"You have a right to your own opinion, but you do not have a right to your own facts"
This quote jumped started my bain this morning. I love when that happens.
Lion
Not my favorite. Everything is harder to hit.
With Lion, Apple has changed OS X interface and how we interact with the computer.
It's easier to invoke mission control or launch "pad" with a mouse. Apple moving away from a system that works well with a mouse. It now works better with your fingers.
Most days my hands fly across the keyboard and move the cursor with a mouse, or a drawing tablet pen. Not with a track pad. I have never wanted to control Nuke, or Shake for that matter with a track pad. It's terrible. Ask any digital artist if they use a track pad, they don't.
As a Nuke artist I'm still not getting used to the new operating system, Lion.
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:
- Drag the bookmarklet to your browsers bookmarks. There are instructions here
- 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.
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,
Level256 Reinvented
rotoPaint
The RotoPaint node has aways been Slow.
iPod Screen
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.