n@mzo

blog status report!!

namzo — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:16:39 +0000

Hey! Nothing much has been happening here. The reason is that i’ve been working on a better blog & trying to get a domain name, host wordpress & build a quality blog. Keep your fingers crossed as it’s coming real soon. if you’ll like to stalk me, you can follow me on twitter: @namzo

Thanks. ;)

Posted in Others

Comic making: How to color line art in photoshop

namzo — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:48:15 +0000

This simple tutorial shows how to color lineart in photoshop in a few steps. You might also want to check out the first part of this tutorial (Comic making: Turn your rough sketches into line art [Pt. 1]).

1. Open the lineart in the photoshop & unlock it by double-clicking the layer & rename the layer “lineart”.

2. Set the blend mode to “multiply” & lock it.

3. Create a new trasparent layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) & put it below lineart

4. On the new layer, use the lasso tool to select various parts of areas of the line art.

5. Fill your selection with flat color (alt+del). I used #D4AA04. Also, remember to fill different colors on seperate layers.

6. Create a new trasparent layer below the “lineart” layer but above the other layers & use the pen tool to make paths to shade.

7. Convert the path to selection and shade in the selection with the gradient tool(G), using #ffffff(white) as the foreground color.

Apply the same treatment for other areas that need shading.

Note: You may also use the lasso tool to make your selection. Play around, be creative and take time to master the tools.

8. For the headlamps, i filled it with #f8f79d, used a white airbrush and in the layer style(double-click the layer) apply “outer glow”. Just try various stuff & you’ll come up with something nice.

9. The back wheel looks kinda flat, huh? To fix that, use the pen tool to create a path, make it selection and use the gradient tool.

10. Add some more finishing touches and you’ll have a new ride all to yourself! A lot more can be done to it but this is just a basic tutorial. I’m looking foward to seeing what you can do with the little you’ve learnt from this tut.

And here’s my final image:

Posted in Graphics, PC

Comic making: Turn your rough sketches into line art

namzo — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 13:11:28 +0000

This simple tutorial shows how to create the line art froma sketch. This technique can be very helpful in making comics and can also be used for turning pictures to lineart.

We’ll be using an image of a car sketched by my friend, Williams. You can use any image you want to. Be creative!

1. Open the image in the photoshop & unlock it by double-clicking the layer & rename the layer “original”

2. Create a new layer below it using Ctrl+Shift+N, and rename the layer “bg”. Fill the layer with white using Ctrl+Del (i’m assuming your foreground & background colors are set to black & white respectively).

3. Create another layer using Ctrl+Shift+N, and rename the layer “lineart”, because this is where we’ll be drawing on.

4. Now, we adjust the brightness of the “original” layer, set the blend mode to “multiply” and lock it.

5. Pick the brush tool (B), select the “paintbrush Oval 45px”. Make sure the mode is set to “normal”, while flow & opacity should be set to “100%”.

6. Then, navigate to the “Brushes pallette” and change the settings as follows:

When you’re done, create a preset so you won’t have to go through this settings over again.

Now we’re ready to trace. ;)

7. Make sure the “lineart” layer is selected, then select the pen tool. Make sure it’s set to “path” and NOT ”shape” layers.

Create the work path, right click >> stroke path, and select “brush” >> “OK”, then press the “Enter” key to remove the path.

Note: At any point, you can adjust the brush settings when you need to make it thicker or thinner, then pick the pen tool to continue tracing.

For the wheels, use the ellipse tool (U), right click & fill with black. Create a second ellipse, right click >> make selection and delete. Then, delete spill-outs with the eraser tool.

Tip: To move the ellipse, press ctrl+T then move.

At any point, you can preview your work by turning off the visibility of the “original” layer.

This is what my final image looks like:

Good luck. I’ll post the second part(coloring) of this tut soon.

Posted in Graphics, PC

Need help getting help?

namzo — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:55:57 +0000

Over the weekend, i had a lil’ problem with my PC. I discovered that ‘help and support’ of windows and other softwares on my system weren’t working. Whenever i clicked help, i just got an error message which read: “internet explorer cannot download / from help”.

So, i looked it up and found out that my system was performing normally before i installed macromedia dreamweaver 8. I was initially thinking system restore, windows update…etc. But after a lil’ search online, i found out that the problem was with the registry. From what i understood, dreamweaver 8 has compatibility issues with windows vista. Don’t really know the whole technical stuff but i got a painless, light and very easy fix.

If you have the same problem, click here to download the registry fix. Just run it & you’ll get ur help back? :D

Tip: How to download free files from google

namzo — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:52:04 +0000

Do you want to download a bunch of free videos for your cellular phone? This technique will show you how to search google to find tons of open directories containing free cell phone videos. No P2P or torrents required. Start your collection from the open collections of others.

I know I beat this poor search technique to death; however, I always enjoy finding new uses for it.

This time we will be using a google search to find people’s open directories of 3gp videos. This is a common video format used to view video on cell phones.

Open Directories of 3gp files:

Google: -inurl:htm -inurl:html -inurl:asp intitle:”index of” 3gp

Specific Searches for 3gp files:

Google: filetype:3gp inurl:3gp

Now this search is not nearly as sexy as it brings in a ton of junk. However, this search casts your net wider. The magic here is the filetype and inurl filters telling google to only include these video files in your search. By leaving these filters in place, you can add more search terms to narrow your search.

For example, to search 3gp video files that are associated with rock…

Google: filetype:3gp inurl:3gp rock

Settings for mtn, zain & glo

namzo — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:31:29 +0000

Okay…for those who still run around looking for network settings, hope this helps:

MTN:

IP address: 010.199.212.002

APN: web.gprs.mtnnigeria.net

username: web

password: web

homepage: http://mobile.ngbot.com/m

ZAIN:

IP address: 172.018.254.005

APN:wap.ng.zain.com

username: wap

password: wap

homepage: http://mobile.ngbot.com/m

GLO:

IP address: 010.100.098.022

APN:glogwap

username: wap

password: wap

homepage: http://mobile.ngbot.com/m

Photoshop tips/shortcuts for beginners

namzo — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:45:57 +0000

Here are my top photoshop tips for beginners like myself ;) … I use photoshop 7/CS & these tips have been quite helpful.. I hope they are helpful to you too. Please, feel free to add yours..

Ctrt+N -opens up a new document [did i need to write that?]

Ctrl+Tab -Switch between documents within photoshop

Ctrl+F4 -Close current document

Ctrl+Shift+N -Create a new layer

Ctrl+J -Duplicate layer

Ctrl+Alt+S/Ctrl+Shift+S -Save as

Ctrl+Alt+Z -Undo [To use Ctrl+Z as undo, go to Edit >Preferences >General, and change the Redo key to Ctrl+Y]

Alt+backspace/Ctrl+backspace -fills selection with foreground/background color [Useful when coloring]

Ctrl+U -Hue/Saturation

Tab -Hides all the tools

Ctrl+D -Deselects selection

V -Move tool, B -brush tool, W -Magic wand, D -Sets background/Foreground colors to defaults

Alt+Drag -Duplicates layer

F6 -show/hide color palette

F7 -show/hide layers

I -Eyedropper tool [You might want to download a color picker (pixie) here: http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.html to pick colors outside photoshop]

Throw away ur game console!

namzo — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:05:54 +0000

Sorry if the title of this post seems kinda harsh. But for those who don’t know yet, emulators of ur favorites game consoles are available for ur PC and mobile devices (phones, PSPs etc.). And they’re all waiting to be downloaded ;).

What are Emulators?

Simply put, they are programs that allow u play games from ur game consoles(Playstation, Dreamcast, Saturn, Nintendo64…..) on ur Personal computer or mobile device. They usually require a bios of the game console u’re emulating in order to work. For example the PSX console requires the PSX bios(i.e. SCPH1001) in order to work. Bad news though is that its illegal, but good news is that dat’s probably d only way to get it..While d better news is dat i don’t mind sharing :P.

Now lets start!

What console do you want to emulate? For starters, lets say PlayStation.

You’ll need an emulator(u don’t need brains to figure dat out).
You’ll need all necessary plugins like video, sound, bios e.t.c
You’ll need the ROM of the game u want to play(u don’t just want 2 install all those stuffs without playing d game, do u?)

1. There are many sites where you can get emulators for game consoles. Try these: Aldotools, or Bestdownload, just 2 mention a few- U could google up more if u wish. Just for the rec, the PSX emulator i prefer is ePSXe, used 2 be Bleem! in those days of Win98 but u know, things change.

2. U can get all the necessary plugins for ePSXe and other Emulators in one piece at Aldotools except the PSX bios, which i’ll give to you shortly.

3. With ePSXe and some other emulators which are from consoles that use CDs, u can play the same CDs on ur PC. But for emulators of catridge games like N64, u can download the roms.

I think thats about all for now folks….Oh, i almost forgot here is the PSX bios(SCPH1001) ..Happy gaming.

Beyond physical

namzo — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:50:47 +0000

On the 19th of July, 2007 at about 9.00pm, something extremely mysterious and absurd happened. If someone had told me, i might have just laughed it off in disbelief.
My friends (A.Y, Wale, Eric) and I were working on an assignment on a laptop which belongs to Wale’s friend, when the most unbelievable thing i’ve ever come across happened.
There was a pop-up box box on the screen which read: “New hardware found: MyS7″(my phone) If this still sounds normal, take a look @ my phone’s config:

Model: Sagem MyS-7
OS: Windows Mobile 2003
WIFI: No
Bluetooth: No
Infra Red: Yes

I only use a USB cord to connect to a PC & it wasn’t connected. As a matter of fact, the laptop also doesn’t have WIFI or IR and the external bluetooth adapter wasn’t even present and it found my phone as if there was an invisible USB cord connecting them both.
To be sincere with u, i was scared(…i mean, who wouldn’t?), It even started installing my phone’s driver. If my friends weren’t present with me when it happened, i might have just taken a visit to the Yaba Psychiatric Hospital. I’ve never used my phone with that laptop and i wonder how on earth it found my phone?

After it happened, i tried not to believe it but it happened a second time. I don’t know what kind of explanation can be given, but as far as i’m concerned it’s beyond physical!

Windows for Mobile Devices.

namzo — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:59:20 +0000

No doubt, the Microsoft Windows OS is a ‘can’t-do-without’ OS. But, in a world where everything is going mobile, is the mobile version getting the kind of attention the PC version of the OS has? Well, i don’t think so. A lot of Windows mobile powered devices are available in the Nigerian market and don’t their cost is not different from most redular phones, but are people buying them? Again, i don’t think so. Most people don’t really buy devices for their full functionality. By the way, what makes them so different from other phones?
According to Wikipedia, Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Win32 API. Devices which run Windows Mobile include Pocket PCs, Smartphones, and Portable Media Centers. It is designed to be somewhat similar to desktop versions of Windows. There are different versions of this Operating System.

* Windows Mobile for Pocket PC 2002
* Windows Mobile 2003
* Windows Mobile 2003 SE
* Windows Mobile 5.0
* And the newly released, Windows Mobile 6

Using this OS means you get access to most Microsoft programs available on PC like Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office(Office Mobile) i.e Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc., Outlook, et.c The good thing is that since it’s MS, it’s connection with a PC is friendly e.g With Windows Vista, you don’t need any sync software when using your device with a PC. Okay, now lets take a lil’ look at some Windows Mobile 6 stats, shall we?

*VoIP (Internet calling) support with AEC (Acoustic Echo Cancelling) and MSRT Audio Codec
*Outlook Mobile now supports viewing HTML email.
*Customer Feedback option
*Windows Live for Windows Mobile(also availble for WM2003, point your mobile browser here: http://ls.windowsmobile.com.)
*The ability to create and edit Office documents on the Smartphone platform
*Storage Card Encryption – WM6-based Pocket PC and Smartphone devices support encryption of data stored in external removable storage cards.
*Support for AJAX, JavaScript and XMLDOM on Internet Explorer Mobile

Though i use an old smartphone which runs on WM2003, i’ve got my eyes on WM6.

*also posted on ngBot open blog.