Block by block: Help build Portland in Minecraft « Silicon Florist: "Unless you’ve been under a redstone for the past few years, you’ve undoubtedly come across Minecraft, the game that allows multiple players to build, mine, and battle within a blocky 8-bit-esque environment. You can build practically anything there. And now, some folks have decided to recreate Portland on the platform."
'via Blog this'
Tips, tricks, ticks, and other stuff involving the creative process, technology, social media, and whatever else seems to fit in!
Monday, February 23, 2015
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Monday, February 9, 2015
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Notes on D5100 Video Shooting
Nikon D5100 Review: Full Review - Video:
All quotes here from link above.
FOCUS:
"...four AF-area modes for use during movie capture: Face-priority AF, Wide-area AF, Normal-area AF, and the aforementioned Subject-Tracking AF."
"As we've noted in other SLR reviews, the good news with focusing for video is that you can get surprisingly good depth of field in video mode by stopping the lens down, thanks to the relatively low resolution of the video image. With a pixel resolution of only 2.1 megapixels in the Nikon D5100's highest-resolution 1,080p "Full HD" mode, 0.9 megapixels in 720p HD mode, and just 0.3 megapixels in the standard-definition mode, images that would be unacceptably blurred as 16 megapixel still shots look perfectly fine as video frames. This not only provides greater depth of field at any given aperture, but is also more forgiving of diffraction limiting at very small lens apertures. Diffraction at small apertures means you'd usually want to avoid f/16 or f/22 for still images, but again, the results generally look perfectly fine at video resolutions. Bottom line, with the Nikon D5100's lens set to f/16 or f/22 (assuming you're shooting under fairly bright conditions), you'll be surprised by how little focus adjustment is needed during a typical video recording."
EXPOSURE:
EXTERNAL MIC:
All quotes here from link above.
FOCUS:
"...four AF-area modes for use during movie capture: Face-priority AF, Wide-area AF, Normal-area AF, and the aforementioned Subject-Tracking AF."
"As we've noted in other SLR reviews, the good news with focusing for video is that you can get surprisingly good depth of field in video mode by stopping the lens down, thanks to the relatively low resolution of the video image. With a pixel resolution of only 2.1 megapixels in the Nikon D5100's highest-resolution 1,080p "Full HD" mode, 0.9 megapixels in 720p HD mode, and just 0.3 megapixels in the standard-definition mode, images that would be unacceptably blurred as 16 megapixel still shots look perfectly fine as video frames. This not only provides greater depth of field at any given aperture, but is also more forgiving of diffraction limiting at very small lens apertures. Diffraction at small apertures means you'd usually want to avoid f/16 or f/22 for still images, but again, the results generally look perfectly fine at video resolutions. Bottom line, with the Nikon D5100's lens set to f/16 or f/22 (assuming you're shooting under fairly bright conditions), you'll be surprised by how little focus adjustment is needed during a typical video recording."
EXPOSURE:
- "With the Mode dial set to any position except A or M, the main exposure variables -- shutter speed, aperture, and ISO sensitivity -- all remain under automatic control when recording movies with the Nikon D5100. "
- "in the A or M positions, however, you can shoot movies in Aperture-priority mode, with the proviso that you must dial in your desired aperture prior to entering Live View mode, unless you're shooting with a PC-E lens. "
- "Regardless of the metering mode selected, movies will always be recorded using Matrix metering, with the Center-weighted and Spot options available only for still image capture."
- "You can, however, adjust exposure compensation, and use the Autoexposure Lock button to lock the metered exposure, even after movie capture has already started. "
- "You can apply Nikon's Picture Controls as well as specify the color space for movies, as long as they are selected before recording begins. This is useful if you'd like to for instance record in monochrome, or with more saturated colors, etc."
EXTERNAL MIC:
- "Like most interchangeable lens cameras capable of AF during video, the D5100 has a tendency to pick up autofocus drive noise quite clearly in the audio track of its movie clips. This can at least be mitigated somewhat by use of an external microphone, and by adjusting the D5100's three-step manual gain control, however. "
- "...three sensitivity levels to choose from (Low, Medium and High), along with Auto gain, and Off settings. The settings apply to the built-in microphone as well as to an external mic. "
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
5 Insane File Sharing Panics from Before the Internet | Cracked.com
5 Insane File Sharing Panics from Before the Internet | Cracked.com: "Thanks to new technology and the modern lassiez-faire attitude towards intellectual property, people are bootlegging their entertainment at an unprecedented rate.
Or so the record companies would like you to believe.
The truth is that media piracy has been rampant through all of history... probably since the first guy to smear his feces on the wall in the shape of a buffalo turned around and immediately saw 50 more just like it being smeared on the walls behind him.
Here are five other historical piracy scares that make this one seem even less relevant:"
'via Blog this'
Or so the record companies would like you to believe.
The truth is that media piracy has been rampant through all of history... probably since the first guy to smear his feces on the wall in the shape of a buffalo turned around and immediately saw 50 more just like it being smeared on the walls behind him.
Here are five other historical piracy scares that make this one seem even less relevant:"
'via Blog this'
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
The Internet Archive Adds Nearly 2,400 MS-DOS Video Games for Browser-Based Play
The Internet Archive Adds Nearly 2,400 MS-DOS Video Games for Browser-Based Play: "The Internet Archive has added nearly 2,400–currently 2,388 to be exact–MS-DOS video games to their Software Library for browser-based play. The Software Library also includes a slightly larger collection of general MS-DOS programs. We previously wrote about the addition of a Console Living Room, which featured a large collection of vintage console video games playable in a browser."
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Friday, November 14, 2014
Friday, October 24, 2014
Redefining Micro-Budget Filmmaking: The $6,000 'Layover' (Guest Blog) - TheWrap
Redefining Micro-Budget Filmmaking: The $6,000 'Layover' (Guest Blog) - TheWrap:
"On “Layover,” I used the only camera available to me at the time that would allow me to be light and compact, without drawing attention to myself (since we were shooting guerilla style) and didn't require a ton of light to get an acceptable image (since were shooting the whole film at night). I used the Canon 5D mk II, and we lit the whole movie using a 1×1 LED panel light, china balls, some Home Depot can lights, and 250 watt practical bulbs. That's it. One of the great things about the Canon 5D mk II and mk III is its light sensitivity. You can shoot using much less light than would be required on an Alexa or a RED. It's also small and compact. It's easy to move, to hold for long periods of time, and delivers a beautiful image if used correctly. For the World Premiere of “Layover,” we had the final film blown up to 2K for a DCP and projected onto a 50 foot screen, and it looked really good.
...
Did we have a professional production sound mixer with thousands of dollars in equipment on set? We did. For one day. And then we realized we couldn't afford it throughout production. So, one of my producers, Vertel Scott, came to me with a solution: an H4N Zoom recorder, wireless lavs, a boom mic and pole. That's it. Our post sound mixer asked us what we had recorded on. I told him and he responded that our rough tracks sounded better than 90 percent of the professional raw audio he gets in."
'via Blog this'
"On “Layover,” I used the only camera available to me at the time that would allow me to be light and compact, without drawing attention to myself (since we were shooting guerilla style) and didn't require a ton of light to get an acceptable image (since were shooting the whole film at night). I used the Canon 5D mk II, and we lit the whole movie using a 1×1 LED panel light, china balls, some Home Depot can lights, and 250 watt practical bulbs. That's it. One of the great things about the Canon 5D mk II and mk III is its light sensitivity. You can shoot using much less light than would be required on an Alexa or a RED. It's also small and compact. It's easy to move, to hold for long periods of time, and delivers a beautiful image if used correctly. For the World Premiere of “Layover,” we had the final film blown up to 2K for a DCP and projected onto a 50 foot screen, and it looked really good.
...
Did we have a professional production sound mixer with thousands of dollars in equipment on set? We did. For one day. And then we realized we couldn't afford it throughout production. So, one of my producers, Vertel Scott, came to me with a solution: an H4N Zoom recorder, wireless lavs, a boom mic and pole. That's it. Our post sound mixer asked us what we had recorded on. I told him and he responded that our rough tracks sounded better than 90 percent of the professional raw audio he gets in."
'via Blog this'
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