Avatar, DRM and Karma

“Karma is a bitch” as they say.

This week DRM prevented pre-screenings of James Cameron’s latest movie “Avatar” from taking place in Germany.

It took them a day to figure out the problem. When you read the comments from the German news site heise (heise.de covers topics like Slashdot) you’ll find a lot of people expressing their schadenfreude. While I feel sorry for James Cameron the director I feel not sorry for the businessperson James Cameron. DRM simply sucks. If you make evil deals with the copyright/content protection industry (allow your movies to be distributed with DRM – in all it’s flavours, this includes the incredibly stupid region code system on DVDs) you are collaborating with what I would consider the ultimate enemy of creativity. Yes, Karma is a bitch.

If this is the future of cinema I am now seriously thinking of boycotting DRMed digital cinema altogether. I might not go and watch Avatar now and I might not go and watch any movie that is digitally projected and uses DRM technology.

And yes, I too can feel schadenfreude here. Quite a lot actually. DRM is simply a tool to screw the customer. But it’s good to see that it also keeps screwing those who use it. Karma is a real bitch. And so is DRM.

And while corrupted politicians are busy working on a secret deal to implement ACTA (basically a carte blanche for the copyright industry and the MAFIAA) Pirate Parties all over the world are forming and gaining more and more mainstream attention. 2% of Germans voted for the Pirate Party at the last general election. Let it be 20% next time. Or more.

You can’t sell art and bring joy to people when you are just milking the cash cow and screwing your customers.

I really do love the bitch that Karma is.

openArtist “4th incarnation” out now, includes my video post .blend presets!

openArtist, the artist friendly multimedia Linux distro, based on the latest Ubuntu KarmicKoala, is out now and you can find my own Blender presets for video editing and making titles included in this latest release (see the “Vid” menu)!

Help and documentation are central to the openArtist user experience, in short (from the website):

“The applications are not only installed: They are configured”

And very important for me: openArtist comes without PulseAudio installed…! This finally allows me to upgrade to a more recent Ubuntu-like Linux version (I am currently still using 8.04 with PulseAudio disabled, see here for how-to do this in Hardy.)

PulseAudio/its implementation in Ubuntu have been extremely frustrating for me and I am glad that with openArtist there is now an up to date solution for those who like the general idea of Ubuntu but need to have things configured and documented in a more user friendly way!

Also very interesting: there is “massive blender focus” in openArtist (see openArtist website/documentation: features > blender).

For a full list of included 2D, 3D, Audio, Video, VJ etc. software have a look at the openArtist website.

Note that currently there is no 64-bit version of openArtist and that it is bound to one user (“tux”). Make sure to read the readme before/after installation files on the desktop!

Download (directly):

MKL Graz
openMaterials
groundhog media

Or download the torrent

See you at the 2009…

Blender conference.

If you haven’t seen it yet I can recommend Pixar’s latest:  Up, in pretty good 3D (here in Amsterdam at the Pathé). Up is a wonderful story really well told. It’s quite moving at times actually. If you cried when you first saw E.T. you might want to have a tissue ready…!

Now this just makes me wonder again why so many other Hollywood movies seem to be made with only a half backed script ready…?

Joan Baez “We Shall Overcome” (2009)

“Joan Baez sings “We Shall Overcome” (with some lyrics in Farsi) for the Iranian people”, from YouTube user diamondsandrustpro, posted on June 25, 2009.

Issue 21 of BlenderArt Magazine with “Editing a Music Video in Blender” and video post presets

Issue 21 of BlenderArt Magazine is just out and there you can find “Editing a Music Video in Blender”, a slightly modified version of my previous blog post from earlier this year (“Editing with Blender, Ubuntu…”). If you’ve read the article in BlenderArt Magazine and e.g. want to have a closer look at the node setup see the blog version of the article and click the screenshots to see the details.

What I’m really glad about is that my “Video Editing Preset” and “2D Titles Presets” .blends tutorials also get distributed with this edition of BlenderArt Magazine – if anyone ever needs them and/or can’t download them via my tutorial page simply also see the .blends that get distributed with Issue 21 of BlenderArt Magazine (“Editing a music video” > “video post blends presets from article.zip”)!

Editing with Blender, Ubuntu: Screenshots, workflow from my Notic Nastic live clip

“Sleep Tight” Notic Nastic Live Clip (1 min. 14 sec.)

(Watch the Flash Video above or download (“Save Link As…”) the .mov.)

1: Selecting “the good stuff”

Click the image to see a larger version.

I load my whole footage into the Blender Video Sequence Editor (VSE) and start selecting “the good stuff”: with the mouse over the Image Preview window (see screenshot 3: Selecting “the really good stuff”) I use Space for start/stop and Right/Left Arrow for going back and forth. In the timeline (= Sequence): K for Cut and Shift S for snap editing (shortens/extends clip to the playhead when start/end is selected). The “good stuff” gets moved upwards a row (= Channel) with G for Grab and Y for Y-Axis. I keep the uncut original inside a (muted) Metastrip should I need it later since I am working without timecode. (You can use the Stamp render option for overlaying time information.) Then I make a back-up of the .blend.

2: Selected vs. original footage

Click the image to see a larger version.

I move the selected clips together using Ctrl for snapping clip to clip. The white numbers on the right show the last frame of “the good stuff” (top), the music track (middle) and the not used clips etc. that are now also inside the muted Metastrip (bottom).

3: Selecting “the really good stuff”

Click the image to see a larger version.

Same procedure as above (1: Selecting “the good stuff”) with the mouse over the Image Preview window (top right) and Space for start/stop, Right/Left Arrow for going back and forth… Since I easily get realtime playback using DV footage (no effects applied) with Ubuntu 8.04 and Blender 2.48a on my PC (current Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM and a reasonably fast 250 GB harddrive) this workflow allows me to find my in and out points while looking at moving images the way the audience will see it… Frame 6 067 is now the last one after “the really good stuff” is moved together (that’s down from 20 520 from the previous step). I use the Blender Text Editor for taking notes. Again I make a back-up of the .blend.

4: Sorting the clips

Click the image to see a larger version.

I add a Text Editor window left of my Sequence and name/tag my tracks. I adjust the Sequence window with (Number Pad) Home and then use Middle Mouse Button and Ctrl to fit the Channels to my tagged tracks. Then I move “the really good stuff” clips in the appropriate track (for moving clips up or down without moving them in time I once again use G and Y, for selecting multiple clips I use B for Border Select…).

5: Editing the video

Click the image to see a larger version.

I use Markers for the points where the singing starts. Then I move the best of the previously sorted clips to roughly where I need them and work on the details again using Shift S for snap editing and also G for Grab to shorten/extend a clip’s start/end… The basic structure for the edited video: details/close-ups at the beginning, the artists performing in the middle and a longer zoom out close to the end. I move the unused clips into Metastrips on the left.

As before I use (Number Pad) Home for seeing everything that’s in the timeline. But since there are the unused clips on the left now I then select the music track and (Number Pad) Dot/Del (normally used for “zooming in” on a single clip) for focusing the Sequence window to the area that I actually want to see when editing…

I export the edited clip as a PNG Sequence (= series of .png images). (F10 (pressed multiple times) for switching between the Sequencer buttons when editing and the Render buttons when exporting.)

The annotations in the screenshot above show what’s important for exporting/rendering.

6: Through the Compositing Nodes

Click the image to see a larger version.

I load the previously exported PNG Sequence into the Compositing Nodes and let it run through a series of filters: DV video artefacts get smoothed out and my own graininess/structure and artefacts get added. The particular filters used here may be experimental and only make sense for this clip, but a couple of combinations can be useful for other projects (values would need to be adjusted): Gauss-Darken for a toon look, Screen-Overlay-Mix for optimising an image, Sharpen-Soften for focus related compositing tasks (high values for Sharpen may introduce artefacts).

The yellow and blue annotations in the screenshot above show what’s important for processing a series of PNGs with the Compositing Nodes: in this set-up navigation is possible by moving the Sequence playhead (the green line at frame 90) for previewing different parts (individual frames) of the Nodes processed video. I export the Nodes filtered PNGs once more as a Sequence of PNGs.

7: The final look

Click the image to see a larger version.

I load the Nodes processed PNGs into my VSE Sequence (Space to Add Image Sequence), add and finetune a Glow (with clip selected Space to Add Glow), make a Metastrip of both (with clips selected and M) and use Color Balance (with clip (Metastrip) selected: Filter tab > Use Color Balance) for creating the basis of the yellowish (but at this point rather dark) look. I then add a one step Strobe (Filter tab > Strobe: 2.00). With Shift D I duplicate the Metastrip, move it up one Channel and also move it one frame out of sync (see screenshot). The Glow for this FX 1 track gets removed (Tab to open/close a Metastrip) and in the Edit tab I select Blend Mode Add and Blend: 33.00. (31.01.09: And Use Color Balance – as can be seen in the screeshot above – gets also unselected for this FX 1 track.) I also duplicate the FX 1 track, move it up one Channel and also move this FX 2 track out of sync for yet another frame. There is one last step not shown in the screenshot: a final, subtle Glow is applied to all strips.

I once more export the clips as a Sequence of PNGs, import them one last time and change the export settings in the Render Buttons > Format tab to FFMpeg, make my selections for the video and audio format/codec and make sure that Multiplex audio is selected in the Audio tab before exporting the finished video clip with sound.

8: Credits

Click the image to see a larger version.

This is actually done somewhere before finishing the editing (5: Editing the video) and using my own 2D Titles Preset .blend/tutorial. I adjust the text to the right size first. In order to have the Center where I need it for my title animation: Object > Convert Object Type… > Mesh. Then: Object > Transform > Center New.

Tutorials etc.

Download my Video Editing Preset .blend (Quick Start tutorial inside) for all the basics you need to get started with the Blender Video Sequence Editor.

Download my 2D Title Presets .blend (tutorial inside) for making “crystal clear” titles with Blender.

Download Blender for all major platforms.

Thanks to Paul for hosting these .blends on the Final BUG server!

See Using VSE (and Previous/Next pages) from the Blender Wiki for the official Blender Video Sequence Editor documentation.

See Using Nodes (Blender Wiki) for getting started with the Compositing Nodes.

Check out Ubuntu for getting started with GNU/Linux.

Notes for editors new to Ubuntu

While many to most things in Ubuntu will “just work” this is not the case for most things related to FireWire. Either plan some time for testing/research or get help from an experienced Linux user. It may be best not to rely on external FireWire drives for anything other than copying media to your internal drive as long as you are new to Ubuntu.

For help with all things related to Ubuntu and multimedia see also the Ubuntu Studio pages.

(26.04.09:) Ubuntu 9.04 users who experience problems with opening Blender 2.48a, exporting video with sound or audio playback in Blender see the fourth comment for solutions!

Open-source video editing for everyone: Blender VSE Quick Start updated (v0.1.1)!

What is new…?

Click the image to see a larger version.

The Quick Start guide (inside the .blend) now with “More” for “moving beyond the basics”. (Note that the layout has been arranged for this screenshot…)

Video Editing Preset (v0.1.1):

Download the .blend

(get Blender here).

Next to the new selected shortcuts and tips that you can find under “More” a series of smaller additions has been made throughout the text (e.g. to “Snapping”, “Add Media” or the “Questions/Answers”) to further make sure that everything you need to get started with free and open-source video editing using Blender is there. The file now also works better as a preset as such: e.g. Scrub audio is now on but the text still shows you where to turn it on and off…

Why…?

Blender works on all major platforms and you can share .blends between e.g. Ubuntu, OS X and Windows. At the same time Blender is free and open-source and the Blender VSE also works on older hardware – e.g. recycled with Ubuntu (or the lightweight Xubuntu): if no other solution happens to be available you could still get some work done or discuss a project using an old PC…!

Whether you are a video artist and always curious about new tools, a production company specialised in (3D) short format video (even if you don’t do your 3D work with Blender) or a (non-profit) organisation with a tight budget: the Blender VSE brings high-end video post to virtually any PC at no cost. (See the official Blender Wiki for more (“Using VSE”) including current limitations and workarounds.)

Change the size of the tutorial text with one click (see image…) or add Blender’s actual Timeline (e.g. under the Preview window, see tutorial for details) that offers more features for Markers.

Missing features…?

Blender is very flexible and can be customised in ways that commercial and closed source NLEs simply can’t: e.g. you could add smaller features like (a currently missing) Time code display via Python script (or simply use the built in Stamp option (Render buttons) for overlaying time information…).

The Blender VSE is not Final Cut Pro or Avid, but in the long run you might find that Blender (which is a 3D programme after all) allows you to realise projects that you previously simply could not do without an extra investment in yet more proprietary (and possibly limiting) commercial solutions (see all the new VSE feature (“Sequencer changes”) since Blender 2.46).

Suggestions and feedback

…for improving the tutorial/preset welcome!

And special thanks

…for hosting the .blend to Paul from the final BUG blog!

*02.01.09* Ubuntu (8.04, 8.10) users who experience problems with sound playback in Blender, are looking for solutions for FireWire related issues or have problems with the windowed (= not fullscreen) Blender version see the second comment!  (And feel free to post solutions to other related problems as a comment…)

Blender Conference 2008: 24-26 October, Amsterdam

I’ll be at the Blender conference later this week. Update: I just found out that the conference is full, registration is closed. Never expected that. Last year seemed not that full…?! Last year was very interesting and this year’s conference schedule looks quite promising again. See you…!

Visionary: “Zeitgeist: Addendum”

“Zeitgeist: Addendum” by Peter Joseph is a radical, visionary and thought-provoking documentary that comes with perfect timing (released online on Oct. 2, 2008) to a world (financial) crisis:

it basically explains why we need to change our money based economy if we want to live up to our true potentials.

There are one or two points where the movie seems to shift a bit too far into another direction, but in the end I think it all works out well enough. This movie will have its strong critics, they will say that it’s just propaganda, but it also will have its fans…

I would call “Zeitgeist: Addendum” an anti-propaganda movie – offering the viewer radically different perspectives than those that we get to see everyday in our world (in the mainstream media, at work, in school, etc.). One quote from the beginning sets the tone of what this is about:

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” (Goethe)

Whether you (politically) agree with some of what is being said or not, I think the decision to (not) watch this movie is a real life red pill/blue pill moment…

On the film making side the editing has to be specially mentioned, its sometimes minimal style (only voice over and an (almost) black screen for more than just a short moment) offers room to form your own images and this is quite powerful… All in all it’s a bit like an indie editor’s “J.F.K.”.

Maybe “Zeitgeist: Addendum” could be a bit shorter and some of the changes might come across as too radical for some viewers… While it’s not perfect it attempts to achieve so much and succeeds in so many areas that its shortcomings don’t harm the overall experience and effect I think. The movie is very inspiring. Towards the end there is maybe a bit too much of the techno/spiritual theme and maybe there is just a bit too much of believing in technology at times, but all in all there is so much that works so well (and that makes so much sense) that this can be seen as a good starting point for a discussion…

“Zeitgeist: Addendum” is like “The Matrix” but for real – if you are ready to take this cinematic blue red (just remember which is which…!;-) pill…

(Link to its Goolge Video page, link to the film maker’s site.)

An anthropological introduction to YouTube

Michael Wesch (Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us), teaching Digital Ethnography @ Kansas State University, talks about viral videos, YouTube and its complex community – recommended for everyone interested in online video history/communities and the deeper connections that exist beyond viewing numbers and market shares…

“presented at the Library of Congress, June 23rd 2008. This was tons of fun to present. I decided to forgo the PowerPoint and instead worked with students to prepare over 40 minutes of video for the 55 minute presentation. This is the result.”