Episode 003 – Some Keyboard Shortcuts and The Wonderfulness of Proxies
July 23rd, 2009 by rfquerin
by Richard Querin
This is a relatively short screencast which gives some very useful keyboard shortcuts I’ve learned along the way which can help your workflow. I also cover the wonderful concept of proxies. If you’ve ever wondered how well Blender could handle editing your HD video, this is for you. Proxies in Blender make editing your HD video on your aging PC or netbook entirely possible. Give it a look.
Tags: proxies
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:58 pm
you mention kodak zi8 – you like it? I’ve read the reviews, but would like your insights. I need something better than what the v610 takes for video, but need the small size so I’ll actually tote it around.
I know you guys are taking some time (was an avid inkscape cast watcher) – life can be challenging, take your time. Thanks for the intro to blender, makes for some nice foot pegs on the learning curve – loving it.
October 4th, 2010 at 7:11 am
@junapp
heathenx here: I love my Kodak Zi8. It’s perfect for what I do. I’m just a hobbiest video taker anyway so the portability is great. I actually shoot quite a bit of video with it. I shoot most of my stuff in 1080p HD. The only feature that I would love to see added is maybe a 2x or 4x optical zoom instead of the digital zooming.
Yup, I would say that we are actually taking A LOT of time off. Thanks for understanding.
October 7th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
I’m assuming you’ve had no issues with dealing with the sound in Blender from the zi8. Watched a review, from, ah, ahem, Nixie Pixel which said it was wrapped in an odd format (http://www.nixiepixel.com/kodak-zi8/). I was looking for something to catch my 3 year old’s antics which will likely end up in his hands so the price point is about right. Appreciate the reply.
December 7th, 2010 at 8:38 am
finally got one (zi8). Dell had a deal on the other day.
trying to follow along with
http://4rtedigit4l.blogspot.com/2009/12/blender-tilt-shift-tutorial.html
after being re-inspired by tilt-shift and:
http://vimeo.com/9679622
Fellow took 35,000 stills, and post rendered them all for the tilt shift effect and stabilization.
If you ever need a topic, “tilt shift effect in blender with video”. If I ever figure it out, I’ll pass along my attempts.
December 7th, 2010 at 9:08 am
@junapp
Ah! I would love to learn how to do a tilt-shift with Blender. Perhaps I’ll research this a little. If you have any tips please pass them along.
Btw, I’ve kind of had my eye on a GoPro Hero (http://www.goprocamera.com). I shoot some biking videos on occasion and that might be perfect for me.
Also, my Zi8 took a fall this past summer from 5 feet up and landed right on the pavement. No damage and still works great. Guess I got lucky.
December 7th, 2010 at 11:08 am
@junapp
Well, I figured it out. I guess it was easier than I thought. I found in my directory structure a blender file that I made (over a year ago) where I had already figured out how to make tilt-shift images with the compositor. I tweaked it a little and was able to figure how to do it with video. The only thing that I did differently was instead of making a gradient texture right inside of Blender, I made one with Inkscape and used it instead. I picked that up from the video link that you posted. Controlling the gradient in Inkscape is a bit easier for me than adjusting it in Blender.
The only thing that I need now is some good video footage to play with.
December 8th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
@heathenx: driving around Halifax today started looking upward for medium high buildings to obtain some footage of high traffic areas. I’ll keep you posted. The gopro vid is amazing – when a gorillapod just won’t cut it. Figured the impact from the girl jumping into water off a cliff would destroy something.
December 14th, 2010 at 10:32 am
@junapp
Halifax? Let me know if you bump into Ricky and Julian.
December 18th, 2010 at 1:54 am
oh, I always keep a rum and coke chilling in the dash cooler just in case I bump into Julian.
Convinced this is the inspiration for Bubbles (I’ve had the official word that it is not, but I’m holding onto my theory):
About 30 seconds into:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUaZuV8Vg2E
January 8th, 2011 at 5:55 pm
what settings do you use for step and fps to get a decent looking stop motion type of tilt shift miniature effect? Seems like a step of 7 works, but then I think I should be changing the fps to something to make it look like it should be going a bit faster. Playing around a little bit and got the following (ignore the post in the left foreground).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9_MIndbGZ0
April 24th, 2011 at 3:30 am
Really useful, as always. I have the same Kodak, and often wondered what I was doing wrong . . . the files are pretty big, and my laptop (pretty close to what’s used for the ‘cast) would drop frames all the time.
PS, why “shhhhh it’s a secret”? Wave your freak-flag high, these are good tutorials.
Cheers.
April 25th, 2011 at 7:26 am
@Martin,
“Shhh, it’s a secret” because we never really got this project off of the ground before we moved on to other things. We have short attention spans.