Pop Vinyl Repairs – How To

Pop Vinyl Repairs – How To

How Can I Clean Off Marks?

Magic Erasers seem to be the most popular solution in the Pop community. It is a block of Melamine Foam, and is sold under many different brand names. For Australians, it is a Chux product, available in stores like Coles. Other solutions include a small amount Rubbing Alcohol or Eucalyptus oil on a cotton swab. I have also read some people use acetone on a swab, but this sounds a bit aggressive to me, and will likely remove paint. I STRONGLY recommend you do not use this method. For those who want to give it a go on really stubborn stains, tread carefully and press gently, and don’t say you were not warned!

How Can I Straighten A Bent Dagger/Knife/Sword/Body Part?

There are two widely used methods, both involve heat. For thin parts, a hair dryer can be used to warm and soften the material, then maneuver the part into the correct location and hold it there until it cools. For thicker part, run it under hot water, or submerge it in hot water until it softens. Again, hold it in the right spot until it cools.

How Can I Make The Head Sit Straight?

Bobble Heads – Force a few cotton balls up inside the spring and manipulate it until the head sits correctly.

Non-Bobble Heads – Submerge the head in hot water until the glue softens, then gently manipulate it until it is in the correct spot, and hold it until the glue cools/dries again.

How Can I Repair A Crushed Box?

We all hate it when a Pop arrives crushed, but I have read on some boards that people have attempted to repair damaged boxes with some success. Whilst it is definitely not recommended, it seems crushed boxes can be improved by removing everything from the inside, flattening them out, putting a pillow case over them, and gently passing a warm iron with NO steam over them. Obviously, you would need to concentrate on the cardboard and steer clear of the plastic, but if the box is already trashed, you have got nothing to lose. I personally would opt for a stack of heavy books instead of an iron…

How Can I Secure A Loose Clear Plastic Window?

Use a regular glue gun to add a drop of glue in an out of sight place.

How can I re-attach a part that has broken off?

Know a good glue to use on Funko Pop Vinyls? Let us know about it by leaving a comment below.

How To Speed Up a WordPress Web Site by Optimizing Images

Imageoptim LogoThe Webernets has been running a bit slow lately, so I started looking at ways to speed things up. I stumbled on an article on WPMUDEV titled “How To Massively Reduce Your Images For A Faster WordPress Site“, and I thought I would put it to the test. I downloaded my entire images folder from my server, and here are the beginning stats.

Original SizeAs I am using a Mac, I downloaded the free app recommended in the article called ImageOptim (The article recommended Caesium as a free alternative for Windows users). I was impressed to read on the download page that “ImageOptim is lossless — it compresses image files without changing pixels.

Opening the program shows a pretty familiar looking window.

ImageOptim WindowI dropped the whole folder in using the default settings and away it went. It took about 50 minutes, and here is the summary it displayed when finished.

file size savingsAnd this is the specs on the folder from the finder.

default optimized file size63.9 MB saving is nothing to sneeze at, but I was interested to see if I could push it any further. In the settings, I found a “Quality” slider for Jpegs. By default, it is set to 100% hence the claim to lossless, So sliding it down to 80% will obviously reduce the quality and void the lossless claim, but is the trade off for file size justifiable?

ImageOptim PreferancesWith the Jpeg Quality Slider set to 80, I ran the program again on a copy of the original folder I made before the first optimization run. It took about 60 minutes this time, and here is the summary from the window footer

Hard Optimize SettingsAnd here is how the Finder views the folder

Hard Optimized Finder Size110.5 MB Saving on a 330.4 MB original file size is impressive. That’s 1/3! I went through a number of files to check the quality, and even though there is a slight difference if you look hard, for the most part the quality is good.

How to easily create a group and send a SMS Text Message to everyone in it on iPhone

connect-contact-managerMy boss at work asked me if there was an easy way to create a group of contacts, and send a message to everyone in the group on her iPhone, and with a little digging I turned up this free GEM app called Connect Contact Manager for iPhone. An example of its use would be if you were a coach of a team, and you need to let all the players know practice is cancelled, you just select the group, type “Practice is cancelled” as a text message, and when you press send, the same message is sent to the entire team automatically (Assuming you have all of their mobile/cell numbers on your phone).

Go to the app store and download the free app. Find it by searching for Connect Contact Manager, or go HERE.

Connect Contact Manager Download

Once downloaded, open it up.Contact Screen

Create A New Group

You can scroll through the groups you have already made by swipping left and right on the group names, and if you want to create a new group click the plus icon in the top right corner. If you have already created the group you want to message, skip down to the “Send A Message To The Group” section

Add Group

Give your new group a name

New GroupSelect the contacts that you want to be in your group

Confirm Create

When you have selected all of the contacts you want in your group, confirm your selections by clicking create in the top right cornerconfirm-createSend A Message To The Group

Now, select the group you want to message by scrolling left and right, and hold down/press the groups name for a few seconds

Select GroupThen select “Message”

Select Message

Now you can type your message

Send Message

When you are done typing, simply press “Send”, and everyone in the group will get your message

How To Make Your Own Internet TV Show – Part 7 – How To Make A Lower Third

Lower Third Graphic
Part 7 – How To Make A Lower Third Overlay Graphic

In this tutorial I show you how you can make a lower third overlay graphic to use in your broadcast for titles. In the tutorial I use Adobe Photoshop, but if you don’t have that, you can download a free fully functional 30 day trial from Adobe.com, or if you want a fully functional entirely free high quality image editor you can download The Gimp free from gimp.org.

Note to Pros – These articles are aimed at beginners, who wish to spend little or no money until they have a grasp on the topic, and are hoping to learn how to get started quickly and easily, using equipment they most likely already have.

httpvh://youtu.be/2VJ1iOdudrE

You can download a free unrestricted trial copy of Vidblaster from vidblaster.com

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How To Make Your Own Internet TV Show – Part 6 – Connecting Guests Via Skype

Skype_LogoPart 6 – Connecting Guests Via Skype

In this tutorial I show you how you can capture a video conversation from Skype and include it in your broadcast

Note to Pros – These articles are aimed at beginners, who wish to spend little or no money until they have a grasp on the topic, and are hoping to learn how to get started quickly and easily, using equipment they most likely already have.

httpvh://youtu.be/tVqZSYP1V_w

**UPDATE** – As of VidBlaster version 4.05, a new “Screen Capture” module has been added which replaces the old method. If your version of VidBlaster is 4.05 or above, see the following video.

httpvh://youtu.be/qK-Kobwcxfo

Voicemeeter can be downloaded FREE HERE at vb-audio.com. Don’t forget to make a donation – the programmer deserves a little something for a program this good!

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You can download a free unrestricted trial copy of Vidblaster from vidblaster.com

vidblasterbuynow234x60

How to run a USB Mic through an External Audio Mixer

USB Mic through an External Audio Mixer – How To

USB Mic through an External Audio MixerI have been reading on forums lately how some people would like to be able to run their USB Mic through their external hardware mixing desks, and it is relatively easy to do.

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Below is a diagram on how to run your wiring between the devices.

sound-flow-direction-diagram

Plug your USB Mic into a USB Slot, run an appropriate lead from the Line Out/Headphone Out of your computer into a stereo input channel on your mixer. If your mixer has only mono channels, use channel one for your left, and channel 2 for your right. Next, run wires from the Main Output of the mixer to your Line in/Mic In on your computer, and the physical part is done.

Next, open up Voicemeeter (If you don’t have Voicemeeter you can download it free at VB-Audio.com) and select your USB Mic as the device for channel 1. Make sure “A” is selected/highlighted and “B” is not selected.

step 1Then, select your Line Out/Headphone Out jack as the device for Voicemeeters Main Output, “A1”.

Step 2Now it is time to select your Line In/Mic in as the device for Channel 2. Make sure that “A” is not selected, and “B” is selected.

Step 3All that is left is to open up the app you want to use (eg – Skype, Vidblaster, or some other Web Cam program) and select Voicemeeter’s Virtual Device (Output “B” in Voicemeeter) as the input source audio device.

Skype InVoicemeeter can be downloaded FREE HERE at vb-audio.com. Don’t forget to make a donation – the programmer deserves a little something for a program this good!
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