RIP, Microsoft Paint. MS Paint, the first app you used for editing images, will probably be killed off in future updates of Windows 1. Paint 3. D. Microsoft lists the 3. Windows 1. 0’s next autumn update, a little X marking the end of an era. The app is certainly a relic, from a time when the casual computer user couldn’t crack open Photoshop or Skitch or Pixelmator or thousands of web apps. MS Paint can’t save image components as layers or vectors; it’s for making flat static images only. It doesn’t smooth lines or guess at your best intentions. It does what you tell it and nothing more, faithfully representing the herky- jerky motion of drawing freehand with a computer mouse. It’s from a time before touch, a time before trackpads. As more sophisticated options appeared, Paint’s janky aesthetic became a conscious choice. Paint” became the metonym for that aesthetic, even if an image was actually created in another app. ![]() ![]() This July, we asked for software tips from the 2017 Microsoft Office National Champions, a set of charming teens who are officially the best at using PowerPoint, Word. MS Paint, the first app you used for editing images, will probably be killed off in future updates of Windows 10, replaced by the new app Paint 3D. Microsoft lists. TV Tropes lists major limitations that came to define a certain look: the wobbly freehand lines, awkward color handling, and inappropriate export settings that give Paint its distinctive look. In 2. 01. 4, Gawker’s Sam Biddle noted Paint’s influence on conspiracy theory images, calling the form “Chart Brut.” In amateur detectives’ attempts at identifying the Boston Marathon bombers, the simplicity and jaggedness of Paint evokes the “crazy wall” aesthetic of red string and scribbled notes, apparently without irony. The same year, internet historian Patrick Davison explored Paint’s influence on the last decade of meme culture, particularly Rage Comics. BibMe Free Bibliography & Citation Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard.![]() The outsider- art aesthetic feels appropriate to the relatable everyday content, and makes the art form unthreatening. Of course, Paint offered a few features to smooth things out, like the circle and line tools and the “fill” tool, all used in the stoner comics of the early 1. Crucially, those circles still had jagged curves. The bright colors of stoner comics are flat, as MS Paint didn’t support gradients (without an elaborate hack). Contrast those pixellated lines with the slick, stylish face from this art tutorial: This slickness is built into Paint’s successor, Paint 3. D. From the moment you start sketching, Paint 3. D smooths out your art. It also supports automatic selection tools and content- aware fill to rival Photoshop’s.)By automatically improving art, Paint 3. D hides the process behind the image. Paint’s sloppiness is probably why rage comics got so popular. Looking at a rage comic, you can tell exactly how it was drawn, and how you might draw one yourself. By delivering exactly what the artist draws, MS Paint forms an image that the viewer can mentally reverse- engineer and imitate. Unless you go absolutely nuts with it. Reddit user Toweringhorizon painstakingly assembled the drawing “To a Little Radio” using MS Paint tools like the oil brush, stretching the medium while maintaining a pixelated look. It’s one of the top submissions to MS Paint subreddit, a beautiful collaborative art gallery. Scrolling through this art feels like flipping through the sketchbook of the most artistic kid in high school. There’s an accepted roughness, a desired minimalism. For example, the exquisite raindrops in the work above are reflected in a flat, featureless tabletop. Like a transistor radio, Paint might be showing its age, but this tenacious little gadget should not be underestimated.“To a Little Radio” doesn’t even come close to testing Paint’s limits. As we say goodbye to the app that shaped an era, let us watch this bizarrely soundtracked time lapse of drawing Santa Claus in MS Paint on Windows 7 over the course of 5. We can only believe this is real because faking it would be even harder. This Treat Camera Gave My Cat Trust Issues. My cat, Artemis, is a bustling career woman. She has many jobs that she juggles between stealing my hair ties and spilling her kibble; in addition to serving as the Mayor of Fluffingsville, she runs a network of freelancers as Editor- in- Chief of Catmodo. Since both of us are busy most of the day at our respective places of work, we forget to check in on each other. Thankfully, Petcube’s newest gadget, Petcube Bites, lets humans check in on their furry companions when they’re apart. It also lets us fling treats at them on command which is both heartwarming and mildly horrifying. What is it? A super smart pet camera that doubles as a treat dispenser. No Like. It traumatized my cat. The Petcube Bites looks like a shrunken down, shinier version of the monolith from 2. A Space Odyssey, the main difference being that the aforementioned totem did not hold up to two pounds of treats. You’ll have to load up the device with your pet’s favorite snacks in order for the magic to happen—Petcube recommends treats about an inch big. Since Artemis is but a wee kitty, her treats were a little smaller than the recommended size, which proved to be (mostly) okay. There was also an unusual aspect to the setup, wherein the Petcube mysteriously didn’t work for three days. One day it randomly started working—but I attribute that to my shitty Wi- Fi more than to the Petcube. If you too have crummy Wi- Fi maybe invest in a new router before investing in a treat dispensing pet camera. After downloading the Petcube app, you can link your phone up to the monolith, accessing the device’s camera. The Petcube senses motion in front of it, which lets you see what your animal’s up to but also takes weird videos of your feet if you step in front of it. Seeing your cat or doggo’s adoring face through the app is definitely heartwarming, but fair warning: watch your goddamn feet so weird photos don’t end up on some dark corner of the internet. Not that Petcube is going to sell pictures of your feet or anything (the images are in the app on your phone), but you can never be too careful these days. While the app saves your videos automatically, the quality isn’t great. Don’t expect Nat Geo- worthy screenshots. In truth, Petcube’s app isn’t bad, but it’s also not great. There are some issues with scrolling, making it difficult to see the most recent video of your floof. But the app does let you select the distance at which you can fling the treats, which extends up to six feet in range. After loading the treats into the Petcube, my boyfriend and I selected a short- range toss for the treats, which makes sense because I live in a small apartment in New York City. Just load the treats, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. But oh, dear reader, how wrong I was. The Petcube shot out Artemis’ treats precariously and with abandon, like a frat boy throwing his drink at a guy who wore the same Vineyard Vines zip up as him. The whole thing was like a cannon of delicious nightmares—needless to say, my cat was horrified. Make no mistake, she still ate the treats—but after the incident, she pretty much veered away from the machine. I was able to catch it all on video but filmed it vertically like a jabroni. I’m sorry. Overall, Petcube Bites is fine. Despite bad camera quality and an okay app it does what it’s supposed to do and it’s kind of cute. I’m not sure I’d pay $2. Sunday. Artemis couldn’t be reached for comment on the ordeal. READMEPetcube Bites is good if you live in a place bigger than mine, which is approximately the size of a hermit crab’s shell. Your pet may or may not appreciate it as much as you do. Your pet may never forgive you for this indignation.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2017
Categories |