Rick Castiglione – Storytelling

John Manzo – Third Wave Coffeehouses

Chris Turner – Great Leap Sideways

Decidedly Jazz Danceworks – Wise Apple

Jennifer Martin – Innovative Spaces

Garnette Sutherland – Imaging, Robotics and Surgery

Eden Full – Changemaking & Solar Panels

Lorrie Matheson – Creative Process

Ben Cameron – Live Performing Arts in the 21st Century

Ruben Nelson – What Calgary Must Become

Dan Lui of BNetTV.com provided me access to additional coverage (footage swap!), and access to BNetTV’s mixing board audio. And thanks to Sarah Blue for letting me capture the event.

…as you can see, the promotional video introduces the Hottie Hookups team using “Guy Ritchie on a budget” style title cards. In theory, a Sony Vegas workflow for such dynamic titles isn’t terribly difficult… grab a frame from video, manually trace around the Hottie Hookup developer’s image so they’re masked out. GIMP or Paint.NET can both mask and stylize, so Photoshop is not required.

A single masked out image can then have multiple effects applied, each slightly different looking effect saved as a separate file. Rapidly alternating between different versions of these masked images, at slightly different positions (be sure to use “hold” keyframes, or the images will slide instead of jump), an editor can use Sony Vegas to manually create extremely dynamic title cards.

Unfortunately, the story does not end there… at least while VEGAS PRO 9.0c 64-bit is SONY’s latest release. Because Sony Vegas 9.0c does not like my masked images.

This is an inconsistent issue, and I’m finding it does not matter what format the image is in. What does matter, is the complexity of the timeline at that instant (how many layers, how many masked images), and the pan & scan movement being applied to the video element.

While Hottie Hookups title cards features jerky motion, such an error is best illuistrated by a slow pan and zoom. When previewing the video in Vegas, I see the image flicker and disappear, instead of expanding and filling the screen. This may be some sort of caching error, since I found I needed at least 5 images in any single project before one image would flicker and disappear. Occasionally, I could return to a “trouble” spot on the timeline, only to see the video suddenly preview correctly.

This inconsistency also applies to rendering the final video. Not being able to edit the video in a WYSIWYG manner is bad, but lucking out when editing (so that the image remains visible) does not guarantee your final render will contain the image.

Fortunately, there is a work-around. Unfortunately, it is extremely tedious and makes Sony Vegas a giant time-suck for complex title sequences.

1. Create a new (temporary) Sony Vegas project. Set project resolution either as big as your masked image, or as big as possible.
2. Import your masked image into Sony Vegas.
3. Export your image as a short uncompressed video clip (AVI version 2 with alpha channel enabled).
4. Instead of using images in your “real” Sony Vegas project, use your exported short video clips.

No, seriously. It does not matter if my images are JPG, or PNG. They don’t even have to be high resolution (I see this problem with images only 1280×720). And it doesn’t take much complexity for images to start disappearing.

Those dynamic title cards you see consist of layers of static video, and not images. Because Sony Vegas could correctly render a complex timeline filled with many alpha channeled video clips, but not alpha channeled images.

I realize not everyone uses Sony Vegas for animation, but to quote Gob, “Come on!”

Sony Vegas 9.0c came out in 2009-10 (October 2009). Since then, VideoLAN Media Creator has been announced.

Sony Vegas currently maintains the lead in supporting a wide variety of file formats (AVCHD is why I’m using Vegas today, and not Final Cut), but the only other significant advances I’ve seen Sony make since 6.0 are multicam editing and 64-bit support. How about basic UI issues, like freeing aspect ratio for more than one clip at a time? Or directly exporting old-school FLV?

In fact, I had a complex project on hold for 6 months until I happened to upgrade my Windows box to 64-bit, finally allowing the project to render successfully. In 32-bit land, no memory warning was given. Sony Vegas simply crashed while rendering.

So Sony Vegas 9.0c 64-bit solves one problem, while introducing another. Given VLC Media Player’s fantastic support for playback of various file formats, one has to wonder if Sony Vegas’s strongest feature, broad file format support, won’t be soon surpassed by a free and open source application.

VideoLAN Media Creator will support all 3 OSes (Linux, Mac, PC) just as VLC Media Player does. Give me stability and consistency, I’ll take that over multicam any day.

“$600?!? Come on!”

Did you know that Calgary is on the cutting edge of coffee subculture? No, really.

Did you know that Phil & Sebastian’s (despite their flash-only landing page) is a perfect example of Calgary’s dominance in the field of “Third Wave” coffeehouses?

In Marda Loop, Phil & Sebastian’s is no more than 5 blocks from my house. I go there every single morning for Americano. Given my schedule (and their hours), they don’t need to make coffee as well as they do to get my business.

But they make great coffee. The atmosphere is open. It is something I hadn’t experienced before, although I’d never been able to articulate quite why. John Manzo to the rescue!

My other favorite TEDxYYC talk was given by Chris Turner, entitled “The Great Leap Sideways“.

Problem: Ocean Acidification + Economic Instability + Peak Oil = Big Trouble

The 3 solutions Chris presented are straight-forward and already demonstrated as cost-effective:

• Transportation Infrastructure
• Energy Policy
• Urban Design
   

TEDxYYC was a fantastic experience… forcing lectures down to under 20 minutes really lets the audience consume a lot of content in a day. And clearly there are Calgarians with interesting content to share.

Hopefully TEDxYYC it will be an annual event.

Bill Dickie (Alberta Minister of Mines and Minerals 1971-1975) pointed out the Stelmach government just polled 1024 Albertans and found only 25% object to new nuclear projects…

Calgary Herald: Alberta would welcome private nuclear power, Stelmach gov’t says (excerpt follows)

The Stelmach government opened the door Monday to nuclear power in Alberta — rejecting a moratorium and saying it will consider the controversial energy option on a case-by-case basis — but vowed no public dollars will be invested in any project.

jfekete@theherald.canwest.com

I’m got some useful feedback on REDDIT, and forum pertaining to LFTR’s potential in Alberta…

Depleted uranium can be used as fuel in fast reactors. However, it is not usable in CANDU. CANDU is a thermal reactor, not a fast reactor: it does not breed fuel. It runs on fissile U-235. It can run on (0.7% U-235) natural uranium because it is very efficient at using U-235, not because it burns U-238 (not self-sufficiently, anyway). Conventional reactors are extremely wasteful, as they throw away over 99% of the starting material (because they can not feasibly burn U-238). A closed fuel cycle, with reprocessing and fast reactors, increases fuel efficiency by 100x – hence decreases fuel demands by 100x, and waste production by 100x. The transuranic elements, the most important of nuclear waste, are not left over but are consumed as fuel. Fast reactors can import these waste components from other reactors and burn them. They are waste incinerators. Thorium fuel cycles are basically the same – substituting U-238 with Th-232, and Pu-239 with U-233. They have the same basic advantages as plutonium-cycle fast reactors – fuel efficiency, waste burning. - deleted

Somewhere around 1/3 to 1/2 of a barrel of oil is needed to extract 1 barrel of oil. This is a very significant amount. I can not speak for other people. My primary concern with nuclear reactors are the usual concerns about cost, fuel production, safety, disposal, and cost. If the benefits of nuclear can be had without the drawbacks, then I will dance a little jig. It’s the promise of fusion, after all. - MechaBlue

Canadians are slightly anti-nuke, but the primary problem is that the oil companies already own the natural gas. They just drill a hole and it comes out of the ground to be burned for free, so from their point of view why would they use nuclear? They used to burn natural gas off as waste. You would have an easier time selling the idea of a Thorium reactor in terms of providing people with cheap power. Even then, in Alberta, the “lines provider” will be taking most of the profit from delivering that power. The reason why consumers are stuck with heavily polluting mines and power generation is primarily political. The current generators have used regulatory means to exclude newcomers because it isn’t in their best interest to lower their profits. - raghead

Use of nuclear energy for in situ gasification of coal (via high temperature steam) could reduce mining deaths. High ash coal deposits could also be exploited. Non-volatile poisons could be left in situ and the gas could be cleaned of volatile poisons and suspended matter before use. The process may also be feasible as an alternate for bitumen deposits like Alberta sands. - jagdish

Indian thorium solid fuel fast breeder will be up in 2011 at Kalpakkam This is unrelated to LFTR, which is a thermal spectrum reactor working with liquid fuels. - tt23

Despite the plethora of oil patch executives, Calgary Greens and red wine, no fisticuffs took place.

Kirk Sorensen’s Google Tech Talk “Energy from Thorium” made a big impression on me. But when I recommended it to others, the typical response was “it’s 82 minutes long”. So I shortened it. In fact, I combined 3 Google Tech Talks on Thorium into first a single 25 minute summary (below), and now a 16 minute summary (above).

If you are care about climate change, energy independence or nuclear fission byproducts (some take thousands of years to decay), then please check this out. The liquid-fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) is a fascinating concept, and watching a remix may be the fastest way to get up to speed. Prefer reading copy? Chemical & Engineering News just posted an excellent Thorium overview.

197 minutes of Google Tech Talks were reviewed and compressed to make this video. The video quality is what it is because it is all second generation YouTube content. Should anyone knowledgeable about LFTR pay a visit to Calgary (or Edmonton), I’ll be happy to record a lecture on the subject, and provide a sharper summary video.

Canada’s oil sands may represent the most likely scenario for LFTR adoption in Canada. Regardless of the energy source used to extract oil from bitumen, Alberta will be responsible for emitting a lot of CO2 as oil sands development continues. That appears politically inevitable. The resource is in the ground, we’re going to dig it up. Hopefully it will proceed as slowly as possible (as the bitumen will only increase in value over time), and as efficiently as possible.

LFTR R&D might be only considered “Oil Sands R&D” in the short term. But if it enables Canada to expand our CANDU reactor line to include liquid-fluoride thorium reactors, we wouldn’t just have better energy options at home, but more reactor options for export.

With that in mind, I created a MP3 audio-only version (6 MB), and an iPhone/iPod friendly MPEG-4 version (115 MB).

Those alternate formats are the 25 minute version, not 16 minute version. If you want to take a stab at creating a still shorter version (I think a video needs to be under 8 minutes to go viral), a high quality MPEG-4 version of the 16 minute remix is right here (89 MB). Giv’er.

The creation of this video was an example of client fast feedback loops enabled by posting iterations of a video to a private video host. While working on each iteration of the video, the previous iteration was uploading to Blip.TV.

Prior to upgrading to a 64-bit OS (Win7×64), there was a noticeable hit in PC performance while simultaneously rendering and editing. But now with 7 GB RAM, and 4 CPU, I can edit, render (and of course upload) at the same time. Good workflow.

(Doctor Gordon James McDowell not a licensed physician, but can still fix your stiff spine with a quick twis… oh sorry. Can’t feel your legs? I’d better get you to a hospital.)

Head to BarCampCalgary.com to find out when & where the next BarCamp is going down in Calgary.

Yesterday, I submitted yoctoRide. Had I known that app titles can be submitted in advance of code (I’d heard about iPhone app name squatting but never read the details), I’d have claimed the app name long ago and not worried about it. To claim an app name, all you need is a description and icon. I bet Apple has some entertaining stats about who’s claiming what.

If you want a heads-up when yoctoPlay is released, email me and I’ll sent you a single email once a functional carpooling tool is available on iTunes. I’m extremely interested in Calgarians who are willing to carpool via their iPhones. Because this software will have no value without the network effect (utility of yoctoRide is zero if only one person is running it), I’ll be heavily promoting it in Calgary where I can monitor usage and drive people around myself if necessary. (Our car isn’t that fuel efficient, so its a loss-leader both economically and environmentally.)

One point I failed to make at DemoCamp: Passenger safety will be assisted by passengers snapping a photo before they enter any vehicle. That’s a date-stamped, geo-tagged image of car and driver automatically uploaded to yoctoRide’s server.

To see all the DemoCampCalgary presentations, head to DemoCampCalgary.com where all the presentations are indexed.

It is the company name I’ll be writing small apps under. Milliplay. Centiplay. Nanoplay. All taken. Fortunately, the metric prefix gods are generous gods.

YoctoRide will be Demonstrated at Calgary DemoCamp on 2009-10-27 (Oct 27th).

What is yoctoRide? Exactly.