ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Wednesday 3 February 2016

A STEP FORWARDS. (03/02/16)

It is a beautiful day. We were out to watch the sunrise but it wasn't very exciting. The thrill factor was not helped by my walking the wrong way so I was still in amongst the trees when it rose.
You can just see a little bit of it.
What inspired Molly to go swimming I'm not sure as it was freezing. Where there is little sense there is little feeling.
Why bother flying anywhere on such a beautiful day?
Last Friday I started working out how to get a complex title on top of video footage. I looked on the internet and had all sorts of complex solutions thrust my way. I emailed Claire who is a proper camera person but doesn't know much about the editing. She asked an editor and he kindly sent me some screen grabs from FinalCut Pro. His solution was to render the video with an Alpha channel as separate frames then to pop them in the sequencer and piss about with chroma keying in the compositor. He then renders out into some esoteric format that would have filled my hard drive. I asked John at Midmarsh Jottings and as soon as I had sent the email I thought of a simple way of doing it. It works.
This is very rough, the smokey title was done as an exercise with something very difficult to mask. The video is not corrected for colour but it proves the workflow.
If anyone wants to know how to do it then feel free to email me. Like most things it is easy once you know. Easyish is perhaps more accurate. I can only do it in Blender as I don't have FinalCut or AfterEffects but they all work much the same as you can see from the screen grab below.

Something else I found out by chance is that you can hover over any of these windows press ShiftD and move them to another monitor....saves me squinting.

36 comments:

  1. Love your photos. The colour in the first shot is lovely.

    Wow, you've come a long way with the graphics. The video of the dogs is perfect. It catches their joy in the snow. Speaking as one from a snow covered country, I say," Silly creatures." The video makes me smile!

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    1. Marie, I keep getting sidetracked as I discover something else that the software can do. It is only the technique I can do as I am not artistic.

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  2. Really love that first photo. The pooch in water is very cute. They're having a lot of fun:)

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    1. Chris, the dogs life is all about fun and sleeping. It's what they do.

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  3. Nice shot of the woods and cute pic of your dog too.

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    1. Linda, the dogs are little devils but I love them.

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  4. Your dogs sure love the snow, fun video, the title is brilliant though beyond me.

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    1. Gillian, it is beyond me as well. I get so far then can't convert the technique into art. I'll keep trying.

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  5. Your dogs made me laugh, obviously trying out for a job as snow ploughs

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    1. Douglas, if i brushed the snow out of them once I must have done it half a dozen times, it was very sticky snow.

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  6. What a wonderful video of Molly and Alf playing in the snow ~ you are obviously not the only one in the family who enjoys the snow. When one of their faces popped up covered in the stuff, I laughed. Lovely to see the sunrise through the trees. What a brilliant blue sky photo! You'll have to change the title to Adrian's Animations and Images ;)

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    1. Glo, I can assure you that I don't roll in it.
      They are all images and animation is a long word.

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  7. Bah. Three tires. Maybe if I hit Publish instead of Sign Out. Senior moment on my tablet. It wouldn't happen on my computer.

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    1. John, it happens. My favourite is to hit close instead of maximise.

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  8. Great - a happy titler and two happy pooches.

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    1. John, now all i have to do is get the right size and quantity of particles, make sure it dwells in the correct place and I'm away.

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  9. That first shot is quite fine--- and the second made me laugh. The title sequence is fun. Can I be your agent when the big studios come calling?

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    1. Bill, I think that we'll both be waiting a very long time. I look at news titles and try to copy them. I have the software but have to be very careful that the computer doesn't crash.

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  10. I like the first image in the forest
    and wow, super what you did with your name
    I like that

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    1. Marty, you could turn it from a technique into art...I'll have a close look at some of your composites and see if I can make them develop over time or animate them.

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  11. Your dogs must be great fun.....and rather wet, Adrian?

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    1. Frances, I must admit that I do take the dogs for granted. I shouldn't as they are excellent company but as you say a bit damp and muddy.

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  12. I like the photo with the plane. I think I too prefer looking up at the sky rather than down from it, though.

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    1. Monica, I must have flown round the world a dozen times or more and used to enjoy flying. I was lucky to have had trips in helicopters and small aircraft but these days I am happy on the ground.

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  13. The sun rising through the trees looks like a woodland bonfire.
    Running around in snow and burying your mush in the white stuff looks like a fun thing to do. Was your westie simply imitating you?

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    1. YP, I don't know why they do it. This snow was a bit warm and they were covered in it.

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  14. Be careful, Adrian. Walking the wrong way could get you all sorts of unwelcome attention!

    Your first image is a cracker! The title on the video is great, but your dogs loving playing in the snow stole the show.

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    1. Richard, thanks I'll watch how I walk. The dog video was the second clip I found. The first clip was a young buzzard annoying the hens but it was so far away that I discarded it.

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  15. I just have to watch from afar...all of this is over my head! But I like the results.
    I can't imagine wanting to tiptoe through the puddles on a cold day, but such a cutie!!

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    1. Terri, the dogs are very difficult to comprehend.

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  16. Molly wanted to keep some fun... but I think it wasn't fun to you to wash and dry it after swimming.
    Lovely photos.

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    1. Orvokki, I am surrounded by wet towels and dogs. It will be good when summer arrives.

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  17. So lucky to have such cute companions.

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  18. After 29℃ and sunny yesterday it's raining this morning (and only 23℃) so having cooked dinner for tonight I am luxuriating in catching up on some blogs. The title looks very good and, as always, impresses me greatly. I was going to say that the cause of the vapour trail could have had me on board but then I realised it was the wrong date and the worng route! Add to that we took off from Glasgow at the height of Storm Henry.

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    1. Graham, the weather has turned back to normal with nearly an inch of rain in 6hs. I have been pondering titles for ages and this works fine. Not much I've found that Blender can't do. It is a wonderful bit of software and it makes me think how much better 3DMAX must be to warrant a £1000.00p price tag.

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