It's hard getting back on the horse after being off of it
for so long. As problems and distractions morph my life I find
it difficult to regain that same level of attentiveness to the
site. This is partly due to the fact I'm psyched out about quality.
I find I have my foot in my mouth more so when I wish the
articles to fair better.

Writing good articles just doesn't seem to be my style right now.
Either that, or it's one slippery horse.

Here's the birds eye overview.

Hum Circuit

A new hacker-slash-maker space is trying to get off
the ground up here in Humboldt county. I intended to write all about
that 1st meeting but I wanted to wait till I got permission to post the image.

Everyone there was pretty excited about getting things started.
I mentioned CCAT would probably be a good place to meet at least
until we find a more lab like place. (Hopefully, a classroom sanctioned through
some helpful campus club. *cough Computer Science Club *cough)

We'll see what comes of all of it.

New DSLR

I had always wanted a DSLR. But when I heard they could shoot
great video. I was sold. It was only a matter of time before I did
all my homework and obtained one.

It's like seeing the world with new eyes. It catches so much more detail
and provides so many more options. I've got a lot of learning to do.

The following is a test video for compression/sound/video quality.

Perhaps, not the best choice in music but it was just handy for a test.
Finding that version of "Ave Maria" by krishashok via Sound Cloud got my
wheels turning for other possibilities. You may have noticed the slick noise
profile trick. I was very happy to see the updated Noise Cleaning plugin
from Audacity. It's just what I needed.

I've run many tests in the past week. Since, I'm now tape-less I can
hit record at any random point in my day and be editing literally minutes
later.

Ah. Nearly accurate green screen keying. The Holy Grail of home film making.
Have I finally conquered the elusive beast? May just be close enough to justify
the time it will take to create better CGI to stand in front of. At least, I think so.

I find I enjoy a certain look. I use the threshold plugin of Final Cut Express to crush
the blacks and remove some of the color. I feel it gives it a bit more of a rustic noir
look that I like. The dramatic lighting is an accident due to the fact I don't have much
room to move about without having the green screen lights casting side light on me.

I saw this one frame on the TV monitor as I was filming. The contrast on
the monitor shocked me. You see, I could obtain clean blacks with no noise for
the first time in my life. I was looking at something on my TV that might actually
look like it belonged there. You can't tell from this frame but in theory I have
enough pixel information to make a slick 480x270 web frame.

I can push the footage a bit towards the warmer old-timey style.

Blender 2.5?

I realize that a lot of subscribers on the site and on the youtube channel
expect more Blender. I don't wish to disappoint them so it's in the back of
my mind. Still, I'm going in a different direction and things just won't be
the way they used to be.

...
It's probably better that way.