KVR Audio

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Sat Oct 15, 2016 5:05 am

Yeah, that's what I love about it!
It reminds me of watching TV with a broken antenna, when I was a kid.

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Sat Oct 15, 2016 5:33 am

Okay, I have to follow up my Scanimate comment with a link. The thing is, Scanimate was hugely successful in the 1980's and responsible for a ton of the graphics which anyone from that era will remember. But when you watch the documentary, its amazing just how DIY the whole thing was... mis-aligning test equipment, holding aluminum foil under the monitor to simulate a water effect, filming actual foam blocks of text to get a 3D flying logo look. Awesome stuff!

https://vimeo.com/172607783

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Sat Oct 15, 2016 7:01 am

That's incredible! I love the tin foil.
I can totally remember seeing that kind of stuff when I was a kid. Like the words during the songs in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'.

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Sat Oct 15, 2016 7:29 am

Here is a video I did tonight. Once again, recorded with my phone. I'll figure out a decent capture setup eventually.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0_4eSl ... e=youtu.be

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Sat Oct 15, 2016 11:25 am

deastman wrote:Okay, I have to follow up my Scanimate comment with a link. The thing is, Scanimate was hugely successful in the 1980's and responsible for a ton of the graphics which anyone from that era will remember. But when you watch the documentary, its amazing just how DIY the whole thing was... mis-aligning test equipment, holding aluminum foil under the monitor to simulate a water effect, filming actual foam blocks of text to get a 3D flying logo look. Awesome stuff!

https://vimeo.com/172607783

Cheers for that! Great video.

Another style of oldschool effect I came across a while back is this stuff:

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/dye-and-soap- ... 1786391380

Its not synthesis at all, but its fantastic. Pretty sure that stuff made it into a ton of title sequences and (as stills) book covers.

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Sat Oct 15, 2016 9:11 pm

It's interesting to learn about the techniques used to make all those strange visual effects, before computer animation was practical.
I enjoyed this video which talks about the Split scan method used for the 2001 "star gate" scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhRo2WbWnKU

It's also interesting to learn about the effects that were possible using primitive computers to program the movement of set pieces and long exposures, like the John Whitney stuff.

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Sun Oct 16, 2016 5:20 am

whyterabbyt wrote:
deastman wrote:Okay, I have to follow up my Scanimate comment with a link. The thing is, Scanimate was hugely successful in the 1980's and responsible for a ton of the graphics which anyone from that era will remember. But when you watch the documentary, its amazing just how DIY the whole thing was... mis-aligning test equipment, holding aluminum foil under the monitor to simulate a water effect, filming actual foam blocks of text to get a 3D flying logo look. Awesome stuff!

https://vimeo.com/172607783
Cheers for that! Great video.

Another style of oldschool effect I came across a while back is this stuff:

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/dye-and-soap- ... 1786391380

Its not synthesis at all, but its fantastic. Pretty sure that stuff made it into a ton of title sequences and (as stills) book covers.

I am so totally stealing that technique. And we've got some really nice Phantom high speed cameras here for the slomo.

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 5:12 am

I received my camcorder today. A Sony DCR-TRV9. It has S-Video output and composite video I/O, so I can hook it up to my video synth for capture or as a video source to be processed (using the camera signal or pre-recorded tapes). The first thing I did was try feeding the image back on itself with my old crt TV and the big LCD. The CRT did much weirder stuff with wild colors but it was so touchy. Small movements make really big changes. The digital TV would do different stuff but things didn't get interesting until I started playing with the camera's built in filters.

Unfortunately I can't figure out how to get what I've recorded out of this silly camera and I can't film with my phone while aiming the camera at the TV (I'll see if I can find a tripod at the goodwill tomorrow). The camera has a Firewire port but I don't have any experience transferring DV tapes, so I don't know what kind of software I need. Can I use iMovie? Is this freaking thing even gonna work with my 4-pinFW400>6-pinFW400>8-pinFW800>Thunderbolt adapter chain?

. I think I'm gonna need a modern means of digital capture... I've seen these things:Diamond Multimedia USB 2.0 Video Capture Device but, I mean, I wouldn't really trust a $40 audio interface to be reliable, is this thing legit? I don't really have a reference point here.

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Tue Oct 18, 2016 5:53 am

justin3am wrote:I received my camcorder today. A Sony DCR-TRV9. It has S-Video output and composite video I/O, so I can hook it up to my video synth for capture or as a video source to be processed (using the camera signal or pre-recorded tapes). The first thing I did was try feeding the image back on itself with my old crt TV and the big LCD. The CRT did much weirder stuff with wild colors but it was so touchy. Small movements make really big changes. The digital TV would do different stuff but things didn't get interesting until I started playing with the camera's built in filters.

Unfortunately I can't figure out how to get what I've recorded out of this silly camera and I can't film with my phone while aiming the camera at the TV (I'll see if I can find a tripod at the goodwill tomorrow). The camera has a Firewire port but I don't have any experience transferring DV tapes, so I don't know what kind of software I need. Can I use iMovie? Is this freaking thing even gonna work with my 4-pinFW400>6-pinFW400>8-pinFW800>Thunderbolt adapter chain? . I think I'm gonna need a modern means of digital capture... I've seen these things:Diamond Multimedia USB 2.0 Video Capture Device but, I mean, I wouldn't really trust a $40 audio interface to be reliable, is this thing legit? I don't really have a reference point here.

Most of the world has moved on from analog video a long time ago, so you're mostly going to find cheap capture devices of questionable quality. The questions and reviews of that Diamond thing were mixed, but I'd say it is worth a try at that price. You're only recording standard def video anyway, so it isn't too demanding on a modern system. If you really wanted to get serious about it, I would look at solutions from BlackMagic Design or AJA Systems, but those aren't going to be in the price range you're considering.

DIY Video Synthesis