The Ansbach-Beyreuth Jaegers on Maneuvers. . .

Clearly, I need a better camera that will take sharper photographs although the Fotor app has a few new AI tools that help a bit in the editing process. The macro setting on the decade-old Sony Cybershot just doesn't quite do it, and I have a couple of very expensive SLR cameras with various lenses that belonged to my late mother, but, frankly, those are simply too complicated to figure out.

Still, the improved presentation is bit nicer here than the earlier grungy workbench photographs.

Now, barring unforeseen complications, it's on to the Battle of Spargelzeit next weekend. The Young Master asked about it today, mentioning that he didn't want me to forget. How could I? Where a game of toy solders with my son are concerned, there's no way.

Watch this space!

-- Stokes

Comments

tradgardmastare said…

Excellent work Stokes, they look splendid. Enjoy your week of keen expectation before the forthcoming game. I look forward to seeing engravings, sorry photos of the event.

12:58 AM

Andy McMaster said…

Those are excellent! Well done!

10:59 AM

Wellington Man said…

They're like little glowing jewels, Stokes. Just beautiful!
I do all my toy soldier photography with an Iphone. There's a lot to be said for it's clever little algorythms.
All the best
WM

12:37 AM

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

Sunday Morning Coffee with AI. . .

A rmed with a second cup of fresh, strong coffee, I messed around a bit this morning with artlist.io using its image to image function in an attempt to convert my hand-drawn map from September 2006 to something that more resembles an old map from the mid-18th century. And just like my experiments with Ninja AI in June, the results are mixed. The above map is pretty good, but Artlist keeps fouling up the place names and has trouble putting a faint overlay of hexes across the entire area. Hexes, admittedly, are not likely to be found on any genuine maps from the era in question, but there we are. Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the Ninja map, but there were problems getting it to correct its errors. Grrrr. As is the case with so much having to do with the various AI's out there now, the output generated is a direct result of the prompts entered. For text alone, and when you develop a lengthy, highly detailed prompt, it is...

Continued Regional Map Revisions. . .

F ooled around a bit more with the revised map just before and after dinner this evening, using the Fotor app to reinsert missing text . I also removed a few other things using the 'Magic Eraser' function, which works surprisingly well. Now, we're getting somewhere. I just have to figure out how to ensure that the text is all a uniform font style and maybe figure out a way to add a few bunches of trees to suggest forested areas, Ninja AI is not always entirely cooperative to the tune of "I'm sorry Dave. I can't do that." -- Stokes

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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