Making Dark Mode in Trelby

Trelby is a free and open-source screenwriting program, available here: https://www.trelby.org/download/

By default, it shows black text on a white background, like most text editors. However, some writers prefer “dark mode” – white text on a dark background. Here is how to simulate “dark mode” in Trelby:

You must do the following:

  1. Select “File → Settings → Change…”
  2. Select the “Colors” tab.
  3. From the list, select “Text background”.
  4. Click “Change”.
  5. Choose a dark color, like “#7F7F7F”.
  6. Click “OK”.
  7. Click “Apply”.
  8. From the list, select “Text foreground”.
  9. Click “Change”.
  10. Choose a light color, like “#FFFFFF”.
  11. Click “OK”.
  12. Click “OK”.

You may also want to change the “Script note” color to something darker, like “#FFA500”.

If you want to go back to the usual colors, you must click the element type from the list, then click “Restore default”.

Below is a demo:

Time Management

When working remotely, time management is an essential skill. It is important to spend the right amount of time on each project. Therefore I would like to advocate the following books:

  • Productivity Ninja: This book is about overall organization, not just time management. The chapter on email was especially helpful for me, and really simplified my email habits. The book also advocates attention management: you must focus your attention on the most important thing.
  • Study Hacks: This is a blog, mostly aimed at students, but also helpful for workers. I can recommend the “Craftsman in the Cubicle” posts. This advocates “deep work”: doing work of great value (and often great difficulty) without distraction. For technical illustrators, I suggest this means becoming more familiar with illustration software and techniques, and with the subject matter of the material you are illustrating.

Animation Software

Overview

Animation is my hobby, and in this post I outline the animation software I have used.

Pencil2D

Pencil2D is an excellent program for beginners to intermediates. They key benefit is a simple, intuitive user interface.

There are actually two versions:

  • Pencil, the original software. I believe the final version of this is 0.4.4b.
  • Pencil2D, the current software. This is still being worked on, and is available on GitHub.

I must admit that I mostly use the original Pencil 0.4.4b software. This has some bugs, so I recommend saving often.

I personally have contributed code to this program.

OpenToonz

OpenToonz is a good program for expert animators. This has (I am told) all features that are expected in a professional animation software. But the software is free!

OpenToonz does sometimes crash, so do use the auto-save feature, and save manually often. If you are a beginner to intermediate, you may be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of features. There is good documentation online on “readthedocs”.

I have also personally contributed code to this program.

.NET Compilation Process

Below I show a picture of the basic .NET compilation process:

An overview of the .NET compilation process.

The compiler takes the source code as input, and creates an executable file in Common Intermediate Language (CIL) format. The input can be any .NET language, such as C# or VB.NET. The Common Language Runtime (CLR) then takes the CIL files and runs them. It does so by interpreting the CIL instructions into native machine instructions.

C++ Compilation Process

Below I show a picture of the basic C++ compilation process:

An overview of the C++ compilation process.

The compiler takes the source code (.cpp) files as input, and creates object (.obj) files, written in assembly language. The linker then takes the object files as input, and creates an executable file.

Java Compilation Process

Below is a picture to show the basic compilation process for Java:

The basic compilation process for Java.

The compiler (javac) takes the source code files (.java) and compiles them into class files (.class). The class files contain Bytecode instructions. The Java Runtime takes the class files and runs them by interpreting the Bytecode instructions to machine instructions.

Sonic Boom (TV Series) Review

Overview

This is a series starring Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends as they battle Eggman. The series takes a light-hearted, satirical approached. It is a 3D show and seems to be aimed at a young audience (around 8-13) with some appeal for older fans of the series.

I have to admit that I have only seen some trailers and 2-minute snippets, and not a whole episode.

Critique

I did not expect to like this series at all, but was pleasantly surprised. For satire, this is decent. Some parts really did make me laugh.

If you are a fan of the Sonic universe, I recommend watching some of the 2-minute snippets online. You may like it.

This is also probably the best 3D incarnation of Sonic I have seen. Sonic doesn’t port well to 3D, which I hope to discuss in another post. But the humour and action is quite well-timed here.

The biggest problem I can see is that there’s no real, consistent conflict. Eggman is not a truly serious threat and works with the heroes as often as not (even once having them stay as guests at his newfound hotel/resort). I wonder if they couldn’t have made the conflict more genuine here.

I also don’t care for the side characters in the town. Focusing on the main cast would be better.

The “re-watch value” is also quite low.