Would love some advice/tips on creating a certain effect on text.

Well, good morning everyone. Pretty straight forward forum here, no sub categories for certain things it seems, heh oh well!
So, here is why I am here. I play Champions Online which is a super-hero based MMO, and I have a character named Sandstorm. I've been working on his "biography" page of sorts where many players put up their characters information, and many players have custom banner names for their character, as a few examples:
http://www.primusdatabase.com/index.php?title=Emerald_Centurion
http://www.primusdatabase.com/index.php?title=Osprey
And this one doesn't particularly pertain to what I'm talking about, it's just damn cool and original.
http://www.primusdatabase.com/index.php?title=Nightchild
So, basically I'd like to be able to create my own banner with a style that would reflect the name, Sandstorm. Sure, I could like some folks just use a certain font and leave it at that. But I can't find one that satisfies me, I'll make one! I can use on the of the fonts, sure, but I'm going to need t add on to it.
What I am hoping to get you fro guys is some with ideas and how I can go about creating them, for this name. Ideally.. I'd like something that would demonstrate sand particles, or sand, being kicked up or whisper away. But that's why I'm here, for thoughts and advice.
Thanks a ton!

Similar Messages

Would love some advice on a new purchase . . .

I want to buy a new laptop. I currently have a 2001 PowerPC G4. 500MHz with 640 RAM. I'd love some advice on a new purchase. Sorry if this gets long-winded.
These are my desires:
(1) A serious upgrade in speed, into the Giga world. I work for a law firm, and I do a lot of research. Lexis-nexis seems to put a serious strain on my G4. I see some of the new models are over 2 gigs. I've read that 2 gigs is not 4x faster than 500Mhz, in the linear sense. Will going from 500 to 2 gigs nevertheless be substantially noticeable.
(2) More memory. In the near future, my employer is going to give its attorneys outside access to our email system and hard drive files. It would seem to me that I'll need to clear as much memory to make room for that. It look like most of the new models have a max space of 2 Ghz. That's more than 3 times the space i currently have. I'd like to think more memory will make my OS run more smoothly. If that's true, I wouldn't mind spending more money to get the biggest memory chip.
(3) I do a lot of word processing. I grew up on Macs (California girl), but I gave up on AppleWorks a couple years ago. I hated it. I purchased Word:Mac and have been very happy with it. Nevertheless, Word:Mac slows me down. Again, that seems to be consistent with the whole need for more speed and memory.
(4) I want wireless connectivity. I assume new Macs come with this capability (Airport?), but I'm not sure if I'll need an upgrade during the buying process. And I really have no idea how buying the airport hardware/software impacts my need what I have to but from my ISP (my cable company).
(5) The 15 inch seems like a nicer upgrade; 17 would be nicer, but I don't need it.
(6) I really don't want to spend more than $2500.00. But I'll spend a little more if it makes sense.
(7) Protection. I've read that Tiger is substantially safer than other OS's. That said, if someone could infect/corrupt/whatever my files (or access client files), that would be a disaster. I've read that Norton slows your down and is unecessary with Tiger.
There's a lot of pretty cool things Mac offers that I DON'T use. Like making movies or the isight stuff. I'm mainly a girl who is either writing, researching, emailing, or reading stuff online.
I'd love some advice. Some of the stuff I've read online has left me with too many questions.
Thanks!
Lindsay

(1) Comparing clock speeds isn't a good way to compare processors. That said, because of various architecture changes, the MBP is probably a solid 8-10 times faster than your G4 system.
(2) Definately max out the RAM. My advice is to get the stock, single 1GB stick from Apple, and then head over to Crucial and buy yourself another stick. It's fairly easy to install, and Apple gives you a step by step guide on the MBP manual. You could have Apple pop in another stick, but it'll cost you more than double what you'll pay by going with Crucial ($300 vs. $135)
(3) Office:Mac will work just fine on your MBP. It might be a little slow to open when you first boot up (6, 7, 8 bounces on the dock), but after that everything starts right up. It should make too much of a difference, but since Office is running through emulation the 2GB will help.
(4) The wirless in an MBP is the same as in every other computer: 802.11B/G compatible. It'll work with any router out there; no need to go out and buy an AirPort router from Apple if you already have one. Then again, at $200, I don't know that I'd ever buy an AirPort. A plain old Linksys for $50 should work just fine...assuming you even need a router.
(5) You said it. The 15" is nice, but the 17" is nicer. The 17" has a few other goodies (a few extra USB ports, a FireWire800 port, an extra FireWire400 port), but unless you have a ton of devices you're plugging in, or an external hard drive you're constantly reading from/writing to, they're a non-factor. If you wanna save some money, go with the 15"; if you wanna live a little, the 17".
(6) On the laptop itself, that shouldn't be a problem. You can get yourself a nice 15" with AppleCare for right around what you're looking to spend. Of course, depending on what addons and software you get (MS Office, a bag, mouse, etc.), you're probably looking at closer to $3000.
(7) You hit it right on the head. There's really not much you need to do. Turn on the firewall built into OS X; make sure your router is secure (MAC address filtering, strong pass code, WPA2 encryption); and make sure you change your passwords every so often (every month or two should be more than sufficient). While it's not entirely necessary, based on your line of work it, it would probably be wise to get yourself an external hard drive (HDD) onto which you can backup your files. A MyBook from Western Digital wouldn't be a bad idea. If you go with the 17", get the Pro edition for higher speeds with FireWire 800. If you go with the 15", get the Premium. And, to save some money, buy through Amazon.com
Some suggestions on what you should get to compliment your MBP:
The first is a nice bag to carry it in. I personally like Marware's black italian leather CEO Milano. But if you're not into leather or don't want to spend that kind of money (why money would be a problem when buying a $3000 computer, I don't know...), then check out Brenthaven. They have some quality bags with plenty of storage for all your gadgets and whatnot.
The second thing you needs is AppleCare. While I personally find it ridiculous that a person who just bought a $3000 computer doesn't get at least a years worth of tech support, AppleCare is well worth the money. It extends your tech over the phone tech support from 90 days to 3 years and your warranty from 1 year to 3.
Apple's tech support is second to none (and they actually speak english ), and the extended warranty is a must. The best part of all is being able to take your computer to the Genius Bar in an Apple store. There's nothing quite like being able to walk into a store and have a living, breathing person help you. No crappy music while your put on hold, no having follow directions over a phone... you just give your Mac to a genius and let them do all the work.
If for whatever reason you're unsure about getting AppleCare, you don't have to buy it right now. So long as you buy it and register your MBP within the initial warranty period (1 year), you're all set. So, feel free to try out AppleCare under your current warranty before you drop $300 or so on the extended AppleCare.
The final thing that I recommend you buy, especially if you plan on having this baby on your lap, is a cooler. That is, a laptop tray with fans to provide some extra cooling capacity. Your MBP (or any other laptop/portable, for that matter) sits on top of, or attaches to, the cooler and provides power to the fans via USB cable. I don't know that you'll be getting any burns if you use this thing on your lap without a cooler (or any kind of tray, for that matter), but it certainly isn't comfortable.
As for particular brands/models, I can't really give you one. These things are put out by a lot of smaller companies, and come in so many different variations that it's hard to keep track of. For example, the website I bought mine from no longer exists and I've yet to see anything else that quite resembles what I have. That's not to say these things aren't quality, but don't go looking for something from a name brand company. All I can say to do is search on Google or Froogle for laptop cooler. On the bright side, you'll find plenty of coolers to choose from and you'll have something totally unique.
Well, that covers the three musts. There other various things that you may or may not like...maybe a Marware protection pack or a mouse...but it's really a matter of preference from here on out. Personally, the only other thing I'm getting is a mouse. I've never been a fan of trackpads. I much prefer using a mouse, especially if I'm at a desk writing a paper or doing research. But that's just me...
Anyway, I hope this helps. Good luck, and enjoy your MBP!
MBP: 17" Matte; 7200rpm 100GB HDD; 2gig RAM Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Would love some advice...

I have been reading through these forums trying to make up my mind as to which MBP to buy. I am struggling to come to a conclusion and would really be grateful for some direct tips!!
Basically, I need to upgrade my rather ageing MBP (2.0ghz, 2GB). I use it for photography and writing primarily (and mail, web etc etc). To all intents and purposes, it will be my only computer.
My first struggle is whether to go for the 17 inch or the 15 inch. I understand the problems re portability, but I don't think this will really be a problem; the issue here is cost. Is the extra screen space really worth the extra cost?? Perhaps this is a question only I can answer.... More importantly perhaps, is the ExpressCard slot worth the extra cost?? I have never used one before, but I understand it can be useful for faster backups with external hard drives...?
I am planning to go for the anti-glare screen whether 15 inch or 17 inch.
The next issue is the processor. Will I notice a significant difference between the 2.8 and the 3.06 when using Aperture?? The image file sizes are pretty big...
The next question is the hard drive - will the 7200 give me a significant performance increase over the 5400? Are all the posts about clicking, beeping, freezing worth worrying about?? Perhaps solid state would be better?
I realise that the answers to some of these questions are often personal preference, but it would be great to get some tips from people who are "in the know"!!! I live in the middle of Africa, so going to an Apple store to try them out for myself is tricky.....
On another note, presumably I have to buy Aperture again...(I have it on my current MBP already)? Is it single license?
I would be very grateful for any advice!!!

Hi
The 17 / 15 inch is really only a question you can ultimately answer. What I would say is remember you can connect an external display to whichever one you buy. So for portability you could go for the 15 inch then add an external monitor if you feel the need for a bigger screen?
All MacBooks come with FireWire 800 ports which would provide quite speedy backups. I use a FireWire 800 drive to clone my MacBook Pro to and it seems pretty darn quick to me. Even quicker when I am just copying files back and forth.
I opted for the 7200 hard drive on my 15 inch MacBook Pro and I find it quite nippy. So I would suggest go for the 7200 rpm drive myself. As regards the clicking stuff I opted for the 320Gb 7200 rpm drive and it has been great.
Personally I would doubt you would see much 'real world' speed difference between a 2.8 and the 3.06 processor. I have a 2.66 15 inch and can't say I find in lacking speed in anyway. File size issues are more likely to be resolved with hard drives and ram.
I open and manipulate TIFF files in PhotoShop Elements and I am not aware of any issues myself, then I may be just easy to please:-)) Also PhotoShop files, not renowned for being slight, are also handled OK.
If you already have Aperture you can 'transfer' it to your new computer. Legally you can run the application on one computer at a time, single license. But you can uninstall it from your old computer and then install it onto your new one.
But if both computers are in the middle of africa well...........
Hope the above is of use.
Phil

Thinking about getting a iPod Touch, would love some advice

Hello all, long time mac fan looking to finally switch to an iPod from my wonderful little 4 year old iRiver h120 work-horse mp3 player. The Touch is the first iPod I that has surpassed my old player and now that it has mail and notes I struggle to find a reason to not buy it. Here are my concerns though:
1. Battery life. Seems like some people get 3 hours of usage and some get all day. What should I realistically expect keeping in mind I will use the wifi a bit at work so I don't have to pull my P-book out of its case every 5 minutes.
2. Screen quality. After the snafu with the bad screens in the beginning how good are they now?
3. I don't follow much iPod news so is another revision coming in March? I could wait till then but if they usually put out new iPods in Sept. like I have read then my impatience demands I buy now!
4) Sound quality. My old player has great sound quality... will the touch disappoint me? Or are most of you very happy with it?
Thanks all, it's taking everything I have to stop myself from running to my local a-store tonight and buying one up, but I figure its $400 bucks so I should at least be informed before I drop that kind of money.
Thank in advance!
PS: If anyone has some good advice and says go for it I am ready to run out the door tonight so don't hold back folks!:)
Message was edited by: halcyonseven

1. I don't have an issue with battery life because I use it mostly to go online from the couch while watching TV. The battery life could be better, but considering how well the thing runs in general, it's still pretty good.
2. My screen from September is great, and I haven't had problems with it. I leave the auto-brightness feature on and it's always bright enough.
3. No idea about new iPod versions.
4. I think this iPod has great sound quality. I leave the special equalizer settings off.
You'll enjoy the iPod touch, no doubt. Erm, just make sure Apple gives you your free apps. It's a great MP3 player, but as mentioned before, make sure they give you the apps with it. Today isn't the greatest day to get anyone's honest opinion, as many people feel a little upset at Apple, but the truth is that one way or another, the iPod Touch is an amazing product.

In the market for a new computer would love some feedback

Ok so I have a dilemma,
First problem is I can't decide between a laptop and a desktop if I went the laptop route I would go with the Asus N53qm
Asus N53 Specs
Its got i7 720qm, some sites have it with 740qm, ddr3 memory, 425m cuda video card,
Id upgrade the ram to at least 8gb or ram maybe upgrade more down the road.... Id be editing video off esata or usb 3.0
I see the advantage of having a laptop being able to work on the road, taking it to my bed....
Id plug it into an external monitor/mouse, keyboard when at my desk.
My other option I would be a desktop
Specs would be,
x58 motherboard, havnt decided which one yet, theres a lot that seem to all have the same features, eg. msi, asus, gigabyte.
Again ddr3 memory I notices 2000 was not much more than 1333, so yea as much ram as I want down the road....
GTX 470
850 watt corsair
Intel Core i7 950
Thermaltake A60 Case
Again most of my projects would most likely be through esata or usb 3.0 not sure which is better...
Oh and I would be editing HD Video from a flash based camcorder, Cannon HSF 10 to be specific, so its .mts avchd
Anyways, how much of a performance increase would I get from the desktop over the laptop?
I notice a lot of people overclock, is that really necessary, isnt an i7 pretty fast stock?
Thanks and please let me know your thoughts, advice changes to my specs...

Would love some feedack from the experts on this config available at Tiger direct for about $1,000
My Goal: to edit AVCHD footage using CS5....looking at the specs below specifically the processor, the video card and the RAM..what do you think?
( I currently have CS3 on an HP Quad Core 2.4Ghz w/ 8GB RAM which is great for SD, but I realize that when upgrading to CS5 and editing my Sony HDR-500v AVCHD footage I'l need much more power) Thanks!!
Lenova Brand PC
Specifications
Condition:
New
Lifestyle:
Entertainment
Operating Systems:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Platform:
PC
Orientations Allowed:
Vertical
Colors:
Black
Red
PS/2 Connectors:
1 - Mouse
1 - Keyboard
USB Ports (Total):
8
Audio Out Jacks:
3
1 - Headphone
Line In Jacks:
1
Microphone Jacks:
2
VGA Ports:
1
HDMI Ports:
1
S-Video Connectors:
1
S/PDIF Connectors:
1
Processor Brand:
Intel
Processor Class:
Core i7
Processor Number:
860
Processor Speed:
2.80GHz
Processor Interface:
Socket 1156
Processors Supported:
1
Processors Onboard:
1
Memory Type:
DDR3
Total Memory:
8.0GB
Memory Speed:
1066MHz
Hard Drives Included:
1
Hard Drive Types:
Hard Disk Drive
Interface:
SATA
Capacity:
1TB
Speed:
7,200RPM
Optical Drives Included:
1
Optical Drive Type:
DVD±R/RW
Optical Drive Class:
DVDRW
Supplemental Media Type:
Card Reader
Capacity:
16-in-1
Audio Description:
Integrated Audio
Channels:
5.1 channel Surround Sound Support
Graphics Description:
Dedicated Graphics
GPU/VPU:
NVIDIA GeForce GT 320
Video Memory:
1GB dedicated
Video Interface:
HDMI
VGA
WiFi Chipset:
Integrated
WiFi Data Transfer Rate:
up to 300Mbps
WiFi Description:
Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g/n
WiFi Standards Supported:
802.11b
802.11g
802.11n
LAN Data Transfer Rate:
10/100 Mbps
LAN Description:
Fast Ethernet
LAN Interface Type:
RJ-45
LAN Ports:
1
Mouse Type:
Optical
Connection Type:
USB
Power Source:
USB Connection

How is compatibility with creative cloud products (Photoshop and Illustrator) with Macbook Pro? I am making a big purchase and would love some feedback

how is compatibility with creative cloud products (Photoshop and Illustrator) with Macbook Pro? I am making a big purchase and would love some
feedback

Hi Frederick,
You're spending a lot of money. I will add my 2¢ -- -- but you must, as I assume you know, fully research your options.
Environment:
Start with your workspace (inc. lighting) and your clothes.
Screen:
The iMac screens are lovely, but not, from what I hear, monitor-grade accurate. For critical color work, use NEC or Eizo monitors. I use NEC, with their SpectraView II software and an X-Rite ColorMunki photospectrometer. At the time, this was the least expensive color-calibrated workflow.
Printer:
Epson's are great, imho. I use a 3880 in my studio and rent a 9900 by the hour when needed. I have read of problems (iirc) with one of the printers in the 7000 line, however. The take-home lesson that I filed in my brain was, "If you're going to spend the money on the 7000 line, just get the 9000 line."
Aperture workflow:
Aperture is a fantastic workflow tool. Since you are adept with PS, you should set PS as your external editor. Use Apertures formidable tools for storing and organizing your Images, and its robust editing tools for either all your proofing, or all but your most demanding editing needs. That said, allow a good bit of time to get the feel of Aperture. It is not at all like Bridge. But your important choice is which RAW converter you want to use. There is, imho, no reason to use Aperture if you are going to use Adobe's (or anyone else's) RAW converter.
Good luck!
--Kirby.

Would Like Some Advice/Help on How to Start Backing-Up...

Hey-
I am getting a new MBP 17" for architecture/city planning grad school so I needed a lot that the 17" MBP had. I am not too excited carrying it around campus unless somebody rally turns me on t a nice bag to carry it in.
what I really am here for, because I have never backed up before, is to start learning about backing up. I do not want to pay $100/yr. for MobileMe and I think to use an external drive seems the most practical-except I am really hard on stuff so I would need a heavy duty case. Also, the FW 800 for the CAD program and other 3D programs (forget that, the school pays for those.)
I understand there are basically (minus the DVDs, CDs) 2 main ways to back up and they are archival and clonal. Anybody have any feeling on one way or the other? I am tending to go with the one that will not require another purchase of a program (the clonal system). But as you can tell I have very little experience with this backing up part. what happened to the ones that did not produce tapes which had many if any moving parts? The less moving part in this type of stuff think the better, but who am I you all are saying, hey?
Any help would be appreciated. I am looking for the top of the line headset for the MBP when I am trying to study I need or do better with some good jazz or Blues tune in the background and the speakers for the MBP will be mini ( I saw a small black pair in the Apple Store the other day) and a great ear phones for an iPod for exercise. I am looking at the iPod Classic but I hear it has a moving drive so if that is true, I better look for something else like the Touch. Anybody have trouble with the iPod Classic skipping when they were lifting weights, doing flexibility and some cardio like the Precore elliptical or something not too hard on the joints?
Any recommendations in these areas would be greatly appreciated.
Fondly

Hi One2Two,
For a backup drive I'd be looking at something like THESE in the 750 to 1.5 TB range with the "Quad" interface if you are going to be needing space for CAD files etc .
These are very good enclosures, run cool and quiet (no fan needed). I have several of the equivalent model sold in Australia (under a slightly different name) and they have proved faultless. Very well built, a little larger than some other options, but extremely reliable. I cart one or two of mine around on rough bush roads in the Australian outback fairly regularly (I'm an anthropologist) It is also easy to simply upgrade the internal drive at a later date.
For software, in the first instance, you can't go past SuperDuper - http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
This lets you create a bootable clone of your HD and then easily update it either manually or through an automated schedule. Probably the most popular backup software amongst the "Level 4's" and "Level5's" on the Apple boards if recent discussions are anything to go by.
Many of us , though , complement it with an additional backup using Apple's own "Time Machine" (which will come free with your computer), either to a second drive, or , a little less safely, on a second partition of the same drive used for SuperDuper.
Time Machine essentially creates a quasi "archival" style backup - letting you revert to earlier versions of files etc over a period determined by your available disc space.
The combination of the two is pretty hard to beat.
The free version of SuperDuper will create your first clone, and you can continue to use it, but the "shareware" version is the one you want. It is not at all expensive and does a brilliant job.
Cheers
Rod

Need some advice - need to create some flashcards for school

hi all, hope this is not the wrong place to post this question!! i am a student and i need to create some flashcards fo my class, does anyone know of a good way of doing this?? i would also like to be able to transfer the flashcards to my iphone and view them there.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,
thanks,
Pete

http://www.macupdate.com/search.php?keywords=flashcard&starget=google

After Effects very slow - would love some help

Ok,
Here is my system :
Vista 64 Ult.
Q6600
P5Q-E
8 gig of RAM
Geforce GSO 9600
I am working with a project that is 1500 X 1050 (approx) - it contains some camera moves and some page peel effects on pictures - and it is running unbearably slow...
I have enabled Disk caching to a separate SATA drive - also I notice that when I am running CS3 - is saying it only recognizes 4 gigs of RAM.
I have also enable Multiprocess for frames. Now, I am not even close to a regular user of After Effects, so this might come as obvious, but what can I do here? Is there a set of steps to help me speed this up? I did take a look at
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/9.0/WSF13D6BED-C53B-408a-B2D6-C8B4205D4FB7a.html
for improving performance and I did try to touch on most of the points I could understand like making my virtual drive space to 2X the amount of RAM.
Now, I am trying to precompose most of my elements, but I don't know if that is overkill. Really, I just want to ensure that with my new system, it was worth the money and upgrade.

Thanks for all the effort and time. I think I might be getting somewhere with your help.
"You are right. Plus if your render crashes you won't have to re-render the already rendered frames. PNG is lossless quality where JPEG is lossy quality. Depending on the compression setting, the computation from the calculated jpg frame can be lower than the computation time for PNG. You can try on a 30 sec portion to see what is faster."
I haven't tried JPG yet but I will. I want to have something that I can output to DVD with decent quality. Right now .mov looks good, but will try the JPGS.
Another thing to take into account is the writing speed of the file on your HDD. If you are rendering on the same disk where the sources are, or on a USB external drive, it will take more time than rendering on an internal sata/e-stata drive or a raid array. In image sequence, this is more important as AE have to write/close a file for each frame, and depending on your configuration (windows,mac, antivirus, timemachine...) it can make a huge difference.
I have a separate SATA drive for disk caching. I did that right away. I was wondering about the memory caching though in the preferences panel - I am not sure if I should just leave the defaults for that :
MAX MEMORY USAGE
MAX DISK CACHE SIZE
"If on PC try to disconnect it from the web and turn of your antivirus."
My rendering computer is not connected to the internet, so I don't have an anti-virus running on it. It only get programs from my internet computer that have been thoroughly checked first.
You will save time. Turn off disk indexing too.
How do I do this on a PC?
Could you please explain what you mean by "negate its impact fully by using the corresponding layer style instead of the effect. They it's slightly faster"?
Instead of using the drop shadow effect, right clic on your layer in the time line menu and select "Layer style > Drop shadow". It will have the same behavior/options than the Photoshop counterpart. It's better and faster than the drop shadow effect.
I will try this. Thanks
A good way to know what step takes more time than the other (and a good way to figure out what part of the process you have to optimise) is twirling down, in the render queue the "current render" line. It will tell you for every frame, what the rendering is actually doing. The longer the step, the longer it's name will stay on screen.
That is a great tip.
Can you tell me if the comp size makes a difference when I am rendering out 720X540? The main challenge for me is that I have about another 10 minutes to add to the project. I don't want this to take me 2 hours to render out 15 minutes!
Well it probably will. 2 hours of rendering for 15minutes is not that bad. You're doing motion graphics, not editing. Also, if your pictures are jpeg, it add computational time, because the render have to decompress it in memory in order to work with it. If you have disk space, you'd rather like to convert all your jpeg to uncompressed tiff files, so the render engine will just have to load it in memory in order to press it.
That is another great idea. I didn't know that TIFF were better.
I am going to OC my Q6600 slight, to see if there is any effect. Another issue I am running into is that AE says my Graphics card is not an OPENGL card. But the package says it is!
Have you downloaded the latest drivers for your card yet ? If not try to do so, restart your PC and check again into AE."
Yes, I have the newest drivers (it is a new card and I had to go to the NVIDIA site just to get them. The problem is that I have posted on the NVIDIA board days ago about this issue and no one has given me an answer yet concerning this. I just checked again with AE - it says. "NO COMPATIBLE OPENGL CARD FOUND"
It is an Nvidia 9600 GSO 768Mg video card.

Running extremely slow after most recent software update. Would love some help troubleshooting and fixing, thank you!

Hi folks. Since my last software update, my computer has slowed to a near halt. Help!
I have a late 2009 MacBook Pro, running OS X 10.8.2. 2.26 Ghz / 8 gb memory.
I went into the Disk Utility and ran "verify disk," and got an "ok." Verified and repaired disk permissions. No idea if they're relevant.
At this moment the activity monitor is showing 3.79 gb of free memory -- 10 minutes ago, when I was doing nothing particularly differently, it showed all 7.99 gb in use (active and inactive -- I have. No idea what this means.)
It's all beach balls around here, all the time. Any ideas?

Your problem is excessive swapping of data between physical memory and virtual memory.
That can happen for two reasons:
You have a long-running process with a memory leak (i.e., a bug), or
You don't have enough memory installed for your usage pattern.
Tracking down a memory leak can be difficult, and it may come down to a process of elimination. In Activity Monitor, select All Processes from the menu in the toolbar, if not already selected. Click the heading of the Real Mem column in the process table twice to sort the table with the highest value at the top. If you don't see that column, select
View ▹ Columns ▹ Real Memory
from the menu bar.
If one process (excluding "kernel_task") is using much more memory than all the others, that could be an indication of a leak. A better indication would be a process that continually grabs more and more memory over time without ever releasing it.
If you don't have an obvious memory leak, your options are to install more memory (if possible) or to run fewer programs simultaneously.
The next suggestion is only for users familiar with the shell. For a more precise, but potentially misleading, test, run the following command:
sudo leaks -nocontext -nostacks process | grep total
where process is the name of a process you suspect of leaking memory. Almost every process will leak some memory; the question is how much, and especially how much the leak increases with time. I can’t be more specific. See the leaks(1) man page and the Apple developer documentation for details:
Memory Usage Performance Guidelines: About the Virtual Memory System

New to multithreading, would like some advice

Hi guys, I currently have a project which runs in single thread mode but im thinking of implementing multi threading and im wondering if its actually worth doing. Within the project i have a group of objects held in a hash map, when any of the objects are due for an update, an update request calls a single thread which retrieves the object from the hashmap and modifies it. My plan is to create a thread pool which will handle all the update requests independently.
So assume i have three objects in my hashmap A, B and C (in reality this could be 20-50 objects), and update request comes in for object A, A is retrieved from the hashmap and modified. Whilst A is being updated no other update request can access A but update requests for B and C should be executed. Assuming i may have hundreds of update requests every 10 seconds for example would i benefit alot from multithreading? and if so what type of collection would you recomend?

Ninet wrote:
Hi guys, I currently have a project which runs in single thread mode but im thinking of implementing multi threading and im wondering if its actually worth doing. That is a good question.
Within the project i have a group of objects held in a hash map, when any of the objects are due for an update, an update request calls a single thread which retrieves the object from the hashmap and modifies it. My plan is to create a thread pool which will handle all the update requests independently. In which case you may need a thread pool and a ConcurrentHashMap.
So assume i have three objects in my hashmap A, B and C (in reality this could be 20-50 objects), and update request comes in for object A, A is retrieved from the hashmap and modified. Whilst A is being updated no other update request can access A but update requests for B and C should be executed. Assuming i may have hundreds of update requests every 10 seconds for example would i benefit alot from multithreading? Provided there is not much contention it sounds ideal.
and if so what type of collection would you recomend?ConcurrentHashMap. However it sounds like it would be simplest if the values are not replaced you can use this as your lock as well.

Would love some quick help

I just bought a Razr Maxx HD yesterday. I came from a Samsung Charge, which I really hated.
After 24 hours of use, I am far from impressed. The phone came with 4.2 JB and the real reason I bought the phone was battery life. With what I would call moderate to aggressive use of the phone, the battery was at 33% at 11:30a and I didn't pick it up until 7:30a.
The processes by the specs should be twice as fast (i.e. more ram, twice the processor, etc) but it is about as fast as the Charge and there can be a lag on the phone where any button is pushed and it does nothing for about 10-15 seconds of repeated pushes.
If there are tips or tricks that I should know for battery use or speed, please let me know. At this point, I have 13 days to return the phone and unless something changes, I don't see a reason to keep a phone that I have to fiddle with the settings (which is why I bought in the first place, to not have to) to get a work day's worth of use when I can just strip down the Charge and get the same speed and battery life...........but I get my $200 back.

Motorola's Smart Actions, Battery Saver, have greatly improved battery life on my Droid Razr Maxx. Also, Gravity Pro Screen Off will turn off your screen, one of the biggest battery consumers on your device, when you lay it down.

Problem - would love any advice

Sorry if theres already been something posted on this before that I missed. My iPhone up til now has been working great. However, this morning I checked my phone and it was at about 50% battery. I had charged it some the night before so that seemed right. I checked it again about 10 minutes later and it was down below 10%. I got back to my hostel, it wouldn't turn on. Finally got it to go on the computer and it said that it was back in the green at about 50% again. The same thing had happened last night. I had thought it at about 50%, but I looked and it had died on me. If I hadn't seen it happen with my own eyes this morning I'd had thought it was just a fluke. Any help on this issue would be great, as I'm no vacation and am in dire need of my phone. Thanks!

What type of App are you running, there is probably one installed that is conflicting with the new OS
Check for apps that need 3G and or Location Services or Push
I am seeing a few people post issues with Gmail, if you have an app for that, it may me constantly trying to receive mail
Try turning these settings off and see if it makes any difference, or try removing suspect apps if you can live without them until you get back from vacation.

AVI file, streamclip,nothing plays. Would love some input

Things are never simple anymore. Just had a client give me an AVI file to use in a project. Of course it will not play. So I used streamclip to play it and all I get is a white screen. At this point I have no idea if it is a bad file or I am not using the proper tools to play it. I am lost. It is a 6.6 mb file so it must have some content. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Best
Tom

Yes, it can since it installs the ffmpeg and mencoder components.
in all honesty though if you are on an intel mac or a ppc one for that matter and can run windows via boot camp or Virtual PC respectively . . . or have access to a real PC you may just find that the easiest way to convert the file . . . . this is assuming that the client has the file in no other format since its as old as the hills to start with !
HTH's
One last thought playing it back in mplayer and using screen recording software to capture it to a quicktime file is a bit of a rough and ready solution but since I doubt the quality of the original file is going to be stunning its another alternative worth considering
Ha ! . . one other wild stab in the dark solution . . upload it to YouTube as an HD file and see if YouTube can convert it for you . . simple enough to download YT videos these days . . easy enough to convert that to quicktime . . rubbish quality I am betting tho
Message was edited by: Steve Mizen

BIt of a doozy, would love some feedback

I recently started a new job, and the person who took care of the network before me didn't leave any kind of map or how they even setup the network. Basically this is what is happening. At the main office there is an internet connection coming into the building that works fine. They also can access things like Network drives no problem. There is another small office about two houses down. From what I understand, there is a wireless router in the main office that was sending its signal to an acess point to the smaller office, which is not getting an internet connection. Apparantly this happened after the main office lost power, and hasnt worked since. I am surprised that just loosing power could stop the connection. Would really like to come through for them on this one, but am not sure where to even start. Any advice or ideas would be more than appreciated.
Thanks everyone! So I guess to simplify it, the wireless router needs to transmit to the access point.

What is the model number of the router and access point.
Power loss can effect the settings of the router at times, so you can check the settings of the router and the n put the same settings on the access point this should the resolve the issue.

Would love some advice/tips on creating a certain effect on text.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for