https://3speak.tv/watch?v=kryptik.tigrrr3d/szydgtucjd

Lens Protocol, this much-hyped new kid in the SocialFi block, which insiders affectionately call "the garden", doesn't need an introduction at this point. Some have already posted about it here before. But to the few uninformed, in a nutshell it's like Hive and its vast ecosystem of dApps, but built on Polygon. And in this post I share with you my experiences in the two months I have been on it.

There are other Hivers on Lens but none of them have bothered to share much about their experiences, so this post will show you what it looks like from the inside. These apps are just the ones I can use as I am limited to accessing Lens on the desktop since my Android phone is too old for it. If you want to see more, just check out this link which shows a list of all the apps in the Lens ecosystem.

Lenster, the default front-end, like what Hive.blog is to us. This is where most of the newly-onboarded post their first GM, intro, or whatever they choose to be their genesis post. This is a desktop only front-end.

Buttrfly, a cool front-end with a Spaces feature that anyone can join and, even if they don't have a Lens handle. This front-end began life as a mobile app, but now has a desktop version in beta.

Lenstube, and as its name suggests it is their version of YouTube just like our 3Speak.

Memester, a site where you can make memes and sell them as NFTs.

Lenspeer is another cool front-end and the one that has the most Twitter-like appearance. But this is the one to watch out for as it has its own video-hosting feature, as well as an upcoming Spaces feature too. It is also the first app on the Lens ecosystem to implement the ERC-6551 standard and Token Bound Accounts (TBAs).

Chromadin I don't know what to make of this app, but it sure has strong HEN vibes. HEN (Hic et nunc) was a popular but now defunct Tezos NFT marketplace.

Collectz is an NFT marketplace on Lens created by Bas and Martijn Van Halen, two Dutchmen brothers who created NFTz, a similar marketplace on DeSo a year ago. This marketplace is where one can see, organize, and display all the Lens post NFTs that a member has collected from others, as well as mint NFTs for Lens, and also on Polygon someday.

Last but not the least is, Soclly, another micro-blogger, and the most recent one to join the ecosystem.

When I first logged in to my Lens account and checked out all the apps that I could use on the desktop, I was blown away by how pretty some of them were.

While some of the desktop apps are still in beta, they worked well and I only experienced a crash or error a few times. I initially felt that they are something Hive should be worried about, but my first posts with Lenster made me realize how different Lens is compared to Hive, regarding monetization of posts, and one's ability to earn from them.

In Hive, as we all know, monetization of posts and comments is turned on by default and one can start earning from the get-go. On Lens all posts are NFTs, but if you want to earn from it you will have to set it before you hit the publish button.

Most of the time people just use it like ordinary social media, chatting with friends and peers, without intention of earning anything from it. But when one decides to monetize their post by setting it to be a "collectable" NFT and putting a price on it, there is no guarantee that people will buy it. In fact, it's a lot easier for one to earn here on Hive.

So my impression of it is that it is like an on-chain NFT Twitter with minting capabilities. And, those who are earning the most from it are artists, musicians, and thought leaders.

I could be wrong, though, so to be fair I have to bring Hive members in and set them on a mission to get their eyes on things, and experience it first hand in order to form their own opinions and assessments, and then blog their findings to help us improve Hive.

Hive has great tech under the hood, but we all know how much we are lagging in our UI/UX game. It's about time we started looking at what others are doing, and also take ideas from them too!

As for me, my use case for it would be as a replacement for NFT Twitter with added capability to mint NFTs directly on my posting app. And with V2 upgrade of Lens rolling out soon comes the ability to mint on external NFT marketplaces like Zora, Foundation, Rarible, etc., right from Lenster or the other posting apps.

I have two invites to give away. But I had a hard time looking for who to onboard. I started with a list of about a dozen people, and started crossing out those who didn't seem to fit the role and the mission I had in mind for them.

They also had to show that they genuinely wanted to know what it's really like, and will write about it objectively, and not just want to get in because of the rumored Lens airdrop. After days of looking and sifting through posts and comments, I narrowed down my list to just three.

Now before I announce who the lucky two are, here are the things I want them to help me do there. I want them to be Hive ambassadors and preach about the good things Hive has to offer, and try to entice people to join us here. Maybe even encourage cross-pollination of ideas between the two large social ecosystems.

The second is to observe, study everything meticulously, then report back their findings to help us improve Hive. I'd do this myself but I am about to get very busy at work, and have to concentrate also on some things I am studying. I need to go back to art blogging too.

Alright, it's time to kick this piece out of the door and send it on its way to the blockchain. I will share more about new experiences and discoveries on Lens someday, but until then I'm going to hand you over to the two Hivers I am onboarding. Watch out for their blogs about it.

These tracks are Royalty Free and are free for anyone to use in YouTube videos or other projects, whether monetized or not. Both tracks are released under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=kryptik.tigrrr3d/tabwfiiy

Hello, again, fellow Hive creators! After a series of blogs on LeoFinance, here I am again back to being an art blogger. And not only that, but this blog is also my first post here in 3speak. For this first 3Speak post, I give you a 3D modeling demonstration of a subject that has been a favorite since my childhood days: military aircraft.

The aircraft I have chosen to model is the venerable Russian-made MiG-29 Fulcrum jet fighter, particularly the ageing Type 9.13 "Fatback" Fulcrum-C variant used by the Ukrainian Air Force, which they have extensively modified and updated into two types, and given the designations of MiG-29MU1 and MU2.

This video is the short (and fast) version. If you want to watch the longer and slower version, I've also uploaded it in YouTube. Click here to watch it.

I'll forego the introduction of this aircraft and just give you this Wiki link if you want to know more about it. And as a US/NATO fanboy since my youth who prefers military equipment from the alliance, I cannot deny that the MiG-29 is one beautiful piece of Russian aerospace engineering.

But what made me consider this aircraft for this project was that I was blown away by the beautiful digital camouflage patterns and artwork on aircraft of some former Eastern bloc nations. In fact, this project relies heavily on reference images of a Ukrainian specimen with current digital camo pattern, and is a nod to the Ghost of Kyiv urban legend.

This is not a tutorial but a demonstration of how I block out and model aircraft in 3D. I made this video because of the numerous requests I keep getting from some of my young friends who are just starting out it in 3D.

Some of them were scale modelers too, like me, and got into 3D to learn how to create CG aircraft, cars, and military vehicles. This is my way of helping them get started.

This model will also be the basis for modeling high-poly versions of it for my portfolio. I also have plans to learn certain advanced ways of rigging, and turn this jet into a Transformer. That has been one of my ultimate goals as a 3D animator. And you get to see and read about it here, when it happens.

First type of reference image are the blueprint-style drawings seen as backdrops in three viewports of the 3D modeling software I am using to create this jet. I got them from Airwar.ru, a popular repository of such images and other resources for scale modelers and 3D artists.

Another source of reference images aside from the blueprints come from the LARGE SCALE PLANES scale modelers' forum, and in particular, the post about an excellent specimen of a completed 1/32 scale Trumpeter kit of this particular aircraft in Ukrainian Air Force livery. The model kit was assembled by a forum member who goes by the monicker of "Zola25".

A third one, also a scale modeling site is Scalemodels.ru. There is a post there that has provided me with the best pictures of a particular kit that shows me all the close-ups I need to model the hard-to-see details of this aircraft.

I cannot rely on pictures of scale models alone, so pictures of the real thing need to be in my reference folder too. Oddly, this fourth source is not an aviation forum, but an automotive one!

Below are the three main reference drawings used throughout this first part of the blocking phase. The next phase of the modeling will show even more such drawings, especially cross-sections of the aircraft to help me model the contours more accurately.

I still have a lot of work to do, but overall, I am quite pleased with how I blocked it out. More work, more blogs to post!

This thing still has a lot of work to be done on it. Many parts still need to be adjusted for size, position, and shape. You will see maybe four or five blogs before all the modeling on this thing is done. Then there are other things to be done too, like UV unwrapping, texture painting, and rigging.

Each step of the production pipeline means more things to record and blog about. Although the video isn't meant to be a tutorial, I see no reason why I can't make it a part of one, by writing a supplemental blog to describe things to those who are interested to know more.

And as I've mentioned earlier, this is primarily for my animation and modeling portfolio. But I've been asked if I am planning to turn it into an NFT too, and I don't know yet. But if I do decide to mint, it won't have anything to do with the war going on in Ukraine. Nor would it be dressed up as a Ukrainian Air Force jet.

And that's a wrap for now! I hope you've enjoyed this first video I've posted here on 3speak. I had a lot of fun making it, from the modeling of the jet, up to the editing of the video and audio tracks used in it. So, please smash that like button, comment below, and share it with your friends, especially those who are plane crazy.