Quicksolver: Export Blender Video as mp3

Blender is not only a 3d Modelling Software, but also a great OpenSource Video Editing Software. It's also decent for quick Audio Editing. I used it for an Audio Drama project, since I didn't want to use expensive Software.

Since it isn't very obvious on how to export your project to mp3, here is a little tutorial:

1. Go into the Render menu in the Properties tab

2. Select MPEG as fileformat

3. In the Encoding options, select Mp3 as Format

4. Additionally you can change the Bitrate

P.S.: I spent hours of searching and trying before I found this option. You could also use this to extract Audio from Videos and arrange them together (severall Youtube Video Parts to one mp3).

From gaming to marketing: The XBOX ONE and the future of Entertainment

The XBOX One should be the next big hit, not only in gaming, but also in entertainment. Many great features and a modern Hardware that can compete with average Computers. All in One Box. It even comes with the Kinect, the new interface between Human and XBOX. It seems Microsoft really wanted to give the consumers everything they wanted.
But behind all that technology is always Software that watches you.

Quicksolver: My Unity Lightmaps look bad

Problem

My lightmaps in Unity look really bad and ugly.

Solution

• Untick "Compressed". This decompresses your lightmaps and makes their file size bigger. Uncompressed Lightmaps look a lot smoother.

• Set your bake quality to "High" and change the resolution.

Result

Quicksolver: Unity Beast Lightmapper Problem

Problem

When I upgraded from Unity 3.5 to version 4 I had problems with Unity's Lightmapping tool Beast. It has worked fine in 3.5 but completely refused working in Unity 4. I kept getting the Error "Nothing to bake. None of the Mesh Renderers or Terrains in the scene are marked as static. Only static objects will be lightmapped".

Solution

Make sure you ticked "Generate Lightmap UVs" in the Import Settings. It seems to be necessary in the new Version, although it worked fine in the old.

Still not working?

• Check if your Objects are static in lightmapping

• Is "Use Lightmapping" on?

• Check if you have meshes and lights in your current scene

Search your Photos with Google and more

You can now search your photos on Google+ with simple keywords like "cat". It isn't perfect (notice the rabbit in the picture), but it's a nice way to find pictures of certain things. 

How to

First of all, upload your photos to Google+, either via the Google+ App, or your Browser (https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos).

The rest works fully automatic. Simply use the search bar from Google+ Photos.

More features

But wait, there is more! Newly uploaded photos get also auto-enhanced in a very unique way. Instead of just applying filters, Google identifies objects and decides how to optimize them in the best way. Just like a professional would do.

The Highlights function also identifies objects and sights in your pictures, and shows only your best pictures. It ignores doubled, blurred and uninteresting pictures. Especially photos with smiling (happy) people get chosen.

Make Youtube faster (Beta)

Feather

Youtube Videos often need a lot of time to load, and sometimes even crash my browser. The "Feather" project from Youtube reduces load times to a minimum by removing unnecessary features.

Result

So far I didn't miss any important features. The only thing that changed is Videos are now loading instantly. No waiting times at all, and also seeking seems to be faster. The comment section also changed a bit. It feels very lightweight.

How to

Simply go to http://www.youtube.com/feather_beta and activate it. You can disable it whenever you want.

-DrFritzi

Video Experiments

Some video experiments I did for fun in my spare time.

Fun with physic

Sketchup with sketchy physic

After I advanced a little I tried out more in Blender

Fractals

Those are very hard to explain, but look very cool, so I rendered them in 3D.

Video effects

A slow-motion test.

After waiting hours for snow to melt, I decided my time-lapse would look even "cooler" if I reversed it.

A very wild frame blending effect I programmed and rendered in processing.

Just for fun

Why not attach your mobile phone to an rc-boat and film?

Get Roll the Ball Premium for free!

Pay per tweet 

Our new campaign allows you to buy the premium version of Roll the ball with only a tweet, or a facebook share. Since the downloads were quite low, we decided to give out 2000 downloads.  

Simply go to rtb.drfritzi.at on your phone, or scan this qr-code: 

Have fun playing!
- DrFritzi 

Arduino and ATtiny

Shrinkify arduino

An arduino is a nice piece of hardware and considerable cheap. But sometimes you need your projects to be smaller or cheaper. The shrinkify arduino project from m.I.t (link) is exactly the right thing for a blinking light example. An inexpensive ATtiny 45 (5 usable pins) or 84 (11 usable pins) is enough. They cost about 2 euro.

You don't even need to buy a programmer. A full size arduino can be used.

Arduino as In-System-Programmer (ISP)

There is a very good guide on how to set up your arduino as an ISP here.

Servos

Since the AtTiny doesn't have a 16 bit timer, which is necessary to generate a servo impulse, you need to use the software servo library.

Make sure you to call refresh() at the end of each update, or it won't work.

Problems that can occur

• Wrong side. Make sure your chip is correctly aligned.
• Defect cable or no contact. Make sure you test your connections. Don't forget to check your USB connection. The arduino is very picky about USB-cables and doesn't work with some cables, or suddenly refuses to use a previously working cable.
• Baudrate not to 9600 in ISP and arduino Ide. Some chips require a lower baudrate. Make sure to change it to 9600 in the ISP code, and also in the programmers.txt located in \arduino-1.0.3\hardware\arduino

from
arduinoisp.speed=19200
to
arduinoisp.speed=9600

• My code is running faster or slower. Most chips have a different clockspeed than the arduino, but you can change this easily by installing the right bootloader on your chip. You can do this in the arduino ide under Tools/Install bootloader. Make sure you have the right board and the right clock speed selected.

Extended Version: Programmer board for arduino (Uno)

If you want to programm your chips more than once, you should consider making a board for your arduino.

Luxury version

Just buy a TinyProgrammer :)

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11460

Walimex lens for mobile phone

Walimex lens for mobile phones

The Walimex lenses are actually made for IPhones, but fit nicely on nearly any phone or tablet (even the Blackberry Playbook). The lens gets attached via a magnetic ring that sticks to the phone, so you don't have to walk around with it all the time.

Since Walimex is a well known DSLR-lens manufacturer, I thought I give it a try. I got a fisheye and a telephoto lens.

The lenses came with covers for front and back, which is great for carrying around in a bag, without damaging them.

Testphotos:

All photos are made with my Nexus 4.

Without lens

With fisheye 180°

With telephoto lens 2x

More fisheye fotos

Conclusion

The photos are great and creative. Initially I bought them for panoramic pictures (since photosphere and the panorama function are quite messy), but they are great, especially if you want to see more on your pictures.

They are cheaper if you buy them in a set, and I am thinking of getting more of them.

Have fun, DrFritzi

Some insights to Roll the Ball 2

RTB2 concept Art

Roll the Ball is a little android game I made with friends as a school project.

Version 2 of the game will be using Unity (3?), so we can concentrate on the game itself instead of the engine. A first testworld is already in development to evaluate what can be done, without loosing much performance.

But before starting I made some concept art, that will help to get the right look and feel for the levels:

Testlevel

Fireflies

more coming soon...

Performance

When we started RTB1 we designed it to be running best on a Samsung Galaxy S1. It runs with ~40fps and the phones native resolution. The current generation of phones (like S2 and S3) has no problem running it at 60 fps, but the resolution is quite low, especially on tablets.
One thing I learned from this: hardware power develops much faster than you think. Since this project will take about one year to be finished (maybe more), RTB2 will be developed for current super phones. With Android gaming consoles on the horizon, and chips like tegra4 available soon, this will hopefully be the right decision (we can always tweak down some settings).
Making lifelike animations and characters on a smartphone is hard enough, but having moving lights, detailed textures and other effects (don't forget sound-design) drives the frame rate down to the lower end very fast.

Character design

Those firefly monsters communicate with light, since it is very dark where they live. They don't speak or make noises, so they don't attract enemies. Their lights will react to different situations: fear, curiosity, attack or idle.

Level design

There will be light. Having lights and (faked) shadows [unity indie version :( ] will make a great atmosphere.

Evolving sound patterns will provide a great feeling of progress and error. 

Like RTB1, there will be different World designs, driven by a story.

BB10 Alpha Device arrived!

BB10 Alpha Device arrived!

... and HTML5 runs much smoother.

I thought I have to give up on programming Processing.js webworks apps, but the new browser handles everything pretty well.

My particle clock runs at 48 fps. In comparison, my playbook with QNX 2 manages about 12 fps.

Try it out yourself: Particle Clock Link

Just an Alpha Device

Despite the fact that the OS version is 10, it's not the final consumer software. It is stripped down to fulfill the developers needs, and also includes a nice overlay for cpu usage, memory, fps,... that can be shown via swipe gesture.

Telephone service is disabled, and it comes with only a few apps (you can sideload some apps like facebook from the playbook via DDPB installer or different programs).

The camera is just great although video recording is not fully working (stuttering). Nothing more to say.