Blog Archives - Barefoot Hallucination

Barefoot Hallucination

Awesome Possum

9/29/2016

Sooo...today I couldn't wait to play around with the new setup. I got it all in the dining room and rearranged my extension cords so I could have everything plugged in at once. I watched a tutorial video on Pinnacle's website. It worked great. I learned a lot. There are a few things I still need to learn...like how to get it into better focus (which may be Pinnacle settings, may be my camera or mid range lense), and how to get it to shoot rectangle shots instead of square. But the final product turned out better than I hoped it would. I am kind of excited to see this, and am maybe leaning more towards doing the 72 hour EFS horror film challenge. And now I need to write my fan film script, so I can get it done for Anglicon. So many more things I can do now. I am so stoked. I still look at it and see how not professionally produced it looks. But I am heading in that direction. And that makes me so happy. :)

This video represents 5 hours worth of work. Stop motion is not the easiest or the fastest, but it is the most fun ever!!

HAHAHA! IT WORKS!!!

9/28/2016

Soooo....yup. It works. I am so excited. I only did a quick test to see if it will shoot. I will experiment more with this tomorrow. Here is the test. It is crap, and it has focus issues, but it works. Woo hoo! :)

More Animation Software Aggrevation

9/28/2016

I was not very happy with the way that octopus video turned out. It is kind of fuzzy. It is jumpy (that part is my fault, I was not patient enough to get the right frames and tried to duplicate, which I know rarely works well in stop mo). So I started looking online for Pinnacle studio tutorials. With the newer version, you can shoot stop mo directly to computer, and it has fewer requirements than Dragonframe. They are having a sale, so instead of $120 to upgrade, it is only $69.95. I have been struggling long and hard, and right now, the point of everything I am doing is to figure out the best way to use the equipment I've got. I can still use version 18 if 20 does not work with my laptop. So I decided to go for it. I may regret it, but it isn't as bad as the $300 oopsy with Dragonframe. Which according to thier tech specs SHOULD work with this laptop and does NOT. Won't even open. BTW, thier support is CRAP. I do not reccomend Dragonframe, even if it turns out to work great after I have the money to upgrade my laptop.

Pinnacle upgrade is downloading right now. I guestimate I will know if I have chosen wisely or chosen poorly in about 30 minutes. Fortunately for me, all I will be out is $70 and my frustration. No melty faces or whatever. My plan is to do a little playing around tonight, and if I can get it to recognize my camera, shoot and whatnot, I will do some actual shooting tomorrow and Periscope it. See if I can get a better video. If not, I will be disappointed.

The other thing I have been thinking over is the 72 hour Horror Film challenge by Eugene Film Society. This year it is going on Oct. 22-24. I mean, it was a frustrating blast last year. And if I can get this to shoot better, I may be able to get a better video than last year. But do I want to deal with it? I have other things I want to work on. BUT.....it would also be a great way to test the new setup, see what I can do with it. I have committed to a DnD game on the Saturday. With how much time was wasted last year with the computer shutting down and losing 3 hours of work, I may be able to do it. I have to decide.....I already committed to the game, and they are counting on me, so if I do it I would have to budget 5 hours out of that to go do that. THough that is tentative, and we have no final go ahead on the game. I suppose I can put my hat in the ring, then decide to drop out if I want.

Argh. Why can't I just be normal and not obsessed with this stop motion crap? I mean I love it. I LOVE IT. I dream about it. I literally cry when something goes wrong, I want to do it well so badly. When it goes right, it goes so right. I wish I had more of a natural aptitude for this, and it wasn't so hard for me to get a good finished product. Sigh.

Octopus....Nopetopus?

9/27/2016

So I kind of finished my first movement test for the red octopus. It is kind of jumpy. But not too bad for what it is. I will be shooting more, either tonight or tomorrow, to see if I can smooth it out a bit. Here is attempt #1.

Again, not great, but not absolutely crappy. The title is in refernace to the PDX Broadside's song Nopetopus.

WTF Weebly.....

9/26/2016

So the last 2 posts look like they are blank. They were not when I posted them and checked them, and now they are. This is not OK. Why on earth would anyone post when there are no posty words yet? Seriously. And yes, I am a bit crabbilicious today. :P

So in stead of filling in the last 2, I am just going to sum up here. I have been Periscoping my animation sessions. If you wanna see, my handle is @teaweaselstopMO both there and on Twitter. I have it set to save all my old broadcasts, so if you wanna see my boring sessions you can still go back and watch.

I have had some pain issues the last week, so I haven't done much. But today miraculously I am for the most part pain free, so after I get my job search stuff done I will be working on videos again. I may Periscope it too. I did a test with the red octopus and he Tardis. I am trying to make it work. This is only a test. I am trying to get the hang of what setup I have so that I can just do the one for the Danny Elfman thing. It is not easy. I do not know why I struggle so hard with animation software, when all other softwares come so easliy to me. Frustrates me to no end.

Anyway, that is all I have for now. I will be back later. Maybe I will link to my Periscope broadcasts if and when Weebly gets thier shit together.

Update Posty post

9/20/2016

Motion testing tonight

9/16/2016

Playing around with stop mo

9/11/2016

Yesterday I got an itch and started playing around with stop mo again. I am trying to figure out the best way to accomplish the video I am doing for the Danny Elfman thing. I am concerned, as I xcan't use my Dragonframe with my current computer and I don't have money for a new one yet. Previously I used Osnap iPad app and exported all the pics to Pinnacle. I have struggled and struggled with that frickin program. Pinnacle is not my friend. However if I am going to get something worth submitting, I need to figure out how to shoot and finish this thing.
Now that I have a new battery and cable and screen, I am reconsidering using my iPad for this one. I know, I just bought an expensive camera with which to do this part. However, if I cannot use any of the software with it, it is useless. It looks like in Pinnacle Studio 18, which is what I have on my laptop, I could capture directly into it. I got a software upgrade and when I opened it there were options available that previously had not. I still cannot export video to 24fps, which irks me. I do not know how it would work. My plan is to play with that idea as well to see what I can do with it.
So in the next few days I intend to try to make a couple of shorts to see what I can accomplish with the different combinations. One obvious advantage to using the iPad is that I don't have to deal with lens flickr. As there is no physical external lens, there is nothing to compensate for. The Osnap app now also allows for you to shoot on the iPad and as soon as the picture is taken exports it to where you indicate on your laptop. That is nice. So...

1. iPad Camera and Osnap!, compiled and sound and editing done on video exported from Osnap (as opposed to the individual pictures to be assembled in another application) into Pinnacle Pro app on my iPad.

2. Ipad camera and Osnap!, shot directly to laptop and assembeld, rendered and edited in Pinnacle Studio 18, which I have on my laptop that has frustrated the hell out of me. I need to go through how to videos and actually play with it. See if I can get what I want out of it before I need it.

3. Direct shooting into Pinnacle Studio 18 on my laptop and see how much I can do with it, and learn about how it actually works.

I did get a short video that worked fairly well. It does emphasize the need to pay more attention when shooting.

So there ya go. I may be posting more often as I get things accomplished, not accomplished or frustration has taken over my sanity.

Testing, testing......

9/9/2016

So...I am testing the new Weebly iPad app. It has been woefully inadequate for a very long time. Looks like it is now iPad friendly. This is the first time I have been able to type and see what I am typing. Generally it shows the words on the dark red background instead of the yellow page in the middle. Makes it hard to see.

I love using my iPad, and if I can use it instead of having to spin up the laptop, it is much better. I am also trying out writing apps for the iPad. The regular Pages doesn't really work all that well. I have issues with delayed typing, saving my work when I want to, trying to figure out my word count, draining the battery really fast to it is hard to go somewhere without an outlet to write. I haven't settled on one yet.

But really, I love this thing. I have now replaced the screen 4 times, and a few weeks ago I replaced the battery for the first time. It is not as hard as you'd think. The hardest part is disassembling it in a way that won't ruin it. Be patient with breaking the glue on the screen. Don't rip out the ribbon cables, pull gently and if they don't come out the first time see why instead of pulling harder. It took me 3 hours to break all the glue on the battery without puncturing it. It is glued to the back of the case. But I did it, and the rest was easy.

Anyway, I have been writing here for a few minutes, and no issues yet. This is awesome. Including a pic of my gutted iPad to see how well that part works.

Wow. That was quick and easy. I am satisfied with the new app. It took half as much time as it does on my laptop. And I can see it's position and what it looks like inside the text.