Episode 058 - Filter Effects
April 11th, 2008 by heathenx
Episode 058 is now posted. In it I demonstrate how to use a few filters in the newest Inkscape 0.46.
This episode is also the first video where we made the switch from 800×600 resolution to 912×684 resolution for both AVI and FLV. Inkscape has always been a little difficult to shrink down to 800×600 so Richard and I are left recording with a slightly bigger window size and then scaling that to a standard resolution when we encode the video. Version 0.46 of Inkscape is even more challenging to make the application window smaller. We prefer to record in the same size that we encode into so that the video is as clear as possible. 800×600 to 912×684 isn’t a big jump but it might be enough to annoy some of our viewers. The format that we ended up with is middle ground between Inkscape and screencasting. We hope that it will be alright. 
If you hate the larger resolution video then please send all complaints to Richard Querin, P.O. Box 567, French Lick, IN, 169…uh…wait…never mind…better respect his privacy. 
April 11th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Hello, I’ve started downloading every podcast from here back to square 1, and I only would like to ask, if you could include a direct link to download the mp4 video, straight from the feed. Instead of opening a browser from the “Complete Story” link included in the RSS feed. It’s all I’m wondering about, did you ever have this discussion before?
Thanks heathenx!
April 11th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
http://screencasters.heathenx.org/wp-content/videos/ep058.avi is the direct link. When you hover over the download button the full path should be exposed in your status bar in your browser. Replace ep058.avi with any previous episode number and you’re good to go. We do not have mp4’s and never have. That’s something we experimented with but have not released yet. Avi’s and Flv’s for now.
A well crafted wget shell script will grab them all for you automatically too. Of course I’d make a couple sandwiches and watch a movie or two cuz it’s gonna take a while.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
OH MAN, sorry about that, I had Inkscape in my head, but GIMP (Meet the GIMP!) podcast came out instead….
and so far I deem you at 1.7 GB haha, but what a worthy archive of knowledge.
Well actually I do have all previous episodes already
But primarily, from what I am referring to, was to include a direct download link included in the RSS feed, instead of link hopping to your primary site to hit the download, even though modifyting the link you mentioned aswell would also do the trick. But I’m not really just saying this for me, but to better your feed
Was wondering if you would consider including it, or if it was just a suggestion that wouldn’t help much, some podcasts link directly to their download from their feed, so that is where the idea came from.
April 12th, 2008 at 7:42 am
HeavensRevenge - There is a separate RSS Feed for the screencasts themselves (as opposed to this blog). If you got to http://screencasters.heathenx.org (without the ’slash blog’ on the end) you can subscribe to that one and it should do what you want - unless I’m misunderstanding you. You can also hit the ‘Episodes’ link at the top of this blog to get over there too. We probably have more subscribers to the episode feed than this blog feed.. Heck, why am I sending you over there to get it, here are the feeds:
Episode Feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Screencastersheathenxorg
Blog Feed (this blog):
http://screencasters.heathenx.org/blog/feed/
You should be good to go. But if I’ve misunderstood what you want - and entirely realistic possibility!
- then let us know.
April 12th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Our website may seem a little redundant at times too but Richard and I wanted to separate our episodes away from our random ranting on the blog. That’s why we have two different rss feeds. Maybe it would have been better to do away with the screencaster’s blog and just link up to our personal blogs. I suppose it’s too late for that now.
Richard is right. Our episode feed is the one that you probably want. If you are a MeetTheGimp subscriber then our episode feed is darn near identical looking when it pops up in your rss reader. So you should be used to that.
By the way, once we start making mp4’s instead of avi’s then I would expect to start seeing them on iTunes as well. Even though I hate iTunes, it’s a pretty good distribution model. Mp4’s might be ready in the year 2015…mark it on your calendar. :p
April 12th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Well… not quite but almost. In case you’d like to know what I’m used to better understand my environment, Distro=sidux, window manager=KDE, RSS/ATOM feed aggregator=Akregetor.
I actually have been subscribed to both the episode feed and the blog feed for about a week now. I like the episode feed since it has the link to the embedded flash when the picture is clicked and for the episode reference links, but i like the blog feed because it’s a more behind the scenes look, and more frequently updated content compared to episode releases.
Ill use an example to hopefully make this 3rd time’s a charm
nowhere in the RSS feed, is there a link to directly to: http://screencasters.heathenx.org/wp-content/videos/ep058.avi to download via a download dialogue, since I archive all your episodes and my flash playing in a browser is quite choppy.
But adding a http://screencasters.heathenx.org/wp-content/videos/ep058.avi in the RSS feed, you would get a direct download path to grab the .avi straight from the feed, instead of following the “Complete Story” link which loads the page/post which THEN you can later download after a redirection.
So just a direct link to the .avi pushed out within the RSS feed content itself, instead of just the website page links to then download the .avi in the episode posts.
Phiew what an attempt to further explain my exact proposition
I really do hope I have accurately described my proposal, and if need be, subscribe to http://feeds.feedburner.com/linuxoutlaws-ogg temporarily to see for example that they have a direct link to their .ogg file right at the top of the RSS entry to download directly.
I do think it would be a very nice addition to better the feed itself if that single direct link was included, I hope it seems as useful to you as it does for me, thanks and can’t wait until #59 guys
April 13th, 2008 at 7:19 am
Ahh… Now I think I understand what you’re getting at. I’ve been fooled since I use Google Reader and the link to the avi file is automatically added to each entry. But now I just tried subscribing using Thunderbird instead and see that there is indeed no direct link to the avi file within the post. I’m assuming most aggregators wouldn’t automatically place the link like GReader does.
So I guess adding a simple direct link within each episode post is the way to go on this?
Heathenx.. your thoughts? Other than ‘blame Richard’ that is.
April 13th, 2008 at 10:08 am
I blame Ric…oh, wait.
Well, our episode video feed is controlled by podpress. Maybe Richard and I could do a little exploring and see what options we have.
We’ll work on it HeavensRevenge.
UPDATE: Ahh! I see what you are talking about. I loaded our feed into Akregator. Your right. There is no file or link exposed. You have to go to our website to get the avi. Thunderbird and Google Reader provide the actual avi link in the feed so that you do not have to visit our website. That’s how it’s supposed to work.
Until we can fix this I would change the properties of our feed in your Akregator to load the whole website. I tried this and it loads pretty fast on my machine. It only loads the actual blog post and when it does you’ll see the download link. Better than nothin’.
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Ok. I could be wrong but I think the problem is confined to Akregator. Try using Liferea and the avi link is exposed just like Thunderbird and Google Reader.
April 13th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Well isn’t that something, yea I just got into aggregators lately and I’ve had Google Reader for a while but haven’t used it actively based on its web home. I may be old fashioned (haha and young) but like the blazing fast response from an app MY CPU is actually driving, instead of their server farm doing the talking. I do suppose there’s no harm in seeing of this interesting functionality GR seems to be doing automatically. Yea…. I suppose the loading whole page would do it, mind you It is the only feed requiring it, but I’m happy the functionality is there but cheated lol, thanks
Seeing inkscape in useful action is nothing less than satisfying.
April 13th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
@HeavensRevenge
I’m not suggesting that you switch rss readers. Only suggesting that you try others so that you can see how our feed is different. Even if you use Firefox as your rss reader (live bookmarks) the avi link is exposed. That’s why I think it’s an Akgregator issue.
Nevertheless, we don’t intend to leave you out in the cold if it’s something that we can fix. At this point I just don’t know how to fix it yet. Perhaps this is something that you can help us fix.
April 14th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Hello!
I enjoy all your video tuts. But there is one issue that puzzles me about the latest one; the part about manipulating the effects. I wouldn’t have a clue what parameters to change, why to change and about mechanics in general. Maybe a lame question, where can you learn that?
April 14th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Hi Jari!
So far, Tav’s manual is the only detailed reference that we have. If that doesn’t help you then it’s going to be like discovering new fish in the ocean. Sometimes we stumble onto big discoveries by looking for something else.
Right now I don’t even have a full understanding to these filters. They are difficult for me to use. I thank those in our community who have published their findings because I probably wouldn’t have figured them out.