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

Friday 16 October 2020

A QUICK POST.

 Just in after a relatively quiet day. Last night I found some video editing software that I thought may be worth a look. It's free but they do beg quite a bit, I'll see if it's any good before parting with monies. I do give Blender a few pounds a month as it seems only fair as I play so much.

I gave them a user name, email, and used their suggested password, Chrome remembers it. I downloaded and installed the software but couldn't activate it as it wanted my log in details again. I knew the relevant bits but not the password so gave up after a couple of goes as Chrome couldn't auto fill it so forgot it. I then applied for a new password and started again but it told me the email was already accounted for.  Thought bugger it, if their code writers can't even give me easy access I wondered how good the programme is.

VFX for those that don't know is posh for computer generated stuff. It's a non linear editor but so are all the entertaining ones. It may be worth a look but they seem a bit pushy. Lot's of arm waving, grinning, fist bumping, funny young lads with beards. You know the sort of thing, it's generally a substitute for substance. It maybe worth a look as it seems to have lots of pre-sets effects. Da Vinci is free and very powerful it's owned by Blackmagic now and is superb value, cant be anything else as it's for nothing but pre the buyout was up there with Adobe in the account draining business. Black Magic cameras are a fortune. Bloody Aussies could have given away the cameras and charged for the software. They are very strict with their staff as my nephew works for them as a coder and I still haven't got one, even on loan. Possibly he doesn't like me or maybe they are really funny when it comes to things falling out of the back door.

Talking of Apps the track and trace app is conspicuous by the lack of attention it's getting in the MSM. Pound to a penny it was useless. It didn't really stand a chance as at any given time I suspect 10% of folk have a cold and if they were unfortunate enough to be suffering a bit of a sniffle they turned their phone off. Not to worry I suspect that a few folk have made a fortune from it. Most likely are cabinet ministers family who can write a bit of HTML or Python. We are already aware they can't use Excel.

 I used to like Excel, one could enter maths stuff in the little boxes then calculate alternatives in a second, less, as fast as one could tap the variables in. It seemed like magic after the trials and tribulations of the old Psion. Psion, I thought wonderful, it was cheap. I can remember spending months getting the little thing to reduce star sights and it coming out with gibberish as I'd forgotten to tell it an easy bit and spending days going backwards to find the bit I'd missed. Before I sorted it properly GPS arrived. Sextant in the bin and an immediate position. No more almanac, no more tables, brilliant. What has become of innovative coders?

Rather a sad post today but do your best to enjoy the weekend.

PS. Boris is an idiot but he isn't a traitor like May. It seems we are another step nearer to Brexit. I'm not holding my breath but I am a little more cheerful.



6 comments:

  1. I have Hitfilm 2 Express. Too bally complicated for my simple mind. These days I use Wondershare Filmora 9. It's a linear video editor. The only thing I found useless in that is it's pathetic attempts at stabilization. Crops the view by a lot but the result is still jittering all over the place. Can't beat iMovie for that.
    Haven't used Chrome. Is there not a master password which will let you look at the stored passwords? At least Firefox allows that.

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    1. John, I have never thought to look at the password job. I'm happy using Blender so will probably give up with Hitfilm.

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  2. The Psion was great fun. My son used to go great guns but then he went on to do a doctorate in computer science. I can just about spell it. Psion that is. And then I had you to copy from.

    I used Excel for millions (I exaggerate a little) but since I turned Apple I've rarely had a need for the equivalent program and I expect Excel has gone all modern too. What one knows is always easier to use.

    If the world keeps going to hell in a handcart and someone turns off the satellites or the GPS's batteries run out people like you who can still use a sextant (on a clear night - remember them?) will still have an advantage.

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    1. Graham, I used it as a programmable calculator and even then got mixed results.I have always struggled with code. Excel I have only used as another posh calculator.
      It would take a while to get back into taking start shots, I mainly used the sun at noon but after several overcast days one was sometimes driven to using the stars and planets. Even before GPS many boats had inertial navigators. You set a known position usually alongside a harbour wall then three gyroscopes worked out where you were from acceleration, they also gave wave height.

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  3. Excel seemed to pass me by completely, never really seen the use for it. When I worked for the local authority for a few years they were crazy about it and still are although nobody really knows how to use it. Everything was a spreadsheet. It didn't matter how much money was being wasted just as long as it was recorded on a spreadsheet. Stockbrokers never bothered with it, we found the back of an envelope much more hands on and useful.

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    1. Rachel, Excel never struck me as a data management tool, it appears from the tracking and tracing fiasco it isn't. What the hell, some lucky folk are getting rich for producing crap.

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