<![CDATA[MICHAEL BRIDGES - Blog]]>Tue, 05 May 2026 21:32:12 +0000Weebly<![CDATA[Would You Like To Learn More About The Game Development Pipeline?]]>Tue, 11 Jun 2019 15:29:08 GMThttps://www.michaelbridges.co.uk/blog/would-you-like-to-learn-more-about-the-game-development-pipeline
Picture

Godot Getaway

I have teamed up with a good friend Yann, and we are creating 3 full pipeline courses, covering Coding Assets and Music.

Come over to Kickstarter and check it out! ​https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/63029660/godot-getaway-intermediate-game-making-tutorials?ref=bmauxq
]]><![CDATA[The Complete Blender Creator]]>Tue, 24 Nov 2015 19:16:24 GMThttps://www.michaelbridges.co.uk/blog/the-complete-blender-creatorAfter months of hard work, The Complete Blender Creator has inspired thousands of people who have never worked in 3D before to start creating!

The Course takes your from knowing nothing, all the way through to more advanced creation and has more and more content added every week.
​
I am really happy how the community have embraced the course and have been super supportive during its creation!
]]><![CDATA[New Adventure, New Kickstarter]]>Wed, 01 Apr 2015 00:06:56 GMThttps://www.michaelbridges.co.uk/blog/new-adventure-new-kickstarterI have teamed up with a long time friend Ben Tristem to bring everyone an amazing course on Blender 3D.

Check it out on Kickstarter today and back us to get an amazing course for an excellent price.

]]><![CDATA[Sony RX100M3 Video Quality First Impressions]]>Tue, 05 Aug 2014 19:43:35 GMThttps://www.michaelbridges.co.uk/blog/sony-rx100m3-video-quality-first-impressions RX100M3 Video Quality First Impressions

I have just hit the movie button on the back and this is what I got out of the camera.
Over all I though the video quality was pretty good, it was set on Auto. With my SRL I am so used to having to tweak the settings to get the right balance, however what came off the camera was pretty good.

The sound despite it having a little echo from the room wasn't bad at all and perfectly usable for this type of video.  I would want an off camera mic for something more important though.

Unfortunately the camera lacks anyway of using an External microphone, the Mark 2 did have a horseshoe mount that supported a mic input.  In the grand scheme of things, this doesn't bother me too much as off camera sound is easy enough to marry up with the video in post if it is really needed.

It was set to 25fps using the AVCHD 25p 24M (FX)

I will try out the XAVCS format one I have I card that can handle it, my current SD Card isn't compatible.
]]><![CDATA[Video Promotions]]>Thu, 10 Jul 2014 00:22:07 GMThttps://www.michaelbridges.co.uk/blog/video-promotions As always I don't have much time, but a friend asked me if I could make her a short promo video of her making some of her jewellery. 

I accepted the challenge and loaded my car full of equipment, most of which wasn't used of course, but I would have needed should I have left it at home!

The natural light and its direction were perfect for the shoot, so no studio lighting needed setting up.  That was perfect as it meant I could setup the camera and start shooting. 

I took a couple of takes to make sure we had enough footage and more importantly enough good footage and then transferred it across to the computer for processing. 

Now comes the hard bit- getting 34mins of video down to about 2-3 minutes without losing the point of the video.  Lots of micro trimming later I had a final product!

Jules has popped it on YouTube for all to view, including you
Would you like something like this made for your business, please get in touch.
]]><![CDATA[Fuelly]]>Wed, 15 Jan 2014 20:54:55 GMThttps://www.michaelbridges.co.uk/blog/fuellyPicture
Four many year I have been tracking my mileage, first with spreadsheets and then with mobile apps.


One day when getting a new phone and losing access to all that historical data I realised the benefit of having the information elsewhere.

But I wanted the ability to record the entries on my phone when I was filling up, not having to note it down only to type it in later on.


Enter Fuelly.  Not only does it do exactly what I need it to do, but it also has a large database of other cars and users.


This means that you can track how you are doing in you car against others driving the same car.


It may even help you spot a problem with your car (or right foot). Try it Today
]]><![CDATA[Preventing Bad Mileage]]>Sat, 21 Apr 2012 03:12:28 GMThttps://www.michaelbridges.co.uk/blog/preventing-bad-mileagePreventing very LOW MPG

I believe there are 3 Main killers for high MPG, which I will list in Order of importance for me and my driving:
Acceleration

So it’s obvious that putting your foot to the floor isn’t going to be good for your economy, but taking to long to get up to speed can also be bad as you can be labouring the engine or just driving in an inefficient rev range.

It takes a while to learn where your car’s sweet-spot is. This can be a real challenge, especially when everyone else around you seem to be in such a rush! So much so it seems as 42MPH is far to slow be going in a 40MPH…. anyway I’m ranting!

Idling

This is a huge Killer, fortunately with a bit of planning you can avoid prolonged idling or idling at all.

Ever been driving along only to catch up with the car that raced past you 10 mins previous? Well that guy/gal is very successful in wasting their fuel!

Here are some Tips

1/Cruise up to Red Lights rather than slamming the brakes on last minute.

2/If you know the stretch of road you are on is only a couple of miles long before a potential stop again, (Like a short section of Dual Carriageway) try and avoid going all the way up to 60-70MPH as this is a waste.

3/ If you are going to stop for more than 10 Seconds and it is safe to do so, kill the engine, its just wasting fuel.

4/ Pick alternative routers that avoid stops: Is there a ring road you can use rather than going through the middle of town.
be careful: if you travel 100Miles at 100MPG thats awesome, but if you could have traveled 50 miles at only 70MPG you would have been bitter with the second!

Hills

Nice and simple, took a while for me to realise this…
Pick a speed for the hill and stick to it / gradually slow as you go up.
I have seen in my driving the difference between 20MPG or 70+MPG for that incline just by sticking to this one rule….

Problem is I don’t have that habit yet! and forget.. perhaps thats what is preventing the 100MPG for a whole tank!

]]><![CDATA[How’s the Mileage Going?]]>Fri, 20 Apr 2012 03:13:42 GMThttps://www.michaelbridges.co.uk/blog/hows-the-mileage-goingOk so hows the mileage going…

Well I have now completed several Journeys averaging over 100MPG ( not by much.. like 101-105MPG.

However it is really Challenging keeping it above that for anything but a long journey.

I have covered over 6000 miles in the car now and have averaged 79.4MPG Overall.

Biggest killer is being stuck in night time traffic. I would love to kill the engine at these point, but the lights go the the side lights only. I think this would be a bit too distracting for other road users unfortunately.

Does any one know whether this a a fuse box fix or are they controlled by some other management system?

]]><![CDATA[Smart Car CDI (2011) First Impressions]]>Sat, 11 Feb 2012 04:14:43 GMThttps://www.michaelbridges.co.uk/blog/smart-car-cdi-2011-first-impressionsWow what a little car…

OK so I only got to cover about 20miles or so with 40 minutes of driving, manly in town with a quick blast up and down a local bypass.

First thing I always do before even considering the Smart Car was to read reviews of it elsewhere.
Well reading the review actually put me off a little, from a BBC report that said the 85MPG advertised is a long way from the truth from the gearbox being dodgy.

Well I decided I would try the car for myself and see how it feels.

Obviously during the test I certainly couldn’t measure the MPG that the car was able to achieve but I could try it out at least.

First thing I notices was how it felt much like a normal car in the front and didn’t feel cramped at all, and the high driving position helps make you feel safer.
Obviously things change when you look behind you as that’s the rear of the car!
Ride and Comfort 6/10

Ok the ride isn’t great, however is wasn’t as uncomfortable as a MK7 Feista Zetec S I used to have! However to forgive the car, is has a TINY wheelbase.

Its ride is pretty good I felt directly connected to the road, no doubt helped by the lack of power steering (which isn’t an issue since the car doesn’t weigh much)

Power- for a little car if you you put your foot down it certainly picks up quickly, however you wont have much rev range before you need to change up which leads me to the next section…

Gears

OK, after ready lots of reviews about the Smart Car, it it obvious that the Professional reviews dont always know what they are talking about.
The Smart Car has a SEMI automatic gear box, meaning that the clutch and change is automatic but otherwise is is a manual box.

If you have ever driven a Manual car and changed gear whilst still keeping your foot on the accelerator you will also find the car lurches!

Auto vs Manual.

This “lurching” is certainly more apparent in “Auto” mode as the car will decide when best to change the gears. To be honest I stayed in auto for the first 10minutes so I had one less thing to worry about when driving it for the first time. After that I was in the manual mode, using the flappy paddles for most of the journey (only using the gear stick itself when the steering wheel is being used like on a roundabout)

Road Noise- around town I didn’t notice much difference however at speed 60mph+ it was noticeably louder than my other car.

That’s it for now and I’m looking forward to an extended test drive later in the month in which I can really put it though its paces and see whether it is actually a suitable car for me!

]]>