More Kitty! Now we're really rolling!...

Manu is a first class artist, extremely dedicated, gifted, talented... Well I could go on, but you get the overall picture!...
When I proposed more development on the kitty design he was one of the first to throw it's own rendition. Later on he said that he wouldn't do more of Kitty, and that pretty much settled the case.

Well, I guess he got on the will and did a terrific job on a new and more closer design to the original from Eric Schwartz!

Just take a look at this post... But better yet - I believe he will bring more! Keep an eye on his site:
Drawing, Illustration & Animation




I guess with Manu and Alain I'm rest assured that Kitty will not only live on, but have a blast!



So happy summer for all of you and do support AROS and the people involved!
Sometimes a simple pat on the shoulder do wonders!...

Amiga History Library...

The "Viva Amiga" Documentary pledge has reached 85% of the required $25000 to finish production! Thanks to everyone who has helped and keep it going as it's not over yet!

Of course this is not the first attempt to gather a piece of the Amiga History on video, and there's a lot of footage around. For example there's the famous "The History of the Amiga" with Amiga World interviewing the Original team:

Youtube Part 1
Youtube Part 2
Youtube Part 3
Youtube Part 4

And there are various videos regarding advertising, use of Amigas on TV shows, The Computer Chronicles and BBC Micro Live Show, Demos and Gameplay footage and a lot more to be found on the internet...

Then there's the Amiga History Guide Site where the majority of facts, less known stories and hardware and even rumours and vapourware are all joined in a wonderful library : AMIGA HISTORY GUIDE PORTAL



An interisting recolection of Amiga History can be found on the ARS Technica site:
Part 1 - Genesis
Part 2 - The birth of Amiga
Part 3 - First Prototype
Part 4 - Enter Commodore
Part 5 - Post Launch Blues
Part 6 - Stop the bleeding
Part 7 - Game on!



While this series isn't complete its very well written with various details not known to the general public...

And there is so much regarding the Amiga it's history and legacy on the WEB, yet it's just the point of the iceberg. There's a lot more scattered around in various forms of media and most important in our hearts and souls!

So for those who complain that the goal of $25000 is too high or unrealistic for this type of documentary, better think again - there's no way a 2 hour documentary will ever cover most of these... I just hope the Extras Discs are enough to cover a great deal of it! ;)

Viva Amiga Documentary

Most of the active Amiga community should have heard about this, but like most things it doesn't hurt to promote a bit more.

Basically this is a documentary regarding the Amiga History, it's influences, the culture shock and its legacy.

In 1985, a powerful new kind of computer was born. It was 10 years ahead of its time, and ready to take on Microsoft, IBM and Apple for control of the PC market. The Amiga computer revolutionized video, multimedia and digital art, with Andy Warhol being a big advocate. It was also known for being a fantastic video games machine. Despite the computer's manufacturer going bankrupt in early 1990's, the Amiga has a huge cult following worldwide to this day. This film documents the rise and fall of the Amiga in the marketplace, and gives an inside look at the passionate and eccentric community that surrounds it. We've got in-depth interviews with the Amiga's designers, engineers and advocates, and we'll be shooting even more. This is a compelling and unique documentary, rich with animation and a distinctive style. Viva Amiga is also being written and directed by an Amiga user - Zach Weddington

Rather than just a simple historic documentary it also shows the impact and nowadays uses both the classic machines and New generations ones...
In the clip above it goes beyond and shows music artists using A1200's and other classic machines - covering the Blip Fest 2011 show in NYC...

It looks pretty high quality... Actually more professional quality is the word I should use!

But bear in mind that this documentary will only go ahead if the sum $25000 dollar is reached on the Kickstarter pledge site.



Check out this pledge video, and consider contributing...

Aros-tan mail stamp

This is a slight change from the Kitty stuff - just a quick reference to the OS-tan imagery, and in this line of sight a new AROS-tan image I found on DeviantArt!

Something cute to add to your emails... ;)

Edit: One last thing - Aros Kitty Kart in STK is the most downloaded at:
http://stkaddons.net/

We love you Kitty!

I've recently received more work from Alain Thelier, related to Kitty Mascot.
And I've to say that this is really Top class work - up there with Eric Schwartz original work.



This is very close enough to the Pin-up design as Kitty could get, still having some original and cute setting. Being sexy doesn't hurt I guess ;).
Words can't do justice to this work, in my humble opinion!

I have to say that Alain really understands Eric Schwartz work, and pays homage in its best form - not copying but improving!

So this continues the campaign to lift up the pride of Kitty!
More soon...

But before I leave there's another insight into Kitty - excellent work from the polish artist (I sure would like to hear from him!), but in rather more aggressive attitude not so recognizable for Kitty - but then women are known to have lot of facets. Go check the gallery: PPA Gallery - Gives a wonderful walpaper for any desktop (specially a Aros wanderer one)!

P.S.: I guess I'll have to do another theme as my blog is polluting the Planet AROS... Or hope that someone else writes something refreshing...

Hi Kitty!

I had this kitty on my desktop for a while, made some adjustments and now I'm uploading...


I know! It's a Hello Kitty rip off! But at least I came up with something different regarding the Kitty "persona" - Not something that would outshine Eric, Saimon or Alain, AngloSaxon work...

This serves as an incentive so that our creative people come up with more artwork for AROS and specially regarding our beloved AROS mascot - Kitty!

On my farewell, I leave some avatars for use on AROS-EXEC and other forums:

Burning rubber on IcAROS desktop...

It's a wrap (or almost)! The STK Kitty kart has finally reached AROS. I've been able to export Tom Wright model to AC3D file format, done some bug-fixing, altered the mascot icon to 3d (Version 0.62 presents all mascots in 3D render format - and one would want kitty to feel comfortable).


Here it is running on IcAROS (AROS distro by Paolo Besser)

Wonderful stuff... Hopefully Tom will pick up and continue to improve the character so that she becomes a standard selectable mascot within the game and not a simple add-on.
Also I hope that STK 0.7+ is ported to AROS as it's much better in presentation and playability (and faster pace also)...

Just to let you know that I'm having a blast with my son with SuperTuxKart, and in the process I improved the Kitty icon to better suit the rest of the mascots present in the selection (just a simple affair of inkscape and gimp) - Also improved the aros logo on the car.

Apart from that didn't touch in a single hair of the model done by Tom Wright. We already exchanged emails and he has some ideas on improving the 3D model - and I hope he does, so maybe the STK crew could add the AROS Kitty kart as part of the main game! Good PR if I ever saw one!!

The changes I did are comitted do AROS-Archives but Tom has to give the go-ahead ( after all he is the author and the original submitter)!

Me? I'm just glad to play with kitty (although my son also wrestle to play with her also ;) )...

Kitty gets her driving license!

First I would like to apologize for not updating my blog, I know there's been a lot of things going on regarding the AROS front both internally, cosmetically and apps...
Last week there was the lauch of IcAROS 1.3, which I strongly recommend you to grab it if you're a first time to AROS.

But I won't be posting nothing regarding those subjects - That would require a much more larger and elaborate post. So I'll continue to focus on Kitty at the moment.



And more specifically about the 3D model of AROS Kitty in a kart for the SuperTuxKart!
For those who don't know SuperTuxKart is a bit like Super Mario Kart, but in open-source form with the mascots of the various open source OS distros ( mainly linux and bsd distros) as the selectable characters/karts.

Interestingly enough AmigaOS4 had it's own kart recently... But not AROS (wich is as Open-source and has a port of SuperTuxKart although version 0.62 if I'm not mistaken).

I already had bugged a lot of people regarding the use of Kitty (firstly mentioned as far as the beginning of 2011 - and not by me) for a SuperTuxKart - I believe it's top PR!
People had discussed ideas, made sketches, like Saimon work here:



But it was tommywhright that actually took on the job (grabbing my suggestion) and starting the work on blender:



Well the goods have been delivered by tommywright, and here's the final product:



I guessKitty will soon leave some tire marks on the opposition! In a number of ways!!...

So how about a round of applause for the man!?!
Wonderful work, tommywright - just wonderful!

P.S.: This just serves to prove my point regarding AROS mascot as good PR and not something strange and perverted as some sick minds try to imply!

P.S.2: Maybe someone will take the Manga type Kitty (by A. Thelier) and use it in some AROS distro as well - ;)

Another Kitty from Thellier

Firstly I'd like to apologize for not spotting this work earlier, but RL is becoming overwhelming, so I hardly take any time for personal stuff besides my family.

As for the main purpose of the article - We have another kitty!
Alain Thellier actually didn't just settled for the Manga type kitty, it gave another rendition more closely to Eric's Work, and it's actually pretty good.



I actually hope to see more work from alain in this department...

Kitty - Promise kept!

MANU kept his promise and delivered the goods (AND IT'S GOOOOOD):





For those who have being negative about kitty being the AROS Mascot here's Manu's words:
- "Here's me pouring more fuel on the never ending discussion, is Kitty too hot for AROS ? I think not, but anyway it won't be much more Kitty from me after this I'm afraid. It was fun and the main reason why I did it was I needed the practice with GIMP. Now I'll head on to some other projects I promised ;-)"

Wonderful job MANU - I wish you luck with your next projects!

As for the others keep it coming - I would love to see more from anglosaxon - really loved his impression - But I think he can do more!

Kitty - work from Alain Thelier

Now the artistic fluids are really going...

Alain Thelier presented its version of kitty in monochrome fashion. According to his words:
- "Here it is my own Kitty version
It looks like more a kinda manga sexy woman ... sorry i am french ".

No need to apologize IMHO - its magnificent work.

You can view and download it here: Kitty Sexy Manga Version by Alain

I did a mockup scaled down coloured version, in the expectation that Alain was going to take too long to finish it's drawing - So I could have something bright to present on my blog...

But, actually Alain provided a finished version faster than I imagined!...

Kitty - new work from MANU!

There are two reasons why I post this image:

1. First it's in alpha stage as well as AROS. I know - it lacks the tail, that's why its alpha and not beta! ;)

2. I really think that MANU has really lived up to the challenge proposed in this blog...
I presents our beloved mascot in a total new dimension. And has its unique touch that I feel is deeply appreciated within the AROS community (and Amiga as well, based on post on multiple forums...).

3. Manu has promised to finish this one day - So I'm holding to his promise!


Great stuff MANU! Keep it coming!!!!

AROS EXEC is down (again and again...)

It's just a friendly warning to the navigation - set your bearing to http://www.arosworld.org/
for the time being, 'cos AROS-EXEC is down again...

Anyway I would say that it's time for more user activity on AROSWorld.org portal.
Although I admit it really needs a design overhaul...