My "Project Time" is working out really well so far. I have drafted storyboards for the first two scenes in Surviving Together and started the third. There are a total of 4 scenes. I'm finding it quite difficult to storyboard. It's difficult to imagine characters in a setting, decide on camera angles, and have it all make sense. I'm also trying to reuse shots whenever possible to save time in the animation stage. Also I'm trying to avoid showing any characters walking because that's difficult to animate. I want to get this first episode done. Then I can work on more challenging animation shots. Right now I'm being as conservative as possible. Once I have the boards together I'll scan them all in and create an animatic to share with a few people to give me feedback. More updates to come.

I've spent some considerable time the past couple weeks reworking the tools the Moderators use at PaperDemon. We've been short staffed as of late and there have been a lot of submissions coming in. I figure if I can improve the tools to make it easier to mod and have it take less time, we can get more done with less staff. The tool uses a lot of nifty AJAX. I just learned XML and XSLT at a 1 day class at work and am trying to put it to good use. I have a php script that generates the XML file and an XSLT style sheet that states how the file should be formed. Then I use Sarissa to submit post data of my form, get the xml back from php, and then apply the style sheet to the data.

So far the only problem I've run into that I can't solve is that it doesn't work for some reason in IE 6. I haven't tried it on 7 yet. Sarissa has trouble applying the XSLT on the XML for some reason. It  doesn't make any sense because if I access the XML file directly and put in a line in there to use my XSLT file it outputs the formatted HTML correctly without any errors. Is this a problem with Sarissa? I tried searching the net but haven't found a solution yet. Works just fine in Firefox.

I recently posted an update on PD Media explaining the recent troubles with the team and status updates for the projects. The new anime spoof show is on hold. But I'm going to go ahead and start working on Surviving Together again. One trouble that I have is that I have a lot of time in the evenings but I don't use it effectively on my projects. I end up watching a lot of tv or hanging out with my boyfriend. So I've devised a solution. Certain nights of the week will be designated as "project time" and I'll work whether I want to or not. Because if I force myself, five minutes into it I'll be engrossed in my work. It's always been the 'getting started' part that keeps me from being productive.

So tonight I'm working. And I'm starting off with this blog post to get me pumped!

After I post this entry I'm going to get into working on the storyboards for Episode 1 of Surviving Together.

PaperDemon.com, geek alert
I've done some significant improvements on the moderator tools for PD. I took a class at work on XSLT and XML and I'm putting those skills to use in the new mod tools making things ajax powered and stuff. It's coming along nicely. I will continue to improve the mod tools over the next couple months. XSLT is pretty sweet. I really like the idea of separating the data from the control of the layout. There's just one thing that bugs me about XML though. Why on earth would you make the XML file decide which XSLT sheet to use? It makes no sense. I think the XSLT file should decide which XML file to use instead. The whole point is to be able to manipulate the same data in a variety of ways. But if you make the XML file declare which XSLT sheet is used, it means you have to duplicate the xml file in order to use the same data with different xslt sheets. Which defeats the whole purpose.
But I did figure out that you can use PHP and even Sarissa, an AJAX library for Javascript, to apply an XSLT file to an XML file on the fly. So that way I can keep things truly separate and flexible.

Eyes
Been having problems with double vision. But I'm seeing a specialist for it. I'll be having some vision therapy and probably be getting some special glasses with prisms in them. My current glasses have prisms already. But I'll be getting stronger ones.

Link Costume
D-Day happened at SJSU a couple weeks ago. I don't have too many pictures yet but when I get them I'll post them. I finished a lot of what I needed to. Boots and wig are done. I started the gauntlet but its looking too small. May need to remake it. So all I plan to get done before Fanime is the gauntlet and the sheath covering for my sword. Chainmail is taking much longer than expected. I do have two sets that could be put along the rim of the tunic but it's too heavy for the tunic to hold and looks stupid. I'll either need to make a complete top half of the chainmail shirt or buy lighter rings. Anyway, I'll save it for next Halloween.

Plans for BogusRed.net
The design is getting stale. I plan to redo the site template and put some more content on it. I'll tap into the PD database and display my artwork from there over on BogusRed.net. I also want to integrate some feed content. Particularly my shared content from Google Reader.

I just wanted to make a quick post showing the status of my boots. I've finished one boot and it looks pretty awesome. Here's a picture showing before and after of the boots. One on the left is the Link boot, one on the right is what I started with. I still have a bit of tweaking to do on it but it mostly looks the way I want it too. By the way, these boots cost me $7 at Good Will.

In my last blog entry I talked about how I planed to make the rings for the chain mail myself based on a tutorial I found on youtube.  A couple weekends ago I visited a friends house and heard he had experience making chain mail shirts and such. I talked to him about it and after talking with him I was convinced of two things. One, creating a whole suit would not be a good idea because a) it would take too long and b) it is too darn heavy. I tried on his chain mail shirt and I know I would be dying after walking around a whole day wearing that thing. Two, not to make my own rings. Instead, buy them online from TheRingLord.

Purchasing premade rings has its advantages. For one, there's better selection of metal, color, diameter, and thickness. I purchased three pounds of the 1/4 inch brass 14G rings. My friend suggested that 2 pounds would be enough to cover the little spots on my Link costume that show the chain mail so I went ahead and got 3 just in case. Now that I've got it, I'm not sure 3 is enough. I also wish I had either gone with a larger diameter or something less thick because the 1/4 inch 14G is difficult to work with. But I've started to get the hang of it. It's going to look hella sweet once it's done. It's also a nice color. It's a better match to the color of Link's chain mail. My hands are pretty sore already after two nights of linking rings.

I've decided not to do the skirt by Fanime. Instead it will be a goal for Halloween. Link's skirt area of his tunic has a slit on each side which means if I want to have chain mail there I'll pretty much have to make an entire chain mail skirt. And if I am going to make a skirt I want to make it out of thinner and bigger rings. Perhaps that will be a goal to complete by halloween.

More updates to come.

Fanime is only a couple months away and I plan to wear my TP Link costume to it. There are a few things I still have left to work on and two months should be plenty of time to do it.

Unfinished items
High Priority
These are things I really want done before I wear this costume again.

• Sheath - I have a plastic black sheath that came with my crappy sword. I'm going to create a fabric covering for it to make it better match the costume.
• Shield - it broke on Halloween. I'll be fixing it with my new drill today or tomorrow
• Wig - I have a second wig with some hair that I'm going to cut off and stitch to pieces of fabric, then sew it onto my Link wig to create the long parts that come down in front of the ears.
• Boots - described in more detail below.
• Tunic inside seams - I never 'finished' the edges on the inside of the tunic and its already starting to run. I should take care of this before I wear it again or the thing might fall apart.

Medium Priority

• Shield Harness - A friend mentioned he had seen cosplayers use those zippy ties to tie props to their back. I bought some extra large heavy duty ones. I'll give those a try and see if they work so that I can attach my shield to my back instead of carrying it on my arm all day.
• Chain-mail - Its such a small detail but I think it adds another level of authenticity to the costume. I can live without it but why not give it a try.
• Gauntlet - TP Link has a leather gauntlet on the arm that holds his sword (left hand in Cube version, right hand in Wii version). It's another one of those things that people wont notice if its missing, but its nice to have.

Low Priority

I probably wont even get to these items before Fanime and that is totally fine with me. I'll just take care of these before Halloween '08.

• Pant hem and tie string - They haven't been hemmed. But no one's going to see because it will be covered by the boots. I'm using a temporary strip of rope to tie the pants.
• Hat detail - There's this little seam near the tip of Link's hat that I never got around to adding. I bet no one will notice its missing.
• Tunic neck trim - Sometime I'd like to redo the neck trim. It didn't come out perfect. This is the lowest thing on my priority list.

Getting Started

The biggest projects are the chain-mail and the boots.

I already have a nice pair of brown boots, but I plan to sew a new pair of "sleeves" for them. Not sure how else to describe it, but the material is kind of a shiny leather and I'd like it to match the other soft brown segments of my costume. I'm going to first make the pieces in muslin and use them as pattern pieces for cutting the final material. I'll also need to figure out how I'm going to do the little bit of detail on the sides of his boots. Embroydery would be cool but I don't have a machine for doing it and don't know how to do it. I'm thinking I'll just use the sewing machine to stitch the outline of his pattern, maybe put some interfacing in place to keep it from weakening the material. There are also some other details like the cuffs at the top of the boot that I'll be adding.

The chain-mail is going to be a bit of a challenge. I found some great resources online on how to do it. My biggest challenge so far with it has been finding the correct wire. In Kurnous34's chain-mail tutorial, he recommends ungalvanized stainless steel 14 gauge electric fence wire but unfortunately, I cannot find ungalvanized anywhere. All I've been able to find is galvanized steel. And even that is hard to find in the hardware stores. I did find it in Lowes and Home Depot, but they only came in lengths of 100 feet for like $6 which is a rip off. So I went online and found 1/4 mile for around $25 + shipping. I have purchased the rest of my supplies from Orchard Supply Hardware:

• variable speed drill
• wire cutters
• gloves
• safety glasses
• 1/4 inch diameter, 1foot long metal rod (this was hard to find in the store but I did get it at OSH)
• 2 clamps
• 2 pair pliers (had these already so didn't need to buy them)

Kurnous34 says you shouldn't get galvanized wire because it contains chemicals that can rub off onto your clothing and stink. But Patrick Innes makes chainmail from galvanized metal without problems. I also read the comments on Kurnous34's video and some said they used galvanized without problems. I plan to hold a rag in my hand while I'm feeding the wire around the rod and whipe the chemicals as I'm doing it. Maybe I can hose some of the chemicals off too. Anyway, all the chemical is is Zinc to keep it from rusting.

I'm only just getting started. I'll post details of the progress of the boots and chainmail when I have them.