October 30, 2018

Installing Figma client on Deepin Linux 15.7 Desktop

Grab install.sh from this Github and just run it.

It’s that simple, really. This is why the opensource community is great. The Figma team had failed to create a native Linux desktop app for over 2 years (which is still nothing compare to Google on their promise to launch a Google Drive client for Linux), and yet an unknown individual managed to do it in his/her spare time.

Why would you need a desktop app when Figma works in your browser, you ask? Here’s a hint: Native Font! I mean Figma did a great job integrating Google Fonts in their app (I figure that would be sufficient for 90% web-related design work). But any real designer would have to have their own font collection, and not being able to use it in their favorite design tool is just bad design.

Note: if for some reason the install script fails, you can always download a premade AppImage for Figma from the same Github

October 29, 2018

Essential things to get things done in Linux (2019 edition)

Ok I’m gonna give an honest list of the best software to use in each category in MY unbiased experience. What I mean by unbiased is that I will pick a software base solely on the overall user experience that it provides (functionality AND aesthetic), REGARDLESS of whether it’s Free software or not. Most other list will either be sponsored or heavily biased toward free software, and since there’s only one or two decent software in each category, you’ll end up seeing pretty much the same list over and over again, year in and year out.

It’s not that I don’t support free software, quite the contrary I’m actually a huge supporter of free software (why else would a graphic designer like me use Linux as his primary working platform). But I’m also aware that for a platform like Linux to gain traction in the end-user market, it needs support from software developers. Yes, all of them, even proprietary software. After all, you can only reasonably expect a program to function correctly if the developer behind it has the incentive to make it better.

Onto the list, my choices are based on the following criterias: function, aesthetic, and performance.

  • Function means it has to get the thing it was designed for done, that’s the baseline.
  • Aesthetic means it has to have a well designed interface. This is, for the longest time, the weakest point in most opensource software. Obviously it’s not as important as Function but IMO still a far more important aspect to software than most people give it credit for. A well design UI/UX will boost your productivity by a wide margin.
  • Performance means the software have to perform at its best on Linux, meaning no emulated Windows or OS X App, VMs are out of the table also. That doesn’t mean the app have to be native, mind you. It’s 2018, I will also gladly choose app created with web technologies like Figma or Vectr, granted that it runs consistently on Linux just as it does on any other platform.

 

Here we go

 

  1. Best Linux Distro: Deepin OS

List that are Freeassed will tell you about Ubuntu, Mint or Fedora

I’ve used quite a lot of different distros in my time. Off the top of my head, I’ve used Ubuntu, Mint, elementaryOS, Majaro, Arch, Fedora, Zorin. You can see there’s no Gentoo, Red Hat or CentOS in my line up. That’s because I’m not a power Linux user, I only choose distros that boast userfriendliness, aimed at the end user, with pretty interfaces. And judging by the criterias, Deepin OS takes the trophy.

I remember some 15-16 years ago, when Vietkey Linux – the first ‘Vietnamese’ operating system hit the mass. Yes it was simply a reskin of Red Hat, with little change under the hood, but it got me into liking the platform. Back then, the UI of Linux in general, compares to its contemporary counterpart Windows XP, was nothing short of a massive pile of steaming garbage. And then Ubuntu came along with its sweet streamlined interface and Compiz-powered effects. I was completely blown away.

Fast forward 16 years later, when pretty much everything on the market more or less has a good UI, I didn’t expect to get that sensation again, but then I did, when I installed Deepin OS.

To be honest, my expectation for the distro was low, mostly due to my previous experience with a Chinese distro called Red Flag Linux, yes I do realize the irony of the name. But the Deepin experience wasn’t like Red Flag, but more like MIUI. It’s clean, it’s fresh, packed with little touches that indicates there was involvement from real UI/UX/IxD designers. Unlike most Chinese product, Deepin didn’t feel like a copied and pasted product, because it’s not. The overall user experience is very pleasant (except for the setting sidebar, I mean, who brilliant UX designer was it that think people want the settings they’re changing to disappear everytime they click outside the window?)

Overall. I rate this a 10/10, the first time I ever rate a distro this high. Meaning this is a mature product, complete and ready to compete with the likes of Windows and Mac. It’s currently my production platform.

 

  1. Best Office Suite: WPS Office

List that are Freeassed will tell you about OpenOffice and LibreOffice.

Yet another software from China, by now some people must be think I might be a commie. Well I actually am, but that’s not why I choose WPS Office. I choose it simply because it is THE best office suite for Linux, in every way. LibreOffice is based on OpenOffice, this massive pile of Java code that is both fugly and sluggish. WPS on the other hand is responsive, good looking, has great compatibility (it saves as microsoft file format instead of its own), AND portability (1GB of cloud storage means you can access your file anywhere, anytime instead of worrying about forgetting to hit Ctrl-S.

Overall, the only reason why WPS hadn’t dominate the Linux office world yet is because a lot of people still use Office for idealistic reasons rather than focusing on productivity reason (and also, many people don’t trust Chinese softwares, much less storing sensitive files on their cloud). They are all valid reason, but for me, WPS is the office suite of choice.

 

  1. Best raster graphic editor: Krita

List that are Freeassed will say it’s the GIMP

As one of the longest supporter of the GNU Image Manipulation Program, it makes me sad that the software had lagged so far behind. For a while, it was considered a Photoshop ‘alternative’, and some still calls it that, but we all know that’s not the case anymore. While the offering from Adobe has received a crapton of new features over the years due to their massive resources, our beloved GIMP still look and feel like the same guy we use 10 years ago. Even the image editor that comes with K-Office: Krita beat the GIMP in every aspects. Maybe it’s time we let it rest.

Krita on the other hands had seen massive improvements over the years. It now has the UI of a professional image editor, something that the GIMP couldn’t accomplished after decades of development.

 

  1. Best vector graphic editor: Gravit Designer

List that are Freeassed will say it’s Inkscape

Don’t get me wrong, Inkscape is a heavy contender. The gap between Inkscape and AI is far smaller than the gap between GIMP and PS. And yet I still have to choose a web based app over it due to its ease of use, its beautiful aesthetic, and portability (storing files on the cloud ftw!)

 

  1. Best screen design tool: Figma

List that are Freeassed will have no idea what it is.

Screen design tool is a new software segment, one that didn’t exist just a few years ago. I myself didn’t even know of their existence until Adobe released their Adobe XD a few years ago. Yes I know that was already pretty late since Adobe themselves were late to the game, XD hit the market as a response to Sketch’s popularity. Like I said in a previous blog post, I believe that despite its massive popularity, Sketch’s days are numbered, killed by free cross-platform tools like Adobe XD and Figma.

Figma is not the best screen design tool on Linux, nor it is the best screen design tool on the web. It is THE best screen design tool, across all platform, period. Everything you do, you do directly on the cloud, you don’t ever have to worry about hitting Ctrl+S ever again!

 

  1. Best 3D software package
October 29, 2018

Why Sketch will die in 2019

Sketch, Adobe XD, Figma. If you’re a screen designer of any calibre, surely you’ve heard of at least one of these tools. They’re currently the 3 biggest players in the screen design tool arena.

 

Sketch:

  • Pros:

– Features: being the oldest tool means it has a very healthy ecosystem with a plethora of plugins

  • Cons:

– Availability: being a Mac exclusive app means it’s only a matter of time before it’s erased from the market.

– Speed: Sketch is snappy when it comes to opening a file, but viewport stability decreases drastically when navigating around a large project.

– Price: like every other Mac apps, this shit cost money. If you’re a solo creator, this app is currently more expensive than the other 2 combined times infinity.

 

Adobe XD:

  • Pros:

– Adobe Ecosystem: being tied to the biggest creativity toolset on the market is a huge!

– Price: it used to cost money, but it’s free now (undoubted in an effort to accelerate the construction of Sketch’s coffin)

– Availability: Adobe has a bit more advantage over Sketch in term of platform availability, given that it works on both Windows and OS X. A common misconception is that the majority of the design community works on OS X, that’s only true in North America and Europe. If you count globally, you’ll see that most companies operating in the outsourcing sector (India, APAC) still uses Windows as the primary operating system. Some statistics currently put Sketch at over 70% dominance, but if you count the actual product output (which is huge in the outsourcing sector), I’d suspect that number would drop to somewhere around 30%.

  • Cons:

– Adobe Ecosystem: yes, this is both a pro and con for this nifty little app. Being part of a giant company like Adobe certainly has its perk, while we know Adobe has the resources needed to make Adobe a thing, whether or not those resources are allocated correctly is a different story. We all know there’s very little innovation left going on at Adobe, having dominated the market for so long. They’ve also killed off fantastic tools like Freehand and (gasp!) Fireworks!

– Availability consistency: apart from the fact that there’s still no client on Linux (which is not a huge deal, I say this as a designer who uses Linux, I know there’s not that many of us).

 

Figma:

  • Pros:

– Availability: Figma is the champion when it comes to platform availability. This tool is built with WebGL, with desktop wrapper for desktop use (like Slack). That means it works everywhere as long as you have a web browser (currently it’s THE screen designer of choice for designer working in Linux)

– Price: if you’re a solo creator, it’s completely free, there’s no limit on the number of project you can have in your account. They only charge if you want to add more than 2 editors to your project, which is completely reasonable.

October 7, 2018

Houdini 17 Banshee – Sneak Peek

From the description:

Houdini 17 includes a wealth of new features, including a GPU-accelerated multisolver for cloth, hair, soft bodies and grains, a new white water solver, a material-based destruction framework, facial autorigs, fullbody IK, enhanced animation and modeling workflows, UV autoseaming, GLTF I/O, gamedev tools and much more.

You guys hear that, GPU-accelerated cloth engine! Looks like we won’t even need nCloth or Marvelous Designer in the future. I honestly don’t know how they do it, but every new release blows our friggin’ mind, unlike Maxon’s releases, which takes a lot of concentration to spot the changes. Don’t get me wrong I still very much like Cinema4D, releases are still leaps and bounds better than Autodesk’s bug-ridden products, but it kinda hit a R&D block for a few years now.

As far as Autodesk go, well I guess given their huge market share, they might stay relevant for a few more years, but if you want job security, I’d suggest to jump on the Houdini bandwagon as soon as possible. Houdini 16.5 has been going stable on my Deepin Linux box on first try, while Autodesk Maya took a lot more effort to install, and even by some miracles you manage to get it to run, it wouldn’t last long, a simple graphic driver update (which is absolutely necessary) would break your installation easily. Face it, a company with decades operating in the industry and billions of dollar in the bank, still couldn’t get something as simple as that done, then it’s only a matter of time before people move on to better things.

Get Houdini today! (I’m not even getting paid for promoting it, it’s just that the team over at SideFX is just too awesome)

October 1, 2018

Oct 2018: A little update

So it’s been exactly 5 months since I last quit my old job, and I’ve yet to find a new one. Definitely did not think it’d be this tough to find a new job, I was over confident in my skills.
I’ve burned through the last of my unemployment check
My and my wife had burned through half of our savings trying to conceive a child (and bad coin investments).
So far all had been for naught, and we might need another 100 mil for IVF.
My dad still has kidney stones, might need surgery.
My mom’s leg is going bad, might need surgery. (Update: the diagnosis results came back, it is very possible my mom has lung cancer, just like my grandma. I wasn’t ready for this, but I have to)
If I don’t get a job some time this month, I’ll definitely be cutting into the rest of my saving.
I guess this is what you’d call rock bottom.
Is it time to abandon my passion as a graphic artist, and look for something else? Never thought this profession would be so treacherous, you get over 30 and suddenly you’re unwanted trash.
Is it time to abandon Hanoi? This backwater place has such an under developed industry that it appears to be content with operating without any decent graphic artist.
September 17, 2018

Installing multiple WordPress modules for Bitnami WAMP Stacks

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I absolutely love Bitnami due to its sheer simplicity in making the process of setting up a local web stack a complete breeze, especially how adding modules like WordPress, Drupal, Magento etc. is as easy as installing Skype. There’s one thing that bothers me with the module installers though, is that there’s no multi installation option available during the installation process. Well after a bit of digging around, I realize that the option is there, but for some reason it’s not baked into the GUI installer. Instead you’d need to pass the option using the command line interface. That’s not a problem for me but many people who’s not familiar with the CLI may find it a hassle, which it is. But once you get the hang of it, it’s actually the easiest way to add additional installation of a webapp to your development stack (yes, even easier than doing it manually since you don’t have to go through the database creation process).

To install the WordPress module into an alternative location, you need to use the switch –wordpress_instance_name NEW_BLOG where NEW_BLOG is the directory you want to install your copy of WP in.

Specifically, here’s the instruction for each platform:

Windows

shell> ./bitnami-wordpress-VERSION-module-windows-installer.exe --wordpress_instance_name NEW_BLOG_NAME

Linux

Only use sudo if the stack was installed as root.
sudo chmod a+x bitnami-wordpress-VERSION-module-linux-x64-installer.run
sudo ./bitnami-wordpress-VERSION-module-linux-x64-installer.run --wordpress_instance_name NEW_BLOG_NAME

Mac OS X

hdiutil mount bitnami-wordpress-VERSION-module-osx-x86_64-installer.dmg
/Volumes/WordPress\ Module\ VERSION/BitNami\ WordPress\ Module.app/Contents/MacOS/installbuilder.sh --wordpress_instance_name NEW_BLOG_NAME

Once you have the module installed, you will be able to access it through http://localhost/NEW_BLOG_NAME

(if you launch it using the launcher, it will still go to the default address http://localhost/wordpress, you will need to enter the address manually in the URL bar).

Bitnami is a great product and hopefully the company will have enough money to afford a read developer who could put this simple option in the GUI installer soon.

August 27, 2018

Honest Logos: Vietnamese version

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I just came across Viktor Hertz’s Honest Logos and I’m kinda inspired, I’m thinking of doing a similar series focusing on common brands in Vietnam. But I need some ideas, any suggestion?

Off the top of my head, I got:

  • VCB: largest bank with worst customer service
  • Miniso: Chinese stuffs masquerading as Japanese stuffs
  • Mumuso: same as Miniso but masquerading as Korean stuffs instead of JP
  • VTV: Vietnam’s disgrace of a national television network
  • FLC Group: Fuck Life, build Cable cars
  • What else you guys got?
August 23, 2018

A Discord-like color scheme for Slack

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I love Slack as a productivity chat client (except the ridiculous pricing) but there’s one thing I think it could use some improvement, its color scheme. Looking at Slack after coming over from Discord is like looking directly at the sun. Slack does allow you to change the color scheme of the sidebar, but the main part that you look at, you can only change via loading a custom css via their ssb-interop.js file. So here’s how you do it:

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August 19, 2018

Install Unity3D on Deepin Linux 15.6

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Okay this post is nothing but a link, which is this one:

Download Unity 2017.4.9f1 (latest version as of this post (yeah I know, it’s almost 2019 but I guess Unity isn’t big enough to hire a real Linux maintainer)

Seriously, that link should’ve been the first result when you google ‘Unity3D Installer for Linux’, but google thinks you want to read a blog post instead. Typical third rate search engine.