Instapaper

Remember that 3 minutes I told you about. Were I get to read something. Ok, so I'm a slow reader. I need more then 3 minutes.

This is were Instapaper comes in. At its core it is both a web service that saves URLs and a iOS app to read those saved articles. Go to Instapaper.com to sign up. The web service is free.

Usage:

  1. Drag the bookmarklet to your browsers bookmarks. There are instructions here
  2. Start saving articles for reading.

There isn't another step unless you have a iOS device. If you would like more information go here.

If you decide you would like to use more than just the web interface and have articles on your device for offline browsing you can purchase the Instapaper app from the AppStore. I say purchase because the app cost $4.99. Worth every penny. once the app is installed you sign in with your username and password and the device grabs up to the most recent 500 articles. You can make folders for savings and categorizing stories. There is also a straight archive that is just that, an archive. You can add via in app purchase search for $3.99 for 3 months.

You can also use this service to send articles to your Kindle. There is a fee associated doing that but if you are kindle user and do not intend on buying a iPad or iPhone this might interest you.

Instapaper is great app/service. I love always having something to read. Learning or laughing or simply having a place to save and archive your favorite articles or important info from your day.

The best write up I have read is here .

Reeder

A friend of mine just got a iPhone. He is coming over from a Blackberry. He asked me to recommend some apps. Here is part one. I will also be posting about web services that intergrate well with the iOS.

Reeder does exactly that. Reeder reads RSS feeds. Your favorite sports team, maybe a family member has a photo site. The photo bit can be a huge game changer for a couple who just had a baby.

To use reeder you need a google account. The Reeder app will ask for your google account info.

If you would like more info on getting google reader working click here

Then its game on. Go to your favorites sites. I'll get you started.

Fxguide

Why is reeder a game changer. Reeder is quick. I need quick. I have 3 minutes[rendering, we have a render farm its awesome], but sitting there staring at rush is waste of time. I can glance at Reeder and whatever catches my eye I will start to read.

Enjoy,

Roto

This shot took 2 compositors and a team of 3d artists to complate. I headed up the rotoscoping part of the project. There was a ton.[Rotoscoping explained at vfxwiki.org]

First the shot.

The simple way to discribe this shot is a really complex wire removal. The cliff face had to be replaced. The climber had to be painted frame by frame and then place on top of the clean rock that was built in maya. That also meant the climber had to be rotoscoped threw out the whole shot.

I stopped the roto there so you can see how it kinda works. 10 days for this shot. A lot of work.

Always think about the shot before you shoot and commit to it. Once it is in the can it can be hard not to use it without a fix.

It might save you a ton of money. Nice work Maureen, Lee and Josh.

More on Channels

When I start a shot, one of the first things I do is shuffle the source reads RGB channels into a src_plate layer. By doing this I have created a new layer in my compositing stream that i can now get to at anytime. I can also do this with pre-renders of denoised source plates or maybe just the red channel for tracking. These can be shuffle copied into the compositing stream as well. Now when I need the source plate down the compositing stream I can use a shuffle node to bring that layer front and center.

There is a flip side to all these layers and channels. If you work with folks that do not use this method of compositing then this might cause a problem. Above all else when working with others in compositing is to have everyone on the same page. Above all else if you are working within a group keep your scripts readable and organized as you can.

Take some time and understand what your doing. There is nothing worse than not knowing why a image or matte isn't showing in the viewer.

Here is an example script to look at. And also a link to Nukepedia.com explaining more in-depth layers and channels. In this script there is SRCPLATE and SRCPLATE_CC. Both layers containing RGBA channels. There is also a roto node that is plugged into a copy. I am coping the roto nodes matte into the stream for future use. 

        set cut_paste_input [stack 0]
version 6.2 v2
push $cut_paste_input
Roto {
 output alpha
 curves {AnimTree: "" {
 Version: 1.2
 Flag: 0
 RootNode: 1
 Node: {
  NodeName: "Root" {
   Flag: 512
   NodeType: 1
   Transform: 0 0 S 0 0 S 0 0 S 0 0 S 0 1 S 0 1 S 0 0 S 0 1024 S 0 778 
   NumOfAttributes: 10
   "vis" S 0 1 "opc" S 0 1 "mbo" S 0 1 "mb" S 0 1 "mbs" S 0 0.5 "fo" S 0 1 "fx" S 0 0 "fy" S 0 0 "ff" S 0 1 "ft" S 0 0 
  }
  NumOfChildren: 0
 }
}
}
 toolbox {createBezier {
  { createBezier ssx 1 ssy 1 sf 1 sb 1 tt 4 }
  { createBSpline ssx 1 ssy 1 sf 1 sb 1 }
  { createEllipse ssx 1 ssy 1 sf 1 sb 1 }
  { createRectangle ssx 1 ssy 1 sf 1 sb 1 }
  { brush ssx 1 ssy 1 sf 1 sb 1 }
  { eraser src 2 ssx 1 ssy 1 sf 1 sb 1 }
  { clone src 1 ssx 1 ssy 1 sf 1 sb 1 }
  { reveal src 3 ssx 1 ssy 1 sf 1 sb 1 }
  { dodge src 1 ssx 1 ssy 1 sf 1 sb 1 }
  { burn src 1 ssx 1 ssy 1 sf 1 sb 1 }
  { blur src 1 ssx 1 ssy 1 sf 1 sb 1 }
  { sharpen src 1 ssx 1 ssy 1 sf 1 sb 1 }
  { smear src 1 ssx 1 ssy 1 sf 1 sb 1 }
} }
 toolbar_brush_hardness 0.200000003
 toolbar_lifetime_type all
 toolbar_source_transform_scale {1 1}
 toolbar_source_transform_center {1024 778}
 view {}
 motionblur_on true
 name Roto1
 selected true
 xpos 3614
 ypos -43
}
CheckerBoard2 {
 inputs 0
 name CheckerBoard1
 selected true
 xpos 3608
 ypos -205
}
ColorBars {
 inputs 0
 name ColorBars1
 selected true
 xpos 3775
 ypos -381
}
add_layer {SRC_PLATE SRC_PLATE.red SRC_PLATE.green SRC_PLATE.blue SRC_PLATE.alpha}
Shuffle {
 alpha black
 out SRC_PLATE
 name Shuffle1
 label "\[value out]"
 selected true
 xpos 3775
 ypos -298
}
add_layer {SRC_PLATE_CC SRC_PLATE_CC.red SRC_PLATE_CC.green SRC_PLATE_CC.blue SRC_PLATE_CC.alpha}
ShuffleCopy {
 inputs 2
 red red
 green green
 blue blue
 out SRC_PLATE_CC
 name ShuffleCopy1
 label "\[value out]"
 selected true
 xpos 3775
 ypos -184
}
add_layer {roto roto.matte}
Copy {
 inputs 2
 from0 rgba.alpha
 to0 roto.matte
 name Copy1
 selected true
 xpos 3775
 ypos -43
}

Enjoy,

michaelb

iPad

What's good about the iPad. It's not what you think.

I am a compositor. I sit in front of a computer all day long. I use every bit of RAM and all cores. When I get home the computer can be a very deep dark hole. The screen sucks me in. An update to the Web site or edit the lastest photos. maybe learn some Python or compositing trick. I could sit at a computer for hours.

Enter iPad.

The iPad provides a rich experience but scales it down for me just enough where I do only what the iPad is good at. I read, return e-mail. Surf the web. I do not listen to music on the iPad, but I play games. During the baseball season I watch or listen to baseball games. Thats about it.

Perfect.

UI

Complaints or not iCloud has been good to me. Nothing has changed. Calendars still sync. My wife and I have the same calendars and that works fine. Contacts/Address Book keep all my contacts up to date. With reminders app I can share reminders with my wife as well as dates and grocery lists or multiple stores. For the most part things are great.

The thing that I find frustrating is the syncing. I have no idea that it's happening or is it going well. That's what Apple wants?

Dropbox works so well my dad doesn't get it. You do what? It does what automatically? Strangely dropbox has a Apple like UI element that Apple can't use. MobileMe used the spinning dashes. But Dropbox doesn't so much better. It's a feel it not see it element. It's really good.

Backwards

I recently took off 3 weeks of work. It was a great time. [Look here] [1] for all the images you will ever need.

Right before I took time off I had upgraded my MacbookPro to Lion.

Most of the reason why i did this upgrade had everything to do with iOS 5 and iCloud. Not because I wanted versioning or reversed scrolling. That in itself is strange.

When I came back to work my MacPro is running Snow Leopard. Such a contrast previous versions of Mac OS X.

Nuke with reversed scrolling turned on? Navigating the DAG takes thought again. Up for out and down for in.

Apple, please do not forget about your pro users. We love our software. But only
When it gets work done.

[1]: http://mbfx.me/photoblog/month/november-2011 "Photos For Nov."