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minor update
2008-12-09 12:18:36
No XII for me. Bye bye. That's about 20GB of footage I can delete from my HD. phew? Took me less than two months to ditch it!
AB 2009? I either go off the deep end and make something that's a total guilty pleasure that half the con audience won't really "get" and probably find way too bizarre or I just play it safe(r) and make something that's a lot easier to swallow. This isn't pandering, this is being realistic. If I go all-out making an AMV, I want people to enjoy it the way they're intended to enjoy it.
Plus, I want the kids to be able to enjoy it. This is a bit strange, given that I'm not big into young-uns, but I found having kids tell me after a con (and/or their parents) how much they loved 'Bustin was just about the best thing ever. Like, BIG warm fuzzies! Granted, the "safer" AMV won't be terribly kid-friendly, but ...wait. The kids would probably like the bizarre AMV far more than the adults. Damnit!
I'm running out of time, either way. Only three months left! Eeee! What do I do!!?? :( -
Photoshop masking method feedback requested - now with free ops! (hopefully I don't get inundated...nahhh)
2008-12-07 10:51:27
A few months back when I was up to my eyeballs in masking, I mentioned something about the Photoshop method I was using and wondered aloud if anyone else would benefit from learning it. It’s faster, more accurate and more user-friendly than anything else someone is likely to stumble upon ‘round these parts. My main concern is that the masking method(s) stickied in the forums are outdated - some extremely so - and that I’d hate for anyone to not realize there’s a better way.
So, before I get serious about posting this method IN the forums and perhaps asking someone to overwrite or add an addendum to my other stickied masking thread, I figured I’d solicit more feedback. A few people have already given me their 2 cents, but I’m still up in the air about how valuable this information might be. I was going to post the whole method here...but then decided that was overkill. Instead, I'll just post the short and sweet version, which likely will confuse the heck out of some folks but at least demonstrates what, exactly, I'm trying to sell. The full version of this method not only contains far more detail, but also explains the rational behind it all.
If you would like the full version to try out for yourself, send a PM. Anyone who provides me with quality feedback will be offered a free op, redeemable now or in the future.
This looks like 14 steps, but really it can be boiled down to about 7:
1. Collect still images from a squence of frames you wish to mask, preferably in PSD or TIFF format.
2. Either collect a background still image and place it in the lowest level of your mask-to-be file OR create a black/white layer in this lowest position of your mask-to-be file. Save this file in PSD or TIFF format.
3. Use the pen tool to create your mask outlines, a.k.a. a workpath.
4. Create a selection from your path.
5. Enter Quick Mask Mode and use the Gaussian Blur filter to add a tiny bit of blur (.2 or .3 pixels) to your selection.
6. Create a mask from your selection.
7. Evaluate how clean your mask is, then decide whether to adjust your original paths and repeat steps 3-6 or move on to Step 8 and refine it by hand (if necessary, otherwise skip to Steps 9 or 12, but I highly recommend you do Step 8).
8. Use the brush tool to refine the edges of your mask, painting areas white to reveal more and black to conceal. Vary the size, opacity and feathering of your brush for best results.
***Steps 9-11ish are optional but highly recommended steps to add a cleaner-looking edge to whatever you’ve masked***
9. Create a selection from your mask and set what color you want around the edges of the mask, most likely this will be black.
10. Create a new layer below your mask layer and fill it with that color. Since you had a selection area active, the only place the color should have appeared is within that area.
11. Add 1 pt. of Gaussian blur to this layer.
12. Evaluate your mask against either the background image or the white/black layers. Correcting problems may entail further refining your mask, then repeating steps 9-11 and/or adding (according to preference) heavier outlines around the mask.
13. Save your file as a TIFF or PSD, leaving the background image in place or turning off the visibility/deleting the white/black layers. In both cases, be sure the “Layers” option is selected in the save dialogue box. If you save as a TIFF file and you have no background image, be sure the “Save Transparency” option is selected in the second Save dialogue box.
14. Evaluate the results in your editing program or Adobe Bridge.
:) ?
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@melee
2008-12-04 21:18:06
I got a total of 31 hits after that journal post, so I'm past 10,000 now, thank you very much. If if makes you feel any better, you were one of the people who contributed to the 10K drive. As of this moment I'm actually at 10,035.
I was interested in 10,000 mostly because I hadn't been paying attention to the hits and suddenly realized how often I must make journal entries to reach that point. I haven't been journaling obsessively since I wound up here, mostly just since I began to actually MAKE AMVs, which means 14 months or so. It's too bad it's not easier to go back and research/make use of past posts, because there's some stuff in here I'd love to find again. Notes to self and all that.
You see, what that 10K actually reflects is the horrific amount journal posts I make, NOT the amount of people checking up on me, so I find it all rather amusing. I seem to average between 30-50 hits per post, although when I went off the deep end during the summer and lots of people were watching my meltdown unfold, the hits were easily triple that. -_-
Yes, I'm still crazy, but my meds have been straightened out a bit, so now I'm not, you know...REALLY crazy. I don't think I am, anyways. :|
Spike in Drift's journal posts = spike in anxiety over an AMV she's planning to make. I swear, if I have to make XII I'm going to be dragged kicking and screaming through the whole thing and I'm taking you all with me!! It's going to be HORRIBLE!
I've had too much eggnog tonight. :} -
Tales from the Office: I can't get away from video editors
2008-12-04 15:29:04
Today at work I wound up meeting with some vendor representatives who were EXTREMELY jovial and…well...fun to hang out with. They were all excited about a video made by a graphic designer (or something) in their marketing department who apparently dabbles in video editing (rather like me, I guess). It was put together to be shown at some of the big national trade shows, and the whole time I sat there watching it thinking: “I know dozens of AMV editors who could turn out something like this. Even I might be able to make something like this!”
So all this dabbling can clearly pay off. With enough work and the proper application of hobby-dropping and wheedling, you too can turn your l33t AMV skills into corporate promotional gold.
I had to refrain from laughing, though, when one of the reps commented about how fast the cuts/effects were – by current AMV standards it was what I would term moderately paced: not seizure-inducing, but definitely designed for short attention spans. And effects-wise, this was small potatoes, although I really liked some of the stuff they did. They clearly could have done a lot more...but of course this isn't a modern AMV, in which eye candy must reign supreme. *rolls eyes* -
12 more journal hits to 10,000 - come on guys, I know you can do it!
2008-12-03 10:27:45
I was sitting at work today thinking that it’s been awhile (good god, less than a week!) since I made a journal post. I thought a little more, but couldn’t come up with anything I felt the need to write about and which I haven’t said five times already. Then I started thinking about what’s going to happen when/if I start to make my next AMV and realized that that too is probably going to be a rehash of past posts. I mean, whether I sit here and complain bitterly about Cloud’s lip flap or about Gankutsuou's unpleasant use of gradients, it’s still complaining about the same old stuff. Plus, I don’t get as much stress relief out of ranting and raving in my journal as I used to, probably because I’ve got a lot more (bigger, badder) things to stress over than lip flap.
In January, for instance, I have to fly down South for a two-day corporate meeting about my company’s Web site. I have been told point blank that I am NOT allowed to contact the people I’m going to be meeting with to – you know – maybe find out what they expect me to bring to this meeting. And we can’t do this via a conference call – oh no – we have to sit down face to face and discuss the matter in person. Discuss WHAT?? I don’t even know what the heck I’m supposed to be discussing with them!
Note how excited that paragraph is compared to this one:
Last night I nearly succumbed to the temptation of making my Footloose AMV in place of XII. I’ve said it before, it’s NOT a good sign when I’m pondering the creation of an AMV and dreading the process, which goes a long ways towards explaining why most of my videos are fun/comedy-centric. This editing shtick is frustrating and tedious enough, why in the world would I want to make myself miserable creating something that can’t at least make me less miserable after the fact? I want there to be more happiness in life, not more unpleasantness. I suspect I’d actually feel bad about making a sad/angry AMV because those are not the emotions I really want to promote in people.
Prediction: In approximately two months I will contemplate a permanent end to my short-lived-despite-being-almost-eight-years-in-the-making AMV career. All things considered, it’s really kind of bizarre how much and how little I’ve managed to accomplish in that amount of time.
p.s. In terms of angst that makes me want to beat characters over the heads with not-so-fluffy pillows, Vampire Knight (s1 and s2) has got to be the most angst-ridden anime I've ever watched in my entire life. Maybe the "Guilty" in season 2 stands for the guilt I feel over watching the series, because normally I can't stand that angsty drivel. Actually, I think the reason I watch it is because the characters make me sooo furious that I want to be there when something bad happens to them. A foolish hope, I know, but it keeps me going.
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JOURNAL: DriftRoot (Lauren C.)
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