United3dArtists Archive

I got myself a new indestructible camera for Christmas. Olympus TG-5. Used from ebay. Patience and a good deal appeared. Whole kit, camera, batteries, charger, cables, memory cards ... The ebay price for just the used camera is usually the same or more. Seller excellent reputation. Main upgrade from my current adventure proof camera is 4K video. Hopefully I'll sell my old camera and GPU cards on ebay. Might cover the new one plus some.

good camera good deal ! Note that you can make multiple shots one after the other and stitch ! Through that technic you
not only gain an ultra wide angle if necessary but also through stiching much much higher resolution ! I have stichted up
to 150 MP and you can use Hugin software free for that !

Rayman so far it is good. Yeah, several good tools in addition to the ruggedness. Have to learn more and practice some of them.

Can't stop watching this: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dk6tJihXHLo
Looks like the innards of an AK are much like my SKS.

not sure why she is demounting the muzzle brake for a field stripping, but she does quite good. Although i cannot judge her, as I dont know how fast an AK can be disassembeled. We had 16s limit for disassemble of Vz58 and 40s to reassemble. I think I did it in 14s.

SKS shoudl be quite different inside than AK tho.

Full auto differences visible in this video? Don't know. Obvious differences visible in the video but much similarity too. The AK seems to have a part or two that are combined or simplified and it is clearly much easier to assemble/disassemble. I think she is a Ukrainian high school senior (here that's 12th school year, 17-18 age) and must choose either military or medical related training. Hmm, my ancient, worn, Chinese sks cost about $100 long ago including the original stock and a folding plastic one. Now they are $450! Sell it or get another big magazine? Hmm ...

Usually winter is my time off but this one has been busy. So I've done no CG worth reporting.

the inner workings should be completely different in SKS... short stroke piston vs long stroke piston etc. Totally different mechanism. Just from a top of my head, i dont own any of these two.

This is nothing!
I can take my slingshot apart and back together in a jiffy!

Steinie's slingshot. Steinie did you get the yucca seeds?

I quit Vimeo. Left a few videos there on the free plan. Signed up at Rumble. Tried embedding a video from Rumble here. No luck. PM'ed Clintonman and noted an add-on for phpBB that embeds media from almost anywhere. Otherwise a picture and link will do.

well, rumble is something completely different from Vimeo... but maybe it can work well for this too..

Finis,
Yes thank you very much for getting and sending me the seeds.
What was the postage? It had to be over $100.00!

If no bbcode tag or media plug-in appears then this will do. In-line attachment with image with a url tag beneath it. Video Here

@Steinie I wonder what will grow from those seeds? Don't worry about the shipping. I hope the seeds will sprout. I've read of extensive procedures.

@Bitkar I miss VidMe. It was a good alternative to youtube but went out of business. Rumble will work for me but it is different than Vimeo or youtube. To get a good set of features on Vimeo I needed a paid tier for about $80 per year. Rumble's free account provides all that I need. Vimeo focuses on film makers. Rumble's business model is to act as an agent to publish your videos on many sites, protect your copyright, and handle the money. My videos there may show some ads since minimum monetization is needed to have them show on my channel. Rumble provides a trillion ways to embed videos elsewhere but none for phpBB forums.

I would be happy if I could do anything close to this. My favorite parts were the entry with the
wreath, the tree, the fried chicken and the signature on the Christmas card.
Also the memory to your sisters.
Excellent Finis!

i like it... dont remember the last version in detail, but is the lighting better, maybe textures? its a difference! Its somehow much better. Or is it the same and my memory fails me?

https://rumble.com/embed/v4511le/?pub=4

The above link works for me, all though not embed
Supposedly, rumble works in phpBB 3.3.3. since 2021(?)

Awesome work Finis!!

I made a penny from Rumble ads!

Thanks everyone but it is the same video as ever just moved to a new place.

Not worth trouble for one guy to embed from one site so I recommended this add-on that works for ga-zillions of sites. Pic and link is good enough.

Thanks Steinie!

Bitkar. They pick a low resolution by default. I wonder if low res looks better for this one? I have to use the "gear" settings to change to full resolution.

trueBlue. Thanks! Supposedly ... well none of the multitude of embed things they provide worked here. Direct links do of course.

maybe i remembered some previous version more.. i switched to high def manually. Actually apart from the default low res, it works and looks pretty well.

Finis wrote: 17 Jan 2024, 14:18 I quit Vimeo. Left a few videos there on the free plan. Signed up at Rumble. Tried embedding a video from Rumble here. No luck. PM'ed Clintonman and noted an add-on for phpBB that embeds media from almost anywhere. Otherwise a picture and link will do.

You will have to edit any pre-existing posts to get the embed.

Thanks Clintonman! New "media" button on the editor!

MUSIC QUESTION

What are your top choices for places to get free music for videos?

– What I Seek –

Preferably established well known sites.
Treats the artists honestly. Not cheating them, stealing their music, etc.
Variety of artists
Variety of styles
Can find artist’s own sites
CC or public domain licensing
Option to buy

I mostly got music to use in videos from filmmusic.io. There was a variety of styles and artists there and pretty good ones. Now, well, it has gone crazy. Changing every 10 seconds, only the site owner’s music …

I’ll look at https://pixabay.com/music/ and https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ to find music but, from sites like that, I only to go to the artist’s own place to get it.

I like Scott Buckley. Especially for epic and cinematic stuff.

i just took a peek at pixabay music and its waaaay better than anything i was seaching few years ago. They even have a radio station according to a music genres and you can click to download a music from there. Awesome.

Arrrgh! I can't use Pixabay/music now. It became VPN unfriendly and no matter what I do I can't play music there. Trying it without the VPN is not going to happen. Even "obfuscated" servers that hide that they are for VPN didn't work. For a while it worked if I seemed to be from Luxembourg or used TOR but that stopped. No problem. There are others. Still looking for good ones.

bitkar wrote: 24 Jan 2024, 10:39 i just took a peek at pixabay music and its waaaay better than anything i was seaching few years ago.

Your choice and use of music in your recent hiking adventure was great.

i think i used some music from Soundcloud.... some folks enable to download the music there.

Recent Blender activities.

I won a weekly challenge with this one. https://blenderartists.org/t/challenge- ... /1519934/3
https://blenderartists.org/t/challenge- ... /1519165/5

Current entry. https://blenderartists.org/t/challenge- ... /1521510/9

that looks awesome indeed.... congrats!

Thanks Bitkar. Ha, I spelled Sirius as Sririus on the light.

Pixabay stopped blocking VPN's or whatever it was doing. Now I can use it again with full shields up. I go to the musician's website when possible to be sure I'm getting the music properly.

A friend gave me his old Go Pro Hero 4 and a bunch of things to attach it to stuff.

I considered getting vaccinated vs. rabies in case of zombie apocalypse. In a collapse of civilization that wouldn't be available for after bite shots. Research: it costs about $400 plus it's prescription only so that cost a doctor's visit too. Doctors might not agree that zombie apocalypse is a reason to get it.

is/are (iam not sure) rabies a problem in your area?

Well, there was some humor there. It is hard to express that effectively on the web though. Zombie apocalypse was mostly a joke and a funny way to make the point that a doctor might not give me a prescription just because I want it. Medically it is very safe but I understand that elective preventative shots would be lowest priority.

I did research the vaccine (Walgreens website) with intent to get it if it was $30 or so and easily available but I expected it to be even more expensive and restricted. Of course at $400 plus a quintillion dollar doctor visit that is not happening. Given how rare and treatable the illness is preventative vaccination is more of a whim than a practical thing. Certain professions usually get preventative shots. My nephew and most of his fellow students got it in veterinary school.

Too much information:
- It is rare but extremely fatal if untreated.
- It has few vectors of transmission so even in pre-vaccine times it killed few compared to smallpox, plague, etc.
- It is very rare in the US. Fewer than five people die of it each year. More are infected but the vaccine works given soon after infection.
- Most US cases are from wild animal bites. Bats are number one.
- About 59,000 people die each year worldwide. Mostly in countries lacking modern medical care.

Rabies is lethal!
What surprises me is that humans mostly get it from dogs!
WHO has a wealth of knowledge regarding rabies

Close enough to call it 100% fatal when untreated! Fortunately it is not easy to spread and the vaccine is highly effective even when taken after infection.

I didn't pull the information above out of my butt.

Most stats from the CDC (center for disease control). In the US wild animals are the prime source. Especially bats. In the US before the vaccine "only" several hundred died each year (untreated fatality rate implies that's how many go it) and domestic animals were a source more than now. Of course various factors could make dogs a big source in backward countries. WHO is part of the UN so it is less trustworthy than the CDC which is less trustworthy than the devil but I think it serves both to mostly present honest info.

Just saying, I was surprised from what I read at WHO
Key facts
Rabies is a serious public health problem in over 150 countries and territories, mainly in Asia and Africa. It is a viral, zoonotic, neglected tropical disease that causes tens of thousands of deaths annually, with 40% being children under 15.
Dog bites and scratches cause 99% of the human rabies cases, and can be prevented through dog vaccination and bite prevention.
Once the virus infects the central nervous system and clinical symptoms appear, rabies is fatal in 100% of cases.

I read long ago about the kill rate and was also surprised!

That makes sense for global stats since most people live in conditions that are primitive compared to first world countries. That things unfortunately suck in most of the world doesn't change how things are in the US and other first world countries with regard to rabies and disease in general. Here wild animals are the prime source, it is very rare, and the shots are readily available to those who need them and pets. I wish it was so for everyone.

TrueBlue, I owe you an apology. I misinterpreted your statements and intention. I am sorry for that but there is an underlying offense that I must apologize for. I did not consider who I was communicating with. I did not think, "this is trueBlue posting" and so I interpreted your posting incorrectly. I failed to give the respect you deserve. Sir, I apologize.

No problemo senoir

Inferno 2024
Mostly still photos.

Rumble's default resolution is low. Be sure to use Settings to select full resolution 1440.



https://rumble.com/v553l00-inferno-hike-2024.html

Thank you for this Finis.

i wonder what those pieces were... cool dust storm there. Thanks.

Update: The fireworks show done by professionals with near zero risk of fire was canceled because our fire fighters and equipment is mostly away helping with the forest fires. In reality woke weaklings, snowflakes, and crazy people complained about imagined things and demanded that the world change to accommodate their numerous weaknesses. The show may happen at a later date.

The Independence Day parade was subdued compared to past ones but was still good. The police and fire trucks didn't use their sirens ('snowflakes'). Absent were horses, beauty queens, and agricultural groups. Fighter jet fly overs haven't happened in a decade. I didn't do photos so here is a past parade (link).

Always for me to remember:
At the 2017 parade a father and his two small girls watched. Christina was friendly and would visit people around them. Her sister's name was Liberty! As the parade was ending Christina approached me. She looked at my small flag and reached out with an open hand. I gave her my flag. By doing that I made a promise. Christina and Liberty: I have not forgotten.

Declaration of Independence: Year 248. The last words in the Declaration:
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

------------

@Bitkar, The dunes are within a large military reservation for testing missiles and such and there is an Air Force base. The pieces are from things that crashed, were shot down, on balloons ... Things I find are probably old since they avoid that sort of thing over the part where visitors are allowed and clean up new debris thoroughly since there can be classified or dangerous things. Probably the UXO signs mean the shifting sands revealed some old stuff and they are investigating for unlikely danger ... on the other hand I found .50 BMG ammo about 4 miles from the picnic tables. I should gather my photos of things wreckage and things.

so it really can be old pieces of missiles or some targets... tho hose tho or what was there too does not look like it :)
Did you find a 50cal ammo or just empty casings? Live ammo is pretty expensive, isnt that :)

There was more. I thought I took more pictures. Looks old. Some is bent or damaged. The newest looking things I find are instruments like this hike's box and a couple of radiosondes. I found a round hollow metal ball. [redacted] said it was sent up on a balloon for the radar test people to calibrate instruments.

Most wreckage has been cleaned up leaving only small bits. Especially in the civilian accessible dunes. Rarely, drifting dunes reveal something like a fin or part of a wing. The missile range and AF base have been around for a long time. The dunes were not always open to visitors. Pilot training, missile and bomb testing, electronics and radar testing, scientific things, there was a laser weapon test facility, ground actions, and whatever they don't talk about. Plenty of things blown up, crashed, lost, or abandoned. So there is plenty of bits.

If there was an old bomb or something found the sands would be closed and there would be guards around it until cleaned up. That's why I think the markers more about unidentified junk than a probable threat. During a missile test the sands are closed all day and the road to Las Cruces is blocked for some hours.

Did they REALLY pickup everything?....

anyway... the sand is full of treasure :D

The Saga of the Oil

Time to change the oil for the truck. Manual says to put it up on jack stands. Didn't do that since it looked like enough room. Mistake. Will use stands on the front. Drained oil. Can't get the filter loose. I have a filter wrench from ancient times. Too big.

Super Smart Plan 1: Stuff rope, rubber tubes, in there so it can grab. No luck.

Super Smart Plan 2: Put the old oil back in and get a new filter wrench. No go. The pan with the oil has dirt in it.

Super Smart Plan 3: Eat doughnuts. Email friends for a ride or borrow a filter wrench ... tomorrow.

Sand was great for getting oil off of my hands.

v3rd3 wrote: 03 Jul 2024, 02:59 Thank you for this Finis.

Happy you liked it!

there is a trick with a leather belt (for pants) to loosen the oil filter. It works pretty well. Put it around the filter the way you can pull on the end of the belt to make a spinning force.
Or in the worst case make a hole thru it (its dirty job tho), stick a big screwdriver thru the hole and now you have some leverage.

Dirt in the oil is no bueno tho...

Bitkar 2 points, youtube 1/2 point. I saw methods similar to the belt but a belt is better. Yeah, if all else fails then screwdriver.

I never considered putting the old oil back before so I never cleaned the pan. Just poor it in milk jugs and take to the dump where it is collected for recycling.

I walked to Walmart and got a filter wrench. It has a rubber strap and works like Bitkar's idea. Much grunting and it is off. Now full of Penzoil platinum synthetic with Fram TG series filter. My Nissan truck's filter was much easier to reach. Learned it is best to put the front up on jack stands for working room ... and blocks: weighs 4900 lbs (because America!)

I walked through the drainage ditches to the store. Not supposed to be in there but I was curious and one takes a semi-direct route toward the store. Graffiti was painted over, lots of fireworks trash, no homeless camps.

The local Christmas parade.



https://rumble.com/v636n2z-christmas-pa ... 1440p.html

Rumble's video player is not great. It's default resolution is very low. Fix that: Start the video. The controls don't appear until you start it. Use Settings to select 1080P or higher quality.

Weird things it likes to do:
-- Video stops and won't start again.
-- Video skips the last part and stops.
The only solution that seems to work is to reload the page, start the video, and jump to the time of the weirdness.

video ran great.
That was a looooooooooooooong stack of cars :) ... and a good one.

As a car guy I loved that older cars, pretty good looking. Was that Model-T? Also dude on a huge monobike was cool! and that semi full of "female santas" that looked like a good place to party :D ... also that aircraft cocpit, whatever fighter jet or what that was!

Thanks Finis.

The old pickup is probably a Model A. I think there are clubs for Mustangs, antique cars, off road, and low riders. Low riders like old cars.

Parade was mostly cars but entertaining. Used to be more enthusiasm, more floats, more decoration. Where were the religious floats? Every church in town used to have a float. No horses? One year there were were horses and riders with elaborate gear and lights as part of the costumes. Still was a fun parade.

The video allowed me to figure out the semi full of female Santas ("Santa's little helpers"). The ones in front hung something on the ceiling. Santa/Grinch got that and took it to a different place. A conveyor belt took fluff from there to the back of the float where helpers put it in bags. The walkers gave fluff to onlookers.

A note for DaVinci Resolve users. Version 18.6. Stabilize + Cross Dissolve.

If you stabilize a clip and then apply a cross dissolve transition there will be a "jump" or "jerk" movement on entry and exit of the stabilized clip. The only work around I have found is to apply stabilization after applying cross dissolve. Not my preferred work flow but it works.

New versions may fix this bug. My computer doesn't have the specs to run V19 so I don't know.

the stabilization is sometimes jerky no matter what. Usually recalculating the stabilization data works.

That's correct Bitkar but for this stabilization can look fine without transitions and during the clip but the bug introduces a jerk between clips. After too much observation I think the jerk is related to the zoom applied by stabilizing. Under bug conditions the zoom seems absent from the overlapping/fading portions. So it suddenly zooms or un-zooms. I'll adjust my workflow to doing stabilization last since that overcomes the problem.

I hope to build a new computer this year. Then I'll be able to use DR v19 and onward.

Non bug related:

A milligram of prevention is worth a kilogram of cure. A bit of planning and technique when filming prevents many editing problems.

Since my videos are filmed in 4K now I'm having trouble with smooth playback while editing. Learning about caching and proxies and settings. Instructions in some videos have already improved that.

Stabilization by perspective, similarity, translation ... for a hang glider with clear blue sky background the translation method could be best since there are few clues about perspective. If you really need to the stabilization controls are still on the Color page and you can adjust the curves there. I've never done that.

I've been fanatically working on a movie for the Columbus Day Fly In of 2023. It's turning out pretty good.

Arrrrggg. I spent 2 or 3 hours learning this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAl8KYwQR3o. Got it all set up. Went in and changed some other stuff and the ending clips including the credits are gone. Also gone from the backup I occasionally save. I didn't have the auto project backups turned on. It's an hour or two work to redo it but still frustrating.

Work to do. $ > hobby.

I made a base End Credits fusion thing for DaVinci Resolve and saved it to a .comp file. This file can be imported into DR. Now I can import this base into my movies to have credits without remaking this fusion comp each time. Done with DR vs. 18.6.

You can too. Here is the comp file. Import this into your DaVinci Resolve project and change as needed.

What is it? The zip file has a movie showing the result and the fusion comp file.

How to use it? Well, that's complicated. You should refer to the videos below for details.

TL;DR ...
Put a fusion composition clip on the time line.
Go to the fusion tab.
Import the comp file into the clip.
Select the Text node.
Change the text to your credits. (Learn how the tabs work.)
To change the speed of the scroll ... understand what he does at 9:30.
On the edit tab adjust (drag right side) of the fusion clip so its length is appropriate to the duration of the scroll.

This video tells how it was made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAl8KYwQR3o

This video tells how to import the fusion comp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ3slO30f8Q

Zip File

.
Here is my glider movie for the Columbus Day 2023 Fly In.

Rumble's video player defaults to 480p. Use Settings to select 1440 or 1080.



https://rumble.com/v6ehttv-columbus-day ... -2023.html

good job... you collected a lot of videos. I like the editing and the music selection.The music was spot on, not too loud or disturbing.
It was cool to watch the lauches. Some of those guys go straight up more than forward! :D Was like a rocket start. Cool. Maybe i will get to paragliding when iam older and have more time and so.

The whole movie was professional and very well done! There was one scene where the center of the screen showed a glider floating against the blue sky with the mountains on the horizon. What a great scene!
The final beer scene around the fire brought tears to my eyes!
How long do they stay up? Do they ever not have a choice coming down?
So every hang glider has at least one other helper to bring back their vehicle?
The soaring scenes felt like eagles soaring.
Finally what brand beer?
Great job!

Steinie beer next time? :D

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It has more views in a day than the others got in a year.

What I learned is in the description.

All the glider movies: https://rumble.com/playlists/SvI4WGJw7dg

@Bitkar
Hang gliding could be an option. I like "rocket start". If the wind is a certain way then gliders have trouble going forward. @Steinie
I enjoy the gatherings. I like this one's gathering. Stories for kids.

Flight time. A pliot can stay aloft as long as he finds lift, upward moving air, and avoids "sink", downward air. A 5 minute "sled ride" in still air. Lift can be "thermals", hot air rising, or wind moving up the slope of a mountain (ridge soaring). Experienced pilots can read the land, nature, weather to find lift.

They will be forced down by mega-sink, sled ride, failing to find lift, weather ... They should come down in various not optimal conditions. Mega-lift can hamper decent.

Not each pilot but each vehicle that goes up should have a driver for the return trip. Small town life: once a pilot recruited an unknown spectator to drive.

The guy in the alley in a trench coat said it was Steinman Superior Gold.

Rumble's customer service and rules are worse than their video player. I can't believe it but I had the thought to go back to Vimeo. After being on Vimeo for a while I looked at the site's front page. That was all I needed to know I would leave. I thought I might drop to a free account, stay but not benefit them financially, but they changed the free accounts to worthless. I had the lowest paid tier and it was good. It is ... other reasons I left. So I looked for alternatives. There aren't any. YouTube is off limits forever. VidMe was good but not viable as a business so it's gone.

Rumble's business model is to be an agent that publishes your stuff on many venues. It isn't intended to be an alternative to YouTube. It's free tier is usable as a YouTube alternative if a bit primitive and often strange back stage. It offers 15gb per upload and you can upload unlimited videos. Customer service is barely acceptable or maybe not. There are too many things you can't do from rules or underdeveloped UI. Etc.

I'm not concerned with getting likes or earning money from videos. I have made twenty cents from Rumble ads. I do want an easy way for people I know to see my videos and it's good if others can enjoy them too. I'll take a usable free tier but I don't mind paying for a product.

Conclusion. After I upgrade my own website I'll put my videos there. That will be the place to see them. I'll also put them on my Rumble free account as an archive and alternate place to see them.

That was a useful rant. It helped me decide what to do.

anything you can host yourself is a good way imo.

bitkar wrote: 05 Feb 2025, 17:13 anything you can host yourself is a good way imo.

Indeed it is.

No more youtube?
Viewing videos is now a problem. Maybe I can no longer watch youtube. My stuff blocks nearly everything yt tries to do. The minimal things I allowed in order to watch, surprisingly, didn't do anything bad. At least I didn't catch them doing it. Now videos stop playing after one minute. It isn't pausing to catch up. It will never pass that point. Until today changing the location of my VPN would sometimes fix it.

The only workaround reported to work was disabling your security software or parts of it. Not happening. Some sources said embeds work. I'll try it for curiosity ... embed worked but too much trouble to watch videos.

UPDATE:
1. Interesting: video will play for only one minute no matter where it starts. I tried using the start time to skip the minute barrier but then it stopped at two minutes. Start at 5m13s, it stops at 6m13s.
2. Not VPN: Using VPN servers and protocols that look like normal web traffic (hide that it's a VPN) = no luck. Even connecting through TOR still plays only one minute.
3. When I update my website I'll make something so I can easily temporarily embed videos (until they break that too). That's for practical How-To things and a few youtubers.
4. Hopefully this not the way yt intended it to work and it will be fixed.
5. I'll be more productive in work and real world stuff without watching videos instead of doing something useful.

UPDATE 2:
Success!
This work-around works:
Go to the video. Click Share, click Embed, play the small video that appears in the Share screen. It will play without stopping. Quality and full screen settings are still available there.

.
I decided to try Glaze and Nightshade.

Nightshade: https://nightshade.cs.uchicago.edu/whatis.html
Offensive, AI poison.

Glaze: https://glaze.cs.uchicago.edu/what-is-glaze.html
Defensive, conceals your style from AI's.

I ran Nightshade on my Ferly picture. Settings for minimum visible alteration, and minimum effect on AI, produced ferly_nightshade shown here with the original. The shaded image has very visible artifacts. Also it was 720KB vs the original's 199KB. The description said that it was best for pictures with much texture and that smoother simpler textures show modifications more so this isn't surprising. With maximum settings the result looked like a very high compression jpg.

It took around 5 to 8 minutes to shade the image.

I chose "girl" as the subject of the picture so Nightshade is trying to make AI's see a toaster pastry or driver's license or something instead of her.

Alterations appear in Lina's skin and shirt. The reflected sky has visible modification too.

Images cropped, resized, and compressed for posting.

ferly-nightshade original

i dont see almost any difference