Below is a capture from Al Seef in Dubai. The moon shines bright up high with all its grace and the lighted abra (a traditional wooden boat used in the Middle East) with its lamplight gleaming over the calm waters. That’s some sheer visual poetry in front of us.
The famous photographer Ansel Adams (1902-1984) famously said that ” You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”
Author: Ajmal
How to create a quick 3D view on a 2D plane with ‘gradient hatch’ in AutoCAD
One of the most underrated visual features in AutoCAD is gradient hatch.
On creating quick representations or illustrations for conveying a concept in sketch, instead of having an inceptive reliance on a full feature overblown 3D design software package, this nifty feature of gradient hatch could often come in handy for small scale and expeditious illustrations.
For example, to give a 3D feel to a cylindrical section, we can apply gradient hatch to a vertical rectangle. I shall demonstrate it with a simple example below. The first step is to draw a simple rectangle.
Next, we need to give it a gradient hatch in order to give that 3D pipe-like cylindrical appearance. Type in command ‘h‘ on the AutoCAD command line to open the hatch settings panel. Go to the Gradient tab. Here, we have a choice to go for either one color or two color option. Personally, I prefer a two-color palette in order to customize it well.
Select Two Color from the Gradient tab. For the best professional appearance, I recommend using only blacks and whites instead of any flashy colors. Here, you have to be careful to use the white color at the centre and as it widens to the centre, it gradually turns to black. For that, use the first color as pure white and the second color as pure black and select the option as shown below.
So in a minute, we have this below appearance.
I’m aware that an advanced 3D program like Solidworks, for example, can give much better visual appearances. However, for a very quick and nifty solution on a program like AutoCAD which is much more universal in its reach across industries, I hope this turns out to be much more useful.
certain tracks
I stumbled across this gem recently. There’re certain tracks that set you on that apt calm temperamental disposition to create and work passionately on what you love. This is one of those. And that’s one step more to the corpus of the garden of thoughts.
“A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor — such is my idea of happiness.”
― Family Happiness
sprouting skylines
A sunset drenched view of an elegant Dubai skyline captured sometime before 2014. Sunlight is painting.
“ Pilgrims from all over the world were making their way to the place deemed the pearl of the Middle East. The city was reminiscent of a modern-day Persepolis. Its buildings, like towering pillars, tested the sky’s limit. The evenly paved roads belched with the smell of new tarmac, as if a million masons woke up every morning and by hand lay asphalt one grain at a time. People of all colors, ethnicities, creed and social statuses came bearing money, knowledge or experience in order to build their legacies in the new kingdom, sprouting out of the desert. Dubai had arrived. ”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, The Rise of Shams
fragments of pathways.
It’s those small moments that add up as we inch towards our new day, new destinies and new experiences. Remember when we spoke of sonder? We also revisited it recently in a video with traffic blur. The bulk of our lives are those simple moments. While living in the ordinary and mundane, this is missed. Often it is rediscovered in the quietude of our every-day.
“As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness — just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.”
― Laura Ingalls Wilder
garden of thoughts.
Recently I read a very interesting post on what really matters on what you build and long for. It can be anything – it can be a product, a service, experiences, personal connections, travel spaces, mindset, you name it.
“Do you see all those people who whipping their smartphones out as soon as they get on the train or stand in a queue? They’re not just avoiding boredom, they’re searching—but not only for information, or laughs, or updates. They are searching for a feeling of connection.
We want places to go and places to be. Places to kill time and places that make us feel a little less lonely in the moment. Places to learn. Places to share. Places that make us feel safe, or smart, or welcomed, or funny, or hopeful for the future. But most of all, we want places to belong and places where we feel like we matter.
Those places used to be our family homes, our dinner tables at 6 pm, or football games with friends on Saturday afternoons. Increasingly they are digital spaces.
Whatever you’re building, think beyond features, functionality and design and think first about how the person you serve wants to feel when she arrives at the place you’ve built.” [ source ]
This is exactly on the nail on how I conceive and present the soul of The Border Of a Mind to you as a valuable reader. As I wrote previously, I put my heart and soul into every little word, graphic and theme that you find inscribed here. In this world of bustle and commotion, I always love to prepare this place as sort of a virtual garden of my thoughts and whisk it with some spice of original arts and photography.
orange creep on swirling clouds.
From a winter sky in the UAE with scattered clouds sprouting gradually after an enchanting daybreak. Thin rays of orange creep up around the office premises and that leaves me in awe of this enrapturing spectacle on the horizon.
“ We’re not moments, Megan, you and me. We’re events. You say you might not be the same person you were a year ago? Well, who is? I’m sure not. We change, like swirling clouds around a rising sun.”
― Calamity
Thou knows that sunlight is painting. You know.
Read Spontaneous pleasures.
instating ‘themes’.
Today, The Border of a Mind announces themes, a visual cluster of all themes and categories I’ve written in the past. I hope this would significantly enhance the way the posts are visually organized and structured on the website. We’re adding a banner for it as well. God willing, broader plans are in the pipeline. Enjoy exploring!
> Visual list of writings
> Themes
the flicker of leaves
My vehement fascination with petals and the art in their arrangements transcends to tree trunks and stems as well and this is what we have pulled off : )
This is a mobile photograph taken from Al Ain Oasis. Down the memory lane, my 2019 year started on top of a mountain in the UAE. Instead of chasing fireworks, we pursued mountain trails in 2019. In place of the rabble and gaggle of a fireworks crowd, we tried to embrace the assuasive and soothing equanimity in the mountains.
“You are most beautiful in your purest form. You are a manifestation of God himself. Open your eyes and let the light flow right through to your core. All it takes is for you to notice a flicker of leaves, a momentary glance from a loved one, or for a wave to hit your toes and freeze you in that timeless place where you know with every cell in your body that God, indeed is real.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, The Rise of Shams
mind vessel.
“ The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled. ”
― Plutarch
