Tim Swast's Blog

2025

• March 6, 2025 - Tim Swast posted Crafting a Digital Pencil: A Gemini & Blender Collaboration

  I created a low-poly 3D pencil by blending AI and traditional 3D modeling: I used Gemini to generate shapes and Blender to add the finishing touches.

  Read the full article.

2023

• January 8, 2023 - Tim Swast posted Pumpkin, Seitan, and Oyster Mushroom Soup Recipe

  This savory vegetarian pumpkin soup I improvized the other day that was quite the hit.

  Read the full article.

2022

• March 15, 2022 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I was inspired by a recent post from Rich Aucoin to make a #pixelart version for the Anime Chicago Anthology. See him play live if you can!

  

• March 1, 2022 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Trigun - Vash faces off with Gofsef, for the latest Anime Chicago anthology https://animechicago.com/articles/fall-2021-anthology-your-favorite-anime/ #pixelart #ドット絵

  

• February 9, 2022 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Happy #LunarNewYear #正月 I drew a few #pixelart #ドット絵 tigers to celebrate. https://stickers.bananajuice.tech/en/collection/tiger/

  

2021

• October 26, 2021 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  My entry to the Anime Chicago Q3 Anthology. https://animechicago.com/articles/summer-2021-anthology-wild-monsters/ Monsters have a bad reputation, but they are just trying to live their lives like everyone else. Maybe if I share photos of them in their natural environment, people will understand? This animation was programmed using PICO-8. #pico8 #pixelart #ドット絵

  

• October 24, 2021 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A Unique Confidence #pixelart #ドット絵

  

• October 10, 2021 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Latte art from day 4 #octobit prompt. #pixelart #ドット絵

  

• October 6, 2021 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Origami 折り紙 Day 2 of #octobit

  

• August 23, 2021 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  My entry for the Anime Chicago Spring Anthology. A vendor rotates what look like marshmallows around a wood fire. It’s sweet, but not too sweet. The char adds a smokey umami flavor. The texture is surprising. It’s fluffy but stretches like taffy.

  

• July 5, 2021 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  self-hug #pixelart #ドット絵

  

• July 5, 2021 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  My entry to the Anime Chicago 2021-Q1 Anthology. Cyborgs and holographic ads populate a futuristic Shibuya crossing. This pixel art animation uses the NES color palette. Drawn in Pixaki on my iPad.

  

• April 21, 2021 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Back figures 背中 #pixelart #ドット絵 in the #gameboy palette

  

• March 29, 2021 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  In this #lovelifedrawing exercise, I find the large shadow shapes, which translates quite well to #gameboy #pixelart #ドット絵

  

• January 2, 2021 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  My age is reaching a big round-number milestone this month, so I decided to celebrate with a binary odometer (or chronometer since it's measuring time) #pico8 cart #pixelart #ドット絵

  

2020

• December 30, 2020 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I drew few scenes in 2020, but I did draw several dozen emoji-inspired #pixelart stickers.

  

• December 10, 2020 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Help Santa cheer up some grumpy snowmen! https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=40734 I teamed up with @dan_sanderson for another #pico8advent20 entry. #pico-8 #pixelart

  

• July 27, 2020 - Tim Swast posted 12 Virtual Date Ideas for 2020

  This has been a unique year to start dating again. With a global pandemic in full swing, it's important to stay home and socially distance. Despite the challenges of the current situation, I've found a few creative date ideas that have made virtual dating more fun.

  Read the full article.

• May 2, 2020 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A few of my emoji for #artvsartist #pixelart #ドット絵

  

2019

• December 16, 2019 - Tim Swast posted 90s Aesthetics in Modern Tech

  In my lightning talk at Offline Camp Oregon 2019, I share how my personal project goals led me towards 1990s aesthetics.

  Read the full article.

• November 13, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I released a new emoji pack today! Dedicated to Jon. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• November 1, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I enjoyed drawing everyday during the past month, but I'm relieved for #octobit to be finished. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 31, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Day 31 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 30, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Day 30 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 29, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Day 29 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 28, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I'm not a fisherman, but I do enjoy a peaceful day on the lake. Day 28 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 27, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I forget how big Mount Rainier is until I see it looming over the city. Day 27 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 26, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  It's hard to believe that anomalocaris was a real animal. Day 26 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 25, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  My animal persona is a monkey. Day 25 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 24, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I aspire to be as content as a duck on a rainy day. Day 24 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 23, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Tardigrades are sort-of cute. Day 23 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 22, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Spooky lighting is necessary for ghost stories. Day 22 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 21, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A smiley extinct giant. Day 21 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 20, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  An inquisitive expression. Day 20 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 19, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  The woodland biome is especially vibrant. Day 19 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 18, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Who doesn't love wearing a nice floppy hat? Day 18 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 17, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Garlic makes every meal better. Day 17 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 16, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I wonder how many twists there are in a cat5 cable? Day 16 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 15, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Day 15 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 14, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Growing up, slumber parties meant playing video games until we passed out. Day 14 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 13, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  X-ray imaging has been around for over 100 years, but it still seems like alien technology. Day 13 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 12, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I admire the look of a trench coat and fedora. Day 12 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 11, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Ready to play some dodgeball. Day 11 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 10, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I hope that by the year 3000, someone makes those space boats from Treasure Planet into a real thing. Day 10 of #octobit #pixelart 🎨

  

• October 9, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I'm grateful to have nice Polaroid moments with family. Day 9 of #octobit #pixelart

  

• October 8, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I'm inspired by the HUD from Starcraft with a video chat to the characters. Day 8 of #octobit #pixelart

  

• October 7, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Does Lieutenant Commander Data dream of electric sheep? Day 7 of #octobit #pixelart

  

• October 6, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Lost at sea. Day 6 of #octobit #pixelart

  

• October 5, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Why do people turn green and bulk up after many lab accidents? Day 5 of #octobit #pixelart

  

• October 5, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I wonder what it'd feel like to wear a real spacesuit? Day 4 of #octobit #pixelart

  

• October 4, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Turtles wearing headbands are the first thing to come to mind when I think "teenagers". Day 3 of #octobit #pixelart

  

• October 2, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Glitch via Pillow (Python library). Day 2 of #octobit #pixelart (source code)

  

• October 1, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I'd wear a lot of neon as super villain. 🦹🏽‍♂️ Day 1 of #octobit #pixelart

  

• October 1, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I had a wonderful time at #offlinecamp Gorgeous location with inspiring conversations. #pixelart

  

• July 17, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  TIL: Minks are super cute semiaquatic predators. I used a mink reference photo by tsaiproject.

  

• May 9, 2019 - Tim Swast posted Three indie emoji sets

  Emoji are practical art pieces. We share these little images multiple times a day. In this post, I share a few emoji sets that indie designers have published under open licences. They bring me joy where I am able to use them.

  

  Read the full article.

• April 6, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Happy April! I released a new tulip emoji pack today. Dedicated to Mom.

  

• February 14, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Happy Valentine's day, Alexandra!

  

• February 9, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Noone honestly knew the answer to "How I wonder what you are!" when Twinkle Twinkle Little Star was written (1806). Not until 1838, when Friedrich Bessel first measured the distance to 61 Cygni. #TIL from Our Mathematical Universe by Max Tegmark.

• January 26, 2019 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  "The entire transaction volume of the Bitcoin network could be handled by a Raspberry Pi in a shoebox." http://adamierymenko.com/decentralization.html This whole article is fascinating. It does feel like the CAP theorem is quite relevant here. Bitcoin is all about shared global state. I like Scuttlebutt (where I originally made this post) because it doesn't require centralization to work, but it can work better with just a little bit of centralization (through "pubs"). Bitcoin still makes me sick just thinking about all the wasted energy.

2018

• December 30, 2018 - Tim Swast posted Pixel Art Park 5 - An Attendee's Review

  Alexandra and I attended Pixel Art Park 5 in Tokyo on December 9, 2018. I loved seeing so many pixel art pieces, chiptunes, and retro-style video games in one place and meeting other artists.

  

  Read the full article.

• December 26, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  The #pixelart #fox emoji I drew are now a #LINE emoji pack! #LINEsticker #LINEスタンプ #ドット絵 #狐 https://line.me/S/emoji/?id=5c232e5c040ab12ebe4bc333

  

• December 1, 2018 - Tim Swast posted Fox Emoji

  A year ago, I drew fox emoji for Alexandra's birthday. I'm grateful for custom emoji as a unique way to express our love for each other.

  

  Read the full article.

• November 8, 2018 - Tim Swast posted Reflections on #octobit 2018

  Octobit 2018 recently finished up. I'm quite pleased with how all the art I drew turned out!

  

  Read the full article.

• November 4, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Grey, you will be missed. Rest in peace.

  

• October 31, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A #hologram of the space salmon. Someone is scoping out a fishing spot. Drawn for #octobit day 31. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 30, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I think #punk independence may be well suited for life in the final frontier. Drawn for #octobit day 30. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 29, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A #toxic sugary drink. Drawn for #octobit day 29. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 28, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  For those living off of Earth, oxygen is a precious #treasure. Drawn for #octobit day 28. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 28, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Dunes aren't limited to Earth. They can happen whereever there's an atmosphere, gravity, and sand grains. Drawn for #octobit day 27. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 28, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  The asteroid 2011 UW₁₅₈ is likely full of valuable minerals. Drawn for #octobit day 26. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 25, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Every cowboy needs a weapon. It's dangerous out there! Drawn for #octobit day 25. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 24, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Some #neon might help the general store draw in some business. Drawn for #octobit day 24. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 23, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A #spaceman riding his trusty steed out on the range. Drawn for #octobit day 23. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 22, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Vultures and other scavengers help clean up #biohazards in the environment. Drawn for #octobit day 22. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 22, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A #companion to help with the herd of space sheep. Drawn for #octobit day 21. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 21, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Hitch your rocket horse and shop at the general store. This #mart drawn for #octobit day 20. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 21, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A rocket-hoofed horse might make for a great #vehicle. Drawn for #octobit day 19. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 19, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  No space shuttle is complete without everyone's favorite #gadget, the #Canadarm 🇨🇦! Drawn for #octobit day 18. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 17, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  The space shuttle is bound to be #retro some day. Drawn for #octobit day 17. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 16, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Nothing says "outer space" like an alien #slime world. Drawn for #octobit day 16. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 #StarCraft 🎮🎨

  

• October 15, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Io, a moon of Jupiter, is one of the only bodies in the solar system that has active volcanoes with #lava. Drawn for #octobit day 15. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 14, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Drinking from a #well is a whole process out here. Drawn for #octobit day 14. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 14, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Space sheep. A #creature that's part of the herd for #octobit day 13. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 12, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A space-dwelling sub-species of #king salmon for #octobit day 12. Feedback welcome. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 11, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A thunderbird from North American #folklore for #octobit day 11 #pixelart #ドット絵 #feedbackwelcome 🎨

  

• October 10, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  An #igloo for #octobit day 10. Igloos are great for protection from harsh environments and harmful solar radiation. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 10, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A #scary space station for #octobit day 9. Someday there will be an interplanetary cemetery. I hope it looks like this. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 8, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Some space #worms for #octobit day 8. They inhabit the caves from day 2. #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 7, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A #mechanic out on an EVA to service a spaceship #octobit day 7 #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 6, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A nibble of #food for #octobit day 6 #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 5, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Self-replicating power #plant #octobit day 5 #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 5, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A tiny elephant in space? That's #absurd #octobit day 4 #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 3, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A #creek in a bubble for #octobit day 3 #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 2, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Some #caves for #octobit day 2 #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• October 1, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Comets make great #fuel sources. #octobit #pixelart #ドット絵 🎨

  

• September 27, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Happy anniversary Mom and Dad! #pixelart 🎨

  

• September 26, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Le Petit (Isometric) Prince in #pixelart I'm practicing for this year's #octobit theme 🎨

  

• September 26, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Today I Learned: "China's National People's Congress is a multilevel hierarchical structure (levels: towns, counties, provinces, national) which since 1979 has been elected via approval voting (each level is elected by the preceding one, with the bottom-level elections directly by the people)." https://rangevoting.org/BC2018.html As an American, I grew up thinking China was completely undemocratic. It seems American democracy has things to learn from the system in China.

• September 17, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  A #pixelart cruise ship at Canada Place in Vancouver, B.C. 🎨

  

• August 31, 2018 - Tim Swast posted Why I don't have a Dat archive of my newsletter

  Every month or two for the past 7 years, I send a personal email newsletter to my friends and family. I share the newsletters via email and manually save an archived copy to Google Drive and a local Perkeep instance. While Dat is built to create repositories for easy archiving and access, it has problems around privacy that prevent me from using it to share a repository of my newsletter editions.

  Read the full article.

• August 18, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Peer-to-peer is the real serverless. https://youtu.be/rJ_WvfF3FN8

• August 11, 2018 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  I designed some logos for the Ibis Python library. Drawn in #inkscape I'm grateful to live in a time when photo references abound, because I don't recall if I've ever seen an ibis in person, much less able to draw one from memory. Logo proposal: https://github.com/ibis-project/ibis/issues/1584

  

• July 21, 2018 - Tim Swast posted Ssite for Handwritten Static Sites - Five Years Later

  Five years ago, I announced that I had made the ssite static site enhancement tool public. In this post, I’ll reflect on my experience of using ssite to maintain this website for the past half decade.

  Read the full article.

2017

• October 31, 2017 - Tim Swast posted Octobit 2017: A Month of Pixels

  I participated in Octobit 2017 this past month. I really enjoyed being part of Octobit 2016 and was happy to join the fun again this year.

  

  Read the full article.

• July 2, 2017 - Tim Swast posted My Entry to Chickenstreet

  I learned about the pixel artist Sascha Naderer's #Chickenstreet project last year. Immediately I knew I wanted to make an entry.

  

  Read the full article.

• February 18, 2017 - Tim Swast posted Bots with interests

  In the article introducing the pixel art bot village, we saw art that was completely randomly generated. The pixel art bot was blindly drawing. Now the bot can see, and it’s only 34.5% happy with what it has produced.

  

  Read the full article.

• February 14, 2017 - Tim Swast posted What are the most popular Citibike destinations for NYC couples?

  For this Valentine’s Day themed data doodle, let’s use BigQuery and the New York City public dataset on Citibike trips and to find a romantic spot to bike to with a significant other.

  Read the full article.

2016

• December 17, 2016 - Tim Swast posted Pixel Art Bot

  I’ve had a goal since at least January 2015 to create more artwork with computers. I want artistic software not as a tool, but as a partner. I finally decided to act on this goal by creating a pixel art bot.

  

  Read the full article.

• November 10, 2016 - Tim Swast posted 0hgame 2016 - Go Fish!

  This post contains interactive elements and is best experienced with a web browser at the original post. I had a late entry to the 0-hour game jam this year. I didn't feel like getting up at 1AM, but I still wanted to use my "extra" hour to make a game this year. I built a game of Go Fish!. Enjoy!

  Read the full article.

• November 3, 2016 - Tim Swast posted Octobit 2016: A Month of Pixels

  I participated in Octobit this past month. I really enjoyed drawing something every single day. Also, I loved interacting with the other artists who were participating, on social media and Slack.

  

  Read the full article.

• September 18, 2016 - Tim Swast posted Snowdrift Loafing

  I've been thinking a lot about cooperation lately. I've recently become a maintainer of Frozen-Flask, which I use for an open-source web-app I'm working on called Who Goes First. I want to make sure the projects that are under my care stay healthy. Why do some people contribute to open source and others take without giving back?

  Read the full article.

• September 13, 2016 - Tim Swast posted Stress-Reducing Splines

  My interest in generative art and art bots brought my attention to works by Anders Hoff. I love that he explains how he made many of his works, including linetrace. It was computer-generated, but inspired by the hand-drawn works by John Franzen. I have found it quite relaxing to draw something similar by hand during breaks at work. It's quite the stress-reducer.

  

  Read the full article.

• August 11, 2016 - Tim Swast posted Steam Train Pixel Art

  I've had quite a few train rides this past month. One thing I really love about trains is that there isn't as much stop and go. This makes it much easier to draw while I travel. Alexandra and I visited Engine 374 in the Yaletown Roundhouse in Vancouver, B.C., and this inspired me to draw a train during our train rides.

  

  Read the full article.

• May 5, 2016 - Tim Swast posted Cherry Blossom Pixel Art

  My brother, Jon Swast, is living in Japan and has posted some very beautiful pictures of the cherry blossoms there and in Korea. I found this one to be particularly beautiful and decided to use it as a reference for practicing pixel art.

  

  Read the full article.

2015

• November 1, 2015 - Tim Swast posted 0h Game Jam: Jumpr in Elm

  I participated in the zero hour game jam this early morning time change. It was a lot of fun. The zero hour game jam is a goofy idea that you can use the "extra" hour we get at 2 AM the night of the fall daylight savings switch to make a game. As you can imagine, it generates a lot of goofy little games. It's been super fun the years I've participated.

  

  Read the full article.

• October 4, 2015 - Tim Swast posted Pixel Art Walking Animation #2: Bunny Hop

  This is a different take on a walking animation. This tiny bunny is jumping his way to the right, hopefully to find a field of juicy carrots.

  

  Read the full article.

• August 22, 2015 - Tim Swast posted Pixel Art Walking Animation #1

  I have been drawing a few pixel art walking animations, lately. This has been a lot of fun. Animation adds some life to the artwork and can add some goofy fun to drawing.

  

  Read the full article.

• July 13, 2015 - Tim Swast posted New York City Subway Pixel Art

  I was riding an E train subway car in New York City, and I noticed some pixel art in the wild. The nice FIND (Flexible Information and Notice Display) system which shows next stops includes a pixel art wheelchair icon for accessible stations.

  

  Read the full article.

• May 4, 2015 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  May the Fourth be with you. A #pixelart x-wing. Drawn on my iPad in Pixaki and animated in Sprite Something.

  

• May 2, 2015 - Tim Swast posted an untitled note:

  Bunny says eat your veggies. I drew this little #pixelart guy just after Easter. He really likes his carrots. Nom nom nom.

  

• March 22, 2015 - Tim Swast posted Fishermen @ C

  I learned about the artist J. M. W. Turner last month through the Google Art Project New Chrome Tab extension. He is known as “the painter of light” and after looking at some of his works, I agree with that statement.

  

  Read the full article.

2014

• January 6, 2014 - Tim Swast posted How to share ToDos with your spouse

  My wife and I use an app called 2do to share ToDos and shopping lists with each other. It is a beautiful app, which works for Mac, iOS, and Android. It allows us to have the same list on both her phone and mine.

  Read the full article.

2013

• December 29, 2013 - Tim Swast posted Finding Gray codes with backtracking in Python

  Gray codes are ways of writing numbers using only 0s and 1s. They share the property that as one goes from one number to the next, only one binary digit (bit) changes. For example, if one is represented as “001”, then two might be represented as “011”; only the middle bit changes.

  Read the full article.

• October 21, 2013 - Tim Swast posted Why are collections of computer code called libraries?

  My wife is an archivist. As a library professional, one of her peeves is when technology workers, such as myself, use library to mean a collection of computer code. Because computer code libraries generally are not managed by a librarian, the term seems misapplied.

  Read the full article.

• August 7, 2013 - Tim Swast posted An introduction to Markov chains with mathematical art

  In this post, you'll use Markov chains to generate artworks and analyze the distributions of colors. This post contains interactive elements and is best experienced with a web browser at the original post.

  

  Read the full article.

• August 4, 2013 - Tim Swast posted Quadratic Equations in Physics

  In this post, you'll learn how initial velocities affect the trajectories of projectiles. This post contains interactive elements and is best experienced with a web browser at the original post.

  Read the full article.

• July 28, 2013 - Tim Swast posted A demonstration of the law of large numbers

  Random is part of our everyday language. We say something is random when it is unpredictable, unexpected, or out of the ordinary. Mathematics provides a framework for understanding some of these unpredictable events called probability theory.

  Read the full article.

• June 28, 2013 - Tim Swast posted Creating a new form of digital ownership

  Why is it that we buy digital hats but not blog posts or web comics? Some artists make money by selling physical items like posters or t-shirts, but for all-digital content it seems that the only options of monetizing them are through paywalls or advertising.

  Read the full article.

• June 10, 2013 - Tim Swast posted Introducing Ssite: An Engine for Handwritten Static Sites

  Say hello to ssite, the little blog engine that doesn't do much. This past weekend I built a blog engine to keep my site organized. It differs from existing engines in that it does much less. It generates an index without templating or modifying the articles at all.

  Read the full article.

• May 3, 2013 - Tim Swast posted An Exploration of Chaos in Neural Networks

  Neural networks are models of the brain. Actually, there are many different kinds of neural network models. (Wallis) What they have in common is that they consist of nodes (which model neurons) hooked together in some way. Signals then propogate through the network.

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• April 1, 2013 - Tim Swast posted Hexadecimal Numeral Names

  It occurred to me the other day, I don't really think of hexadecimal numerals as numbers. I think this is for the same reason I don't think of ID numbers or credit card numbers as numbers. When I read these, I say each digit.

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• March 31, 2013 - Tim Swast posted An Exploration of Cellular Automata as Dynamical Systems

  In this set of experiments, I explore cellular automata, treated as dynamical systems. The state of the system is a pair of real numbers, with the cells of the cellular automata state corresponding to binary digits of the real numbers. With this mapping, I calculate the largest Lyapunov exponent for each of the 256 elementary cellular automata. This analysis hints that so-called complex, class 4 cellular automata may be distinguished from chaotic, class 3 cellular automata by the largest Lyapunov exponent of the chaotic orbits.

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• January 20, 2013 - Tim Swast posted Coordinate Systems Matter

  I have discovered more than once in recent free-time projects, that exploiting symmetry can help make code much simpler to write and understand. In fact, it makes some problems feel tractable, when at first they felt as though a complicated "brute force" technique was needed.

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2012

• December 26, 2012 - Tim Swast posted Building a PBS streaming device with Raspberry Pi and OpenELEC XBMC : Part 2, Software

  In this article, I assume you already have setup all the hardware you need for a Raspberry Pi. In this tutorial, you will flash an OpenELEC XBMC Operating System, configure XBMC to install video addons and themes, and set up your smart phone as a WiFi remote control.

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• December 26, 2012 - Tim Swast posted Building a PBS streaming device with Raspberry Pi and OpenELEC XBMC : Part 1, Hardware

  In this series, I'll go from start to finish on how to build a home-theater computer with Raspberry Pi and the OpenELEC XBMC Operating System. At the end we'll be able to install XBMC plugins to stream videos, including PBS.

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• December 16, 2012 - Tim Swast posted Tim's Pixel Art : Episode 1

  Lately, I've been playing with Disney PIXEL'D on my iPad, and I've been enjoying using it a lot. While I've been able to make pixel art with other programs on my computer, this is by far the easiest program I've used to make pixel art animations.

  

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• August 6, 2012 - Tim Swast posted Matplotlib 1.1.0 for Solaris on SPARC and x86, Part 3: Packaging

  This is part 3 of a three-part series on building and packaging matplotlib as a multi-architecture, Solaris IPS package. In this tutorial, I go through creating a multiple architecture (fat) IPS package.

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• August 6, 2012 - Tim Swast posted Matplotlib 1.1.0 for Solaris on SPARC and x86, Part 2: Setting up Solaris IPS servers for multiple architecture (fat) packages

  This is part 2 of a three-part series on building and packaging matplotlib as a multi-architecture, Solaris IPS package.

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• August 6, 2012 - Tim Swast posted Matplotlib 1.1.0 for Solaris on SPARC and x86, Part 1: Compiling

  This is part 1 of a three-part series on building and packaging matplotlib as a multi-architecture, Solaris IPS package. At the end of this series, you should be able to install matplotlib as easily as any other Solaris 11 package, on both SPARC and x86 machines.

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• January 8, 2012 - Tim Swast posted Setting up KeePassX on Mac OS X Lion

  This guide walks through the steps I followed to build KeePassX on my Mac. I found I needed to install many prerequisites in order for it to build.

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2011

• November 21, 2011 - Tim Swast posted Gravity v0.1 released.

  I just put a new version of Gravity (beta) on Kongregate. I added support for multiple masses and also obstacles. Also, I fixed a bug with the physics system. The physics are much more “realistic” now. Force actually decreases with distance now!

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• November 6, 2011 - Tim Swast posted Gravity for the 0h Game Jam

  Last night was the 0h Game Jam, since it was daylight savings. I decided to make a very simple physics game, where you place a mass in order to make the little “crates” hit a target. You can play my game on Kongregate.

  

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2008

• September 18, 2008 - Tim Swast posted Plain text tables with Python's % operator

  So, say you had a console Python application where you are trying to print a table of numbers as your output. Printing the numbers without any formatting is messy. By using formatting options for the % operator, you can make tables that are much easier to read.

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• June 19, 2008 - Tim Swast posted More fun with Python (the ternary operator)

  The ternary operator isn't necessary (Python didn't have one for years), but it can make code clearer when put to good use. The ternary operator consists of three parts: a condition, an expression to evaluate if the condition is true, and another expression to evaluate if the condition is false.

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• June 11, 2008 - Tim Swast posted Python List Comprehensions are Easy!

  I've been aware list comprehensions for a while now, but they seemed complicated, so I was afraid to use them. Today, I found that they really aren't that bad. In fact, if you already know how to populate a python list inside a for loop, you're 95% there already.

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