So instead of being an instant death sentence to the leader, like the blue shell, UFOs provide a difficult but manageable dodging minigame that's far more fun than the blue shell could ever hope to be. Adding to the difficulty of dodging a UFO is the fact that the green beam is constantly switching UFOs, albeit in a consistent pattern. However, if the player through a red tractor beam, they are sucked into the air for about 2 and a half seconds, stalling them and eliminating their momentum. If the player drives through the green tractor beam, they pass by without incident. The UFO powerup targets the leader of the race, similar to a blue shell however, instead of being nigh-unavoidable, the UFO instead presents three tractor beams, one green and two red. It's worth mentioning that there is no blue shell in this game its closest equivalent is the UFO powerup. And while Garfield Kart carries that same feel, it's toned down considerably from the Mario Kart series. Now if you've played Mario Kart before, you should already be well aware of the propensity of items to screw you over. And Caskou Park offers the most insane air and boost chains in the entire game, in addition to its fantastic skate park theme. Prohibited Site, a construction-site themed map, never lets up once throughout the entire course, constantly forcing the player into one insane set of turns after another. Sneak-a-Peak, while certainly derivative of Mario Kart's DK Jungle, is still highly notable for its great atmosphere, slalom turns, and difficult yet highly rewarding alterative routes and skips. I could go on about almost every map in the game, but for the sake of brevity I'll merely discuss my favorites. Almost every map offers its own unique atmosphere and driving feel. The maps are divided into four sets of four: the Lasagna Cup, which offers beginner maps, the Pizza Cup, which offers beginner-to-intermediate maps, the Hamburger Cup, which offers intermediate-to-difficult maps, and the Ice Cream Cup, which offers difficult-to-extreme maps. This gameplay loop of drift and boost is the core of Garfield Kart, and it is near-perfectly executed.Īnother thing to talk about is the map selection in this game. Simultaneously, the tracks perfectly accommodate for the extra speed achieved from drift boosting, meaning that, if you know what you're doing, you can be in a constant cycle of drifting and boosting for an entire race. The drift physics are immaculate, and allow for a great deal of control, while also rewarding the player with multiple tiers of boost for drifting long enough. But once we bumped the speed up to 100cc we slowly began to realize that the people who made Garfield Kart seriously knew what they were doing. The first few races were play were rather uneventful, as we were playing on 50cc in order to get a handle on things. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. The depth of character customization threw me off: I hadn't expected this level of effort from what surely had to be a mediocre licensed spinoff game for some giant soulless franchise. Adding to this, there are two categories of unlockables that can be added to your character: hats, which increase the effectiveness of items, and spoilers, which increase some statistics while decreasing others. There are eight different karts and characters, each with their own individual sets of speed, acceleration and handling statistics. The first sign of quality was the variety of karts and characters to choose from. My friend bought it and we booted it up expecting a laughable ripoff of Mario Kart. 2 days ago I was at a friend's place, chilling with a few buddies, when we found out about the existence of Garfield Kart: Furious Racing. Yes, yes, I know what you're saying to yourself right now: he's trolling.
0 Comments
Tolkien – Here was a man who spent his life giving shape to our spiritual homeland – The Shire and Rivendell. Try to get the edition illustrated by Arthur Rackham, which really gives a feel for the rural England of rivers, forests, and fields that were so soon to disappear in the new century. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. “Jerusalem” was inspired by William Blake’s poem, “And did those feet in ancient time,” which was based on the legend that as a youth, Jesus visited England and Glastonbury with his uncle, Joseph of Arimethia. To set the mood, let’s begin with this beautiful hymn that every diehard fan of Masterpiece Theater knows and loves. So here is a list, probably not complete and not in order of preference, of some of the story treasures British authors have given me. When I started The DaVinci Code, for instance, I couldn’t put it down, but when I finished, I traded it in for credit at the local used bookstore. I mean stories with characters and worlds I want to live with and visit again and again. There’s one key distinction to make: when I talk about favorite novels, I don’t mean breakout, thrilling, or dramatic novels – necessarily. The riverbank, the Shire, and Baker Street have become the landscapes of my soul. My greatest literary pleasures, from the first read-alouds I heard as a child until now have come from England. The other inspiration was the Olympics opening ceremony, which got me thinking of English novels and stories. She follows my book reviews and recently asked for a recommendation on something to read. A tweet from Hannah-Elizabeth, who blogs at The Last Classic inspired this post. However, the definition is highly context-sensitive. This image shows alternative ways of reconstructing an image from a set of pixel values, using dots, lines, or smooth filtering.Ī pixel is generally thought of as the smallest single component of a digital image. Technical Ī pixel does not need to be rendered as a small square. An archaic British word meaning "possession by spirits ( pixies)", the term has been used to describe the animation process since the early 1950s various animators, including Norman McLaren and Grant Munro, are credited with popularizing it. Pixilation, spelled with a second i, is an unrelated filmmaking technique that dates to the beginnings of cinema, in which live actors are posed frame by frame and photographed to create stop-motion animation. For example, IBM used it in their Technical Reference for the original PC. In graphics and in image and video processing, pel is often used instead of pixel. Some authors explain pixel as picture cell, as early as 1972. According to various etymologies, the earliest publication of the term picture element itself was in Wireless World magazine in 1927, though it had been used earlier in various U.S. The concept of a "picture element" dates to the earliest days of television, for example as " Bildpunkt" (the German word for pixel, literally 'picture point') in the 1888 German patent of Paul Nipkow. McFarland said simply it was "in use at the time" (circa 1963). McFarland, at the Link Division of General Precision in Palo Alto, who in turn said he did not know where it originated. Billingsley had learned the word from Keith E. Billingsley of JPL, to describe the picture elements of scanned images from space probes to the Moon and Mars. The word "pixel" was first published in 1965 by Frederic C. By 1938, "pix" was being used in reference to still pictures by photojournalists. The word pix appeared in Variety magazine headlines in 1932, as an abbreviation for the word pictures, in reference to movies. The word pixel is a combination of pix (from "pictures", shortened to "pics") and el (for " element") similar formations with ' el' include the words voxel and texel. In some contexts (such as descriptions of camera sensors), pixel refers to a single scalar element of a multi-component representation (called a photosite in the camera sensor context, although sensel is sometimes used), while in yet other contexts (like MRI) it may refer to a set of component intensities for a spatial position. In color imaging systems, a color is typically represented by three or four component intensities such as red, green, and blue, or cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. In most digital display devices, pixels are the smallest element that can be manipulated through software.Įach pixel is a sample of an original image more samples typically provide more accurate representations of the original. In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. A photograph of subpixel display elements on a laptop's LCD screen ImageOptim is free, open-source software under terms of the GPL v2 or later. ImageOptim can apply lossy compression not only to JPEG, but anim GIF and PNG as well! You can configure lossy optimizations in ImageOptim's Preferences. By default ImageOptim is very cautious and exactly preserves image quality, but if you allow it to change the quality?-?even only a little?-?it will be free to use much more aggressive optimizations that give the biggest results. If you enable Lossy minification you'll get smallest file sizes possible. Squeeze those Bitmaps ImageOptim is now available as Sketch Plugin Automatically compresses images exported from Sketch. ImageOptim can also be launched from command line. ImageOptim integrates well with OS X, so you can also drop files on ImageOptim's Dock icon, or use Services menu in Finder, or Markup menu on attached images in Apple Mail. When you drag'n'drop images into ImageOptim's window it will run several image optimization tools automatically and combine their results, ensuring that you always get the smallest file. Seamlessly combines all the best image optimization tools: MozJPEG, Pngcrush, pngquant, 7zip and Google Zopfli. Removes invisible junk: private EXIF metadata from digital cameras, embedded thumbnails, comments, and unnecessary color profiles. Reduces image file sizes?-?so they take up less disk space and download faster?-?by applying advanced compression that preserves quality. ImageOptim removes EXIF metadata, such as GPS position and camera's serial number, so that you can publish images without exposing private information (but there's an option to keep the metadata if you need it). It's useful for making Mac and iPhone/iPad applications smaller (if you configure Xcode to allow better optimization). ImageOptim is excellent for publishing images on the web (easily shrinks images “Saved for Web” in Photoshop). Performing the in-app upgrade leaves the app named as jpegmini-lite, so ImageOptim-CLI cant determine whether its the free or full version. It's very important to make sure you’re drinking enough. breakfast cereals that have vitamins added.Potassiumįoods containing folic acid help maintain good health in older age. Good sources are green vegetables and brown rice, as well as bread and breakfast cereals that have vitamins added. Folic acidįoods containing folic acid help maintain good health in older age. You should avoid taking potassium supplements unless on medical advice. PotassiumĪs you get older, your kidneys become less able to remove potassium from your blood. If a person is confined indoors for long periods then they will need a daily supplement of ten micrograms of vitamin D because their skin is not exposed to sunlight to make vitamin D.įor older adults, vitamin D with added calcium may be recommended by healthcare staff to protect bone health and guard against osteoporosis. You get vitamin D from three main sources:ĭuring the summer months most people will usually get enough vitamin D from sunlight, so you may choose not to take a supplement over the summer months (late March/ April to the end of September). Vitamin D is an essential vitamin for everyone, to help develop and maintain healthy bones, teeth and muscles. Liver is a rich source of vitamin A, so you should avoid eating liver or liver products such as pâté more than once a week, or you could eat smaller portions. Having too much vitamin A (more than 1.5mg of vitamin A every day, from food or supplements) might increase the risk of bone fracture. pulses (such as peas, beans and lentils)įoods and drinks rich in vitamin C will help the body absorb iron, so you could have some fruit or vegetables or a glass of fruit juice with an iron-rich meal.įruit, especially citrus fruit, green vegetables, peppers, tomatoes and potatoes are all good sources of vitamin C. You should eat plenty of iron-rich foods to help keep up your body's store of iron. Other sources of calcium include green leafy vegetables (such as broccoli, cabbage and spinach), soya beans and tofu. Choose lower-fat varieties when you can.Ĭalcium is also found in canned fish with bones, such as sardines. Good sources of calcium are dairy products such as milk, cheese and yoghurt. This is where bone density reduces and so the risk of fractures increases. Osteoporosis is a major health issue for older people, particularly women. The following minerals and vitamins are important in the later years of life. You should try to make sure you are getting the right amount of certain vitamins. beans, pulses, fish, eggs and other proteinsįurther information on the Eatwell guide is available at:.potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and other starchy foods.The Eatwell guide is split into five main food groups: No single food provides all the nutrients you need, so it's important to include a wide variety of foods in the diet. The Eatwell guide is used to show the different types of foods commonly eaten and the proportions that are recommended to achieve a healthy, balanced diet. It is therefore important to reduce portion sizes if activity is low, and to cut down on sugary snacks such as cakes and buns. Changes in your body result in lower energy (calorie) requirements. As you get older, it’s important you continue to eat well. With newly introduced variables, the range of possibilities how the brush can look and behave is really limitless. Brush Creator – Ideal for creating and customizing custom brush designs, the advanced Brush Creator tool comes with a wealth of adjustable parameters.Flame Painter also lets you import your own vector paths and have the particle brush effects follow them. Editable Vector Layers – Within a click, the vector brushstrokes can be modified to achieve desired results.This handy tool enables exchanging layers between Flame Painter and Photoshop making the creative process seamless and easy. Photoshop plug-in – Although Flame Painter works as a standalone application, a complimentary Photoshop plug-in ‘Flame Painter Connect’ stays at the disposal on EM’s website.Flowing, lashing, neon, dots, or even tentacle-like brushstrokes create attention-grabbing effects on your designs. New Particle Brushes – Flame Painter’s organic brushes are a unique solution nowhere to be found in other software on the market. Additionally, the new specially designed systems were introduced as add-ons to match your specific workflow needs for an additional price. The package comes with 3 different systems that users know from previous versions. New Particle Systems – The software supports a range of simulation types – Flame, Follow, Ribbon, Liner, Elastic and Fuzzy.The new version includes a series of features that expand the potential of the original tool set. The examples available online show how powerful Flame Painter is, in the right hands, and with Flame Painter 4, Escape Motions has placed the bar even higher. The note from the reviewer at Photoshop Creative, who wrote, “Flame Painter is an imaginative piece of software that enables you to create amazing effects and apply them to your Photoshop artwork…”, make me want to take some time with the latest version of an app, now on its version 4, released to celebrate a decade since Peter Blaškovič developed, in 2009, a painting application as part of a project, never imagining it would become a successful paint and particle effects software: Flame Painter. “You owe it to yourself to check out Flame Painter, and unleash your inner creative dragon!” wrote Photoshop User magazine, while the Royal Photography Society Journal comment stated Flame Painter is “one of the world’s top painting application”.Ĭomments like those above, coming not from painting magazines or websites, but from within the world of photography, made me accept the invitation to try the app. I’ve written this before but let me repeat it here, because it’s important. It’s also a key tool if you’re working in areas where extensive editing of images is essential, as it makes your job easier. Unleash your inner creative dragonįlame Painter 4 is not just a fun tool to explore. On the other hand, if you are a photographer or designer using photos as the starting point to fantastic artistic creations, then apps as Flame Painter 4 are important tools to keep in your hard drive. We all have played with the brushes and other effects present in most photography editing apps, but unless one’s line of work asks for it, we rarely go beyond those experiences. I am not the typical user of paint and particle effects apps, as my photography is essentially documenting the real world, and the few editorial post-production liberties I will take are usually related to a specific need, like placing a Moon on an empty sky, to illustrate content, or cloning out garbage left by previous visitors on a landscape I want to capture. The email I received last May, with information about Flame Painter 4, a new version of the app which was about to be released, made me curious. If you’ve never used the app, the trial version available will be a complete surprise: it’s special effects for photographers. Launched in June, Flame Painter 4 celebrates a decade with many new features. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |