The Dropbox video also included the iPhone and Android phones. So you’ll never leave home without your precious files. Except that there’s one problem. The Dropbox app DOESN”T ACTUALLY DO ANY SYNCING! (If you want to sync files, you have to first download the file manually with the app, then mark it as your favorite. You have to do this for EVERY FILE) Forget that safari. When you fall into a watering hole with your smartphone, say goodbye to your files unless you remembered to manually upload your files back into the cloud in the 2 seconds before you hit the water.

For the longest time, Dropbox users have been wondering about the retarded reason why this feature isn’t available. Well the developers at Ubuntu One (as well as this author) calls that bulls**t, and if all goes well, the Ubuntu One app will have mobile syncing in a couple of months time. We all know that your smartphone is perfectly capable of syncing, and a lot of other users out there think so too!

Whether or not Dropbox decides to play catchup, or if this Ubuntu One feature ever really materializes is something to look out for. It’s a bit too late for me though, I’ve already transferred to Ubuntu One’s 5GB storage. I’m sure if I had recommended Dropbox well enough, they’d give me even more space, but without mobile syncing, it’s just not for me.

If you want to try them out, go visit these links:

• Dropbox
• Ubuntu One

This time around, I have a simpler, easier solution that won’t get your shutter fingers dirty using OpenShot Video Editor.

So what is OpenShot? Video producer Neil Chappell’s has this to say:

“Before OpenShot burst onto the scene, video editing in Linux was really missing an easy to use, full featured editor that could save and convert to nearly any format and had a decent set of transitions. Yes KDEnlive has been around for a good while and is up there with the best of them in the proprietary world, even if it is a little buggy, but it is simply too complex for a lot of people to use.”

Installing The Software

So let’s install the software we need! Open up Ubuntu Software Center, search and install the following programs:

• OpenShot Video Editor
• FFMPEG (If you haven’t already since the first timelapse tutorial)
• Thunar

Note: If you’re using an Ubuntu OLDER than Oneiric, follow these instructions first.

Note2: For those of you who want a quick command-line way of installing, type:
sudo apt-get install thunar ffmpeg openshot

Preparing Our Files

First, copy all of your files into a convenient work directory and keep the originals somewhere safe.

Next, we’re gonna run Thunar. Thunar is a file manager for the XFCE desktop, but it has a really nice Bulk Renamer.

Click Add (the big green plus-sign) and select all of the pictures we’re gonna use.

For the settings, just follow the settings on the example image on the left and click Rename Files.

Notes: FFMPEG (which OpenShot uses) requires that the sequence starts with 0, and also that the filenames contain a text string in the beginning; you can change “img” to whatever you want, but you can’t omit it.

Importing into OpenShot

Run OpenShot and click on File > Import Image Sequence.

A dialog box like the one on the left will pop up. The filename pattern should match your filenames. The %03d says that there are 3 digits in the filename pattern, so img%03d.jpg takes anything with a filename of “imgXXX.jpg”

Now you can change the Frames Per Image setting to your liking. If you want to create a smooth time-lapse like The Mountain, you’d want to set this to something low, like 1. In my case, I just wanted to create a video slide-show from pictures I took using the Continuous mode on my camera.

Click Import Image Sequence when you’re done.

Moving Our Clip Onto The Timeline

When the Import Image Sequence completes, you’ll see a single item in your Project Files tab. Drag this clip onto your timeline.

At this point, you can choose to add music, add other clips before, after, or over your time-lapse clip, or add effects. Otherwise, let’s move on the final step!

Export Video

Click on File > Export Video to bring up the Export Video dialog box. On top you can change the file name and target folder of your video.

In the Simple tab, you can choose what kind of video format you want to export to. So far, I’ve used the Youtube-HD profile, but it’s pretty easy to tweak the settings in the Advanced tab. I use the Youtube-HD profile as a base and then change the Profile to HD 1080p.

Note: It will prompt you to install libmp3lame if you haven’t installed the Lame MP3 codec library yet, but it’s helpful enough to teach you how. Plus points for that!

So there you have it! I hope this guide is useful to you. For now, I leave you a time-lapse video of people splashing in the mud! Enjoy!:D

When WinFF is all set up, it works like a charm. However when installing it for the first time, or in my case setting it up again after a long period of time, problems revolving around codecs usually come up.

The problem isn’t particularly difficult, it’s just frustrating.

When you get an “unknown encoder libmp3lame” error for example, what is the normal course of action? Look for it in Ubuntu Software Center and install libmp3lame of course!

Wrong! Ubuntu has most of the codecs in the repository, but FFMPEG needs its codecs to be compiled in. So having installed libmp3lame from the Software Center doesn’t automatically mean FFMPEG can use them.

WinFF uses FFMPEG to work on your media files. In Ubuntu, the FFMPEG version in the repositories are quite lean, with many of the non-free codecs like XVid and MP3 not compiled-in by default because of Ubuntu’s legal philosophy. So we now have two options:

1. Install a fuller-featured FFMPEG from Medibuntu
2. Install libavcodec-extra-XX from the repository. This will replace the normal libavcodec-XX with an unrestricted FFMPEG library.

As much as possible, I prefer working with whatever’s already existing in the repository, so #2 is fine with me. However, I will make an exception for programs with slow Ubuntu updates. An example is Blender. It’s a great 3D modelling and animation program but I often prefer the more bleeding-edge development versions or betas for its features over the much more stable versions in the repository.

Well, I’ve written this mostly like a “note to self” kind of post, but I hope it helps someone out there as well.

Happy converting!

So I got my brains out of the drawer, dusted it off, and started using it a bit, and thought up of a cheap, simple, and really easy-to-do but very elegant solution! The philosophy behind it? Don’t reinvent the wheel.

Things We Need:

• IR LED
• LED Keylight
• Small screwdriver
• Long-nose pliers
• Wire cutter

First step is to go to your nearest electronics store and buy an IR LED. Then get yourself to the nearest flea market (like Divisoria) or dollar store (over here and in Japan, we have Daiso, which is where I got this). Buy one of those small LED keychain lights.

The reason I bought this particular type is:

1. The LED is immediately visible
2. It has ONLY ONE LED
3. As shown on the back of the box, it is EASY to replace the regular LED without any “hacking”.

NOTE: It is also possible to buy an LED flashlight from the dollar store and convert it into an IR flashlight. It’s use and application, however, is different from this IR “lightpen” tutorial. Also, depending on the flashlight you buy, you might need a hell of a lot more IR LEDs.

Before our mod, this is how the LED keylight shines: with a nice, bright white LED light.

According to the instructions on the back, you simply unscrew the four tiny screws at the back housing openand the housing comes apart. There are two CR2016 3V batteries sandwiched between the legs of the LED. Once you get the keylight housing open, removing them is as simple as plopping them down onto your palm.

Note that the white LED’s legs are bent into a certain shaped and cut to a certain length. The spacing of the legs is just enough so that the batteries are not in contact with both legs at the same time. There are also grooves in the housing to prevent the LED from moving around too much, and that’s also why the legs are cut to size. You want to shape and cut the IR LED’s legs to match as closely as possible to the original. Use a pair of long-nose pliers and wire cutter.

The final step is to test if our creation is working. Since the IR LED is emitting infrared, which isn’t in the visible spectrum, you’re going to need to use your webcam or a digicam to see if it’s working or not. Here is a shot of the IR keylight using my phone’s camera.

So there you have it! An IR LED light tutorial that’s easy on the pockets and very professional-looking without you needing to break a sweat (or any tools). What are we gonna use it for? Stay tuned, we’re gonna get to that next time!

If you guys want to buy me one, you can buy it from the PJRC Store. Just send me a PM via our Facebook page or in the comments (be sure to leave your email address so I can tell you where to send it).:D

Thank you very much in advance!

Here are the steps to quickly connect your phone to the internet.

Connect your phone via USB cable. On a Sony Ericsson, the phone will prompt you how you want to use your phone. Choose “Phone Mode”.

Click on the Network Manager icon in the system tray and select “New Mobile Broadband connection…”

Choose the country where your provider is in.

Choose your service provider. This will be the name of your cellphone carrier. In my case, I chose Smart.

Next is to select your plan. This option varies depending on your carrier. For Smart though, you just choose Default.

Last step is to just verify if your details are correct and click on Apply.

That’s it! In a few moments, your phone should connect your computer to the Internet and a notification will display showing that you are connected.

Editing Project Victory with Blender

After 9 months in the making, Project Victory is finally completed! It tooks us 6 months to shoot, spread over 2 countries in 6 different locations, and 3 months of post-processing the images building the three collages and getting everyone’s approval, editing and re-editing the video, implementing new ideas, and having fun all the way.

You can watch the video over at the Project Victory website.

Project Victory was a photo project that my batchmates did over the last couple of months, and we recorded most of everything that happened along the way. It was created with a mix of open-source and closed-source software in Ubuntu, using BibblePro for RAW conversion, GIMP for some graphics and editing, and Blender for the 3D scenes and the video sequence editing. Read more at the Project Victory website.

Enter the airport-friendly bags for the modern photographer. There were several brands that I was choosing from: Pelican 1514, Lowepro ProRoller Mini, ThinkTank Airport Security and a cheap Nikon rolling backpack that I found in one of the stores, among others. All of these choices offered two things I was looking for:

1. Easy to lug around; can’t get any easier than wheels
2. I can bring at as carry-on luggage
3. Price vs. quality and features

I was choosing between the cheapest of them all, the Nikon rolling case with backpack straps, or the more expensive ProRoller Mini. I ended up slightly more expensive but better bag than both of them. The Lowepro Rolling Computrekker AW has inline-skate wheels, backstraps for when you can’t roll it, a laptop pouch, CF card pockets, a rain cover, and lots of padded compartments. And it only cost me Y30K in Yodobashi.

Well, I just came back from a shoot in Kyoto, and had put the bag to the test. It rolled all the way from my house to the trains and on to the bus to Kyoto, all the way to each train platform I passed through. And when I was up in the slopes of Kurama and Fushimi Inari, I carried it backpack-mode.

On wheels, it rolled smooth as silk and saved me from future backpains. Though my shoulders ached till the next day, it was because it was a long trek through Kurama and Fushimi Inari. The contoured shoulder and back pads really helped as I am sure I’d have a much more tiring experience with my previous Lowepro Toploader 75. Then again, the Toploader wasn’t meant for travelling heavy at these kinds of distances.

Click on the image with the numbers to the left to see what got packed for my Kyoto trip.

Special thanks goes to RBM for persuading me to spring Y2,000 yen more for this rather than getting myself a ProRoller Mini. It’s a good bag in its own right, but it would have been a nightmare bringing it up the mountains!

In less than 2 months, I’ll be riding on a plane again. Feels good to know I won’t be sweating my pants off lugging overweight luggage this time around or having to wrap my lens and other gear around several layers of socks and towels.

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Breaking Barriers

Do you tire of reformatting your computer so that it can be set up with the prescribed environment determined by your superior or client? How about the hassle of making sure that there is a backup copy of your past project? Is quality assurance testing a pain because you have to reset your environment over and over again?

Well I did tire of that hassle. And I also tired of having to run my computer on a specific OS, just because that was what the task prescribed. So I went out and used a few proven tools to remedy the situation, which will be what this guide will be all about.

Installing VMWare Player

Virtual machines is the name of the game, and is the key to this modern workspace. Software that enables you to run virtual machines, such as VMWare’s VMPlayer or VMServer or Innotek’s (now Sun’s) Virtualbox, have been around for quite some time now. However, aside from system administrators, many people don’t know about them. And even less know how to use them to their utmost potential.

We will be installing VMWare’s VMPlayer for this tutorial. If you choose to install VMWare Server or Sun’s Virtualbox, that’s ok as well, although set up will be a bit different.

1. First, head on over to http://www.vmware.com/player and download the latest version of VMWare Player.
2. After you have downloaded the tarball (for Linux), extract it to a directory. It will create a directory called vmware-player-distrib.
3. Open a terminal and go inside the vmware-player-distrib directory. From there, type sudo ./vmware-install.pl
4. The guided installer will then proceed to ask you a few questions about your hardware. For most cases, pressing Enter for all of the questions should suffice.

After that, you will now have a VMWare Player launcher in the Applications menu under System Tools. But that won’t do us much good until we have a virtual machine ready for use.

To create a virtual machine for VMWare Player, you can either use a virtual machine created with VMWare Server, you can download a preconfigured virtual appliance from the VMWare website (I suggest you take a look, there are a lot of appliances for a lot of different needs, and it’ll eliminate the need for the next steps), or use a handy litte utility at EasyVMX. WIth EasyVMX, you can configure a Virtual Machine, set the size and number of hard drives, number of CPUs to use, network cards, floppies, CD-ROMs, practically everything you need.

Once you’re at the EasyVMX website, there are 3 flavors of their Virtual Machine Creator: the regular EasyVMX, the SuperSimple, and the EasyVMX v2.0.

For those who just want this part done quickly and painlessly, choose the Super Simple creator and choose around 15GB or more for the disk space for WinXP (Obviously, you’ll need more for Vista).

For those would like to customize a little, EasyVMX v2.0 will offer the most choices, but for most ends and needs, the regular one would suffice.

Depending on your computer’s memory, change the Memory Size to something greater than 192 (minimum for Windows XP) as long as you will leave around 256MB for your host. (Ex.: PC memory = 1024MB; 1024 – 256 = at most 768 for guest VM). One good reason to use a GNU/Linux distribution as a host is that 256MB is plenty and will give a decent performance while your XP VM might still be thirsty for more memory with 256MB of RAM.

Set the hard drive to around 20GB. Add additional drives if you prefer. Again, thankfully your GNU/Linux host uses less than 5GB for the OS, giving you plenty of room.
Note: When you create a virtual drive, it doesn’t immediately occupy 20GB on your disk. Rather, as your VM uses more and more of the disk space, so does the virtual drive occupies more space on your host.

Keep all other settings at default. If you have an ISO image of the OS that you want to install, be sure to check on the ISO checkbox under CD-ROM.

Click on the Create Virtual Machine button and you will be given a zip file for download containing the configuration file as well as your virtual disk(s). Extract that to a directory and start up your VMWare Player.

Important: EasyVMX will only create the virtual disk and configuration file for your VM. You will still need a LEGAL copy of your intended OS. Also, Be sure to choose the correct number of CPUs. Less than the actual number of CPUs and your VM won’t be able to take advantage of your mult-core processor. Anymore and it just won’t work.

Installing A Virtual OS

If you have an ISO of the OS you’re planning to install, put a copy of it into the directory containing your VM configuration file. Assuming you had checked the ISO checkbox in EasyVMX, when you start this virtual machine, it should boot up from this ISO. Otherwise, place the OS’s disc into your CD drive.

1. From Applications > System Tools, click on VMWare Player
2. When the VMWare Player window appears, click Open An Existing Virtual Machine
3. Navigate to the directory where you extracted your virtual machine
4. It will now start up. If you have put the OS disc into your CD drive, it should now boot up from there.
5. Install the OS as you would on a normal computer. Ubuntu Installation, Windows Installation

Enabling Networking

After starting up your VMWare Player, you’ll notice a few buttons at the top of the window. These buttons can be toggled on off to activate/deactivate peripherals and USB devices. The Ethernet button allows you to choose from 3 different configurations when you right-click on it, Bridged, NAT, and Host-only.

Choose bridged and restart your virtual machine for good measure. You can skip to the next section if you don’t need a brief explanation about the three ethernet configurations.

Important: In a restricted static IP setting, such as in an office, be sure to get an IP address for your VM from your system administrator, since your host OS and EACH guest VM will need a unique IP address each.

Host-only is used if you want your virtual machine to be able to see your guest machine ONLY. Imagine this as like connecting both your host OS and guest VM to the same switch, but not connected to the rest of the network or DSL modem. It won’t have access to other machines on your network, nor the internet for that matter.

NAT stands for Network Address Translation. Similar to Host-only, your virtual machine will be connected to a virtual switch, but this the switch is connected to the rest of the network. In a NAT networking, your host OS sits on the network, acting like a router, while your guest VM sits on a separate network behind this router (your host OS).

Bridge on the other hand is completely different. With bridged networking, both the host OS and the guest VM sits on the same network each with their own IP addresses. Other computers can access the VM directly and vice-versa. Internet access is also direct.

For more info on VMWare’s networking setup, visit this article on VM Weekly.

Sharing Files and Folders

Need to share files between your host and guest? Two simple choices: create a shared folder in your guest VM or create a shared folder o your host OS. It really depends on your preference. Setting up a directory on your host means no matter which VM you’re using, you’ll still have only one share. On the other hand, a localized specific shared folder per VM means the contents of the shared folder will most likely be related to the VM in question; no mix-up of files from different VMs. It’s all up to how you manage them.

If you are using Ubuntu to share a folder, follow these steps:

1. Right click on the folder to share and click Sharing Options
2. Check the box labeled “Share this folder”. If you do not have sharing services installed yet, it will ask for your permission to do it for you.
3. Once that’s done you can select either SMB (Windows share) or NFS (Unix share). Choose SMB so your Windows VM can access it.
4. Check the box labeled “Allow other people to write in this folder” because you are sharing it to exchange files.
5. Check the box labeled “Guest access” so you won’t need to create a user account anymore.
6. When that’s done, click “Create Share”

Extra tip: to connect to a shared folder from Ubuntu, open an address bar in Nautilus or on the Desktop by pressing Ctrl-L and then typing smb://hostNameOrIPAddress

Backing-Up Everything

Now we’ve finished setting up the dirty work, we can now start to reap the benefits of this setup.

Ok, let’s say that we have set up a Windows XP guest VM and we’ve already set up all of the basics like the IP address, registering your Windows copy, installing anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, email clients, and MS Office (sure is a lot of basic setup for a Windows box, huh?).

We’ll want to make this our “starting point”, so that everytime we need a new environment, we can use this initial state and we won’t have to go through all those tedious setup and concentrate on setting up your project-specific workspace.  How do you do it? It’s quite simple.

1. Shutdown your guest VM
2. Go to the folder where all your virtual machine’s files are stored
3. Copy that folder, and name it something appropriate, like WinXP_base.

Need to create a backup? Again it’s quite simple. Just follow the three steps above.

Need to restore from a backup? Again, simple. Copy or your backup and open it up in VMPlayer.

Starting a new project? Again, the 3 steps.

You get the point.

Extra Tip: When making VM copies for your different projects, it would be very useful to change the Display Names of each VM. That way, they won’t all appear as “WinXP” in the VMPlayer. To do this, open up the .vmx file found in the folder of your VM, and change the value of displayName

Using Terminal Server Client (TSC)

Most of the time, I control my VMs via the Terminal Server Client instead of directly with the VMPlayer. I do this for a few important reasons:

• Sometimes, I want my VM to be just a small window. Other times I want it full screen. Using TSC allows me to quickly change between display sizes (or display color-depth) without changing the actual display settings on the VM.
• It performs faster in my experience.
• Keyboard and mouse input are locked to a VMPlayer session, and you have to press Ctrl-Alt together to give back control to your host; With TSC, you simply move your mouse in and out of the window.

You have to turn on Remote Desktop in your guest desktop. Also, it won’t work if you don’t set a user password.

Workspace Separation

By keeping non-project-related programs running in your host OS not only means less distraction (specially when viewing full-screen), it also means not disconnecting your IM client while you’re restarting because your Windows is starting to bog down. A restart no longer means a trip to the pantry to get some coffee, you still get to do something else on your host OS, be it researching for a technical paper or preparing slides for a presentation.

Extra tip: As an added “boss button”, when you’re using your VM at full screen, no one would notice that it’s a VM. If your boss ever figured out that you were browsing blogs at another workspace, this’ll probably take them longer to figure out.

Pros and Cons

Naturally, there are advantages and disadvantages to this kind of setup. But in my case, the pros outweigh the cons.

The downside to all these multi-OS multi-tasking is, you will need a pretty decent computer to do this kind of setup if you do not want impact on your output. In particular, since you’ll be running at least 2 systems at the same time (1 host + 1 guest), you will need ample amount of memory for both. The number or size of your virtual machines is also dependent on how much disk space you have. There is also some performance impact, though it is becoming less and less apparent with multi-core processors. Although, on my 600Mhz Kohjinsha with 512MB of RAM, I was still able to run a WinXP to perform some basic operations. It makes my computer a dog slow, though, but it works.

Now if the pros weren’t already obvious, perhaps the most significant pro is the flexibility in using whatever operating system you desire and the ability to quickly and completely backup that system. When archiving old projects, you no longer just back up the project files, you back up the whole system, environment setup and all. That means, several years down the road if ever you need to revisit those old projects, you just take out that virtual machine out of storage and run it. Workspace separation also has its advantages, which can be used for increasing productivity, or improving the quality of breaks.

For system administrators, the advantage is obvious. Using only one physical hardware, they’d be able to run several different servers, minimizing costs, maximizing server utilization, and making the world a greener place by consuming less energy.

Lastly, of course, with a GNU/Linux host, now you can keep playing with your Compiz-Fusion 3D cube and wobbly windows, hehe…

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Big Buck Bunny is the story of a large, but kind rabbit who is bullied by three naughty rodents. Finally, Big Buck Bunny decides to fight back, and…well you’ll have to see it for yourself. The visuals are breath-taking, from the tall grass blowing in the wind, to the stream reflecting off sunlight, to the cute and cuddly creatures.

If the concept of open movies is new, or strange, to you, you may find it interesting to know that Big Buck Bunny is already the second open movie in the world, following from the success of the first open movie, Elephants Dream.

Two years ago, the Project Orange released the world’s first open movie, and it was titled Elephants Dream. Elephants Dream and Big Buck Bunny are called open movies because they are made entirely with open source tools, where of course Blender is the star player. Not only that, all the production files, all the 3D assets, everything used in the movie is also available for download, and it’s also included on the DVD.

Computer graphics, or CG, has been used with film since all the way back in the 70′s even before films like Tron came out. Back then, the technology was still at its infancy. As the technology progressed, CG found its way more and more into film, combining live action and animation in films like Batman, Star Trek, The Abyss, etc. and moving on into feature-length movies like Toy Story and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. What most of them have in common is the use of expensive software, such as Maya, for creating the CG (except Pixar; they use in-house technology built on top of Linux).

A lot of you probably don’t know that there is a software out there called Blender proving itself and its abilities to be on par with the big industry giants like 3D Studio Max, Lightwave, Maya, and SoftImage. But unlike its counterparts with 5-digit price tags (in US dollars), Blender is completely free! That’s right. Free to use, free to abuse, free to modify, free as in freedom and free as in beer.

Now there are a lot of people I know who are averse to Linux and the concept of free and open-source software, believing them to be of inferior quality because they’re not backed by large companies with lots of capital. I think that Blender is one of the model FLOSS software that proves this to be simply not the case.

If you haven’t seen the Open Movies yet, now would be a good time to do so. Head on over to the Elephant’s Dream page or the Big Buck Bunny page. You can also see how Plumiferos, another movie in the works, is coming about, as well as a whole lot of movies over at the Blender Movie Gallery. Oh, and of course, tell your friends or give them a copy. Don’t worry, it’s free (and open); Edu Manzano or the MPAA won’t be knockin’ on your door anytime soon.

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