Retrofy Your Photos!

Spoon Graphics' blog recently shared a light leak texture pack that you can download and use in photoshop! There are fifteen different types you can use. The textures are vibrant and colorful, as seen in many old photos. They really help if you're trying to make a photo look like it's from the 70's!

Best of all, it's FREE!

How to use them: After you've downloaded the pack, you can open the texture file in photoshop, create a new layer, and paste the file. Switch the blending mode of the new layer to Screen to let the parts of the file that were originally black become transparent.

This texture pack is useful to those of us creating multimedia who want to make our projects have a more retro feel. Being able to add effects in order to change the viewer's perception of the time period is a really useful tool and I think this light leak texture pack can help with that a lot!

Scroll down and download the pack here!

Cleaning up Audio

One thing that I'm always on the lookout for is audio quality.  It can add (or detract, depending on how well you do it) a great level of professionalism to a video if you take the time to mess with the audio settings. I'll be speaking more toward Final Cut Pro for now, but I'm working with Premier more, so I'm sure there's more to come on that.

Final Cut Pro has a great simple function to reduce background noise.  Highlight the audio sample you want and click the arrow next to audio analysis.  There's a slider that can change how much of it is cut out and a hum removal button for electrical or ambient hums.  Quick tip, I've found that 100% reduction is nearly as bad as no reduction.  It adds a sort of tinny sounding element to the video and makes dialog sound robotic.  Somewhere between 50 and 70% seems to be working fine for me.  And the more experienced among us can mess with the equalizer if they feel up to it.

Speaking of audio changes, Final Cut also has audio filters, and a surprising amount at that.  Putting some of those on a clip can help with voiceovers and the like.  I just used a radio effect on some music that was in my video and it worked out perfectly.

Apple's website isn't great on the technical aspect of using everything but it does a good job of laying out the features.  Besides, trial and error is the best teacher.

Social Media Users BEWARE!

            With today’s rapidly expanding (and already expansive) social media outlets, there is always the fear of your information being shared with third parties. Whether those third parties are prospective employers, the government, or telecom firms, we are always wary of how we share ourselves and our personal information (or maybe not). The last thing we want to have happen is for a prospective employer to find our Facebook or Twitter and read that embarrassing status that we made four months ago, or see that one picture that probably isn’t very G-rated. I don’t know how many stories I’ve heard of people being rejected from possible opportunities just because of what they post to social media websites and how they say it.

            While in the past you might have been able to hide your overly irate and explicit tweets about how much you hate the Yankees, new laws that have come into effect that may change the way you interact with your future and current employers. As of about a week ago, the Illinois state House passed a bill that allows employers to investigate employee social media in order to avoid any internal conflicts, as well as to identify disgruntled workers or possible flaws in their business structure.

Now before you start freaking out and telling Shelley that there’s no way you’ll give her your Facebook password if Delaware passes something similar, you might want to know that the bill does not mandate employees to give the information; it just allows for the right to request it (albeit in a forceful and possibly unpleasant manner). This could put employees under some considerable pressure, although the bill does not impose penalties or the possibility of being fired for noncompliance. The purpose of this bill is to allow employers to understand employees on a more personal level, even though it seems quite invasive and unwarranted.

I’m glad to say that no such bill has passed in either Delaware or in my home state of Massachusetts, but this is definitely something that we should keep an eye out for in the future (or, if you’re from Illinois, in the present). The only thing that I can say is: keep that social media stuff PG.

The Batteries of the Future

OK, so I know that batteries aren't the most exciting things in the world, but work with me here, because this is pretty cool. Batteries are used in most of the equipment here and sometimes (very rarely), items can't be borrowed because their batteries aren't fully charged. Well, with the new 'mighty micro-batteries' that are now in the works, charging laptops could go from 4 hours to a couple of minutes, with claims that the new batteries charge 1,000 times faster than those now. These changes could even help aid the progress of all technologies, allowing the cameras and other multimedia equipment to be even smaller! Unfortunately, we will still have to wait a little longer for the micro-batteries, for they are not quite safe enough and experience over-heating problems.  Hopefully these problems are fixed soon, because according to TechNewsWorld, "battery technology has always lagged advances in other areas of electronics." Once popular, who knows what changes we could see in the equipment we loan out!

To check out the article with all of the technical terms as to why micro-batteries are the next big thing, click the link: Mighty Microbattery Delivers Lightning-Fast Charge

After Effects Rendering is such a pain!

So earlier this month I was having a lot of problems with an animation I did in After Effects rendering out without any errors, but the .Mov file created was lagging on most computers.  The entire clip was there, and everything looked great, but I couldn't figure out how to get these videos to play smoothly without sacrificing the crisp quality.

I've rendered this piece out probably at least 30 times, and I was doing everything I normally did.  Either Quicktime, or H.264, both of which are pretty standard for video in After Effects.

H.264 created the quality issues and pixelated a lot of my footage, but Quicktime was the format that was lagging.


After checking every single box I could possibly check, I found a drop down menu under "Format Options," after you selected Quicktime as your format.

This dropdown menu was set on "Animation" which is what mine piece was, however, I realized after the fact, that the Animation setting doesn't really compress your file!  So it ended up being huge!

This was all easily solved by changing from "Animation" to "Apple Pro Res" which is another standard compressing format for Apple devices.


Sent my piece to render, and everything played great!


So if you ever have trouble in After Effects, or have a video-file that you know is all there, but your computer can't seem to play it.  Try sending it through After Effects under an Apple Pro Res format, while still set as a Quicktime file!  Should work wonders!

Offering Alternatives to Patrons

During this time in the semester, we can expect a plethora of repeat questions and rush times for equipment. At these times I find it not simply helpful, but critical to know other solutions that we can offer to library users. For instance, if the queue for printing posters is too long for a user, that user can also print at Smith Hall for a slightly larger fee per foot. Also, if the service desk is out of Mac adapters for VGA projectors, one can borrow a PC laptop for 4 hours. This would give the user enough time to use it for a presentation then return it. Offering alternatives helps to assure library patrons that the service desk does service best.

Drawing Machine Workshop

Do you have an interest in machines that are interactive? Working with your hands? And having tons of fun on a Saturday afternoon? Well, an upcoming Drawing Machine Workshop should be the right thing you need to get those creative brain juices flowing!

Ashley Pigford, a Visual Communications professor at our very own University of Delaware, will be leading this workshop at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts in Wilmington, DE."....You will build and program small robotic machines that create drawings. The machines consist of an Arduino microcontroller, motors, wheels, batteries and magic markers, all of which will be provided. And you will be introduced to Arduino programming for controlling the robots. No prior experience with programming required. Drawing machines will remain on exhibit at the DCCA through June 16, 2013." Hope to see some familiar faces there!

Saturday, May 4, 2013
Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts in Wilmington, DE
1-3 pm, $25 per person
Ages 10+

If you're not yet convinced that you are going to have the time of your life, then click here, to view this awesome video. Afterwards, be sure to register to reserve your seat at the Drawing Machine Workshop by clicking here.

Saving your project in Windows Movie Maker

Hey Guys!

            So, today a group came to the desk in a panic asking for help with Windows movie maker. Me, being such a technological advanced human specimen thought "Is that even a thing?" Well, as much as i would love to say that we are out of the cinematic dark ages, it appears that some people, in fact, do still use good ole Window's Movie Maker.
            Here is the problem. When i questioned the customer further on what happened, the gentlemen expressed to me, in a quite perturbed manner, that he had come to the desk the other day and someone had helped him save the windows movie maker project onto his flash drive. However, once he returned home, the file was unreadable and he lost all the work he had put into it. Luckily the guy was a trooper and didn't let the loss get him down. After redoing everything he worked on, he came back to the desk with the expectation that i would be able to save his project. At the point i must reiterate that my Windows Movie Maker experience is about as impressive as John Lennon in concert. After expressing my condolences, i worked to save the video and what i found is that the "save project" option isn't enough to do the trick.  Then, after enlisting Hannah, we discovered that, similarly to iMovie, Windows Movie Maker needs both the project file AND the pictures/events. Basically, "save project" saves the project as a .wlmp file, which is basically a text file that tells Movie Maker where to place the images.These have to be put into the same folder before being transferred over to another computer.


Happy Computing!
Taylor

Take All of Your iMovie Home With You

Recently, we have had a lot of people creating video projects using iMovie. At a certain point during the editing process the user tends to come to the desk inquiring about how to put the video onto their hard drive. I have seen many upset people who say they put the movie on the hard drive but they couldn't hear anything as well as people who have spent wasted time copying the movie to the desk top and THEN putting it on the hard drive.
Although I'm sure some of the center staff are very familiar with this process I know that some of us still get confused or forget the step by step process. Hopefully you will be able to use my post as a reference when you come across the frequent issue.

There are two important things to remember. First, the hard drive must be MAC compatible (the ones at the desk are) and second, an icon for the hard drive will appear in the "Events Library".

There are two options:
Copy or Move the file. Moving the file is usually what people want to do since it takes the video out of iMovie and they don't have to worry about their work being available to others.

To move the project to an external hard drive:
1. Go into the project library click on the project you want to move
2. Select "Move project and Events"

- If you only select move project, none of the source video and other media you added will be able to viewed
- Moving or copying the project will usually take as long as the actual video file.

For more information refer to the apple website!

Assisting Students with Posters

With the heavy influx of posters this last week (and past couple of days due to a due date extension for a certain prized competition), it might be helpful to relay some information that I've come across for future reference. These Blue Hen Leadership Program posters are supposed to be 24 by 36 inches but it is crucial that we size down width from 36 to 35.5 inches to be safe of cut-off. A lot of people had it sized 24 by 35.5 but I've come across many who did not even know how to change it. We have a helpful handout describing the process, which also includes making sure the file is a PDF and saving it on a flash drive. You can find this file in the multimedia "utley" drive on the computer, under guides and manuals. The file is a step by step process that details creating a PDF from a PowerPoint (which most students have been creating their posters-- if you're familiar with it, I suggest using Photoshop to create the poster because it gives you more options to design your project as well as a simple way to designate your dimensions). The file includes directions for both Windows and Mac users. Finally, make sure it is saved correctly on a flash drive. We emphasize that the student does this process themselves and we are not supposed to re-size or convert the files for them, so if they have any questions refer them to this handout.

3 Strikes You're Out

Earlier in the month I posted a blog entry about copyright and transferring music files on the internet. This week I came across an article about copyright rules for music when using YouTube.  A lot of users at the center upload their video projects onto YouTube so I thought this article would be helpful and provide knowledge that we can extend to multimedia users. 

The main topic the article discusses is how YouTube recognizes a copyrighted song in a video and the consequences that occur if one is used.  According to the article, "YouTube uses software called Content ID that scans uploaded videos and compares them to a database of music and video files supplied by copyright holders who own the rights to those recordings." The video that gets recognized could potentially be muted or blocked from YouTube.  YouTube also has a copyright strike feature which works like a "three strikes you're out" rule.  If YouTube catches the copyrighted song they may remove the video and limit a user's access to the site.

The article explains more about YouTube's copyright policy and the restrictions they place if a user violates the policy. If our users know about these rules then hopefully no one will run into limitations on their YouTube account for violating YouTube's copyright policy.

Read The Article Here

Favoriting clips in iMovie!

Have you ever been frustrated sifting through hours of footage in iMovie trying to figure out which clips are essential to your video? By highlighting a selection in the events and pressing the f key, you will designate the segment with a green bar at the top, marking it as a favorite. This quick tip will help you expedite the process of creating a video when working with long lengths of footage. Referencing back to clips has never been easier!

1-to-1 Technology in the Classroom

For teachers and school administrators aspiring to implement technology responsibly and effectively in the classroom, Common Sense Media has recently released a comprehensive resource kit called the 1-to-1 Essentials Program. 1-to-1 programs aspire to expose each student to educational apps, supplement their class-time with internet-based activities that can be completed remotely, and introduce them earlier to the types of software skills that we use increasingly as students here at the University (among many other goals!). Whether you are planning on working in the educational field or planning to have kids in school someday, you will no doubt be affected by the presence of multimedia and instructional technology in the classroom.

Who knows? Maybe with your experiences using the resources in the Student Multimedia Design Center, you can see a future for yourself in fields like instructional design or tech support for educational institutions. Interested? Check out the Common Sense Media 1-to-1 Essentials Program.

Prezi, a new way of presenting and it's FREE!

Tired of trying to use PowerPoint? Want a web-based free presentation program? Have a group project but can't seem to get your schedules to line up?

Try Prezi! Its a free web-based that blends PowerPoint with iMovie! It is extremely user-friendly and offers multiple levels of creativity that will surely wow your viewers!

Watch the above video and see how easy Prezi will make your life, in both academically and professionally.

# music #multimedia

It has finally happened! Twitter has released their much talked about IOS application entitled #Music. Its is a streaming music app that allows the user to find new music and artist through what is being talked about over twitter. The reviews are good thus far and it allows the user to play clips, songs, or an entire playlist. You can sample it through iTunes or if you have a spotify or rdio account, you are able to sync up with the accounts. The new app also allows you to tweet out what you are listening to  to all your faithful followers.
Now here is where the student multimedia design center comes into play. We can use it as a reference point for finding new and exciting music that students can use for their projects. Instead of trying to find that perfect clip on the internet, we can simply suggest the #music app and let the students browse for the type of sound they want. The concept is so simplistic and since the majority of students are so familiar with Twitter any way, what better way to help them then through a social network app that they already frequently use.

Some Photoshop shortcuts for the every day user

Working with programs like Photoshop (or any program for that matter), it's never convenient having to stop what you are doing and go up to the toolbar menus to perform simple actions. That's where keyboard shortcuts come in, with a simple 2 or 3 key combinations you can save time an effort. I know for me when I first started using Photoshop, I had no idea how to de-select something, as simple as that sounds. With a shortcut it takes half a second to do what used to take me 10 seconds. The following are some more shortcuts that may be useful to you in your project:
         

• NOTE: On a Mac, simply replace "Control" with "Command"
• CTRL and A = Selects all
• CTRL and S = Save (Very handy when working on a project, don't forget!)
• CTRL and + = Zoom in
• CTRL and - = Zoom out
• CTRL and SHIFT and N = New Layer
• ALT and [ = Switch to layer below
• ALT and ] = switch to layer above
• CTRL and SHIFT and < or > = decrease/increase text size by 2 pts
• CTRL and SHIFT and i = invert selection
• CTRL and ALT and z = Undo 
• CTRL and Shift and z = redo

•  V = Move Tool
• P = Pen Tool
• M = Marquee Tool

These are just some of the many shortcuts, if you'd like to learn more click here

Stop motion and 3D printers

Stop motion takes a lot of time and a lot of work, but I did not realize just how much until I saw this piece about stop motion and 3D printer.  It's awesomely time consuming, but well worth the effort.  Check it out here.

Audacity Tips and Tricks

Airband is finally almost here! Every year around this time, we have students come into the center and use our studios in preparation of their performance. Audacity is a great tool for them to record their voices and recently I came across some instructions on how to add cool features to audio. For example, you can auto-tune yourself or easily add echoes to your voice. To see other tips and tricks with step-by-step instructions, click here!

Adobe MAX 2013

Next month, Adobe will be holding MAX 2013, a creativity conference in Los Angeles, CA. the conference is being held from May 4-8. While I know it is highly unlikely that any of us will be able to attend this conference (even though after returning from Spring Break most of you know that the only thing I want is to move to California permanently), you can still connect with the Adobe community by signing up to watch the Max 2013 keynotes LIVE from Nokia Theatre L.A. The keynotes are available Monday, May 6th and Tuesday, May 7th. Seeing as college budgets can be tight and time limited, I am happy to inform you that registration is free and does not take longer than one minute to complete. Additionally, you are provided with the option to opt-in to either only one day of the keynotes or both days, based on your preference.

This is a really great opportunity because at the conference they will be exploring the creative evolution currently taking place within society. From the keynotes you will learn how to use the latest tools to give shape to ideas as well as what the new trends are that will soon shape how students in the Student Multimedia Design Center work. If this is not enough of a motivation for you to register for the MAX 2013 keynotes, then maybe you will be intrigued about hearing from creative superstars such as Erik Johansson, Paula Scher, Rob Legato, and Phil Hansen. These individuals will share with you about what inspires them and how they keep evolving. I already registered for the MAX 2013 keynotes and I hope you do too.

Enjoy!

NABShow Roundup

The NABShow (National Assoc. of Broadcasters) is known for being the biggest annual conference of video professionals.   It is where many of the big players first demo their cutting-edge equipment and new software.  For instance, two years ago Apple announced the controversial Final Cut Pro X at the NABShow.  There were a variety of interesting products announced this year.  For a summary, Larry Jordan both a concise wrap-up blog post, and a more extensive site full of interviews.  A few things that have caught my eye:
1. Adobe showed off new versions of Premiere Pro, After Effects, etc. at the show, and have a sneak peek page up on their site.  I am guessing we are seeing CS7, but Adobe isn't giving us too many details. 
2. Larry Jordan (who is close to Apple) says to still expect a new Mac Pro in 2013, and that the question is "when, not if".
3. Blackmagic Design is a company that makes small DSLR-like cinema cameras.  I have had my eye on them for awhile, but even their low-end cameras were hovering around $5000.  Now they have announced a "Pocket Cinema Camera" for $995, that looks amazing for that price.  13 full stops of dynamic range can all be recorded at once with RAW VIDEO! to open-source "cinemaDNG" files, or to Apple ProRes 422.  It has a MFT mount that can support many high-quality photo lenses from a variety of makers.

4. Last year everyone was excited about 3D, but this year the new buzz-term is 4K.  HD video today is typically 2K (1920 pixels wide), and now cameras such as the GoPro Hero 3, the Red line of cameras, and many more can record 4K (4096 pixels wide) or even larger (6K!).  The funny thing is there are currently no monitors and very few projectors that can actually display 4K video.  So the cameras are out there, but it is very hard to view in full resolution unless you own a movie theatre.

5 Days Left to Submit Video in "Perfect Pitch" Contest

You still have five days left to create a short video and win $1000 cash from UD's Horn Program in Entrepreneurship.  If you and your friends have a business idea that you can describe in 90 seconds or less, make a video pitch for it and UDropbox it to hornprogram@udel.edu by April 17th for your chance to win.  Live judging and an awards ceremony will be held Friday, April 26 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.  For more details: visit the website.

Which Colors Should I Use in My Presentation?

The season of end-of-semester presentations is quickly approaching. Whether you design your presentation in PowerPoint, Keynote, or Prezi, remember that color choices matter. While you're spending time perfecting your business pitch or fine-tuning your poetic flourishes, don't forget that your audience will be receiving from you a visual message as well.

Sabina Nore's free resource "The Designer's Handbook of Colors" is a concise, interesting explanation of how colors can communicate quite different messages and provoke very particular feelings. Two of her examples include:

Orange radiates cheerfulness, enthusiasm and creativity, but what is very often important when designing web sites, it is also associated with affordability.

Blue is one of the most liked colors, especially by men. It is linked with depth and stability, professionalism, honor and trust. Blue raises productivity, and diminishes the appetite.

Color preferences by gender and color picking tools are also included in Nore's resource. It's worth looking over to understand how the colors in your presentation might be saying more (or less) than you would like them to!

A new way to create a home audio system

Ever thought of connecting all of your devices at once to play a song? Well there is now an app for that called Speakerfy, which allows you to connect iPods, iPads, iPhones, android phones, and computers together. I guess if you do not have a speaker system around the house or room you can simply connect devices together and collectively use their speakers. The app is also free!

Transitions in iMovie

I recently had to do a project over spring break for a family member, a memorial video for a funeral. For this project, they wanted me to scan 300 pictures and play them to five songs, slideshow style. Now I know these seems like an easy job, but of course Murphey's law, everything that could go wrong did for me. One of the biggest problems that I had, turned out to be the easiest one to fix and I wanted to share it with all of you in case you have a project like this because they have become commonplace at funerals, weddings, graduations and the such. My problem is that I couldn't find a way to add transitions to all of the pictures at once. As you can imagine, adding individual fades in between 300 pictures would have taken an innumerable amount of time that I didn't have, so I did a nifty google search and this is what I came across. This website shows how to set the video to add transitions to all current clips and to automatically add them to any clip that you add in the future. And the best part? It's possible to later turn this feature off without losing any of the transitions that it automatically added for you. This was a big time saver on my project and even though it is a simple solution, I thought it was hidden in a weird spot which is why I wanted to share this information with you.

Noise Removal is Your Best Friend

I'm a music management major and a theater production minor, which means I spend a good deal of my time dealing with microphones, sound editing, and recording techniques. So far, one of the biggest issues I've come across is dealing with the issue of extra noise. Let's face it: some of us don't have access to the world's best condenser mics, and Studio 6 isn't exactly sound proof.  We just have to live with a less than awesome recording, right? Wrong! With Audacity, you can cut out a good portion of the static, hissing, popping, room ambiance, etc., and get a clear recording simply by using the "Noise Removal" tool. Noise Removal works by removing the frequencies that cause all that extra noise that you don't want in your recording. Media Cloisters, Vassal University's version of our very own Student Multimedia Center, has an awesome step-by-step recording on YouTube showing how it's done. Check it out!

Can I sell my MP3s?

With copyright restriction being a prevalent issue and topic of discussion at the Multimedia Center I thought that this article was very interesting and relevant.  As we face issues such as the distribution and selling of digital music it is important to read about a judges ruling on this matter. 

Capitol Records, LLC v. ReDigi Inc. is an ongoing 2012 case from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York concerning copyright infringement of digital music. In the case, record label, Capitol Records, claims copyright infringement against ReDigi, a company which allows resale of digital music tracks originally purchased from the iTunes store. 

Why is this case different than other copyright music cases such as musics infamous battle with Napster? 

According to the article "courts have consistently held that the unauthorized duplication of digital music files over the Internet infringes a copyright owner’s exclusive right to reproduce.  However, courts have not previously addressed whether the unauthorized transfer of a digital music file over the Internet—where only one file exists before and after the transfer—constitutes reproduction within the meaning of the Copyright Act."

So, why aren't ReDigi users legally allowed to resell their MP3s if a copy of the file is never made? 

When you buy a song from iTunes it is not considered a sale but rather a license that is extended to the customer so they can legally listen to the song they just purchased.  Because the MP3 is considered a license, the customer is not allowed to turn around and resell this digital music file.

Click Here For The Article

Function Key Shortcuts for ALEPH!

Hey guys, if you are ever dealing with a lot of equipment and have trouble getting to the mouse to switch between the different screens in ALEPH you can use these keyboard shortcuts to access different screens. F5 will direct you to the check out screen with the cursor in the card swiping slot. F6 will bring you to the check in screen, so all that you have to do is hit f6 when ALEPH is up and scan the item. Those are just a couple of quick tips for you all to use!

Combining PDFs

Recently, I've encountered a lot of people scanning documents on the scanners in the Student Multimedia Design Center. One question I seem to be getting often is "how do I make the pages one PDF?" There are two simple options that can help transform many separate pages into one. 

First: When you scan in your pages don't press the # key after every page. After every page has been scanned then press the # key. This will automatically combine the scanned pages into one PDF on the computer next to the scanner.

Second: If you already have many individual pages you can combine them together after. If you highlight and left click all the pages you want there is an option to combine them into one PDF. Select that option and it will combine them together. If you choose this option you have to option of moving around the pages to be in the order you want them.

These are the two of the simplest ways to make one PDF document from scanned material! 

Happy Scanning!