CG Pundit

The power of Internet is so great that even though i did not get an opportunity to be at NAB 2009 i dont feel i missed anything as most of the stuff was available online. From what i read online, the general consensus is that this year NAB was all about 3d right from 3d screens by JVC to holographic presentations by STATS and Viz RT. I resisted the temptation to post the enormous amount of information that was available in the Internet Cloud system.

However when i looked at some of the stuff that Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology showcased i couldn’t resist the temptation to get it up on CgP. The NICT is responsible for some really pathbreaking inventions and presented inspiring research work at the NAB event. Research like the gcubik or the Holograph Camera are right out of Star trek. The 8k capture were definitely a big hit from the reviews i read online. I wish i could have seen the holographic projection with my own eyes rather than watching a video( I am not sure an Experience of such kind can be experienced watching a video atleast as of now ).

Final verdict : Outright Inspirational and Futuristic.

Recently , BBC World News America’s Editor Bill McKenna got the ‘ Editor of the Year’ Award from White House News photographers Association.It was a pleasant surprise to many when he was asked to edit the Video showcasing his work that was shown at the Awards Gala Dinner Event. The Video is a great insight as to what goes in an Editors mind.

Have you tried bringing in your latest Color Corrected images from Photshop into your flash project only to find that the colors don’t look the same. Now a lot of hair globally has been shredded over this issue including my small contribution. This post is for my future reference and for those poor souls who were not able to find the help that i could and landed here.

Background Story : Flash as a software only supports SRGB profile whereas Photoshop as a solution has to support a range of profiles. Now if the profile of your image is not SRGB the color is going to look different in flash.

Step 1: Gaining this knowledge i immediately Loaded my image in Photoshop. Selected Edit>Assign Profile option and assigned SRGB Profile as a working profile and saved the image.

Step 2 : Now if it was this simple then i would not need a post for future reference.My happiness was not to last for long as i realised the image still didnt show the right colors on import into Flash. After some online scrambling i realised that the SRGB profile doesn’t get activated by itself and i needed to add a small AS3 snippet to make it work. So here we go

 ActionScript 3 | 
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stage.colorCorrection = ColorCorrection.ON;

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That’s it, the colors are now synchronized and i am a happy man.

For years we have been looking at carefully placed Pepsi cans and Product Packages in the frame of Movies or Tv shows.Have you noticed why in the popular Television series ‘24‘ the Counter terrorist unit ‘CTU’ used the sprint Network for telecommunication or why James bond drives a BMW or wear an Omega Watch.Brand Positioning or Placement has turned into a very critical element in a typical production these days and has been monetised significantly in the last few years. A lot of this form of advertisement is pre planned and is designed into the Content at the pre-Production or Production stage and companies pay millions to be affiliated with popular tv shows, Films or Character in films.Rarely one hears about such form of Brand Placement or advertisement in the post production stage Market.Sounds like an insane idea and thats exactly what makes Zunavision’s work so significant.
Zunavision have developed the technology that not only does easy subpixel accurate motion tracking but more importantly, automatic rotoscoping of foreground elements.All you need to do is mark the area you want the ads to show up and leave everything rest on Automation.This definitely opens another door for videomakers to monetize their content even after the shot is packed and finished.

Now how does this technology fit into the new era on online Video Streams and finding ways to Monetise. Film Makers and TV Show Producers can have an online version of their Content and dynamically change advertisement in define spots throughout the duration of the content based on the viewer info or the content type itself. Even thought the technology is good for top video content providers I am sure consumer video makers are going to love this form of generating more passive income.In a way this seems very similar to google adsense and i wont be surprised if google takes over this company and integrate into youTube.

date of Interview : Oct 01 2008

As a Visual artist i have always shied away from the Development in Audio Industry except for a few tricks (absolutely on a need to know basis).However at my day job we have been developing some Audio Visual support Media for our clients that required some crisp quality Voice recording. I found my consumer microphone to be absolutely inapt at such a task and this instigated me to do some research on this topic. What i found was a real eye opener and i am sure this info should help prosumers like me to get a jump start towards understanding Microphones.

A microphone, sometimes referred to as a mic, is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, tape recorders, hearing aids, motion picture production, live and recorded audio engineering, in radio and television broadcasting and in computers for recording voice, VoIP, and for non-acoustic purposes such as ultrasonic checking.

The most common design today uses a thin plastic or metallic membrane called diaphragm .It is usually round, always thin, and hopefully very light in weight. Some microphones have a diaphragm up to 25 mm (one inch) or more in diameter. Others have diaphragms as small as 3 mm (around one eighth of an inch). The Diaphragm vibrates in response to sound pressure/vibrations from the air movement which is subsequently translated into an electrical signal. The size of the diapragm dictates the quality of the frequency of the signal and is one of the prime selection criteria.

1. Large Diaphragm Microphones - Large diaphragm microphones (LDMs) are generally the choice for studio vocals, and any instrument recording where a more “deep” sound is desired. A large diaphragm microphone generally warms up the sound of what it’s recording, which also leads to the myth that most LDMs reproduce low frequencies better than small diaphragm mics; this isn’t true, in fact, small diaphragm mics are much better at reproducing everything evenly, including bass. You’ll want a pop screen if using a condenser microphone for vocals; they’re so sensitive to transient noises that the “P” and “SH” sounds you make will cause distortion.
2. Small Diaphragm Microphones - Small diaphragm microphones (SDMs) are generally the best choice where you want a solid, wide frequency response and the best transient response, which as we mentioned before, is the ability for your microphone to reproduce fast sounds, such as stringed instruments. SDMs are also the preferred choice for concert taping.
   As a general rule, large-diaphragm microphones can be subjectively very good for vocals and single instruments on-axis. For general room pickup, the more accurate small diaphragm type is preferred.

Another very crucial thing to take into consideration is the Sound Pick up Pattern.Microphones pick up a range of noise in four patterns. The different types are:

1. uni-directional or cardioid: picks up sound in a heart-shaped pattern in one direction. They generally record sound around them but not directly behind them. These are the best type to use.
2. omi-directional: pick up sound coming from all directions.
3. bi-directional: pick up sound from two opposite directions.
4. hyper-directional: pick up sound from one direction only and have a very narrow field.

In the Market , you will come across a wide array of mics based on technology such as electromagnetic induction (dynamic microphone), capacitance change (condenser microphone, pictured right), piezoelectric generation, or light modulation to produce the signal from mechanical vibration.However the Condenser and Dynamic Microphone are the most popular kind.

Condenser Microphones

These are the most common types of microphones you’ll find in studios. They have a much greater frequency response and transient response - which is the ability to reproduce the “speed” of an instrument or voice. They also generally have a louder output, but are much more sensitive to loud sounds.They are generally much more expensive than dynamic microphones. They require the use of a power supply, generally 48 volt “phantom power”, and that’s supplied very easily by most mixing boards or external power supplies (look for a switch that says “P 48″ or “48V” on the channel strip or on the back of the mixer.)

Heil PR40 is a great example of a Condenser Microphone

Dynamic Microphones

Compared to condenser microphones, dynamic microphones are much more rugged. They’re also especially resistant to moisture and other forms of abuse, which makes them the perfect choice onstage. Dynamic microphones like the Shure SM57 and Shure SM58 are legendary for not only their good sound quality, but the amount of abuse they can withstand. Any good rock club probably has at least 5 of each of these microphones in various states of aesthetic ruin; however, they still turn on and more than likely sound just as they did the day they came out of the package.

Dynamic microphones don’t require their own power supply like condenser microphones. Their sound quality is generally not as accurate, however. Most dynamic microphones have a limited frequency response, which makes them well-suited, along with their ability to withstand high sound pressure levels, for loud guitar amps, live vocals, and drums.

Shure SM58 is one of the highest selling Product in this category.

P2P has revolutionised the way we share content with each other.It is a technology that treats every computer as an equal on the network and the overall strength of the network is cumulative. It has revolutionised the way Data Transfers happens in this day and age. Sharing Media (Audio/Video) was never so easy and within minutes you could take that new dvd you bought and start sharing it with your friends.That really seems cool and might have the potential of making you popular amongst friends but if you think about it this technology has the power to bring down the entertainment industry. It is a Concern for quite sometime and the industry has been struggling to find how to avoid the abuse of this beautiful technology by bitPirates.

date of Interview : Feb 20 2009

date of Interview : February 05 2009