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oziabla - all messages by user

2014/8/7 21:57:05
Rendering Check the Frame rate you are using in Media Encoder.

Muvizu is 25 frames per second (FPS). If you have a higher frame rate in Media Encoder (eg 30 FPS) then it will speed things up.
2014/8/7 4:37:39
Blackmagic Resolve - free version Hi all

Blackmagic Resolve is fancy colour correction software. It is used extensively in the industry - eg. 7 out of the 10 Best Picture Oscar nominations in 2013 used it.

They've just released version 11 which has a full video editor included.

More important, they have also released "Resolve Lite" - which is still fully pro level video editing and colour correction software - for free. (You can't edit 4K resolution or above... which I suspect no-one here wants to anyway).

It has a serious learning curve, it is certainly not aimed at the "home user". But for those of you who are interested in using the kinds of tools the pros are using, it's a great opportunity. If you are editing your Muvizu movies using Windows Movie Maker or something similar, this will be a massive step up in terms of capability.

http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve
2014/8/6 2:30:08
Animations for kids stories My pleasure. I run a commercial recording studio in Sydney, plus I've done a lot of sound for film and TV, so it's something I know a lot about (unlike animation where I am a total newbie).

If anyone has an audio questions, I'm happy to help out if I can.
2014/8/6 0:01:04
Rendering Check what version of DirectX you are running. (Go to File >> Options and check the "Rendering" option). If the rendering menu gives you the option for a higher version, select that and restart Muvizu.

It might help, might not. But I've run into problems where a lower version of DirectX was in effect, and it caused me all sorts of rendering problems.
2014/8/3 4:55:11
Animations for kids stories For your videos, you really need to start using a multi-track audio approach. Even though my French is mediocre, there were points where sound effects would have really added to the production. (And of course there is music). So you might use four (or even more) audio tracks.

To prepare your multi-track audio, you can use Audacity, or another excellent product is Presonus Studio One (the full version is $500, but there is a smaller version for free).
http://www.presonus.com/products/studio-one/compare-versions

There are a lot of websites which offer free sound effects, as well as licence-free background music (don't use any copyrighted music without permission).


As far as a quality microphone, it will be a good investment as you can use it for many different purposes. I now own over 60 of them (sound is my profession however, I am still finding my way with visuals).
2014/8/2 9:03:34
Animations for kids stories Great video.

The visuals are excellent, but the sound quality is not as good as it could be. It sounds like you are using only one microphone, and it is picking up a lot of ambient noise.

I would recommend two microphones, one very close to the speaker, and another near the audience to pick up the children's reactions.

Whatever microphone you are currently using is fine for the children, but for the main performer you need something with better quality.

My recommended mic is the Blue Yeti, it is inexpensive (US$100 ish), has a direct USB out, as it can be set to a unidirectional (cardioid) pattern. It will improve the quality of your sound enormously. There are a few other USB mics in this price range, but the Blue is easily the best. The Shure PG42 is a slightly better mic, but it is also more than double the price.

Whichever mic you get, make sure it is set to a cardioid ("one direction only") recording pattern. Also set it close to your storyteller - no more than 15-20 cm away.


PS, you may not know the name, but Blue are a highly respected manufacturer of professional grade recording microphones... (which aren't cheap, eg. the Blue Bottle at $6000 or so http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Bottle/)
2014/8/1 5:05:03
Premiere Pro Glad you got it sorted - it is almost certainly a caching issue.

http://provideocoalition.com/ssimmons/story/Clean_those_adobe_media_cache_files
2014/8/1 3:00:39
Rendering If you are on a Mac, try importing the TGA set into iMovie. If on Windows, try a compatible program if you have one.

If the same problem occurs, then there is an export issue in Muvizu. (Although I have never had a problem).

If the fileset works fine elsewhere, there is some configuration or interpretation problem in After Effects.

I haven't yet tried taking a TGA fileset into AE (I've been using Premiere), but there may be some trick to it - there certainly is for Premiere.

I'll try an import into AE and see what happens, and if I learn any useful tricks I'll let you know (won't get to this for at least 8 hours sorry).
2014/7/31 5:57:47
Rendering I'll echo what Ziggy said about using TGA's - they are far superior to any video file format. Also the advice about exporting to a unique folder each time is spot on.

Just make sure your video software can import TGA file-sets. Obviously the pro software like Premiere and Final Cut Pro can do this, and so can a lot of other (payment required) editors like Corel Videostudio.

However quite a few don't such as Windows Movie Maker, Pinnacle and Cyberlink Power Director. (Apple's iMovie can though).

If you want a good quality, free video editor that can read TGA, get Lightworks. They have a pro version, but the free version will suit most people here.
http://www.lwks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=98&Itemid=209

Another good tip - don't do any camera cuts inside Muvizu. Export each camera as a separate TGA file set, and then do your cuts within your video editor. You'll have far more control, you can use dissolves and other transitions, plus you can change your mind much more easily.
2014/7/30 10:15:19
Unable to replay movements No problem.

Muvizu tech support have since confirmed that yes, having multiple versions of DirectX installed on your system can cause this problem. So it was time well spent. (Muvizu is rocking along now.)
2014/7/30 10:11:54
Devious from San Diego, California In a word, no.

Pixar had to abandon two years and millions of dollars worth of work (on a movie called "Newt") when the movie Rio was released, because the premises were so similar.

Generally there is no problem if two similar stories get made, it happens all the time.

There is only trouble when suspicions arise that actual plagiarism has occurred. (see Shia LaBeouf - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/shia-labeouf-announces-retirement-from-public-life-after-plagiarism-scandal-sparks-bizarre-apology-spree-9051553.html)
2014/7/30 1:49:59
the man who lived twice I already posted a comment on YouTube (under a different name) but I just wanted to repeat my praise here - really great work.
2014/7/30 1:35:25
Muvizu in a TV show Hi all, thought I'd introduce myself, I'm Manning and I run a children's television production company in Sydney, Australia.

Our show is a puppet-based (live action) production aimed at children aged 3-6 and we have just started using Muvizu Plus within our show.

We have been wanting to add small animated scenes to our show for quite some time (to bridge different segments). However with all of our (small) budget devoted to live action, we would have had to outsource the animation, and frankly we just couldn't justify the cost. Plus no-one on our production team has any expertise in animation.


Adding to the difficulty, it would have added a lot of scheduling hassle - you have to meet with your animators, explain your concepts, etc, which is a lot of time and effort for what would be (at most) 60 seconds of footage per episode.


When I discovered Muvizu I was just blown away - it solved all of our problems immediately.

Generally a "new" idea in animation means at least a couple of weeks before you see the final results. Yesterday we hatched an idea, scripted it, recorded the dialog (we have our own recording studio) and completed the entire 25 second piece, exported it to Targa and today we are cutting it into the final edit.

We have also started doing some greenscreen work - putting our live performers into the Muvizu scenes (we are compositing in After Effects). I'm looking forward to do the reverse (greenscreen Muvizu output being cut into live action footage).

Unfortunately I can't upload any of our work until it gets broadcast, but I'm looking forward to sharing it with you in a few months time.

A sidenote - we will soon be looking to hire people to create some custom objects and textures to be created in Blender. We'll do that through https://www.elance.com, although I'll post a link to the jobs here.
2014/7/28 22:39:22
Unable to replay movements No I quit and restarted dozens of times, on two different systems. I also rebooted the machines.

The problem went away only after I changed the rendering type.
2014/7/28 10:45:18
Unable to replay movements I seem to have fixed it... (!)

I went to File >> Options

Then I changed to rendering to DirectX 11 (DirectX 9 was selected, presumably a default option).

I can record and modify movements now, as well as make additional movement recordings.

(You have to quit and restart Muvizu after changing the rendering type).
edited by oziabla on 28/07/2014
2014/7/28 5:35:47
Unable to replay movements Wow. That's a pretty serious bug - it basically eliminates some core functionality.

I've raised a support ticket, so we'll see what they have to say.
2014/7/28 4:21:09
Unable to replay movements PS - I am now pretty confident this really is a bug, so I am going to raise a support ticket.
2014/7/28 4:19:42
Unable to replay movements Some further investigation of the above problem...

1 - If I exit the program, re-open it, open the timeline and click play, it WILL play the first movement, but not the second.
2 - Once I touch the timeline for any other reason, (including the "rewind to start" button) there will be no further movement until I exit and re-open Muvizu.
3 - If I exit the program, re-open it, and immediately go to "Make video", it will include the first movement in the video, but not the second.
4 - If I hit the "PLAY" button in the "preview" tab of the "make video" screen, then there will be no movement ever again (...until I quit and re-open).


So it appears that the first movement will work once and once only, and only upon opening the program, and only as long as I don't do "anything" beforehand. By "anything" I mean any possible action, including simply clicking on an object.

(As you can tell, I have been opening and closing Muvizu a LOT to figure all this out).
2014/7/28 3:08:52
Unable to replay movements Hi

Here are two screenshots which illustrate my current problem. It is happening on both my installs (both on Windows 8.1, ample RAM and GPU cards. One of these is a paid install, the laptop one is a free install)

Once I have directed the movements, I can drag the timeline pointer around and the character follows the movements.



However, when I press "PLAY" on the timeline, nothing happens. You can see that the timeline is in roughly the same position in both images, so the dog should be walking across the front of the shot, as above.



Am I doing something wrong, or is this a bug of some kind?

Thanks.

EDIT - one key point I left out in the above. In each case, I have changed the location of the "movement" block in the timeline after I recorded it. This seems to be what causes the problem.
edited by oziabla on 28/07/2014
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Muvizu is easy to use 3D animation software that allows anyone to create high quality animations quickly and easily. Muvizu’s animation engine is ideal for storytellers, animators, teachers and businesses looking to engage, enchant and delight audiences with animated content.