Introducing Captain Hive

Hi Everyone,

Hive account@spectrumecons here with a new account. I have created a new account on Hive called Hive account@captainhive. On my Hive account@spectrumecons account, I mostly write about economics content. Economics is both my interest and area of expertise. Economics is not my only area of interest. I also like to travel, play PS4 games, watch movies, play chess, solve puzzles and take long walks. I occasionally include these other interests on my Hive account@spectrumecons account to show the world a different side of me but I do not intend to make these a feature of that account. Below is a sample of these types of posts.

Introducing Spectrum Economics

Uluru Exclusive Footage

Kata Tjuta Exclusive Footage

White Pass & Yukon Route Railway (Skagway) Adventure

Final Puzzle Contest

Walking the Dogs - Just getting some fresh air with my boys

Actifit Report and Dog Walk Video

Actifit Report and Walking by the lake with the dogs

As my content has evolved, I have developed another interest. This interest has involved creating my own pictures using Portable Network Graphics (PNG). I initially began by using images from Google and combining them to make pictures to help explain my economics content. Overtime, I decided I wanted my pictures to be a little more original. I decided to take photographs of some of my collectibles and then extract the image of the collectable from the photograph to make a PNG, which I could use in my pictures instead of using the Google images. I did this for quite some time and I was quite happy with the look it gave my content. It also made it feel more original and authentic. Below are several posts explaining how I made these PNGs.

Fun Portable Network Graphics (PNG)

Portable Network Graphics (PNG) – Squirt the Whale

Creating my own style with my PNG images

My next step was to combine my newfound interest in making pictures with PNGs with my passion for PS4 gaming. The PS4 is great for capturing images and short segments of game play.

Many PS4 games have good creation features. Many games also allow content to be modified and enables external designs to be imported. There are two games in particular, which I find to have very good creation modes. These games are Gran Turismo Sport and WWE 2K19.

Gran Turismo Sport has a very good livery creation mode. It allows users to import any designs that meet the import size requirement into the game. The creation modes allows user to place these imported designs anywhere on the body of the car as well as allowing designs to be enlarged, shrunk, stretched, rotated, and even inverted. The car livery designs can be shared online or screenshot in preview mode. Gran Turismo Sport has a create feature called ‘Scapes’. This feature enables users to place their cars in exotic places and the car appears as if it is actually at the place. Even the shadows and reflections are realistic. These created pictures can be uploaded and then downloaded on to the computer where they can be further modified before being added to posts. I explain this process in detail in the post My Steem Cars.

I also like to create characters as well. I have found WWE 2K19 to be very useful for that. The game has several creations features. I use the ‘create a superstar’ feature the most. I import designs into the game and add these designs to the ‘Superstars’ clothing. When finished, I put them into a pose and take a screenshot. I explain more about this process in my post Getting creative with Steem logos in WWE 2K19.

Since joining Hive, I have made several more creations. You can view these creations in the following posts.

My Hive Cars

It’s Hive Time

Creating a new look for Spectrumecons on Hive

I also like to create Gifs. Some of these Gifs are based off short videos and others are a combination of pictures used to tell a story. The pictures are normally created using a combination of PNGs that I have made using the above-mentioned processes.

Most of my creations eventually find their way into my content. However, these pictures are almost never the focus of the content but rather just a tool to help elaborate on the written content. In this new account, I want these pictures, GIFs and even individual PNGs to be the focus of the content.

Why the name Hive account@captainhive?

I have used the name Hive account@captainhive to help promote Hive and my own content at the same time. Not many of these posts are going to be focused on Hive but many of my creations will have some link to Hive in their design. There is a good chance a character will be wearing a shirt with a Hive logo. Captain Hive will also appear in all these posts. He will appear as a logo in the corner of a picture or possibly in the picture offering some friendly advice.

At this point, I’m not sure how frequently I will be posting with this new account. It will probably depend how busy I am with other things. My Hive account@spectrumecons account will remain my first priority on Hive but the posts on the Hive account@spectrumecons account normally need new pictures and characters. The content should therefore flow naturally to this account. My Actifit posts will remain with the Hive account@spectrumecons account as most of the content in the Actifit posts relate to updates and new content with that account. Other content not relating to economics could also appear on this account. I will decide as I go. In the next few weeks, I intend to power up this account to Orca using the Steem I am currently powering down.