New patio, phases II and III (part 1)

Time for a follow up to the patio post of 27th May as I have not been idle in the meantime.

Full report to follow, but in the meantime I thought a sketch of the proceedings might be clearer than a photograph. Think how many of the pictures in scientific text books are sketches rather than photographs: the camera may never lie but it may not be very information rich either.

So up I get to produce a sketch with pencil and paper, something I can manage on a good day. But today, after two attempts, I thought that I might do better with Powerpoint, with the results illustrated. For me, an essentially new media which, while it has its strengths, seemed rather clumsy in my hands. It probably took rather longer than the production of an equivalent sketch would have taken, had I persisted, and the result is rather lifeless, despite the assistance of a font called 'Bradley Hand ITC' and some imaginative spelling. Furthermore the brain seems to flip-flop between the various spatial interpretations of the scene which are available, rather as it does with those pictures which are intended to trick one. What is the orientation of the various planes and shapes? But I think one might get better with a little practice.

I also need to work on the mechanics of importing a powerpoint into a blog. This one came via Paint and seems to have lost a fair bit of resolution in the process, as can be seen by clicking on the thing. Or was it not there in the first place?

I remember that once upon a time I had a presentation copy of CorelDraw with which I fiddled with a bit, but I do not remember it being any less clumsy than Powerpoint seems now. There was also a glossy picture book that came with it containing the results of an annual contest to produce an orginal art work, most of which were elaborate and colorful but as lifeless as the above. I wonder what packages there are about now? Something that can usefully combine the life of pencil and paper with the power of the computer to draw straight lines, to fill in shapes, to copy, cut & paste? To save and to print?

A short while ago there were some pictures in the 'Telegraph' done by Mr. D. Hockney on his tablet which did not impress. Maybe he did not bother to do a proper market search before kicking off. Maybe he did not have the benefit of access to a small boy with wisdom about such matters. But then, I have never been very keen on his stuff.

PS: see January 14th 2012 in the other place (http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.co.uk/) for a previous outing of this subject.