Still having fun with the DSLR and the intervalometer.
Also using some Andrew Kramer styles for the titles.

I have had a Canon T1i for a bout 1 year now, and I just love it. I also love time lapse footage and have always wanted to do more than the few experiments I did in college using super 8 film.
So a few weeks ago I purchased the Opteka Timer Remote Control for my camera, and now I can easily do time lapse. The controller is pretty basic but it does exactly what is needs to. It’s only short coming
is that it doesn’t turn off.

Anyhow, here is one of my shots.

To say that I haven’t been using this much is quite the understatement. It has been well over 1 year since I posted anything here.
Is all the going to change now?
Beats me. I ‘d like it change but best laid plans blah blah blah.

I do have some things I’d like to talk about, post, discuss, etc, so we will see.
It also might help if I can remember my password for logging in and posting…

I have been trying figure out how best to deal with the footage shot on my Canon HG21 video camera. It is in the AVCHD codec, which is pretty heavy to deal with for most computers, and quite honestly, I wasn’t sure how best to “capture” the footage.
After a few trials and mostly errors, I found a video online which seemed to help.
Originally I was trying to bring it in thru Final Cut Express 4, which seemed to work before I wiped my system and did a re-install. Now it just gives me some error and won’t bring the clips into he editor (yet still allows me to video them).

Anyhow, seeing as how the camera is hard drive based, I kind of figured out that there is no “capturing” per se. The camera mounts like any other external drive and you just open the folder containing the .MTS files and drag n drop them on to your system!

With the newer Adobe CS4 software, you can play directly with the .MTS files (in After Effects & Premiere and apparently Encore), although because of the AVCHD codec, they are pretty clunky on playback (although I AM doing this on a Mac Book Pro laptop).

Using Adobe’s Media Encoder, I am now converting them into the Apple Intermediate Codec. This drops the file size way way down and they still look fabbo and are now much more manageable.
I assume I can use them as proxy files if I really wanted to, although I don’t have much experience using proxies.
Anyhow – this video from Adobe was a big help.

http://www.mbsdirect.com/current/News/Video-Production-News/adobe-cs4-production-premium.html

I’ll be VJ’ing the 2nd installment of the chip tunes showcase known as DutyCycle, on March 28th @ SpaceGallery SF, 1141 Polk St, SF. [MAP]

You should come. It is only $3 and it is on a Saturday. I’ll be trying some new stuff and hopefully using more Quartz Compositions this time around.

This is a brilliant little video. It is a nice story as well as a really cool concept. As someone just getting into 3D, this really does a nice job of extrapolating the 3D process into a futuristic scenario.

World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

So far this year it is looking like it is going to be a good year for me and the visual stuff.
I have mixed live three times this year already, have another set booked next month, a possible bi-monthly VJ “residency” of sorts at a local club and I am going to Boulder, Co to do a live performance with my great friend mr. projectile at the Communikey Festival of Electronic Arts.
The set with mr. projectile is what I am really excited about. We are going to really try and get something very well meshed together, something complimentary and something that flows.
He is going to be doing a mainly hardware live set which will flow into a set of some of his newer stuff.
I am planing on using a combo of video clips and quartz compositions, all synced to him midi clock – which I have never done before – so there is a learning curve to get over. But I think I should be able to get over it. I am pretty much spending my after-work hours, slaving over a hot processor, trying to eek out new and purty visuals.

The website for the festival reminds me, I need a new photo of myself and I really need to re-write my bio-thingie. It reads like a pamphlet on how to suck.

DUTYCYCLE @ Space Gallery SF 1.15.09 from DutyCycle on Vimeo.

(the video is now available on Vimeo and it looks great!)

Morgan (aka crashfaster) shot and edited this video from the DutyCycle show last month. It looks pretty damn nice and does a great job of giving a feel for the night. I provided him with a few clips of my vids, which are keyed and mixed in throughout the piece. He might be putting an even high quality version up on Vimeo at some point. I’ll post a link if he does.

Last month I got the chance to VJ for the 1st night of a low-fi, 8-bit-ish music kind of night known as Duty Cycle. It is quite different music than I usually mix too (which lately, due to the nature of San Francisco, has been breaks and dub step). So I wasn’t exactly sure how to pull it off. I didn’t have to time to make a whole new slew of clips so I dug into VDMX and tried various effects until I was able to low-fi my clips and get things a bit more pixellated and vectory. In the end it worked out rather nice and I was quite pleased with the night.

It is a testament to the power of VDMX that i was able to get my stuff, which I like to think is quite high-fi and crisp and nice looking, into something much more basic and low-tech looking, while still retaining a very high quality look.

VJing @ Duty Cycle

Not a lot of posts lately.

Not for lack of doing though.

Aside from working the regular job hours people work, I have been spending the vast majority of the other hours trying to learn Cinema 4D, VDMX, and Quartz Composer.

I am getting a pretty good handle on VDMX and have used it live 3 times, starting with New Years Eve, then the Duty Cycle show, and most recently, Chinese New Years.
Although I really do like Modul8 and will still keep it in my arsenal, it just seemed to be too sluggish with my clips, at times freezing or becoming embarrassingly slow during a cross fade.

While VDMX can also get slow at times with a load of FX applied to clips, it still manages to keep going, prefering to drop the frame rate rather than choking and freezing. It is also way more modular in terms of it’s layout and just in how you perform. You really end up building a mixer based on your needs. It also seems solid as hell and has only crashed on me like twice and never while performing.

It is a very different beast though and is forcing me to rethink my sets, my clips, and my methods for mixing. It is also getting me to try and dig into Quartz Composer as well, because it really interacts with Quartz Comps so well, and with audio inputs as well, which add a level of live interactivity that I have never had before.

And lastly, I have finally gotten over a hump with Cinema 4D. I finally feel comfortable enough in the program that I can just screw around and create. I also feel good enough in it that I know the right kinds of questions to ask when I want to know something new. In addition I am using it at work as part of my work flow and am actually outputting stuff that will make it into the final piece, and that is cool as hell. I don’t think I would have gotten to this point had it not been for the opportunity to use it at work and be around people who know it better and can help me.

That is the best part of returning to an employment situation where I am workign with other creatives. the sharing of knowledge.