iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 01/09/2026

My @cloudflare.social Worker was at 2.1 MB (3 MB tier limit) Just found I was accidentally 1.58 MB of stuff to the bundle. Pushed what I needed to the client-side bundle, dropped entirely from the server side. Now at 0.52 MB Feeling stupid, and awesome, in equal measures.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 01/09/2026

I hate to say this, but... I don't think the cheeks work, anymore. Was fine when he was always facing forward. But now, while building more poses, it just doesn't work. Moving them around is a total faff, too. Might need to be less cheeky going forward.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 31/08/2026

Couldn't recommend more trying your best to replicate a style you admire. Have learned so much in the past few weeks about vector art, animation, rigging, etc. Time to apply what I've learned. Starting with overhauling little Andy:

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 26/08/2026

First few clips for the intro cut together to get a feel. Still a couple of issues to solve. But, it's getting there! Not looking forward to lip sync stuff, though... 😅

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 25/08/2026

Took a break yesterday to play football. Weather was so nice. Had to be done. But, back to it tonight. Got our cadet walking into the holodeck. Lots of depth stuff figured out. Geordi placeholder will be removed soon. Gonna work now on the holograhic starfleet academy teacher guy.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 23/08/2026

Decided to push on and do a few more bits. Added the hallway when the doors open and replaced the temporary squares with a proper character. Next I'll experiment with a green screen video and chroma key. Keen to know if that'll work since it might save me a lot of time.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 23/08/2026

Decent progress today. Functional door I can open/close show/hide via code. Camera too, including yaw. And a few placeholders in the scene for other stuff. Mixing 2d and 3d has been challenging. Learning loads.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 23/08/2026

My thinking here is that I'll be able to replace these components with pretty much anything I want. SVGs being the obvious option. Then make them sprites. But one thing I'm quite interested in experimenting with is video with a green screen background. Then, I can apply chroma key... 🤔

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 23/08/2026

Parametric holodeck with a camera inside real 3d geometry using threejs. Next step will be to add the arch, door, hallway and the cadet. Have the doors open, he walks in, doors close, then the arch and doors fade. This will be the start of mixing 2d and 3d 😬

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 22/08/2026

Our cadet is ready to learn all about the Open-Closed Principle on the holodeck.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 21/08/2026

Getting close to calling this done. I need to do the panels for the doors. Maybe a large panel on the wall to break up the boring corridor. And a little texture for the floor, maybe? Not sure. Gotta move onto the holodeck and cadet character soon, though.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 21/08/2026

Quick lighting experiment. Simple vector line. Larger width. Lots of drop shadow and blur with a simple gradient on the wall. Looks alright. Might change it from a line so the end caps look better and I can add a little more perspective - but I think the idea works.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 21/08/2026

Cleaning up some files on my desktop and found this. This was how I initially planned to animate the characters, but I'm not sure if I'll continue with this type of rigging. It'll just take way too long to animate the whole video this way.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 21/08/2026

Still needs work, but this is where I ended up last night. Perspective lines are correct, but feel a little off in places. Also can't animate the door opening as it is just now... but, it's progress.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 20/08/2026

Tempted just to add the door I need to the right and no more doors now. It's gotten a little easier each segment, but still quite a chore. Learned a ton. Stroke thickness, for example, as distance increases. Got a few curves to fix, improve some shadows and figure out lighting

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 20/08/2026

Coming together, slowly. Lots of time for a scene which will be less than a few seconds, though. Got a few ideas for using threejs for the next scene.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 19/08/2026

WIP - hallway in a starship. Much more challenging than I thought it would be. Need to complete the walls, add more doors, and a big massive door on the right. And somehow make it curve around a corner. Oh, and lights. Ah, and panels on the wall... Lordy lord 😩

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 19/08/2026

I'm 456 watch hours from monetising my YouTube channel. Soon, the threshold will double! I make software engineering videos that help build mental models with metaphors. Four favourites below 👇 If a dev you know would enjoy them, a share means a lot! 🙏 #raceTo4k

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 18/08/2026

My daughter saw me storyboarding my next video and wanted to help. She did great, but out of all the characters, she decided to choose Uncle Bob in his bathrobe instead of a Starfleet uniform. 🙈🤣 Sorry Bob, I'll fix your toes once you're a proper vector.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 17/08/2026

You should always say "yes" to a quick 30 minute paddle. That hour and a half could be the best 4 hours of your life.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 12/08/2026

It’s a strange feeling having AI quote you to yourself.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 26/07/2026

This is my favourite part of creating content. Just being silly and entertaining myself. Spent the morning explaining OCP using a replicator from Star Trek 🖖 Any excuse for wee graphics and stuff like this. Loads of fun.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 21/07/2026

Yey! It's been a goal of mine to reach the YouTube Partner milestone for a number of years now.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 29/06/2026

Incredible that 5k of you subscribe to my silly little channel explaining software things using metaphors and analogies. I hope you all know I have no idea how to make videos. I'm totally making it up and learning as I go. Having loads of fun, though!

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 01/06/2026

Teaching Idempotency using my favourite card game while making a Silicon Valley "always blue" reference. Having fun like this is what keeps me making videos. Lord knows it's not the views! 🤣

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 27/05/2026

This took me a while... all to add less than 10s to a video. But man, I loved this game!

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 27/04/2026

I see you @joshwcomeau.com! I'm now clicking _everything_

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 28/03/2026

Lots of walkies today with this little guy

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 15/03/2026

First full draft of next video complete. Now time to goto bed, wake up, and hate everything all over again.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 05/03/2026

So, this is what developing a writing habit looks like...? Inspiring stuff @chriscoyier.net

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 04/03/2026

Each time I work on a new OG image for an article, I'm reminded the devlog series flow from one to the next. Utterly pointless, but makes me happy.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 21/02/2026

Urgh, I guess I'll change the border radius myself, ffs.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 12/02/2026

Today was the first time I have ever installed a heat sink onto a CPU that will not be used to play Counter Strike Feeling like a proper grown up.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 11/02/2026

Excited for this. Cooking something new!

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 05/02/2026

Ah, sorry - I can't come into work tomorrow... I'm still gonna be watching this YouTube video. 😅

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 01/02/2026

Inspired by how @dreamsofcode.bsky.social highlights elements within his videos:

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 31/01/2026

No output was faked in the making of this video

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 31/01/2026

Created a Voronoi disintegration to fracture child components into cells that scatter apart. Planning on testing it to make a more dramatic scene transition.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 30/01/2026

Velocity motion blur can blur asymmetrically (only behind) creating more convincing motion blur trails following the objects path. Unlike the last example, which was using gaussian blur. It was only able to blur across x or y axis.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 30/01/2026

Super obvious from a still - but feels very subtle in motion.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 30/01/2026

Comparing one with slight motion blur, and one without. Still playing around with the strength of the blur.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 29/01/2026

For the longest time I've wanted to figure out how to add motion blur programatically. 🎉 I don't show it here, but I'm also setting `angle` when the movement is along the y axis.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 29/01/2026

Shaders are so powerful! 😲

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 04/01/2026

Love creating reusable stuff like this. The scoreboard will probably only be relevant to the new video I'm working on, but the applyGlitch() function I'm sure will be reused. It's random, too. Looks different every time.

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Andrew Cairns @acairns.co.uk · 05/09/2025

My little hobby channel just turned 2 years old and my most successful video just reached 100k views. I've also just started working with my first brand! Best thing - it's all fun. No stress. No pressure. Just pure enjoyment.

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