Year: 2018

Created in December 2018

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Minor tweaks on themes for versluis.com and The WP Guru sites. Updates are live on GitHub:  https://github.com/versluis/The-WP-Guru-2013 https://github.com/versluis/Versluis-TwentyThirteen

How to duplicate an audio channel in Premiere Pro

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I recently had a clip in which the audio was only present on a single channel. Trying to edit that in iMovie proved impossible, because iMovie doesn’t have a way to deal with single tracks of audio. So I thought, I’m sure Premiere can do that. The question was… how? It had occurred to me …

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How to use SOUL REFLECTIONS for DAZ Studio

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In this episode I’ll show you how to use my new lighting product SOUL REFLECTIONS – Vol. 1. I’ve had so much fun exploring the eye reflections I’ve explained in my previous two videos, importing several interesting shapes and turning them into reflective surfaces. SOUL REFLECTIONS is the result of my endeavours. I’ve compiled presets …

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Storyist 118: Bookmarks and Comments

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In this episode I’ll show you how to use the bookmarking feature in Storyist. I’ll also explain how to use comments and where to find a list of them so you can see them all in one place. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Storyist-18-Comments.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 12:27 — 11.4MB)

Discovered in November 2018

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More like a re-discovery, Yellowjacket’s 1992 live album entitled LIVE WIRES is a timeless classic. I remember when my friend Oliver bought the CD back in the early nineties. It was like dynamite in our Walkmen.  Except for a couple of inevitable duff songs that seem to find their way into the best album, 7 …

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Multi Camera Editing in Premiere Pro CS 5.5

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Even my ageing version of Premiere Pro CS 5.5 has multi-camera editing capabilities built in. And even my ageing Mac Mini from 2012 can cope with full HD clips during those edits.

It’s a slightly mysterious process, and until very recently I didn’t quite know how to do it, so there are my notes. This workflow is also helpful if you a have single camera feed and want to switch live (vision mixer style) to zoomed-in versions of the same footage.

In short, we need to

  • drag all camera clips into a timeline (all on top of each other)
  • sync all clips in this timeline (select them all, then right-click and choose “synchronize”)
  • create a new sequence from that sequence
  • enable multi camera on that clip
  • open the multi camera monitor, press play and switch live between cameras, creating edits on the fly

Jonathan Lang explains it here:

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Created in November 2018

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Here’s what I’ve been up to over the last 30 days. It’s been highly productive, even though what I have achieved was not quite in line with what I had set out to do. It’s always interesting for me to see how unpredictable creativity is. SUPER SURVIVOR – Season 1 (Podcast) I’ve turned my second …

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Storyist 117: Using Story Sheets

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In this episode I will (try to) explain the concept of Story Sheets to you. Those are writing aides, akin to writing bibles and index cards. Think of Story Sheets as a supercharged version of a post-it note. They let you define relatively vague “things” like plot points, characters, settings, scenes, character development points and …

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Storyist 116: Working with Images

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In this episode I’ll show you how Storyist lets you import images and how you can use them in your project. Images are not linked and are stored with your project, so feel free to delete the original. Storyist can use images in-line with your text, or they can be part of the storyboard view …

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DAZ Studio 111: Installing Content in a Second Directory

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In this episode I’ll show you how to install 3D Content with Install Manager into another directory of your choice. By default, Install Manager will use a folder called “My DAZ 3D Library”, but sometimes you may need a second directory to install content in. For example, to keep pre-release files separate from “release versions”, …

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Storyist 115: Writing Shortcuts

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In this episode I’ll show you some of the shortcuts I find useful when using Storyist. I’ll show you how to navigate words, paragraphs and whole lines from the keyboard, and I’ll also explain a couple of tab key shortcuts. Lastly, I’ll show you how to access a full list of shortcuts that are supported …

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DAZ Studio 110: Object Hierarchies, Grouping and Parenting

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In this episode I’ll show you how parent objects to one another, and how to create groups, and the implications either of these actions has on your scene. I’ll also explain the Null object and when/how to use it. Understanding these concepts means you’ll be able to build scenes more efficiently: hierarchies let you move …

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Storyist 114: Headers and Footers

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In this screencast I’ll show you how to customise the headers and footers of your document. The principle is the same for either. In particular, we’ll look into aligning the page numbers in the footer: off numbers to the left, and even numbers to the right – just like some books do. Storyist can help …

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DAZ Studio 109: Adjusting the Pivot Point and using Multiple Viewports

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In this episode I’ll show you how to change the location of the Pivot Point in DAZ Studio. It’s the point at which the 3D manipulator gizmo shows up and from where objects are translated and rotated. Blender calls this the “origin point”. DAZ Studio uses the Joint Editor to manipulate this point. While I’m …

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Created in October 2018

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Another busy month draws to a close. Let’s see if I can remember all the exciting stuff I’ve been able to create, which consisted mainly of video content.

Blender Logo Creation – Mini Series

I’ve created a 5-part mini series on how to take a rasterised image, turn it into an extruded 3D object in Blender and use it to create a snazzy logo.

I’ve used this technique to create thumbnails for two of my recent projects (the DAZ Studio 101 series and my WordPress podcast). There are many steps to the whole process and I thought I’d record how I did it. I also created thumbnails for the videos in the series using the same approach, showing bit by bit what each video is about. Like this one:

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Storyist 113: Customising Your PDF

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In this episode I’ll show you how to customise the print-ready PDF we’ve created in the previous video. When Storyist formats a PDF with templates, it create intermediary files that we can tap into and further refine the output to make it look exactly as we want our book to look. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Storyist-13-PDF-2-v2.mp3 Podcast: Download (Duration: …

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Discovered in October 2018

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View this post on Instagram A post shared by Julie Rothenberg MS, RD, LDN (@julienergynutrition) I found this post by my wonderful nutritionist Julie Rothenberg in Instagram this month. It struck a chord in me about awareness and helped me through a day on which I felt angry and aggravated. I really didn’t want to …

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Storyist 112: Creating a PDF

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In this episode I’ll show you how to create PDF version of your document. In Storyist, this is done using an intermediary Book Object that takes care of the page setup and formatting options. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Storyist-12-PDF-1.mp3 Podcast: Download (Duration: 18:16 — 16.7MB)

Adding Materials to our Objects in Blender (Cycles)

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In this episode I’m giving our objects some colour with simple shaders: I’m making the grass green, give the ground an earthy brown and add a shiny golden touch to our logo. I’m also covering the logo with another replicator, simulating an interesting effect. This is part 4 of a mini series about how to create …

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DAZ Studio 107: Manipulating Objects with Tools

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In this episode I’ll show you how to manipulate objects in the viewport using four tools: the translate, scale, rotate and universal manipulator tools. I’ll also explain the concept of world vs local/object coordinates and touch on screen coordinates. These are tough concepts to grasp, but with a bit of practice, you’ll be flying around …

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Storyist 111: Ebook Formatting Tips

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In this episode I’ll give you some tips about ebook formatting when using Storyist. For this demo I’ll use an EPUB document we’re creating from my dummy manuscript and open it in Apple s iBooks for macOS. I’ll show you how to replace the section separator, how to deal with empty lines, and you’ll see …

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Replicating an Object with Blender’s Particle Emitter

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In this episode I’m building several simple grass stalks and replicate them along a plane using Blender’s Particle Emitter. I’ll talk you through the scary options we need and explain some of the concepts in using the Particle Emitter as an Object Replicator. This is part 3 of a mini series about how to create a …

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DAZ Studio 106: Viewport Draw Styles

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In this episode I’ll talk you through the various Viewport Drawing Styles. The default we usually see is “texture shaded”, which is a nice compromise between displaying a good looking “live” picture, while keeping your computer responsive for navigating and posing. However, with larger scenes your system may become slower and less responsive. We can …

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Storyist 110: Creating a Kindle ebook

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In this video I’ll show you how to create a Kindle ebook from your manuscript and several other items in Storyist. Amazon’s Kindle uses the .MOBI ebook format, while other e-readers support the .EPUB format (such as Kobo, Nook and iBooks). Storyist supported them both equally well. https://www.versluis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Storyist-10-Kindle-ebook-v2.mp3 Podcast: Download (Duration: 20:18 — 18.6MB)