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Photoshop by N. Dangalla Dewage

Posted by & filed under Adobe Suite, Makerspace.

What’s Photoshop about?

Adobe Photoshop is a program for editing photographs, graphic design, digital art, and much more! It uses layering to allow complexity and versatility in the editing process and offers powerful editing tools that are capable of doing just about everything when used correctly. And. Photoshop, or Lightroom, is it better? The truth is not that you compare the two programs, but that you define what you need for your project. Both are fantastic Adobe programs that provide excellent photo editing features. And why do you use Lightroom instead of Photoshop? Use both the simple way and use Photoshop when you can’t find Lightroom!

Photoshop CC

If you want more power over your photo editing, than you need Photoshop CC. It is the most robust and sophisticated program for photo editing. Photoshop CC is not designed exclusively for photographers.

You will work with 3D models and a qualified color control program on the Photoshop CC. Everything to remember certainly whether you want to print artwork, and not just pictures. The downside is that there’s a high learning curve at Photoshop CC. You do not know where to start as a beginner since there are so many tools and functions. However, as a beginner, you will be able to install the Previous Version of Photoshop and start simple modifications such as text editing, replacing the background, and so on so forth.

1. ADVANCED RETOUCHING

You need Photoshop if you want to make a leg shorter, an individual taller, or apply other elements to your frame. Also you can brighten and darken the skins, you can also able to put make-ups using on the photoshop without real make-up on women face.

2. ADVANCED HEALING

When in Lightroom, you can replace small items and white teeth; the features aren’t as spectacular as using the magic-conscious material of Photoshop’s healing brush and patch software. The Content-Aware method helps Photoshop to search and examine the whole image as it tries to find out what the photo field would look like if the object were not there. It is still not flawless, and you will always (most likely) need to fine-tune the images with one of the other retouching tools from Photoshop until you have the result you want.

 

3. CREATIVITY

If you want to create a single creative picture using elements from various photographs, Photoshop is your choice. Again, Photoshop’s only constraint is the imagination! You may imagine an unrealistic world, and you can bring it to the designing, which looks like a real one.

4. KEEP Capital!

You don’t have to hire someone to print your business cards, show posters, flyers, and more after you master Photoshop. You can create anything you want with Photoshop, whenever you wish. Start a new page and take advantage of your creativity.

5. MAKE MONEY

You can provide photo retouching services, design logos, open a graphic design company, build and sell PSD web templates, or start a website/YouTube channel where you make videos. Also, you can become a freelancer in the graphic designing category.

6. HUGE TOOLBOX

Every progressive release of Photoshop appears to bring increasingly useful tools into the mix. From content-aware loading, camera shake effects removal, lens filters, and automated panoramic image stitching, there is a resource for almost any job

An intro to Photography -By M. Heins

Posted by & filed under Makerspace, Photography.


Photography is a unique form of art, as it is both instantaneous and relatively new compared to mediums such as drawing or painting. These days almost everyone has a high quality camera on them at all times, and it’s as easy as ever to start honing in your image making skills!


 To understand how an image is made, let’s first look at how a camera operates. There are three elements of an exposure or image: shutter speed, aperture, and sensitivity (or “ISO”). A perfect exposure or image balances these elements to make a photo that is neither too bright nor too dark. Shutter speed controls how long the “eye” or sensor of the camera is open to the scene it’s capturing, measured in fractions of a second. This effects motion blur on a moving subject. Aperture refers to the size of the hole through which light enters the camera.

On most smartphones this is a fixed size, but on professional DSLR cameras the size of the hole can be adjusted to allow more or less light through and changing the “depth-of-field” effect on the final image. This is a powerful effect that allows the photographer to isolate the background from the subject by shifting it out of focus, blurring it. Sensitivity or ISO effects
how sensitive the sensor is to light and effects the grain or noise on the final image. These are the three elements of every photograph, and learning how to adjust them to your liking is a good first step to making amazing images.

Smartphone cameras and other types of digital cameras are most commonly used on an “auto” mode, where the camera decides how best to balance the elements of your photograph. While this is the fastest and certainly most convenient method, auto mode takes away most of the control the photographer has on their final image. Try testing out the three elements by switching your camera to manual (M) mode, where the photographer has control of every aspect of the camera. Smartphone users can find a “pro” or manual mode on many popular apps (such as VSCO), but note that aperture will most likely be fixed and unchangeable. Start by changing the ISO, bring it up to ‘6400’ or as high as it will go and change the other two elements to balance the exposure. Notice how suddenly noisy the image appears. Next set the ISO as low as it goes and change the shutter speed to 1/15. Take a photo of something moving and pay attention to how motion blur comes into effect. Those with
a DSLR can change the aperture and see how it effects the background of the image when taking a photo of something up close. With these techniques in mind, it becomes much easier to troubleshoot an image if it isn’t coming out how you’d like.

Photography, like most everything else, relies on practice, practice, practice. Challenge yourself by taking your camera off auto and start making images. You might be surprised by how differently you take your photographs!

How to 3D print With Supports

Posted by & filed under 3D Printing, Makerspace.

What are supports?

Supports are extra plastic material printed on or around the object you are printing to help make it print and look better.

Example:

 

When do you need supports?

It is best to use supports when printing an object that has overhangs greater than 45 degrees. Overhangs are a diagonal part of the print where some of the top layer is printed on top of the bottom, and the rest goes past the previous layer with nothing underneath. The steeper the overhang means more material will be printed with nothing under it, causing it to droop, and create a poor surface of the part. Supports give the part something to for the object to print on when it moves past the previous layer. This holds up the parts to reduce the drooping effect as much as possible and allow the object to retain its intended shape.

Overhang example:

 

Drooping effect:

Object with overhang (without and with support):

How to reduce supports?

Supports are useful, but they increase the time it takes to print an object and increases the amount of material you must consume per part. Reducing supports can help save you time, material, and money. Here are some ways to reduce supports for your parts:

One option is to reduce the layer height you are printing the object with. Layer height is the vertical thickness of each individual layer of the print. When you have a smaller layer height, the layer does not have to extend as far out with each layer when there is an overhang. This makes printing the overhang easier for the printer without support because more of the layer will be printed on the layer before it, improving quality. The downside to this is printing with smaller layer heights takes much longer for the object to print because the nozzle is having to complete many more travel moves.

 

(Each level represents a single layer on both sides. You can see how far off out each layer must travel on the left. When the layer height is reduced on the right, a much smaller outward distance is traveled by each layer.)

 

Another option is to alter the object itself to include as little overhangs as possible that exceed 45 degrees. If you were the one who designed the part, that makes it very easy to go in and edit the original file. If the file is an object you found online, that makes it slightly more difficult to make the alterations you need. Having overhangs over 45 degrees is not a deal breaker, all it means is you will need to do a little more work getting the part to come out how you want it.

 

One more option is to experiment with the object’s orientation. Orientation is the position in which the object will rest on the print bed. By changing the objects orientation, you are also changing the overhang angles without altering the shape of the object. With certain objects, you may be able to remove all overhangs simply by changing the orientation.

Ex.

 

the vertical pillars represent support material. For A. there is very little support, but still some at the base. By rotating the object 180 degrees B. can print with no support at all, and no change to the objects shape. C. can still print, but it was rotated in such a way that even more support material is added than necessary, so be careful that you are printing in the best orientation possible.)

What are some problems with supports?

The biggest issue with supports comes with post-processing. Post-processing is the extra work you need to do to the object after it is done printing to make it look like it is supposed to. When printing with support, you need to manually remove it from the print, it does not simply go away when done. If your support settings are not well set, the support can almost seem glued to the object, and you can spend large amounts of time chipping that support material away until it is all off. If your settings are better set, then once you remove the object from your build plate you may be able to hold the object in one hand and pull the support material off in other with one motion. Dialing in you print settings takes time, along with trial and error, but once you can make it work for you it can save you a lot of time overall.

Ex. 

Another issue is surface quality. Yes, support helps with drooping to improve surface quality, but it is also sticking to your object. Once that material is removed from the object, wherever the support was touching will leave a scar on the object from being pulled off. A way around this is to finish the surface with sandpaper/other abrasives or paint the object to smooth it out.

Lastly, one problem with supports is environmental. The support material, after being taken off the object, becomes waste and is thrown away. That is extra plastic that you are using that serves no function and goes straight into the trash after printing. That being said, the most common 3D printing filament is PLA, which is a starch-based plastic derived from plants, meaning it is biodegradable. This is not the case for most others however, so keep that in mind when printing with other types of materials.

 

One more Solution:

Some printers have more than one nozzle, meaning they can print more than one material at a time. There is water-soluble filament (meaning the filament can dissolve in water) that can be used as support material. You can print the object you want with one nozzle and material, while the water-soluble support material is printing through the other nozzle. Once the print is finished, you can take the entire print off the bed, place it in water, and the support material will dissolve away. This greatly reduces the hassle of post-processing and leaves a much better surface finish by eliminating the concern of scaring the surface when pulling the support material off the part. If this is a viable option for anyone with access to a dual head printer, I recommend this as the best way to print complex object and maintain the highest level of surface quality.

 

Ex.

(Right image is the object after support material is dissolved. Left image shows to water-soluble filament still attached to the object)

 

Written by: K. Mortensen

Landscape Photos

Posted by & filed under Uncategorised.

A guide to landscape photos:

Landscape photography is a peaceful and relaxing way to spend time with nature and the great outdoors. This can be a great reason way to get out of the house during social isolation.

To take great landscape photos, first try scouting out an area you believe would make for a good composition. This can be done in person, or alternatively online through Google Street View. For gear, make sure to pack a wide angle lens and tripod, as well as anything you would bring on a hike. Make sure to plan out your shoot before heading out, as this can help save time later and usually leads to a better end product.

Landscape photos are most often done with a high depth-of-field to keep everything in focus, both near and far. This is achieved by using a high aperture setting. Most lenses can either go up to f/22 or f/16; combine these high apertures with the tripod to ensure a steady shot, as the camera will most likely need to be set for a longer exposure time. Once you are ready to shoot, make a couple test images and review them on-camera to troubleshoot unexpected issues. If you find that your images are blurry despite using a tripod, try turning on the self-timer to alleviate camera shake from pressing the shutter button. 

As always, make sure to be safe if going out alone. Bring plenty of water and pack a snack and first aid. Happy shooting!

Lead Maker Brennen

Posted by & filed under Makerspace Crew Highlights.

My Name is Brennen Johnson, I am a Senior majoring in Information Technology. The Factory Has allowed me to expand my horizons not just from technology related topics but tolls used in creation such as laser cutting a CNC milling. My skill is in single board computers (Raspberry Pi and Arduino), Robotics (Lego Mindstorms, Vex, Hummingbird), and Laser cutting.

Currently I am working on arcade cabinet using a raspberry pi aka the picade. First the inspiration for the project was from an instructables but some of the parts that we had on hand did not quite fit. To accommodate this the designs needed to be scaled up a bit. To cut the side pannels I used the lasercutter since some of the edges are curverd it would have been difficult to use the wood working tools we have on had. To run games on the system I used Retro pi to handle the games. This is a free software that can be installed on the raspberry pi to emulate old game consoles to enable the user to play olds games.

From Factory to The Spark

Posted by & filed under Makerspace Happenings, MindSPark News!.

Makerspace enthusiast! We are excited to share with you some of the changes in the works for the Makerspace! Our physical space is under construction with the Libraries at this time. So we will share updates on the physical changes over time as we begin to morph in to the new layout. However in the meantime here we will share a few significant updates happening along side our physical updates.

 

First and of significant note is The Factory is officially transitioning to The Spark Makerspace! The Spark is focused on Igniting the imagination through innovative learning!  

We have also launched our very own podcast, UNT MindSpark! MindSpark will focus on innovation, makerspaces, making, inventing and the world of exploration through hands on learning. Our goal is to highlight the exciting innovation happening around us here at UNT! Follow us on podbeans or go to our site to hear our first episode! 

                                                                            

Feel free to let us know about innovation you might want to hear about!

Knowledge Specialist Arthur!

Posted by & filed under Makerspace Crew Highlights.

Hi! My name is Arthur Sliter and I’m a knowledge specialist here at the UNT Makerspace. I’m currently a freshman majoring in mechanical engineering and have a passion for all things technical. I especially love 3D printing since it enables me to create crazy and custom parts I need for my projects. I got my first 3D printer in 2013 and have been addicted ever since. As my major would imply, most of the projects I do are mechanical in nature but almost all have a dash of electrical engineering or computer science. I’ve always been fascinated with how things work, as a kid I would always take toys and old appliances apart to understand the designs and mechanisms that made them tick. Since then not much has changed, I’ve just gotten better at putting things back together. 

For 3 years I ran the maker space club for my high school, teaching peers and even staff how to design projects, weld, use power tools, woodwork, and 3D print. I love guiding others through the engineering design process and watch as their ideas come to life. When I found out there was a position open at the UNT maker space I knew I had to apply. 

After teaching myself circuit design and coding in Arduino I was able to bring out the full potential of my projects and started working with more mechatronics and robotics. Some notable projects I’ve worked on over the years are:

A bionic prosthesis I created for my capstone project as a senior in high school. The goal of this project was to fill the need for affordable prosthetics. The bionic arm uses an electromyograph to convert residual nerve signals into a command that opens and closes the 3D printed hand.

 

These are some science exhibits I created for the University of Texas at Dallas’ Science and Engineering Education Center during my employment. I love teaching and passing on knowledge so these were a blast to make. From left to right, demonstrating the buoyancy of pumice, the magnetic properties of magnetite, and the concept of herd immunity. 

 

This is a home smart hub powered by IBM Watson AI for another school project in my junior year. This was designed to work with wireless and wired home devices and used Watson to improve energy efficiency and comfort by learning your routines. 

 

 

My love for tech doesn’t stop at gadgets and robotics, this is a custom gaming PC I made with a hardline water loop, Ryzen 9 3900x, 32 GB of DDR4 ram, GeForce RTX 2070 Super for any PC nerds out there

This is another school project for my sophomore year sustainability project. This robot prototype was designed to skim the surface of oceans and lakes picking up trash and other floating debris. GPS telemetry allowed the robot to clean a determined area and dock at a specialized barge when it was full. Only one was made but they were meant to work as a swarm configuration.



Written By: A. Sliter




LEGO Mindstorm Robotics

Posted by & filed under Makerspace Happenings.

The Factory has a large array of robotics for all ages. Today, I’m going to touch on our Lego Mindstorms Kits. The recommendation age range is 10+ but it can be a good introduction to people who may not know as much in construction or coding.

The construction part is straight forward since it is Lego and their instructions are kid-friendly, but you do have to pay close attention to the picture on how they change. On the coding side, it is block code like Scratch and there are tutorials online through UNT LinkedIn Learning if you want to do self-learning.

Other than that, you could set up a consultation with the Factory and we would be more than happy to help you. There are several building options with the kit. Some can be more for recreational use such as the Elephant, but it can also have a more functional use like building a color sorting robot or a robot arm. With all the built-in examples from the Lego Mindstorms software, they do include the code for the robots, , but that does not limit you on editing the code to make it your own.

 

Written by B. Johnson

Maker Cameron

Posted by & filed under Makerspace Crew Highlights.

“My name is Cameron Driller. I am a biochemistry major in my third year at UNT with minors in biology and technical writing. I first discovered the Factory as part of a job search after I decided that I NEEDED to get out of previous call center job, and I’ve been working here as a Maker for going on three years now. I’ve worked in “hands-on” workplaces before but never one that focused on DIY which is what really peaked my interest.

I work mostly on the 3D printing and science tools in space. Since I’m the only science major out of all my coworkers, I get called on anytime those tools are of interest. This setup is perfect for me because I get to work with sensors on all kinds of projects and then teach others on how to use them. This work combined with the 3D printing aspect means that I get to play with designs that have benefit to people. Designs that could range from automating greenhouses to articulated robotic limbs.”

Meet Specialist Steven!

Posted by & filed under Makerspace Crew Highlights.

Hi, I’m Steven. I’m a first-year media arts major and theatre minor. I’ve been working for the factory for almost four months now. I really love working at the factory. I love to work with the A/V equipment that the factory provides. I’m very well versed in Live Audio Equipment and studio recording equipment as well. I also have a strong understanding in electronics and woodworking. I was attracted to the factory from my first time touring UNT in high school. I been an avid follower of the maker community and dreamed of being able to use a maker space, but I never imagined I’d be working at one. When I learned that they had a position open I was determined. For anyone, who may be curious about maker spaces I would have to say this is the friendliest environment I’ve ever been in. All the employees are very nice and are very willing to help guide you in creating or learning something new. 

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