User:Wapcaplet

License
All my contributions to Wikipedia, in any form, are licensed as follows:

These licenses apply retroactively. If you find any of my contributions that are not specifically licensed according to the above, please feel free to fix it for me, and edit the description page to match the above license(s).

If you'd like to discuss any other form of licensing, just ask me!

Bio

 * Real name : Eric Pierce
 * Email address : gmail wapcaplet88



I grew up near Decatur, Illinois, briefly attended college at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and eventually graduated from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio with a degree in computer science. Got married in '01, moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado in '03, and had a baby boy in '06. I now work as a software engineer here in the Springs. Some of my interests include Linux, computer (and non-computer) graphics, music and musical composition, and LEGO. I like to play Axis & Allies, Risk and disc golf.

I have a certain affection for the diverse Wikipedia articles that I have contributed significantly to, from the Great Pyramid of Giza to King Crimson, from the HSV color space to the M-209 cipher machine. I've found that writing for Wikipedia has sharpened my skill with precise, unambiguous prose, and has given me practice in making a technical narrative accessible to a general audience. I'm only an amateur writer, though, and a poor researcher; my specialty, at least in regards to Wikipedia, has been the art of illustration.

How I learned to illustrate
I've had a lifelong proclivity for drawing that naturally extended into computer graphics, beginning with my first computer experiences on the TRS-80 and Apple IIc. I remember writing dumb little programs, little more than a bunch of graphic commands, to draw boxy 80x25 graphics of things like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was briefly obsessed with the first Apple Macintosh's paint program, which a co-worker of my dad had. My next computer, a Tandy 1000 HX, taught me how to use a 16-color paint program, and write more dumb little programs for randomly drawing gradient-shaded colored spheres. Next, it was POV-Ray and GeoWorks paint on a 386, Fractal Design and Adobe Photoshop on a 486, and now Blender, GIMP, Inkscape and others on my Athlon running Gentoo Linux.

It is only in illustrating for Wikipedia that I've really learned how to illustrate. Here, I have complete creative freedom, but there are a number of other constraints to consider. In order for an illustration to work for Wikipedia, it must be simple enough to be legible at low resolution; it must communicate information in a way that complements the accompanying textual description; it should not be language-dependent. Having worked within them for a while, I believe these constraints can only make illustrations better, and I think I have become a better illustrator because of my experience here. The appreciation and recognition that I have received for my illustrations is the best reward I could ask for!

Automobile diagrams
I've created a partial 3D model showing the internal parts of an automobile using Blender. I've neglected the project in more recent months, however, and very few practical illustrations ever came out of it. If you would like to pick things up where I left off (or are just interested in getting ahold of the model), let me know and I will gladly email the Blender scene file to you.

Wikipedia T-shirts
I've made some Wikipedia T-shirt designs. Check out my meta user page for designs which you are free to use for any purpose you like.

Illustrations


I've contributed a lot of illustrations to Wikipedia. Here are some of them:


 * Anatomy
 * Heart
 * Image:Heart_labelled_large.png
 * Image:Heart_diastole.png
 * Image:Heart_systole.png




 * Automobile parts
 * Four-stroke cycle
 * Image:Four_stroke_cycle_start.png
 * Image:Four_stroke_cycle_intake.png
 * Image:Four_stroke_cycle_compression.png
 * Image:Four_stroke_cycle_spark.png
 * Image:Four_stroke_cycle_power.png
 * Image:Four_stroke_cycle_exhaust.png
 * Disc brake
 * Image:Disc_brake_open.png
 * Image:Disc_brake_half_clamped.png
 * Image:Disc_brake_clamped.png




 * Computer graphics
 * HSV color space
 * Image:Hsv_sample.png
 * Image:HSV_cone.jpg
 * Image:HSV_cylinder.jpg
 * Constructive solid geometry
 * Image:Csg_union.png
 * Image:Csg_difference.png
 * Image:Csg_intersection.png
 * Image:Radiosity.png
 * Image:DPI_and_PPI.png




 * Cryptography
 * Enigma machine
 * Image:Enigma_rotor_exploded_view.png
 * Image:Enigma_rotor_set.png
 * Image:Enigma_ratchet.png
 * M-94
 * Image:Wheel_cipher.png
 * M-209
 * Image:M209_guide_arm_springs.png
 * Image:M209_guide_arm_touching_lug.png




 * Locks
 * Pin tumbler lock
 * Image:Pin_tumbler_locked.png
 * Image:Pin_tumbler_with_key.png
 * Image:Pin_tumbler_unlocked.png
 * Tubular pin tumbler lock
 * Image:Tubular_locked.png
 * Image:Tubular_with_key.png
 * Image:Tubular_unlocked.png
 * Disc tumbler lock
 * Image:Disc_tumbler_locked.png
 * Image:Disc_tumbler_with_key.png
 * Image:Disc_tumbler_unlocked.png
 * Combination lock
 * Image:Combination_discs.png
 * Image:Combination_unlocked.png
 * Image:Combination_locked.png
 * Warded lock
 * Image:Warded_locked.png
 * Image:Warded_with_key.png
 * Image:Warded_unlocked.png
 * Maps
 * Image:US_state_abbrev_map.png




 * Mechanisms
 * Epicyclic gearing
 * Image:Epicyclic_gear_ratios.png
 * Image:Epicyclic_carrier_locked.png
 * Differential
 * Image:Differential_free.png
 * Image:Differential_locked.png
 * Electrical stuff
 * Electric motor
 * Image:Electric_motor_cycle_1.png
 * Image:Electric_motor_cycle_2.png
 * Image:Electric_motor_cycle_3.png
 * Stepper motor
 * Image:Stepper_motor_1.png
 * Image:Stepper_motor_2.png
 * Image:Stepper_motor_3.png
 * Image:Stepper_motor_4.png
 * Image:LVDT.png
 * Image:TWTA.png




 * Miscellaneous
 * Image:Milgram_experiment.png
 * Image:Binary clock.svg

Some I'd like to illustrate if I find the time:


 * A dial-style combination lock
 * Clearer examples of a vacuum tube

If there is something you would like to have illustrated, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

My monobook stylesheet customizations

Wapcaplet