One of the keys to working quickly with Audacity is shortcuts. While you can accomplish the same tasks using the menus, this approach will end up taking much longer. I think you will find that even in short projects of 30 minutes that 5-10 minutes is just navigating menus. I would like to spend that time doing other things so I have been trying to use keyboard shortcuts more often. Below you will find a way for you to assign your own shortcuts to your common tasks.

Changing a shortcut: Click on the command in the list. The command to be changed is now highlighted. Click in to the box to left of the Set button. If a shortcut was assigned to the command previously, it will be displayed in this box. Hit the key or key combination you wish to assign to this command. Then processed to the next step. Click on the Set button to assign the chosen key or key combination to the chosen command. Clearing a shortcut: Click on the command in the list. The command to be cleared is now highlighted. Click on the clear button to clear the command.

Tags: Audacity, Tools | 1 Comment »

I was cruisin’ round looking for something new and different and I came across a reference to Animoto in a Lifehacker post. The description intrigued me so I took a look.

This is how they describe themselves.

Animoto is a web application that automatically generates professionally produced videos using patent-pending Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology and high-end motion design. Each video is a fully customized orchestration of user-selected images and music. Produced in widescreen format, Animoto videos have the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer.

The website has a very cool design and the interface is simple and intuitive. I felt at ease though I had no experience creating this type of product before.

I chose the 30 second short. The images I chose were from an online Picasa album of my sister-in-law’s visit. I chose some music already on the site (all Creative Commons), and then rendered the image. A few minutes later a very satisfying 30 second video was ready. I could play it on the site, I could email it to friends, or upload it to one of many social networking sites.

I tried to grab the embed code and then attempted to upload it to my Facebook account, but this feature wasn’t working when I was on the site (hey, it’s Beta).

Below is a link to the video I created. It turned out pretty good.

http://animoto.com/play/2ae8f42751ec4f20c532c0aef66cef90

There is a cost for the full-length videos. You can buy a single video pass for $3 or you can buy an all-access pass which gives you unlimited full-length videos for an entire year for $30.

Try Animoto out and let me know what you think.

Tags: Kewl, Tools, Remix | No Comments »

It had to happen, and today it did. I received my first docx file. If you haven’t had the joy of working with these files, then let me tell you a lil sumpin bout it. The docx format is the new “open” format from Microsoft. The fact that there was an existing open format, didn’t seem to matter to MS, they went ahead and implemented this new format.

How open is it? Well, you have to have Microsoft Word 2007 (or Office Suite if you want to be able to read xlsx, or pptx files). Is Word 2003 acceptable? Nope, this open format can’t be read by this software. I use Open Office and the version I use does not have an import filter yet. Rumor has it that Novell’s version of Open Office now has does. I have read that there are some workarounds available for some Linux distributions. I don’t know if Apple is able to read docx files or not.

This is a long way to go to tell you that I found a nifty little online tool called Zamzar that converts docx files to a number of different formats. I have only tried the docx to doc converion and it worked flawlessly. The process is a bit clunky since you upload the file to the site, provide an email address and then Zamzar sends an email to you with a link. When you click the link, you are taken to a site where you can download your file. Still, since I had no way to read the file, I was please to jump through a few hoops.

The site also converts 10 image formats, 17 document formats, 11 audio formats, and 15 video format. They also provide kewl plug-ins for Firefox, and exhaustive conversion list, and other great stuff.

Take a look at a recent feature video:

Take a look, I think you’ll be glad you did.

Tags: Tools | 4 Comments »

I know I should be wetting my pants over the iPhone. I have not as of yet experience incontinence. I do not believe I will. I will share this truly useful tool with you. It is called MediaFire. What is it? Well, need a bit more storage? How about unlimited storage for free?! They claim there are no strings attached. No upload limits (individual file size is limited to 100mb, however), no download limits. This is how they describe themselves:

MediaFire is a free and unlimited file and image hosting web site with no strings attached. Our goal is to help make the internet a more interesting and media rich place by provide the fastest and most simple to use tool for sharing all kinds of files in almost any way imaginable. Registration is completely optional and every feature of the service is available to you whether you choose to create an account or not. If you choose to, creating an account is easy and free, allowing you to quick and secure access to your saved files from any computer.

I have been using the service for two weeks now and have been very pleased. Upload speeds have been in the vicinity of 500kbps. I can queue up ten files at a time and then once there, and then link to them.

For example, I uploaded a short video my daughter did (:11 and can induce nausea due to her quick pans). I can easily provide the link (as I have below).

http://www.mediafire.com/?6qns5yy2jzz

Or I can email or IM it. They use the term “embed in website” which turns out to simply be providing a easy way of providing the html or BB code for linking.

One set of features I have not fully explored has been to automatically Digg, post to del.icio.us, or link to Facebook.

It’s worth a look. Extra space, easy linking, and some social networking tools to boot. All-in-all, a pretty handy set of tools.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Tags: Resources, Tools | No Comments »

I listened to This Week in Media last night and came across this special offer for joining Pixel Corp. this summer:

n development for almost 7 years, the Pixel Corps has nearly 1500 members in 30 countries. The Pixel Corps is designed to create a global production community capable of generating content around the world. It’s not just about acquiring skills…it’s about becoming part of a community. The Pixel Corps blends training, real-world challenges, and community participation to build a development system unlike anything else available. Our goal: To build a highly networked, highly skilled, highly organized group of artists prepared for the next opportunities that emerge in the media field.

	Registration is now open
Three Months - Only $50! (use coupon code: PXC50)
(Plus $50 registration fee for new members)

For the Summer of 2007, we’re offering a “Beta2″ program to test our new training and challenge systems with our membership. We’d like to include as many people as possible. So, we’re offering the Summer Beta2 for only $50! The lowest priced offer in our organization’s history. We hope you join us for a summer packed with training.

The Pixel Corps offers an “All-You-Can-Eat-Approach” to our training. We simply give members more than most can possibly absorb. As a result, many members often focus on only a few of the following features (though they have access to all of them for the same price).

As a new member of the Pixel Corps, you will receive over 90 hours of video training on everything from drawing to photogrammetry to digital mattes.

Our training includes both general concept training as well as specific training for applications including:

• Adobe’s Photoshop and After Effects
• Apple’s Shake
• Maxon’s Cinema 4D
• SoftImage’s XSI
• REALVIZ’s Image Modeler, Stitcher and Matchmover Pro
• 2D3’s Boujou Bullet
• ZaxWerk’s Pro Animator
• Luxology’s Modo
• AutoDesSys’s FormZ…among others.

While some of the training is “Basic” training, much of it consists of production solutions for real problems. Many of the tips and tricks in these videos are hard to find anywhere else at any price. We’re adding new applications this summer and new training every week.

In additional to the weekly video training, members will have access to new online courses at very affordable rates. These courses are a result of members looking for specialized training. We have partnered with some of the top artists in the industry. We’ll kick off the June session with Iain McCaig (Character Designer, Star Wars Episode 1,2 and 3) and Modo Master, Dan Ablan.

Example training:

Photogrammetry - Alex Lindsay

Drawing and Light - Iain McCaig

Blending Mocap - Morgan Bottner

Photo Extraction - Alex Lindsay

Tags: Techniques, Technical, Media Creation, Technology, Tools | No Comments »

This simple little extension for the Firefox browser has made my life just a little bit easier. For my blog and other webpages, I am regularly uploading pics to my Flickr account. I had been using the Flickr uploader (which is cool kewl in its own right). Still, it meant that I had to download the photo and then use the uploader.

With FotoFox I can easily select, tag, title and upload pictures from my computer directly to Flickr. In addition to Flickr, it works with Tabblo, 23hq, Smugmug, Marela, and Kodak EasyShare Gallery.

Tags: Firefox, Tools, Flickr | No Comments »