Paul Callahan (he/him)
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paulcallahanmv.bsky.social
Paul Callahan (he/him)
@paulcallahanmv.bsky.social
Computer scientist with a bunch of weird hobbies. I have mostly been linking news and making political comments. I plan to post more 3D print models and other math crafts when I can.

"When the world falls apart, some things stay in place."
I have been playing around with QWEN for AI art. It started out a little finicky, but it gets the narrative best in these pictures. My idea is a "careful what you wish for" cautionary tale. In each image, a portal opens up to an eldritch but not actually hostile world. #ai-art #qwen #fantasyart
November 16, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Trying to do some concept art here with AI. I don't know if the narrative comes through but what I imagine is a simple spell to produce apples opens a portal into an orchard where mindless servants dump apples in wheelbarrows into the kitchen. I wanted goblins but they look like costumes.
#ai-art
November 15, 2025 at 5:53 AM
This was from over a year ago, but ChatGPT was convinced at the time that Disney owned nearly every character from folklore that they ever laid their fingers on. It also refused to render Snow White or Cinderella. It did "The Little Mermaid" but made her an Ariel knockoff with red hair.
November 13, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Skating in Union Square park from my office window.
#sanfrancisco #unionsquare #holidays
November 11, 2025 at 8:23 PM
November 11, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Macy's Union Square decked out for Christmas. I thought they were closing.

#sanfrancisco
November 10, 2025 at 7:31 PM
The blue ones? (Those are the ones that are real.) Very small. Here they are next to the cutters and a dime.
November 9, 2025 at 10:48 AM
I noticed the colors were really washed out. Here is the simulated stone tiling with a lot of modification in GIMP.
November 9, 2025 at 4:50 AM
Finally, fake and real together. I clipped the original parts as perfect polygons, recolored and fit them back together into a simulated stone tiling. This could be the basis of a pair of seamless Penrose tiles, but that will take additional work.
#inkscape #gimp #penrose
November 9, 2025 at 2:32 AM
I took my polymer clay photo, desaturated it completely and then imposed a perfect tiling as well as I could in Inkscape, using partially opaque polygons with natural tones from a photo to color the clay. Since my clay is imperfect, it doesn't quite match. #inkscape #penrosetiles
November 9, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Blue polymer clay desaturated in GIMP to look more like natural stone. I may use this approach to simulate the entire mosaic with varying mineral colorations.
November 8, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Polymer-clay tiling made using 3D-printed cutters. I will post a link to the model after I put it up, but the main idea here is to include a plunger in each cutter for removing the shape without leaving an imprint. The pattern tiles are optional but can be used for layout.

#3d-printing #polymerclay
November 8, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Some crafts and 3D print (bottom) based on the Voronoi diagram of a Penrose tiling.
November 8, 2025 at 4:11 PM
OMG. That's a blast from the past. I remember being terrified as a kid though I misremembered it as a Night Gallery episode.

I have a Zuni fetish that I bought in New Mexico many years ago that looks nothing like that doll. It's a turtle and supports Mamdani.
November 4, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Tree going up. Union Square.

#sanfrancisco
November 3, 2025 at 7:21 PM
And so it begins...

Holiday season already? Union Square skating rink from my window.
#sanfrancisco
November 3, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Who would win in a matchup of Robo Hitler and Nuclear Gandhi?
November 2, 2025 at 1:49 AM
With candle.
#halloween
November 1, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Last minute jackolantern.
#halloween
November 1, 2025 at 12:37 AM
I wonder if my dissertation research will get more readers in comic book form.
October 31, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Both look "just ok" to me. I find the original more distinctive. There is nothing especially evocative of the Lincoln era (I checked, and was surprised to find that indoor plumbing was coming in by that time). I used AI art to come up with something really classy. You might need to break some walls.
October 31, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Another Penrose cobblestone layout with two colors of PLA.
#penrose #pla #3d-printing
October 30, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Penrose rock tilings expanded out further.
#penrose #seamless #gimp #inkscape
October 30, 2025 at 3:10 PM
The same seamless Penrose tiling as last time, but I changed the tip of the dart to split up the center into 5 separate pebbles instead of a ring when they are placed symmetrically. The second picture shows it zoomed in. No AI was used for this.
#penrose #tessellation #seamless
October 30, 2025 at 4:45 AM
Spam, gasoline, giving. A true one stop shopping experience.
#spam #gasoline
October 29, 2025 at 3:50 PM