Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Outdoor Video and Vector Art

Sup! Hope you're enjoying the holiday season. Some vectors are in the works. Also, I'm gonna put up another video. This one will be outdoors. Not much else going on right now. I'll catch up with you later on. Peace.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Macro Close Up with the Panasonic TM700

I began to peer into what looked like a tunnel..more like a cavern of sorts. A flame lit the end of this cavern I was looking into. The walls around me peachy orange and began to grow damp. Warm fluid oozed from the ceiling of this place and down to the surface. Much of the fluid pooled to the cavern floor forming a puddle that slowly swelled up. I decided to go further in. I reached a comfortable distance. Then flame and cavern turned orange red! I waited to see if anything would become of this. However, the normal color soon returned. I continued to examine this place. I could see the source of the flame and what it rested upon. I dared not get to close so I would get fried. :) I looked at the top of the ceiling and saw clear viscious fluid seeping it's way down. Specks of dark matter were inside this liquid and followed the path this river of fluid took. I brought my attention back to the flame and saw that it became much brighter than before. I noticed that a tunnel had been formed and the flame was ever so slowly going through it. I looked at it a bit more and a strange halo if you will formed around it. This halo flicked as the flame did the same. Eventually, the halo dissipated..the flame remained however. What a lovely sight. Mango and apricots scent filled the air and my olfactory senses approved! All is pleasant. Man, I let my imagination run wild again. :D Watch the video below. I hope you're having a good holiday season so far. I'll see you guys next week. Peace!

Panasonic TM700: Best HD Camcorder of 2010



I've always been into filming on some level or another. I find it awesome that you can capture a moment in time and relive it whenever you want. I started out with a simple Xacti camcorder. It did a fine job for the time but I wanted more.

I've heard so many good things about the Panasonic TM700. "Sharpest image out there!" and "Best camcorder of 2010"..things like that. I'd like to share a few feelings about this camcorder.

So, I got one and indeed the video is quite sharp. The Panasonic TM700 has progressive frame output up to 1920x1080. Manual focus is pretty nice. I don't use it all to often but it's nice to have. I definitely plan on using it more in the future. I used to have a Sanyo HD1000 which could only do 1080 interlaced and had dismal focusing system in my opinion. So, this is definitely a big step up for me.

Oh, yeah..5.1 sound! :) One of the reasons I bought it. Home theater has always been something I've been into. So, to have my typical or extraordinary videos with surround sound was most cool.

No complaints about the LCD screen. Some folks out there feel perhaps it could've been bigger but..whatever. I'm fine with it.

I haven't used this camcorder to take still pictures. I have a dedicated DSLR for that. But based on some of sample images that are out there, let's say I'd stick with a dedicated still camera.

Now, to the all too popular topic of the fan noise. It is audible in quiet settings. No question about it. :( It's not overwhelming but no doubt I'd rather it not be there at all. I tried cupping my hands around the cooling fan inlet for a few seconds while recording. The sound of the fan was diminished in the video's audio track. However, I can't film like that for long periods of time. One suggestion I've read is to turn off surround sound. A second suggestion was to use an external mic. Like I said above, 5.1 was one reason I bought this so those ideas were out of the question. In any case, I'm going to research and see if anyone's come up with anything new in solving this issue.

Having no moving parts I feel is one reason why people were glad to move away from tape based formats. I've never used tape based cams but I can imagine how it would be a hassle. Anyway, what's going to happen in the long run? Will I have to send my cam in every several years to get a replacement fan if/when the camcorder's fan wears out? Is this the future of palm held camcorders? For example, the Canon 7D DSLR camera has video capabilites..from what I've read, it overheats all the time. I read one story where people said they would put ice packs on the 7D to keep it cool. :D If built-fans are the future for camcorders, at least find ways of making quieter fans. Ultimately, let's hope they can find fanless solutions. Only time will tell..

This camcorder does have 24 frames/sec feature BUT it's wrapped in a 60i container. In other words there's pulldown to be removed. From what I understand, Panasonic didn't want to undercut their professional line of camcorders which have native 24P. I understand this...but it still sucks that it's not on this particular cam. :(

The battery life is kinda short. I plan on getting a bigger capacity battery.
For now, it hasn't been a big deal since I haven't had to film any major events or what not.

I'm still reading the manual to learn as much as I can. I want to be able to work this cam to the max! Personally, the fan noise and lack of native 24p are the only gripes I have with this product. Overall, definitely a great camcorder. I look forward to using it more. I'll be posting a video later on today on my youtube channel. See ya then. Peace.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Sony Vegas Pro 10 Video Editing Software



After filming a video, you usually have to edit it. I first started out with Windows Movie Maker. I think all of us have used it at one point or another. But it's quite limited. When I started watching Youtube videos, I'd read comments where people were saying, "I used Vegas to edit" and I'd have no idea what they meant. So I did research to learn more. I tried out a demo and was sold. I've been using Vegas since version 8. Some time later, I tried out Vegas Pro 9 (trial version) and I was cool with it.

At the time, the price for Vegas Pro 9 was..let's say a bit hefty. I couldn't find a "boxed upgrade" version of the software either. I tried bidding on Ebay to get a good price for it but to no avail. I would get outbid each time. I see now that was a good thing. Some time later, I was surfing a photography/video forum and one of the ads had, "Sony Vegas Pro 10 out October 11". So, I got the upgrade deal right away. I said to myself, "Awesome. Imagine if I had got Vegas Pro 9 and then a few months later version 10 comes out". That would have sucked. :S

Theres not too many differences from Vegas Pro 9 from what I can see. I'm glad they kept the grey color scheme. I like it better than Vegas Pro 8's white color layout. There's an image stabilization feature. There's also the new Stereoscopic 3D editing. I guess that's nice to have..you never know. But I'm fairly certain I won't be using it anytime soon.

What I really like is that you can use your graphics card for encoding video. You can only use Sony AVC codec with this feature. I tried it out and honestly I didn't see too much of an increase in rendering speed. I have a GTX295 card and a quad-core. Maybe I need a faster card and CPU? Nonetheless, this should prove to be quite useful. Anyhow, S.V.P. 10 is more or less like version 9 in my opinion.

In any case, I'll post a video as soon as I can. Until then, ciao!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Katana Topple: The Beginning

Thanks for viewing my blog. I'm here to just talk/ramble about random stuff here and there. However, the primary thing I'm gonna do is create vector art and show you my works. The images I create are usually images I randomly find on the net but from time to time, I create art from well known photos as well. There will be some which are totally original.

First thing's first though..my name. Basically one night, I wanted to create a cool name but didn't know where to start. So, I started thinking of things I like in general. I ran across an image of a katana (a Japanese sword). So, I decided to go with that. Now, for a second name. What could I add? Katana Pop? ...nah. Katana Dash? Meh. Then I thought to myself, Well what does a katana do? Well, it cuts; it slashes..so, Katana Cuts? Nope. Katanas will knock a person down. From there, I thought of synonyms and came up with "Topple" (since topple means to knock something down). Then I added "you" to it. So far, I had "Katana Topple You". I wasn't satisfied so I replaced "you" part with the slang version of the word ..."ya" (as in I'll see ya later). I merged topple and ya to make "Topplya". So, "Katana Topplya" was the first official name I made. Even though I thought it was catchy, I wanted it to be a bit shorter. I decided to leave it at "Katana Topple". I thought it sounded catchy.

Anyway, that's a little history behind my name. So, as I said before, you'll find some nice vector artwork (among other things) which I hope will "topple you" (in the near future). I look forward to posting and hearing from you all.