Archive for July, 2011
Royalty-Free Music SItes
Saturday, July 16th, 2011Apple: Final Cut: Color: Tutorial
Saturday, July 16th, 2011Apple: Final Cut: Motion: Tutorial
Saturday, July 16th, 2011Uninterruptible Power Supplies
Saturday, July 16th, 2011Topics:
- How to choose an appropriate UPS
- What “Added-Value” features are contemporary
Google: [“uninterruptible power supply” uk]
- http://www.maplin.co.uk/computing/pc-and-laptop-power-supplies/ups-uninterruptible-power-supply?criteria=
- (Search Results)
- http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002AU1EHQ/ref=asc_df_B002AU1EHQ1525812?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B002AU1EHQ
- Eaton Powerware 5115 1400VA 950W Uninterruptible Power Supply
GraphViz for Squeak-Smalltalk
Saturday, July 16th, 2011Search: [smalltalk graphviz]
Mac AntiVirus
Saturday, July 16th, 2011Links:
- http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx
- Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition – Free
MacBook Pro: Boot Camp: W7-64: ExpressCard Slot
Saturday, July 16th, 2011Links:
- http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=783982
- Question:
- FileMate SolidGO 3FMS4D48M-WR 48GB ExpressCard SSD; the drive works beautifully under OS X, but is not recognized at all by Windows 7 when it’s in the ExpressCard slot. In Device Manager, the yellow caution icon appears in front of the Standard ACHI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. The drive does not show under Disk drives or in Disk Manager. The corresponding Device Status message is: “This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use (Code 12). If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system.”
- The drive is recognized as SATA under Mac OS X and also works fine in Windows when plugged into a USB port instead of the ExpressCard slot (at which point it is not treated as SATA, but USB).
- Responses:
- (For the newer (non-Intel) chipset) Apple’s BIOS emulation for Windows doesn’t support SATA, only ATA/133.
- Unfortunately for Unibody … with the Nvidia MCP79 chipset there hasn’t been a solution found yet – it’s discussed towards the end of the thread. … until they find a solution or Apple release what would be quite a simple EFI patch to enable it in the BIOS emulation we’re stuck with PATA and your SSD won’t work
- Question:
Pre-Visualization Apps (for Storyboard / Animatrix / Virtual Studio)
Saturday, July 16th, 2011General & Surveys:
- Google: [storyboard lighting camera blocking animation software]
- Previzualization (general subject & software review)
- 3D Animation Software (general review)
- http://www.squidoo.com/3DAnimationsoftware
- (From Google: [storyboard lighting camera blocking blender daz3d] )
- http://www.squidoo.com/3DAnimationsoftware
- CeltX and StoryBoards
Specific Applications:
- MovieStorm
- (From Google: [storyboard lighting camera blocking] )
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moviestorm
- http://www.youtube.com/user/Moviestorm
- MovieStorm’s YouTube Channel – Instructional videos and demo productions
- http://www.moviestorm.co.uk/
- Virtual studio, cameras, blocking….
- Like a mini NLE: tracks, video, audio (library), used by some to produce films for YouTube.
- Mainly prefab hence easy to use (but therefore restricted) – though can expand on props.
- Pre-defined themes and characters (couldn’t find any period drama ones).
- Pre-defined animations (high-level, vast number, video showing them all is at http://www.moviestorm.co.uk/community/index.php?page=videos§ion=view&vid_id=106246)
- e.g. “stroke chin while listening”
- Modders Workshop (tool) allows creation of ‘props’ and a wizard allows the direct import of models from Google SketchUp version 6.
- FrameForge:
- http://www.frameforge3d.com/watch-demo/
- http://www.frameforge3d.com/Products/
- FrameForge Previz Studio comes in three versions: Core, Pro, and Stereographic 3D
- Create a virtual 3D set in your computer with the freedom to place any number of virtual cameras in any placement, angle or height desired. Each camera features full Pan/Tilt, Dolly, Zoom, Roll and Crane control with the options to limit focal length to a specific zoom range or set of prime lenses, limit minimum and maximum heights (due to equipment limitations or physical ceilings) to accurately portray the actual range of your equipment.
- FrameForge is not about your mastery of the pencil but more how you can explore and see what your actual equipment will see.
- Blender
- http://monochrome.sutic.nu/2010/06/14/video-editing-with-blender.html
- (From Google: [storyboard lighting camera blocking blender] )
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_%28software%29
- http://www.scribd.com/doc/51402157/59/Matching-Camera-Angles-to-Storyboards (in Blender)
- Huge virtual book
- http://filmmakeriq.com/2011/06/blender-tutorial-camera-mapping/
- Camera-Mapping: take a still image and convert it into 3d geometry for use in an animation. This powerful technique is used extensively by visual effects studios for feature films, commercials and television shows. Its especially useful for faking helicopters flyovers because it costs just a fraction of the cost of hiring a real helicopter.
- http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Tutorial_Links_List
- Noob to Pro/Tutorial Links List
- http://monochrome.sutic.nu/2010/06/14/video-editing-with-blender.html
- Virtual Light Lab
- DAZ 3D
- www.daz3d.com
-
- DAZ3D’s YouTube Channel
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_thz39uV8U&feature=related
- Google: [daz3d storyboard]
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6p4ecyZ95I&feature=related
- Making a movie with DAZ & aniMate
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrAIgqIGqHU
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6p4ecyZ95I&feature=related
- http://greywulf.net/2008/10/first-steps-with-daz-studio-part-one/
- First Steps with Daz Studio (Part 1)
- http://artzone.daz3d.com/wiki/doku.php/pub/tutorials/dazstudio/studio-lighting00
- Basic Lighting in Daz Studio
- http://www.daz3d.com/i/tutorial/tutorial?id=1618&_m=d
- Volumetric Lighting in Daz Studio
- http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/-/light-dome-pro?item=4758&_m=d
- Light Dome PRO
- http://www.daz3d.com/i/tutorial/tutorial?id=1620&_m=d
- Multi-Pass Rendering i Daz Studio
Storyboard Advice
Saturday, July 16th, 2011Storyboard Advice Links:
- From Google: [storyboard lighting camera blocking]
Slopegraph – In General and in R
Friday, July 15th, 2011Slopegraph:
- Suppose you have a table of two columns) and that you want to show graphically how the (two) elements of each row correspond in terms of value. A Slopegraph is useful in this context.
- The originator, Edward Tufte (http://www.edwardtufte.com), says (http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0003nk&topic_id=1) Slopegraphs compare changes over time for a list of nouns located on an ordinal or interval scale. Basically: Any time youd use a line chart to show a progression of univariate data among multiple actors over time, you might have a good candidate for a slopegraph. But some people have found it useful beyond this context.
Links:
- First saw it here: http://alex4d.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/fpx-july-2011-price-changes/
- This is a great example of its usefulness: price-spread variation (y-axis) over time (x-axis)
- Originator of this type of graph: http://charliepark.org/slopegraphs/
- He has implemented it in various tools.
- An R-Function (sourcecode) to do it: https://github.com/bobthecat/codebox/blob/master/table.graph.r
- I tried it and it works.
- e.g. [ table.graph(data.frame( Week1=0:9, Week2=c(1,3,5,7,11,13,17,19,23,29)) ) ]
- http://msenux.redwoods.edu/math/R/dataframe.php explains how to create dataframes in R
- OT: No idea if it can be conveniently done in Apple Mac’s Grapher, but here’s a link about that app: http://guides.macrumors.com/Grapher
MacBook Pro: Restore (Mac OS & Boot Camp) from Backup (Disk Utility & WinClone)
Friday, July 15th, 2011Backup & Restore via Disk Utility (DU) – on Mac OS install-disk – to a fresh hard-drive:
- Routine: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1553
- Complication: Backed-up not the whole disk but aMac OS partition alongside a Boot Camp partition.
- DON’T: Naive use of Disk Utility (DU) to restore straight away the partition (as a sole partition) from backup doesn’t work – it won’t boot.
- You may see a grey Mac OS screen with “No Entry/Parking” sign, or error messages about ACPI drivers not present.
- Attempts to install (fresh or archive i.e. user file preserving mode) from install disk fail since disk is not bootable.
- Error message: “Mac OS cannot start up from this disk”
- DO: Try install fresh OS X from install-dvd, then use it to create Boot Camp partition (and presumably boot-selection menu) then restore (with erase) to the OS X partition (only). To save time (hopefully), didn’t actually install Windows.
- Both the fresh-install and the restoration of OS X took about an hour.
- Yes it worked! Booted into Mac OS just fine.
- Left it to “settle” a bit – e.g. until CPU level down around zero.
- Restart in Shift-Boot mode (to refresh OS’s tables etc.) and log-in as “DefaultEverything” (dummy user created as per advice – I think from Larry Jordan). Maybe should have done that the first time…
- Restarted in normal user account, again left awhile.
- Boot Camp Assistant:
- Create a partition (e.g. divide disks space equally between the two partitions)
- (takes a minute or two – progress bar is initially misleadingly stationary)
- Select [Quit and install later]
- All we wanted was the partition, to restore into.
- Create a partition (e.g. divide disks space equally between the two partitions)
- Started WinClone (App, started from MacOS)
- It appeared to first scan the backup then began to install it. Not quick, maybe an hour for each of these (two) tasks.
- Source partition was 232.57 GB – as compared to the destination partition of around 250 GB.
- Alt-Booted into W7 just fine.
- Being on the internet, it began downloading numerous system updates – furiously (like it was hard to web-browse even on another computer on the network.
- Correspondingly, on ShutDown, W7 installed numerous (61) updates. Took ages – so if ever repeating such a recovery, allow for this…
- Also on subsequent start-up, updating & registering stuff – took a few minutes – wish I’d run it straight (boot camp) not within Parallels. But it seemed “happy”.
- (to be continued…)