Progress on the disc has stopped for several reasons, the most basic one is that I don’t have the time. I will resume, but I’m kind of in a transition period in a couple different areas in my life including work, and it’s been really hectic.
Also getting over a nasty sinus infection that kept me home from work for the past week. Hasn’t been fun.
So it’s tax time. Everyone is prepping their forms and getting all their paperwork in line to meet the big deadline. Since I started doing my own taxes, I have always been one to get them done as soon as I can. It’s not only because of the nice refund you usually receive, but also because it’s one big headache out of the way. So yeah, my taxes are done and I received my refund. One of my goals in getting the refund was to finally make the move from iPhone to Android. So I bought a Nexus S on T-Mobile.
Now, I wasn’t really one of the people who hated AT&T. Their service was ok, and it served me well. I had no major gripes with it. My service with T-Mobile has been about the same, and maybe even a little more reliable in my apartment.
So far I love my Nexus S. One particular feature really came in handy last night, the built in Wifi Hotspot. This was a god send last night as we were having power issues all last night. It started with rolling blackouts. I don’t know if they were intentional, or the result of interference with the power system (a tree branch or something), but the effect was maddening. The power was cycling every 5 minutes or so, sometimes quicker than that. Finally, after a couple of hours of this, we lost power completely for about an hour and half.
At this point, my phone was pretty low on juice, to the point where I didn’t want to use it too long. I was in the middle of trying to watch a show on the web though, so I implemented a backup plan. Using my laptop as a power source (yay full battery!), I got my wifi hotspot going, and proceeded to watch the show in the blackness of my apartment. I have to say, even though I could use MyWi on my Jailbroken iPhone 3GS, I don’t think I would have been able to get a solid stream out of the AT&T 3G connection in my apartment. The T-Mobile connection was solid though, able to support a 400kb/s stream from TWiT Live’s Bit Gravity feed. The stream didn’t hiccup or anything, it was like I was streaming off my home internet. I was seriously impressed. All this with just 2 bars on my phone’s reception meter.
I’m solidly an Android fan now. I no longer own anything from Apple other than the apps that are still on my iTunes install. I sold my 3GS on eBay, and I’m happy to be rid of Apple’s restrictions.
So I didn’t make as much progress as I wanted to this weekend. I did manage to get all the LEDs in place, both the inner and the outer rings. You can see the results on my Picasa Album (with comments).
I made one distinct improvement over my previous iteration: I actually thought out how to route the negative wires from the LEDs this time. Before, I just routed them over to just under where the LED driver would be, and then poked them out and hooked them up. This was very messy. This time they are all routed over to the space where the Momentary Switch goes (the only break in the center ring, so the most logical place to route them), this will allow me to route them into the small channel the center ring LEDS reside in.
There are two problems that will present themselves when I put those wires in place. The first problem I will have to overcome is that the wires will interfere with the momentary switch when it is installed, unless I take measures to keep them out of the way, which I’m pretty sure I can do. The second problem is the negative wires when routed to the LED driver, might interfere with the Lighting put off by the Center LEDs on that side. I’m hoping this won’t be too much of an issue, and that the wires will be above the main focus of light coming from those LEDs.
The next step is connecting the positive side of all the center LEDs to the approrpirate LEDS on the outer ring. This won’t invovle a lot of wire, as they will simply be hooked up to a nearby LED on the same segment. I will probably be doing this Monday night. After that I’ll be starting on the Circuit itself.
As for the guide I was working on, it has taken a back seat now that I am actively working on the project itself. that said, working on this new iteration of the disc will help to further refine my thoughts on the guide, so it should produce a better guide in the end.
Ok, so first things first: I worked on mounting the LEDs for the inner ring of LEDs. It turned out better than I hoped. I’m very happy with the results. It’ll be a bit before I’ll get to light it up, but I did test each LED as I installed them. They should look good when done. 16 LEDs in total for the center ring.
As the title states, the outer LED ring is now done. I made it a bit wider, and went conservative on how big a gap I made for each screw post. The result is a solid ring. Just as, if not more solid than the ring I made for the first disc I modded. One more change I made was to up the number of LEDs from 30 to 40 (2 added to each segment, for 8 total on each segment)). The total number of LEDs right now will be 56, which the LED driver should have no problems driving (it’s made to handle 64). Because of both the center ring and the increased number of LEDs on the Outer ring, I’ll have to pay more attention to how I do the wiring, otherwise it will become a nightmare.
Next is adding the LEDs to the Outer Ring. After that, I think I’ll work on the Netduino/LED Driver circuit.
You can check out pictures from all this work in my Picasa Album, I have uploaded quite a few, both from the first attempt at the ring, as well as the final success on it.
Ok, so the issue with communicating with my new Netduino Mini has been resolved. I’m now using a serial connection rather than a USB TTL connection via the FTDI board, as I believe that’s fried. It’s a little slower programming it, but it works, and that’s the important part.
I made a couple changes to the code to resolve a couple of issues that I was trying to resolve at the time I lost communication with the last Mini. There are a couple more issues that still remain, but I’m going to work on those later. I’m eager to get started working on the hardware again.
I started working on the LED ring for the new Disc last night, but failed in my first attempt to create it. I’m not kidding when I say this is the most difficult part of the project for me. In my previous iterations I’ve probably attempted to create these cardboard LED rings like 10 times. It’s a delicate balance of making the ring small enough to fit in the slot it needs to fit in around the disc, and making sure it’s not so small as to make it structurally unsound when the needed holes are cut into it. The problem that is posed is the intersection of where the screw hole posts are, and the adjacent holes cut out for the LEDs. and I only made it worse with the newer version, as I am going to be upping the number of LEDs on the outer ring to 40 from 30, to give a more uniform look to the light coming from the blade.
Another change I’m making is the color of the LEDs. I’m switching to White LEDs rather than Blue. I’m hoping that the combination of the White LEDs and the blue Blade ring will provide a more accurate color for the Blade. If it doesn’t turn out how I want it to, then I can always replace the ring with the blue version from the previous version of the Disc Mod.
Yet another change, that is in the planning stages at this point, is the addition of 16 LEDs around the center C. I purchased some smaller 3mm (rather than 5mm) white LEDs to use around the center ring. I do not believe I will be mounting those LEDs on a cardboard ring like I am with the outer ring. Instead, I’m going to be hot-gluing the LEDs in place around the center ring. I just think they will turn out better that way.
I got the idea for how to mount them from Orphex’s work on his own Disc Mod. He is in the process of producing discs for the business he’s starting up around this type of Disc Mod. It’s clear from YouTube comments on the various mods out there that there is a lot of interest from people wanting to know how to do it, or just want someone to do it for them. While I am not in a position to offer those kinds of services, and I don’t have any real desire to, I’m more than willing to help people do it themselves, and that’s why I’m posting here about it. I don’t mind helping him figure it all out to get his business going. So far we’ve have a good information exchange via our blogs. He linked to me, so I don’t mind linking to him and his services. His disc won’t have all the features mine will have, but he is trying to make it as close to the movie as possible while still keeping an eye on what will make producing them efficient. (so he’s not going to the lengths of say, sportly3, but his will probably be the next best thing to that from what I’ve seen)
One final change that I made to the charger, was the addition of a barrel connector to be used with a wall charger. Now I just need to enclose the circuit board to protect it and make it look a bit better. Yes, that’s means the charger is *almost* complete.
I know I posted that I would be posting a guide to my experiences modifying my Tron Legacy Disc. I have been working on it, but I’ve made a couple of changes to the design and need to test them. The problem is, I made a mistake while diagnosing a problem with my disc, and ended up frying my first Netduino mini. It is completely unresponsive to anything I try to send to it. So the project is dead in the water right now.
I do have parts on order to duplicate the project though. I’ve gotten a lot of the parts but due to the Blizzard we just went through here in Chicago (I got 20 inches at my apartment), I’m still waiting for 3 more parts packages to arrive. They’ve been stuck in the FedEx and UPS systems for 2 days now and only just got moving again. I’m not expecting them until tomorrow. After I receive those I’ll be able to start putting it together again. Once I do that I’ll be able to finish up my guide which will include best practices and a complete parts/tools list for doing this mod. I want to make sure that what I post answers the questions that I was left with after the original guide was posted by the Harford Hackerspace guys. I spent far more money on this project than needed to be spent on it, and I want to save people the trouble I went through.
Update: I’ve now setup a dedicated page to the mod with what I have written so far. It has the entire parts list, or at least what I believe to be the entire parts list. You can also find this link via the Projects tab up top.
Update #2: I received all the parts, and it seems like my guess on what happened to my Netduino Mini was off a bit. I can’t get the new Netduino Mini to respond to programming I’m trying to send. It just results in the Transmit light on the FTDI basic board flashing every couple of seconds. So either the new Mini is dead too, or the FTDI basic board is shot. So I can’t really make any progress in the programming department.
Based on this:
Tron Disc with .NET Microframework
My version:
A thread I’ve been commenting in about my work.
Still working out some issues with my version. I’ve expanded upon it a bit. The video above was just the first time I got it working like it was supposed to work. I’ve made some additional modifications since then, and I have plans for more. I will be providing my insight on the guide put together by the Harford Hackerspace guys. There was some needed detail left out, I intend to cover it all.
So tomorrow there’s a Verizon event planned in New York. Everyone says it will be the Apple iPhone finally coming to Verizon. The two people who are hated the most by Apple for doing things Steve doesn’t like (Leo Laporte for streaming an Apple event, and Gizmodo for snagging the iPhone 4 off of the bar) never got invited. That tells me that everyone saying it’s the iPhone, are probably right on the money.
So what happens when Verizon gets the iPhone 4? I’m betting Verizon will get an influx of new users finally getting out of AT&T hell, only to be swimming neck deep in a new layer of hell. But, I also think the issues will get sorted quickly. Verizon knows this is a possibility, so they will have prepared for it. So in the end it will be a week or so of people complaining, and then it will no longer be an issue, for either carrier. After a week, it will be a non-event. people will move on with their lives.
What will I be doing? Moving to T-Mobile and a Nexus S, retiring my 3GS and going to Android finally. I’m not completely ditching my 3GS, as I still intend to use it, just not as a phone. I’m hoping the T-Mobile network will be just as good as AT&T has been, and hopefully better. I’m kind of tired of having virtually no signal indoors at both work and home, yet right outside I get great reception. I’m hoping this issue is limited to AT&T , but somehow I doubt it.
Note: I tried to keep this fairly spoiler free, still, there might be some mild spoilers. You have been warned.
Ok, so today I went and saw Tron: Legacy in IMAX 3D. I saw it with my father at the Cinemark @ Seven Bridges in Woodridge, IL. I ordered the tickets ahead of time, and we got there with plenty of time to spare. We were near the front of the line so we pretty much had our pick of seats. We sat in the middle, one row from the top. There were quite a few people there, but it wasn’t so crowded that people were searching out for every last available seat, so we had a single empty seat buffer on either side of us.
I don’t remember the first time I saw the original Tron, as I was 3 when it originally came out in 1982. I asked my dad if he had taken me to go see it. He said he couldn’t remember, but it was entirely possible that he did as he took me to a lot of movies as a child. He did see it in the theaters originally, so if I did see it in the theater, my mind escapes me. My memories of watching Tron are of watching it on TV and on VHS (and later DVD of course). Until I really got into computers, the significance of the movie was lost on me. It was just an enjoyable sci-fi movie that had to do with computers. I didn’t know all the computer terms until the late 80′s/early 90′s, and that’s when I really came to understand just how good of a movie it was.
So ever since the original test screening shown at Comic-Con, I have been waiting with heightened anticipation for Tron: Legacy. I knew the characters in the movie and the basic premise for the plot. I knew there were 2D scenes that took place in the real world. I was wary about the 3D like I am with all 3D movies that come out. 3D is Hollywood’s new toy, and there are more than a few 3D movies that use it as just that, a toy, a gimmick. You get explosions in your face and overacted moves towards the camera to show off the 3D. I absolutely despise that kind of filming.
On the subject of 3D, I’d like to take a step to the side and mention an excellent scene of 3D I saw in the previews. It was the opening scene of a preview for the movie Born To Be Wild. It’s a story about a pair of people helping orphaned orangutans and elephants grow up and get back to the wild. The opening scene is by far the BEST 3D effect I have ever seen in a movie. It used the full height of the IMAX screen, and made you feel like you were taking a dip in the pond with the orangutan on screen. It was extremely immersive. The movie itself doesn’t look like the kind of movie I’d see, as I’m not big on documentaries. Though if I were given a chance to see it, I certainly wouldn’t pass it up.
Ok, back to the subject at hand, Tron: Legacy. It was about what I expected. I didn’t expect them to blow me away with a revolutionary movie like the original Tron did (at least eventually, once I understood it all). The story was good, but not great. It was a little bit predictable. The ending was a little vague too. It just didn’t seem quite as well defined as the original Tron story was. That said, I did enjoy it.
I enjoyed the role Sam Flynn takes in Encom, as the single largest share holder of the company, who just doesn’t give a crap about the company, and instead plays pranks. It setup Sam Flynn’s character well. He’s a carefree guy who doesn’t particularly have any direction in his life other than trying to enforce his father’s ideals on Encom. He played his role quite well I thought. His introduction to the Grid and the “Games” was done well too. Like when his father was first introduced, he found himself stumbling at first against experienced opponents (or at least characters that had more of a clue than he did), despite knowing about all the games beforehand. He eventually figures it out and that’s really where the story kicks it in high gear, and we don’t see much of the action after that point.
Tron makes an appearance in both flashbacks and the present, though I thought it was disappointing that he never showed his face in the present, only in the past. Still, he plays a pivotal role in the later scenes.
Now for the effects: They were quite well done. I enjoyed both the Disc Wars as well as the Light Cycles. I thought the Recognizer was quite well done. We only briefly see the familiar Tanks from the original Tron, as they don’t play an important role in this movie unfortunately. Both my dad and I wished we would have seen more of the Tanks. The new aircraft, the Light Jets and Light Fighters are interesting additions that I thought were excellent in the role they played. The updated Solar Sail, was simply a vehicle for moving the story forward, and did not really become part of the story like it did in the original, other than it being a place for the main characters to hang out and talk/meditate.
As for the 3D, was it overdone or gimmicky? NO. I would put it on the same level as Avatar, which has gotten a lot of praise for the level of 3D it used. Neither film had flashy effects that spotlighted the 3D. It was used where it made sense, and simply setup the environment everywhere else. The most noticeable parts you could see the 3D were the faster action scenes of course, but even there the use of 3D was done in a way that made sense. It made the action in the disc wars exciting and the racing around in Light Cycles quite fun, but it didn’t detract from the scene. There was a short portion in the real world, at the start of the movie where the scenes were presented in 2D. It was basically everything in the real world that was present day and I think it made sense to do it that way. It defined a distinct difference between the real world and the Grid.
The use of EL lighting was everywhere in the Grid scenes. There really wasn’t a single character in the Grid that doesn’t have some form of EL attached to them. Those who aren’t familiar with EL lighting probably wonder how they did that. Well, I have a bit of experience with EL from my early computer modding days (see link below). The EL strips are easy enough to figure out. The trick is how you hide the inverter and battery pack that powers the strips. It looks to me like they mounted those inverters in the small boxes mounted on everyone’s lower backs (see the picture below). The EL lighting produced some good looking scenes that just couldn’t have been done the first time around, such as almost an entire scene lit by the glow of the EL at older Flynn’s place off the Grid (see below). Bravo for using this new tech (new for the Tron series), it was very well done.
You can kind of see the inverter box in the middle of Sam Flynn's lower back here.
I used to be on staff at a computer modding site called Virtual Hideout. I was known as their Distributed Computing Guru. While I was there I contributed this guide:
Then there’s the issue of making Jeff Bridges look young. This was the one area where I thought they could have spent a bit more time. The young Flynn just doesn’t really fool me. The problem is mostly with the mouth, it just doesn’t look like a real person talking. While that is ok with young Flynn as CLU in the Grid, as he is a program, so it lends itself to looking a little like CG, it doesn’t exuse the same look for young Flynn at the start of the movie, or in the flashbacks. That Flynn is supposed to be the actual Flynn, and he is just not convincing. That said, it doesn’t seriously detract from the enjoyment of the movie, so I’ll let it slide. You can see the comparison below, but you notice it the most when young Flynn is speaking in the movie.
(from left to right) Old Flynn, Young Flynn (prior to his disappearance), and CLU 2.0
Overall, I think the movie was great. It is a worthy successor to the original. It is evolutionary, not revolutionary, but it does that evolution quite well. I highly recommend seeing it in IMAX 3D, as it is quite an enjoyable experience.
I’m a gamer. More than that, I’m primarily a PC Gamer. I do own an XBox 360 and use it occasionally (just got done with my first play-through of Fable 3). I used to have a PS3, until I needed the money and sold it. I used it even less than my 360 (last game I played was Heavy Rain). I love what Microsoft has done on the 360. It is the best online gaming experience on the consoles. My problem is, Games For Windows Live has so much potential…but Microsoft seems retarded with running it. They have a template for how to do it with XBox Live, but Games Windows Live still remains gimped beyond belief.
There’s a big reason why Steam is the dominant PC digital distribution platform. They have the best community built around their business. Games For Windows could do the same if Microsoft would just use the Live brand more with Games For Windows. As it is now (after their revamp) it’s just a marketplace. It doesn’t even sit in my tray like Impulse (another failure for the same reason, IMO) does. No, you start it up, buy whatever you want, and shut it down.
Where’s my friends list? I have friends via Live, mostly from Xbox Live. The client used to show me my friends status, but where did that go? Why can’t I interact with my friends on there like I interact with them on Xbox Live. It should all be integrated with Live Messenger. When I’m on my PC I should be able to talk with my friends no differently than I talk with them while on Xbox Live. Both sides should be part of a larger gaming ecosystem run by Microsoft and tied to their Live platform.
