MetaChat - Taking Names:

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06 June 2005

Taking Names: Attention all metacorpses! Time to start emcee #2, which we've decided to do as an exquisite corpse. I've put a quick and dirty guide to how it will work here.→[More:]

Each person will get about a week to complete their portion, so that means that we need to keep corpses to four or five players; we can do more than one corpse.

Anybody who is interested in participating, please leave your name here, and we'll work out the details. (But don't opt in unless you're sure you're going to play, because the next person will be waiting to receive your strip before they can begin!)

post by: taz at: 00:45 | 60 comments

Really fun idea! I would get in but my art skilz is not so good.

posted by arse_hat 06 June | 00:54

I'm in, if somebody suggests a (free) image manipulation program for the Mac.

posted by dhruva 06 June | 01:05

There's GIMP. The installation doesn't look that simple, but I found this guide, or maybe somebody from here could help.

Or try something much simpler. Small and free, so it would be easy to try out.

posted by taz 06 June | 01:31

Ok, i can work with that. Thanks, taz.

posted by dhruva 06 June | 01:40

I would like to be in on this very much tia

posted by buttes 06 June | 01:41

Oh, by the way, everyone signing up please make sure you have a working email on your profile page that you check fairly often.

posted by taz 06 June | 01:45

Count me in.

posted by loquacious 06 June | 02:35

Okay! We're happening already!

I did an initial panel, which I sent to dhruva, who has already sent me the next panel, so buttes, you're up. I've sent the end strip of dhruva's image to you.

As soon as I get buttes' panel, you'll be next, loquacious.

posted by taz 06 June | 05:59

Room for one more?

posted by squeak 06 June | 07:01

Oh, yes! Room for as many as want to play. Squeak, I'm putting you down for next after loquacious, which may be the last one in this set, depending on how long everybody takes. We can have as many sets as we need for everyone to play.

posted by taz 06 June | 07:06

Sorry taz please email again to moift@blogdar.com

Sorry.

Sorry.

posted by buttes 06 June | 08:23

Okay, I've re-sent it, buttes - let me know if you don't get for any reason...

posted by taz 06 June | 08:30

i'm in too.

posted by amberglow 06 June | 08:55

What is the general expected turn-around time on the panels? Just askin' in case I get busy today. I've got my homepages to revamp and some resumes to send out.

If I know what the expected turn-around times are, I could pass on to the next in line if I know I can't be timely.

posted by loquacious 06 June | 10:04

Well, I said a week, though that's probably too long. If it can be sooner that would be great, but you don't need to do a same-day turnaround by any means.

posted by taz 06 June | 10:09

Oh, that's fine then. I'm just used to graphic design/print schedules which can be counted in minutes. Or sometimes in temporal anomalies, like "yesterday". :)

posted by loquacious 06 June | 10:18

Taz, me too!

My profile e-mail will work as long as you remove the dos equis (XX) that I've cleverly supplied before and after the real addy.

Please and Thank You.

posted by safetyfork 06 June | 10:22

I'm in too - thanks, taz!

posted by iconomy 06 June | 10:56

A week?

DX

I finished mine in one Moody Blues album, I guess I better try to pretty it up a bit.

Knights in white satin, never reaching the end
Letters I've written, never meaning to send
Beauty I'd always missed, with these eyes before
Just what the truth is, I can't say anymore
'Cause I love you, yes I love you, oh, how I love you

posted by buttes 06 June | 11:35

Can I join in too?

posted by bdave 06 June | 11:46

Sure, bdave! Got you and safetyfork and amberglow and inconomy on my list.

yeah, a week is kind of crazy, isn't it? The Exquisite Corpse site that me3dia contributes to sets a week as their deadline, but since we've already managed to do three just today so far, I think we can say more like a couple of days.

So, I have buttes' panel, and I'm sending his strip forward to you, loquacious. Let me know if you'd rather I skip ahead to amberglow and then come back to you.

posted by taz 06 June | 12:54

Great!

A couple of quick questions: What filetype is floating around right now? and the DPI? -- JPEG, 300? Are we to optimize for web at output or will the collector be doing that (if need be)? Apologies in advance if the answers have already been stated elsewhere. Just getting prepared.

posted by safetyfork 06 June | 13:35

I've just been saving as a max quality jpg at 72 dpi.

posted by taz 06 June | 13:40

I'm in! Like I really needed another thing to spend too much time on. And I've never participated in a horizontal exquisite corpse before.

posted by Slack-a-gogo 06 June | 13:55

Coolio.

posted by safetyfork 06 June | 14:15

Great, it's beginning to look like we will have enough people to make at least two sets... So, if we do a second set, I need someone to volunteer to do the lead panel (in other words you do a whole panel and then send your 15-pixel strip forward, instead of starting with a strip from someone else).

However, even if you do the lead panel, you can do a second one, if you'd like, so that you still get to have the fun of starting with someone else's strip...

posted by taz 06 June | 14:31

I'm in, of course. (This is what I get for not checking in over the weekend.)

posted by me3dia 06 June | 14:43

I'll do the second lead panel if no one else wants to. Just let me know, and tell me who to email it to.

posted by iconomy 06 June | 14:45

Okay, lovely! Iconomy, go ahead and start that lead panel on the second one, and then after I see where we stand before I go nighty-night, I'll send you the next name.

Your on the list me3dia, and tomorrow I'll do a status report, so we can see where we are.

posted by taz 06 June | 14:50

Will do - can't wait to get home and start working on it!

posted by iconomy 06 June | 14:51

Well, it's time for me to go to bed, so just in case anybody finishes anything before I'm back with you, loquacious you send your 15 pixel strip to amberglow, and iconomy, you send yours to bdave...

Otherwise, I'll see you on the flip-flop, and y'all can just send them to me, and I'll forward.

(safetyfork, you're up after amberglow; and slack-a-gogo and then me3dia are up after bdave on set 2.)

posted by taz 06 June | 17:24

Argh, I just got called for a job interview, so I should bow out for now so I can take care of stuff and not be distracted. Forwarding the strip I got to amberglow.

posted by loquacious 06 June | 19:07

Good luck with the interview!

posted by iconomy 06 June | 19:52

No art skillz ... look for me in the music swap.

posted by matildaben 06 June | 20:19

Thanks, iconomy. Barring any scheduling/logistical difficulties it should be a snap.

posted by loquacious 06 June | 20:40

Add me in. And I will do my manipulation pixel-by-pixel... with Paint.

posted by Doohickie 06 June | 21:40

matildaben: I have no art skills either. When I get my part done, it *will* be a corpse. (I have something in mind, but haven't finalized it yet.)

posted by Doohickie 06 June | 23:18

Iconomy, I got yours, thanks. I have completed mine- as is my understanding I send to slack-a-gogo?

slack-a-gogo and then me3dia are up after bdave on set 2

I have the slice ready and that's who I have sent it to.

posted by bdave 06 June | 23:57

Perfect, bdave - now you send me your your full panel so I can add it to the page.

Loquacious, you can go after amberglow, or after safetyfork - you choose.

doohickie, you said "I have something in mind, but haven't finalized it yet"; did you take a look at the instructions in the main post here? Because unless someone is doing the first panel, they have to start with a piece from the person before them, so you can't really already have something for this.

Let me know if you want me to add you to the second series. (Also, the pixel by pixel thing is a joke, right? Right?)

posted by taz 07 June | 00:39

I might not have time this week, I'm already wasting too much time jawing in the various Meta threads/sites.

315 x 375 isn't that many pixels to hand-edit. I mean, it's like .1 megapixel, 118125 pixels.

posted by loquacious 07 June | 01:27

So are you dropping out of this one, L? *cries*

posted by taz 07 June | 01:30

Aw man, don't cry.

Truth be told the image that I submitted for emcee #1 was something I've already had for a while that I cropped and scaled to fit. (See the placeholder/sample image at my now finally-under-reconstruction site for the uncropped image. That image that's there - in it's best form is a 50"x50" poster at at least 1200 DPI on satin-gloss photopaper, and it's not safe for epileptics. Yum, walleyecandy.)

I work almost primarily in vector these days and it takes a while, longer than Photoshop. (Mind, I've been using Photoshop since 1.0, and before that Aldus Photostyler 1.0. Not to say I'm some king-hell Pshop expert or anything like that at all, I'm just saying it's not unfamiliar.) Vector vs. bitmap is totally the difference between painting and drafting. I could have taken my whole week and done it in spare moments and maybe could have done a self-satisfactory job, but I probably wouldn't be happy enough with it.

Plus, it's apparent that the pace is moving faster than that, so I didn't want to hold people up. And I'm not quite sure how my favored vector optical-art eye-buggery abstract mandala pieces will fit into an exquisite corpse that's more painterly and bitmappy.

But primarily I totally need to focus the best I can on getting ready for this interview - hopefully without giving up too much of the typing lots of nonsense in the meantime. ;)

posted by loquacious 07 June | 03:39

Understood. I'd love to learn more about vector, so sometime in the future (after you've totally aced this interview and are comfortably ensconced), maybe you can give me a few pointers. Good luck!

posted by taz 07 June | 03:50

taz... I'm in. When I said I had an idea, that's all I meant. A concept. If it doesn't go with the strip I get, I'll have to come up with a new idea.

I probably won't do a literal pixel-by-pixel edit of the whole picture, but the transition from the stip to my art may involve some hand editing. Unless I'm not allowed to use such primitive means?

posted by Doohickie 07 June | 08:17

Use any means you'd like! You're up after me3dia on the second set.

posted by taz 07 June | 08:23

I would like to participate. There may be a skills barrier that I need to overcome, but dammit, I will, if you all will let me play.

posted by omiewise 07 June | 10:55

Great, omiewise! I have put you down after doohickie.

posted by taz 07 June | 12:19

ok, so gimmee a time frame and let me see if i fit in anywhere

posted by ethylene 07 June | 19:50

Where do we look for these when they're done? also, are they done yet? How about now? Now?

posted by buttes 08 June | 20:27

checking out where the holdup is now...

posted by taz 08 June | 23:51

Sorry, I'm part of the holdup. I got my panel on Tuesday but have been out the past two nights. I'm starting and finishing my panel as soon as I get home from work tonight. You guys roll your corpses fast around here! I've been on the other side this coin, where you send your panel in and keep waiting to see what the next person did with it, but I didn't think I'd be the guy other people are waiting on. Sorry again.

posted by Slack-a-gogo 09 June | 08:03

Okay, Slack-a-gogo, no problem!! Carry on.

posted by taz 09 June | 08:33

This is an outrage.

Well, no, it's actually fine. I have no problem with waiting - we all have lives, and this is just for fun. So have fun, dammit!

posted by iconomy 09 June | 09:06

This is just for fun? That would explain why I still haven't seen any MeCha checks. Now I'm never going to be able to afford a new computer. I guess I should pull MeCha off my resume too.

posted by Slack-a-gogo 09 June | 09:58

Count me in...

posted by shane 10 June | 18:02

what's the status of it? who has it now? (i wanna see!)

posted by amberglow 12 June | 00:54

I'm trying to figure out when my slice is coming ... I want to render the crowds speechless with my dazzingly display of the use of mspaint but the only emails I'm getting are offering to enlarge my member *sigh*

posted by squeak 12 June | 01:30

Squeak, you're next; actually you should have come earlier, but I kind of messed up my list when I took loquacious out (my fault, not his!). Doohickie has it now (I'm just worried he's following though on the pixel-by-pixel idea!), then you, then iconomy will finish it.

On the second set, me3dia has it, omiewise is next, then shane, then I'll do the final panel.

posted by taz 12 June | 01:44

I have a couple of dumb questions, even though I don't have my piece yet, and some help would be appreciated. These questions reveal a serious lack of understanding of how computer graphics work, so please go easy. In my defense, the cover for the cd swap was the first bit of any graphic anything I've ever done, so I am but a babe in the digital woods. Go easy.

When you say 15 pixels wide...I thought that pixels were a measure of definition, not of space, (or rather that they only made sense as a measure relative to how many one specifies by given distance) so that a strip 15 pixels wide could be very tiny indeed or relatively wide. Is this true? If so, what definition are we working in? If not, how should I understand pixels? I don't want to stink up the place.

posted by omiewise 12 June | 09:40

If your resolution is set to 72 dpi/ppi, then 315 x 375 will be exactly the right size. But it doesn't matter if you want to do it in a larger resolution - when you send it to me, I'll reduce to 72 pixels per inch - just use 315 px x 375 px as your size no matter what.

posted by taz 12 June | 10:02

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