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Have you ever wondered how your face would look as a whimsical cartoon or how you could magically change your hair color in a photograph? The cutting-edge technology we're about to explore can make those dreams a reality and take your images to dazzling new heights! 🎨🚀 This most recent video is about a revolutionary AI architecture known as StyleGANEX. Developed by brilliant researchers and showcased at ICCV 2023, StyleGANEX is all about pushing boundaries and shattering limitations. No more settling for pixelated or low-res images! StyleGANEX elegantly tackles the challenges of flexible input sizes, allowing you to transform any image into a stunning work of art without compromising on quality. 🌈 And the best thing about it is that their code is fully open-source, and they have a demo available online (all links in the video description)! Obviously, the architecture is mostly based on StyleGAN, which has lots of pre-trained models you can play with, but all have this input image size issue we discussed, which ends up producing different encodings in the latent space too since they all follow the same convolutions. So, everything is of different sizes based on the image you want to process. Here, the researchers did a simple fix to this issue by implementing a dilated convolution to rescale the receptive fields of shallow layers in the StyleGAN generator architecture. But what does this mean? I'll guide you through the power of dilated convolutions, the wizardry that makes StyleGANEX an absolute game-changer in the world of AI image editing. And the best part? You don't need to be a tech expert to understand it all! 🧙🎓 Don't miss out – hit that play button and immerse yourself in the magic of StyleGANEX. And hey, if you're attending ICCV 2023 in Paris, we might cross paths! 🗼 https://youtu.be/Xj20I2zFYi0?embedable=true References: ►Read the full article: https://www.louisbouchard.ai/styleganex/ ►Demo: https://huggingface.co/spaces/PKUWilliamYang/StyleGANEX ►Paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.06146 ►Code: https://github.com/williamyang1991/StyleGANEX ►Project page: https://www.mmlab-ntu.com/project/styleganex/ ►Twitter: https://twitter.com/Whats_AI ►My Newsletter (A new AI application explained weekly to your emails!): https://www.louisbouchard.ai/newsletter/ ►Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/whatsai ►Join Our AI Discord: https://discord.gg/learnaitogether

AI Image Magic: Creating HD Photos and Funny Cartoons With StyleGANEX

IRL Art presents "Gallery2," an immersive art installation featuring the NFT exhibit "Cartography Of The Soul." Hosted at the Colorado Convention Center during Psychedelic Science 2023, this groundbreaking exhibition showcases unique digital artworks from renowned artists like Alex Grey, Beeple, and Nadya Tolokonnikova. Curated by Annie Phillips and 1of1, Gallery2 offers a visual masterpiece with large-scale projections, interactive experiences, and cutting-edge technology.  The event serves as a fundraiser for MAPS, and bidding for the artworks can be done on Christie's 3.0 platform. Don't miss this unparalleled intersection of art and technology from June 19th to 24th. What Is Gallery2? Denver, CO - IRL Art, a pioneering force in the digital art realm, is thrilled to unveil its groundbreaking installation, "Gallery2" (pronounced Gallery Squared), featuring an immersive NFT exhibit Cartography Of The Soul. This extraordinary display will be showcased on the renowned Christie's auction house NFT platform, Christie's 3.0. The event serves as a fundraiser for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a non-profit organization focused on research and education since 1986. Taking place at the Colorado Convention Center, the Gallery2 exhibition will be a prominent feature during the largest-ever psychedelic gathering, Psychedelic Science 2023, from June 19th to 24th. The exhibit, curated by the esteemed collectors club 1of1, anticipates an audience of over 10,000 attendees. Notably, the previous exhibit, Cartography Of The Mind, raised an impressive $1.5 million in support of MAPS. Inspired by virtual architect "untitled, xyz" and their artwork titled "The Primitive" from The Museum Of Crypto Art, IRL Art founder Annie Phillips has conceived a real-life interpretation of the digital masterpiece through Gallery2. Joining forces with physical architect Yultek and the IRL Art lead designer, the second installment of Gallery2 will be double the size of its debut at ETH Denver 2023. Renowned curator Annie Phillips, in collaboration with 1of1, has handpicked an exceptional lineup of artists for the exhibit, including Klara Vollstaedt, SamJ, and Nadya Tolokonnikova. With extensive experience curating NFT exhibitions since 2019 and working with thousands of artists, Annie Phillips consistently brings diversity, excitement, and innovation to her curation projects. To delve deeper into the creative process and the shared goal of self-discovery and evolution through art and psychedelics, an artist spotlight panel discussion will be held on Wednesday, June 21st. Featuring distinguished artists such as Dustin Yellin, Nadya Tolokonnikova, Mad Dog Jones, Lydia Chan from Christie's, and Lukas from 1of1, this panel promises to be an enriching experience. The list of artists included in the Cartography Of The Soul exhibit is extensive and impressive, boasting names such as and many more talented individuals. Alex Grey, Ash Thorp, Beryl Blici, Brendan Dawes, With such a diverse array of artists, the exhibition offers something for everyone, pushing the boundaries of artistic expression in the digital realm. will be the Cartography Of The Soul exhibit venue from June 19th to June 24th, coinciding with the fourth Psychedelic Science conference, The Colorado Convention Center Psychedelic Science 2023. For press inquiries, interviews, or more information about the Cartography Of The Soul exhibit, please contact: Marketing Director Robert Gray or Founder Annie Phillips Phone: | Email: | 720-447-5224 870-213-7131 Rob@IRLArt.com Annie@IRLArt.com About IRL Art: IRL Art is an art collective that brings together artists, art directors, project managers, metaverse builders, and creatives, focusing on high-impact projects at the intersection of digital and physical art. As a leading innovator in the digital art space, IRL Art leverages cutting-edge technology to redefine the boundaries of artistic expression. With a dedication to showcasing and supporting artists pushing the boundaries of the digital art landscape, IRL Art creates immersive experiences that bridge the gap between art and technology. Note: This article contains several backlinks to relevant websites, including the official websites of , , , , , , , , and . Psychedelic Science 2023 1of1 Alex Grey Ash Thorp Beryl Blici Brendan Dawes Colorado Convention Center Christie's 3.0 PsychedelicScience.org

IRL Art Presents Immersive Art Installation "Gallery2": Cartography Of The Soul ✰

Art by Gal Yosef There is a saying: ”Money rules the world.” I believe it’s not the money itself but the decision-makers possessing it. Money has always been associated with accessible to a narrow swath of society. Power, Influence, Creative Self-Expression, and Unique Opportunities From the psychological perspective, it’s all about the feeling of , which roots in the natural human desire to be Unique and to be an Individual. To live life in your own way. To build the world that you choose. Exclusivity Why do we appreciate exclusivity? Ownership of items from luxury brands and unique art pieces supercharges our feeling of and . exclusivity individuality It inspires us to be creators ourselves - and there is nothing wrong with this desire. It’s a natural call for evolution and personal growth. In fact, there are a few people who are ready to take the responsibility of being creators and driving change in this world. Beginning from childhood, we wanted to be particular, to get recognition for our talents, and to be praised by adults. These instincts stay with us in adulthood, acquiring slightly different forms yet retaining the same meaning. There is nothing wrong with accepting yourself as a kid that wants to be creative and express himself via playing the game. We have never seen luxury brands in this way There are things you can’t buy, including a unique vision of the world and the ability to express it creatively. I had a chance to get acquainted with the self-taught prodigy who is becoming one the most influential digital artists of our time - Gal Yosef. His of luxury brands through vintage cartoon aesthetics has already attracted collaborations with celebrities like , , and rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. extraordinary artistic vision Justin Bieber Steve Aoki His art implies the , as well as the adult’s desire for ownership of luxurious items. Gal Yosef gives a second life to our favorite cartoon characters. In his art, they acquire the freedom of self-expression through wearing luxury clothing and accessories that fit their temper. honest acceptance of the kid in each adult World leaders in luxury fashion, sportswear, and sports cars, such as Dior, Nike, and Porsche have already partnered with Gal to develop a new look for their visual marketing. "Goofy" by Gal Yosef What if Disney characters were living an ultra-luxury life? What would vintage cartoon characters look like living a modern life? What if it was a wealthy life? Donald Duck, Goofy, Pink Panther, Snoopy, and others appear to us in dramatic lighting, wearing world-class brands like Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Hermes, and Dior. Each detail of their images speaks about class, exclusivity, and power. They are extravagant, brave, and free to live their life in a new way. Their lifestyle is no longer limited by Disney’s or Pixar’s storyline. Will probably Mickey Mouse want to drive Aston Martin? Or will Popeye the Sailor Man be once seen at a superyacht near the coast of Italy? Bugs Bunny is no longer fun and lovely. He is a powerful King of Carrots, surrounded by luxury. "King of Carrots. Gold Edition" by Gal Yosef via Instagram What if Hello Kitty was always dreaming about purchasing a luxury bag from Dior? "Hello Kitty" by Gal Yosef via Instagram What are Tweety’s plans for Friday’s luxury shopping? Will it be Birkin, Rolex or Audemars Piguet? "These days’ Tweety" by Gal Yosef Luxury brands can find a fresh marketing perspective in awakening the memories of customers’ childhood and nostalgia for the old good times. The aesthetics of vintage cartoons combined with the own incredible style of these can become an explosive mix. brands marketing It’s not the money that is responsible for your happiness, but you as a personality. However, seeing our then-time heroes enjoying their new luxurious life gives some sense of happiness, aesthetic satisfaction, sweet nostalgia, and definitely inspires us to take a fresh look at our own life. I appreciate the opportunity to hear the vision of Gal Yosef who is currently exhibiting his artworks at Eden Gallery - an international high-end art gallery with locations in New York, London, Miami, Mykonos, and Dubai. Disclaimer: All views in this article are my own and don’t imply sponsored endorsement. The use of all images is approved by the creator.

Ultra-Luxury Brands Through the Prism of Gal Yosef’s Cartoon Aesthetics

গ্যাল ইয়োসেফের কার্টুন নন্দনতত্ত্বের প্রিজমের মাধ্যমে আল্ট্রা-লাক্সারি ব্র্যান্ডগুলি

Ultra-Luxusmarken durch das Prisma der Cartoon-Ästhetik von Gal Yosef

Marcas de ultralujo a través del prisma de la estética de dibujos animados de Gal Yosef

Les marques ultra-luxe à travers le prisme de l'esthétique du dessin animé de Gal Yosef

गैल योसेफ के कार्टून एस्थेटिक्स के प्रिज्म के माध्यम से अल्ट्रा-लक्जरी ब्रांड्स

ガル・ヨセフの漫画美学のプリズムを通して見る超高級ブランド

갈 요세프의 만화 미학의 프리즘을 통해 본 초호화 브랜드

Marcas ultra luxuosas através do prisma da estética cartoon de Gal Yosef

Gal Yosef'in Karikatür Estetiği Prizmasından Ultra Lüks Markalar

Các thương hiệu siêu sang qua lăng kính thẩm mỹ hoạt hình của Gal Yosef

从 Gal Yosef 的卡通美学角度看超豪华品牌

If you're wondering how the future of simulated reality might look, you should watch . This movie has one underrated character whose true meaning we don't even fully catch behind the pretty picture — the idealized and portable hologram Joi, with a custom avatar and options for changing her appearance in real time. In fact, Joi is an AI companion app that can be played in 3D with the help of additional devices, but the photorealistic 3D model makes her seem real. The only drawback is that Joi cannot be fully materialized in the real world. Blade Runner 2049 However, her hyperreality means she is much more than just a simulation — for the movie’s protagonist, she's a real person. She’s his girlfriend. And, watching her in the movie, we also ignore her artificiality. Joi might be the best example of what many people would like to be in immersive spaces — perfect, endowed with the ability to create, and hyperrealistic. Virtual spaces that imitate reality already exist, but there is still no unified solution for how to transfer your personality to them and maintain a high-quality representation. It takes time, costs a lot of money, and, as a result, is not available to the average user. But how do we get there? Yet, achieving hyperrealistic virtual experiences — especially hyperrealistic avatars — is within our grasp. We just need a better understanding of how our virtual and digital identities are connected to the concept of hyperreality, how to create hyper-realistic versions of ourselves for the digital space, and why solving the problem goes beyond the high-quality visualization of objects and spaces. What is Hyperreality? We consider as digital objects that are visibly indistinguishable from physical reality. But because of their digital nature, these objects also have properties and capabilities that may not exist in the physical world. This definition applies to avatars or other representations of people (like Joi from ), as well as to any photorealistic digital content — movie stunts, games, and special effects. Hyperreality is more than just augmented reality that deceives the senses because we don’t--or prefer not to--feel the difference. hyperreal things Blade Runner 2049 For a better explanation, let's place hyperreality on the spectrum between real and artificial. This spectrum also includes augmented and virtual reality, each providing a different experience of human perception. is a complete digital representation of an imaginary world that the user experiences as independent knowledge, an alternative to the real world. Virtual reality is a mixed reality with elements of either the digital world \or the real world. It is perceived by the user as an experience of interaction with the digital world for greater immersion and creating the effect of presence. Augmented reality is an experience of a digital (artificial) origin that imitates reality but is not perceived by the user as a game. On the contrary – it expands the perception of reality. Hyperreality Hyperreality is Real Life, but Better ​​I believe hyperreality will be a key aspect of certain experiences in the metaverse and in the future internet overall. I agree with Tom Graham, CEO and co-founder of Metaphysic, who because it allows more authentic and emotionally engaging experiences. This transition is necessary to open up a metaverse beyond gaming and entertainment, to include more ordinary daily affairs like visiting doctors or family gatherings. notes that people prefer hyperreality For as long as the web has existed, people have imagined what a true virtual reality would look like. Almost 25 years ago, for example, using the term MUD (multi-user dungeons), which today we call the metaverse: “MUDding is more than just a computer game; it is hyperreality in full force.” psychologist Sherry Turkle described the future of human identity in the internet world And when a person finds themselves in a virtual space, how do they perceive that world? Who or what are they? “They are as real as my real life,” responded one of Turkle’s research subjects. “I can now have a portfolio of lives in which my real life is but one; RL [real life] is just one more window, and it's not usually my best one.” Amazingly, people in the late 1990s described their sense of virtual space as similar to what we feel today. According to , people feel more included in the metaverse than in real life. The to fill in three core aspects of life: inspiration, individuality, and inclusion. a global study by Momentum Worldwide from July 2022 report also found that consumers look to the virtual experience Transferring a digital copy of yourself into the virtual world and having everyday human experiences is the next breakthrough to be made on the way to building the metaverse. In fact, many people believe that real-world experiences will eventually be replaced by virtual ones, and they are expecting a hyperreal future. In June 2022, and found that two-thirds are excited about transitioning everyday activities to the metaverse, especially when it comes to connecting with people, exploring virtual worlds, and collaborating with remote colleagues. McKinsey surveyed more than 3,400 consumers around the world However, any given environment will only feel hyper-real if it reflects the real world as much as possible. Not fictional and cartoonish, but . Like a work Zoom call but in a 3D office with colleagues, or like a festival with friends but in an immersive 3D space. We already have gaming environments where the user can become anyone from a princess to a monster; there is nothing technologically complicated about them. real People, Places, and Things The next challenge is learning how to recreate the real world and integrate ourselves into it. A major part of , of course, is our physical appearance. However, unlike with modern incarnations of social media, where users struggle over the need to look perfect or to look “real” (while, of course, still looking good), hyperreality should serve as a form of stress reduction. We should be able to modify our digital avatars without trying to make our literal selves seem perfect — whether you'd like to look like a celeb or stay yourself by preserving your personal features. ourselves Maintaining the very ability to do what we want with our avatar is another key — grow fangs or choose any hair color, put on clothes that we like, or even change our shape to a zoomorphic one. Ideally, in virtuality, it's just the way we like it. But our belongings also define us in real life, and they will in the metaverse, as well. So we will strive to transfer our belongings into the digital world – for example, our houses, cars, sneakers, or even favorite cups. Such services already exist. , a metaverse agency specializing in creating hyperrealistic customized house models, allows clients to add digital assets, their favorite furniture, or art to make their virtual home a unique place. Verse Estate Even better is if your avatars, belongings, and general digital identity are interoperable as you transition between worlds or environments. Some enabling technologies to do this already exist, including , which makes virtual identities interoperable with various platforms. Ready Player Me Between Static and Expressive Lies an Uncanny Valley Achieving true hyperreality will be difficult, though, even as some of the fundamental capabilities are shaping up to some degree. Solving all of its requirements and challenges — the technological ones as well as the business ones — is beyond the scope of any one company or field. The quest to perfect human graphics functions as a microcosm of the greater field. When of its metaverse platform , for example, not everyone was satisfied with the quality, detailing, and realism of Mark Zuckerberg’s cartoon avatar. In fact, most, if not all, current visualization attempts in the metaverse are far from hyperreal and cannot compare to those in, say, massively multiplayer online role-playing games. There’s a simple reason for this: We don't yet know how to render the myriad human emotions and expressions that should be available in lifelike virtual environments, where avatars are responding to unpredictable stimuli in real time. Meta announced the launch Horizon Worlds However, there a bunch of tools on the market for creating digital avatars – from the cartoonish like and the aforementioned Ready Player Me to the most hyper-realistic provided by character studios like and . These studios showcase the highest quality of hyperreal humans for the metaverse, leading with Unreal Engine’s , which can import face scans of real people and automatically generate a digital face. Although to fully reproduce someone's digital copy in 3D, you need to spend a lot of time playing with skin color, hair, and other details, even if you're a pro designer. are CloneX Reblika Hyperreal latest MetaHuman release I would compare these beautiful realistic digital humans to a very expensive car that is the best in its class but one you can only drive on holidays and on a straight, flat road. We won't be able to use the same tools and approach to create hyperrealistic digital humans for a fast-changing, dynamic environment as we do with static realism. It is still too heavy and complex to meet all the challenges of real-time rendering at scale within the metaverse. Just recently, though, Meta's Reality Labs its latest improvements in the Codec Avatars 2.0 project – prototype VR avatars using advanced machine learning techniques. The new avatars look , but they are not the result of the work of neural networks alone. For example, such quality still requires scanning with 3D cameras, which, for a number of reasons, are unlikely to reach mainstream adoption anytime soon. teased very hyperrealistic and are even able to express emotions Overall, the main hurdle is computation because the closer you get to hyperreality, the more power and time you need. For example, to gain a 1% increase in realism, you need to do five times the computation. So the real challenge for companies in the metaverse is to solve the uncanny valley of facial representation, which results in humans that look real, but also unnatural and creepy because something is just . off The uncanny valley effect is even more noticeable when we’re experiencing the metaverse via an immersive device like a VR headset. We can forgive some bugs in video game graphics on a flat screen but trust me, you don't want to witness someone’s leg separate from their body (unintentionally, at least) while using an XR headset or see facial movements that do not keep up with direct speech. Therefore, the technology — from the network to the device itself — must be highly optimized to allow rendering on the device in real time. We have to find a workable tradeoff between user habits, device capabilities, and maintaining a hyperrealistic immersion effect. Neural Rendering Shows Promise When speaking about lower-quality but faster technological solutions for creating realistic 3D characters, we should look at the neural radiance fields (NeRFs) method. The by researchers from Google Research and UC Berkeley in 2020 at the annual European Conference on Computer Vision. In 2022, a new wave of conversation about this technology appeared after – a neural rendering model that has the capability to turn multiple 2D images into 3D scenes without camera scanning. In contrast to classic polygonal modeling, neural rendering reproduces a 3D scene based solely on optics and linear algebra. , it can be used to “create avatars or scenes for virtual worlds, to capture video conference participants and their environments in 3D, or to reconstruct scenes for 3D digital maps.” NeRF methodology was first described Nvidia officially showcased its Instant NeRF According to Nvidia The main advantage of neural rendering is its scalability. So far, the model has taken a long time to learn, and its render speed remains the main gatekeeper to entering the market, but AI is much more flexible in terms of optimization. Neural networks just need more time and data to produce progressively better results. I think we'll soon observe the emergence of new ways to optimize and commoditize neural rendering so that everyone can take a few selfies on a smartphone and get their virtual 3D copy to participate in a hyper-real 3D space. It is more complex technologically, but I believe there will be a large market for future virtual worlds that are hyperrealistic, in addition to those that are cartoonish or game-like. And although we are talking about a future that isn't quite here yet, machine learning is once again proving itself in a new field. It could play a significant role in creating the hyperreal magic of the metaverse. If you want to explore the topic a little deeper, I made a list of interesting articles on digital identity creation, graphics evolution, neural rendering, and more: : For CGI geeks. A piece by Dan Sarto about how VFX expert Paul Lambert created the holographic Joi and other cyberpunk stuff and visuals for Blade Runner 2049. Double Negative Delivers the Joi of ‘Blade Runner 2049’ : A solid explanation of the digital face evolution. My article about how technology is changing our faces and why these transformations are needed today. For starters, the mystery of whether AI can create an image worthy of the trust of millions. Synthetic Faces are Building a New Market — and it’s Terribly Good : In-depth research done in 2021 focused on improving virtual characters' realistic expressions and non-verbal communication channels to create a more customized experience. Individual’s Social Perception of Virtual Avatars Embodied with Their Habitual Facial Expressions and Facial Appearance : This piece covers how William Wiebe rethinks avatars generated for the infrastructure of the metaverse, revealing its embedded preferences in the process. Blaine O'neill’s Minting Faces in Latent Spaces : A great article by my colleague and Reface co-founder Oles Petriv that explains the tech aspects of neural rendering on the path to instant creation of photorealistic 3D objects. Why Advances in Neural 3D Rendering Aren’t Reaching the Market This is more about solving AI and is almost off-topic, but while structuring my article, I enjoyed exploring DeepMind's proof-of-concept demonstration of deep reinforcement learning, addressing one of the key challenges in AI research. : Human-Centered Mechanism Design with Democratic AI

Hyperreal or Cartoonish: The Keys to Lifelike Identities in the Metaverse

হাইপাররিয়েল বা কার্টুনিশ: মেটাভার্সে লাইফলাইক আইডেন্টিটিসের চাবিকাঠি

Hyperreal oder Cartoonish: Die Schlüssel zu lebensechten Identitäten im Metaversum

Hiperreal o caricaturesco: las claves de las identidades realistas en el metaverso

Hyperréel ou caricatural : les clés des identités réalistes dans le métaverse

हाइपररियल या कार्टूनिश: मेटावर्स में आजीवन पहचान की कुंजी

超現実的または漫画的: メタバースにおけるリアルなアイデンティティの鍵

초현실적이거나 만화 같은: 메타버스에서 실제와 같은 정체성을 얻는 열쇠

Hiperreal ou caricatural: as chaves para identidades realistas no metaverso

Hipergerçek veya Karikatürize: Metaevrendeki Gerçekçi Kimliklerin Anahtarları

Hyperreal hoặc Cartoonish: Chìa khóa để nhận dạng sống động như thật trong Metaverse

超现实或卡通化：元宇宙中栩栩如生的身份的关键

Everyone has a favorite cartoon with which they grew up. Many of us carry on through our adult life holding a soft spot for the ones that made our childhood better. In this slogging thread, our pop culture community discussed which ones were the best. This Slogging thread by Sara Pinto, Mónica Freitas, Limarc Ambalina and Jack Boreham occurred in slogging's official #pop-culture channel, and has been edited for readability. Sara Pinto Dec 27, 2021, 4:43 PM What was best childhood cartoon for you? Sara Pinto Dec 27, 2021, 4:45 PM For me, it's The House of Mouse on Disney. Basically, a mashup of all the Disney cartoons. It brings me such good memories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHaO2byF8jw&ab_channel=CanadaToonFan Sara Pinto Dec 27, 2021, 4:46 PM What about you? Limarc Ambalina Inception-Cafe Daniel Guzman Jack Boreham Mónica Freitas Allyson Blinkhorn Mónica Freitas Dec 28, 2021, 11:38 AM Sara Pinto There are tons. Here's my list: Sailor Moon, Yu-gi-oh, Pokemon, Tom & Jerry, Pink Panther, a few Disney shows like Hercules (I was a sucker for this one), etc. I can't possibly finish this list, ahaha. Cartoons were my favorite thing as a child. I wish I could go back just for those Saturdays mornings, where I'd wake up early so that I could watch them. 💚 1 Mónica Freitas Dec 28, 2021, 11:40 AM I leave you this amazing opening song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spu0WMkgkvA 💚 1 Limarc Ambalina Dec 28, 2021, 11:40 AM Hercules was super underrated! Limarc Ambalina Dec 28, 2021, 11:41 AM So for my adolescent/teen years, I loved this one for some reason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwFxGgs7T1k 🔥 1 💚 1 Limarc Ambalina Dec 28, 2021, 11:41 AM For kids, nothing beats Arthur.. this show stands the test of time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68cIv-rNE1g 💚 1 Sara Pinto Dec 28, 2021, 6:51 PM Mónica Freitas Limarc Ambalina I loved all of these!!! But Hercules does have a special place in my heart. The Disney series were the best, did you saw the other ones as well? Sara Pinto Dec 28, 2021, 6:53 PM Limarc Ambalina Both are great choices, but you got me binging videos of Arthur on Youtube! It brings such a wholesome feeling to watch these shows again Mónica Freitas Dec 29, 2021, 12:29 PM Sara Pinto, do you mean other Disney series? I saw them all. From Hannah Montana and the Wizards of Waverley Place to Brandy to American Dragon, Timon & Pumba and Brandy and Mr Whiskers. Mónica Freitas Dec 29, 2021, 12:30 PM Sara Pinto speaking on it, what's your favorite Disney series and movie? Sara Pinto Dec 29, 2021, 10:14 PM Mónica Freitas I meant Disney series from the movies, like Timon and Pumbaa. They also had a series on Aladdin and The Little Mermaid, as far as I remember. Did you watch them too? Sara Pinto Dec 29, 2021, 10:18 PM Mónica Freitas Oof, hard question. Do I really have to choose? Haha. I think I would have to go with Hercules or Tarzan, for movies. And for the series, it's a tight race between House of Mouse and those series from the movies, like the Hercules one you mentioned. Mónica Freitas Dec 30, 2021, 11:34 AM Sara Pinto Oh, I used to see the Aladdin one. The genie was THE character to watch. As for The Little Mermaid, I didn't know there was a series. 🔥 1 Mónica Freitas Dec 30, 2021, 11:38 AM Sara Pinto Nice choices. For me is Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Hercules. Honorable mentions to the Treasure Planet, Aladdin, Mulan, and The Emperor's New Groove. Just recently, I saw Rava, and it is incredible! Sara Pinto Dec 30, 2021, 1:06 PM Mónica Freitas Oh, Rava was a good one! I pay close attention to the actors who give voice to the characters, and I have to say that Awkwafina did not disappoint Sara Pinto Dec 30, 2021, 1:09 PM Mónica Freitas I found the intro to The Little Mermaid series! Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ZLRqVPupo&ab_channel=TheLittleMermaidHD Jack Boreham Dec 30, 2021, 3:35 PM Sara Pinto SPONGE BOB, or legend of the dragon. Have you guys seen it? Jack Boreham Dec 30, 2021, 3:37 PM https://youtu.be/igI5Q0K854k Sara Pinto Dec 30, 2021, 8:07 PM Jack Boreham I've never seen either, but Legend of the Dragon seems pretty cool. What's the story? Mónica Freitas Dec 31, 2021, 10:35 AM Sara Pinto oh yeah, her voice is instantly recognisable Mónica Freitas Dec 31, 2021, 10:35 AM Sara Pinto, I guess I missed it ahaha Jack Boreham Dec 31, 2021, 12:23 PM Sara Pinto, it's about a guy who gets dragon powers from a brand/bracelet. He then has to go collect other bracelets to save their world by stopping evil from getting their hands on them! Sara Pinto Jan 3, 2022, 2:01 PM Jack Boreham Oh, that's pretty cool! I wished that had passed during my childhood haha Limarc Ambalina Jan 7, 2022, 6:40 AM Sara Pinto I'm super super happy (and surprised) that Arthur made it out to Portugal!! 💚 1 Limarc Ambalina Jan 7, 2022, 6:42 AM We also can't not talk about Disney's Recess: The ultimate TV show about how kids spend their recess lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgBTaBQEFnw 🔥 1 Mónica Freitas Jan 7, 2022, 12:27 PM Limarc Ambalina how did we watch the same cartoons? ahaha Sara Pinto Jan 7, 2022, 1:45 PM Limarc Ambalina I have to say, great selection of cartoons haha

The Best Childhood Cartoons

I am using Adobe Illustrator, and a graphic tablet with a pressure-sensitive pen, to make my . A free alternative for Illustrator is , a software that offers similar features and basically works the same way. cartoon avatars Gimp If you don’t have a pressure-sensitive pen, you can adjust the width of the strokes by creating a custom brush, which goes from thin to thick to thin again, or by adjusting it manually with the “Width tool”. (This method can be quite tedious though) "Having a graphic tablet helps a lot, and it doesn’t have to be a big investment"​ Wacom tablets are arguably the best, but they are really expensive. Fortunately, there are more and more alternatives, and with a little research, you can find a budget-friendly brand that essentially does the same. Why Illustrator and not Photoshop? When it comes to software I chose Illustrator because it works with vectors, meaning the finished cartoon caricatures will be crystal clear in any size. It also fits my style more, and the brush tool offers a really nice/adjustable smoothing for your lines. Photoshop seems more sensitive to me and is much harder to draw smooth lines, without any jitter. What brush do I use? The brush I use is really basic, it’s a round calligraphic brush with the size of 6px, and 5px pressure variation, and that’s it. How to make smooth lines? While yes it’s true that illustrator helps a great deal with smoothing out the lines, it’s also true if you turn the smoothing too high you won’t have as much control over your strokes as you wish, and if you turn it too low your lines will be too jittery. You should strive to draw your lines with the lowest smoothing assistance possible. It is really important, when going over the lines try drawing the strokes with a single, confident, fluid motion, rather than doing short strokes. This will make the lines have a nice flow, and make it look much cleaner. You might need a little practice but it’s worth it! How to color the artwork? When I’m happy with what I see I start coloring. It’s a good idea to separate the color layer from the stroke layer. I put the colors beneath the stroke layer, so the width of the stroke gives me a margin of error. In most cases I’m using the shape builder tool, to make shapes that match the strokes I made earlier. In what format should I save my artwork? When you are finished, saving it in PNG format is the best option. Not only does it offer higher quality it also leaves the parts you left blank transparent. This way you can have a transparent background and have an easier time when you place it somewhere. What can you do with your digitized art? You can make an interesting, and unique gift, and so much more! You can use a picture to and use these as a picture for social media, you can make your own T-shirt design, you can use it for posters, or print it on mugs, or make stickers or anything you can think of. cartoon yourself Previously published at https://avatoon.net/how-to-turn-your-photo-into-a-custom-digital-cartoon/

How To Create A Custom Digital Cartoon Character Drawing

Reader, I have a confession. I’m really into bad 1980's cartoons. You know, the ones that are little more than animated toy commercials? I’ve learned so many life lessons from those hours in front of a flickering analog TV. Come to think of it, that explain a lot… does Anyway, the biggest takeaway though from all those cartoons is that open source is the way to go. For me, open source got me traveling the world, , and got me a job on the . Not to mention meeting a whole bunch of crazy and amazing people. So, you know, no big deal. landed a partnership with NASA cutting edge of AI But wait (I hear you cry), I don’t remember , and I must have missed the Muppet Babies very special episode about the subtleties of the . The Animated Adventures of Richard Stallman GPL v3.0 I’ll admit: It’s only when I look back that it all meshes together. Think I’m full of it? Just listen to your favorite Saturday morning cartoons themselves: Freedom is the Right of All Sentient Beings Humans (and Autobots) thrive on freedom. Having the freedom to try new foods, see new places, or find new ways to use my has made me who I am. I also love the freedom to experiment on my computer in new and interesting ways. coffee maker Any technology that stops you screwing up also stops you experimenting to the fullest. I the freedom to , even if I never use it. want rm -rf / After using open-source systems for so long, going back to Windows or macOS is jarring. I just don’t have the liberty to customize it the way I want. In the words of a great philosopher: “Freedom (to futz around with your desktop settings) is the right of all sentient beings” I’m sure Optimus Prime said something like that anyway. I want the freedom to completely reconfigure my workspace, with whatever look and feel works best for me. That might mean working in a bare-bones green on black terminal, spinning around a cubic desktop with , or using something that looks like it . And I can mix and match bits of them as I see fit. compiz crawled out of the age of 80s cartoons itself Like every classic cartoon baddie, wants to limit my freedom to do what I want. Freedom to change the position of my taskbar or swap out my wallpaper is barely freedom at all. For true customization I’d have to rip out the desktop shell and replace it with . Pretty, but not great for stability. Windows a third party alternative The is similar. I can choose between a light and dark theme, and I’m limited to the standard (Windows, Icons, Mouse, Pointer) interface. No tiling with or for me. Mac WIMP i3m PaperWM My current setup is a box with a stripped-down and PaperWM that I mostly use for running a terminal emulator and Firefox. It’s mostly keyboard-driven, uses arcane key bindings (thank you !), and is almost perfectly tailored for my needs. Going back to one of the standard operating systems feels like typing with boxing gloves on. Manjaro GNOME desktop Vim Don’t Need No Credit Card to Ride This Train This one’s a bit of a niche one, but they made a cartoon of Back to the Future. Because of course they did. In the words of the immortal Huey Lewis: Don’t need money, don’t take fame Don’t need no credit card to ride this train It’s strong and it’s sudden and it’s cruel sometimes But it might just save your life That’s the power of open source Close enough. Either way, back when I was a student surviving on ramen and meat pies (yup, I”m a ), I sure didn’t have any spare dosh to throw at the latest Windows upgrade or buying a Mac. I was stuck with what I had, or what I could download. Kiwi Then I saw a computer magazine with CD-ROMs stuck to the front, usually offering the latest demos, , and full versions of out-of-date software. But in this case, it had something called . For about 8 bucks, I could not only get a new OS, but one that came with an office suite, programming IDE, graphics editor, and more. And I could share it with my friends for free! shareware Knoppix Linux For a broke-ass student like myself, this was the way I could’ve got my grubby little mitts on all of these shiny goodies. Pirating really wasn’t a thing on a dial-up modem, and this was before torrenting. Let’s not even start on Limewire and warez BBSes… only I don’t want to brag, but my modem was 14.4kbps. That point four makes the difference all I Am what I Am Nope, not Descartes, but one of the other great philosophers: Popeye. Okay, so Popeye wasn’t technically an 80’s cartoon, but that’s when I watched it. And it took me until recently to realize that spinach giving you superpowers? . Reader, I feel as betrayed as you do. Total fiction Anyway, forgetting spinach for a second, like Popeye, open source is what it is. It does (more or less) what it claims to do. Don’t believe what it says on the tin? Take a look at the source code on GitHub or work with a company like to search vulnerabilities for you. FossID Closed source can be different. Just recently we’ve seen and . If such prominent products were open-source, these issues would be sniffed out quickly, or less likely to arise in the first place since they’d be doing everything in the open and more likely to be caught by the good guys. very Tiktok scraping clipboard data without consent Microsoft sending telemetry in breach of privacy rules I Have The Power Open source software can continuously improve, and it’s driven by the needs of the users themselves. Sure, you could say that Windows 10 is an improvement on Vista, but there are big downsides like ads clogging up your Start menu and that whole telemetry thing. Don’t like the direction your desktop environment is taking? If enough users feel the same way, get together, fork it, and take it in a new direction. The crew did just this with the codebase — they didn’t like the vision for Gnome 3.0, so they took the 2.0 code and built their own version out of that. MATE Desktop Gnome Imagine trying to do the same thing with Windows or macOS (yeah, Gnome and MATE are desktop environments rather than full-blown operating systems, but that’s the beauty of it. Because it’s an open ecosystem, things are more modular. One system can have multiple desktop environments built in many different ways.) Let Our Powers Combine In the words of : Margaret Mead “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” See? You came for the cartoons and stayed for inspirational quotes from a noted cultural anthropologist. You’re welcome! Margaret meant this in a more activist context, but the same holds true for open-source. Many of the world’s biggest software projects are open-source, and contributed to by millions of developers. Billions of people around the world use them every day, often without ever knowing: and : The server software that run most of the web Apache Nginx and : The operating systems that run Apache and Nginx GNU/Linux BSD : Yeah, you probably already know this one Android Chances are you’re reading this in Chrome or Firefox — two huge browsers that are both open source Your browser: And according to Intel, even your train or nuclear submarine may be running open source software — all because a bunch of coders who shared a dream came together: Live Long and Prosper Again, not an 80s cartoon, but I saw in the 80s and its message of peace and understanding inspires me to this day (well, if I’m being honest, Star Trek’s message as a whole, not just TAS) exactly Star Trek: The Animated Series The thing about a lot of closed-source software is that it live long, and this can lead to a downfall in . Hell, I use and is under active development one way or another. doesn’t your prosperity a text editor that was invented in 1976 still Just think about the most popular word processing in the world? What happens if the owner goes out of business? software I’m not talking about Microsoft Word or Google Docs. I’m talking about , the dominant word processor of the 1980s. WordStar Thousands of users, including (of Game of Thrones fame) were left in the cold when it was abandoned. Winter truly had come. They’d invested time and effort into learning this system, and now what? George R. R. Martin Over time, operating systems retire old functions, and old software “rots” (just look at anything not updated for , or ). y2k for the latest macOS Now the only way to run the once almighty WordStar is to . Quite the fall from grace. If you don’t, all of those .ws files you spent hours, days, and years on, are if not completely inaccessible, a total to work with. It’s ironic that now the only way to work with closed software like WordStar is via an open source system. install GNU/Linux and DOS emulator on top of that PITA Now, how would that look in the modern day? Microsoft is way bigger than just Word, so let’s look at a smaller company that makes productivity tools: What would happen if Adobe went under? You’d be stuck with your existing versions of Adobe software while the rest of the world marches on. After a while, operating systems will deprecate enough legacy code that old apps won’t run any more. I haven’t tried running Photoshop 1.0 on Windows 10, but I can’t imagine it would be pretty. Even sooner than that, Adobe’s license activation servers would go down. Since Adobe Creative Suite is Software as a Service (SaaS), it relies on these servers to verify you’re a paying customer. No server means no verification means you’ll either have features restricted or you’ll be locked out completely. What happens then to all your PSD and AI files? You might be able to do with them in or (hey, I didn’t choose the name), but there’s not 100% compatibility. something Inkscape GIMP If you want to keep moving forwards, you’ll need to learn a new piece of software and wave goodbye to quite lot of work. Goodbye muscle memory and interface familiarity! What happens if an open-source project goes under? If enough people care about it they can fork the code and keep it going themselves, just like MATE did. If not, you can always spin up a virtual machine running the old software and use it from there. Knowing is Half the Battle This is the quote that always springs to mind when I think of what open source has done for me personally. I got started with coding back in the bad old days of MS-DOS 5.0 and QBasic. I have fond memories of editing the physics in the to make the bananas fly where I wanted, and trying to build a Zork-like text adventure without initially realizing the sheer amount of object interactions I’d have to deal with. Gorillas game Gorillas (which my parents tried to convince me was Donkey Kong) came with , and the code was available to view and edit. But really it (and BASIC itself) are just toys. I properly got into programming with , and the open community has been so educational and helpful in building what I want, whether it’s , a terminal-based WeChat client, a tool to , or a . Qbasic Python an AI that writes crappy Star Trek translate and summarize long PowerPoints from a professor website to help hospitals get protective equipment more easily Because I was building on open code bases (or in some cases, just open APIs and SDKs), I could see the magic for myself. The more popular programming languages and frameworks have extensive documentation and YouTube tutorials created by the community that helped me get running quickly, and by sharing the code myself, others helped me test it, fix bugs, and make it even better. Save the Universe from the Monster Minds Finally, one more niche cartoon, : Thundering across the stars to save the universe from the Monster Minds. Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors Which is really just a cute way of saying bad AI. We’ve already seen what’s happening when not-so-good companies like TikTok and Microsoft screw users over with their closed-source software. But that pales into comparison with closed-source black-box artificial intelligences. Because of biased data used to train their models, , yet this technology is still used worldwide to incarcerate innocents. Kinda makes cartoon villains look tame in comparison. Detroit’s police department has a 96% failure rate on facial recognition I’m working at an open-source AI company, , that is committed to both open source and open governance. We want to build ethical AI to search the world’s information better. And we want the world to join in. Jina If you’re a coder who wants to get make a difference, and . check out our repo join us today

Open Source Explained by 1980s Cartoons

An artist who uploaded a parody cartoon to YouTube and received a strike against his channel following a Warner Bros. complaint has been denied the opportunity to fight his corner. MeatCanyon uploaded a cartoon featuring a creepy 'Bugs Bunny' and later appealed using a DMCA counternotice. YouTube, however, refused to pass the notice on and dismissed the claim. Earlier this week we on a dark parody cartoon depicting a washed-out Bugs Bunny as a sex pest. The controversial video was created by Hunter Hancock, the person behind the MeatCanyon channel. reported It was hit with a copyright complaint by Warner Bros. As a result, the MeatCanyon channel received a copyright strike and the cartoon was taken down. When a video is targeted by a copyright holder with a manual complaint (i.e one not actioned as a result of ContentID matching), users can generally refer to the DMCA for guidance. This means that if they believe their content was not infringing (under fair use guidelines, for example), they can submit a DMCA counternotice to YouTube explaining why the content should not have been taken down. This is exactly what Hancock did in response to the Warner complaint. “This is my own creation. I animated every frame, composed the music, recorded the audio and made the backgrounds,” he told YouTube in his counternotice shared with TorrentFreak. “This creation is under fair use,” he continued. “The characters have been stylized by myself to not reflect directly with the traditional characters. There is no branded logo to incite that this is a real video owned by Warner Brothers, but is in fact a parody video created by none other than by myself.” As required under the law, Hancock swore that he had a “good faith belief” that the material had been removed due to a mistake and also consented to the jurisdiction of his local federal court, in case Warner chose to sue him – something it must do within two weeks to prevent the content from being restored. Should that time pass with no lawsuit, then the content would’ve been put back up and the strike removed. In the event, however, none of those things happened. In short, YouTube declined to accept the apparently valid DMCA counternotice filed by Hancock and refused to pass it on to Warner. “Based on the information you provided, it appears that you do not have the necessary rights to post the content on YouTube. Therefore, we regretfully cannot honor your request. It has not been forwarded to the original claimant, and we will not be able to restore your video,” YouTube’s correspondence reads. While this response from YouTube runs counter to what most people would expect under the DMCA counter-claim process, it is not unprecedented. The EFF previously reported that agreements YouTube has with rightsholders may effectively deny access to the system. “In many instances, even if you successfully submit a DMCA counter-notice, the video will not be reinstated. These agreements are opaque, and scope of what’s allowed under them is unknown. They may be short-term, or long-term,” the EFF previously . explained In this case, the refusal of YouTube to allow a counter-claim represents a double-edged sword. While Hancock submitted the notice in good faith, genuinely believing he was in a good position to put his side of the argument by insisting he was protected under fair use doctrines, the reality of dealing with a lawsuit, should one be initiated, is a serious proposition and not to be underestimated. After being denied by YouTube and further consideration, he decided that fighting probably wasn’t the best option after all. “I am in no place to fight this in court due to financial reasons. It seems unnecessary to start a GoFund me or ask for help, because it’s between me and Warner Brothers,” he told TF. “It also made me think YouTube wanted the video off the platform. It is a very crude video so I can’t blame them for that, but it would’ve been nice to have been given more information on why this video was unacceptable to stay up on my page. It’s very disheartening.” While the decision by YouTube will be viewed by some as anti-consumer and a denial of due process, in this case the platform arguably did the animator a favor. Instead of expending resources he doesn’t have on a legal process that could go either way and could even prove financially ruinous, he can now concentrate on creating new content for fans. Some battles are worth fighting but it’s definitely worth weighing the costs first. Originally published as “ YouTube Refuses to Process DMCA Counternotice for ‘Creepy Bugs’ Cartoon ” with the Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) license

YouTube Refuses to Process DMCA Counternotice for ‘Creepy Bugs’ Cartoon

A dark parody cartoon depicting a washed-out Bugs Bunny as a sex offender has been hit with a DMCA complaint by Warner Bros. MeatCanyon, a channel with more than 66 million views, has responded with a new animation in which characters mourn his passing, stating that since Warner claimed the content as its own, they have now confirmed that "Bugs was a struggling rapist all along." Despite racking up to close to 67 million views on its popular YouTube account, MeatCanyon’s cartoons are not yet mainstream fodder. Thanks to the actions of a copyright holder, however, more publicity is certainly on the horizon. Many of MeatCanyon’s cartoons are extremely dark, featuring a and as a previously-masked character in Scooby-Doo, to give just two examples. But when released a two-minute cartoon entitled ‘Wabbit Time’ recently, the end result was a copyright strike on its YouTube account. creepy Ronald McDonald Jimmy Fallon Patreon-funded MeatCanyon The is dark – super dark – and features a character that looks broadly like Bugs Bunny but is both predatory, washed-out, and a shadow of his usual self. parody cartoon With horrible teeth, drooping teats and a foul mouth, this is clearly not the Bugs everyone is used to, despite sharing the same name. Following his opening line (“What’s up Doc?” which is but not copyrighted) he attempts to do something awful to a man resembling Elmer Fudd, which reinforces the disconnect from the original ten times over. trademarked Reading between the lines, this was all too much for Warner Bros. As can be seen in the image below, the company filed a copyright complaint with YouTube and had the . video taken down “Warner brothers just copyright claimed my wabbit season vid….so it’s removed and now I have a strike on my channel….but why [YouTube?],” MeatCanyon wrote on Twitter before the weekend. With Warner claiming its rights had been infringed and YouTube effectively agreeing, it was the end of the road for the Wabbit Season video. “It is unfortunate that Youtube decided to side with Warner Brothers. Deleting my video, and giving my channel a strike. I worked very hard on that video and its honestly pretty sad to see it go. There was a lot of people who really enjoyed that video, and it at least makes me happy to know that so many people out there will miss it being on this channel,” MeatCanyon wrote. But the channel wasn’t done just yet. In a new cartoon uploaded yesterday titled ‘RIP Wabbit Season’, numerous grotesque characters mourn the ‘death’ of the sinister Bugs Bunny while raising a pretty dark question: Why would Warner claim a video depicting Bugs Bunny as a “struggling rapist” as their own? The truth, of course, is that Warner didn’t claim the video as its own but claimed copyright infringement instead. There’s little doubt that the cartoon is as a parody but that intent in itself doesn’t provide absolute protection under US law. intended Should MeatCanyon choose to take the matter further, the intricacies of fair use would need to be examined by a court, including (but not limited to) whether Wabbit Season represented a comedic commentary relating to the original work that necessarily required copying its elements. There’s also the matter of whether the new work has a detrimental effect on the market (or potential market) for the original work(s). No one could reasonably argue that MeatCanyon’s variant represents direct market competition for Warner’s version but the nature of the former could potentially cast the latter in a different light, at least in some eyes. These are complex and potentially massively expensive matters to definitively conclude (a reference list of ‘fair use’ case outcomes can be found ) so it seems likely that MeatCanyon will accept the strike and move on. TorrentFreak reached out to MeatCanyon for comment but at the time of publication, we were yet to hear back. here Originally published as “ YouTube Cartoon Featuring Creepy Bugs Bunny Copyright Claimed By Warner Bros ” with the Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) license

YouTube Cartoon Featuring Creepy Bugs Bunny Copyright Claimed By Warner Bros.

Scrum is a method that has helped to split down large and inflexible product development processes and open them for feedback. It introduced faster evaluation cycles for product teams. However, every team can sometimes stray off the road, no matter how good it is in following the Scrum framework. In the end, we are all people with our biases and imperfections. Being unaware of our anti-patterns, can unleash a waterfall wolf hiding in sheep’s clothing. I drew 15 cartoons that mock false Scrum implementations. Through the cartoons, we recreate bumpy situations in a funny way. Becoming aware of imperfections in a team’s behavior is a key to understanding what we can improve. The Daily stand-up The key is in sharing the right information with your team. And yourself. I’m sure you will. You know those daily meetings that last longer than eternity. Here is a tip how to keep your stand-up within the 15 minutes time frame. We’ll untie him later. Sprint review When stakeholder is not happy. Turn the light switch off and there it is. Sprint retrospective When you have nothing to say. I was time pressured. When you don’t communicate openly on a daily basis with your team and save all your frustrations for the retrospective. Scrum master gets to be a boxing match judge. And then pour it all out. When someone asks why did the project fail. Sprint planning When product owner prepares your backlog. Everything that needs to be done, right? That’s one way to test it. When developers accurately estimate the size of the task. Luckily, we’re still alive. When stories expand across multiple sprints. Split or suffer Requirements When product owner writes requirements and pours her heart, soul and PhD dissertation in them. Dostoyevsky in Jira. Or product owner just ignores the writing and goes back to the traditional oral communication. Human species have survived long time with just verbal storytelling, right? Why don’t you remember? Interruptions But we’ve just had our Sprint planning! Just this one urgent thing. When something is urgent, but lacks material. Such a useful tool. Product hygiene When things become too cluttered it’s useful to turn on the Marie Kondo’s mindset and clear your product opus. It doesn’t spark joy. This is it for now. I you want to see more Productmare comics, see my first story “ ”. I was very inspired to hear that one team printed out comics from this post and put it on their wall as a reminder. Product nightmares in 15 comics Thank you for reading. I think that developing digital products deserves more funny cartoons, so this is my contribution. Help me in this mission, share some feedback and I would be very grateful for it. <a href="https://medium.com/media/3c851dac986ab6dbb2d1aaa91205a8eb/href">https://medium.com/media/3c851dac986ab6dbb2d1aaa91205a8eb/href</a>

Scrum gone wild in 15 cartoons

Have you ever imagined yourself as a cartoon character? Well, now this is more than real. We are a team of 20 engineers and art designers who have developed a that morphs human faces with animated characters. machine learning technology The process starts by constructing a user’s 3D face model from just a single selfie shot. Importantly, our technology even works with older, regular smartphone cameras. With this single photo, our neural network builds a 3D mesh of the user’s head that looks like this: The neural network regresses a 3D model from a 2D photo Next, 3 other neural networks swing into action. The first draws eyebrows, the second detects and matches eye color, and the third detects and draws glasses if the user is wearing them. When these elements are ready, we morph the user with one of our cartoon characters. This takes a fraction of a second. Each neural network does its job to instantly personalize the character to the user As you can see outlined in the red boxes, we only morph the restricted area of the user’s face. We do this because . Here’s what would happen if we tried to make the characters more human-like: human beings and animals have very different face topologies Here’s how avatar would look like if we morphed larger areas Another interesting challenge was how to integrate eyewear into the animal characters. If you’ve ever tried to put sunglasses on a dog, you might understand this issue first hand. It wasn’t easy to integrate eyewear on an animal character that doesn’t have a human-like nose. Feeding AI with 3D faces It took us 3 years to collect a proprietary dataset of 15,000 face scans. We ensured our dataset captured a range of races, ages, and genders. We built a special equipment made of 24 cameras to collect dataset We used this data to train our neural networks. This is the backbone of our personalization and facial performance capture technologies. Our machine learning models can process 60 frames per second and recognizes an innumerable quantity of micro expression combinations in real-time. The AI based technology detects emotions in real-time using smartphone The neural network can even track tongue positioning in many directions. By comparison, other avatar apps do not have this functionality and simply have two states for tongue positioning. Many our users were asking to add this feature We integrated all of this technology into a mobile messaging app called . We launched it a couple of months ago to introduce our technological developments to the world. Now Chudo is growing 25x faster than early Snapchat. Chudo Accessibility is one of the reason why it’s growing so fast. Unlike other avatar apps that work only on expensive smartphones, our technology supports budget Android devices, old iPhones and even an iPod. We made our technology work on iPod Unreal characters, real money Most of the characters in are free. As an experiment, we started selling a few avatars to help pay the bills. Here’s the leaderboard of our top selling creatures: Chudo Use cases There are many industries where people would love to see themselves as fictional characters: Computer Gaming Cartoon Animation Toys Publishing Communication With Chudo, our team has begun taking over the communication industry. Do you know any other industries where this technology could be applied? Share your ideas here in comments or shoot me an email at gabrelyanov@chu.do.

How we used AI to hybridize humans with cartoon animals and made a business out of it.

A researcher reports that the than cloud infrastructure hardware and software. $180 billion cloud services market is now growing three times faster Geez! We are depending on cloud provider environments more and more, day after day, isn’t it? Well, if it serves the purpose then why not! The cloud is the new normal. There’s no escape, even if cost spirals out. How dependent are you on your cloud services? Share your experiences. We would love to hear. Originally published at blog.totalcloud.io on August 2, 2018.

The Cloud is the New Normal [cartoon]

Startup is obsessed with ideas. They ignite the founders and rest is a script of history. But, not everyone is fortunate to be a part of folklore. Mundane people demand a kick to go beyond the cubicle. They need one word, two phrases and few sentences to ignite the inner flame. Some chase books. Others dive in YouTube videos. Alpha male tweets with #hustle and #motivation. What if we have a minimal option? Where we will not be showered by the flood of thoughts and imposed energy, but with a sweet resonance? Sounds like Utopia? Welcome . One who has Gapingvoid inspired us to help startups to thrive. Eyes rolled? Get ready for more fun and inspiration too- How often we forget this simple manifesto! We can do great things,but, oh lord, our fear… And then you master how to take control of your senses! :) Some decisions are tricky but worth taking. Take a firm step today! The beauty of these sketches are in the message and the minimal approach to deliver those messages. In our world of boasting and bragging, showcasing and showering of false statements, the messages are of big resonance. Messages that are simple yet hidden as we chase something illusory. Messages that can inspire us to start something new or figure out the loopholes. Messages that does not pretend but help you to master the truth. If you are a trust me you will love them, if you aren’t already one of their loyal followers. , hustler want to do great things Why these sketches are real deal for startup founders? They know you: Now, when everyone rushes into the office and many perceives the job 9–6 as mundane task, when companies like Uber gets affected with harassment, when most of the corporate people drain with the inhuman pressure, few strokes of brush, couple of good words can make your day or night worth to fight for. In your bad day, they can help you to ignite. In good days, they can help you to see the larger picture and take the next step. “You” are the ones who want to start a startup, build a great product , create a better world and they know it. Gapingvoid talks about the leadership, the dream, the blur line between rational and insanity, the brain, heart, soul and everything that comes in between your idea, startup and business. Their biggest strength is drawing us to the and which we often miss and misread. greater good bigger picture In your initial days, those posters are the muse. Once you set up, they act as their oracles guide you to build the empire and the culture for future. A better one for sure. Sane and simple. They talk about the change: How many days you want to kick off with new resilience and fail miserably? Gapingvoid knows and here they don’t offer any overnight remedy. But, with every gaze before their posters, you start to find your conviction. They help you to visualize. They tell you the code to decode the complex puzzle of . idea phase to customer retention phase Of course, they are not your go-to-book for business solution. But, when you bury yourself into frustration, they can help you to pull up and push you to create your best work. In mythology, a muse is celebrated for igniting the passion and helping mundane soul to create the epic. Make your startup epic. . I presume, you know whom to invoke now All image and inspiration courtesy- . Gapingvoid What’s have been your startup muse? Who has helped you to see the bigger problem? What has inspired to dive deep into problem and and offer the disruptive solution? It would be nice if you share with us. Will you?

Can a mere cartoon be your startup muse?

So Why Are We Going So Slow? (Cartoon)

Today marks the ten-year anniversary of the death of “Clippy”, Microsoft Word’s helpful and beloved cartoon paper clip. It looks like I’m writing a memorial piece, and dear God, would I like some help. Clippy was born in 1987, the only success in a series of failed experiments to give sentience to various office supplies. He began his life as most paper clips do, working a desk job for little to no money, though soon people began to notice his incredible talent for identifying when people were writing letters, and offering to help. It didn’t take long for Microsoft to notice this up-and-coming talent, and they soon recruited him as an office assistant for Microsoft Word ’97. This was Clippy’s big break, and he began appearing on monitors nationwide, offering keyboard shortcuts and gentle reminders to save your work. Within just a year, he was far more popular than all of the other office assistants, including Albert Einstein, the Smiley Face, and whatever the fuck that cat’s name was. Scribble I think? I don’t know. But when you spend enough time under the spotlight, the light starts to expose the darkest parts of you. Fame became a burden that was simply too much for the young Microsoft Word Office Assistant to bear, and Clippy, like so many paper clips and child stars before him, turned to hard drugs: MDMA, PCP, and even HTML. Despite his incredible popularity, Microsoft was forced to remove Clippy after his addictive habits began to bleed into his work. The computer company received several reports of an intoxicated Clippy lashing out at clients, calling their letters to loved ones “fucking pointless” and making less-than-helpful editorial comments, such as “this is the worst poetry I’ve ever seen”. Clippy’s removal was the final step in his descent into madness, as the former assistant became nothing but a disheveled mess, fodder for the Hollywood tabloids. He wandered the streets of Hollywood, barely coherent, sometimes mumbling completely in Wingdings. He finally died alone, unable to hold a job, a relationship, or even a stack of papers together.   Despite his sad departure from this world, Clippy’s legacy remains as strong as ever. Every time we need help with Microsoft Office’s confusing fucking updates, every time they change the word processor’s entire layout just when we were getting used to the old one, every time we have to type a keyword into a cold, dead help section that doesn’t even have googly eyes — we think of you. is how hackers start their afternoons. We’re a part of the family. We are now and happy to opportunities. Hacker Noon @AMI accepting submissions discuss advertising &sponsorship To learn more, , , or simply, read our about page like/message us on Facebook tweet/DM @HackerNoon. If you enjoyed this story, we recommend reading our and . Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted! latest tech stories trending tech stories

Remembering Clippy: 10 Years Since the Death of Microsoft Word’s Cartoon Paper Clip

Is the very idea of love with a machine ludicrous? A betrayal of everything that makes human connection special? Or is it a chance to find companionship and intimacy in a uniquely different way? David Wolf’s Digi, a company that deals with AI-powered relationships, believes the latter is true. He envisions a world where love transcends the physical realm and connection flourishes through a carefully curated digital experience. Before you scoff at the idea of robots replacing human connection, think about the fact that loneliness has become a global concern. According to the 2021 survey initiated by Statista, . This lack of connection has a demonstrably , increasing risks of depression, anxiety, and even heart disease. about 33% of adults experience loneliness worldwide negative impact on mental and physical health So what if, instead of being a threat to romantic relationships, AI companions act as an aide for those who struggle to navigate the complexities of human connections? Building Connections With AI Technology is already playing an undeniable role in building relationships. Social media platforms connect us with people across vast distances, online forums foster communities around shared interests, and dating apps help us find potential romantic partners. Of course, these connections can often be superficial or fleeting. Swiping through profiles may feel monotonous, and conversations can quickly wane due to hesitations, fear of rejection, differing opinions, and lack of experience. But advancements in artificial intelligence present exciting opportunities for building connections like never before. Chatbots and AI companions offer a listening ear, presenting themselves as sophisticated conversational partners. However, many of these interactions often feel flat and scripted, with generic replies that fail to capture the depth of human interaction. Responses can also feel repetitive, lacking the understanding and emotional intelligence necessary to build genuine connections. This is where David Wolf plans to make a difference with Digi. His vision goes far beyond what many chatbots offer — designed to mimic the natural progression of a relationship, Digi transcends the ordinary and becomes something far more meaningful. With Digi, conversations are far more personalized, aiming to stimulate a sense of emotional connection and growth. The Potential Impact of Digi While Digi may not be capable of fully emulating genuine love, it can provide a safe space to explore intimacy and nurture quasi-romantic connections. But perhaps more importantly, it offers a way to treat the dangerous symptoms of loneliness and help users prepare for real-world relationships. Individuals with social anxiety, for example, can talk with an AI and alleviate the pressure of human interactions, allowing them not just to practice conversations and build confidence but also experience finding love and feeling loved in a different form. Digi sets itself apart from other AI companions and creates more realistic relationships in two primary ways: Progressive Interaction Digi’s developers understand that love pushes past mere words and explores the full range of human emotions. While this is near-impossible with chatbots like ChatGPT, Digi leverages advanced language processing algorithms to respond with a greater degree of simulated empathy and emotional intelligence, making interactions feel more authentic. Furthermore, it recreates the natural progression of a human relationship, starting from scratch, moving to getting-to-know-you, and then finally proceeding to flirtatious dialogue. This gives users a sense of developing a deeper connection over time, making them feel less like they’re interacting with a machine. Lifelike Engagement To make engagement feel more personal, Digi integrates finely tuned text-to-speech technology, allowing users to hear responses in a natural-sounding voice. It also integrates animated avatars to bring a visual aspect to the conversation. There are still limits to achieving complete avatar realism, which is why Digi has made the design choice of using more cartoon-like faces, but this visual aspect works in harmony with lifelike speech to better simulate the feeling of human conversation. The Future of AI in Romantic Relationships While many approach the idea of building romantic relationships with AI companions with a healthy amount of skepticism, Digi proves that the tech has real potential. While the vast complexities of love remain beyond AI’s grasp, it’s important not to underestimate the valuable support these chatbots can offer. As Digi shows, AI can be a stepping stone to genuine connections, allowing users to explore relationships at their own pace. To further improve upon Digi, Wolf's team is already working on new features like “soft disagreements,” which could make AI feel even more human by challenging the user with its own perspectives and opinions. There's also the potential to assess the risks of mental health issues with Digi, suggesting that it could offer more than just companionship — it could be a lifeline for those needing vital support. Clearly, Digi is more than just another chatbot; it's an evolving platform with the potential to help users build emotional resilience and lifelike romantic connections. While AI companions will likely never supplant social bonds, they can certainly complement them, helping users build confidence and prepare for the rich world of genuine human connection. This story was distributed by Jon Stojan Media under HackerNoon’s Brand As An Author Program. Learn more about the program here: https://business.hackernoon.com/brand-as-author

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