Confessions of a Leisure Enthusiast

I got the file converted, finally and running.  I have also managed to get a copy of Sony Vegas 5.0, which is a timeline editing system that will also allow me to incorporate my own audio.  I'm debating calling it done for the night as I am tired and have made a good amount of progress today…

Okay, so I moved the video from cassette to memory card, now the memory card is in my computer and the video is running great.  Now all I need to do, is scour the internet for a free movie converter b/c this camera records in MPEG4 and I need to have .mov files?  I hope this is correct.  So, to find a video editor that is free that I preferably don't have to steal……I will go to google.com and do a search for "free video editor".  Let's see what comes up.

Found a free 30 day trial of a software called Video Edit Magic Express to edit the vids.  Sorry, no open source for this, I just don't feel like messing with it.  Gotta have the training wheels.  I hope I have enough space for it.  

Well, download successful, but execution, not so much.  Apparently some of the streams in my file are in an unsupported file format.  The properties of the file say it's an .asf file.  I looked that up in google and it said .asf is one of those proprietaries which means it's not compatible w/anything…in lamen terms.  So, found a way to convert from .asf to .avi @:  http://www.divx-digest.com/articles/asf2avi.html.  Just requires downloading some free software, virtual dub.  

Now I'm opening virtual dub and pulling up my video file.  <BRICK WALL>.

Well, that was a dud.  I get the following message when I follow the directions on this page:  http://www.divx-digest.com/articles/asf2avi.html

ASF: illegal object fragment flags 00 in packet 1400

I am assuming that means something like: yeah, we're on to you, stupid, so give it up.  

I need to focus on getting our video clips together.  I could always video myself, as Ann suggested, and it's looking like that may be what happens, as I am the only one around right now.  

Well, that was simple.  I have a couple of clips I feel are good.  A couple of different smiles, one screaming file, a fake laugh.  I would also like to possibly add maybe some sound clips too.  Like, maybe as a person is walking up and the video smiles, the heart lights up and sets off a heartbeat sound that increases.  We'll see what is possible.   Now let's figure out how to get them on my computer.  According to the manual, p.52, to record from the cassette to the camera's memory card (don't ask why I didn't record to the card in the first place), all i have to do is push one button to card, one button to vcr, hit the play button, then push record.  

Let's see if that really worked.   

 Wow!  I think I am actually getting somewhere.  So, I checked the instructions in the readme file for gem, and they said to edit line 3 and 6 of the GEM_INSTALL.bat file to match the install of my pd, and I was like, what!?!  so, being a smartypants, I rightclicked on the icon and selected edit (I don't know how i knew how to do that or why i did it) and to my suprise, a notepad file pulled up, and I then understood what I needed to do.  This was the notepad file that came up:

@echo off
REM where does PD reside ??
set PDPATH=C:\programme\pd

REM which pd-version do we have ?
set PDVERSION=0.37

rem ==============================================
rem do not edit below this line
rem ==============================================

echo Installing GEM…
IF NOT EXIST %PDPATH%\bin\pd.exe goto location_error

rem setting path for reference-patches accordingly
set REFPATH=extra\help-Gem

———————————————————————————–

I didn't change it because it looked okay, then it didn't work, I got the same error message as last time.  So, I checked http://gem.iem.at/manual/GemWPd.html#noRun and it says that we should always use linux style slashes like \\ instead of //. Dunno what that means, but I tried changing it anyway in the file, but much to no avail.  Thought just for giggles I would try to start up Gem using a command line, regardless of the fact that I knew I hadn't installed it right, and yep! it didn't work.  Back to the drawing board.

Okay, I am looking at the installation instructions at:  http://gem.iem.at/download/GEM.README, under to install Gem on DOS.

and I understand now that a binary is a file w/formatting info that can only be read by certain apps or processors like .exe files, system files, graphic files, compiled programs, etc; I found that at:  http://kb.iu.edu/data/afrw.html .  Now looking at the http://gem.iem.at/download/GEM.README page, and it's starting to click.  When it says something crazy like gem <gemver><system>.bin.doc.{tgz/zip}, I get it now!  I can't even explain how confused that made me, but now I understand.  It's simply the version of gem, what kind of OS you're running, binary file, zippd.   Sometimes you just don't know things.  So, it's looking like I need to have gem-0.90.1-NT-i586-bin-doc.zip, because that has all of the stuff I need.  Wow, such a simple thing, yet I had no idea what it was.  But, as I have found out before, it's amazing what you can figure out for yourself.  It makes me reaize how lazy I can be sometimes, and how even though you don't realize it, sometimes you just expect people to do stuff for you, or there to be someone to design something to make it easier, more convenient.

Anyway, so now that I have pressed that one, and opened it with a compressed folder, I am going to click on the Gem install button.  Oops! Forgot to extract the files….I remember it being mentioned in class that when you install Gem to make sure it goes into the same place as pd, correct?  Let's see if I can find where it says that in the wiki or message board.  I'm going to the message board and doing a search for Gem again.  Actually, I searched the wiki first, and I found a link to the Gem manual.  It's located at:  http://gem.iem.at/manual/. 

That's not quite what I was looking for, though, but it's a good find.  Too bad it's in the  folder w/the install files, I'm sure.  Oh well, moving on.  So, to the message board>searching for Gem.  Didn't find what I was looking for, so gotta keep on truckin'. 

Somehow I have ended up back at http://gem.iem.at/download/GEM.README and I have found the instructions to install Gem on DOS again.  Sad part is, if I would have read back through this entry, I bet the location of this info I just spent the last 20 minutes looking for is up in the beginning!

  Anyways, it says to unzip gem package so that it's located at pd/gem.  So, I went under pd, made a new folder, called it Gem and extracted the file there.  Sure is taking forever…Like a whole minute or something….<snicker>…ZZZzzzzZZZZZzzzZZZZzzzz 

Now I am going to run the GEM_INSTALL bat. 

O, nuts!  Getting a message when I try to run, it says, and I sh*t you not, 

Installing pd…..

!  I believe I am in the wrong directory

!  I thought the pd executable would be C:\programme\pd\bin\pd.exe , obviously it is not!  please edit this file and set the PD PATH variable appropriately

!  Stopping installation…..

———————————————————

No kidding, that's what it said.  What a polite program.  I am assuming that in lamen terms that means that i saved it in the folder marked pd, not the actual application binary file.  So, I just need to move it, I guess? 

Reading the Gem install stuff, because I don't think I ever installed Gem on my computer. !!What!! here we go again, I don't know what any of this means. To make a long story short, i just don't understand, and I'm not sure how to teach myself and that makes me angry and want to say ignorant, condescending things about this program, but it's simply because I don't know what I am doing or how to figure it out.

Here's one from the tutorial: Now let's proceed to a more complex example using the GEM external. In order to ufse Pd with GEM you must invoke it via the $HOME/.pdrc file or with a command string similar to this one:

pd -rt -lib /home/dlphilp/gem-0.87_2/Gem

Awesome.  I know exactly what that is talking about.

Nevertheless, I can figure it out.  (As if sitting

here for the next two hours and bitching that I don't

understand is going to do me any good.)  It has done me

a whole lot of good thus far this semster.

Okay, here I go. I am first going to go to the wiki and look at john’s snail file.

Sweet. That snail is gross. This pd file looks like a martian language. I am saving it in my adsr file that I was saving all of my pd patches in. Down further on the wiki, I see a Using Gem w/Pd tutorial. I am going to check that out. It says to uncompress and untar the GEM file that I downloaded.

WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN? Okay, no need to panic. I’m going to go to google search and look up uncompress and untar and see what it pulls up. Oh, no worries, looks like that just means unzip, besides, those instructions were for linux anyway. There aren’t any instructions for XP, so I’m going to check the class wiki. I remember seeing them somewhere when we first started class. Maybe on the email list?
9.31 pm. K, I did a search for pd,gem on the class email list and found a couple of posts regarding pd downloads that are seeming to be helpful. One gave a good link to the wiki.

I have figured out that Air is the absolute of all bands when it comes to listening while doing something frustrating. Such a fantastic amalgamation of people not trying too hard to get your attention, but instead walking up behind you and taking it from your back pocket while you’re not looking….

Blogging takes about as much time as digging for information does. But this could help someone in the future as the old posts on the class forum have me, so wut evs. I am going here to look for info:
http://at.or.at/hans/pd/installers.html

(I think my modem is taking the pi$$ b/c over the last few weeks I have had to power it off and back on every 30 mins or so, and now it just dies all the time so I have to power cycle it all the time. It makes hunting for information a p.i.t.a.) but as an overpriveliged person how much can i really complain about anything, right? call me a wambulance, somebody.

Okay, I wish I could have documented the last 14 minutes of my life, but I was too vehemently clicking. Anyways, i seem to have stumbled onto something good, here in the pd manual (imagine that). lol. snicker:

file:///c:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/Desktop/pd/doc/1.manual/index.htm

It’s not like it was right there in front of my face though, i had to go digging around in teh file folder, and allllllllllllllllll the way down at the bottom of the page, in a file named ‘index’, there it was. Pd 101. It is telling me everything I need to learn about Pd, a month ago. Oh well. I need the files for Gem. I feel like Link in Zelda. Searching for the potion of knowledge and all I keep coming up with is rupies.

9.52pm My computer is the worst. Actually my internet connection is the worst. It keeps jumping offline and I don’t know why. It’s only staying on for like 10 minutes at a time.

K, so I understand things a little better now, but that’s not helping me with the snail video.  It’s only 9.58, though.  I feel like I should work more, but I’ll just sit here and distract myself anyway, so I’ll just keep these web pages up and tool around in the morning.  ttfn birches.

Not much luck from the stores today, although i did find a new desk that’s really cool, and two more frames which will be useful for the project.  Unfortunately I broke one, but it happens =(  I also came across some crazy looking old hair appliances to use.

I’m downloading my favorite show right now, so I’ll have something to do when I get frustrated.  My intent is to get pd running on my comp tonight w/the snail video.  I some info on .mov files and am pretty sure finding the video clips i want will probably be simpler than i thought, but we’ll see.