Here's a silly video I created for a contest at work:
     http://youdeliver.citrix.com/Play/tabid/79/pid/1112/Default.aspx

Feel free to vote for it, because the top submissions get an iPhone. 

Tools used:

• Second Life
• Sony Vegas

I must have spent 15-20 hours on that video, primarily on sound effects. While working on this, I discovered that sound effects are very essential, but if they're good no one will really notice them. I.e., making something look and feel natural is a lot harder than it looks and isn't appreciated unless there are no sound effects.

If you notice, Helen's voice is distorted in a way as to make it sound as if she's coming through a digital line. My voice is distorted to reflect the environment I'm in, there are environment sounds like splashes and vehicles, etc. This all required a lot of work, but you can barely 'notice' it while watching the video. You just expect these things to be present.

Second Life is a great tool for creating the stage and environment. Inside its interface, I used existing Second Life places (e.g. the Midgar Final Fantasy Island) and dynamically created iPhone look-alikes (see if you can spot it). I also adapted an in-game laptop to display a fake webpage, and created a weird/fake server rack on the fly. I only scratched the surface, but you really can create just about any environment you imagine. This can be very helpful for fun videos.

I can't harp on Sony Vegas enough-- that tool is wonderful. I happen to have the $50 home version of the tool, but it's possible to get effect and codec plugins from the professional version and they work there, too. (The primary limitation being 3-4 video tracks, and 3-4 audio tracks, which I've always worked around. Professional versions allow unlimited tracks, I believe.) With Vegas, I was able to create overlays, manage sound effects, apply video rendering effects, pan/zoom, etc. If you enjoy video editing, I highly recommend it. I studied video editing in school for a few years (winning best editor awards, even), and I'm in awe of how far digital editing has come. I'm ten times more productive with this software than with a top-of-the-line editing deck from 8-10 years ago.

Categories: Geekery, Humor

It seems there are a lot of things in this world that you ignore for years. Yet, once you discover them, they come full force and you aren't able to ignore it at all anymore.

This happened to me while listening to Soul Coughing one day. (Stop reading if you don't want to potentially affect your enjoyment of their music.) I discovered that nearly every single time Mike Doughty (lead singer) sings a sentence that ends in a consonant, he ends it with a very audible "uhhh" suffix. For example, this turns "Unmarked Helicopters" into "Unmarked HelicoptersUHHH".

This realization has quite tainted my enjoyment. Now it's very difficult for me not to notice it, making me unable to casually listen to their music.

Perhaps no one else runs into quirks like this and I'm just losing my mind; either way I thought I'd share.

Categories: Humor

Tired of commenting your code? Well, this customizable utility could do it for you.

Categories: Software Development, Humor