I am not happy right now. I don't know if you noticed it or not. I spent the majority of the day working on the TMBG stop mo mentioned in the last post. I have been using Windows Movie Maker. I was in the middle of editing when it stopped working and insisted I get an update before I could continue. Before I could save and continue. Yup...I wasn't allowed to save what I had already done. So I complied. Because with Microsoft there is nothing else you can do. Now I can't use it for stop mo. I have been breaking it down into bits to allow me better control over certain spots. If I do that then try to edit the sections together it jumps. Majorly. Black out for a second, no sound then continues. No options to fix it. that is how I did the Douglas Adams video. So apparently they changed something and now it is useless to me. This made me frustrated, but whatever. I still have my copy of After Effects C4. One reason I don't use it is because I am having a hard time getting consistent and unpixelated results from it. But I still wanted to get the video done, so I tried it. 4 hours and 600 pictures into a 925 pictures set, and I find out I didn't give myself enough time in the timeline. And I can't get it to change. It won't let me add any more. So basically, my whole day has been flushed down the toilet. If my roommate's dog wasn't already upset by the fireworks, I would be screaming at this point. The string of expletives going through my brain at the moment would make a hard core biker dude blush. THIS is why I need an income....so I can afford the real equipment. I need to get a better computer, a camera that can be triggered from the computer, and a full paid version of  stop motion software. Well, all those things and a place to live....but shit I am tired of this kind of thing happening. I waste so much time unsuccessfully trying to get things to work. It would also help if I had the money to get someone to teach me how to use these things properly.

OK, time to go crul up in bed with a Pepsi and cry now.

I have been contemplating my camera problem. Seriously, using an unreliable point n shoot that runs out of battery quickly has to be the least efficient way to make a stop mo. Due to the Canon point n shoots not allowing remote triggering or triggering from a computer, stabilization has been a bitch. Just when I think i have it I look back and see all my videos jumping around. They aren't shakey cam, but they aren't as smooth as I like. I also have problems with consistent color and focus, as it likes to auto focus even when that feature is turned off.

So what? Well, I have been thinking. I won the Douglas Adams animation contest sponsored by the Literary Platform. First prize is the new iPad. I have been researching it online, and it looks like the new iPad has a great camera on it. I don't know how much control it has, but the pictures would be better quality than what I get with the point n shoot. It might be easier to stabilize as well. The aperture also goes to f 2.4, where my point n shoot only gets f2.6. And as far as control goes, I wonder if there is an app that would give me that control? Everything I am reading about it touts it's auto features - autofocus, auto face recognition (which totally messes up a shot by focusing on what I don't want to focus on), auto white balance, auto exposure (which is a bitch when I want to overexpose for effect), and autofocus lock. I guess it may be too much to expect SLR control with a cheap built-in device. Most of the time they make those things to be idiot proof. Meaning you don't have to know how to take pictures to get good pictures. Still, I am excited about playing around with it to see what I can get. As I haven't had a working Mac in years, I am excited to check out the app store and see what is available to help me override auto-itis. I wonder if I can get remote trigger as well for it. Hmm....

It may be a week or so before I get the iPad, so I have time to plan and write and build to be ready for it.

Also, I hope it comes in black.