Another week, another video from me to you! I actually meant to post this 4 days ago, so please pardon the tardiness. Following "Re: Born", this one's titled "Knightvision".
As I explore the realms of Second Life-sourced imagery further, I look at effects — as in, special processes normally not a part of the visuals, but used for enhancing them — in two basic categories:
- Live – Just what it sounds like. Wearing a translucent HUD with a special texture, using the Client menu's Rendering options, or even you lucky folks who have ATI SmartShaders.
- Steptime – A term I'm acclimated to since doing sequenced computer music. These effects require a processing wait, and while the end result can be watched in realtime, they're controlled in steps — hence the name.
"Knightvision" happens to be, as so many things I do, a hybrid of both. I'll leave some of it up to you to guess what is what, but you may be surprised. Hint: CHEESY BEACON!
The music is another piece I composed, titled "11" (MP3, 2.5MB). It's the stray orphan of Brandy and Monica's "The Boy is Mine" (listen to the harp riffing), hardcore gangsta rap, emotional soap opera tuneage, and the lead synth, whispery like clackered Mahjong blocks, is one of my sonic signatures.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
"11" comes from a larger ideology set you may wish to download. Weather looks good I'll be using more tracks from here in the future. :)
My filmic influences in "Knightvision" include: Metropolis, James Bond, Blair Witch Project, and various Japanese anime with robot-vision. The letterboxing is unconventional, there are tempo-synced flashes of CGA shading, and watch out for property lines in the dark… enjoi!
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I like how it pulses visually with the music. Very cool.
Indeed. Another good one Torley.
Actually, cleaning out my inventory I stumbled across a couple of HUD attachements which wouldve been good for maching machinima (sp?).
One was a sepia looking screen that flickered, and gave the impression of an olden days motion picture camera – probably the manual winding type.
The second was something to do with acid, and was pretty full on as far as visuals went. I think I gave them to a friend of mine, so they arent lost forever. Let me know if you want them. ^.^
I love Client menu’s Rendering options. While playing around with them I grabbed some strange video effects in a short movie here:
http://signore.wordpress.com/2006/10/05/melting-pixels
And I love wireframe (CTRL+SHIFT+R) too… =)
Would someone kindly provide me with a couple of keywords about translucent HUDs ? I really want to learn more about them.
/me agrees with Ravanelle, very nice video, Torley!
That video has its own heartbeat. The visuals seem like a spontaneous, self-aware (as opposed to pre-edited) response to the audio. As though what we're watching a living thought, or something. Is that because of the heartbeat? I dunno. It evokes interesting (and crazy?) notions though.
Nice work Torley.
Behind the scenes… I shot the inworld footage running through an open plain in the dark. It's like one of those camping trips where YOU FORGOT THE MARSHMALLOWS and run all the way back to the truck/van/SUV/submarine/other large vehicle to get 'em. The rhythm aka "heartbeat" (ooooh I do like that!) was added afterwards, in sync with the BPM.
Speaking of, if you want a good, free tempo-detector, I suggest MixMeister BPM Analyzer.
As is wont to do with me, certain events happened to lineup and work really well. I have "Cheesy Beacon" from under the Client menu turned on too.
Nanaki, sure, I'd like to see them if they aren't the only copies that you gave to your friend; I've hate to deprive them of their HUDs.
Signore, oooh that's trippy! Yeah I'm a big fan of wireframe today. It was even used on the front SecondLife.com page for the Open Source graphic that Bub Linden did! I'd also recommend asking Harry Linden about translucent HUDs; he has a nice collection.
Dillon, I like to insert organicity into what I do. In some way, I wanted to make the pixels breathe. If that makes sense.
You know what I say about rhythm, Ravie! <3
Torley, I sent an IM inworld to my friend, so hopefully they do something about it for you.
Also, the MixMeister software has always been one of my favourites to use.
I started of with MixMeister 3, then got 5 Pro (which I gave a flogging to over the years), and have recently aquired thier new version – MixMeister Fusion 7.
Fusion is alot different to 5, in nearly every aspect. One good thing about it though is the ability to drop a track in at any given beat, matched to the next. Its come a long way from live mixing with MM 5 Pro, where each beat could/had to be individually synched.
I give it, 4 stars! =P ****
Kewl, Nanaki. I never actually used MixMeister to put together a mix when I was actually doing music (I tended to use hardware devices like the Yamaha RS-7000), but it sounds like they've come a long way.