I was just thinking of the software we used today and realised it was all freeware or open source.
They were Blender 3d, Audacity, VM midi Keyboard, Psycle, Firefox, Paint.net, The Gimp, Irfan View and Open Office. (click here for details/download info)
We really like the idea of freeware/open source software and one area we haven't really tried fully yet is open sorce operating systems. In the last post we mentioned Linux Ubuntu, and today we applied for a copy of this open source( Free) operating system.
Go check out their website. Ubuntu looks impressive and you can download it or apply to receive a free copy by mail if your connection is slow or you just like getting mail (they say it takes between 4 and 10 weeks to get it).
You can run windows applications on Ubuntu but there are thousands of freeware programs that are free to download and use too. Remember to check the Dwarfed Films Essential Freeware list.
I'm not sure how well windows designed programs work on Linux but you can go check out details on the web or check the ubuntu wiki.
Leave a comment or Contact Dwarfed Films
Friday, June 29, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Windows Vista
We're using Windows Vista Premium which came pre-installed on a new computer. It looks nice although it's just really a fancier version of XP with the addition of a side bar with a clock, a calender and some other things. It all seems a bit gimmicky and is fun for a day or so but when you just want to focus on doing tasks such as audio/video editing you don't pass too many remarks of it. But it does run nicely.
I wouldn't have bought it as a standalone package but it is great when it comes pre-installed. The price of buying Vista Premium edition in Ireland is around 300 Euro or around 200 Euro for upgrade. I think that's too expensive considering that it isn't a massive improvement on the previous version of Windows. It is more user friendly and accessible but with some of the versions of Linux operating systems like Ubuntu that are coming out with excellent features, Microsoft should make more of an effort! I tested a bootable version of Linux last year (can't remember the name) and it looked great. Linux operating systems tend to allow programs like Blender 3d to run better too. Why didn't we switch to Linux if it's so great? Most of our software is windows based and we were unsure how stable it would work on Linux and we didn't want to waste time getting used to a new system either. We will switch over some day..
I haven't tried all our software with Vista yet but most of it seems to work ok. Blender was a bit glitchy: strange blockiness on the screen when moving windows or objects about. When settings in the optimisation panel were adjusted it worked as normal with major noticable errors except in render settings: when selecting a codec, the window that opens causes the blender screen immediatly beneath it to turn black when you try to drag it around.Of course this isn't a serious issue but it shouldn't happen. (You need to disable the AERO theme in Vista and it should work as normal)
Shit Talker (which appeared in a post from a few days ago) didn't work so good. It wouldn't shut down correctly and kept on running in the background and needed to be switched off from the task manager. Even then it wouldn't go away properly so Vista needed a reboot. I wouldn't recommend Shit Talker with Vista. Works fine with Windows 2000 but not on our Vista!
The drum sequencer program DT-100 Drumstation works with Vista but when attempting to save and enter a file name I was restricted to only certain keys and numbers like "a", "l" and the number "4". This was strange and annoying so I just removed the program in case it would cause any other problems.
I'll post any problems I notice with other audio/video editing programs when I come across them.
I wouldn't have bought it as a standalone package but it is great when it comes pre-installed. The price of buying Vista Premium edition in Ireland is around 300 Euro or around 200 Euro for upgrade. I think that's too expensive considering that it isn't a massive improvement on the previous version of Windows. It is more user friendly and accessible but with some of the versions of Linux operating systems like Ubuntu that are coming out with excellent features, Microsoft should make more of an effort! I tested a bootable version of Linux last year (can't remember the name) and it looked great. Linux operating systems tend to allow programs like Blender 3d to run better too. Why didn't we switch to Linux if it's so great? Most of our software is windows based and we were unsure how stable it would work on Linux and we didn't want to waste time getting used to a new system either. We will switch over some day..
I haven't tried all our software with Vista yet but most of it seems to work ok. Blender was a bit glitchy: strange blockiness on the screen when moving windows or objects about. When settings in the optimisation panel were adjusted it worked as normal with major noticable errors except in render settings: when selecting a codec, the window that opens causes the blender screen immediatly beneath it to turn black when you try to drag it around.Of course this isn't a serious issue but it shouldn't happen. (You need to disable the AERO theme in Vista and it should work as normal)
Shit Talker (which appeared in a post from a few days ago) didn't work so good. It wouldn't shut down correctly and kept on running in the background and needed to be switched off from the task manager. Even then it wouldn't go away properly so Vista needed a reboot. I wouldn't recommend Shit Talker with Vista. Works fine with Windows 2000 but not on our Vista!
The drum sequencer program DT-100 Drumstation works with Vista but when attempting to save and enter a file name I was restricted to only certain keys and numbers like "a", "l" and the number "4". This was strange and annoying so I just removed the program in case it would cause any other problems.
I'll post any problems I notice with other audio/video editing programs when I come across them.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
SHIT TALKER
No, I'm not talking about myself! I'm instead talking about the voice synthesis software program Shit Talker. It basically speaks aloud whatever you type into it in a variety of voices. Ok, some of them sound "speak and spell" style robotic but some, like old woman, nerd and choir boy, are pretty good especially with a little bit of tweaking.
Shit Talker is aimed at making prank calls but if you get a little creative you can find lots of uses for it in music and filmmaking. If you want to record what is being said in Shit Talker you will need to record from your soundcard using something like Audacity (don't worry it's freeware too, and very good). And Shit Talker is free! Check out it's website and listen to some of the funny recordings done with Shit Talker.
Shit Talker: It does exactly what it says in it's title!
NB: Shit Talker (what a great name!) does not work well with Windows Vista. Also it sometimes will not speak after you have used another audio source (such as Audacity) to record from or after you have played a Wave/Mp3/Ogg format file on your computer. To get Shit Talker to speak again you must re-boot your computer. This is the crap side of the program.
Don't forget to check the Dwarfed Films essential freeware list
As usual leave a comment or email Dwarfed Films
Shit Talker is aimed at making prank calls but if you get a little creative you can find lots of uses for it in music and filmmaking. If you want to record what is being said in Shit Talker you will need to record from your soundcard using something like Audacity (don't worry it's freeware too, and very good). And Shit Talker is free! Check out it's website and listen to some of the funny recordings done with Shit Talker.
Shit Talker: It does exactly what it says in it's title!
NB: Shit Talker (what a great name!) does not work well with Windows Vista. Also it sometimes will not speak after you have used another audio source (such as Audacity) to record from or after you have played a Wave/Mp3/Ogg format file on your computer. To get Shit Talker to speak again you must re-boot your computer. This is the crap side of the program.
Don't forget to check the Dwarfed Films essential freeware list
As usual leave a comment or email Dwarfed Films
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Great Freeware website
I came across a really well laid and informative website.
It's called LIGHTLINKS and features literally hundreds of freeware utilities for music creation, animation, graphics applications, spyware removal and much more. Ignore the religious stuff on the page and focus your attention on the left hand side of the page where it says "3 angels Freeware" (don't ask...).Click on the categories to get taken to the relevent freeware goodies. There are lots of excellent ones to be found.
It seems to be run by some christian religious group but don't let that put you off as they don't appear to be forcing any opinions on web visitors - instead they bizarrely just seem to be promoting free stuff. Very strange!
It's called LIGHTLINKS and features literally hundreds of freeware utilities for music creation, animation, graphics applications, spyware removal and much more. Ignore the religious stuff on the page and focus your attention on the left hand side of the page where it says "3 angels Freeware" (don't ask...).Click on the categories to get taken to the relevent freeware goodies. There are lots of excellent ones to be found.
It seems to be run by some christian religious group but don't let that put you off as they don't appear to be forcing any opinions on web visitors - instead they bizarrely just seem to be promoting free stuff. Very strange!
Busy on new Album
We've been busy working on lots of music.
Are you curious?Well continue to read on...
We're in the process of putting together a number of tracks for an album of moody beat-based "ambient electronica".
Very catchy stuff that we can't get out of our heads and it all sounds damn good so far- if I do say so myself!
More details to follow and will posted on our music website under our bands name (which is not Dwarfed Films)
Are you curious?Well continue to read on...
We're in the process of putting together a number of tracks for an album of moody beat-based "ambient electronica".
Very catchy stuff that we can't get out of our heads and it all sounds damn good so far- if I do say so myself!
More details to follow and will posted on our music website under our bands name (which is not Dwarfed Films)
Yahoo Answers: good site
Now we're not big fans of Yahoo's search engine. It's way too cluttered and busy compared to good old dependable Google. But Yahoo Answers is a great site. Whatever question you have you're bound to find an answer for it there.
Click here to visit the site.
Click here to visit the site.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Office Hours: hair again
In early postings I showed particle hair images from the film. Animating particle hair can be a problem sometimes - it is unpredictable and can end up going through the body and other weird effects. I've been experimenting with polygon hair for the female character instead. Polygon hair
is easier to animate and faster to render.
The first two images show dark brown hair from the side and behind. From this distance it looks pretty realistic but up close it still would need a bit of work.
The third image shows a blonde hair style with basic flat lighting. Not bad - but maybe needs more work to stop it looking too "stiff" and static. When animated it moves really well and behaves far better than it's particle hair equivalent.
You can click on the images and view them better but these are only about a quarter the size of what the full rendered versions will be.
Contact Dwarfed Films with any comments/opinions
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
PC Utilities Magazine Issue#88
The Essential Freeware section on this website hopefully has been of some use to a few of you out there but we highly recommend a UK magazine called PC Utilities. It is a monthly magazine that comes with a DVD of freeware (plus some shareware/trialware) software for windows operating systems.
This months issue, #88, comes with a bumper 4gigs+ of software that will suit your needs for practically every task (well a lot of tasks at least!). It includes everything from Blender(2.43 version - although 2.44 is now out and available from blender.org), Firefox, security software (Ad Aware SE, and loads more), Foxit PDF Reader (better than acrobat reader) and literally hundreds more essential programs in all catagories. If you see it in your local newsagents I recommend picking up a copy and make sure that the DVD is included!
Go to the Dwarfed Films ESSENTIAL FREEWARE
Contact Dwarfed Films
This months issue, #88, comes with a bumper 4gigs+ of software that will suit your needs for practically every task (well a lot of tasks at least!). It includes everything from Blender(2.43 version - although 2.44 is now out and available from blender.org), Firefox, security software (Ad Aware SE, and loads more), Foxit PDF Reader (better than acrobat reader) and literally hundreds more essential programs in all catagories. If you see it in your local newsagents I recommend picking up a copy and make sure that the DVD is included!
Go to the Dwarfed Films ESSENTIAL FREEWARE
Contact Dwarfed Films
Office Hours: building design
Some images of a high rise building that will be used in Office Hours. I've been modelling quite a few buildings (with Blender, of course) recently, ranging from office buildings to small stores. Our computer is really struggling with the massive polygon counts!
We'll add more images shortly.
You can contact Dwarfed Films here
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