Fun with 3D !!!

I've always liked taking pictures, and recently I tried my hand at 3D images. You might have seen some on the web. Most are anaglyphs, the kind where you need a pair of those funny red and blue glasses to see. Those are cool, but I prefer the cross-eye pictures. They're easy to make and don't require any special software. Anyone can make 3D images.

Here are the basic steps:

1. Choose a good scene/subject. Try something that will have a nice 3D effect, a scene with depth to it. I've had good luck with both close and far scenes, but a far away scene might be easier at first. Leaves on a tree, a path through the forest, any kind of scienic view.
2. There should be nothing moving in the scene. This is because you'll need to take two separate pictures, one after the other. Anything that moves in between will be blurry in the final image.
3. You'll take a left picture and a right picture. Take them in that order, always. Get into the habit of taking them in this order so you don't get confused when you edit them into a single image.
4. When you take the pictures, make sure the camera is level at all times. This is important. Take the first picture, then move the camera to the right a few inches, then take the second. Keep the camera pointing in the exact same direction for both pictures - don't point it directly at anything in particular. The idea is to duplicate what your eyes would see, and your eyes will point - converge - on a single point in the scene, but if you point the camera you may have an odd effect at the edges of your images.
5. Copy the images to your computer and open the first one - the LEFT image - in an image editor. Do any kind of cropping you want, keeping in mind that you'll need to do the same cropping on the right image. You might want to edit both images together to keep them consistent. What you want to end up with is two images that are the same size (in pizels) and look nearly identical.
6. If you plan to only view these image on your computer, you'll probably want to resize them each to be less than half the width of your monitor. Remember, you'll be viewing both these image at the same time by crossing your eyes, so then need to both fit on your screen. If you plan to print them it might be best to leave them as large as you can. Larger images produce better quality prints.
7. Save these new images, being sure to keep track of left and right.
8. You can go a bit further and create a composite image that includes both of these individual images. I personally think it's easier to view the final 3D scene using a composite. Otherwise you'll need to open both images and position them on your screen. That gets old, real fast. IMHO, a composite is the way to go. To make it, you'll need to create a blank image and paste the left & right images into it, side by side, but here's the trick: You need to put the left image on the right and the right image on the left! Remember, when you cross your eyes to view it, you want each eye, right and left, to see the image that was taken from the correct perspective.
9. Line up the two images carefully and save your composite image. You're done!
10. When viewing a cross-eye image it's brobably easier to sit back a bit from the screen, especially if you have a large or wide-screen monitor.

Here's one I just made. Close-ups are a PITA, but I think it came out OK.

A Kodak Moment

Without a doubt, all my friends know who Sassy is. She's SassyFrassy, Sasquach, my Pretty Kitty. Yes, I'm a man and a I love my kitty! And I make no excuses for it.

Today, on my day off, I caught Sas napping on my bed in just the right place. I had to snap a pic. I woke her up, but luckily she was still a bit groggy (I'm the same way when I first wake up) and didn't seem to mind the flash.

What's in a name???

What IS in a name? Sometimes it's not quite what you want, as was the case with this blog. The Czar's Page came from my nickname at work, and at first I thought it appropriate but now I'm not so sure. I get enough of work at work, so I've decided to change the title of this blog to something more...me! The new name also has it's origins from work, but I'm gonna use it anyway. I think it's especially appropriate in this forum, one where no one can disagree with me 0 just the way I like it. So, from now on, this blog shall be know as Silence Is Concurrence. Now I only have to do two things: 1) Figure out how to actually change the name and 2) make sure I spell Concurrence right!

You can find it on the web...

No matter what you want, it's out there somewhere, right? Well, phooey I say, PHOOEY! Try to find a 100µf 200v electrolytic capacitor with radial leads! Go ahead, try it. I dare you. Let me explain...

Late last year my TV broke. Just in time for all those wonderful holiday specials. I missed out on Nick & Jessica, the present-day Donnie & Marie. YES! I mean, awe, what a shame, I was so looking forward to it. Anyway, being the tinkerer that I am, I decided to try to fix it. I mean, I didn’t want to toss it and buy a new one. The set’s only 9 years old. My last TV was my first TV! A Zenith 19 incher and I had it for about 20 years. This one, with all it’s cutting edge technology, should last at least that long, right? Besides, how hard could it be? I can read a schematic and solder with the best of ‘em, ahem, and I figured it’d be fun. I also doesn't hurt that my brother knows a lot about this stuff.

Well, after some careful spelunking in the backside of my ailing boob tube, I decided to just take the whole main board out and give it a good look see. Surely there must be something obviously wrong, right? When the power supply in one of my PC’s crapped out a few years ago it went with a bang, not whimper, that’s for sure, and the pieces of that capacitor were hard to miss, literally falling into my lap. Hmmm. I think I found the problem. Anyway, I knew I heard a click when the set died, but there was no smoke. That’s a good thing, usually, but in reality it just makes it harder to find the problem. I’d much rather see remnants of something sticking up from the board than just…pretty normal looking components.

So, I went to that Website From Heaven, Google: “Magnavox repair 25ts52”.

Lo and behold, a veritable cornucopia of TV repair info. There’s tons of stuff out there on the most common problems with TVs and such, and it wasn’t long before I came across a posting that described my problem to a tee. To a TEE. According to these guys, I probably have a bad voltage regulator IC and a fried 1K ohm resistor. Well, I can’t tell if the IC is bad, not without the proper test equipment and a practical, safe working area. Now, I’m doing most of this in my cramped living room – not the best place to be troubleshooting anything that has the ability to ZAP you with 29,000 volts. That’s TWENTY-NINE THOUSAND VOLTS! Trust me, that’s what’s in there. And No, I didn’t find that out by sticking my tongue inside! I bought the service manual! It was only 24 bucks, online!

So, anyway, I have the board out and am looking for a fried IC and resistor. I can’t tell if the IC is good or bad, but that resistor…well, let’s just say it’s seen better days - you can even see scorch marks an the circuit board. But that's not uncommon, my Bro tells me. Actually, Bro didn't see any cracks so he's not that concerned about it., but clearly it's taken a lot of heat, so I decide to put it out of it's misery and eliminate the chance that it is causing a problem. So, having found this overheated resistor, I figure there’s a good chance those helpful guys from the web have me at least pointed in the right direction.

Now, the other possible culprit I read about, the capacitor that started this entire diatribe, also looked OK, but caps are funny things. They're not simple to test and there are many things that can go wrong with them. Did you know that an electrolytic capacitor can simply dry out over time? It has an electrolyte inside – hence the name – that just leaks through the seals little by little until one day, when you least expect it (do we ever really expect is?) it just stops doing what it’s designed to do. I guess you could say it becomes an incapacitated capacitor! Hmm. Who’da thunk it? Anyway, as it turns out nine years is a fairly good life for one of these bad boys, so I figure I’ll replace it, too, while I have the set apart. They only cost a buck or two. So, now it’s back to Google for parts.

I found a place that seemed to have all the parts I needed. It was great! I entered the model of my TV and up came a list of what are probably the most common repair parts for that model. They listed the regulator IC, the resistor, the picture tubes, flyback transformer – that’s the thing that makes the 29,000 volts I mentioned – and even a booklet of some kind (I ordered it, but with my luck it’s probably just a few pages of soldering tips), but no 100µf 200v electrolytic capacitor! Hmmmm. Well, everything else I wanted was listed as in-stock, ready to ship the next day, so I ordered what I needed and decided to look elsewhere for the cap. Shouldn’t be a problem. Right? Caps are not exactly specialty items, right? Famous last words…

Holy crap. I’m having such a hard time finding that thing. I found one place that does carry them, but they cost $3.10 . Sounds a bit steep for just a cap, but what the heck. I’ll get two! So I’m ready to checkout on the web site and I see that for orders under 1 lb they charge a flat $10 shipping fee! Even if I only wanted one, that’s ten bucks for a three dollar part! Being someone who doesn’t like being taken for a ride, I said – or rather, exclaimed – out loud, “Screw that!” As God is my witness, Sassy even heard me. I think I scared her, too. Sorry, Sass.

So, now I’m looking for another supplier for the cap, but I just can’t find any. I’ve found sites that say they carry it, bit when I go to look at it specifically there’s no picture and no description, just some manufacturer’s part number and a price. That doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling, ya know? I mean, if I’m gonna order something and wait for it to come in, delaying the overall repair operation, I want to be sure I’m getting what I want. So I keep looking. All this and I’m actually not even sure I need it. I just figure it’s either dead or close to it, so I might as well replace it. Well, I’m to the point where I think I’ll just take the old one out and make a simple test. I found out how on the web, but even if it looks okay that doesn’t mean it’s really okay, ya know? But, unless it fails the test, I’ll just use forego it’s replacement. That’s all I can do, at least for now.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes I did check Radio Shack. The Shack desn’t seem to stock any caps above 50 volts. Must be afraid that someone will hurt themselves or something.

Anyway, remember I said all the other parts were in-stock, ready to ship? Well the next day I get a confirmation email that only one item was shipped, the rest are back-ordered. Luckily, it was the most unusual part, the regulator IC. The resistor I probably have in a drawer somewhere. If need be I can get it at Radio Shack. The booklet I’m sure I can do without, but I sure wish I had that cap. At least now I can get on with the repair. I’ll start with checking that old cap.

I’ll keep you posted.

A Lost Treasure

This past summer I bought a new MP3 player. Yah, me about 10 gazillion others. Anyway, after figuring out how to use the thing a had to reorganize my music collection. In doing so I came across some good old songs from my youth. One of my favorites is BE by Neil Diamond. This song, more than any other I can think of, is sheer poetry. The man is a musical genius! I know reading the lyrics is not nearly as good as hearing the song, but this is the best I can do.

Lost

On a painted sky

Where the clouds are hung

For the poet's eye

You may find him

If you may find him

There

On a distant shore

By the wings of dreams

Through an open door

You may know him

If you may

Be

As a page that aches for a word

Which speaks on a theme that is timeless

And the one God will make for your day

Sing

As a song in search of a voice that is silent

And the sun

God will make for your way

And we dance

To a whispered voice

Overheard by the soul,

Undertook by the heart

And you may know it

If you may know it

While the sand would become the stone

Which begat the spark

Turned to living bone

Holy, holy

Sanctus, sanctus

Be

As a page that aches for a word

Which speaks on a theme that is timeless

While the one God will make for your day

Sing

As a song in search of a voice that is silent

And the one God will make for your way

This is what I call FUNNY!!!

So, one hydrogen atom says to the other, "I don't know what to do! I've lost my electron!!!"

"Are you SURE???" asks the second.

"Yes, I'm POSITIVE!"

Get it???

I'm The Czar...

Yes, that's me, The Czar. Let me explain...

One day at work a co-worker and I were discussing something technical we had to do. The exact details are lost in the ether that is my mind, but I'm sure it involved making some kind of decision, the kind usually made by some higher authority than I/we. "We need a Tsar," proclaimed Steve. "I'll decide!" said I. And so I did. And that's how the Czar came to be. "So let it be written, so let it be done."

Now I know all you Ten Commandments fans out there are saying, "Hey, that's Yul Brynner's line." I know that! But I like it, and I can use it 'cause....I'm the Czar!

Some of you may have also picked on the two different spellings I've used for the word. Steve likes to spell it TEE-ESS-AYY-ARR. My way is better. You know why??? All together now...I'm the Czar!!!