That sound of old film 8:48 AM

I wonder if there's a way to generate that sound of a dirt/damaged film? I'd like some pops and hiss to overlay the tracks.

After some thought, I think that a simple title card with the stock soundtrack playing over it for 3 to 5 seconds is the best way to go with the Pill Pals PSAs. I thought about having a couple of title cards to introduce the Pill Pals. Something like "It's Hell Nurse Katie's," and on the next screen, "Magical Pill Pals!" But I think it'd work better with a simple "Tips for a Healthier Convention," card with no hint at what's to follow. It somehow seems more appropriate to just jump right in with no explanation as to who the Pill Pals are and where then came from or any connection to HELL. I'm still thinking of doing the G.I.Joe PSA style tag on the end. But I'm debating it. It could wreck the tone of the whole thing.

Jeez, like I know what I'm talking about. I don't even have a clue.

I see the title card run through the old film stock filter to get that look. And that's why I'd like a pop and hiss track to add over the Pill Pals animation. Right. I know.

It's not a perfect solution, but it 's pretty darn close. 8:13 AM

Playing around with the Neuromixer AVmixer lite last night. And It could be a video mixer solution for AnimeHELL. I have been looking for a simple video mixer that I could use for doing a live show. The problem with most video mixing software is that it's geared for doing VJ sets, where the emphasis is on the music and is treated separate from the visual element. That's great if you're playing a rave, but not so great for playing video clips with their audio tracks intact and without a pounding drum loop underneath (or over) it.

AVmixer lite is a cut down version of AVmixer Pro. Which means it doesn't have the fancy video effects and trippy filters and stuff that your typical VJ wants for his visuals to go with his phat beats. This is great news to me. I don't need that stuff and all it does is put a drag on the computer processor. So that leaves us with 2 video players and a crossfader inbetween them. And that'd be a basic simple video mixer. Holy crap! I can load up the playlists for both video players, preview the video in the monitors and see what the live feed looks like. Damn. This is exactly what I was looking for. AND IT WORKS.

There's buttons for goofing with the audio and looping or bouncing the video, too. You can slow down or speed up the clips, too. And you can trigger the clips on the keyboard, too. Not that I'd be using this stuff much at a show, it's nice that it's there. I guess.

If that weren't enough, it's free for the asking. (But there is a donate button in case you're feeling generous.) And you don't need to install it into your computer. It runs outta your RAM. So, unfortunately, it does suck up the resources to run the video clips. I'm thinking I just need to tweak the settings or re-encode the video clips to help it along. I may actually have to try using this for the next HELL. (After I practice with it and test out all the clips in my playlist. Don't want any surprises at the show.) It doesn't do exactly what I'd like, but it's close enough. I'd love to be able to superimpose some text on the screen occasionally, but I think I can live without that. If only it had a star wipe, it'd be in heaven.

So, there you go. A simple video mixer that you could use to make a video presentation at your next meeting. Or your next HELL.

The rainy season 7:09 AM

It rained all evening and late into the night. It's still sputtering away this morning. And it's good and cold.

Must keep an eye out for a Puncolle DVD. It's certain to be good HELLfodder.

Variations on a theme 7:56 AM

I used SUPER to convert the animated gifs to XVID encodes that Windows Movie Maker seems to agree with. Here's the test:

Flipbook reel from tohoscope on Vimeo.
As you can see, you can only polish these gifs so much. Too bad I can't convert them to quicktime.

more hip shakin' 6:00 AM

This is pure gold! Somebody needs to do a comic adaptation of it.

As much as I love Flipbook I think I'm gonna have to stick with Toon Boom for the future. Unlike Flipbook, I can recycle all the animation loops I make in other formats. And maybe edit them all together into a couple of films, too. Gotta work smarter...

blah 10:59 PM

I don't have a name for this 6:00 AM

Blue Ninja 6:00 AM

It lacks the punch of a good Joseph Lei/Gordon Ho Ninja title. NINJA BLUE starring Richard Harrison as Master Ninja Gordon!

Well, that didn't work 6:00 AM

But I'm used to that.

http://axsus-news.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the heads up on this one, Dave!


Hey! It's Soapy!

Side to Side 6:00 AM

Gotta learn how to animate the double bounce. I'm off to learn at the feet of Preston Blair! Ok, that's not too clear. Let's see if we can find some Ub double bounce.

Also on the animation to-do list: Stock puppets for Gavv and Jeff. Start with Heino and HG and go from there.

Won't have to worry about animation for HG's eyes, either...

Now where did I put the Dancing Heino clip?

Ja, ja, so blau, blau, blau blüht der Enzian,
Wenn beim Alpenglüh'n
Wir uns wiederseh'n.
Mit ihren ro-ro-ro-roten Lippen fing es an,
Die ich nie vergessen kann!

Wenn des Sonntags früh um viere die Sonne aufgeht
Und das Schweizer Madel auf die Alm 'naufgeht,
Bleib ich ja so gern am Wegrand steh'n, ja steh'n,
Denn das Schweizer Madel sang so schön:

Holla-dia-dia-holladi-holladi-ho,
Holla-dia-dia-holladi-holladi-ho.
Blaue Blumen dann am Wegrand steh'n, ja steh'n,
Und das Schweizer Madel sang so schön!

Of course, the animation of the eyes is one of the things that gives a character some "life." And Heino doesn't move around much. I should make a Heino DDR style game in flash. All he does is sways back and forth.

On the other hand HG tends to move around a lot. There'll be more work involved in setting up all the animation cycles for an HG puppet.

Gotta do a Soapy puppet, too. Look! No mouth or eyes! Easy lip synch!

On the bounce 6:00 AM

Remember to pick up a spool of DVD-Rs! Night Flight disc 1 needs to be cleaned. Nope, turns out it was readable in the external drive.

I'm tired and my ears are ringing. I hate that.

Odd to be talking of this when I was thinking of animation and morality last night. Somethings just can't be sustained, I guess.

Nin-Ja Attack! 6:00 AM

TCM is going through one of those periods where they're playing the same old crap over and over again. Yeah, the big theme for February was Oscar material. So they only programed Academy Award crap. Which pretty much was the crowd pleasing stuff. Movies I've already seen a couple times and I wanted to see something new. Sunday morning I watched Fourteen Hours, which was a damn good movie that I'd never seen before. The plot was about a traffic cop trying to talk Richard Basehart off the ledge of a tall hotel building. A really good movie. It was why I watch TCM, to find these great little gems. Then, of course, they filled the rest of the day's schedule with Gaslight, Rear Window, Vertigo, etc. Yeah, like I've never seen those 2 or more times.