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Seasons....

Lin Evans

By Lin Evans
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Lin Evans Advanced Member

Lin Evans

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Hey Tom,

LOL - yep, more of a "world globe." The Crystal Ball concept as seen in your link is really cool - not a new idea, but always refreshing.

It is a bit of a time sink programming the animations of individual leaves, and I'm not really completely happy with it yet so probably will work some more on it. I can take some solace though in the realization of what the great fashion photographer Melvin Solkolsky once told me; that sometimes major magazines will spend as much as $50,000 "on one image" in post processing in order to get it just right! That was a major eye opener. Imagine how many man-hours are involved, even at the high rates charged by really talented Photoshop experts! That make the few dozen hours I spend pale by comparison.

Best regards,

Lin

JRR Advanced Member

JRR

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Lin:

As usual great little show

Question though. Most of your other shows are smooth to very slightly jittery on my PC (I do NOT have a current graphics card) but this one started smooth but then became quite rough as soon as the fall changed to winter and the moon came up.

I know we want to hold off on winter :D :D but is there a reason why it bogged down at that point ?

Lin Evans Advanced Member

Lin Evans

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Hi Jim,

LOL - Winter's here and zero degrees F in Colorado!

It's definitely the graphics card issue - this one is pretty graphics intensive with the combinations of masking and larger objects. Unfortunately, there is no other way I know of doing it. Hopefully, in a year of so everyone will have a decent graphics environment as older cards get replaced or systems get upgraded and these issues will be just fond memories.

Best regards,

Lin

JRR Advanced Member

JRR

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Thx Lin

I added the file to my "system tester" folder

Lin Evans Advanced Member

Lin Evans

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Tom,

I finally got the leaves pretty much as I wanted them - same link - some significant improvement I think. Unfortunately, this is really graphics intensive. Even my wife's overclocked nVidia 8600 GT has a tiny bit of jerky motion on that animation. It's butter smooth on my 8800 GT but I fear that it will be on the ragged edge for many viewers. Hopefully in a year or so the need to use so much care in motion will subside with better video hardware becoming increasingly available.

I've made the objects (leaves) about as small as practical and there are only 12 of them, but duplicated twelve times so that there are 144 falling leaves each with its own motion animation which puts quite a bit of stress on the video. It's a pity that those with less than optimal video can't enjoy the same motion and smoothness that we who have upgraded video cards can.

Best regards,

Lin

Lin Evans Advanced Member

Lin Evans

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Hi Ken,

Thanks! I wish it were smooth for all, but just can't get the quantity of leaves without significant load on the graphics. I've tested it on several systems and it varies quite a bit, so this is probably another good one to test a video environment with. If a video card runs this one smoothly it's pretty well optimized I suspect.

Best regards,

Lin

BEAUTIFUL - SMOOTH

KEN

Lin Evans Advanced Member

Lin Evans

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Hi Peter,

I'll work on that! Or, at least something summer-like...

Best regards,

Lin

Hi Lin,

Smooth as silk on my nVidia 8400GS. But no summer? How about some desert scenes with animated dust devils?

regards,

Peter

Lin Evans Advanced Member

Lin Evans

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Hi Bill,

Thanks! It's always fun pushing the software to see what the limits might be!

Best regards,

Lin

Smooth as silk for me too Lin, using my Sony Vaio Core 2 Duo T6600 2.20Ghz laptop. Tons of work!! Thanks for showing us just what PTE (and your skill level) can do!

Regards,

Bill

Lin Evans Advanced Member

Lin Evans

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Hi Colin,

Thanks! It's good to hear that it's working for several!

Best regards,

Lin

Hi Lin,

Brilliant piece of work, really enjoyed it. Worked well on my pc with my nVIDIA 8800GTS

Regards,

Colin

Bruss444 Senior Member

Bruss444

Posted
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Hello Lin! Sounds like things are quite cold out there but looks like we get rain this time in eastern Pa. from that storm. Lin, I ran the Mac version of "Seasons" and just outstanding. All was very smooth except momentarily at the transition, like a hickup, from Fall to Winter. Same place as Jim mentioned about. I am viewing it on my MacPro, current model, and at the highest graphics setting so I was kind of surprised. First I have seen that happen. The water falls, WOW, You are one of the masters in PTE! Kind of curious Lin, was that layer a .png file? Lin, I want to thank you for posting your presentations not only for PC but also for Mac.

Lin Evans Advanced Member

Lin Evans

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Hi Bill,

Yes, way below zero today and probably won't warm up until perhaps Thursday or Friday. I've been shoveling snow for the last couple days trying to stay ahead of it. Hopefully, by Thursday I'll have the driveways cleared and a path to the barn.

The "hickup" isn't surprising because the show is really graphics intensive. Depending on one's video card it "can" be smooth, but it takes a pretty powerful card to run the whole thing smoothly. I figure a minimum of an nVidia 8800 GT and anything better to really do it justice.

On the waterfall graphic there are multiple PNG files on different layers as well as a mask or two. It's always more taxing when the water movement is in different directions. That particular shot was an aerial photo of Iguazu Falls by the great French Photographer Yann Arthus Bertrand, the author of Earth From Above which is a fantastic book of his aerial photos. It's a particularly difficult one to animate because of all the different directions of water flow.

I've added a final animated "summer" globe to the show (same links) so can finally get back to shoveling snow tomorrow morning - LOL.

Best regards,

Lin

Hello Lin! Sounds like things are quite cold out there but looks like we get rain this time in eastern Pa. from that storm. Lin, I ran the Mac version of "Seasons" and just outstanding. All was very smooth except momentarily at the transition, like a hickup, from Fall to Winter. Same place as Jim mentioned about. I am viewing it on my MacPro, current model, and at the highest graphics setting so I was kind of surprised. First I have seen that happen. The water falls, WOW, You are one of the masters in PTE! Kind of curious Lin, was that layer a .png file? Lin, I want to thank you for posting your presentations not only for PC but also for Mac.

Ken Cox Advanced Member

Ken Cox

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Lin smooth as silk on the #1 system

Operating System System Model

Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3 (build 2600) No details available

Processor a Main Circuit Board b

2.80 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4

Intel® 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers (2x)

Primary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)

Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x) ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 SERIES [Display adapter] 256 ram

ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 SERIES - Secondary [Display adapter]

you should have a shark fin following the raft in the lagoon smile.gif

ken

post-16-126036355284_thumb.jpg

8321 Senior Member

8321

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Another great one Lin but more proof that I need an 8800GT.

If I may risk being critical, I thought the waterfall went on a bit long but I am sure you had a reason.

Subtle, I like it.

Jeff

Lin Evans Advanced Member

Lin Evans

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Hi Jeff,

The timings are 32 seconds for the falling leaves in the Great Smoky Mountains, 57 seconds for the snow/moonrise at Bear Lake, Colorado, 56 seconds for the Iguazu Falls and 52 seconds for the summer at Manihi Lagoon (Tahiti), I suspect that it's (the Falls display time) a perceptual thing because there is less obviously visible going on depending on the size and resolution of one's monitor. With a really large and high resolution display there are subtleties in the Iguazu Falls which take a bit of time to digest so perhaps it may depend on one's environment while watching. Perceptually, the last slide at Manihi seems to go very fast while the moon rise and Iguazu Falls seem much slower even though there are only a few seconds separating them.

Changing the timings much more requires a tremendous amount of rework because the animation was originally timed for a 60 second cycle for individual slides. To shorten one of the slides requires lengthening another to match the background music. This (timing issue) is especially true of the Iguazu Falls because changing the timing dramatically requires rework of about 10 separate PNG motion layers so I probably won't rework it much.

It does indeed require a pretty powerful video card to run things smoothly. If you decide to upgrade, be sure to visit this link and check the ratings for any desired card. The nVidia 8800 GT ranks 46 in current order of power testing and newer and more powerful cards are being released daily. When I bought the card it was one of the top rated, but now ranks only in the upper 1/4 or so. The speed rating on this particular site is 957 for the 8800 GT and higher numbers are better. The top ranked cards may go as high as 2582 (ATI Radeon HD 5870) so there are a number to choose from but I would suggest one at least as high as the 8800 GT.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/

Best regards,

Lin

Another great one Lin but more proof that I need an 8800GT.

If I may risk being critical, I thought the waterfall went on a bit long but I am sure you had a reason.

Subtle, I like it.

Jeff

8321 Senior Member

8321

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Hi Lin,

Don't change a thing! Its great.

I will definitely check out the ratings but, as usual, there is a cascading effect - faster card needs bigger or second power supply - and so it goes on.

Regards,

Jeff

Have fun in the snow. Here it is 30C most days.

Lin Evans Advanced Member

Lin Evans

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Hi Jeff,

Unfortunately, it is true - at least for the 8800 GT. I had to upgrade my default Dell 350 watt power supply to a 750 watt to accommodate the 8800 GT. Actually, it only required a 450 watt power supply but there was such a little difference in cost that I bought the larger one. You can buy a "good" quality 750 watt power supply for under $100 U.S.D. Having more reserve power means that the fan runs very rarely and it's whisper quiet. Unfortunately, Dell is terribly "stingy" on their power supplies and didn't even have available connectors to power the 8800 GT. Most of the more powerful video cards require power not only from the bus connector, but also from the power supply as well. A good, shielded power supply is really an excellent investment, especially if you are running numerous peripheral devices all pulling power from your system.

This time of year I envy your great warm temperatures! When I was young, I really enjoyed battling the elements, shoveling snow, skiing, snowshoeing, winter camping, etc., but these days I tend to complain more and do less - LOL. I enjoy playing more with the computer than fighting the weather anymore - HA! I use getting older as an excuse, but I think I've just gotten lazy. I used to make 50 mile, high altitude (13,000 - 14,000 feet elevation) treks to photograph wildlife and now I look for longer focal length glass so I can sit more and walk less! I've go to change these habits soon or I will not be able to in a few years. About 10 miles is all I'm good for these days before I start thinking about making camp, warm soup and a comfortable sleeping bag.

Well, the sun has finally come out and I guess I'd better get back to snow removal...

Best regards,

Lin

Hi Lin,

Don't change a thing! Its great.

I will definitely check out the ratings but, as usual, there is a cascading effect - faster card needs bigger or second power supply - and so it goes on.

Regards,

Jeff

Have fun in the snow. Here it is 30C most days.

Lin Evans Advanced Member

Lin Evans

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Hi Ken,

I'm impressed that the 9600 card handles so much very well. ATI has done a great job with this on - you can watch TV or compute or do great graphics and animation!

I was worried that the poor girl floating in the Manihi Lagoon might be scared right out of her bikini if one of those reef sharks cruised by. Then I would be left with an "R" rated show and have to censor my audience - LOL

Best regards,

Lin

Lin Evans Advanced Member

Lin Evans

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Thanks Ray!

And a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to your and your family as well!

Best regards,

Lin

Hi Lin,

Another great one, Runs smooth as silk on my Vista NVidia GeForce 8600M GS.

A Merry Xmas and all the best Lin.

Ray

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