Summer fun and relaxation

Hello All,

News

Summer is always hit and miss in the UK, where I live it generally rains most of the year but when we do get the sun we all make the most of it.  I have to say taking time out and spending time with your family gives me something I cannot buy or acquire, a sense of wellbeing.

So yes projects go on hold, yes things don't get done, but life is for living not working all the time and it's those special moments that we spend with our loved ones that truly define us.

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Upgrades

This last month I suppose my head has been turned with the impending final day of the free Windows 10 upgrade on the 29th July 2016.  I had tried Windows 10 on my everyday PC for around 6 months and after tweaking it I have become used to the operating system.

I was worried to upgrade my Studio PC but the week before the upgrade my trusty Audio / Interface the Edirol FA101 died.  Due to this I had to make a purchase and went for the award winning Focusrite Scarlett 18i8

So my concerns about old hardware were pretty much put to bed by these events and Windows 10 was installed.

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Projects

Not much happening over the last few weeks due to the much needed rest.  However I have been composing some music and creating some tracks.

Too early at this stage to release anything so please keep posted.

One other thing that I have to mention is in regards to my major project "A Tale of Time".  I have to think that it will now slip into the autumn.  Lot's of reasons but the main being that taking time to rest was too important to me then not to.

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Work

Possibly a lot of huge things are happening in this space.  There could be opportunity to join another venture and become full time with my own offices.  Sometimes a door opens in your life that you have to consider if to walk through.

"Decision are the hurdles in life we all have to jump." 

So thanks until next time

Colin Cooper

A short rest and a possible book

Hello Everyone,

Personal Life

As it's the great british summer time I have been spending some time relaxing and holidaying with my family over the last 5 weeks.  With the amount of work that has come our way recently.  It possibly wasn't a good idea to take time out, but I believe that getting this balance right is just as important as working hard.

Getting your work / life balance right is crucial to success and stress release.

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Website

So there have been some new updates to my website - www.capemediauk.com

Mainly cosmetic but another client in my Work Section added and a couple of new images.

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Projects

So the main project I have been working on this year is "A Tale of Time".  This project grew out of a story I wrote at the end of 2015.  However as the year has moved forward and my direction has become clearer I think that the story is good enough to be made into a book.

Yes I will need to go back and re-write my story into book format, but what's really exciting is I now have a very talented artist on board who will be illustrating it.

Natalie Ciufo Green

I'll release examples of her work in future Blog updates.

Regarding the animated version of this story, there has a bit of work done on this but not a great deal as I've been away, but I would say we are around 28% finished.  Yes a very long time away from completion but these thing take time.  However as I write this I can still see this being completed this year and inside the time frame I set of summer, possibly late summer.

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Work

My client work is still coming in.  I have completed one project in the last 5 weeks, have another which we are currently in discussions about and a third which I should be getting to grips with in the next couple of months.

So we are very busy at the moment which is a positive and helps with my direction of where Capemedia UK is heading over the next couple of years

As always thanks for visiting and supporting us.  Leave a comment if you have any questions or just visit our website, Dailymotion or Facebook feeds for information.

Thanks again

Colin Cooper

A change in the June air.

Hello Everyone,

NEWS

So in starting I just wanted to discuss briefly the last month.  There was a couple of highlights that happened.  Around the middle of May Reallusion release their long await clothing pack Professional Outfits.

An outstanding pack and one I added to my large arsenal of assets.
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Another interesting piece of news was that Amazon were starting a video on demand service, similar to YouTube where you can get paid for you content.

I am currently checking with them regarding the signup but if this works for me then I will be closing my account down on YouTube.  But not just yet!

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I have also been offered the opportunity to join a beta test for my animation software of choice.  I'm not to mention too much but I will taking this new version for a test drive in the next couple of weeks.

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WORK

Typically work turns up like buses.  You have long periods sometimes where you have time to complete projects and then suddenly out of the blue a number of jobs drop in your lap all at the same time and needing to be completed within the same time frame.  Possibly for the first time I have had to push my personal projects back, reschedule my current client commitments and the worst being I have had to turn down work as I just cannot fit everything in.  I currently have a full time day time job and Capemedia UK is still on a part time basis.

As discussed in the past I hope that one day I can do this full time but I need a few things to fall into place first.  Any rich productions companies out there who would like to take Capemedia UK under you wing then don't hesitate to contact us.

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PROJECTS

So this month I released the teaser to "A Tale of Time" exclusively on Dailymotion.

"A Tale of Time" (2016) Official Teaser by capemediauk

I'm really proud of how this teaser has been received with lots of very promising comments and view on Dailymotion.  130 views to date is pretty good for something not on YouTube.

There is a "Easter Egg" in the video which nobody has mentioned or noticed but I'll give a big clue away here - It appears around the 1:02 minute mark.  This is a crucial clue to the story of "A Tale of Time.

More will be released over the next couple of weeks.

Current progress is sitting at around 27%

Release Date - TBA

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MUSIC

So based on the fact "A Tale of Time" will have no dialogue in the final film, music will be essential to how it works.  I have begun to make the music, we will be using a cover for one of the songs as sometimes a song fits better than anything you could writer.  There is another song which will be an original and the supporting music will be emotively based.

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WEBSITE

I will be making some new updates to my website today on the back of this Blog so please feel free to check it out:-

www.capemediauk.com

Thanks for reading and following my art.

Take Care

Colin / Cape / Capemedia

May the renders be with you!

Hello All,

So we are fast approaching the middle of the year and over the last month I had been doing research.  Related to this years project but mainly the alternatives to my current animation pipeline.
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Rendering

With iClone being a real time 3D animation tool, the native render engine is very, very fast. Even with everything on max you can still preview.  Only when you have a busy scene with multiple lights and characters does it begin to lose FPS (Frames per second).  However I generally only use this as a preview to check the look before rendering out.

As any animatic project it works incredible and I'm sure with so many facilities like video within iClone, many people can produce some breathtaking stuff.  However when it come to broadcast / professional animation it falls short.

I have used the native render engine and will need to continue with it until the technology catches up and allows me to produce the quality I want.

Website

So here are some indigo RT renders of the quality I would like to animate at.

I might still be able to do something at this quality but it will not be the main animation piece.

There are a number of other render engines that I have heard might work with iClone.  One can only hope that enough people want to have a professional render engine option.  I however would like either of these.

Website

Website

Only time will tell if we get these options, improvements to the existing issues or something completely different.

I hope that I'm not forced down a road I don't want to go down as I might be able to switch to Maya this year, we will see? 

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Music

As well as producing the animation for "A Tale of Time" the second biggest part of this project is the music.  Mainly because there is no dialogue in the piece and that the music will play an even more important part.  With the normal score, I'm going to need emotion filled music as well as melodic songs to tell the tale.  Any songs will be in "English" but will be used only appropriately not to spoil any language barriers.

Check out my music on Soundcloud.

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New Animation Logo

So this year I've come up with a new animation logo design.

"A Tale of Time" will feature this for the first time.

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"A Tale of Time" Teaser

So I'm pleased to announce that the release date for the first teaser will be the weekend of the 15th May 2016.

I hope you all are looking for your first tease for this project.

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"A Tale of Time" Production Update

Project is currently on target with a 23% ready.  I should make some big movements to this over the next couple of weeks as I get the teaser ready for release.

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So that it for this month, keep an regular eye on Facebook and Twitter.

Until next, thanks for passing by and seeing what we're up to.

Take Care

Colin (aka Capemedia)

After Easter and April fools, do I stylze or not.

Hello All,

The year is flying

Well this year is really motoring, with Easter having gone as well as today being April fools day.  Soon be Christmas....noooo!!!

So as always a lot happens over a month but last month I was looking at moving my films over to Dailymotion as I was unhappy with Youtube.  After thinking about this I'm going to use Dailymotion to premiere new content but then use Youtube as well.

I need to use Youtube to help me grow and no matter how I feel, sadly that is the place to be.

You can view the first uploaded short film here now:-

The Sword Dance by capemediauk

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I released some storyboard art I had been working on since the beginning of the year now that I had completed this phase of the project.

These are taken from Scene 3

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There have been some amazing developments in iClone this year with new tools and amazing add ons.  Due to this I've started to rethink the way I want "A Tale of Time" to look and feel.

One of my main decision has come from using Character Creator and a number of morph packs, some from the talented Toko Motion.

So I have made the decision to use more stylized characters in this project:-

This is Albert before, with just the older version of him stylized:-

Then after a bit of thought, design and implementation here is the new Albert Thomas:-

Here is another character:-

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The biggest decision that I've had to turn down is the render engine.  The above images are all rendered out of iClone and take around a few seconds on the highest settings.  They look good and will fulfill my needs, but Indigo RT doesn't half look beautiful.

The same images but rendered in Indigo RT - Girl 20 minutes, Albert 15 minutes:-

Now considering that this project will be around 10 - 12 minutes, that's 720 seconds, which is around 17,280 frames.  To render this project in Indigo RT without the setup times would take 95 hours.....very painful!

Sadly, I think I'll use this mainly for PR.

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So that's the end of this month's Blog.  Please use the Facebook page for more regular updates.

Until next time, take care and thanks for visiting.

Regards

Capemedia (aka Colin Cooper)

A leap year without a leap of faith

Hello Everyone,

Frustration and video hosting

I've left updating this month BLOG until today the 29th February 2016.  An interesting day in that as you know it only comes around once every 4 years.  To some degree this is similar to major decision that I have made.  They only happen every few years and today I feel events are forcing me to make one.

I have been a long time user of Youtube, all my videos that I have produced over the years have always been uploaded and my small but dedicated subscribers have been notified of them.  Over the years though things have gotten worse, the merge of Youtube and Google was not great for me.

 

Google around 10 years ago banned me from Google Ads.  This I have tried on many occasions to address but I get no where, so I gave up trying.  Now over the years I have been stung by Youtube's "Copyright" issues and some I have accepted but in some cases they have been downright wrong and the hassle to prove your innocence is incredible.  Even in one case where I wrote, performed, produced and recorded my own song they tried to tell me I had used someone else's work, it was mine!  But the guilty until proven innocent issue has always bothered me.

In some cases I used the fair usage policy to protect myself.  But even this has now come under attack by Youtube's systems algorithm! 

This last week my video "Be Water - Bruce Lee Tribute" had a copyright claim put on it based on the fact I'd used a piece of audio from his 1971 Pierre Berton interview.  My account now is in "Bad Standing" and I've been warned that if I receive two more claims my account will be terminated.  I need to wait 6 months now to get my account back!

I wouldn't mind if everyone adhered to the rules but they don't and in some cases the videos are so wrong from a copyright point I'm amazed they are still playing?

So where does this leave Capemedia UK and Youtube/Google.  Well I'm seriously thinking of moving my work to another hosting website like Vimeo or Dailymotion.  Haven't decided which platform is better but I am leaning towards Dailymotion.

 

I've never made any money from Google or YouTube so you would think I was safe, sadly that is not the case and I feel I would prefer to jump then be pushed.

I will keep this BLOG posted of my choice.

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Projects

Last month I mentioned my project for 2016 and gave away a snippet of an image from a set I was working on.  Over the last few weeks I have posted other artwork and shots from the project on my Facebook Page.

Today I'm proud to announce the name of this project and the first teaser poster.

"A Tale of Time" was an idea I had over the Christmas period 2015 during some very difficult times for me and my family.  I want this to be my best work to date, I want this to be enjoyed by everyone regardless of language and I want this to be classed as an animated film not a piece of "Virtual Cinema" or "Machinima".

I can only live in hope.

Production Update - "A Tale of Time"

Please come back for more information on this as we move forward towards a release date.

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Thanks for popping round and taking the time to read my BLOG.

Until next time

Thanks

Colin (aka Capemedia)

Out of the ashes we will rise

Hello All,

A bit of a somber title "Out of the ashes we will rise" and to think where I am today from only a matter of weeks ago.  I think that myself, my family, and a collected "we", are rising out of a period of pain.

We are all slowly starting to look forward and to see where and what 2016 brings.  Strange but every year I plan so many thing, sometimes I get them done other times I fail.  But what happened in December 2015 took me and everyone close to me by surprise.  It made me think about my own mortality, those closest to me and what was important.

But the circle of life states that life must go on.  We cannot stay still no matter how much we want to.  We cannot shut the world away and hide behind closed doors.  That's not what we want of our loved ones and surely that don't want from us.  We need to live life to the fullest.

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PROJECTS

I have decided that 2016 will be a great year for me because I'm not going to set targets or project timelines and the stress and worry when I don't meet them.  What I'm going to do is work on my projects and complete them when I finish them.

So at the end of December I had an idea based on the event in my personal life but also inspired by what I was watching over the Christmas period.  I'm not going to give away to much too early but I have made a start.

The first draft of the script is written and will just need checking before it's finalised.  The asset document has been started with the scenes, sets, characters etc.

Work has started in iClone building the models, the characters and setting the scenes.

There is a working title but for now I shall refer to it as "My 2016 Project".

Here is the first image.

I have a approached a couple of people to help me on this project and I'm looking forward to what they come up with and add to this.

The above image is very important but I'm giving nothing away now.

Stay tuned for more updates

Take Care

Colin (aka Capemedia)