left TFC after age 82 as well, and randomed into the deep ghetto. Sure enough, he'd found himself flying his own little flock of misfit birds. We got to talking, and when we realized that we both had only like ~15 provinces each, and a couple of inactives apiece, we came up with a plan: we would war our two kingdoms against one another, purge our respective inactives in the eowcf, and then merge the kingdoms.

So we did. It was a rough and very basic little war. Lots of bounces. Activity sporadic. But it was good training for both kds. In the end, 99 Problems won, and smiles asked the admin to merge his remaining provinces into my kingdom, so I became monarch by default. I'm not a war leader though and never have been, so from the very beginning, smiles was the one calling the shots and doing the hard training. My role is and always has been to bring people together, problem solve, and make people feel safe, welcome, and appreciated as part of our community.

Once we settled into a system that worked for us we set about training our players and replacing inactives using the in-game recruiting tool. We finished 9th in kd honor that first age, as a kingdom of 22 completely random provinces, the only two of whom had ever played with one another before being myself and smiles. That was the beginning of our kingdom, and I was so very proud of all of our players.

We decided after our first age that we would be a teaching and training kingdom, and that we would prioritize giving as many people as possible opportunities to learn leadership, and that we would welcome brand new players and encourage players who were completely new to the game to play with us and learn with us. For the first three ages that remained our central focus, though we found ourselves creeping up the rankings charts every age. With Smiles as your war leader, that sort of thing is going to happen! It's only a matter of time until you find yourself competing at higher and higher levels. In more recent ages we have begun to shift our focus to crown goals, and recruitment strategies have shifted to attracting the best talent possible. As our community continues to grow we may consider starting a second kingdom based on the same principles that we started with only a little over a year ago -- those of teaching, training, and egalitarian spirit.

When was the kingdom started, how many founders?

The answer would be, age 83, and every one of the people who played with us in that first age can be thought of as the founders of our kingdom. There was no "core" group, and that principle of egalitarianism and equal ownership of the kingdom continues to this day. All of our players have an equal voice in setting the direction for our kingdom, and while seniority or status as an original member might hold special meaning for those of us who remember that first age together, seniority does not confer any special status or authority in our community.

How many actual members do you have and how do you recruit?

Currently we have an active roster of 25 players with four active former players standing by as potential substitutes. There are also around twenty former players. I try to stay in regular contact with everyone who leaves or decides to take a few ages off. Some are retired for good and others I hope will return at some point when they have more time. Our kingdom has a policy of filling any empty spots first from our veteran pool if possible before recruiting from the outside. In addition to the 50 or so players and former players our server is also host to a few dozen regular guests from various other kingdoms. Our numerous public channels are open to everyone, and we make no effort to hide our location at the start of the age, so all are welcome at any time. I encourage everyone to come join us in our public channels.

What about these 10 laws of effective leadership and 6 eternal principles of the constitution I hear about?

Well, I will start with the nuts and bolts, because I really enjoy talking about our kingdom's constitutional structure. Our kingdom has functioned as an elective monarchy since the end of our second age. At the end of every age our kingdom votes on goals and direction for the next age. Things like level of competitiveness and level of activity expected from players, criteria for recruitment, age goal, kd name, and theme for the age are decided by straw polls and secret ballot.

Once our age goals are decided upon, we hold a formal election to select a monarch for the next age. The only stipulation is that whoever is elected must accept the goals and direction that the kd chose for the coming age, and cannot try to change them or the constitutional nature of the kingdom. A Returning Officer is selected from the pool of original kd members, and they are entrusted with handling the nomination and selection process and ensuring a fair result of the vote.

Once a monarch is elected, the constitution stipulates that they must appoint a war leader to lead the kingdom, and a council of advisors to support the war leader. Once the war leader is appointed, the show is theirs to run however they deem appropriate. The monarch can change war leaders mid-age if they want, but not during a war in progress, and the monarch has no power to overrule or interfere with a war leader's conduct of a war.

The elected monarch has final say on withdrawing from war, recruitment, and removing players, or selecting people for leadership, but it is the war leader who is at the top of the org chart for most in-game decisions. So in some sense you could say that the kingdom runs on a consular system with two leaders; one civilian, and one military. In that sense the constitution is a formal description of the system that Smiles and I designed for ourselves out of necessity that first age. It worked well, so we made it official.

In practice, our core leadership has not changed much in 5 ages. Smiles and I have served as war leader and monarch respectively every age since our kingdom's foundation, though we do rotate people through council as often as we can to give people experience of war planning and wave leading. In the last three ages we have brought in some tremendously experienced and capable people from other kingdoms, and this expanded leadership capacity has added tremendously to our success. It also gives me great hope for the future of our constitutional experiment.

As for RedBird's ten laws of leadership, well, these are just the rules I expect my leadership team to lead and play by:

1. No topic of discussion is off limits in leadership council, and everyone has an equal voice there.

2. Morale is everything, and no negativity, complaining, or defeatist talk is permitted outside of council.

3. We reward initiative and encourage risk taking.

4. Everyone deserves a second chance. Most people deserve a third chance. Some people deserve a fourth chance.

5. We review personnel after every war and we are always looking for ways to make our kingdom stronger, and support players who are struggling.

6. We offer praise for positive actions, and gentle correction for mistakes. We always address the members of our kd using terms of affection and respect.

7. We always put the needs of the KD ahead of our own provinces.

8. We are decisive in giving orders and we do not argue or plead.

9. Life is more important than utopia.

10. Don't be a martyr: set a sitter and get some sleep.

---------

There are some goals that are so poetic as to be necessary goals. A crowning achievement for our kingdom would be to achieve a level of success greater than that crowning age Smiles captained for us in TFC in age 81. If we could do that, it would feel like a full circle and culmination of the first chapter of our kingdom's journey. It would be a crown for all of us, but for Smiles more than myself. A legacy for me would be seeing this constitutional and democratic model I am trying to create actually carry on after I am gone. I'm sure I still have plenty of ages ahead of me, but the time will come eventually when I either step aside or the members of my kingdom decide to hand the reins to a new king or queen.

If and when that day comes, if I could take a few ages off from utopia, and then come back and discover that the kingdom I helped to found was still going strong, and had stayed true to the systems and principles on which it was founded... well, that would be the crown for me.

Thank you for the interview opportunity!

Thank you Redbird and Thank you Warbirds for being part of the community! You have a very unique kingdom structure and a nice piece of history for anyone who many have missed the early 80’s. It also serves as a very inspirational story on building a kingdom from the ground up and how you overcame struggles you faced in order to maintain a presence in the war charts age over age.

I would like to thank Smiles for constantly commenting and participating in the MUGA chat especially when I mention him as he has been very transparent about sharing information and data. Thank you Smiles for your contribution!

For any Monarchs out there if you would like your kingdom/war featured please reach out to me in discord or at 1:1!

W1nD#9514

Reporter - w1nd 1:1

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itkmoonknight · 5 years

Text

ITK Newsletter, no. CX: ISLA RA SESSIONS - Featuring Guest John Harrison

Hello Dear Loonies!

Welcome back to the ITK newsletter which had gone missing for a while. As a matter of fact, the episode had been missing last week, and if it wasn’t for the generous effort made by both High Priests Rebecca and Connor, episode 118 would not have been dropped in time as well! Yes, there have been some turns in life which had made it hard for me to focus on the show and without getting too much into it, I just wanted to spend as much time with my family as I could. It was a tough couple of weeks, but I now feel ready to continue making the best damn possible Moon Knight podcast out there!

So, this coming weekend, I’ll be dropping an ISLA RA Session which I had recorded in early October. I’m only half way through editing it now, but it’s a handsome sized episode and it was again, a massive amount of fun - I hope you enjoy listening to it…!

PHASE OF THE MOON: WAXING CRESCENT (due to scheduling delay, this is slightly out of sync with what we're meant to do)

ISLA RA SESSIONS - JOHN 'DOC' HARRISON FROM TV PODCAST INDUSTRIES

I've always wanted to get the boys from TV Podcast Industries on the show as I'm huge fans of theirs, and after having Chris and Derek on the show, having the chance to speak to John about his desert island books - amongst other things - had been so special and thoroughly enjoyable.

Admittedly, I’ve not conducted an ISLA RA session with Chris, but it could be argued that his and my almost 3 hour episode we had when he guested on two chat about Spidey, was the genesis for the ISLA RA sessions. It was a peek behind the podcasting host facade and a chat about what Chris loved about Spidey and comics. It wasn’t long after that, that I decided to delve into more stories from Loonies, and voila - the ISLA RA Sessions were created!

So, there’s plenty to look forward to with John’s chat - as always, we conducted our chat in and around the Moon Knight corner of the universe…so this time around, we’re at Gena’s diner. Later on, we head out to some other locations - but I’ll leave that for you to discover when you hear the episode!

John's Top 4 Isla Ra (Desert Island) Comics: ???

As always, we aren't giving anything away! Below you'll find encrypted links to John's books. These will be in the show nots as well, but if you want to prepare for the show and discover what books John has chosen - and read them ahead of our discussion - then look no further than below -

JOHN'S TOP 4 ISLA RA BOOKS:

John's Top Pick

John's 2nd Pick

John's 3rd Pick

John's 4th Pick

FANTASY COMIC LEAGUE - OCTOBER PROGRESS

Oh boy, it's been a bit quiet on the FCL front, but we finally got the cards in for the progress this month, and I must say Tommy has returned with a vengeance!

Looks like he'll no doubt take out this month as he has an unbeatable lead it seems...I'm still in the mix, and hopefully if I can just hang in the top 2 every month, then I'm in with a good chance to take out overall.

However, Tommy and Jason are making good ground and in particular kudos to Jason for his maiden season...he's one to watch! Dustin and Chad unfortunately have drafts (like myself....c'mon Wolvie!!!!) who haven't fired...but anything goes int he last week of October, so you never know!

Below are the progress cards for our #ITKMoonKnight division for you perusal!! I think the big player this month surely has been The Thing from Contagion...plenty more points to be racked up by ol' blue eyes!

Well done Tommy - you'll be the man to beat in the coming months!!

THE COLLECTIVE NEWS

Another plug to our fellow Collective members! I'll try and make this thing a regular thing, so you fair Loonies are in the loop with all these other great podcasts out there, which we highly recommend!

As some of you know, The Collective are a band of like minded podcasters who formed a few years ago now to act as a supportive network for one another not only in promoting each others' shows, but also as a creative hive, where we bounce ideas off one another as to how to improve our shows.

We've crossed over more than once now with other shows, and I know from listening to all of them, that they are highly entertaining and fun to listen to!

I've got a few recommendations which I'll list here, and each newsletter I hope to give a shout out to the recent episodes of these great shows.....I've actually got a couple of other recommendations from a podcast which isn't a part of The Collective (but I reckon they should be!)

All further information on all the shows can be found in teh link at the bottom of this page...

Anyway, here's just a few of what's happening in Collective-Town....

A shoutout to Paul from The Collected Edition with their recent release of a review of the Warren Ellis Moon Knight run! Check out Episode 49 - Moon Knight ...highly entertaining and informative!

Although not part of The Collective (maybe I'll ask if he wants to join), good friend Scott Weatherly from 20th Century Geek released two Moon Knight-centric episodes! I had the fortune of guesting on Part 2 as well... Check out Episode 89 - Spotlight on Moon Knight Part 1, and Episode 90 - Spotlight on Moon Knight Part 2 for all your Moon Knight needs!

Upcoming guest John Harrison & the other boys from TV Podcast Industries have been covering the recent release of the TV show 'Watchmen', which seems to be getting rave reviews...I gotta catch up myself, but after I do, I'll be sure to tune in to these fantastic hosts to get their take!....Check out discussions on Episode 1 and Episode 2, plus they also have a couple of other episodes based on feedback and a prelude to the TV show....Top quality stuff!

Our good mates over at Inner Demons - A Ghost Rider Podcast have released their 46th episode, reviewing a couple of recent releases and a couple of classics. Always fun, always great to hear these guys (incidentally, Brian, one of the hosts, features on a Terminator retrospective on 20th Century Geek Podcast as well....check it out if you can!)...Check out Episode 46 - 'Unoriginal Sin' for their latest and greatest!

Be sure to always check out the Capes & Lunatics Newsletter for all their shows. These guys are more prolific than a Catholic rabbit...so instead of showcasing all their shows here, it's better to get it at the source! I was also honoured to feature on The Quantum Zone for Part 6 of their review for Operation Galatic Storm too... it'll be up and dropping in a month or so I think...

Sons of the Dragon - An Immortal Iron Fist Podcast have also released an episode - Episode 101 is a review of Contagion issues #2 and #3... I bet these guys are happy that the Contagion event is Iron Fist-centric! Can't wait to chat about the final two issues with them on their coming episode too...but be sure to listen to their latest to get up to speed!

Finally, can't NOT shout out The Signal of Doom Podcast featuring good mate, David Finn. This episode, their latest, has the return of Connor McKenna (host of Sons of the Dragon - An Immortal Iron Fist Podcast and fellow host for Last Sons of Krypton - A Superman Podcast)....these guys are heaps of fun to chat with in their own right, so when they are together...BOMBS are set off!! Check out Episode 137 for their latest show...The Signal have also just released a Patreon Page, so I highly recommend checking it out and considering becoming a patron to gain exclusive episodes form The Swamp!

Oh, final, FINAL plug will be for Last Sons of Krypton - A Superman Podcast. Since I've been away, Connor (my valued co-host) has been keeping the show running and has been getting guests from The Collective and elsewhere to come on and chat Superman...I'd be remiss to not mention the latest offering...Episode 29 - Return of The Phantom King is a cool review on a Halloween-esque issue with Superman. Guesting is Tyler Patrick from The Krypton Report....Worth a geeze!

You can always chat or leave feedback to us -

We absolutely LOVE to hear from you, and will always address and give you shout outs on the show, so please don't hesitate to drop us a line!

We've got various social media outlets and we use these to read Loony comments on the show - if you DON'T want your comments broadcast, please just add, "(DNB)" at the end of your comment, and we'll be sure not to broadcast it. We'll pick a few comments from here and discuss on the show!

Email: [email protected]

Podcast Page: http://intotheknight.libsyn.com

Facebook Page: Into the Knight - A Moon Knight Podcast

Facebook Group: Into the Knight - A Moon Knight Fan Base

Twitter: @ITKmoonknight

Discord ITK Server: ITK Server

GetVokl : Into the Knight Welcome Room

Well, that'll do me for this here return newsletter for y'all!! Thanks for sticking by us, and don't forget....it won't be long before the TV show hits, so buckle in, stake your claim and be sure you're the one who can say, "I've been a member waaaaaaaayyy before it bcame way more popular!" :P ....ok, I might be reaching for the stars there...but I just want to say, thanks for all the support!!

Catch you very soon (i.e after the pre-recorded episode which drops this coming weekend...ahh, y'know what I mean!)....I'll be more active on our social media platforms again...so looking forward to chatting with you!

May Khonshu Watch Over the Denizens of the (K)Night,

Rey

Proud Member of The Collective

Remember! You can buy your official ITK merchandise at ...ITK Store Front @ TeePublic

Check out this episode!

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pauldeckerus · 5 years

Text

Can JPEGs Be Improved to RAW Quality?

Over the years, I have come across this question often: “Can a JPEG image be enhanced to a RAW image quality?” I understand where this question comes from. Photographers are taught to “shoot in RAW” from day one. These days, so many images are only in JPEG format, from phone photos to stock photos, to those priceless old pictures. It would be really nice if we could enhance them to RAW image quality so they could fit into today’s photographer’s RAW image editing workflow!

Full disclosure: This article was sponsored by Topaz Labs, the photographer’s editing toolbox.

Unfortunately, the answer has always been “No.” JPEG format was introduced in 1994 mainly to reduce file size and conserve memory space. Images saved as JPEG are a lot smaller in file size and have also lost a lot of information. From the information theory of point of view, that lost data is unrecoverable and the damage is irreversible. There are changes you can make to the image to make it look a little better, as we did with our Photoshop plugin “Topaz DeJPEG”, which used an algorithm to remove blocky artifacts in near “optimal” sense (optimal Mean Squared Error). However, even DeJPEG simply cannot recover the lost details.

Figure 1. Guess which pictures is JPEG, which is RAW, or something else?

However, I recently became hopeful that my “No” could eventually become a “Yes.” Before I explain further, let’s dig a little deeper into the difference between a JPEG and a RAW image.

RAW images emerged when high-quality DLSR digital cameras started to replace film cameras. A RAW image usually comes directly from a DLSR camera by saving imaging sensor data with minimum alteration so that maximum image quality can be achieved during the post editing. This is possible because DSLR cameras use the best image sensors and high-quality optics, resulting in RAW images that are high quality.

Optics/Lens → Imaging Sensor → 10-14bit per RGB → save to RAW file in 10-14 bits per

JPEG images typically come from small cameras, like your phone, or are saved after editing to reduce image size for the internet. Phone or low-cost point-and-shoot cameras have very small image sensors (the red one in figure 2 is an iPhone imager size, as opposed to DLSR full frame), which will produce much higher noise. In-camera pre-processing has to be used to suppress the noise to make the image looks good. This noise suppression also removes fine details in the images. Then the images are converted to 8-bit sRGB colorspace to further reduce the amount of data in the image. This is a shame because sRGB can only represent about 50% of the colors that your eye can see, as illustrated in Figure 3. Finally, the JPEG encoder compresses the image into an even smaller file size which results in more loss of information.

lens/sensor → pre-processing → (8bit sRGB) → JPEG encoder → JPEG file

Figure 2, camera imaging sensor size

Figure 3, colorspace diagram

To summarize the difference between JPEG and RAW:

Don’t get me wrong. When a JPEG image is saved with “Quality > 70”, it “looks” almost as good as a RAW image. The problems only manifest when you edit the image in a strong way.

With the information losses in JPEG’s encoding and the fact that jpeg cameras tend to have small lenses and sensors, it is easy to conclude that it is impossible to enhance JPEG images into raw quality… well, until recently, that is.

In the last few years, there has been some revolutionary development in Artificial Intelligence and its application in image enhancement. Using “deep learning”, artificial neural networks have achieved some amazing results (see our AI Gigapixel and AI Clear). With these developments, it was natural for us to try to use A.I. to enhance a JPEG image to (hopefully) RAW image quality!

But wait, I just said that it is theoretically impossible to recover the lost information. How can an artificial neural network do the impossible?

The easiest way to explain it is that A.I. approaches this problem from a very different angle. Instead of trying to reverse the information loss, which is impossible, we train a neural network to “remember” what the RAW image should look like before it’s converted to a JPEG image. We train the neural network on a large number of high-quality RAW images together with their corresponding JPEG version so that it learns and remembers the correspondence. After training the network on enough images, the neural network will “remember” to output a higher quality image even when given a new “unseen” JPEG image as input. It’s just like when you see a friend from far away. Though they are too far away for you to make out the details with your eyes, you can imagine or remember what your friend looks like in vivid detail.

Figure 4. This is what the neural network in our brain looks like.

Figure 5. This is what the artificial neural network looks like.

To make this approach work, we faced the following challenges:

RAW image dataset for training. We needed raw images of all subjects and types – lots of them. We searched the internet, we begged people to allow our machine to see their RAW images, we dug out all of our vacation photos, we shot more. Eventually, we built the most comprehensive RAW image dataset that I know of in deep learning fields.

A proper neural network architecture and the method to train it. For this, we took advantage of our previous research in image upsampling (Topaz A.I. Gigapixel) and noise reduction (Topaz A.I. Clear) and used our proven neural network architecture. We went above and beyond though and made it even deeper – over 30 layers of neurons. We also invested in large GPU servers and ran them for months at a time to let the network slowly learn from our large RAW image dataset.

Run the deep neural network fast enough on a PC. We continued to refine our own proprietary GPU based neural network inference engine to allow it to run acceptably on at least mid-end personal computers.

After months of training and a lot of late nights for our team, we are proud to introduce our new software “Topaz JPEG to RAW AI.” Look back at Figure 1: the right image is a high-quality RAW image, the left image is JPEG compressed with “quality=15”, the middle one is the JPEG after being enhanced by “Topaz JPEG to RAW AI”. This is an extreme case and the output is not quite “RAW” image quality, but the A.I. does a pretty impressive job given the JPEG is extremely compressed and has lost almost all details.

Overall, my scorecard for our current attempt to use AI to enhance JPEG is summarized below:

Here are a few more images to compare.

Remove compression artifacts:

Recover details and sharpen:

Remove noise:

Are the enhanced JPEGs now RAW quality? That’s for you to judge. We will continue to work on improving it. We encourage you to try JPEG to RAW AI on your own images by downloading the free trial. Let us know what you think – we’re always open to feedback.

At Topaz Labs, we are so excited about the possibilities of A.I. for photo processing. We are just starting to scratch the surface of A.I.’s potential for photography. In due time, we believe this technology will bring many great tools to assist artists and photographers in their creative pursuit.

Disclaimer: New JPEG standard does allow you to save the image in higher quality, e.g. encoded in 16-bit. However, my discussion above applies to the majority (I suspect > 95%) of the existing JPEG images. Example images used are pretty extreme cases to illustrate the points. Most JPEG images you have probably are not that bad! :-)

About the author: Dr. Yang founded Topaz Labs 12 years ago due to his life-long passion for signal and image enhancement. His knowledge and skills have been instrumental in leading Topaz Labs to be an industry frontrunner in using new technology in their photography products – from innovative masking (Topaz ReMask), best quality photo noise reduction (Topaz Denoise), to Artificial Intelligence-based products, such as A.I. Gigapixel and A.I. Clear. Dr. Yang is also a long-time entrepreneur, co-founder and CTO of Techwell Inc. (video enhancement semiconductors, went IPO in 2006) and the co-founder and CTO of Fortemedia Inc (small microphone array technology for voice enhancement). Dr. Yang received his Ph.D in System Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada.

from Photography News https://petapixel.com/2019/01/29/can-jpegs-be-improved-to-raw-quality/

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sailorrrvenus · 5 years

Text

Can JPEGs Be Improved to RAW Quality?

Full disclosure: This article was sponsored by Topaz Labs, the photographer’s editing toolbox.

Figure 1. Guess which pictures is JPEG, which is RAW, or something else?

However, I recently became hopeful that my “No” could eventually become a “Yes.” Before I explain further, let’s dig a little deeper into the difference between a JPEG and a RAW image.

Optics/Lens → Imaging Sensor → 10-14bit per RGB → save to RAW file in 10-14 bits per

lens/sensor → pre-processing → (8bit sRGB) → JPEG encoder → JPEG file

Figure 2, camera imaging sensor size

Figure 3, colorspace diagram

To summarize the difference between JPEG and RAW:

Don’t get me wrong. When a JPEG image is saved with “Quality > 70”, it “looks” almost as good as a RAW image. The problems only manifest when you edit the image in a strong way.

But wait, I just said that it is theoretically impossible to recover the lost information. How can an artificial neural network do the impossible?

Figure 4. This is what the neural network in our brain looks like.

Figure 5. This is what the artificial neural network looks like.

To make this approach work, we faced the following challenges:

Overall, my scorecard for our current attempt to use AI to enhance JPEG is summarized below:

Here are a few more images to compare.

Remove compression artifacts:

Recover details and sharpen:

Remove noise:

source https://petapixel.com/2019/01/29/can-jpegs-be-improved-to-raw-quality/

0 notes

lindyhunt · 6 years

Text

29 Office Costume Ideas for Marketing Nerds & Tech Geeks

Halloween is a fun holiday, and it doesn't get the attention it deserves. It doesn't have recognizable songs or vacation days associated with it, and it falls on a busy time of year for most people in the workforce.

But that doesn't mean you should skip the festivities at your office Halloween celebration.

How many days of the year are you encouraged to dress up and goof around at work? Probably just one -- Halloween -- and even then, it can be hard to know what's office-appropriate.

We want you to have fun this Halloween, so we're taking the work out if it for you. We've compiled a list of DIY Halloween costume ideas that are easy to put together, inexpensive, and perfect for the digital marketer or tech professional.

If your family and friends don't get your costume, your colleagues definitely will.

29 Office Costume Ideas for Marketing Nerds & Tech Geeks

Computer Costumes

1. Alt Text

Alt text isn't just the metadata of an image published on the web -- you could also say it's an "alternative" fashion statement with the text to describe the era. This was HubSpot Director of Content Corey Wainwright's office Halloween costume a few years ago. It's great because you don't even look dressed up if you have a casual office dress code, so you can just blend in.

To dress as alt text this halloween, break out your best 90s alternative garb -- our coworker Corey went with black jeans, combat boots, and a flannel. Then, tape hyphenated text that best describes what you're wearing, much like an image of your outfit would do online to help search engines read the file.

We edited a sash of alt text on to the alternatively dressed girl below, just to help you picture your awesome costume.

Source: That's Life

2. SEO Ninja

Speaking of dorking out on SEO, you could be everyone's favorite LinkedIn title -- the SEO ninja. Dress in all black, buy a black ski mask, and tape keywords all over yourself. Voila ... you're an actual ninja -- just one much more concerned with search engine optimization than lurking in the darkness.

Source: Pinterest

3. Mobile App

Wander around holding an appetizer -- candy, cheese and crackers, chips and dip ... whatever you have on hand. Boom. You're a mobile "app."

This costume also doubles as a great way to introduce yourself and make friends at a party.

Source: Opportunity Max

4. Instagrammer

Want another way to turn handing out food into a costume? Dress up like a hipster and hand out graham crackers. You're an "instant" "gram" cracker server -- or, for short, an Instagrammer. Pun absolutely intended.

5. Ghostwriter

Have you ever written something for somebody else's byline? Such is the life of a "ghostwriter." Turn your author-less accomplishment into this year's office Halloween costume.

To dress up as a ghostwriter, grab a white sheet and cut a hole for your head and arms. Dob some black ink spots on the sheet, get a book and one of those feather quills (or just get a feather, I suppose), and boo -- you're a ghostwriter.

6. Whitespace

Whitespace on the internet might just denote all the blank space you use to help your design stand out, but on Halloween, "whitespace" isn't just the absence of space.

Dress in all white -- add white face paint and a white wig if you're ultra-committed. Then add a hint of color somewhere on the outfit, like a colored tie or scarf, or even a paint splotch. That color splotch will make the white space more prominent, transforming you into "whitespace."

7. Error 404 Code

You've most likely encountered a funny error 404 page before, and you can make it a funny costume, too. Grab a sheet of paper, write "Error 404: Costume Not Found," and tape it to your outfit.

A photo posted by RachAel Klopfenstein (@theklopf) on Sep 5, 2015 at 12:33pm PDT

8. (Monty) Python

If you're into programming code, British comedy, and low-effort costumes, being (Monty) Python is perfect. Dress up in anything remotely snakelike in your closet: olive green clothing, snakeskin accessories, and fake vampire teeth that can serve as your fangs.

Then, to amp up the dork factor on this costume, add two coconuts or a gold chalice to embody Monty Python on his quest for the Holy Grail.

9. Facebook

Grab face paint or eyeliner and write "book" across your cheeks. Just like that, you're the world's biggest social network for Halloween.

And for your sake, we hope your colleagues actually get it:

Source: AndPop

10. Unicorn

Here's another tech-friendly, double-entendre costume: Be your own version of a tech unicorn. Here at HubSpot, we love this tech icon, and you can easily make your own version of a unicorn horn with help from this article.

Source: WikiHow

11. Phishing Emails

Phishing emails are nothing to joke about -- they can seriously threaten your technology and data security. But on Halloween, you can dress up as a play on phishing emails for an easy DIY costume. All you need are a stick, a piece of string, and an envelope. Bonus points if you own a bucket hat and vest to complete the ensemble. Check out an amusing version of this costume below.

Source: Car and Driver

12. Copycat

"CNTRL + C" is the popular keyboard macro allowing you to copy items from one place to another on your computer. Well, here's a technology spin on a classic Halloween costume. All you'll need are cat ears, eyeliner-drawn whiskers, and a sheet of paper. Write "CNTRL + C" on the paper, tape it to your outfit, and you're a "copycat."

Source: BuzzFeed

13. The Blue Screen of Death

You know the screen, even if you don't know the morbid nickname the tech world has given it. This classic error screen is known for signaling the end of a computer's useful life, and you know it when you see it. It causes so much stress on site, in fact, that the color alone is scary enough for October 31.

Believe it or not, there are official T-shirts you can get with the blue screen of death copy printed on them. Want to make your own? All you need is a royal blue t-shirt and a printed version of this horrifying error message to pin to it.

Source: Spreadshirt

Emoji Costumes

14. Information Desk Girl

This genius professional found a golden (or, rather, purple) opportunity to be the "information desk emoji, the many gestures of whom we've all come to know, love, and use at some point in a text conversation.

The best part about this awesome tech reference is that you don't need to alter your regular attire to make it work. As Naomi shows us below, it's all in the hand gestures.

View this post on Instagram

No one recognized my Halloween costume for work until I started texting and striking poses #emojicostume #lazycostume

A post shared by Naomi (@naomi_yyz) on Oct 30, 2015 at 3:26pm PDT

15. Dancing Girls Emoji

If you're the owner of one of the nearly more than 1 billion Apple iPhones sold worldwide, you're probably familiar with the dancing girls emoji, shown below.

The easiest version of this costume is to find a buddy and dress all in black together. If you're committed to emoji authenticity, buy black bunny ears to complete the look.

Source: Brit + Co

16. Heart Eyes

Are you just in love with Halloween? Prove it with this passionate emoji face. You don't have to paint your entire face, chin to hairline, to get the Heart Eyes Emoji just right, but it certainly helps. It'll also disguise your stress when you're at your most focused during the day.

"This employee just seems to love her job, I can't put my finger on why," your manager will think ... See how to paint this emoji onto your face below (you'll need some help for this one).

youtube

Topical Office Costumes

17. Fully Vested

At work, "fully vested" usually refers to one's ability to earn all matching funds of a 401(k) retirement plan. But for some, you just can't help but picture someone wearing lots of sleeveless jackets at the same time. Now's the time to personify that image.

If you work in a company where people would get the joke, put on a bunch of vests (at least three, but even more is encouraged), and that's about it. You're fully vested.

18. Nerd

What I love about the nerd costume is that it's effortless and always unique -- there are many ways to be a nerd in this day and age. Are you a tech nerd, a video game nerd, or a book nerd? The sky is the limit with this costume. Show up wearing glasses with your favorite accessories, such as a magic wand, book, or lightsaber, to complete the effect.

19. A Solar Eclipse

Last year, the solar eclipse took over the internet -- and the country. As millions of people flocked to the path of totality to (hopefully) catch a glimpse of this rare event without burning their corneas, millions more made jokes about it on social media.

To dress up as a solar eclipse for Halloween, you'll need a work pal to dress up as the sun and the moon with you. One of you wears black, the other wears yellow, and you both wear dark sunglasses. Then, at the Halloween party, the one dressed in black spends the whole time standing in front of the one in yellow.

Source: Pinterest

20. The 'Evil Kermit' Meme

If you haven't heard of this mega-popular meme this year, you've probably seen it somewhere: It features Kermit the Frog, face-to-face with his evil twin, Evil Kermit. Evil Kermit looks identical, except for the black cloak.

For this costume, you and a coworker can keep it simple: You both wear green shirts, and one of you wears a black hoodie or jacket on top. If you really want to commit to the costume, you'll spring for some green face paint to complete the ensemble. Walk around the party together, facing one another, for maximum effect.

21. Eleven from Stranger Things

Eleven from Netflix's hit series Stranger Things is universally beloved, and it's a bonus that her signature look is a comfortable and easy-to-assemble costume. Rock your best Eleven with a dress, a denim jacket, and a box of Eggo Waffles.

Source: Business Insider

22. Pokémon GO Trainer

Pokémon GO had roughly 45 million people walking around in cities glued to their phones last summer (I, among them). To pay homage to the explosion of this tech trend, you'll need a t-shirt that's red, yellow, or blue. Using fabric paint or permanent marker, write Valor (for red), Instinct (for yellow), or Mystic (for blue) on your shirt.

Spend Halloween walking around pointing your phone at objects, and you're the spitting image of a Pokémon GO trainer. Gotta catch 'em all, right?

A photo posted by Odinia (@marshmallowsie) on Aug 9, 2016 at 4:44pm PDT

Group Office Costumes

23. Google Algorithm Update

Find a couple of office buddies for this one -- one panda, one penguin, and one pigeon. You might be thinking, "what the heck is the pigeon algorithm update?" 1) It's a thing, and 2) we checked Amazon for hummingbird costumes and there aren't any cheap ones available.

Source: Opportunity Max

24. Black Hat and White Hat SEO

This is another SEO-related costume, and I think you can figure this one out on your own. I recommend wearing a black hat for one, and a white hat for the other, and having "SEO" embroidered on each one -- which you can easily custom order.

Source: SEO-Hacker

25. Series A Round of Funding

Get a bunch of people together, write the letter "A" on your shirt, and line up. (You could do subsequent funding rounds using the same principle, too.)

26. Snapchat Filters

Here's another group costume idea that pays tribute to Snapchat's filters feature.

There are numerous options that you and your team can choose from to embody this costume. You could dress up as vomiting rainbows, cat and dog ears, a flower crown, or a face swap, and this could be as DIY or store-bought as you're interested in pursuing. For example, here's some inspiration for a couple of the dog filters:

Source: PopSugar

27. Snapchat Ghosts

Put a marketing spin on a classic Halloween costume by arriving as a Snapchat ghost. You'll all need a white sheet and to pick which ghost you like the most.

Source: YouTube

28. PAC-MAN and Company

Here's yet another awesome ghostly costume idea your whole team at work can get in on. Have your team lead wear the yellow pie-shaped garb of PAC-MAN, with each team member dressed as the multi-colored ghosts that roam the screen in this vintage arcade game.

Just make sure the team lead doesn't actually try to eat the ghosts -- you're in an office, and you're all technically on the same team.

Source: Meningrey

29. Instagram Filters

For this group costume, you'll need white t-shirts and fabric markers. Draw an Instagram photo frame on the front of your shirts, and each team member can write a different Instagram filter's name inside the photo frame. Or, create frame props with different filters on them like the group did below:

Source: Nails Magazine

The clothes don't make the marketer, but the costume can certainly make the culture at your company. Find out what it takes to hire and train the best fits for your open roles in the free ebook, available below.

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