Photoshop Friday…

Time Lapse Painting Video

This painting created from photos my wife took using “Automatic” mode.  I found that Photoshop was useful for correcting the perspective and scaling the images automatically – otherwise that would have been quite a job! I used AfterEffects to adjust for the lighting differences and create the video.

Project Management

I’ve been planning, executing and tracking media production projects for a few years and am always on the lookout for new tools. Here are a couple of nice one’s I’ve used recently (And they are FREE!):

SlimTimer for tracking time. Everyone on our production team is using it and I can instantly see what costs are accruing on each project.

Gantt Project for planning. Forecast completion dates and resource useage by creating a Gantt chart. Exactly what I need for a small workgroup. Easy to use, but a little limited it is currently in development as an open source project with new features added often.

Basecamp is a project management software (not free) that allows member to track projects and add files and messages. Very beneficial for working with a group – communication is the key! (Or is organization the key…)

Blood Flow in Cinema 4D

I’ve been working on a blood flow animation in C4D. I will include some details here for others that want to use a similar solution.

I used the Thinking Particles presets to emit red blood cells, white blood cells, and small particles to create the illustion of a fluid.  The particles follow the path of a spline. I used the TP Accelerator and TP Friction to create a pulsing movement of the particles.  I even edited the TP Spin preset to cause the particles’ spin speed to change according to the acceleration to help the illusion of moving within a fluid.

Hello world!

I’ve decided to revive the old blog.  I will upload the backup of the previous blog here as well as add new entries on software solutions each time I come across a worthy challenge.

I am having a fight with WordPress2.5 this morning.  So far, WordPress is winning!

Image uploader suddenly is not working where it was working before.  I haven’t changed anything!  Arggg.

Why do these things persist?

We just moved into our new office building last week.  It was built from the ground up specifically for us.  We have fiber optics straight to the building, a videoconferencing system, gigabit everything.

This morning I was setting up my audio recording studio, which happens to be right next to the network room.  The AT&T tech is in there, so I ask what he is up to.  He is installing a fax machine.  What!?!  It requires a special line, since the phone system is VOiP.

Why do fax machines live!  I am sorry, fax people, but it is time for the fax machine to die.  You are sending black and white Tiff files over phone lines at dial-up speed.  Everyone else is be sending full color jpeg files over broadband!

 Incredible.  And in the next room, we have not one but 2 “BizHub” machines with scan and email functionality.  Enter an address, put the paper in the tray and hit [start]!  Whoever requested the fax machine needs to go in for training.

If I am completely off my rocker? Please leave a comment and help me see the reasoning.