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Special note: When you install a program and the final window pops up offering the chance to read the readme file, read it.
When I first installed Music Creator sometime ago, I had an issue with the drivers and the soundcard in this Vaio. It basically didn't see it. Having other computers, including a dead "beast" system laying around, I pulled a Sound Blaster, probably Audigy, from it. Now Vaio systems and Creative components have had issue in the past. In this case it worked, but I wonder how much of my recent problems were related.
Well, after the reformat and restore, I did not reinstall the Sound Blaster. I figured I'd get around to it when I needed it, which would be when I do music again. This time, however, when I installed Music Creator, I launched the readme file at the end. Guess what the first thing in there was. A list of the sound cards that had issues. Mine was first in the list. A single checkbox was the solution.
So now I have it all working with the original internal sound hardware on the Vaio. I can pull that rusty old Sound Blaster out and have a free slot again!
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Next Step
Well, I am on my way to installing Music Creator again. (I had to reformat my system remember?) What does this mean? You guessed it. The last shot of the trailer is done and I am onto sound. I don't expect to get much done tonight, I just want it all working for tomorrow. Who knows, If I can get the trailer score and all the narration done tomorrow, I might just get the trailer online tomorrow night!
In other news, man people have been informing me about these new magnificent monitors over at the Apple page. I miss the glass look of the original cinema displays, but these apparently will finally be usable on PC systems!
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A Motion Designing Good Time
I was talking to another anime creator the other day and the conversation came around to the subject of cloth simulation. I realized a while back that it just isn't necessary in many cases, and often is undesirable for anime.
Cloth and hair in anime don't move like real cloth and hair. They do a quick flick and fall right back into perfect place. You don't get that out of a simulation. Generally I would say that most of what is needed in anime can be covered with morph targets or bones.
Well today I am doing a scene that needs a real simulation. It is cloth blowing in the wind. Now understand that I have this cloth thing down to a science. I have been using it since "Motion Designer" many years ago. I have made great improvements in my recent models to make cloth easier and faster. Unfortunately, it STILL takes too long to be really useful for the speed at which I need to work.
It's not because of the calculation time anymore. No, that is very quick on new computers. It's the trial and error concerning things like wind. Once its too fast, then too slow, then not enough wind and so on... That is what is taking the time.
That scene is finally done rendering. Last one of the trailer. Onto music and sound. It won't be long now.
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You're not going to believe this. I was just about to do a full system restore again! This time because I had really messed something up, or at least thought I did, by messing around in areas I should not have messed with. I thought, "Now I could eventually figure this out and fix the problem, but which would be quicker?"
I could spend all day, or even more maybe, figuring out and fixing the problem, or spend a couple of hours doing a full system restore. After all, I just did one three days ago, it's not like I have advanced that far that I might lose so much stuff. So I chose the restore route.
Well, seconds... Just seconds before I was about to reboot and start the restore, I noticed a file in my system drive called "program". Now in the system drive there is a folder called "Program Files" with a space in the name, which in times past was always considered a very bad things. Apparently there was some major conflict here. I have no idea where the file came from, so I deleted it. BOOM! Everything is working fine again. Imagine that!
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Well, I seem to be back up and running after a system recovery. Virus? I scanned then and found nothing, but here's some interesting things I noticed. Aside from programs taking forever to open, I had to copy everything I wanted to keep from this system to another drive before reformatting. It took hours upon hours to copy the files. Many Gigabytes of information. After the system was restored, it took merely 21 minutes to copy it all back. That's the speed difference.
I also noticed that my system cache was always rated extremely high and the simplest things seemed to use nearly all the CPU power. These problems are all gone now. While I was at it, I made some other changes, since change seemed like the order of the day. I finally run XP as XP. When I first got it, I hated it and did everything in my power to make it look like Windows 2000. No more. I also decided upon Netscape for both mail and web browsing over I.E. and Outlook. Why not? Change is good right?
By the end of the day, I should be back in production on a more streamlined system. I still think the problem was just junk overload. You install too many things on a Windows system and it just goes whacky. I installed way too many things and never did any proper housecleaning. Now the cleaning is done. This time I am keeping my system simple and streamlined. I will get Lightwave and Mirage back on it, and that will be about it.
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Something has happened... Something... Evil. I don't know what is the cause, but my system has become excrutiatingly slow. The cursor stutters. It is paging from the moment I boot it up. Things don't look too good.
The only recent change I made was to renew my subscription to Norton software. Could this be it? I know in the past I have had problems with virus checkers slowing down operations with their constant checking of every little thing that goes on in the system, but I haven't experienced that problem here before.
It seems it may just be time for house cleaning. I always say that it is good to do a full system restore at least once a year. I really should have done it before starting a new show anyway. It may yet be time to seriously consider streamlining the system and leaving off many of the unnecessary tools that seem to find their way onto it.
So the factory restore begins now. If I don't come back, you know what happened. :)
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I changed My Mind
I take back what I said in my last post. With high def DVD's coming down the line and Windows media 9 being so widely accepted, it's only a matter of time. We as indies have every reason to embrace high def and, in fact, should get the jump on it. The extra work required must have been getting to me.
This means there is only one solution. More concerted effort! If models have to be better, then they have to be better. Better to spend some extra time on the front in and reap the production benefits of Chaos than spend a lot of time in post fixing things that could have been avoided. After a couple days working on improving models and cloth simulation tests, I am back at it, confident that I am making the best move in doing this show high def, even though DVD is the target for now.
There should be a trailer coming very soon.
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In The Thick Of It
It's been over two weeks since my last post, but I am far from out of action. In fact, I would dare say that all that time has even been put to good use. Doing those mind animation experiments in the high definition resolution of 1280x720P is one thing, but doing actual production is another matter entirely. All the flaws in the old methods of doing animation come to light very quickly, and the days of doing many scenes per day may go with it unless changes are made.
I found that more attention to detail must be paid to the model of the characters. Everything must be right at this resolution whereas much could be "gotten away with" before. While none of this will probably show up on DVD, the greater scrutiny provided by high definition will make doing projects for exhibition in that resolution a lot more work. My suggestion is, unless you plan to have your project projected theatrically or broadcast in HDTV, don't do it!
In other news, J4A has now gone to win the prestigious Telly Award, the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions. Still no word on the final fate of the show however.
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