New Blog

My Blog has moved to www.brianbelew.com/blog. Thank you for your interest.

Chapter 26: Manga Studio (First Impressions)

I bought Manga Studio 3 EX while at Comic-con last weekend. I was impressed by the tool set that I saw in the demos online and at the Smith Micro booth. I was also inspired to investigate the software after seeing the work that Ethan Nicolle did with it in his book, Chumble Spuzz.

Before buying the software, I wanted to try it out. So, I downloaded the demo from the Smith Micro website and installed it and the anti-piracy software they Smith Micro uses to protect their demos. I don't know why, but having to install the anti piracy software really bothered me. The anti-piracy software comes from a third-party, I believe, and I just don't know that I trust them.

Once I had the demo installed along with the associated crud-ware, I attempted to run the Manga Studio demo. It crashed upon start-up. It turns out that the demo for Manga Studio 3 EX is not compatible with OS X 10.5.4. There was no indication of this that I could find on the demo download page and the Smith Micro support pages are difficult to navigate and obtuse. The support search results are filled with more Google adds than support hits. I didn't learn of the compatibility issues until I was able to talk to a sales rep at the Smith Micro booth the next day.

It turns out that a new version of the software will be released later this year and that the Japanese firm that makes the software did not feel that it was worth their time and expense to patch the demo. The full version of the software has been patched.

After a lot of internal debate and some time online, looking up reviews and criticisms of the software, I decided to buy the heavily discounted version being sold at the Smith Micro Comic-con booth. (They sold it at the convention for $99; it's regularly $249-$299).

My experience with the sales representatives at the Smith Micro booth was very positive. They answered all of my questions clearly and honestly and at least one of them was a fan of SLG Publishing. (I was working at the convention as an exhibitor with SLG Publishing).

After booth break-down and a late diner, I made it back to my hotel room, I sobered up and installed my newly purchased software. Everything was going well until it was time to unlock the software with the serial number that was printed on the packaging. I typed in the numbers time and again and they would not work. Honestly, I thought I might still be a little tipsy, so I asked Jennifer to double check my typing and to make sure that I wasn't missing anything. She did and I wasn't. After saying a few bad words, I decided to give up. As I was packing up the software, I notice that the label on the software read Manga Studio Debut. I had purchased Manga Studio EX. The CD jewel case was mislabeled. I searched the internet to see if anything like this had been reported elsewhere; I found nothing but reports of slow tech support from Smith Micro.

I was eager to work with the software and did not want to wait for tech support to reply to my email, so I called once I returned home. Smith Micro does not have a toll-free tech support number, which I suspect is to discourage phone calls. I was greeted by a support representative name Aaron. After I explained my situation, he described the extensive procedure that I would have to follow in order to obtain the correct serial number for my software. It involved scanning and faxing and waiting. I couldn't have that--for one thing, I don't have a scanner that works with my Mac and I don't have a fax machine. I was told that they would make no exceptions. I was able to provide Aaron with my order number. While he could not research the number that I provided, he was able to forward me to someone else. My called was transferred to Junior and Junior was able to locate my order number and generate the serial number that I needed. Junior also gave me his direct email address. Finally, he replied to me almost instantly with the information that I needed.

Three days after my purchase, I was finally able to run Manga Studio for the first time. The menus are cluttered and don't follow the standards of other graphics applications (not exactly). But, they are easy enough to decrypt with a little effort. The biggest obstacle that I encountered came when I tried to use my Wacom tablet:

The response was terrible. There was a terrible lag with each stroke that made the tablet useless. There was no lag, however when I used a mouse. Some people can draw with a mouse, but I can't--not the way I want to draw. Again, the support pages at Smith Micro were incompressible and of no help. I searched the Wacom site and found nothing there. I uninstalled my driver and installed the latest driver and there was still a lag. I searched the internet for more than an hour and still found no help.

Finally, I resorted to an old PC trouble shooting technique: I uninstalled the Wacom driver and then restarted the computer. I then installed the Wacom driver and restarted the computer. Everything worked perfectly. Almost.

I tried to create a multi-page project and was greeted with a message that read, "Error 37" and nothing more. Again the support pages at Smith Micro told me nothing about Error 37. I resolved the problem by shortening the file name. First I tried: The Adventures of Red Bean & Mochi. Then: The Adventures of Red Bean and Mochi (I thought that the ampersand might have been the problem). Finally, I tried with success: Red Bean and Mochi.

In summary, this was the worst software installation experience that I have ever had. The customer service was mixed, but mostly positive. The tech support was entirely useless. The software seems functional, but a little awkward.

Addendum 1: Let's Do the Time Warp Again

When I was a teenager, I looked forward to Sunday night. Sunday night at Midnight (I guess that's technically Monday morning) was when MTV aired 120 Minutes. 120 Minutes was a weekly music video program that featured Modern Rock* videos and helped to introduce me to a legacy of music that would come to shape my life.

My wife and I just attended the Cure's San Jose concert for their 4 Tour. It was a great show that was packed full of songs that I have never heard performed live**. It was also a concert packed full of people who did not know much about the Cure or their music. I blame MTV.

When I was growing up, I could count on Dave Kendall (or Dive Kendall, as I used to call him while attempting to mimic his accent) to inform me of when the Cure--or just about any other super-star-modern-rock-band of the time--was going on tour. Each week, we in the audience would be updated with a list of tour dates and exposed to selections from the band's discography. I remember in 1992 when the Cure toured for their album, Wish, during the weeks leading up to the show, seeing videos for In-between Days, Fascination Street, Never Enough, The Love Cats, etc. That was a kind of education for me. It taught me about this band that had been around for more than ten years, that I new nothing about. It taught me their songs and inspired me to learn more about the funny man with the big hair and some of the best music that I had ever heard. It also inspired me to go to the show at Spartan Stadium, also in San Jose.

These days, people have the internet and with it they may learn about and discover new things. The problem is that there's too much on the internet and no direction for the ignorant. I lament*** the loss of 120 Minutes and a generation that will never know the excitement of watching a world premier video at 1:00AM while your parents are trying to sleep, keeping the TV just loud enough to hear the music while not so loud that your sister or brother yells at you for waking them up; a generation that will never see the time warp video, let alone get the "time warp" reference; and a generation that won't watch Dave Kendall awkwardly interview the idols of your youth (while you secretly realize that Alan Wilder is just as much of a spaz as you are at age 15).

In honor of 120 Minutes (and the Cure), here's my mini Modern Rock video program:

Here's a video from Sheffield's Richard Hawley: Singer, songwriter and former guitarist for Pulp:


Now a live performance by the Dresden Dolls, filmed in San Francisco at the Fillmore on May 18th, 2008:


(Imagine a grainy video montage set to the chorus of Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show):


For more information about the Cure, including their upcoming tour dates, visit www.thecure.com. (Though the internet was still relegated to universities and the like back then, so you probably wouldn't know how to get to www.thecure.com to find more information. Maybe you would have looked it up on a Prodigy forum, or Compuserve, or maybe even a local BBS).

* I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area and when I was growing up, we called Alternative Music, or Alternative Rock, Modern Rock. I still like the term Modern Rock. To me it's kind of like a marker that distinguishes the pre-Grunge and post-Grunge era. Modern Rock being the pre-Grunge era and Alternative being the post-Grunge era.

** I've seen the Cure live seven times. I thought that by now I would be able to predict their set list with some accuracy. I was wrong.

*** Lament: A word that I learned from the Cure.

Chapter 25, Three Months in Development for a Five Day Show

Comic-con has come and gone and the booth was, for the most part, a success. The following images chronicle the event:

After Jennifer and I constructed the individual components that make up the booth, we test assembled the it at the SLG warehouse, to ensure that everything was in working order. Bryan and Dustin helped us to help put the giant structure together. This was about two weeks before the convention. If anything had gone wrong and needed to be re-worked... well, it wouldn't have been good.
We also test-assembled the columns. In this picture Dan and Jennifer rest for a bit after building a full-scale column for the first time. Four of thesr columns were used to mark the perimeter of the SLG Booth at Comic-con.
Once the booth was approved, we broke it down and packed it into a very large box. Ryan helped me to do this when we shipped the booth from my warehouse to the SLG warehouse. While in pieces, the 50' by 20' display could be packed into two boxes that measured less that 5' by 1' by 9'.
Once in San Diego, the booth was unpacked and assembled. Eight of us put the booth together in record time. All of the major display structure were up and in place in fewer than four hours. In this picture, Dillon, Dustin and Matt assemble on of the columns.
A few hours before the start of the convention, we had the booth stocked and ready for visitors. Scott Saavedra's striking black and white logos could be seen from ject about every major point of entry in the hall and stood out against all of the visual noise that saturated the crowded space.
Here's the booth in use as crowds of people visited the retail side of the display, while other waited to have there favorite books signed along our row of artists and writers.
That's about all for Comic-con 2007. The experience was a good one, though there were some tough times leading up to the event. The display was a success, Jennifer won the Friends of Lulu Women of Distinction award, Dan won an Inkpot Award, we sold out of a bunch of our merchandise (some of it in a matter of hours), I sold a few more of my prints and there's another 12-months before we all have to do it again.

Chapter 24, Pixel Mario

Chapter 23, The Interim

I have not posted anything is a while: Part of the reason for this is that Comic-con is in just 13-days and I have a few more things that I need to wrap up before we go; and part of the reason for this is that I have been inundated with freelance design projects. For the last couple of days, I have been working on this:

I don't know anything about NASCAR, or the drivers on this display; from what I've been told, some of these guys are kind of famous. At least one of them is really picky about his hair and wants to be certain that the contours of the cutout match his hair nearly perfectly.

Chapter 22, How to Build Your Very Own SLG Logo in 13 Simple Steps (A Title that is Almost as Long as this Post)

Materials:

• 1 computer-aided-design/computer-aided-manufacturing system.
  
  For software, I use Dimensional Impressions' Score; It's the closest thing that I've found to drawing with a pen and paper and is, therefore, very natural to me. Other software options include Artios CAD and AutoCAD. Whatever you're using has to be able to export the HPGL format for the sample maker.
  
  
  
  (Figure A)
  
  
  For hardware, I use a standard mid-to-upper-level PC with a DataTech DT3000 Sample Maker. A Kongsberg Sample Maker is also acceptable.
  
  
• 15 square feet of 200# black, anti-static corrugated B-flute (single wall) paper. That's a piece that is roughly 54" long in the corrugation direction and 41" wide.
  
  
• 15 square feet of 200# #1-white, 2-sides corrugated B-flute (single wall) paper. This piece is the same length and width as the black, anti-static paper.
  
  
• Heavy duty wood glue.
  
  I used Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Glue.
  
  
• A hot glue gun and glue sticks.
  
  I use the 3M brand Jetmelt hot glue gun and sticks; they set up almost instantly and work at a temperature that won't melt your flesh off.
  
  
• A vectorized copy of the SLG logo.
  
  The amazing Scott Saavedra designed the logo with a crosshatch detail that I love, but because I had to make so many logos for the Comic-con booth this year, I simplified the design with an elliptical reflection. I think that it looks okay this way, but I do prefer Scott's original. Jennifer de Guzman supplied me with the vectorized file.
  
  I'll save you sometime; here's a DXF file for the logo that I made: SLG Logo.
  
  
• One large piece of 48 x 36 plywood (to be used as a weight).
  

Procedure:

1. Import the vectorized SLG Logo file into you CAD application.
   
   I've found that tracing the artwork with Adobe Illustrator and then exporting it to EPS 8 or above (depending upon you CAD application) works well. Earlier versions of the EPS format will create too many anchor points and make the file much too large to work with reasonably.
   
   
2. Scale the logo so that the base measures 24" wide.
   
   
3. Make a copy of the logo and remove all of the internal detail. This will be used to create your white background, while the detailed layout will be used to cut out the black elements of the design. (See Figure A).
   
   I did leave some key points for the sample maker to cut into the white background for reference so that I would know where to place the pieces when I was assembling the logos.
   
   
4. Flip your logo layouts so that they are a mirror image of how you what them to appear once they are cut out. (This is done because the sample maker cuts the inside of the sheet, but the displayed surface is the outside of the sheet).
   
   
5. Plot/Print/Export* the logo file to your sample maker.
   
   
1. First send the detailed logo layout (the black bits)
   
2. Then send the outline (the white bits)
   
   * Your software will have some unique, non-standard button to click that will send the CAD file from your computer to you sample maker.
   
   
6. (Let's cut out the black bits first, because they're more interesting)
   
   Place your piece of black anti-static B-flute on your sample maker and run the first, detailed layout. (See Figure B).
   
   
   
   (Figure B)
   
   
   
7. Repeat step six, only this time, use the #1-white corrugated and run the second, outlined layout.
   
   
8. One you have your pieces cut out, it's time to assemble them. Strip out all of the unnecessary waste (From the black bits, you'll be left with an ellipse, a large circle with another, small ellipse embedded within--it will look something like an olive--and a large frame with the letters SLG cut into the bottom third). (See Figure C).
   
   
   
   (Figure C)
   
   
9. Apply glue to the backside of the black pieces. I used an empty dish soap bottle as my glue dispenser and drew a wiggly pattern that covered all of the key points with a bead of glue that was about a sixteenth of an inch wide. It's important not to use too much glue, as it will cause the two pieces not to bond well. (See Figure D).
   
   
   
   (Figure D)
   
   
10. Use the hot glue gun and apply a spot of glue in a few places at opposing sides of the black pieces. (Because the hot glue sets up much faster than the wood glue does, the spots of hot glue will keep the black pieces from sliding out of place).
    
    
11. Place the black pieces on top of the white boarder piece. Be careful to align the black pieces with your guide marks on the white background piece. Your logo should appear to be complete. (See Figure E).
    
    
    
    
    (Figure E)
    
    
12. Place the freshly glued logo flat and place the plywood on top of it until the glue sets. This should take about 30 minutes, but if you let the glue set over night the bond will be much stronger (which is important when the logos are place fifteen feet above the heads of unsuspecting comic-book-convention-atendees.
    
    
13. You're done!

I will buy a "Funbag*" for anyone who makes one of these SLG Logos and brings it with them to Comic-con and shows it to me at the SLG Booth.

*A Funbag is a bag of random comics that SLG sells at conventions.