NEW! Novica & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 5
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Okay, found some scribbled notes. Apple devices are the only ones who can do embedded audio/video, and Kindles do streaming? Have I got that right? But due to their file sizes, that needs to be considered anyway?
Edit: Notes also say Flash is out for audio and video, HTML5 is preferred?
Oh yeah, I forgot about that!
That was a Flash video I put together using all still images just panned and zoomed around the screen (except for the one animated gif with the running horse - that's an 8-legged Sleipnir, by the way, for those of you who know your Norse mythology - Odin's steed of choice).
Flash is (or was) really a simplified version of the animation tools in DAZ and Poser, with a timeline and keyframes. Pretty easy, really.
Thanks for the compliment on the ship sailing into the book, I was really pleased with how that turned out - better than I had hoped.
Throwing a big thank you to you Scot. I appreciate your effort and I thank you for your time.
Unfortunately, audio and video is currently only supported on the Kindle in reflowable ebooks. For some reason Amazon is either having trouble making that work in their fixed layout code (although I can't really imagine why), or (more likely) they're trying to limit the file sizes for the time being, just like they've been doing for image file sizes until recently. With the new updated file size allowances I am in hopes that we will be seeing some new updates that allow for audio and video embedding. But it hasn't happened yet.
BTW, want to mention you have a bunch of folks across the pond who will be surfing in later. Your Norse reference reminded me of some of those people that will be here in a few hours :) They are on a very different time zone (snoozing.) But I have been told to relay in advance their appreciation of your time tonight.
Have I missed anybody's question, or not answered it as well as you would like? I'm happy to go on a bit, or I can come on again in the morning and follow up. It was a long week, so I'm fairly worn out by now, but I don't want anybody to feel like I didn't address their comments or questions. I've been trying to read along as I typed, but I may have missed something.
LOL, the way that was worded made it sound like Thor and his relatives will be popping in later. (I wish...)
Anyway, any other questions for Scot?
Scot, what's upcoming for you, what are you currently working on?
I have one question about the "download fees". Do they get taken out of your profits or do you need to pay for them upfront out of your own pocket?
Yea, in addition to the fees up front, good one. How long ago was it with the gray-scale devices for books, I can't remember what it was back then. Are they all color these days?
Folks, I've got to leave to get someone at work, so just carry on without me. Since Scot needs a break, feel free to post any more questions and Scot, if you can pop in tomorrow and answer any remaining questions, it would also give the people overseas a chance to ask questions that these might have triggered. Headed out the door.
Excellent question Tramp! :)
Thanks again all.
Thanks Novica!
LOL. Descending upon us in a fury from the Land of the Midnight Sun. :)
As I mentioned, I'm currently working on a 4-volume, fully illustrated novel - not a graphic novel in the common sense, but a novel with equal emphasis on art and narrative. The images I posted the other day are just some tests to work out the concept. Meanwhile, I've been honing my digital render and compositing skills, learning modeling and texturing (and lighting and camera, and.....), in order to realize this mythological Viking world - which I plan to destroy in fire and ash at some point in the book! It's a huge undertaking, but it's coming along bit by bit.
My plan at present is to start posting up new images and test layouts on my website, along with the character model sheets and story drafts, etc. as the project develops. That way you can give your feedback and maybe the input will effect the outcome. I had a lot of material for the first book posted up at one point but I took it all down because my skills have improved enough, and my ideas for what I want to do have evolved, to the point where I'm reworking a lot of the earlier material (and making it BIGGER). ;)
Oh, by the way, Novica, and to your point Jorge, I should have mentioned that I am also planning on giving the first book away free. So, yes, that is definitely a valid marketing strategy!!!
So I'll probably drop in here now and again and pop in an image or two to see what you all think. Feel free to drop me a line via the contact form on my website or in the comments on my blog.
The blog, by the way, as I may have mentioned already, will be morphing somewhat from the ebook production aspect it's been focused on for the past year or so, into a lot about doing digital art, and I may start posting up some tutorials and whatnot on that as well. But for the tim being I'm just trying to make some headway on creating over 400 pieces of art over the next few years.
Oh, and to your point about schedule of release for series, that is a good question. Generally sequels come out about a year apart, sometimes a bit less. Much more than that and the excitement and anticipation tends to wear off. With so much art to do I'm not sure I can adhere to that schedule, doing the entire project by myself as I am. So I may wait to release the first book until the second and even third are nearly done. I'd really like to release them six months apart to keep the momentum going. But whether I can do that or not is yet to be seen. I having even finished the first one yet!
I might also start selling models and textures, since I've gotten reasonably decent at it, and I've bought a lot of things worse than what I've made. It would be a nice little side line, and I have a lot of unique content that I've been creating. We'll see. One thing at a time. Well, okay, maybe three things at a time...
Thanks everyone, I hope that was useful, or at least gave you something to think about.
Cheers!
No, they get deducted automatically, and Amazon forwards the rest, once a month, to your bank account. Kind of a nice little supplement that shows up to help with the rent!
On behalf of Novica and the Norse army (edit: navy) currently sailing toward our shores, thank you Scot!
No, there are still black and white ones. In fact, the color ones are all fairly new. The first Fire showed up, what, three years ago I think? And, of course, the iPad is going on four years maybe. It's hard to remember, the time flies by so fast.
But one important distinction is that there are really two different kinds of devices - one generally called "e-ink" that is black and white and works by reflecting light (and so looks really good outdoors), and the other that is LCD like a computer monitor, and gets all washed out and hard to read under bright light, like your smart phone. The eInk ones are only black and white so far, because they haven't been able to get the refresh rates (page turns) and color contrast good enough yet, so all the color devices are using LCDs. The other major difference is that LCDs use a lot of power, since they're back-lit, while eInk can go for weeks, and even months without a charge, since it uses the natural light. That, of course, makes them useless in the dark, like in bed at night, so they've now started adding little LEDs around the edges of the screen to light them up in dark rooms.
Amazon purchased a company called Liquavista last year that is developing color eInk screens, so I would expect to see those appear within the next few years, and then it will be interesting to see if LCD screens stick around. It's really nice not having to charge your device but once a month or so. I imagine once they perfect color eInk even phones will use it instead. But we'll just have to wait and see.
Absolutely, you're welcome! And watch out for the raiding party when they land...
Thank you all very much. I had avoided the e-book as my old 486 laptop with windows95 had a 800x600 display that dwarfed what I had seen in every regard. So we are in the middle of change, and the contrast issue vs looking good on B&W displays is still something to consider. I know there is a question there, I just need to digest this all some more, Thanks.
Yes indeed, many of us are catching up this morning. Many thanks for this informative session, Scot.
Good Morning Jindi :) I'm still up, working on files, but headed to bed shortly. After you read through, if there's anything you'd like to ask, Scot will probably be popping in to answer. Feel free to ask.
Good morning to you, Novica! Have a good sleep. I need to take some time and read through all this information slowly. This is a great format for doing that, thanks for hosting this chat here so us overseas people can catch up.
Venetian Mask for Genesis 2 Females (Nikisatez)
Carnivale for Venetian Mask (OziChick)
Autumn For Genesis 2 Female(s) (DAZ3D / 4blueyes)
http://www.daz3d.com/carnivale-for-venetian-mask
http://www.daz3d.com/venetian-mask-for-genesis-2-female-s
http://www.daz3d.com/autumn-for-genesis-2-female-s
Just a fun mask :) That's Nidale hiding under there! The mask is still on sale (and the textures.) It was featured today.
Autumn dress goes really well with the mask.
Working on my book characters, morphing Nidale with my own facial morphs plus other provided morphs. Also wanted to see the Autumn dress and how it moves on the figure. Would need to adjust the hem on the thigh if using it for something other than a test render. The material detail is beautiful, catches light well. Doing a closeup of her head so it will take a few hours and will post tomorrow. (Going on 4:30am) If you don't have Playful Flirt Poses, they work well on loungers.
Click to enlarge
Nice character! I love her skin-tone.
The venetian mask looks realistic! And eerie at the same time. .
Thanks!
And if anyone hasn't popped over to SereneNight's thread, she did a nice changeup with Sarge's materials. :)
BTW, if you haven't noticed the new banner, spend $20 and get $10 off the DO's. See the banner for details. Need to have one of the qualifying items in the cart. Check out Gated Courtyard, it's a DO. I'm getting it for a couple dollars.
http://www.daz3d.com/gated-courtyard
Also, this one qualifies: (and it also has textures.)
http://www.daz3d.com/inciter-for-genesis-2-male-s
Anikad, got your PM- thanks!
I'm still tweaking her nose a bit (taking the nostrils back), but here's two more. The last one rendered during the night because it was a closeup with hair and took awhile. Nidale is my favorite for African-American skin materials. She lights well no matter what you do, hard to mess her up! In some lighting, as we've seen, she does almost go Caucasian.
Summer Character & Hair is in Fast Grab. Nice looking hair. Does anyone have her?
BTW, SereneNight- didn't overlook your dandelion question, just didn't have it installed at the time and was doing the Author Night so had to wait a bit. Here's a closeup of the dandelions. There isn't any of the floating wispy seeds- which is a shame. These would look pretty good for closeups. If super closeup like these, I would postwork a second shade of brown onto those hanging brown stem things because they look flat. But definitely can get characters down in the grass with them and the dandelions would look awesome. I likee!
At this close, they are not zippity doo dah in rendering. 60% at 6 minutes but all settings are on excellent, .20 shading rate etc.
Wow, 63% at 11 minutes. These suckers are slower than I thought. It's doing the leaves of the wispy one, down near the base.
It's stuck at 63%, 14 minutes. I may have to stop it. Anyway, check back!
EDIT: Okay, don't give up if it seems to hang up on the leaves. At 17 miinutes, it started zipping along, went to 65% then 68%
in 30 seconds.
71% at 20 minutes
I do. Will render her for you if no one else does. Gotta wait for my dandelions to finish LOL.
23 minutes. Here they are- ta dah! Used the same lighting as Nidale, just made sure they were where her face was. If I'd left Nidale in there, they would have been up her nose!