Unity 3D and iOS Development
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Moving from XP64 to Windows 7 64-bit
Dec 5th
This is documenting my switch from Windows XP 64-bit to Windows 7 64-bit. While I loved xp64 dearly and used it for years, it had gotten cluttered over the years and I’d run into a number of issues and just got fed up with software and hardware not working with it. In it’s defense, there were no other options at the time if you wanted to use 4GB of memory, and the graphics programs I was using for most of my work (Maxon’s Cinema 4D, NextLimit’s RealFlow and RandomControl’s FryRender) all supported 64-bit software and therefore the extra memory, so it was a no brainer. And in it’s defense, it’s been a great workhorse of an operating system and there are drivers for just about everything now, even my Line6 Pod XT Live, which didn’t have 64-bit drivers for a long, long, long time. I think a lot of hardware will have Windows 7 64-bit drivers now since Vista 64-bit has been out a while. Vista 64 was Microsoft’s first “official” 64-bit operating system, they still maintain that xp64 wasn’t an official release, which gave manufacturers a good excuse to not make drivers for it, but the main people who were using xp64 were the power users — the guys doing graphics, music, video and other processor and memory intensive stuff like that.
Getting started in Microstock
Sep 27th
What is Microstock? In a nutshell, you sell your pictures (or 3D images or vector images, etc) on one or more websites, and for most of them, you get from $0.25 on up to a few dollars each. While that doesn’t sound like a lot, it adds up pretty quick. And if someone wants to use your photograph in a magazine or something like that, you get an extended license that usually goes for $25-$30, but they can also buy the rights to it outright which go for $350 on up. I don’t have the camera or the photography chops to do that side of it, but I’ve been doing graphics over the last 7 months and have made about $400 doing this on this side (i.e. in addition to my normal 8-5 gig) over the last 9 months. I know that you’re probably thinking “a quarter for an image? no thanks” — but this doesn’t cut into your normal photography business, it’s more of “in addition to” — it’s selling pictures of things (or people) that you wouldn’t normally be able (or have the time) to sell. And I’ve got one image that’s earned me almost $50, most of that on one site. Most of the places pay you via paypal and do it once you hit a certain payment threshold, like $75 or $100.
Bought an iPod Touch!
Mar 29th
I picked up my iPod Touch this weekend so I’ll no longer face the spurn of being a developer without a device! I got it at Target along with an extended warranty… and while I’ve *never* been a fan of those in the past, this covers normal wear and tear and accidental damage — as long as it’s not water damage — for 3 years for $29. Not a bad deal, and I’m pretty sure Apple charges more than that for their Extended Care and doesn’t cover as much. So I’m pleased.
And 5 hours later after uninstalling and reinstalling a variety of version of iTunes and Quicktime and editing install files via Orca, I finally got it to synch with iTunes on XP64. The keys were making sure that I had installed XP64 service pack 2, and accessing the iTunes page with Internet Explorer 64 bit version to get the proper download — no other browser will do, apparently. Read on for more details.
Then I had to install quicktime 7.5.5, extract the files from the installer, edit out the Vista requirements with Orca and install iTunes. But that proper “recipe” took about 5 hours of uninstalling, reinstalling, reading and digging. And apparently the fact that I got it to work at all on XP64 makes me one of the lucky ones.
Why didn’t I do it on the Mac? Well, I’ve been finishing up a couple of projects on the PC and the Mac hasn’t been on in about a week. Thankfully, I’m just about done and should be happily coding away on the Mac very, very soon.
Let the iPhone development begin. :-)
I’m bona-fide.. I’ve got prospects.
Mar 18th
I’m now a bonafide Apple Developer. Paid my $99, filled out their little info and I’m now able to put free apps in the app store or (more importantly at the moment), test them on the actual devices. Once I give them a bank account and tax info, I’ll be able to sell applications as well through the same place/account.
And no, I still don’t have a device yet, but that should be changing in the next week or so as well. An ipod touch is the plan.
One of my friends told me “You may be the first & only developer I’ve heard of shelling out $99 to be legit before even owning an iPhone or iPod Touch.” — my response? I’ve been accused of being many things. Conventional has never been one of them. Outside the box is where the fun is 
For those that don’t understand quite what I’m talking about, I’ve been working with the free SDK for about 2 months but now with the paid membership, I can actually put things in the app store and sell them.
-Greg
(What do you mean who’s Vernon? Haven’t you seen O Brother Where Art Thou?)