New device!
A digital microscope. It supposedly supports 4 K, but in reality it barely reaches 1080 p.
Still, you can now stop worrying about the macro-shot quality of tiny details.
The magnification level is set by the distance between the lens and the subject, and focusing is manual.
The examples show roughly the maximum and minimum magnifications.
A digital microscope. It supposedly supports 4 K, but in reality it barely reaches 1080 p.
Still, you can now stop worrying about the macro-shot quality of tiny details.
The magnification level is set by the distance between the lens and the subject, and focusing is manual.
The examples show roughly the maximum and minimum magnifications.
As you may (or may not) have noticed — not like anyone looks at this stuff besides me anyway — there was no blog post over the weekend. Partially, I can blame it on being busy, but honestly... I just forgot. Fixing that now.
Today’s post is about getting into video blogging: what I’ve already bought for it, what’s still ahead, and what’s left on the wishlist. Bonus content: a timelapse of sticking acoustic foam to the wall. It really did get quieter. 4 square meters are up already, 4 more on the way.
Today’s post is about getting into video blogging: what I’ve already bought for it, what’s still ahead, and what’s left on the wishlist. Bonus content: a timelapse of sticking acoustic foam to the wall. It really did get quieter. 4 square meters are up already, 4 more on the way.
Let me finally tell you about the project I teased a few posts ago.
The main inspiration came from the Sydney Opera House — I’ve always loved that piece of architecture.
At first, I had a rough idea of what the final shape should be, but no clue at all how to actually bring it to life.
I tried generating images with AI — some looked vaguely close, but only in fragments. Then I sketched a rough concept by hand on paper, and based on that, the AI results improved just a bit.
3D generators, on the other hand, were completely off — nothing reasonable came out of them.
So in the end, I had to build the whole model from scratch in Blender, one polygon at a time. I found one of an early architectural drafts and used it as a base.
Honestly, I think the final result turned out quite nice.
The main inspiration came from the Sydney Opera House — I’ve always loved that piece of architecture.
At first, I had a rough idea of what the final shape should be, but no clue at all how to actually bring it to life.
I tried generating images with AI — some looked vaguely close, but only in fragments. Then I sketched a rough concept by hand on paper, and based on that, the AI results improved just a bit.
3D generators, on the other hand, were completely off — nothing reasonable came out of them.
So in the end, I had to build the whole model from scratch in Blender, one polygon at a time. I found one of an early architectural drafts and used it as a base.
Honestly, I think the final result turned out quite nice.
Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
I barely had time to enjoy my new KVM switch when the button suddenly broke.
It connects via microUSB, and the cables already fit quite tightly. To make matters worse, I plugged in an adapter next to it, which forced the cable sideways, putting a good amount of stress on the port.
So the most obvious possible cause was a broken contact somewhere.
I had to take it apart and fix it — the whole process and result are shown in the video. I’ll finalize the edit and post it as Reels/Shorts on social media tomorrow, but for now, it’s a Telegram exclusive.
Bonus: my digital microscope came in handy too.
It connects via microUSB, and the cables already fit quite tightly. To make matters worse, I plugged in an adapter next to it, which forced the cable sideways, putting a good amount of stress on the port.
So the most obvious possible cause was a broken contact somewhere.
I had to take it apart and fix it — the whole process and result are shown in the video. I’ll finalize the edit and post it as Reels/Shorts on social media tomorrow, but for now, it’s a Telegram exclusive.
Bonus: my digital microscope came in handy too.
So this is a dog house. But modeling it isn’t enough — I also need to figure out how to bring it to life.
Originally, I was planning to 3D-print the entire frame. But the dog house is roughly 1×1×2m — it would’ve taken around 10 kg of filament, a full week of printing, and hundreds of parts.
I even ended up writing a Python script for Blender (yes, that happens too) that generates flat surfaces and slices the model into appropriately sized segments.
But while printing just one of the parts, a major issue popped up — thin-walled curved surfaces started warping badly after about 10 cm in height. Fixing it would require either designing internal ribs for reinforcement or drastically increasing wall thickness.
And then it hit me — I could just unfold the model into flat pieces and glue it together from paper.
Turns out there's even a special program for that — Pepakura. I used it to unfold everything, and within a couple of hours, I was already holding full-size A0 printouts of the patterns in my hands.
Originally, I was planning to 3D-print the entire frame. But the dog house is roughly 1×1×2m — it would’ve taken around 10 kg of filament, a full week of printing, and hundreds of parts.
I even ended up writing a Python script for Blender (yes, that happens too) that generates flat surfaces and slices the model into appropriately sized segments.
But while printing just one of the parts, a major issue popped up — thin-walled curved surfaces started warping badly after about 10 cm in height. Fixing it would require either designing internal ribs for reinforcement or drastically increasing wall thickness.
And then it hit me — I could just unfold the model into flat pieces and glue it together from paper.
Turns out there's even a special program for that — Pepakura. I used it to unfold everything, and within a couple of hours, I was already holding full-size A0 printouts of the patterns in my hands.
I have an electric underfloor heating system in my bathroom, which is especially handy during hot water outages.
For the past four years, it was controlled by a "smart" thermostat integrated with Home Assistant, but recently it stopped turning on.
Fortunately, the exact same model is still available on the market — I ordered it, removed the old one, installed the new one, and everything works again.
As a bonus — here’s a 4-minute timelapse compressed into 5 seconds from a thermal camera, clearly showing where the heating cable runs under the floor. Not bad, even with the thermostat’s low resolution.
I remember the first time I turned it on — I sat on the floor trying to feel if it was actually heating, and after 5 minutes I got disappointed thinking it wasn’t working. I couldn’t feel any difference by touch. There’s a thick layer of screed above the cable and 8 mm of porcelain tile. But after about 30 minutes it had warmed up, and it’s been heating every day on schedule ever since, for 4 years straight.
For the past four years, it was controlled by a "smart" thermostat integrated with Home Assistant, but recently it stopped turning on.
Fortunately, the exact same model is still available on the market — I ordered it, removed the old one, installed the new one, and everything works again.
As a bonus — here’s a 4-minute timelapse compressed into 5 seconds from a thermal camera, clearly showing where the heating cable runs under the floor. Not bad, even with the thermostat’s low resolution.
I remember the first time I turned it on — I sat on the floor trying to feel if it was actually heating, and after 5 minutes I got disappointed thinking it wasn’t working. I couldn’t feel any difference by touch. There’s a thick layer of screed above the cable and 8 mm of porcelain tile. But after about 30 minutes it had warmed up, and it’s been heating every day on schedule ever since, for 4 years straight.
A new video generator was just released promising better quality and anatomy.
Overall, it delivers solid results. You get 500 credits when registering with a Google account — that’s enough for 20 six-second videos. Both img2video and txt2video modes are available.
For example: a cat walking on a rope over a river filled with crocodiles.
The second video is from Sora by OpenAI, which was the top generator a couple of years ago — that’s the best I managed to get from it with the same prompt after 20 generations. Hailuo nailed it in just one try.
Overall, it delivers solid results. You get 500 credits when registering with a Google account — that’s enough for 20 six-second videos. Both img2video and txt2video modes are available.
For example: a cat walking on a rope over a river filled with crocodiles.
The second video is from Sora by OpenAI, which was the top generator a couple of years ago — that’s the best I managed to get from it with the same prompt after 20 generations. Hailuo nailed it in just one try.
Just released a short blog article about my DIY leveling rake project.
The full build process is now available in a compact video format. You can also watch it on YouTube.
I’ve already shared some behind-the-scenes and demo clips in Telegram, but this post gives a bit more detail — both in the write-up and in the expanded video version.
The full build process is now available in a compact video format. You can also watch it on YouTube.
I’ve already shared some behind-the-scenes and demo clips in Telegram, but this post gives a bit more detail — both in the write-up and in the expanded video version.