Suggestion for the Gauge

N Gauger

1:20.3 Train Addict
Ok youze guyz :) :)

Here's the problems, if anyone can help figure them out - I'm all ears :D :D

~~ 1. The Gauge has a limit of 2 meg for each file upload in The Gallery. This can't be changed :(

~~ 2. The Gauge has been running slow latley - not a good time right now to start something like this. (We'll have to wait for Peter to fix things first)

~~ 3. If you make a video and post it to another web host, you will have to place a link here and then (Right click & download the link (Video) to your computer in order to view it or just click the link & view it by streaming it.

~~ 4. We may have to limit the size of those "linked files" so the people on dialup can enjoy them too.

~~ 5. Will enough people be willing to do all this to make this worth while????

Here's a Video mpg file I did - it's in The Gauge Gallery and it's close to 2 meg, it's a short one :( But it gives you an idea on how many seconds we're limited to.

misc.php
 

ausien

Active Member
mikey, 7 seconds can be a large slice of time, but I dont think it is long enough to get some of the animation that these guys can do. They`re just to good....steve
 

pontiacsforever

New Member
This is a great idea! I think it would be most useful if it included many how-to's; while seeing what others have done is neat, learning some of the tricks and inexpensive ways to do animation might be more useful.

If the animation is simple, how about creating animated GIF's instead? They take up a lot less room than a video and a few photos taken at various points in the animation would give us an idea of how it looks. There are quite a few freeware and shareware programs that combine together individual photos into animated GIF's. Haven't used one myself yet, so can't recommend anything.
 

Pitchwife

Dreamer
I think that the forum is a great idea. :thumb: :thumb:

One suggestion about reducing the size of the files; since most animations are small repetitive motions (a child swinging, a Ferris wheel turning, etc.) a way to convey the action without using a lot of space and download time would be to submit them as a GIF. Basicly it is a stop action mini-movie. Set your camera in a fixed setting, tripod etc. stop the animation and take a picture, advance the animaton slightly to the next position, take another pic and repete until you have completed an entire cycle. Another way to so it would be to take full-motion video and save it to the computer. Then use a frame capture program and get the stills from it. Then run it as a continuous loop.
Most paint programs, even cheap ones, have some sort of amimation section with varying learning curves to create GIFS. It would take less space than MPEG but it would still get the animation effect across.
 

N Gauger

1:20.3 Train Addict
That's a good idea, if you keep it as short as possible, "one cycle", it would work. Alsoo - there arent that many people that can edit things. But I can also reduce the quality of my camera's capture settings - the result is a smaller file :) :)

Keep going guys - we'l get this off the ground yet! LOL
by the way - the Video Forum is all ready for anyone to post to in the gallery
 

FrankG

Member
I guess uploading files wasn't my original intention. My original idea wasn't to share video clips of animation, but rather just a forum to discuss ideas for animation on a layout, how-tos for building them and that sort of thing. Very similar to the Scratching and Bashing area, but about animation, lighting and sound specific. Just so they'd be all in one area. While the videos are a nice idea...I don't think they're as handy as reading the step-by-step info and brain-storming, all kept in one place.
 

N Gauger

1:20.3 Train Addict
FrankG said:
I guess uploading files wasn't my original intention. My original idea wasn't to share video clips of animation, but rather just a forum to discuss ideas for animation on a layout, how-tos for building them and that sort of thing. Very similar to the Scratching and Bashing area, but about animation, lighting and sound specific. Just so they'd be all in one area. While the videos are a nice idea...I don't think they're as handy as reading the step-by-step info and brain-storming, all kept in one place.
That type of discussion can be added to the Video forum too, for now. We can split it off if there are enough people that would like to participate. My thoughts were that "pictures" would at least help everyone understand exactly what the finished product would look like.

As I have no animation on my layout, I'm kind of out of the discussion myself :( :(

If anyone wants to tell the rest of us how you built your animated items, or wants to start a discussion - Please do so in the Video Posting Thread Still pictures can also be added there, to show us what you have that moves on your layout.

~~ Thanks
 
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