tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57992662405583022362024-02-22T11:01:50.092-08:00Phi DesignsPhi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-46084491324459463962013-03-06T00:41:00.001-08:002013-03-08T19:10:32.567-08:00Internet Broadcasting from Ableton Live 8 / Ableton Live 9 (Windows)
<h3>
Summary </h3>
<br />
The following post explains how broadcast from Ableton, in Windows, with
no noise or digital artifacts, and virtually no audible latency; the
delay between Ableton playing and you hearing it in your headset. Oh,
and did I mention, it's all free !!<br />
<br />
<h3>
Features</h3>
<ol>
<li>Supports 4 output channels making it possible to support CUEing.</li>
<li>Works with ASIO, which has low latency. </li>
<li>Supports Shoutcast.</li>
<li>Supports Icecast 2.x.</li>
<li>Supports microphone input so you can do a real-time voice-over outside of Ableton Live.</li>
</ol>
<h3>
Required Software </h3>
<ol>
<li>Ableton Live 9 [Ableton Live 8]</li>
<li>[Free] JACK Audio (<a href="http://jackaudio.org/download">link</a>)</li>
<li>[Free] Edcast v4 ASIO (<a href="http://code.google.com/p/edcast-reborn/downloads/list">link</a>)</li>
<ol>
<li>Remember to create a short-cut. The install doesn't do it for you. </li>
</ol>
<li>[Free] Lame MP3 Encoder (<a href="http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php">link</a>) (installed in Edcast v4 ASIO directory) </li>
</ol>
<br />
<h3>
Setup</h3>
Please follow carefully.<span style="color: red;"></span><br />
<ol>
<li>Close down every other program that might be using audio. This prevents unnecessary locking of audio files.</li>
<li>Select the device you want to hear the music from Ableton in. I
personally use a headset, but anything that is your DEFAULT audio port
will work.</li>
<li><b>Start Jack AudioPort</b></li>
<ol>
<li>You need to do this for Ableton can see the port and use JackAudio Control.</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Start Ableton Live 8 or 9.</b></li>
<ol>
<li>Open the Preferences, and go into "Audio".</li>
<li>Select Driver Type "ASIO"</li>
<li>Audio Device "JackRouter".</li>
</ol>
<li><b>Start JackControl</b></li>
<ol>
<li> It should start with the connections window open, but if it doesn't click "Connect".</li>
</ol>
<li>Don't start EdCastAsio just yet, we'll do that later on. </li>
</ol>
<h3>
Jack Control</h3>
This view is the default Jack with just Ableton Live running:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi718C3AaXQ61BJy8dvte8u2wUcmFEpzWkmeCJqoxLYb6mEL-FL8YQ6UQ3_abCiKLlN89InEwhJACLjCz9ft6tDHGEO8RhScaDJEBnbMavqkyUXEQim3FkLMWhqObxEv7FN-MTfYg1p04o/s1600/Ableton-0000.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi718C3AaXQ61BJy8dvte8u2wUcmFEpzWkmeCJqoxLYb6mEL-FL8YQ6UQ3_abCiKLlN89InEwhJACLjCz9ft6tDHGEO8RhScaDJEBnbMavqkyUXEQim3FkLMWhqObxEv7FN-MTfYg1p04o/s1600/Ableton-0000.png" /></a></div>
<br />
You will notice the there are two inputs for the microphone (lower left)
running to the two inputs to Ableton in the upper right. This
corresponds to the input and output settings in Ableton's preferences:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnZ7YJfO7m9LAwN_O_A9JqtxEvXMfjKW1vPtHnADJWvfLGrT7wDjJ0xRFDxlLQ-iVb2wackV_jkVSwS8aaVDVfnFxQ5AvhKY0i2IOOfg3Mu2r2WOVNIhM0czFm7bCis9rHchb6oLLeWbk/s1600/Ableton-0001.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnZ7YJfO7m9LAwN_O_A9JqtxEvXMfjKW1vPtHnADJWvfLGrT7wDjJ0xRFDxlLQ-iVb2wackV_jkVSwS8aaVDVfnFxQ5AvhKY0i2IOOfg3Mu2r2WOVNIhM0czFm7bCis9rHchb6oLLeWbk/s1600/Ableton-0001.png" /></a> </div>
<br />
Here we see the ASIO Device Driver and JackRouter set. Note: You only
can see JackRouter if you first start an audio port. Inputs and outputs
can be see by click the Input Config and Output Config buttons. Here
is the output:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOv1vyfY3dXKVMc9z5Ok-lhiwkHTuDeOShPSUf8dsg1GU07_sgq4Bk7tp2yRJZPxNnrWCfGjxnUv1DrNkd0aD6nk5FRF2KJz9-d4eQX86QX8PyDfadNt1i5C1ynTH8HepQOSrXkB1y1JE/s1600/Ableton-0002.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOv1vyfY3dXKVMc9z5Ok-lhiwkHTuDeOShPSUf8dsg1GU07_sgq4Bk7tp2yRJZPxNnrWCfGjxnUv1DrNkd0aD6nk5FRF2KJz9-d4eQX86QX8PyDfadNt1i5C1ynTH8HepQOSrXkB1y1JE/s1600/Ableton-0002.png" /></a></div>
<br />
If I turn on 3/4 stereo as shown below: <br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_3_-W1TtjJ4-mikW4gdcdfajOoa_jB0eIVHaE_aQOMsx9MeD3Vc5xhijkwfmIQLCK4rn7fqB-I-kxXxjgRPZ0Dzy5kkrWn31cWczXLRyY0Ua_BRJ11QoZ72nwEHqOtAnEAh8L9-juYMs/s1600/Ableton-0003.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_3_-W1TtjJ4-mikW4gdcdfajOoa_jB0eIVHaE_aQOMsx9MeD3Vc5xhijkwfmIQLCK4rn7fqB-I-kxXxjgRPZ0Dzy5kkrWn31cWczXLRyY0Ua_BRJ11QoZ72nwEHqOtAnEAh8L9-juYMs/s1600/Ableton-0003.png" /></a></div>
<br />
Then in Jack Control, you'll see two new outputs appear. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<br />
We can use these two extra ports to take advantage of the CUE feature in
Ableton. This is the ability to listen to audio on a separate headset
than the main audio that will be broadcast.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Start EdCastASIO</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWrG9yZbN6pgXXQEpfRpjd6CF3Nc3iLWaEOYQHgnPLWq8iz4PlxGl2u73HCbTPfHUEA4Kqq3kK8PdE1oKKORlnKON9pQBuffHV1UTx6EiJJa3HB68COEPwT1JAUpnXmmpT37_alXGyJZ8/s1600/Ableton-0005.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWrG9yZbN6pgXXQEpfRpjd6CF3Nc3iLWaEOYQHgnPLWq8iz4PlxGl2u73HCbTPfHUEA4Kqq3kK8PdE1oKKORlnKON9pQBuffHV1UTx6EiJJa3HB68COEPwT1JAUpnXmmpT37_alXGyJZ8/s1600/Ableton-0005.png" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
This is Edcast running for the first time. I have AutoConnect turned
off. You'll notice that in this picture, the L/R channels have sound.
This is caused because JACK connected the mincrophone to EdCast ASIO:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN0xsgyyrxPiPB0XeCe5V2KkBGpTpX7_V9PvARs7ZSm5kcDYztegfC-iUY3OmS12-VC9UmXkIbR-Tretu_Ss6gIiIjkOQGHcTlAjnk7L3VrMtd6-v0qlFQzzDcUkLKWEZvPO71oDXLdnE/s1600/Ableton-0006.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN0xsgyyrxPiPB0XeCe5V2KkBGpTpX7_V9PvARs7ZSm5kcDYztegfC-iUY3OmS12-VC9UmXkIbR-Tretu_Ss6gIiIjkOQGHcTlAjnk7L3VrMtd6-v0qlFQzzDcUkLKWEZvPO71oDXLdnE/s1600/Ableton-0006.png" /></a></div>
<br />
What we want to do is route OUT3 and OUT4 from Ableton into edcastAsio. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv3xK-JcwW6DBMvlPyWJZYN0DsUgzyNtMHIf8KwYq_WVASU4nekdsqhsdtWMGe5I4hCvB-g7Q-Wbn7TOToW_575bO_Kqw0O6HtCj1N6psjpH-NDwW4tSDPCKiOqkaQTWKaWyDTYz03ABw/s1600/Ableton-0007.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv3xK-JcwW6DBMvlPyWJZYN0DsUgzyNtMHIf8KwYq_WVASU4nekdsqhsdtWMGe5I4hCvB-g7Q-Wbn7TOToW_575bO_Kqw0O6HtCj1N6psjpH-NDwW4tSDPCKiOqkaQTWKaWyDTYz03ABw/s1600/Ableton-0007.png" /></a></div>
<br />
How we do this is very simple. We select OUT3 and edcastAsio in1, and
click "Connect", then OUT4 and edcastAsio in2 and click "Connect".<br />
<br />
Now if we don't want our microphone going into edcast, we can select
capture_1 and edcastAsio in1 and capture_2 and edcastAsio out2 ... one
at a time and click disconnect:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFhi_8IbjQFVVEBL1lWroaLWdIIUeKp-gqonJOFdLSn98gvg3qdpLYB9hZ7VpL4M8h-AYmhqCCWnjz_iNYlLN1H-bJFOE20wuNjYRgd7hy_3Fj6Za_tZEEgt9asiyY3l3I8XVurLGlAs/s1600/Ableton-0008.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFhi_8IbjQFVVEBL1lWroaLWdIIUeKp-gqonJOFdLSn98gvg3qdpLYB9hZ7VpL4M8h-AYmhqCCWnjz_iNYlLN1H-bJFOE20wuNjYRgd7hy_3Fj6Za_tZEEgt9asiyY3l3I8XVurLGlAs/s1600/Ableton-0008.png" /></a></div>
<br />
So what this picture shows is Ableton 1/2 going to your system's
selected headset, and Ableton 3/4 going to edcastAsio. The system
microphone is routed to Ableton's in 1/2.<br />
<br />
With Ableton not playing, the Edcast panel looks like this:<br />
<br />
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<br />
You'll notice the peak meters are off to indicate no sound is present. <br />
<br />
<h3>
Setting Ableton's MASTER and CUE outputs</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1mPTeyZoZBYmV7W7xKJwcmkYuf0Dvf9nb10_x4OJW79aR59bEPuVMv76GIM5sPWhEhYQRKYhPJrKlrahkYZlSStu1tV4EuNzJQvGkXP8eVQ2UBTWuU4lxY5rWD5Q54x4rbVzz-D0ZJow/s1600/Ableton-0010.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1mPTeyZoZBYmV7W7xKJwcmkYuf0Dvf9nb10_x4OJW79aR59bEPuVMv76GIM5sPWhEhYQRKYhPJrKlrahkYZlSStu1tV4EuNzJQvGkXP8eVQ2UBTWuU4lxY5rWD5Q54x4rbVzz-D0ZJow/s1600/Ableton-0010.png" /></a></div>
Here you can see CUE OUT is set to Channel 1/2 which means when channels
1/2 are playing we'll hear them in our headset, and the master is sent
to 3/4 which is what is being sent on edcastAsio; and eventually to the
internet beyond. <br />
<br />
Hitting Play, you'll notice sound going to 3/4, and nothing is being set
to 1/2. Looking at edcastAsio, you'll see it's peak meter moving, but
you won't hear anything on your headset. This is because nothing is
being cued.<br />
<br />
To use the CUE feature, click the button shown by the RED arrow below.
When you do the "S" buttons marked by the yellow arrows will turn to
headsets.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaiwZ8mvb3rdpgyVEiQuySTSmuiK0uQPx2bKkBhFWb9KBYSWjjCXAkgpGyqYHDdDm4vLVZxzX7byQHJiyDHJg8jVc52E17XeochVkNlEPktDzYY192iUWaUWgJYXAhqfnfDp_2CfKBP2M/s1600/Ableton-0013.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaiwZ8mvb3rdpgyVEiQuySTSmuiK0uQPx2bKkBhFWb9KBYSWjjCXAkgpGyqYHDdDm4vLVZxzX7byQHJiyDHJg8jVc52E17XeochVkNlEPktDzYY192iUWaUWgJYXAhqfnfDp_2CfKBP2M/s1600/Ableton-0013.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<b>Clicked ...</b><br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
Click this button to hear the track you select it on. If you click a
different track, you hear that instead, which is a bit inconvenient. If
you want to hear multiple tracks, hold down the CONTROL key when
clicking the button.<br />
<br />
Between the track numbers and the cue buttons, you will see one of these four sound graphs.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<b>Track:</b><br />
<ol>
<li>YELLOW on this track is being transmitted to the MASTER. </li>
<li>ORANGE on this track means the track is on the MASTER channel, but
in this case the midi for the track comes from someplace else, but it's
still on the master. The blue peak meter indicates the track can be
heard on the CUE track.</li>
<li>GRAY on this track means the track is not on the MASTER channel, but
the blue peak meter means you are listening to on the CUE channel.</li>
<li>GRAY on this track means the track is not on the MASTER channel, and
the grey peak meter means the track is playing but it's not going to
either the MASTER or CUE.</li>
</ol>
<br />
<h3>
You don't have to use the CUE feature of Ableton </h3>
I decided to describe the CUE feature first, so that you knew you didn't
have to use it. To not use CUE and to hear everything that comes out
of Ableton that is being broadcast:<br />
<ol>
<li>in Ableton: Turn off the second part of outs for JackRouter. You
don't have to do this, but it does save CPU, so I recommend it.</li>
<li>in Jack Control, reassign the outputs:</li>
</ol>
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<br />
Your done. Now whatever is coming out of Ableton, you will broadcast via EdcastAsio and hear on your headset.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Broadcasting with Edcast ASIO </h3>
By default, Edcast will have no settings, so you will need to add an
encoder. Simply click the encoder, and edcast will use this as a
default:<br />
<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
You'll right click the encoder, and select configure. Later on when you
want to broadcast to this channel, you right-click again and select
"Connect".<br />
<br />
I won't go into all the settings, if you are familar with Shoutcast or
Icecast. Edcast handles both. Note: You will only see the MP3 encoder
if you downloaded it from here (<a href="http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php">link</a>) and installed it in the same directory as EdcastASIO.<br />
<br />
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Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-69552063883947024512011-12-11T10:24:00.000-08:002011-12-11T10:24:01.349-08:00All Winners will receive a UWA RL Package<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>UWA 3D OPEN ART CHALLENGE (OVERALL)</b></span><br />
1st Prize (L$100,000): DIGITAL GLOVE by Misprint Thursday - 70 points<br />
2nd Prize (L$75,000): IN DREAMS by Blue Tsuki - 69 points<br />
3rd Prize (L$40,000): THE CHASM by Oberon Onmura - 44 points<br />
4th Prize (L$30,000): STRANGE PLANT...UGLYNESS & BEAUTY by Claudia222 Jewel - 43 points<br />
5th Prize (L$7,500): PARANORMAL FROTTAGE by Misprint Thursday - 39 points:<br />
5th Prize (L$7,500): EXCERPTS FROM REALITIES by Glyph Graves - 39 points<br />
7th Prize (L$5,000): NOT EVERYTHING IS PLAIN BLACK & WHITE by Fuschia Nightfire - 34 points<br />
8th Prize (L$5,000): FANTASIA EN LA SOMBRA by Romy Nayar - 29 points<br />
8th Prize (L$5,000): IL PLEUT SUR MON COEUR COMME IL PLEUT SUR LA VILLE ("It's raining in my heart, as it's raining in the town") by Cherry Manga - 29 points<br />
10th Prize JOINT (L$1,000): HARMONIES IN C GREAT(+) by Artistide Despres - 28 points<br />
10th Prize JOINT (L$1,000): TROIS PETITS TOURS ET PUIS S'EN VA (Three little turns and it goes away) by Josiane Sorciere - 28 points<br />
10th Prize JOINT (L$1,000): THE DOCK SPIRIT by Scottius Polke - 28 points<br />
10th Prize JOINT (L$1,000): VENUSTRAP by Claudia222 Jewell - 28 points<br />
<span style="color: yellow; font-size: small;"><b>10th Prize JOINT (L$1,000): SHATTERED by Ginger Also - 28 points</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>UWA 3D OPEN ART CHALLENGE (NON-SCRIPTED)</b></span><br />
<b style="color: yellow;">1st Prize (L$15,000): SHATTERED by Ginger Alsop - 105 points</b><br />
2nd Prize (L$10,000): YOU CAN'T TOUCH HEAVEN by paleillusion - 102 points<br />
3rd Prize (L$5,000): 99% by Harter Fall - 82 points<br />
4th Prize (L$3,000): THE REVOLT OF THE MANNEQUINS by Silene Christen - 63 points<br />
5th Prize (L$2,000): MARIONETTE by Haveit Neox - 62 points:<br />
6th Prize (L$1,000): SMALL PIECE OF HELL: The Suicide Forest Infested by Harpias by Rebeca Bashly - 61 points<br />
7th Prize (L$1,000): SPRING BOX by Cherry Manga - 58 points<br />
8th Prize (L$1,000): DAUGHTER OF THE WIND by Fae Varriale - 51 points<br />
9th Prize (L$1,000): MISS N by Suzanne Graves - 45 points<br />
9th Prize (L$1,000): BIRDSONG by Cherry Manga - 45 points<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
<b>UWA 3D Art People's Choice Award, (Overall) </b></span><br />
1st Prize (L$15,000): THE MATTER OF IDEAS by Gleman Jun - 64 points<br />
2nd Prize JOINT (@L$6,500): VENUSTRAP by Claudia222 Jewell - 62 points<br />
2nd Prize JOINT (@L$6,500): IN DREAMS by Blue Tsuki - 62 points<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>UWA 3D Art People's Choice Award, (Non-Scripted)</b></span><br />
1st Prize (L$8,000): SMALL PIECE OF HELL: The Suicide Forest Infested by Harpias by Rebeca Bashly - 112 points<br />
<b style="color: yellow;">2nd Prize (L$5,000): SHATTERED by Ginger Alsop - 92 points</b><br />
3rd Prize JOINT (@L$1,500): YOU CAN'T TOUCH HEAVEN by paleillusion - 67 points<br />
3rd Prize JOINT (@L$1,500): SPRING BOX by Cherry Manga - 67 points<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>MachinimUWA IV: 1st Prize (L$60,000) - 63 Points</b></span><br />
WELCOME TO THE OTHER SIDE by Tutsy Navarathna<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm4XY49gdzc&feature=player_embedded<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
<b>MachinimUWA IV: 2nd Prize (L$40,000) - 47 Points </b></span><br />
ARTWASHERS by FRIDAY SIAMENDES of California<br />
http://vimeo.com/28513091<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>MachinimUWA IV: 3rd Prize (L$30,000) - 42 Points</b></span><br />
ART OF THE ARTISTS by Fuschia Nightfire of Dorset, England<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Nj5ivMTX8<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>MACHINIMUWA IV: JOINT 4th Prize (@L$22,500) - 35 Points</b></span><br />
QUBIT: COGNITIVE DISTORTION by spyVspy of Lisbon, Portugal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9V46Qy5IyE&feature=player_embedded<br />
VIRTUAL LOVE by Iono Allen, from the land of Amore, France: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYIL0FZoUCo<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>MachinimUWA IV Special Award for EMOTION (L$19,000) </b></span><br />
YEAH by Hypatia Pickens of the Unites States<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiC2sYwDuJw&feature=player_embedded<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>MachinimUWA IV Special Award for BREAKING THE BARRIERS (L$19,000)</b></span><br />
TRANSFORMATION VIRTUAL ART ON THE BRINK by L1aura Loire / Dr Lori Landay, from the College of Music, Berkeley, USA<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mCrjkzzDJk&feature=player_embedded<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>MachinimUWA IV Special Award for THE SOUL (L$19,000)</b></span><br />
DUAL by Veruca Vandyke of Arkansas, USA<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJdeYql_hNk&feature=youtu.be<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>MachinimUWA IV ANTON MESMER Special Award (L$19,000)</b></span><br />
A PLACID OCEAN OF UNCERTAIN LIBERTIES by Cecil Hirvi, Citizen of the Universe.<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGjkeiX_6tg&feature=youtu.be<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>MachinimUWA IV Special Award for THE HUMAN HEART (L$19,000)</b></span><br />
LOVE PRAYER by Hypatia Pickens<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHuXudCPtp8<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>UWA 3D Open Art Challenge - Audience Participation </b></span><br />
1st Prize (@L5,000): LILIA ARTIS - 47 points<br />
2nd Prize (@L3,000): ARROW INGLEWOOD - 39 points<br />
3rd Prize JOINT (@L1,000): LOQUACIA LOON - 36 points<br />
3rd Prize JOINT (@L1,000): NUBDIEST RESIDENT - 36 points<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>MachinimUWA IV - Audience Participation</b></span><br />
1st Prize (L$10,000): LALA LARIX - 66 points<br />
2nd Prize (L$6,000): PIXIE RAIN - 58 points<br />
3rd Prize (L$4,000): LALIE SORBET - 54 pointsPhi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-38764927438146436872011-06-12T10:44:00.000-07:002011-06-12T16:59:59.372-07:00Virtual DJ Broadcaster using "Bare Bones"A friend of mine said she knew nothing about broadcasting her music in to a private party in SL and wanted a way to do that. I could explain all the steps, but decided to write a blog instead that showed her all the steps.<br />
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You can download "<a href="http://www.virtualdj.com/download/free.html">Virtual DJ Home</a>" to practice everything this blog says, and when you are happy this is the solution for you pay for the Broadcast version. You can even start the Home version and broadcast to the Internet for 10 minutes when you first try the program; so there are lots of options.<br />
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One of the strengths of Virtual DJ (VDJ) is the skinning ability. I decided to write this tutorial using the "Bare Bones" skin cause it removes a ton of stuff that a new DJ doesn't need to know to simply broadcast music. I also use VDJ because it has very smooth song to song fades and gives a new DJ a smooth result. You can use other software like Winamp for free, but I found that it's cross-fading ability to be weak and buggy. VDJ is smooth.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Basic setup of Virtual DJ to get you going fast</b></span><br />
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AFTER installing Virtual DJ from the link above, you'll want to also download and install the <a href="http://www.virtualdj.com/addons/download/pc/12714/install_Bare_Bones.exe">"Bare Bones" skin</a> using this link. Download is fast and install is even faster.<br />
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Now start VDJ and click the "Config" button in the top right corner of the window.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ddipFvAH2zc/TfRnaX3JVeI/AAAAAAAAALw/5diVXNOIiBY/s1600/01-Config+Button.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ddipFvAH2zc/TfRnaX3JVeI/AAAAAAAAALw/5diVXNOIiBY/s1600/01-Config+Button.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Next, move to the "Skins" tab and select the "Bare Bones v.1" skin:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x_rs6gn5wqY/TfTvnPicgTI/AAAAAAAAANQ/gFFugSEefDA/s1600/32-Skins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x_rs6gn5wqY/TfTvnPicgTI/AAAAAAAAANQ/gFFugSEefDA/s1600/32-Skins.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Now go to the options tab, and set the Cross Fade to "Smooth" and the "Auto-Cross Length" to 8 seconds. As you use the software you will adjust this length so that it fits yous sound the best. This is the length of time VDJ spends fading from one track to another:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MHApsyRn_10/TfRolpU6GXI/AAAAAAAAAL4/pD2GYCThgaw/s1600/04-Options+Crossfader%252BAuto-Cross+Length%253D8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MHApsyRn_10/TfRolpU6GXI/AAAAAAAAAL4/pD2GYCThgaw/s400/04-Options+Crossfader%252BAuto-Cross+Length%253D8.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Click OK to close the Settings. When you return to the main screen you will have notice the skin has changed to this look. Click to see, but we will detail all the information you see here:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VPajMyhuCEk/TfRpT9X00cI/AAAAAAAAAL8/_J8dLJ6ysw8/s1600/05-Skin+View.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VPajMyhuCEk/TfRpT9X00cI/AAAAAAAAAL8/_J8dLJ6ysw8/s320/05-Skin+View.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Next select iTunes from your the left panel:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NBeMrZzVOts/TfRplgjT39I/AAAAAAAAAMA/M_EsI2TVeM8/s1600/05-Select+iTunes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NBeMrZzVOts/TfRplgjT39I/AAAAAAAAAMA/M_EsI2TVeM8/s1600/05-Select+iTunes.jpg" /></a></div><br />
And expand it. This will list all of the playlists in your iTunes library. Depending how you have organized the library this simplifies how you search for music to play. Before you do a lot, you should figure out the Beats Per Minute (BPM) of all your songs. This will take some time to do depending on how many songs you have. The reason is you want to keep the BPM of all the songs as close as you can to each other. They can be off, but the show will sound better if they are +/- 10BPM of all of them.<br />
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Select all the songs, by selecting the first one then pressing Ctrl+A to select All, then right-click the list and select "Scan for BPMs". Go for coffee, and come back later. :)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RoOPJKyqhJo/TfRtdXkZm8I/AAAAAAAAAMs/gRzuN5pyQo4/s1600/16-Scan+for+BPMs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RoOPJKyqhJo/TfRtdXkZm8I/AAAAAAAAAMs/gRzuN5pyQo4/s400/16-Scan+for+BPMs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Now move your mouse to the right edge of the window. to where it says "Playlist":<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2djurzaJ8Rk/TfRqFL8XSFI/AAAAAAAAAME/MvE5bHyu314/s1600/06-Move+to+Playlist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2djurzaJ8Rk/TfRqFL8XSFI/AAAAAAAAAME/MvE5bHyu314/s1600/06-Move+to+Playlist.jpg" /></a></div><br />
When you do, the playlist area will pop open. To keep it open, move your mouse near the bottom of the window and click the "STAR" so it turns yellow. This will lock the play list window open.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sj6BlPmkNU8/TfRqUg2hUUI/AAAAAAAAAMI/tDM4UsZ6lJ8/s1600/07-Lock+Playlist+Window.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sj6BlPmkNU8/TfRqUg2hUUI/AAAAAAAAAMI/tDM4UsZ6lJ8/s1600/07-Lock+Playlist+Window.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Now drag and drop songs from the middle window to the play list in the order you want to hear them play:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-arMsMVMoO8A/TfRqmEXfDMI/AAAAAAAAAMM/o_PK0Y-KYF8/s1600/08-Drag+and+Drop+tunes+to+the+Play+List.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-arMsMVMoO8A/TfRqmEXfDMI/AAAAAAAAAMM/o_PK0Y-KYF8/s1600/08-Drag+and+Drop+tunes+to+the+Play+List.jpg" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">|||</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">V</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IeBTvv85YZM/TfRqr_hNqXI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/d4rdYJyJceU/s1600/09-Playlist+with+a+few+songs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IeBTvv85YZM/TfRqr_hNqXI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/d4rdYJyJceU/s1600/09-Playlist+with+a+few+songs.jpg" /></a></div><br />
After you have a play list, and you start it playing (see below), you can rearrange the playlist (click a song then drag it up/down the playlist). You can also start a song early or replay the current one by double clicking the mouse. It will take 8 seconds to fade from the current sound till the next sound.<br />
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To broadcast to the Internet you need a stream server. VDJ supports both Shoutcast and Icecast. Select Record (in the top-right)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A1mzgHQn7sE/TfRsLnZ9AUI/AAAAAAAAAMg/B8hLa_Zjt_E/s1600/10-Click+Record.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A1mzgHQn7sE/TfRsLnZ9AUI/AAAAAAAAAMg/B8hLa_Zjt_E/s1600/10-Click+Record.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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In "Record" mode you are sending your sounds someplace. Click "Broadcast", to send to the Internet.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-978v1oh-wgU/TfRrD17AzGI/AAAAAAAAAMU/vinRA-WgweI/s1600/11-Select+Broadcast+then+Config.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-978v1oh-wgU/TfRrD17AzGI/AAAAAAAAAMU/vinRA-WgweI/s400/11-Select+Broadcast+then+Config.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
If you have never set up VDJ to broadcast to the internet, you will need to configure details about the server you will broadcast to. Therefore, click "Config" to bring up this next panel:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3zgfhRLdvx4/TfRrIqKEifI/AAAAAAAAAMY/2i02AZcfp7E/s1600/12-Broadcast+Configuration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3zgfhRLdvx4/TfRrIqKEifI/AAAAAAAAAMY/2i02AZcfp7E/s400/12-Broadcast+Configuration.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
In Second Life you will get details as to how to fill out this form. VDJ supports Shoutcast versions 1 and 2. If you have a Shoutcast 1 server, you won't be given a user name. Just leave it blank. And Click OK.<br />
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When you are ready for your show and you have configured; simply click "Start Recording"<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zhm_sMExtdQ/TfRrp496M8I/AAAAAAAAAMc/yI9_99FXu3Y/s1600/13-Start+Recording.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zhm_sMExtdQ/TfRrp496M8I/AAAAAAAAAMc/yI9_99FXu3Y/s1600/13-Start+Recording.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
Now you should be streaming to the Internet. It will tell you you have successfully connected because you'll get a message like this one. If not, you will get an error message:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iQ0komi2aYE/TfTvAS58NfI/AAAAAAAAANM/KInjRjeeT5U/s1600/31-Broadcasting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iQ0komi2aYE/TfTvAS58NfI/AAAAAAAAANM/KInjRjeeT5U/s1600/31-Broadcasting.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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When you press play on the playlist, the music will be sent to the server you specified. You will also hear it on your computer.<br />
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Now go back to the browser:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C7dvHvgOhnU/TfRsc-gEXHI/AAAAAAAAAMk/gy0QT4vWnEE/s1600/14-Select+Browser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C7dvHvgOhnU/TfRsc-gEXHI/AAAAAAAAAMk/gy0QT4vWnEE/s1600/14-Select+Browser.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Now click the Auto-mixing play button in the top-left of the playlist:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eaRO-_qt0Y4/TfRsvrL_z7I/AAAAAAAAAMo/589xWefxgck/s1600/15-Automix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eaRO-_qt0Y4/TfRsvrL_z7I/AAAAAAAAAMo/589xWefxgck/s1600/15-Automix.jpg" /></a></div><div style="color: yellow;"><br />
</div><div style="color: yellow;"><b>Congratulations; you are now a DJ! The first song you selected should now be playing.</b></div><br />
That should be pretty painless.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Other Automix Options</b></span><br />
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The default automatic automix feature works well, but sometimes it cuts off quiet beginnings or endings of music, so there are other ways to mix:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c48ikWHpIp8/TfT4jIUR2DI/AAAAAAAAANU/aLhZQleeSHE/s1600/33-Automix+type.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c48ikWHpIp8/TfT4jIUR2DI/AAAAAAAAANU/aLhZQleeSHE/s1600/33-Automix+type.jpg" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Some of the Virtual DJ skin options</b></span><br />
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At the top of the window you will see the sound graph. This graph allows you see the shape of the music. The white bare in the middle is what is playing currently<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J3KkHi3dsdc/TfRuEi0H0tI/AAAAAAAAAMw/WnLwwcY2zdc/s1600/17-Sound+Graph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="33" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J3KkHi3dsdc/TfRuEi0H0tI/AAAAAAAAAMw/WnLwwcY2zdc/s400/17-Sound+Graph.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
If you click the WAVE button on the top right corner, you can change the format of the sound graph. The mouse wheel changes the scale and there is a slider on the far left (not show) that scales the sound graph too. Normally this is only useful if you are doing manually mixing .. otherwise for the beginner it is a pretty graph to look at :)<br />
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<b>Careful not to LEFT click the sound graph, as you can scratch the sound. Scratching is used by DJ's to give scraping noises in the playback.</b><br />
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On the left edge, you will see details about the current song being played:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ymtLMM9I15k/TfRv49yw4iI/AAAAAAAAAM0/Gv79dRRqE3w/s1600/19-Current+Song+Details.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ymtLMM9I15k/TfRv49yw4iI/AAAAAAAAAM0/Gv79dRRqE3w/s1600/19-Current+Song+Details.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This tells you the artist, title, BPM, Key, time into the current song and time left in the current song.<br />
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The next song to be played is on the bottom-right of the window:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nTu-tk6i6OE/TfRwlA5aFdI/AAAAAAAAANA/zEp0xq-iw38/s1600/22-Next+Track.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="22" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nTu-tk6i6OE/TfRwlA5aFdI/AAAAAAAAANA/zEp0xq-iw38/s400/22-Next+Track.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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To the right of this area you will see one of two mini sound-graphs:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-34imkio3Mss/TfRwN51yU8I/AAAAAAAAAM8/zgc5DTTTeUc/s1600/18-Sound+Graph+Markers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="52" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-34imkio3Mss/TfRwN51yU8I/AAAAAAAAAM8/zgc5DTTTeUc/s400/18-Sound+Graph+Markers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0xaIvioeznQ/TfRwNqFSdQI/AAAAAAAAAM4/Tvg4nLcsLNU/s1600/18a-Sound+Graph%253B+Last+Track.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="40" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0xaIvioeznQ/TfRwNqFSdQI/AAAAAAAAAM4/Tvg4nLcsLNU/s400/18a-Sound+Graph%253B+Last+Track.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The top version shows the current sound being played on the top and the RED markers indicate where the cross-fades from one song to the next will start for for both tunes. When it is the last song in the playlist, you will see just the one sound graph. If you <b>click anywhere</b> along either sound graph, you can jump to that part of the sound. I use this feature to click left of the red markers to test how the fade works.<br />
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Below the song is another row of controls; called the effects bar.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NMIHtyJpgQg/TfRxNaDgKAI/AAAAAAAAANE/93-Y3Q_s1sA/s1600/20-Deck+Options.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="18" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NMIHtyJpgQg/TfRxNaDgKAI/AAAAAAAAANE/93-Y3Q_s1sA/s640/20-Deck+Options.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Loop In/Out allows you to replay the same sound over and over with some limitations. First sounds can only be looped according to 1,2,4,8,16,32 measures; at 120 BPM 32 Measures = 32 seconds. The length of time is dependent on the BPM. Backspin, Beatgrid and brake are all DJ effects you can apply to the music. You can play with them; but they are generally used in live play. At the far right is the volume graph showing the relative volume of the left/right channels as the track plays.<br />
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FINALLY, you can adjust what columns you see by right clicking the titles of either the Library music tunes or the playlist colums to add/remove information: <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OVKxuJ291jU/TfRx6ZwioLI/AAAAAAAAANI/YuvkQ2lXU7A/s1600/21-Customize+Columns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OVKxuJ291jU/TfRx6ZwioLI/AAAAAAAAANI/YuvkQ2lXU7A/s400/21-Customize+Columns.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-9060657925419369932011-04-19T20:39:00.000-07:002011-04-19T20:39:23.928-07:00Phi Designs Anti-Stalker Device - Coming Soon !!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-CA</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal"><a href="" name="_GoBack"></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">The purpose of this device is to establish a white list for communications within Second Life, and restore communication control back to the user.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It was created for a friend who was being relentlessly followed by a stalker.<span> </span>The stalker would send IMs while she was logged on and diminishing the joy of her SL existence.<span> </span>Banning the avatar did not deter them, as they simply violated the Second Life Terms of Service by creating dozens of alts.<span> </span>This pervert even created an alt and set the display name to the person he was stalking.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">To combat this problem, the Anti-Stalker device works to create a whitelist on an avatar.<span> </span>It uses the RLV feature built into some of the Second Life clients like Phoenix to turn off communication except for those people allowed.<span> </span>Optionally, the user can turn local chat on/off as well as public IM chats.<span> </span>It’s not something that a stalker Avatar can control or prevent from happening since the client is altered to prevent unwanted communication.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The first question people will ask is, if I turn on RLV, can I be turned into a slave?<span> </span>The short answer is no.<span> </span>And even if you do find that one of your other devices are RLV enabled, you can you can turn off RLV in the viewer, restart the viewer and detach the item that causes you to lose control, then restart SL with RLV turned on to fix the problem.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">To be controlled by RLV you need a relay device attached either on you HUD or on your body.<span> </span>What the relay device does is accept messages from a remote control that are then relayed to your viewer.<span> </span>While it’s possible something else you have is a relay device, it’s highly improbable.<span> </span>The probability of actually losing control is virtually zero.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If you are <i><b>intentionally using a RLV relay device</b></i>, I strongly recommend you let the dominate know you are using it and why because it may interfere with their control of you.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>How it Works</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The first stage is to identify your white list.<span> </span>These are the people you know and love and are on your friends list.<span> </span>You will need to identify all their UUIDs so that the system knows who they are.<span> </span>I recommend the use of Phoenix to get your friends list, as this viewer has a “Friends Export” feature.<span> </span>Simply take its output and load it into a notecard.<span> </span>Alternatively, you can painstakingly list all the avatar’s keys in a notecard and store it with the device.<span> </span>The system is smart and can pick up either format automatically.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Next you attach the device to your HUD.<span> </span>This is because the system uses text to identify the status:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">IM is On</div><div class="MsoNormal">Local Chat is On</div><div class="MsoNormal">87 Friends</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The system is pretty simple.<span> </span>It uses RLV commands to control whether IMs (including group chat) can be seen, and when local chat can be seen or not.<span> </span>If the user elects to turn off IMs and local chat, then only friends on the white list can send communications.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If an avatar who is not on the white list sends an IM, the viewer will block the message.<span> </span>On the viewer, the user sees this message:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Avatar Name: *** IM blocked by your viewer</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And the Avatar Name will get this message:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Resident you messaged is prevented from reading your instant messages at the moment, please try again later.</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In local chat, non-white list members simply appear in Local chat as “…” and no notification is given to the member who sent the message.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Usage</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The system is easy to use.<span> </span>Simply attach the device to your HUD, edit it and load your white list into the notecard called “!WhiteList”.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Next click the device on the HUD to bring up the menu</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">RELOAD – Reloads the current notecard.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">CHAT ON/OFF – Turns Local Chat On/Off.<span> </span>When OFF text is muted and received as “…”.<span> </span>When ON, text appears as normal.<span> </span>(OFF by default)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">IM ON/OFF – Turns IM Chat On/Off.<span> </span>When OFF text is received as “*** IM blocked by your viewer” from avatars that are not on your white list. <span></span>Group chats, unless they are initiated by a friend are ignored.<span> </span>When ON, text appears as normal.<span> </span>(OFF by default)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">ALLOW… - Scans the room and gives a list of all avatars.<span> </span>Selecting one allows you to temporarily add them to your white list.<span> </span>If you RELOAD the notecard then relog, this temporary ALLOW list is lost.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Caveats</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">RLV forgets any settings you might have between sessions.<span> </span>It takes a few moments for the white list settings to be re-established.<span> </span>This also means that offline communications are still received, but while online undesired communications are blocked.</div>Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-39632066558296753532011-04-13T11:10:00.000-07:002011-04-13T11:10:54.195-07:00SL Live Mixing DJ: Stage #1 - Broadcasting Audio with VACA few months ago, I transitioned from being a DJ that simply played tracks together to being a DJ that mixes and loops tracks live, so I can play a private parties. For this, I was using Virtual DJ (Broadcast) to actually mix and broadcast songs together. This software is nice for doing loops because I can loop 1,2,4,8,16 and 32 measures, and when I want to loop something longer, I can do it by hand using a deck to deck transition or jump to a cue point using a hot button. <br />
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But Virtual DJ has some serious limitations. For one, I cannot use my midi keyboard and virtual instruments like Omnisphere and mixing more than 2 tracks is a mental challenge with just a mouse. What I need is software that can map a hardware controller to the software. Giving me the ability to manage sound of multiple tracks without using the mouse. Virtual DJ has a US$300 option, but doesn't provide the ability to to use my virtual instruments.<br />
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In searching for software, I found a number of possibilities, but few had the ability to broadcast, and this limited the pool of available software. That is until I discovered the US$30 <a href="http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.htm">Virtual Audio Cable (VAC)</a>. <br />
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What VAC provides is an in-memory audio mixer. It can take audio output from multiple sources, mix it in real time. Winamp can then listen to the Virtual Audio Cable and using Shoutcast DSP, broadcast it into Second Life. Using Audio Repeater (also included with VAC) you can listen to the audio. <br />
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Discovery of the Virtual Audio Cable hugely changes the for what software I need to mix, play live, and use a hardware controller. <br />
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Next up will be finding the right DJ software that allows Virtual Instruments, MIDI hardware mapping and hopefully something that doesn't have a vertical learning curve or is horribly expensive.<br />
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- Gin<br />
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<b> </b>Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-42734236789860175662011-03-26T00:37:00.000-07:002011-03-26T00:37:51.847-07:00<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Phi Security and It's Features</b></span> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Phi Security is a sophisticated yet easy to use security system that provides a number of features to secure your property in Second Life. It works by having a central security system and one or more security zones that are projected by orbs spread throughout your parcel and each of your skyboxes. A single orb can project a region 96m in size although we recommend that each orb protects only 30m at a time. The only reason is that we use a particle field to denote the boundary of the security perimeter and this doesn't work beyond 30m.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Phi Security implements the following features:</span></span><br />
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<ul><li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sophisticated hierarchical dialog system that allows easy navigation, and allows a user to go into menus and back out of menus.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Uses a timeout dialog system to prevent an unauthorized user from hijacking an authorized users security session.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Security ignores the land owner, so no security settings in the main system can prevent the owner from accessing the property.</span></span></li>
<ul><li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Important Note: </b>In order for the security system to eject or teleport home an unwanted guest, the land owner must install each security orb.</span></span></li>
</ul><li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Define the radius of protection for a single orb independently of other orbs.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Control security from a single location and one or more security orbs to protect as many buildings as you want. Great for individual owners who have ground and several skybox locations.</span></span> </li>
<li>Define which individual buildings an avatar has access to. Not all buildings need to have access to all avatars.</li>
<li>Allow avatars the extra ability to define access for others. This means they can add/remove/change the authority of any user in the system. </li>
<ul><li>As well, they can turn the system off for a few minutes to hours to allow a party to occur on the property without having to define all the individual party goers.</li>
</ul><li>Allow avatars the extra ability to configure the security system:</li>
<ul><li>Update security orb settings.</li>
<li>Define the delay between avatar warning and when they are ejected or sent home.</li>
<li>Define whether uninvited guests are sent home or simply ejected from the parcel.</li>
<li>Get a security report on the settings of the system.</li>
</ul><li>Add new avatars to the system by entering their user names in Local Chat or turning the system off temporarily and using a sensor then get their names from a dialog box.</li>
<li>Define security for the general public.</li>
<li>Ban avatars on an individual basis. Banned avatars get ejected/sent home immediately without warning. It's recommended that if they continue to violate the security that they be banned from the land parcel using the SL Land Options.</li>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Security Management for Avatars with Access Levels</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">To set the security for Phi, begin by selecting the security panel:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">This brings up the main menu.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Next select "Add AV... to add a new avatar to the system:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Selecting "by Sensor" allows one to select any avatar within a 20m radius of the security system:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Simply click the avatars to add. Only avatars not already in the system are listed. If there are none, they are already defined or not close enough to the menu system. Click back, then click by "By Text". </span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Type the user name of the avatar to add. Make sure you are using their user name (with a space) and not their display name. Enter in as many avatars as needed. The type BACK or touch the security control box.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-HsqE1PLpYkQ/TY2LGCSYCNI/AAAAAAAAAJo/DCqluZvEJM8/s1600/05-Add+By+Text.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-HsqE1PLpYkQ/TY2LGCSYCNI/AAAAAAAAAJo/DCqluZvEJM8/s1600/05-Add+By+Text.jpeg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">From the next menu, click "Change AV" to change the access of the individuals you have defined. This menu is accessed from the "Add AV" menu or the main menu.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Yxt3KVevuZY/TY2LGBnH-DI/AAAAAAAAAJs/fPqhQH-5pBQ/s1600/06-Select+Avatar+to+Change.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Yxt3KVevuZY/TY2LGBnH-DI/AAAAAAAAAJs/fPqhQH-5pBQ/s1600/06-Select+Avatar+to+Change.jpeg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">For regular users, simply select the security areas they have access. "+" next to a name means they don't have that item and clicking it will give it to them. Conversely "-" next to a name removes that access. Be careful with the "BANNED" entry. If it is you, you can instantly ban yourself and need the Land Owner to give you a hard time about it before fixing the problem.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xDu3d0Qh9Jg/TY2LGfiXTMI/AAAAAAAAAJw/xKi1efInPRo/s1600/07-Security+Areas+%2528Normal+User%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xDu3d0Qh9Jg/TY2LGfiXTMI/AAAAAAAAAJw/xKi1efInPRo/s1600/07-Security+Areas+%2528Normal+User%2529.jpeg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">When setting security for the general public all the options are the same except that BANNED is not available:</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aC4qq8FtviY/TY2LGkVahbI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/LRx2iAeYAb4/s1600/08-Security+Areas+%2528Public%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aC4qq8FtviY/TY2LGkVahbI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/LRx2iAeYAb4/s1600/08-Security+Areas+%2528Public%2529.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">The final option is to specify how long you want the security system to be off for. On the main menu you can set it off for 10 minutes while you TP in a guest and set their security. Otherwise, if you are throwing a party lasting a few hours, the security system can be turned off for several hours. </span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-hQxCNdWmCJM/TY2LG2IXaSI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/M0tiDfgMdwY/s1600/09-Turn+Off+System.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-hQxCNdWmCJM/TY2LG2IXaSI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/M0tiDfgMdwY/s1600/09-Turn+Off+System.jpeg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Important Note: It's not possible to turn security off permanently except by removing the central security object. This allows one to set a reasonable time, then have it automatically come back on without worrying about security. Such as being unable to log back into SL.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Configuration Settings</span></span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">EJECT MODE - defines how avatars are removed from the parcel.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">UPDATE++ - refreshes the list of orbs in the system. Used after a new one is added.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">WARNING - Defines how much time an uninvited avatar has to get off the property if they aren't banned.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">TURN OFF - Turn off the security system. Same menu as above.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">GET HELP - This page.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;">SECURITY RPT - Get a report on the security.</span></span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-W0uBcPdEGSE/TY2WkeaX8FI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/-83d8AKxKLg/s1600/10-Configuration.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-W0uBcPdEGSE/TY2WkeaX8FI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/-83d8AKxKLg/s1600/10-Configuration.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
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Setting the removal method: <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j9_-9p_f42E/TY2WkmI_SOI/AAAAAAAAAKA/oePd-UjfwoY/s1600/11-Eject+Mode.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j9_-9p_f42E/TY2WkmI_SOI/AAAAAAAAAKA/oePd-UjfwoY/s1600/11-Eject+Mode.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
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Setting the warning time: <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BrMxgJbMl-k/TY2Wk5qAdZI/AAAAAAAAAKE/7TGvLVGcWBk/s1600/13-Warning+Delay.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BrMxgJbMl-k/TY2Wk5qAdZI/AAAAAAAAAKE/7TGvLVGcWBk/s1600/13-Warning+Delay.jpeg" /></a></div><br />
The Security Report: <br />
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</span></span>Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-1351517925129683482011-03-08T16:09:00.000-08:002011-03-08T16:09:33.985-08:00Introduction to live DJing with Virtual DJThis is the next instalment in the series on how to DJ in Second Life. In previous blogs, I described Repear and Winamp, but I've put all those aside for my new favourite tool, Virtual DJ. This $49 software gives me everything I need to DJ live. You can get more expensive versions of the software all the way up to $300, but the $49 Broadcaster version does the trick. At first I used it to have an intelligent mix of tracks, and a nice smooth transition from one track to the other. These days, I am playing, looping and remixing tunes live and have had a ton of fun each time, I won't go back to just playing tracks.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Virtual DJ an Overview</b></span><br />
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At first glace, Virtual DJ (VDJ) is a bit overwhelming:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-jR2uQUdPxrI/TXa03aM-5qI/AAAAAAAAAHU/pw9ax9b-27w/s1600/VirtualDJ+Layout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-jR2uQUdPxrI/TXa03aM-5qI/AAAAAAAAAHU/pw9ax9b-27w/s640/VirtualDJ+Layout.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
There is a lot going on in this interface, but now that I'm used to it, I can say that it's well thought out. VDJ's interface is skinnable, and this is a snapshot of the 4-deck (1280x1024) interface. Each deck has it's own settings and they are repeated on each deck:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a0GfVzmA9qY/TXa9fer8-aI/AAAAAAAAAHs/MlhMjnCxSlo/s1600/VDJDeck-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a0GfVzmA9qY/TXa9fer8-aI/AAAAAAAAAHs/MlhMjnCxSlo/s1600/VDJDeck-3.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-RZHZCGdabSw/TXa2LPbEBdI/AAAAAAAAAHc/wi_jlHB6g-8/s1600/VDJDeck-3.jpeg.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-RE9LVcNjTlQ/TXa1jg5eYOI/AAAAAAAAAHY/4M6FAjQKs_Q/s1600/VDJDeck-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>A simple blog won't go through all the details but this deck tells me the song and gives a song graph. The white vertical lines in the sound graph are the cues I predetermined, and I use these points so that when I am mixing live, I know where the important bits in the music start and end.<br />
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When you play live, you can see a detailed sound graph at the top of the window:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bJlNnNQISog/TXa5xovIXEI/AAAAAAAAAHk/eZnsEoe4tek/s1600/DetailedSoundGraph.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="76" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bJlNnNQISog/TXa5xovIXEI/AAAAAAAAAHk/eZnsEoe4tek/s640/DetailedSoundGraph.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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In a live set, you will do live remixing. This is accomplished by looping a large sections of music within the same tune. When one section ends, you loop back and replay the same section, and make the sound transition completely seamless. <br />
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To achieve this, you load the same song on the left and right decks and fade between the two. Notice the position of the colour of the deck in the sound graph. The right deck (orange) is further along in the play than the left deck (green). Also notice how the right deck in the top-left corner is highlighted orange. This is the active deck. <br />
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Note: Above the SYNC button there is a "master" indicator. When you click the SYNC button, your track adjusts the the master track. So to do a fade, I first line up the cues then do a SYNC on the green track to solidify the connection.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vQPftIRpj0U/TXa9k33Sq1I/AAAAAAAAAHw/rVd55dtPsIA/s1600/Deck34WithFader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="78" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vQPftIRpj0U/TXa9k33Sq1I/AAAAAAAAAHw/rVd55dtPsIA/s640/Deck34WithFader.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-BOc0Q2b1cus/TXa5TduCkWI/AAAAAAAAAHg/l6DVedDsy-g/s1600/Deck34WithFader.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
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</div>The important bits from the display are shown below.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-rqPaviYufvk/TXa6mNulEPI/AAAAAAAAAHo/wbY8jZpWlb0/s1600/VDJGraphFading+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-rqPaviYufvk/TXa6mNulEPI/AAAAAAAAAHo/wbY8jZpWlb0/s1600/VDJGraphFading+copy.png" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>The brighter orange (overlays the lighter green), as the Orange part music changes, you can slide the crossfader all the way to the left, to go from the sound on the Orange track to the sound on the Green track. Practice and the sound style determines how fast to slide it. With skill, you can now repeat a section and make it as if the music was meant to sound that way.<br />
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You can continue to fade back and forth between the two tracks to repeat sections over and over again, and as you practice, you can fade to the beginning, skip entire sections, or automatically repeat sections and listen to the looping part while overlapping some part of the song.<br />
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When done right, the sound is entirely seemless and a song, that was on 7 minutes originally, be looped and remixed and last 15-20 minutes, and be completely unique rendition of it each time you play it.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Practice, Practice, Practice</span></b> <br />
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It took about 4-5 hours of practice before I was ready to play for friends. Even after playing live I still make oopsies, but don't worry about it too much. It's not like I'll stop the music, write into IM ... I messed up and restarting now. Just chalk one up and continue.<br />
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I do know that it's really hard to play live AND IM at the same time. So I generally avoid it unless I know I have at least a few minutes. That's pretty rare, since some sections I am repeating are only 30 seconds long. Lot of work and concentration.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>To DJ Live or Not to DJ Live</b></span> <br />
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I won't go back to just picking a set and playing it. You can do this, and set it into automix mode and just let VDJ do the fades for you. But there is simply too much fun and creativity that happens as a result of playing live. It's always different.<br />
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- GinPhi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-61444139608355097102011-02-13T07:14:00.000-08:002011-02-13T07:14:37.000-08:00One unstated benefit of using a Saitek Joystick of MachinimaI think one of the biggest problems folks have with using a joystick is they cannot see it working beyond a simple flight controller since it only works with 4 axes. In SL, you will be able to change which axes are assigned to what for any situation.<br />
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When using a Saitek, you do have one huge benefit, and that is using the profile editor:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4mxxRSHaVdE/TVfz4U7r1NI/AAAAAAAAAHM/q9ty-gdAUHM/s1600/SaitekButtons.jpeg.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4mxxRSHaVdE/TVfz4U7r1NI/AAAAAAAAAHM/q9ty-gdAUHM/s640/SaitekButtons.jpeg.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OCGSEHyDlug/TVfzEWyM4cI/AAAAAAAAAHI/Clf6aniks5k/s1600/SaitekButtons.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
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These are the two buttons that I have set up using the Saitek. They allow me to turn auto levelling on and off using button controls on the joystick itself. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pVeroCfg04k/TVf0yEX5yoI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/xvYIFMunZ5E/s1600/Button+3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pVeroCfg04k/TVf0yEX5yoI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/xvYIFMunZ5E/s1600/Button+3.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Button 3 on the joystick</td></tr>
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If you are wondering how they work, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S -- is the command to bring up the viewer's debug settings. "AutoL" identifies the "AutoLeveling" setting ... "TAB TAB T" (or F)" moves the mouse to the setting an sets the setting TRUE (or FALSE) depending.<br />
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The only requirement is these buttons are programmed as a LATCH. That means you turn the button on/off. So to do an auto level, you double tap the button. Without a LATCH, you have to hold the button down for the duration of the command. LATCH works much better.<br />
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This is hugely useful when flying and you are in a move you need to roll out of.Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-87521288249658028542010-12-12T17:33:00.000-08:002010-12-14T11:09:02.190-08:00How to use iTunes, Winamp and Shoutcast to be a DJ in SLIn a previous blog post, I talked about how to set up Reaper to broadcast into SL. Reaper is my music composition software (a DAW; Digital Audio Workstation), so I thought it was fortunate that I could go from it straight into SL.<br />
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I don't use Reaper any more. It has it's benefits, but it's disadvantages have been the song information that normally appears on the DJ boards, doesn't appear using the Reaper solution. Not a problem for me as I do development and to write scripts and code to overcome this problem isn't an issue. Not technically anyway. But with Reaper, it took time to go from a DJ Set to that kind of set up, and since I'm lazy ... it took too much time.<br />
These days I use Winamp. Everything that Reaper was providing for me before, specifically cross fading, can be done with Winamp except I cannot have a live voice over. Not that I needed it before, I tend to produce a set and play it. Probably a good thing, I'd end up blabbing the entire time. <br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Winamp</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">So this is my new setup. A nice diagram kind of gives the full view of how it works; click it to expand. It's no more complicated than drag-and-dropping of tunes on to a playlist, connecting to Shoutcast, then clicking play in Winamp. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Once I pick all my songs, I randomize the list a few times, the put my few lead off songs on top and closing songs on the bottom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Source of the Plugs-ins are:</span><br />
<ol><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>SHOUTcast</b></span> - This transmits tunes from Winamp into a Shoutcast server. The URL of the server is the Media URL on the land parcel. You get this plug in from Shoutcast, scroll to the bottom of the page: <a href="http://www.streamsolutions.co.uk/downloads/DSPs/shoutcast-dsp-1-9-0-windows.exe">http://www.streamsolutions.co.uk/downloads/DSPs/shoutcast-dsp-1-9-0-windows.exe</a> (Windows only).</span></li>
<ul><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>Important Note:</i> </b>I had a problem in Windows 7 with the 2.x plug in so the link here is to the 1.9.0 plug in and it seems to be working a lot better. Now, I don't use a SHOUTcast 2.x server, and this plug-in will not work if you have that version.</span></li>
</ul><li><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Crossfading</b></span> - This merges the ends of songs with the beginnings of songs so that one fades into the next reducing the amount of dead air that often exists at the start/end of songs. This plug-in is available in the Winamp media library, but a more up-to-date version is here:<span style="font-size: small;"> "SqrSoft Advanced Crossfading v1.7.6 (<a href="http://www.brothersoft.com/sqrsoft-advanced-crossfading-output-197719.html">http://www.brothersoft.com/sqrsoft-advanced-crossfading-output-197719.html</a>)". </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>BigClock</b></span> - This plug-in is used to know how much time is on a playlist and how much time is left in a set for good transition between on DJ and the next. This plug-in is obtained here: <a href="http://www.winamp.com/plugin/nxs-bigclock/144111">http://www.winamp.com/plugin/nxs-bigclock/144111</a> </span></li>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Configuration</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The next stage is to configure the Crossfading Plug In to go into the Shoutcast Plug In. Start Winamp, and go into Preferences (Ctrl+P), find the Crossfading Plug In, and click Configure:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TQVFYrJF2bI/AAAAAAAAAGc/e6qLspu6D_I/s1600/Configure+Crossfade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TQVFYrJF2bI/AAAAAAAAAGc/e6qLspu6D_I/s400/Configure+Crossfade.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">This brings up the Crossfading Dialog box, and you'll want to go to the DSP tab and set Shoutcast as your output source:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TQVFzDunWKI/AAAAAAAAAGg/jXz0xWQ75qU/s1600/Advanced+Crossfading.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TQVFzDunWKI/AAAAAAAAAGg/jXz0xWQ75qU/s1600/Advanced+Crossfading.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">This should bring up the Shoutcast plug in right away, but if it doesn't, click Configure in the middle of the page. Once you have this plug-in set, you can now specify how you want to encode your music and specify the passwords to your shoutcast server. If you have been provided a password but no user name, then your shoutcast server is version 1. Version 2 servers require a user name. I my case, I'm using version 1, so my configuration looks like this:</span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I don't broadcast the source to the yellow pages:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><span style="font-size: small;">And set the Encoder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I have found that 80kbps 22Khz Stereo is pretty adequate for most people. Anything more and you're wasting bytes as most people cannot perceive the differences in sound quality. I only bump it up if people make mention of it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Playing Your Set</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Once you are ready to go. It's only a matter of connecting to your Shoutcast Server, and clicking Play on Winamp.</span><br />
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</span>Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-45313829523958175932010-10-04T15:03:00.000-07:002010-10-12T11:34:14.527-07:00How to use iTunes, Reaper, Shoutcast and an Announcer script to be a professional looking DJ in Second LifeThis is going to be one of those work in progress posts that describes how I became a DJ in Second Life. I've wanted to do this for some time, and as it turns out, already had all the tools to do it without one plug-in which I have now obtained.<br />
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Firstly, I use an Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) called Reaper (<a href="http://reaper.fm/">http://reaper.fm</a>). A DAW is an audio composition tool for overlaying multiple sounds. It's what professional composers use to produce the music you listen to, and can run into the thousands of dollars.<br />
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Reaper is normally $225, but if you make less than $20,000/year from your music, they will sell you a discounted license for $60. Don't let it's price make you think it is sub-standard; it's amazing quality for what you get. As well, there is new release with new features every 2 weeks, so one license gets dozens of upgrades for free.<br />
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For me, I would pay more than $225 for it, because it provides me with features that $1000 DAW give. I started out with Sony ACID Studio and Pro, but found I couldn't run two Virtual Instruments (VSTi) at the same time. I got turned on by the richness of sounds from Spectrasonic's Stylus RMX and Atmosphere (and later Omnisphere), and you can sync the beat track of RMX to Omnisphere. But not having a tool means those programs are worthless.<br />
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Reaper is way more functionality than most people need to be a DJ in SL, but it does offer three huge benefits that other posters overlook. Cross Fading, Rendering and Projects. These are all part of Reaper, so there is no need to get a ton of technology and figure out how to make it happen.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Cross Fading</b></span> is the ability to end one piece of music while beginning another. Doing this can be done graphically ... by simply dragging one piece of music visually over the other and you're done. Cross Fading can be a bit of a challenge if one song has a bunch of silence a the end or at the beginning, so in Reaper it easy to cut stuff off the beginning and end of a song before you do the cross fade.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Rendering</b></span> is the ability to take your completed show and render it as a single result, and that result can be any in any audio format you want.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Projects</b></span> are the ability to save your 2 hour sets so that they can be reloaded and played back easily. For me, this means producing a set of shows that I can use in other venues, or at least that's the idea.<br />
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Since Reaper is a DAW, I can also remix songs with it. I've never had the need/ability to techno-fy my chill-out music, but with tons of that kind of music it will be an interesting experiment. One of my VSTs is RMX which allows me to overlay beat tracks to the sounds. Omnisphere also has beats, but it's more of a synth designed for smoother sounds, plus millions of combinations of sound possibilities. That means I can mix the sounds together and play them back live into SecondLife for a really special result.<br />
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<h1>Kbs (Kilobits per Second)</h1>Back in the day when CDs were first created, the CD format allowed for 72 minutes (and later 80) of sound. Rumor has it that it had to be long enough to fit one of Beethoven's symphonies on it uninterrupted. <br />
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It used 44,000 Khz and 16-bit stereo sound in a raw format eating up 176,000 bytes per second of CD space, or requiring 725 Mb for the 72 minutes of time. To transmit a byte on the Internet, 2 extra bits are used, so 176,000 bytes/sec, 1,700 Kilo bits per second (Kbs).<br />
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That's a lot of bits to push around, and unacceptable as a medium for transmitting sound over the Internet. But since then, different audio formats have come along that use a lot less bits to transmit the music. Seems our ears aren't all that great for hearing the high and low ends of the music, so it's wasteful to transmit them. New formats can stream out a similar but still high quality sound using only 128 Kbp, over 13 times less space.<br />
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<h1>iTunes </h1>I use iTunes to organize my music library, because it reads most formats and I can convert them into MP3's which I use to broadcast with. I use a global playlist contains all of the tunes that I create my sets with. I don't use Genre in iTunes because I have Trance, Dance, Breaks, Progressive House, House, etc. in my sets.<br />
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Before you can convert to MP3, you have to tell iTunes that is the format you want. To set it, go into Edit ::: Preferences, and select <b>Import Settings</b>:<br />
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Then from the next dialog, select MP3 Encoder from the "Import Using" drop down:<br />
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Next I start playing the play list and go into shuffle mode to play the playlist in random order. This gives me a random selection of tunes. If there is a tune I like that isn't MP3, I can convert it to an MP3 version.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpBHabJY0I/AAAAAAAAADA/HxRnJ58w5JE/s1600/Blog000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpBHabJY0I/AAAAAAAAADA/HxRnJ58w5JE/s320/Blog000.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpBs6oz0TI/AAAAAAAAADE/DC-U2hol9ig/s1600/Blog001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpBs6oz0TI/AAAAAAAAADE/DC-U2hol9ig/s1600/Blog001.png" /></a>Once I have the MP3 Version, I update the "grouping" to identify which music goes into what sets, and I can prevent the same piece of music from being reused so that there is a unique show each time. By going into "Get Info" (a little further up the menu shown here), and setting the grouping. Now I can sort by the grouping and see all the music in a set:<br />
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This process simplifies the set arrangement process by ensuring that I get all the musical pieces in a single group. If you want to order the compositions for arrangement, see below, suffix the grouping name with a number like "-01", "-02","-03", and so on.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpCydSDZpI/AAAAAAAAADI/AeVvofr1l5g/s1600/Blog003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpCydSDZpI/AAAAAAAAADI/AeVvofr1l5g/s1600/Blog003.png" /></a></div>Once you have a set of music, you can figure out how much time you have for it. First, make sure you have your music library selected and not a playlist, by selecting Music under Library:<br />
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Then select all the tunes in your grouping, and at the bottom of the iTunes window, it will give you this statistic:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpEdIs4DfI/AAAAAAAAADQ/vU332IxKk-U/s1600/Blog006.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpEdIs4DfI/AAAAAAAAADQ/vU332IxKk-U/s1600/Blog006.png" /></a></div>If it doesn't give you the precise time, then click the area first to switch the value to an exact time rather than an approximate time.<br />
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I always make sure the amount of time is about 2 minutes more than the set time, so that I can handle cross-fades and get the set time to exactly where I want it 2, 3 or 4 hours. <br />
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<h1>The Annoucer (Optional)</h1>While Shoutcast supports the ability to announce whatever the current tune is, reaper doesn't. Even if it did, I don't like the detail it gives and a viewer has to be able to support reading the stream. Therefore I wrote my own shout cast Announcer which is part of my tip jar. If you want the script, then send me a notecard IM in game and I'll arrange to get it to you. The script took a lot of time to write and has a fee and will eventually be available in the Second Life Marketplace. <br />
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My song announcer reports this information in this format using the special second life characters:<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">╔╦═════════════════════════════════════════════════════</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">║╟─✸ Set: Progressive Dance 1</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">║╟─✸ Song: 3 of 17</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">║╟─✸ Name: Endless Candy - Original Mix</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">║╟─✸ By: Weekend Heroes</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">║╟─✸ Album: Armada At Ibiza - The Closing Party 2010</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">╚╩═════════════════════════════════════════════════════</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The SET is the name of the set of songs being played, and Album gives the release I got it from so that others can more readily find it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">To get this information into second life requires an export from iTunes and a different one from Reaper. I then edit the output using OpenOffice and then read the two sets using a Second Life script.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><h1>iTunes Export for Announcer (Optional)</h1>The first step is to get all the tunes from the set into a play list. This is an easy drag-and-drop process to create the playlist. Once you have the playlist, right click the name and select "Export..." from the menu:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6fN9hLZJI/AAAAAAAAAEE/ODTxvgHinic/s1600/Blog000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6fN9hLZJI/AAAAAAAAAEE/ODTxvgHinic/s1600/Blog000.png" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Pick the first option in the type "Text Files (*.txt)" and specify an appropriate name. I use "ITunes-PLAYLIST" .. so, "ITunes-Progressive Dance 1".</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6fsmAqs4I/AAAAAAAAAEI/Co7OFdrwhLU/s1600/Blog001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6fsmAqs4I/AAAAAAAAAEI/Co7OFdrwhLU/s1600/Blog001.png" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I then export the file again, but instead of saving it, I right-click the file I just created, and use the "Open With" ability and open it in Open Office. This saves having to fine the file after it is saved.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6gYUVOhsI/AAAAAAAAAEM/jW5LaryPNK8/s1600/Blog003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6gYUVOhsI/AAAAAAAAAEM/jW5LaryPNK8/s1600/Blog003.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I then specify the Separator options as Tab:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6g5vBw2QI/AAAAAAAAAEU/YLgqmzvuuiA/s1600/Blog004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6g5vBw2QI/AAAAAAAAAEU/YLgqmzvuuiA/s1600/Blog004.png" /></a></div>Then click OK to open the file. There are are four columns we need from this file, so all the columns except for:<br />
<ol><li>Name</li>
<li>Artist</li>
<li>Album</li>
<li>Location</li>
</ol>Are deleted from the file. Location is used to cross reference a start time in the Reaper file. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6hYwkcNSI/AAAAAAAAAEY/BHRd65GR0B0/s1600/Blog005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="33" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6hYwkcNSI/AAAAAAAAAEY/BHRd65GR0B0/s640/Blog005.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE:</b></span> Before continuing to the next step, have a look at the names contained within the Location column. Since this file will eventually be copied into Second Life, <b>MAKE</b> sure it doesn't contain any personally identifying information. In my example, I use a separate hard-drive partition (P) to save details about my songs, but many people use "My Documents" and this often contains your <i><b>real name</b></i>. My recommendation is to use a "replace" operation to change the name of any private information. Whatever modifications you make, they have to be consistent, because the system matches against the FileName column in Reaper against the Location name in iTunes. If they are not the same, the load fails. See below.</td></tr>
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Review the columns to make sure all the information you want is included, then save the file using the type "Text CSV (.csv)" and remember to check on "Edit Filter Settings":<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6iq6IVyLI/AAAAAAAAAEo/kGpItvEgdzo/s1600/Blog008.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6iq6IVyLI/AAAAAAAAAEo/kGpItvEgdzo/s1600/Blog008.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6h8T0r20I/AAAAAAAAAEg/Umr2YG5D4uE/s1600/Blog006.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div>By clicking on Edit Filter Settings, you get another dialog box. Specify the field delimiter as a tilda (~) and the text delimiter as nothing:<br />
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Then click OK to save the file.<br />
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<h1>iTunes to Reaper</h1><br />
Now start up Reaper, start a new project, add a track, and drag the all the files to the track in reaper. In iTunes, click and hold the left-hand mouse button, then drag to the right the files. This will pop open a drag image identify the number of tunes you are dragging:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpFmSorjOI/AAAAAAAAADY/BcaXp25nq2c/s1600/Blog007.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpFmSorjOI/AAAAAAAAADY/BcaXp25nq2c/s1600/Blog007.png" /></a></div>and drag the files to the left-hand side of the Reaper track:<br />
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It will ask you if you want the files on a single or multiple track, click "NO" to put everything on a single track:<br />
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Now Reaper then lays down all the audio track side-by-side. They appear red in this image because I have changed the colours in my environment.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpGwIb-k7I/AAAAAAAAADo/u5JyoDtWs7k/s1600/Blog011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpGwIb-k7I/AAAAAAAAADo/u5JyoDtWs7k/s1600/Blog011.png" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The next step is to cross fade the selections. The first stage is to trim off low volume parts of the music at the end (or start) of a musical selection. Move your mouse to the edge of a song and when you see this cursor, click and drag the mouse left/right to trim the music:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpInbC5jJI/AAAAAAAAADs/lKQP8AeYmcY/s1600/Blog012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpInbC5jJI/AAAAAAAAADs/lKQP8AeYmcY/s1600/Blog012.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">TO:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpI3mAuw6I/AAAAAAAAADw/1lDnrRYEoG4/s1600/Blog013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpI3mAuw6I/AAAAAAAAADw/1lDnrRYEoG4/s1600/Blog013.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now start playing the music. Doesn't matter were exactly, just that it has to be playing, and drag the music so that it overlaps, and let go of the mouse. When you do the music position is moved a little to the left of the cross fade so you can hear the entire cross-fade. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpJoiVhs8I/AAAAAAAAAD0/hOsKKebzZME/s1600/Blog014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpJoiVhs8I/AAAAAAAAAD0/hOsKKebzZME/s1600/Blog014.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Listen to the fade to make sure it sounds correct, or shift the starting point/overlap until it sounds good. Some times you have to turn snapping Off (Alt+S) to make it align better.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now repeat the process for the entire set, and save the project. Now listen to the set and make sure there are no glitches in the music and is what you want it to be.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><h1>Reaper Export for Announcer (Optional)</h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> This is the second half of the export required to seed the script in Second Life with accurate song, artist and album information. Inside Reaper, after saving the project as an RPP file. Save it again:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6j9KnZCFI/AAAAAAAAAEs/85oNqLQZEx0/s1600/Blog009.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6j9KnZCFI/AAAAAAAAAEs/85oNqLQZEx0/s1600/Blog009.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And save it as a "EDL TXT (Vegas) (*.TXT)" File type. I prefix the file name with REAPER to differentiate it from the iTunes export files:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6kY7VlmlI/AAAAAAAAAEw/__CN-giEits/s1600/Blog011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6kY7VlmlI/AAAAAAAAAEw/__CN-giEits/s1600/Blog011.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Like the iTunes export, save it again as TXT and use the Open With to open the file in Open Office. This time open with semi-colons and make sure <b>TAB is turned off!!</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6lHVUnl8I/AAAAAAAAAE0/ysjptfn9Ijs/s1600/Blog012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6lHVUnl8I/AAAAAAAAAE0/ysjptfn9Ijs/s1600/Blog012.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Delete all the columns except for:</div><ol><li>StartTime</li>
<li>FileName</li>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE:</b></span> Before continuing to the next step, have a look at the names contained within the Filename column. Since this file will eventually be copied into Second Life, <b>MAKE</b> sure it doesn't contain any personally identifying information. In my example, I use a separate hard-drive partition (P) to save details about my songs, but many people use "My Documents" and this often contains your <i><b>real name</b></i>. My recommendation is to use a "replace" operation to change the name of any private information. Whatever modifications you make, they have to be consistent, because the system matches against the FileName column in Reaper against the Location name in iTunes. If they are not the same, the load fails. See below.</td></tr>
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Then do a save as "Text CSV (.csv)" and make sure Edit filter settings is turned on:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6lil3xRRI/AAAAAAAAAE4/sNvH6G2DHXM/s1600/Blog013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6lil3xRRI/AAAAAAAAAE4/sNvH6G2DHXM/s1600/Blog013.png" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>In the subsequent dialog make sure the Field Delimiter is a "~" and the Text Delimiter is blank:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6l4PClZLI/AAAAAAAAAE8/dKED1hZgSXQ/s1600/Blog014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK6l4PClZLI/AAAAAAAAAE8/dKED1hZgSXQ/s1600/Blog014.png" /></a></div>Then Click OK to save the file.<br />
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<h1>Reaper to Shoutcast</h1>Shoutcast is technology that takes an input (your music from Reaper) and distributes it to one or more listeners. Reaper has a plug-in to enable this, and can be found here:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.landoleet.org/unreleased_plugins/">http://www.landoleet.org/unreleased_plugins/</a></div><br />
Download the appropriate plug-in for your Windows OS (32 or 64 bits). And save it in the "plugins" directory for Reaper.<br />
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Next download the latest "lame_mp3.dll" encoder, which you can find here:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.free-codecs.com/download/lame_encoder.htm">http://www.free-codecs.com/download/lame_encoder.htm</a></div><br />
Install this in the same directory as the "reaper" application. DO NOT install it in the plugins directory.<br />
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Now bring up the plug-in, by using the "Save Live Output to Disk" (Ctrl+Alt+B), which is found on the "File" menu.<br />
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This brings up an initial dialog where you select Shoutcast Source:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpMvBDJm4I/AAAAAAAAAD8/8-lqo1cl0Ug/s1600/Blog016.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpMvBDJm4I/AAAAAAAAAD8/8-lqo1cl0Ug/s1600/Blog016.png" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You have to click START to see the start parameters. When you signup for a shoutcast service in second life you will get an IP, Host and Password. Simply separate the IP and host with a colon, for example if the IP is "<b>231.77.82.199</b>" and the port is "<b>4212</b>", then Host:port is set to "<b>231.77.82.199:4212</b>". Finally, set the appropriate password:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpOLaLYQQI/AAAAAAAAAEA/Ua0gCxEiKmA/s1600/Shoutcast+Interface.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TKpOLaLYQQI/AAAAAAAAAEA/Ua0gCxEiKmA/s400/Shoutcast+Interface.png" width="373" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Connect and when you are connected, simply click play in Reaper and pat yourself on the back .. you are broadcasting!!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It does take 10-30 seconds for your music to leave your computer, be transmitted to the shoutcast server and rebroadcast to the Second Life residents.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><h1>Copying ITunes & Reaper Export to Second Life for Announcer (Optional)</h1>The script works only with the files specified above. For each set you copy the contents of the two CSV files you created previously, and copy them into a notecard. In Windows, this is simply, open them in any text editor such as Notepad or Notepad++.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK8_CBknjEI/AAAAAAAAAFA/sVuQnzl3CE4/s1600/Blog000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK8_CBknjEI/AAAAAAAAAFA/sVuQnzl3CE4/s400/Blog000.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Once opened, in Notepad, press Ctrl+A (Select All) then Ctrl+C (Copy), to copy the text into the clipboard. In Second Life, create a notecard. The notecard name is either prefixed with one of these two to indicate it's type.<br />
<ul><li>!ITunes-</li>
<li>!Reaper-</li>
</ul>After the dash, you place the name of the set. IMPORTANT, the name of the set must be the same on both files:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK9A3WfnJfI/AAAAAAAAAFE/TREXIeyDafs/s1600/Blog002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK9A3WfnJfI/AAAAAAAAAFE/TREXIeyDafs/s1600/Blog002.png" /></a></div>Open the notecard, and paste the clipboard contents (from Notepad) into the Second Life Notecard:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK9BahM_fQI/AAAAAAAAAFM/OyxQ6DCDugM/s1600/Blog003.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK9BahM_fQI/AAAAAAAAAFM/OyxQ6DCDugM/s320/Blog003.png" width="320" /></a></div>Repeat the process for the Reaper export file.<br />
<br />
Now, make a copy of each of the "!Tunes" and "!Reaper" notecards in an object with the "!!Shoutcaster" script you acquired earlier.<br />
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<h1>Using the "!!Shoutcast Announcer" Script (Optional)</h1><br />
The "!!Shoutcaster" script uses the command line on channel "555" to work and only supports the Owner of the script, so somebody else typing these commands, beside yourself will have no effect on the script. There are 4 commands, and they are listed in roughly the order you would use them. The commands can be in upper and lower case. For example "/555 Stop"<br />
<ul><li>LOAD</li>
<li>DELAY</li>
<li>SYNC</li>
<li>STOP</li>
</ul><span style="font-size: large;"><b>LOAD</b></span> tells the script to load a set from the notecards present. Loading first loads the Reaper notecard which gives the start times and sequence of the tunes and then it loads the ITunes notecard which gets the song name, artist name and album information using the filename as the cross-reference between the two. The name you provide is your set name:<br />
<ul><li>/555 load Progressive Dance 1</li>
<ul><li>Loads the "Progressive Dance 1" notecard for iTunes and Repear</li>
</ul></ul><span style="font-size: large;"><b>DELAY</b></span> is the combination of two numbers. The default is 45 seconds. The first number is the number of seconds it takes for your sounds to leave your computer, travel to the shoutcast server, then end up on your listeners computers. In my case, this is about 25 seconds. The second number is the number of seconds into the tune before the script identifies the song. In this case, it is 20 seconds. Total 45 seconds.<br />
<br />
To change the delay, simply specify a new value.<br />
<ul><li> /555 delay 33</li>
</ul>Sets the new delay to 33 seconds.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>SYNC </b></span>is used to tell the script where in the song Reaper is currently playing. You look at Reaper, and decide upon one of two formats for the SYNC command. The timer contains beats and seconds, seperated by a "/". We are interested in the value after the "/". It accepts a time with minutes and seconds (MM:SS) or with hours too (HH:MM:SS):<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK9KLuVj5gI/AAAAAAAAAFU/sHAkdqkGGys/s1600/Blog015.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK9KLuVj5gI/AAAAAAAAAFU/sHAkdqkGGys/s1600/Blog015.png" /></a></td><td>Contains just the minute and seconds. Ignore the stuff after the ".". The sync command therefore is:<br />
<b> /555 sync 12:24</b></td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK9KbQGuHkI/AAAAAAAAAFY/mmLc9_s6TxA/s1600/Blog016.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TK9KbQGuHkI/AAAAAAAAAFY/mmLc9_s6TxA/s1600/Blog016.png" /></a></td><td>Contains the hour, minute and seconds. Ignore the stuff after the "." and the sync command therefore is:<br />
<b> /555 sync 1:48:56</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Since these commands are being entered as Repear plays, you will need to enter a value up to 10 seconds in the future, and count down your "ENTER" key press in Second Life when the time matches. Once this occurs, the script will then play the current song that is playing according to Repear's current position and relative to the delay value you have specified earlier.<br />
<br />
The SYNC command doesn't need to be incredibly accurate, it can be out by a few seconds, because different avatars in second life will receive your sounds at different times because their distance from the Shoutcast server. This is why the default delay is 45 seconds and not 25.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>STOP </b></span>stops the script from broadcasting the current song. Stop automatically happens after the last song is annouced.<br />
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<h1>Final Two Words</h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Have fun!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-38610079849597022792010-09-06T19:42:00.000-07:002010-09-06T19:46:32.011-07:00Second Life Machinima with Fraps and Vegas - How To GuideWell isn't this fun ... yet another way to express my creativity, if The Chamber and Quantum Matrix weren't enough, there is now Machinima. This is my "How To" guide on how to use Second Life, Fraps and Vegas to produce high quality second life videos.<br />
<br />
It's more about my experience doing it for others to learn from my experience. This can be a bit of a technical blog on the subject, but it should give you insight into maximizing the capability of your computer's hardware to produce the best results for Second Life.<br />
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<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Software</b></i></span></div><br />
The software that I use is Fraps, an alternate SL Viewer (Emerald/Phoenix) and Vegas Pro, though I have been playing with a recent version of the cheaper Movie Studio HD and it seems to have most of the features of the Pro version I use, so you don't have to spend a lot for a good editing platform.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIQDrASjg9I/AAAAAAAAAB4/fnS6DPhZEJ8/s1600/iidhjd1279166312750%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIQDrASjg9I/AAAAAAAAAB4/fnS6DPhZEJ8/s200/iidhjd1279166312750%5B1%5D.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Saitek Cyborg Evo Force</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Hardware</b></i></span></div><br />
Hardware is a different issue. Until recently bought a new machine. So I have Windows 7 with an Intel quad core I5 and ATI 5850 graphics which puts me in the top 15% for quality.<br />
<br />
The other hardware I use is 4 axis joystick, specifically a Saitek Cyborg Evo Force. This device is nice because it has a rest for your hand. This is describe more in the Joystick setup section below.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Hard Drive Considerations</b></i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><br />
</b></i></span></div><br />
Technically a 7200rpm hard-drive can write out about 70Mb/second. If you decide to use an external hard-drive on a USB 2.0 device, the USB controller can write out at about 33Mb/second. Most hard-drives are of the 5400rpm variety and write out at around 50Mb/second.<br />
<br />
On a 5400rpm drive, which gives about 50Mb/second, expect to get only about 35Mb/second because this the average write speed of the hard-drive. It comes from the time it takes to transfer data in the CPU and other stuff, the older the computer the more delay is introduced, because the CPU and member cannot keep up with the demand. Depending on your computer it can range from 25-50Mb/second on a 5400rpm drive. In my environment, the video capture writes to a 7200rpm drive, which means I can probably get close to 30 frames/second assuming the graphics card can render a scene that fast. But it rarely does. Usually 8 frames/second in highly complex scenes, so to compensate, I move slowly through scenes then speed up the video in Vegas to compensate.<br />
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<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Hardware Thrashing</b></i></span></div><br />
Before you can begin recording your videos, you need to think about thrashing. This where you overload the CPU, disk drives, GPU and network when recording videos because recording the screen is very intensive, and may tax your computer beyond the capabilities the hardware.<br />
<br />
CPU trashing occurs because the CPU is dedicated to the task which is recording the screen. Every application you have takes away from the CPU. Most software on the PC is services and cannot be shut down but your major software like Word processors and even the video editing software will slow down the video capture. For the best results, close everything you don't need. Just run the basic set of programs so that you don't interrupt the CPU with non-essential requests. This also includes things in SL, such as shutting down AO's, HUDs, setting your avatar to busy to prevent a bunch of messages from appearing, and other things on your avatar that might require CPU. Even small numbers of non-essential interrupts, are really subtle, but a lot of them will introduce slight pauses to the video.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIQEMWRy8II/AAAAAAAAACA/OzyO8bFIYwA/s1600/31HardDrive%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIQEMWRy8II/AAAAAAAAACA/OzyO8bFIYwA/s320/31HardDrive%5B1%5D.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Hard Drive with the Platters Exposed</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Drive thrashing is a little bit more difficult to understand. A hard-drive is named because the media it reads and writes from is on a hard platter. Hard-drives have many platters and Second Life and Fraps will read and write from different parts of the hard-disk. Disk Thrashing occurs when the computer has to go to one area to read Second Life data and a different area to write out video. Like CPU interrupts with non-essential software, the time it takes for the hard drive to physically move the head to another track leads to delays. It's only 1/100th of second to move the head to the other track, but the delay is cumulative. The trashing bit is the fact that the head has to move back and forth several times per second. Doing it 10 times a second adds 1/10th of a second delay, and when you want to record video 30 times a second, 1/10th of a second is actually a long time. Disk caching can take care of this for you normally, but when you are writing a lot of data, no amount of caching will prevent this.<br />
<br />
In my environment I have two disk drives. My "C:" contains second life cache data and my "M:" drive is where I write my videos. I completely eliminate this track to track seeking because there isn't any.<br />
<br />
GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is the thing that actually displays your graphics. In the past, it used to be the responsibility of the CPU to figure out what you are looking at, and now, the CPU's job is to describe to the GPU the contents of the scene, there is a box here, a sphere there, and so on. The GPU then breaks the scene down into polygons and that's how it figures out that the box is in front of the sphere, to show it correctly. In Second Life, all those primitives, sculpty and textures are described in a scene in front of your camera, up to 512 meters away. This means the viewer has to gather up all the objects and their textures from the second life server and put them on your hard-drive. <br />
<br />
If you are on a full simulator with 15000 primitives, that is a lot of information to transfer. But if you are now moving through that scene, your GPU must first get scene components and render them. When you add moving primitives, the server is telling you where the new object is, so your network in involved, and if it's slows the entire process down.<br />
<br />
In Second Life, when I arrive at a new sim, I usually set the render distance to 512 meters to gather up all the objects the viewer can see, then set it lower when a scene is being rendered, this way there is no need for the viewer to go to the server to load objects which will result in a significantly slower result. My networking speed is 15 Mbs or about 1.5 MB/second. It's the slowest of the components. I can get 100Mbs but, if I could afford it, I'd rather buy tier on a sim than pay for Internet.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Viewer Setup - Joystick Controls</b></i></span></div><br />
I've seen my joystick new recently for $30. Other people use a Space Navigator. It's a little harder to get and can be a bit pricey. $99 to $250 depending on the model. While I haven't use that device, I have used ones similar to it, and I think a joystick will work better because your entire arm is controlling the device rather than just your wrist and hand. As well, you can use your other hand to control the throttle. Translation, you will have better smoother control over subtle movements in your video.<br />
<br />
My joystick has a forward, backward, twist, and rocker control on the back, which I use for pitch, roll, yaw and throttle respectively, which in SL terms is Pitch, Roll, Yaw and Z-Axis Mapping. You will need to play with your controls for what works best for you, but in SL's Joystick setup these are my settings. You reach these settings in the preferences, by click Joystick Setup in the Input & Camera tab:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIQFYNcziCI/AAAAAAAAACI/squyr2OVHuM/s1600/Joystick+Configuration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="362" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIQFYNcziCI/AAAAAAAAACI/squyr2OVHuM/s400/Joystick+Configuration.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
You'll probably wonder why the roll is negative. It's to handle the fact that pulling the joystick to the left will cause the view to roll right instead of left as you might expect.<br />
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When mapping the joystick, you'll need to look at the Joystick Monitor on the right of the window to know which axis to use for what. I don't use zoom mapping, so I set the axis to -1. If you use the same axis for more than one control, you might get weird results, but it could also be useful too. For example, in an aircraft in real life, if you bank to the left, the plane with cut the air and turn the aircraft left. You could use this ability to implement a small about of X Axis mapping as you roll. Without it, the camera simply rolls without giving this turning effect and that might not look realistic.<br />
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You'll notice that Auto-Level is checked off. It's useful to turn this off if you are flying, but when you are moving around on flat ground, turning vertical is very disconcerting.<br />
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<br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Viewer Setup - Graphics Quality</b></i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><br />
</b></i></span></div><br />
Graphics Quality settings affects the overall result. While I can run in Ultra with water reflections turned on and all my quality settings set to the max, it's not necessary to maximize the quality. If you are moving through a scene, you only need as much quality to display the object at an acceptable quality. In many cases, you don't need to set anything but texture quality to good or high. It's an area to experiment in if you get choppy video.<br />
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<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Viewer Setup - Windlight Settings</b></i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><br />
</b></i></span></div><br />
I use the Phoenix Viewer because it gives me access to a lot of Windlight light settings. For those of you who don't know, Windlight is a 3D photo-realistic graphics colouring library. It allows the viewer to apply additional colours and textures to the 3D graphics information before it is displayed on the viewer. I use a setting called "Fine Day" that increases saturation and contrast of the graphics. This makes the images appear crisper.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Viewer Setup - a clean HUD and Interface</b></i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><br />
</b></i></span></div><br />
Other setup includes removing the objects on your heads-up-display (HUD). On Phoenix, the Ctrl+Shift+H is used to toggle the HUD objects on/off. Ctrl+Alt+F1 toggles the interface on and off. On Imprudence it is Ctrl+Shift+F1. Turning the interface on and off requires the advanced menu to be turned on, and that's reached with Ctrl+Alt+D.<br />
<br />
Now you should have a completely empty view free of distracting elements.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Viewer Setup - Disable Camera Constraints<br />
</b></i></span></div><br />
Disabling Camera Constraints is an absolute must to do any kind of video. In most viewers, it is in the Advanced Menu near the bottom of the menu.<br />
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<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Viewer Setup - </b></i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Screen Resolution</b></i></span></div><br />
The next consideration is the screen resolution. That drives how many frames you can write out. My large monitor supports 1680 x 1050, but I record videos at 1280 x 768 and SL runs in a window. Therefore my output is 1280 x 716 pixels, slightly smaller than YouTube's 720 lower HD amount, which in Vegas puts two almost unnoticeable lines above and below your video. If you are publishing to the lower HD resolution use the lowest resolution possible. Recording at 1680 x 1050 but publishing 1280 x 720 pixel videos means you are writing out a bunch of pixels you are going to throw away later. This makes your frames per second to be much slower, and in my case, by a factor of 2. <br />
<br />
To understand what this really means, Fraps does full frame capture using the DirectX libraries that are associated with your computer. That means that every frame it can write out it uses all the bytes on the frame without any kind of compression. So one frame at 1680 x 1050 x 3 (colours) uses 5.2Mb/frame, and 1280x716 it is 2.8Mb/frame. Most videos run at 30 frames/second (fps), so 5.2Mb/frame burns up over 150Mb of disk space per second.<br />
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<br />
If your computer and hard-drive can write out 35Mb/second, then running at full resolution means your computer can write out about 6.7 frames per second. But at the lower resolution, you can write out 12.5 frames per second, assuming the graphics card and computer viewer can also show the scene that fast as well. Since you are ultimately going to throw away some of the pixels, why not do it as you record rather than having fewer overall frames.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Story and Choreography</b></i></span></div><br />
Before you can shoot your first video segment, you need to figure out what a segment actually is. This truly means going back to basics and thinking about the story you want to show. What exactly do you want to show? In my "Expressions of Imagination" video I simply wanted to have a fly through of the natural areas/sims of Second Life. <br />
<br />
The next task is to pick the music. Sometimes the music drives the story, so the order you do this isn't important. When you decided on the music, make sure it is something you can listen to over and over, perhaps 100 times by the time your done. What music works? Well, all music works, it's just a matter of how the music works with the scenes and who your audience is that makes a difference.<br />
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While some people just use the music as a background to the scenes, choreography is a subtle and often overlooked ability that everybody can use. Whatever music you use, you need to listen to it at least 3-4 times minimum to pick up where all the transitions are. In the video example below, listen to where the scenes change to give you an idea of how powerful this can be. But then watch it again listening to your favourite music. It doesn't lake long before you realize just how much difference the music and the choreography makes to how you feel about the result.<br />
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In Vegas, I use the "M" key as I am listening to the music to put in a marker. If the music is stopped, you can use the "M" key to add a point and give it a text label, like, "music transition". When listening, it puts in a marker without a label. If you click the number at the top of the bar, you can right click it and select "Rename" to add your own label later. When you put in your your video scenes, the video snaps to the marker lines, making it easier to position your segments and set your music or scene fades. In general, I rarely name the markers.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIQlONWxJTI/AAAAAAAAACY/mVSRHu2PkJU/s1600/Marked+Up+Music.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIQlONWxJTI/AAAAAAAAACY/mVSRHu2PkJU/s640/Marked+Up+Music.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Vegas with the music marked up (using the "M" key)</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Second Life Mouse and the Initial Camera Setup Position</b></i></span></div><br />
At this point, it is time to learn the Second Life Mouse Keyboard short cuts, as you will need this ability to set up your initial camera setup position. There are three keyboard short-cuts you'll need to learn and become an expert in. To use the controls, position your mouse, press the keys, then click the mouse. The short-cuts do the following:<br />
<ul><li><b>ALT - </b>Zoom & Left/Right Rotate</li>
<ul><li><b>Mouse Up/Down - </b>Zooms</li>
<ul><li>You can also use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out, but with the ALT key, the zoom is smoother, and makes positioning more precise. </li>
</ul>
<li><b>Mouse Left/Right</b> - Rotates left to right.</li>
</ul>
<li><b>CTRL+ALT</b> - Rotate</li>
<ul><li><b>Mouse Up/Down - </b>Rotates up and down<br />
</li>
<li><b>Mouse Left/Right</b> - Rotates left to right.</li>
</ul>
<li><b>SHIFT+CTRL+ALT</b> - Pan</li>
<ul><li><b>Mouse Up/Down - </b>Pans top to bottom.<br />
</li>
<li><b>Mouse Left/Right</b> - Pans left to right.</li>
</ul></ul>You use these controls to position your initial camera position some place in Second Life. Now with your joystick enabled, click the fire button. In the lower part of the SL window, you will see "Flycam", to indicate the joystick has control.<br />
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Move your joystick in all directions to calibrate it with Second life. You should only need to do this calibration once at the beginning. Don't worry about what your view is doing, then click the fire button again to take you out of Flycam mode, and tap the CTRL button once, this resets your camera view back to your mouse view.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #d9d2e9;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>IMPORTANT. At this point, don't move your avatar using the movement keys, because this will reset your camera view, and you'll have to position it again.</b></span></div><br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Practise, Practise, Practise then GO!</b></i></span></div><br />
To setup a scene, run through the scene several times before recording. In the video below, each scene is practised at least 4-5 times before being recorded, and in some cases many more times. Part of the reason is to make sure all of the scenes parts have been fully rendered. If they are partially rendered, you'll notice a jitteriness in the video as it tries to download or render what is missing.<br />
<br />
Once you are ready to go, click the record button on your computer and record your segment. Don't worry about any preliminary video or stuff at the end you might capture because we'll be able to chop it out in Vegas.<br />
<br />
If you make a mistake, delete the video you just made right away otherwise it's a bunch of wasted space and be confused which video segments to include in your show.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Final Video Assembly</b></i></span></div><br />
Now you are ready to assemble your video. First drag your music selection(s) to Vegas and leave about 10 seconds at the start before the music begins. This allows you to put in some blank space before the video starts instead of starting immediately. I preface my videos with an appropriate quote, just to set the mood. When you render you specify how much black appears before the video starts. I recommend at least 1-2 seconds.<br />
<br />
I recommend that you add 3 video tracks. The top video track is what I call the titling track, and it contains just your titles. The middle track is your working track (described below) and the bottom track is main track containing the key video segments.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIQktvQYJ1I/AAAAAAAAACQ/eCnWvPMnUQw/s1600/Music+Fade+In.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIQktvQYJ1I/AAAAAAAAACQ/eCnWvPMnUQw/s320/Music+Fade+In.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Music with fade-in to first marker</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Start playing the music and mark up your music. In my case, the music I'm using a piece of music that is 10 minutes long but only want to use the middle 5 minutes. In Vegas, I can chop off the beginning by expanding the track and about 1/2 way down the track, the crop tool appears (I couldn't get a screen shot of it but it is a box with a left/right arrow in it.) Click the left edge then drag to the right to cut the music. Alternatively you can select the music and click "S" to split the music at that point. Next, fade the music so it starts with no volume then increases to full volume where you want it to.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIQl81L-t3I/AAAAAAAAACg/EM3ONN4vCLM/s1600/Video+and+Music+Fade+In.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIQl81L-t3I/AAAAAAAAACg/EM3ONN4vCLM/s320/Video+and+Music+Fade+In.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Video Fade-In with Music</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Now add your video segment to a new track, and using the same cutting tool, click the left edge and begin dragging it to the right. When you do, you will see exactly the frame where you are cropping the video. I mentioned before that it didn't matter that there was crap at the beginning of your video segments, this cropping ability works on video to, and this is how you get rid of it.<br />
<br />
Next, use the same marker you use to fade-in the music to fade in the video. In the image to the left it is a little hard to see, but there is a fade-in line show the video. This will cause the result to start back, then fade to the full brightness of the scene. In subsequent video, overlaying the video will automatically fade from one to the other.<br />
<br />
After you have faded in the video, you'll want to make sure you show enough of what you are working on to show in the video. In my video below, I use a velocity curve because I want to run quickly through a scene. Right click the segment and select "Insert/Remove Envelope", then select "Velocity". Next place the cursor approximately between the fade points of the next video, then adjust the velocity so that the ending frame is where the cursor is. Half way through the fade is roughly when you'll see the last of your segment. In the image to the left, you'll see a green line running through the frame. Practice will tell you the real location because it depends on the actual length of the fade.<br />
<br />
Once you have the velocity set, crop the left edge of the video frame to align with the far right mark representing the end of a fade point. In my case, I do this on the working track above the main track to facilitate this:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIWS_YbBYoI/AAAAAAAAACw/7P5u9BQ97Qs/s1600/Working+Track.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="324" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIWS_YbBYoI/AAAAAAAAACw/7P5u9BQ97Qs/s640/Working+Track.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Editing in Vegas, Showing the Working Track above the Main Track<br />
It's simply easier to crop and set the velocity on this track.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<br />
Now you drag your segment down on to the working track and Vegas will automatically put in the appropriate fades from one segment to the other:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIWTqjMnGwI/AAAAAAAAAC4/bzG3IFKq9qU/s1600/Main+Track.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="326" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TIWTqjMnGwI/AAAAAAAAAC4/bzG3IFKq9qU/s400/Main+Track.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>A video segment overlaying two others and seeing the <br />
fade automatically added between the segments</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
The rest is just hard work, tweaking and playing with the options to produce the effect you want.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Rendering your Video</b></i></span></div><br />
Finally it is time to render your video. I render to Windows native Media Video format (wma), and these are the settings I use:<br />
<ul><li>Audio: 192 Kbps, 48,000 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo, WMA9.</li>
<li>Video: 29.97 fps, 1280x720, WMV V9 CBR Compression, Smoothness 90</li>
</ul><br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Testing the Video</b></i></span></div><br />
Testing your video is where you make sure there are no glitches introduced. Like not setting the right region, etc.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Uploading the Video and Showing it to the World</b></i></span></div><br />
Finally it is time to upload the video, and all of your hard work will have paid off when you show it:<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=332kN6I3kgU&fmt=22">"Expressions of Imagination" (High Def Link)</a><br />
<br />
<object height="360" width="580"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/332kN6I3kgU?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/332kN6I3kgU?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="580" height="360"></embed></object>Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-90947949129366215642010-08-09T12:36:00.000-07:002010-08-09T12:36:57.719-07:00The Chamber wins 2nd Place in UWA 3D Art & Design ChallengePhi Designs' Gin(gered) Alsop wins 2nd place in the IMAGINE Challenge with '<span style="font-style: italic;">The Chamber</span>' a wonderfully immersive piece that had many a visitor lost inside in awe for hours.<br />
<br />
Read all the online details <a href="http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/2010/08/july-imagine-flagship-winners-bryn-nish.html">found here</a>.Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-90735243349240197412010-07-23T09:13:00.000-07:002010-07-23T09:13:46.438-07:003 months and countingWell, it's official ... sort of. 3 months as of today is when I open Phi Designs. First, I was blown away by the response to the Chamber way back in November 2009 when it first came into existence and I was working out the bugs. It was fully tested by January 2009 and then realized it need a LITE version. One where people could by patterns and just plug them in. <br />
<br />
I would have done that then had real life not slapped me hard against the face. Went down a 4 month journey of doctors and hospital stays.<br />
<br />
When I came back, I realized that I needed a LITE version of the product, so I modified the notecard system to include a script instead. This prevents an unscrupulous individual from reading the notecards and figuring out how the system works. Not that the notecard helps a lot ... I tried to take the parameters as easy to use so that the user doesn't need to be a programmer. Because to do the same thing with a script requires a huge understanding of how second life works and all those details are hidden away to make it easy to do.<br />
<br />
Originally I thought I could start making a profit after 3 months. Hasn't turned out that way. I made more in the first month then all previous selling attempts in the previous 2 1/2 years in SL. Fabulous. Thank you all!!Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-21990601903250949322010-07-03T23:15:00.000-07:002010-07-03T23:17:20.142-07:00And not ...So a few weeks ago, I thought I'd redesign the Phi Designs store to feature more of my products and have an easy way to get to The Chamber. Turns out I couldn't have been more wrong. Seems seeing is believing. People won't buy what they cannot see, and when they see The Chamber for the first time, they jump at it.<br />
<br />
Within a day of remodelling the store back to something similar to what I opened with, I made a sale of a professional version. That brings the the total professional sales to 6 with 2 freebies ... wedding gifts to two dear friends of mine who have found the magic of love from each other. I wish Christi and Slomo all the best.<br />
<br />
So I've decided to keep the store in the new state, and chalk one up for the hard learning ... no sales really for the entire time the store was remodelled ... oh well. I guess you have to learn the hard way sometimes. At least I was blessed with a sale early after the change to know I did the right thing in the end.<br />
<br />
- GinPhi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-15382815730252934612010-06-18T20:03:00.000-07:002010-06-18T20:05:08.295-07:00Phi Designs - Remodelling our existing store ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TBwzRO-XL7I/AAAAAAAAABI/XVZzlqAfKDM/s1600/New+Store+Pic_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="368" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TBwzRO-XL7I/AAAAAAAAABI/XVZzlqAfKDM/s640/New+Store+Pic_001.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
It's an attempt to make the store more appealing. We'll see how it goes. :)<br />
<br />
- GinPhi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-61536658333506262862010-06-16T15:52:00.000-07:002010-06-18T23:53:23.763-07:00Customer Service Informant (CSI)The Phi Designs Customer Service Informant (CSI) is a set of devices used to inform staff about customer activities in one or more of your stores or other locations within Second Life, and alert staff who are online and available. We all know that if you are present when a customer is in a store, you have a greater chance of making a sale, than if the store is empty.<br />
<br />
At a minimum, they allow you to create visual presence in a store, using “Staff Identifiers” to reveal you as the owner and staff who might be able to assist the customers. You can get more sophisticated with the “Customer Alert Mat” which alters you to come to your stores if you are available online. Finally, using channels, create combinations of staff that respond as a group to your customers.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TBxpO3XY3gI/AAAAAAAAABQ/mNCClvoQMJ4/s1600/What+Is+CSI+copy+v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_j5TPRWK-dt4/TBxpO3XY3gI/AAAAAAAAABQ/mNCClvoQMJ4/s400/What+Is+CSI+copy+v2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
The devices are:<br />
<br />
<b>STAFF IDENTIFIER (no transfer)</b> - Is a 2 primitive object that identifies each of your staff members in your store and whether they are online (green), offline (red) or optionally unavailable (blue/red shade). The device also automatically forwards notecards dropped on it <br />
<br />
<b>CUSTOMER ALERT MAT (no transfer)</b> - is a 1 primitive object that captures individuals who walk over them, and manages whether a messages should be sent to staff if no staff are present in the location.<br />
<br />
<b><i>OPTIONAL OBJECTS (Non-Permanent)</i></b><br />
<br />
<b>AVATAR UUID KEY REPORTER (no modify)</b> - is a 1 primitive object that you use to get the UUID of an avatar if you do not use an SL browser that can conveniently get your staff UUID's for you. You rez it next to your staff member, touch it, then select the member from the list to get their key. When you have the keys of your staff, you can remove the object.<br />
<br />
<b>TITLER (no copy)</b> - is a 40 character wide titling system that allows you to take a screen shot within Second Life with text below the head shot of your staff. This is for purchasers who do not have Photoshop, Gimp or another image editing tool to augment the headshots of their staff. CSI includes 2 TITLER objects (no copy, no transfer) Each titler line is 10 prims and can accommodate 40 characters. If the text is less than 40 characters, it is centered. Once you are finished with the titler, you move it back into inventory.<br />
<br />
<u><b>Customer Service Informant Setup </b></u><br />
There are three types of setup: BASIC, FULL and ADVANCED.<br />
<br />
<i><u>BASIC SETUP</u></i><br />
<br />
The most basic CSI setup involves simply deploying individual STAFF IDENTIFIER devices. Each Staff Identifier device requires a notecard with a series of parameters set up. You simply place as many STAFF IDENTIFIERS as you need for each member of your staff.<br />
<br />
<i><u>FULL SETUP</u></i><br />
<br />
A full setup involves adding one or more CUSTOMER ALERT MATs to your store, usually at the entrances. The CUSTOMER ALERT MAT does nothing without Staff Identifier devices. In my store, I control access to the store through an open doorway. The customer has to pass through the doorway to access the store, and as they walk through, the MAT picks up on who walked in.<br />
<br />
You'll want to place the mat on the floor or make the mat large, rather than making it a thin vertical object they pass through. The reason is because staff members will arrive at the store, and need to hit that object in order for the system to stop alerting other staff. While the object you get in the pack age is WHITE, you can show/hide it with a command line option. By default, you use "/55555 HIDE" and "/55555 SHOW" to hide and show the mat.<br />
<br />
<i><u>ADVANCED SETUP</u></i><br />
<br />
A more sophisticated setup involves using ALERT CHANNELS. For more information, see that section below.<br />
<br />
<i><u><b>STAFF IDENTIFIER -- FEATURES & SET UP</b></u></i> <br />
The Staff Identifier is a 1.25 meter square object consisting of two prims, which can be resized to your liking. The outer prim gives the status of your staff member, while the inner prim simply identifies your staff member using a head shot.<br />
<br />
When a customer touches the Staff Identifier, one of two things happen. If the staff member is online, they are summoned to the location. If they are not online or unavailable, the system tells the customer to create a notecard and drop it on the object.<br />
<br />
When an object is dropped on the Staff Identifier, it is confirmed to be a notecard, then it is forwarded to the staff member, or if you have a FORWARD specified, to that person instead. The Staff Identifier only accepts notecards. All other object types are deleted, and if that happens, the customer is informed of the action.<br />
<br />
If a staff member, owner or manager touches the Staff Identifier, the system toggles between OnLine/OffLine to unavailable. If staff are not allowed to set their Unavailability, it resets the object. This is used when settings have been changed.<br />
<br />
When you configure the Staff Identifier for one of your staff members, you modify the "!Parameters" notecard inside the object. The notecard contains a series of parameters that describes the operation. Parameters have the format of “VARIABLE=Value”. The variable can be upper and lower case, and the value cannot. If you include spaces around the variable and value, they are automatically trimmed. <br />
<br />
The following is a sample of the variables that can appear in the note card. If the line is prefixed by a "#", in the notecard it is considered a comment and ignored. In the sample below, the lines that beging with a "#" are optional parameters, with the value specified as the default. Note: With the exception of the AlertChannel, which is auto generated for your sim and parcel name.<br />
<br />
###############################################################<br />
Name=Staff Name and/or Title<br />
key=d7513f10-857d-8764-1587-c59ab2cb10db<br />
Store=The Chamber (MAIN)<br />
URL=Lionheart Scar/112/185/31<br />
<br />
# AllowUnavailable=Yes<br />
# Forward=d7513f10-857d-8764-1587-c59ab2cb10db<br />
# Manager=Name 1<br />
# Manager=Name 2<br />
# Ignore=Ignore 1<br />
# Ignore=Ignore 2<br />
# AlertChannel=-500000<br />
###############################################################<br />
<br />
<b>NAME </b>- This variable controls the name and/or title of the staff member. We recommend that you use their first name only, instead of their full name. But any value you want to include will work.<br />
<br />
<b>KEY </b>- This is the avatar's UUID. It's required to send messages, dialog boxes and notecards to the avatar. When a customer clicks the Staff Identifier, the a message is sent to the avatar (if they are logged on), otherwise, the person who clicked it gets a message saying that member is offline or unavailable.<br />
<br />
<b>STORE </b>- Is the name of the store where the avatar clicked the Staff Identifier. This allows you to deploy the Staff Identifiers in multiple store locations. When a message is sent to a staff member, they'll know what store they are going to.<br />
<br />
<b>URL </b>- Is the "SIM/X/Y/Z" coordinate that you are sending your staff member when a customer clicks the Staff Identifier object. It is prefixed by "secondlife://" so in the sample "secondlife://Lionheart Scar/112/185/31" appears in Local Chat, and the staff member can click on it to open up a teleport window to transfer to that location.<br />
<br />
<b>ALLOWUNAVIALABLE </b>- This optional setting allows you to turn off the "Unavailable" feature. This feature allows your staff member to come to the store(s) and indicate that they are unavailable to be summoned by the Staff Identifier. This allows the staff member to be undisturbed when they are not on duty.<br />
<br />
<b>FORWARD </b>- This is the UUID of an avatar that receives notecard drops. By default, it goes to the avatar identified by the KEY (described above), however, with a FORWARD, all notecards go to the person you identify with the FORWARD. This allows one person to receive all or most of the notecard requests, rather than individual staff members dealing with them. A FORWARD does not affect how the staff are alerted by a customer.<br />
<br />
<b>MANAGER </b>- When an avatar touches the Staff Identifier, it identifies whether the person is the Avatar identified by the KEY, the owner of the object, one of many managers or just a customer. When the owner, staff member or a manager touches it, it can toggle the staff member's status or reset the object. IMPORTANT: You specify managers by name, not their key.<br />
<br />
With managers, you can specify them all one one line (separated by commas) or several lines:<br />
<br />
Manager=John Doe,Peter Smith<br />
Manager=Albert Jones<br />
<br />
is the same as:<br />
<br />
Manager=John Doe<br />
Manager=Peter Smith<br />
Manager=Albert Jones<br />
<br />
<b>IGNORE </b>- This is a list of the names of Avatars that you should ignore if they touch or otherwise trigger the device with. The list prevents unwanted traffic from certain individuals who might use the presence of the Staff Identifier to harass you or one of your staff. Any action involving these named avatars are simply ignored.<br />
<br />
<b>ALERTCHANNEL </b>- This is used in conjunction with the Staff Identifiers and the Customer Alert Mat. The value is a communication channel (+/- 2 billion), that identifies the channel that associates the mat with one or more staff members. <br />
<br />
For example, suppose you have staff that supports planes and other staff that support parachutes. You can clump all the staff together, but using different ALERT CHANNELS allow you to control which set of staff are notified when a Customer Alert Mat is touched by a customer. NOTE: This parameter is also used in weird cases where the auto generated channel conflicts with another owner on the current or adjacent SIM.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><u><b>CUSTOMER ALERT MAT -- FEATURES & SET UP</b></u></i><br />
<br />
The Customer Alert Mat is a typically hidden object that you place at the entrance to your store, or to a section of your store. It should be an object that lays on the ground, rather than an object that is vertical. The reason, is if your staff teleport to a specific location, they may miss the <br />
<br />
When you configure a Customer Alert Mat, you modify the "!Parameters" notecard inside the object. The notecard contains a series of parameters that describes the operation. Parameters have the format of “VARIABLE=Value”. The variable can be upper and lower case, and the value cannot. If you include spaces around the variable and value, they are automatically trimmed. <br />
<br />
The following is a sample of the variables that can appear in the note card. If the line is prefixed by a "#", in the notecard it is considered a comment and ignored. In the sample below, the lines that beging with a "#" are optional parameters, with the value specified as the default. Note: With the exception of the AlertChannel, which is auto generated for your sim and parcel name.<br />
<br />
NOTE: For the STAFF, MANAGER and IGNORE parameters, you can specify more than one value, and specify several avatars on one line when separated by commas or if you prefer, one line per entry, for example:<br />
<br />
Manager=John Doe,Peter Smith<br />
Manager=Albert Jones<br />
<br />
is the same as:<br />
<br />
Manager=John Doe<br />
Manager=Peter Smith<br />
Manager=Albert Jones<br />
<br />
###############################################################<br />
# AlertName=Store Entry<br />
<br />
# Manager=Staff Manager 1<br />
# Manager=Staff Manager 2<br />
# Listen=55555<br />
<br />
# Ignore=Ignore Avatar 1<br />
# Ignore=Ignore Avatar 2<br />
<br />
# Staff=Staff Member 1<br />
# Staff=Staff Member 2<br />
<br />
# Offset=1.2<br />
# SensorRadius=20<br />
# SensorDuration=60<br />
# AlertChannel=-500000<br />
###############################################################<br />
<br />
<b>ALERTNAME </b>- Alert Name identifies the mat that was touched by an avatar. Typically it is at the front of the store, but it could be near a department.<br />
<br />
<b>MANAGER </b>- These are the names of the individuals who, in addition to the owner can show and hide the welcome mat. This is used in conjunction with sharing the mat with the group. Where all the listed managers are in the group. It allows them to update Manager, Ignore and Staff settings in the notecard.<br />
<br />
<b>LISTEN </b>- Is the channel that the owner and managers use to show and hide the mat. With the default of 55555. to show the mat, type “/55555 Show”. To hide the mat, type “/55555 hide”.<br />
<br />
<b>STAFF </b>- Are the names of the individuals who are considered the staff for the store and provide some kind of customer support. You must include the owner and managers in this list if they are to provide support. The mat scans every minute, by default, for avatars that are within a specific distance of the mat. If staff are present, no other online avatars are informed of customer arrivals. If staff are not present, the mat sends a message to Staff Identifier objects indicating that there are customers in the store until a staff member arrives.<br />
<br />
Once a staff member walks onto the mat or gets into the store within 20m, by default, the system automatically identifies that staff who are present and stops sending messages to other online staff members. The first time each staff member arrives, they get a dialogue identifying all the customers in the store, and subsequent times they aren't bothered with additional messages, even if new customers arrive. It's assumed that staff who are present in the store, but aren't assisting other customers have the wherewithal to recognize new customers. <br />
<br />
<b>IGNORE </b>- This is a list of the names of Avatars that the mat will ignore if they trigger the device with. The list prevents unwanted traffic from certain individuals who might use it to harass you or one of your staff. Any action involving these named avatars are simply ignored.<br />
<br />
Ignore can also used for Staff Members. Suppose you have 4 staff. Two support planes and the other supports parachutes. On the customer mat near the Planes department, you list who the staff are, and the two staff members who support Parachutes are ignored. This allows the two staff members supporting Parachutes to walk into the Planes department and not alert those staff about the presence of them as a customer.<br />
<br />
<b>OFFSET </b>- This is a positive/negative number that gives the offset to the center of the mat. When there are no staff members in the store, the system will send a message to the Staff Identifiers and they, in turn, will send a message to all online staff. With the location of the customer mat. In some situations, you may want the staff member to arrive above the center of the mat or below to prevent them falling through the floor to being pushed to an upper floor. Offset, allows you to control this.<br />
<br />
<b>SENSORRADIUS </b>- Identifies the distance from the center of the mat to the outer edge where mat scans for avatars. As long as staff are in this sphere, the system assumes staff are present in a store. Default: 20m<br />
<br />
<b>SENSORDURATION </b>- Identifies the number of seconds between each scan for avatars. We strongly recommend you do not set this value below 15 seconds, to avoid server lag. Default: 60 seconds<br />
<br />
<b>ALERTCHANNEL </b>- This is used in conjunction with the Staff Identifiers and the Customer Alert Mat. The value is a communication channel (+/- 2 billion), that identifies the channel that associates the mat with one or more staff members. For example, suppose you have staff that supports planes and other staff that support parachutes. You can clump all the staff together, but using different ALERT CHANNELS allow you to control which set of staff are notified when a Customer Alert Mat is touched by a customer. NOTE: This parameter is also used in weird cases where the auto generated channel conflicts with another owner on the current or adjacent SIM.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><u><b>AVATAR UUID KEY REPORTER -- FEATURES & SET UP </b></u></i><br />
<br />
AVATAR UUID KEY REPORTER is a 1 primitive object that you use to get the UUID of an avatar if you do not use an SL browser that can conveniently get your staff UUID's for you (such as Emerald). You rez it next to your staff member, touch it, then select the member from the list to get their key. When you have identified the keys of your staff, you can remove the object.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><u><b>TITLER -- FEATURES & SET UP </b></u></i><br />
TITLER is a 40 character wide titling system that allows you to take a screen shot within Second Life with text below the head shot of your staff member. This allows purchasers who are unfamilar with non SL tools like Photoshop, Gimp or another image editing tool to augment the headshots of their staff with text. CSI includes 2 TITLER objects. Each title line is 10 prims and can accommodate up to 40 characters which are automatically centered in the space provided.<br />
<br />
To use the Titler:<br />
<br />
(1) Right click the Titler, then select “Edit...” from the menu.<br />
(2) Click the “General” tab, and change the description field to the text you want to display.<br />
(3) Close the Edit window.<br />
(4) Left-Click the Titler, and a dialog message will appear. The options are shown below.<br />
<br />
<i><b>TITLER DIALOG OPTIONS</b></i><br />
<br />
<b>0.01m, 0.05m, 0.1m, 0.25m, 0.5m </b>- Sets the scaling factor for the device. The default is 0.1m. This value is added or removed from the DEPTH or HEIGHT of elements in the titler.<br />
<br />
<b>MIN DEPTH</b> - Used to set the minimum depth of the titler object to 0.01m. This the smallest possible value for a primitive.<br />
<br />
<b>+DEPTH</b> - Adds the scaling factor to the depth of the title. This is used when you want to scale the TITLER down from it's current size.<br />
<b>-DEPTH</b> - Removes the scaling factor from the depth of the title. Not used frequently.<br />
<br />
<b>+HEIGHT</b> - Adds the scaling factor to the height of each item in the title. This is used when you want to increase the height of the letters.<br />
<b>-HEIGHT</b> - Removes the scaling factor to the height of each item in the title. This is used when you want to increase the height of the letters.<br />
<br />
<b>FILL </b>- Fills every character with a “#” character. This makes it easier to see the size of the characters when scaling.<br />
<br />
<b>DISPLAY MSG</b> - Displays the first 40 characters of the message contained in the Description Field.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>QUICK SETTING OF THE WIDTH AND SCALE OF THE TITLER</b></i><br />
<br />
The dialogue doesn't support setting the width, but you can do this by setting the scale (as described below), then adjusting the height to an appropriate value.<br />
<br />
(1) Right click the Titler, then select “Edit...” from the menu.<br />
(2) Hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys. You'll notice 8 handle boxes appear at the corners of the object.<br />
(3) Move your mouse to one of the handles, then LEFT-CLICK and hold the mouse button, then, to scale the title. <br />
(4) Close the Edit Box.<br />
<br />
Note: If you discover you cannot scale the object smaller, close the edit box, click the titler and select +DEPTH. Rescale the TITLER, then go back into the menu and select “Min Depth”.Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-39198939299122748822010-06-08T14:55:00.000-07:002010-06-09T07:21:07.540-07:00The Chamber LITE - Adding an Add-On to the Chamber<h2>PHI Designs – The Chamber – LITE - AddOn</h2><br />
This blog was added to allow prospective buyers of add-ons to know what kind of information they will get when adding an add-on to The Chamber LITE. This is an exact copy of the read me file with some minor HTML updates.<br />
<br />
<b>Introduction</b><br />
<br />
The Chamber is an exciting new product designed for private homes (Lite Version) and for night clubs (Professional Version) that want to add particle features on a dance floor.<br />
<br />
This system allows you to spice up your dance area with a completely dynamic particle light show. The light show consists of several different patterns which can be shown one at a time, or randomly shown every N minutes.<br />
<br />
Add-Ons are no copy, no modify, transfer so that you can buy them as a gift for friends.<br />
<br />
<b>SETUP</b><br />
<br />
This box contains a script and this document. Setup is straight-forward.<br />
<br />
<ol><li>Start by placing the box on the ground and clicking it. It will open automatically if you Left-Click it (Windows).<br />
</li>
<li>Click “Copy to Inventory” in the bottom-left corner of the screen.<br />
</li>
<li>This will create a folder in your inventory called “The Chamber LITE - AddOn - XXXX”, where “XXXX” is the name of the pattern you have purchased.<br />
</li>
<li>Find the newly created folder, and open it so you can see the Read-Me file and the script.<br />
</li>
<li>Right-Click the “Chamber LITE” Programmer, then select “Edit..”. By default, this is a light blue glowing sphere that should have been rezzed when you set up the Chamber.<br />
</li>
<li>Find the “Contents” tab in the edit window. (This will be on the far right.)<br />
</li>
<li>Click the script ... then while holding down the Left-Hand mouse button, move it to the Contents tab of the Programmer (as revealed by step #6).<br />
</li>
<li>This moves the script to the programmer.<br />
</li>
<li>You're done.</li>
</ol><br />
<b>OPERATION</b><br />
<br />
Once you have moved the script, left click the Programmer, and select “Pattern...”. The pattern you just selected will now be listed as an available light show to display.<br />
<br />
The Chamber Programmer can handle dozens of patterns. When there is more than 12 patterns in the programmer, you will be able to page through them, 9 patterns at a time. The other 3 buttons are used for navigation.<br />
<br />
<b>GOT QUESTIONS?</b><br />
<br />
Phi Designs ONLINE has answers<br />
<br />
http://phidesigns.blogspot.com/Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-53944353709210981282010-06-08T14:42:00.000-07:002010-06-09T07:17:42.032-07:00The Chamber LITE - Documentation<h2>The LITE Documentation</h2>Friends of mine suggested I post the LITE documentation on the website so that people can see it and decide whether they can figure out what to do from it. I think it's really easy; but you're the judge.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>PHI Designs – The Chamber – LITE</b><br />
<br />
The Chamber is an exciting new product designed for private homes (Lite Version) and for night clubs (Professional Version) that want to add particle features on a dance floor.<br />
<br />
This system allows you to spice up your dance area with a completely dynamic particle light show. The light show consists of several different patterns which can be shown one at a time, or randomly shown every N minutes.<br />
<br />
The LITE version consists of a 20-prim Chamber and a 1 prim Programmer. The chamber is what gives you all the fancy lighting effects. It's typically hidden and is a phantom, which means you cannot bump into it.<br />
<br />
The Programmer is the device that you use to tell the chamber what to display, and this is described below. The LITE version programmer is expandable with add-ons which can be purchased off of XStreetSL. You open the box, and copy the contents to your inventory. There are two parts to the add-on. A Read Me file and a Script. The Read Me file explains how to maintain the Scripts in your Programmer. The script contains the pattern. It's no more complicated that copying the script to the contents page of your Programmer when opened in Edit Mode. The Read Me gives clear step-by-step instructions on doing that if you have zero experience with it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>SET UP</b><br />
<br />
To setup the Chamber, simply move it from your inventory on to the ground. It works best if you are in a skybox and have a transparent floor, but it will work anywhere. When you rez it out of inventory, the Chamber always reveals itself. You can use the Hide/Reveal buttons (OWNER only) to hide/show the chamber. Use the Edit menu to move the Chamber to the specific spot. The center should be about 2.5 to 3m above the floor for the best effects.<br />
<br />
Next, rez the Programmer out of inventory and on to the ground. This modifiable object by default is a blue sphere. You can change it to anything you want, and you can also move the two scripts:<br />
<br />
* !Programmer<br />
* !Programmer Delay<br />
<br />
To your own object if you want. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>OPERATING THE CHAMBER</b><br />
<br />
Click the Programmer to begin. By default, only the OWNER of the programmer can use it. You can change this with the security option. Note: In the options noted below when it says "(OWNER Only)" it means only the owner can operate the option, regardless of the <br />
<br />
<u><i>PROGRAMMER OPTION - (Turn Off)</i></u><br />
Turns off the chamber so that no pattern is being displayed.<br />
<br />
<u><i>PROGRAMMER OPTION - Program...</i></u><br />
Allows you to set a duration in minutes to randomly show the patterns in the programmer. A program will use the full set of patterns, displaying them once, then when all are displayed, show the set again in a different random order.<br />
<br />
There are several values to select for the number of minutes. For best results, we recommend 3 to 5 minutes for a program length.<br />
<br />
<u><i>PROGRAMMER OPTION - Pattern...</i></u><br />
Allows you to display a specific pattern. This pattern plays until you change the program, turn it off, or if Auto Off is set, when there are nobody around.<br />
<br />
<u><i>PROGRAMMER OPTION – Next</i></u><br />
Goes to the next random pattern. If now program duration was set, it uses the last value used.<br />
<br />
<u><i>PROGRAMMER OPTION - Pause</i></u><br />
Pauses on the current pattern. <br />
<br />
<u><i>PROGRAMMER OPTION - Reporting (OWNER only)</i></u><br />
Identifies where the pattern that is playing is reported in chat.<br />
<br />
<u><i>PROGRAMMER OPTION - Security... (OWNER only)</i></u><br />
Allows you to set who has access to operate the Programmer. Three values are possible; OWNER, GROUP, or OPEN.<br />
<br />
When OWNER, only the owner can use the programmer. When GROUP, only the owner and avatars with the same group set as the programmer can use it. When OPEN, everybody can use the programmer.<br />
<br />
<u><i>PROGRAMMER OPTION - Auto Off/On (OWNER only)</i></u><br />
Identifies how the programmer acts when there is nobody within 40m of the programmer. By default, it turns the chamber off. Clicking this button toggles this option.<br />
<br />
<u><i>PROGRAMMER OPTION - Hide/Reveal (OWNER only)</i></u><br />
Allows you to show/hide the programmer from view. When you rez the chamber, it is automatically shown. Clicking this option with hide or show the programmer.Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-55435725664902802752010-05-24T12:19:00.000-07:002010-06-09T07:17:53.370-07:00Seeing is BelievingIt's a surprise to see that the demonstration store is doing as well as it is. About 1/3 of the sales are coming from the store, and it's barely a week old.<br />
<br />
I was expecting sales to be pretty slow for the first weeks or months, but I have sold more in 3 weeks than I have with all other products in all other situations. Now I have to market it to the people are buying it. Not club owners, but private land owners. Unexpected.Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-41251531626331591582010-05-20T03:34:00.000-07:002010-05-20T09:49:00.193-07:00Phi Designs - The Chamber - Demonstration StoreDespite having a video on YouTube, a presence on XStreetSL, there is nothing quite like having a place that demonstrates how The Chamber works.<br />
<br />
Therefore, Phi Designs has opened a demonstration store with The Chamber operating 24/7. It allows users to experience The Chamber in a live setting. There is even an inTan device to testing out pairs dancing, a selectable radio station, a hug ring, and even sales items so you can by the personal emitter, The Chamber Lite or The Chamber Professional right in the store.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lionheart%20Scar/112/191/29">http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lionheart%20Scar/112/191/29</a><br />
<br />
So come out today to see The Chamber in action.Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-83698285028745486732010-05-15T21:16:00.001-07:002010-05-20T09:49:04.852-07:00The Chamber - You Tube Video<object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mGbA9ccWD6U&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mGbA9ccWD6U&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-39438040422753146532010-05-08T08:16:00.000-07:002010-05-20T09:44:21.811-07:00Teleporters <span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Phi Teleporter is a nearly instant transport device for your parcel.</b></i></span><br />
<br />
When I first got to SL, getting around meant walking or flying. That wasn't a problem when you could only build as high as 768m, but when they extended it to 4096m, getting there meant a landmark, because flying could take 5 minutes or more.<br />
<br />
So I bought a teleporter. Apparently the one I bought was the best on the market. You click it, it gathers up all the destinations and gives you a list. It worked in the store. But it didn't work at my home. Depending on SIM lag, it missed destinations and was very frustrating to operate.<br />
<br />
So I wrote a teleporter object. Mine looks for other teleporters when it is initialized and updates itself automatically when you add a new one or change an existing location. So adding a link between two locations means, adding two teleporters, renaming them and the two are connected automatically. This means there is no delay when you click on the teleporter to see where you can go. The system is smart too. If there are 16 parcels on a SIM, all with this teleporter, they all act independently of each other, without any configuration.<br />
<br />
You can add landmarks to your teleporter. When it's on the same SIM, you can instantly teleport to the location. This is useful for skydivers, who want to zip up to some location instantly, and be jumping immediately. It's also useful for getting you to a central location quickly. When the landmark is outside the SIM, they are given to the user.<br />
<br />
The Phi Teleporter is copy/mod/no transfer and costs only L$249. (<a href="https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1868389">XStreetSL Link</a>)Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799266240558302236.post-2543294785715209702010-05-05T10:39:00.000-07:002010-05-20T09:44:10.267-07:00The Chamber<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>The Chamber is an exciting new particle product for users of Second Life.</b></i></span><br />
<br />
<i><b>Now in XStreetSL (Links to <a href="https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=2306158">Lite Version</a> and <a href="https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=2309042">Professional Version</a>)</b></i><br />
<br />
The Chamber is an exciting new product designed for private homes (<b>Lite Version</b>) and for big homes, private sims and night clubs (<b>Professional Version</b>) that want to add particle features on a dance floor.<br />
<br />
The "<b>Lite</b>" version is very inexpensive at L$499 and consists of the Chamber with a few pre-fabricated patterns in it specifically designed for a dance floor on private land. The "Lite" version comes with "The Chamber" device and a "Programmer". All of the patterns in the Professional version can be added to the Lite version, via add-ons, but they cannot be modified.. If you plan on adding all the add-ons, it is cheaper to buy the Professional version. (<a href="https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=2306158">Link</a>)<br />
<br />
The "<b>Professional</b>" version at L$4999 consists of "The Chamber", a "Programmer", a copyable "Emitter" and all of the current patterns in a form that can be copied and modified in anyway you desire. This version also comes with an extensive 26-Page User Guide that describes the dozens of parameters that make up the chamber's main particle engine, has tutorials, and other parts. (<a href="https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=2309042">Link</a>)<br />
<br />
<b style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-size: large;">Terminology and What are the Parts?</span></b><br />
<br />
"<b>The Chamber</b>" is a 20 prim object that can be used to emit particles.<br />
<br />
A "<b>Pattern</b>" is a specific visual effect that is created by the particle emitters of the Chamber.<br />
<br />
A "<b>Add-On</b>" is a non-modifiable pattern that can be purchased on XStreetSL. You move the pattern (a script) from the object you buy into your personal inventory, then into the Chamber. If there is a pattern you don't like, you can copy the pattern out of the programmer into your personal inventory.<br />
<br />
The "<b>Programmer</b>" allows you to select which pattern to use, specify a specific program length (in minutes), and set various usage options. A program is a random ordering of the patterns in the chamber. A pattern is selected once per set of available patterns. A recommended program length is 3 or 4 minutes. Note: Only one Programmer is provided per purchase. Note: The programmer must be within 100m of the Chamber or any Emitter to work.<br />
<br />
The "<b>Emitter</b>" is a copyable object that is used to emit particles. It only comes in the "Professional" version of the product. When you learn how to build your own patterns with the Professional version, you can send patterns to any extra emitter you create. For a club, you could place six emitters in a stationary ring above the dance floor and drop fog or other textures directly from the "ceiling" for extra effects. In fact, you don't even need to rez The Chamber object at all, instead, rez your own set of Emitter objects and create any pattern you want with them. The emitter is not modifiable because it is normally hidden when in use.Phi Designs Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12994788113785943825noreply@blogger.com0