NOT AWESOME

Last year, I discovered the joy of Google Auto Awesome, http://www.qaptainqwerty.com/2013/07/google-auto-awesome-is-awesome.html .  The idea is simple enough.  Take a series of photos of a scene and Goolge Photo intelligently recognizes the moving elements and the still background to cobble together a nifty animated GIF, or a mini movie.  As the name suggests, the work is done automatically.  It seemed to be a great idea and I made a few such "animations" but my latest attempt failed.  The animGIF below was not made by Google Auto Awesome but instead was done on my Mac laptop using GIFfun.  I took a series of photos, which I think show my mini-me, in CubeeCraft form, running in a circle.  Admittedly the background is not constant, but it looks pretty much the same from frame to frame.  Only to me, as it turned out, and not to Auto Awesome.  Awesome takes its sweet time to make the anim so at first I thought it would be just a matter of time.  Maybe I have too many photos and it takes time to scan them and auto-detect the animation.  I took the photos one night before going to bed.  The next morning, still no anim from the photos.  I waited a few hours then gave up and made the animGIF with GIFfun, which I got for free off the Stone Design web site, http://www.stone.com/GIFfun/ .  Thank you, Stone!

I think the uniform color of the floor may have confused Auto Awesome.  I plan to take another shot at it, this time with some other objects in the foreground, colorful objects that make them look different from the floor.  Stay tuned!

GOING AROUND WALTER WHITE

Google Auto Awesome is awesome but it has limits.  I already made a GIF animation by taking still shots of an object (CubeeCraft Hello Kitty) spinning around.  But what if I want to go around the object instead, like in that flying eagle kick in The Matrix?  On the first try, I had a CubeeCraft Walter White of Breaking Bad fame on a stool in my living room then I moved around it taking photos.  I discovered that doing so the object can appear at different distance from the camera.  Besides, my living room is shown in the background.  So for the second attempt I went to the backyard and have two stools side by side to eliminate the varying distance between Walter and the camera.  I only made eight or nine shots so the "animation" is in no way smooth.  The three-legged stools only butt against each other smoothly at certain angles and there is only so much room on my back porch.  Alas, Auto Awesome can only do animations when the foreground object moves and the background stays, or at least some reference points stay so.  I expected that to be the case but I wanted to confirm it and confirm I did.

To make the animation below, I first downloaded the photos from Google Photos, then upload them to GIFNINJA.COM.  The link to the anim on gifnina is http://gifninja.com/animated-gifs/690633/around-walter-white .  It is far from perfect but it's a start.

In other news, I have a surplus of My Coke Rewards (MCR) points and there is a 120-point cap for the week, so I'll give some away both to clear them out and to attract readers.  Free, come and get it!  Today's code is from a Powerade bottle I found during this morning's run to Coney Island's Riegelmann Boardwalk, where I saw that the Shark Bridge was already gone.  Drum rolls please!

H5F56WV5B0MN9K

It's possible that someone already used the code but it's unlikely.  I am sure some Coke drinkers don't even know that Powerade carry MCR points.  Of course, it's a good chance shortly after this blog post is published someone grabbed the code.  First come first served!  For tracking purpose, I'd appreciate a thank-you note in the Comments if you are the first to use the code.

Thanks go to GIFNinja.com for providing the tool to make the animation.

SPIN, KITTY, SPIN!

What's up, pussycat?  Auto Awesome is up, that's what!  And CubeeCraft, too.  I love paper-folding and animation, so it's perfect to combine the power of Google Auto Awesome and CubeeCraft free paper toys.  If you have lots of free time, Google for "cubeecraft" and some fictional character's name, chances are there is a paper model for you to see.  Download the page to the computer then print it out on a color printer.  It's been a while since I got involved with making cubees, so the first one I printed I did so straight from the web browser and some parts of the page got cut off.  Use thick paper so that the pieces can withstand the frequent handling while you assemble the model.  Feed through the Manual slot, as the paper may be too heavy to be processed via the paper tray.  Cut the pieces with a scissor then make the slits with a hobby knife, which in my days of taking Career Drafting class was known as an X-Acto knife.  Lastly, fold the pieces and connect them, notches to slots etc.  Usually there's a head, a body, a pair of legs in one piece, and two arms.  Some characters may have something in their hands, like a lightsaber for Darth Vader.  Most have perfectly cubic head, but some are not and requires extra cutting and snipping.  I messed up a bit with the Hello Kitty model and had to use tape to re-attach some parts but by design you don't need to use glue or tape at all.  The models are made for viewing and not playing, so it's best to keep out of children's reach.  Good luck with that...

http://www.cubeecraft.com/cubee/hello-kitty

Stop-motion GIF of Hello Kitty spinning around and around.  With this post I discovered that to share the GIF in Blogger, you just insert the file made by Auto Awesome.  No need to download it and re-upload.  Cool!

MCR STOP-MOTION

A few weeks ago I discovered Google Auto Awesome and loved it.  It is a bunch of tools for enhancing photos with Google.  My favorite tool is Motion.  It's really more of stop-motion or claymation.  The motion isn't smooth, in fact jerky, but it's unique and interesting.  Much as I love it, I couldn't easily share the "animation".  It appeared the only way to share the animation is through Google Plus.  Then one day I decided to download a single image out of the animation, or so I thought.  What was downloaded instead was an animated GIF (animGIF) file.  Some people hate animGIF but not me.  I love them!  Sure they are annoying with their repetition, but it's a cool way to get some movements out of a web experience.

To accompany my newly-declared love for My Coke Rewards, I decided to make my first stop-motion with Coke bottle caps.  Had I saved previous caps, I may have enough to spell "MY COKE REWARDS" but this time "MCR" will have to do.  It takes time to lay out the caps one by one and take a photo of them.  Note that I used some sonobes to establish frame of reference.  I sorta squatted to take the photos, which was a mistake.  Next time I'll find a low-chair to sit comfortably and maintain the same view.

I'm satisfied with my first animation made with Google Auto Awesome.  To celebrate the occasion, I'll give out some MCR points, maybe three 10-point codes, to anyone who leave a comment and ask for the free code.  Just leave a comment and ask for a code and I'll reply to the comment, no need to list your email address.  The risk is that anyone can grab the code, too, but that's life.  Leave an email address if you so wish, but you may get spam that way.  Happy Coke Drinking!  Or at least Point-Collecting!

NO ANIMATION, NOT AWESOME

A few days ago I discovered Google Auto Awesome and was pleasantly surprised.  Take a bunch of photos from the same place, of the same scene, and Google would merge the photos into a little animation.  In my case, the animation was of runners in the NYCRuns Shore Road 10K reaching the midway point to head back for the finish.  The photos share a common background, blue sky with some buildings in the distance, the road, clearly delineated by grass on one side and the sea railing on the other side.  Check it out at https://plus.google.com/109153989599275468311/posts/cF6t72rD4Mj

At yesterday's PPTC Al Goldstein 5K Summer Series, Race #5, I thought I would be able to re-produce the animation by taking photos of the runners at the starting line.  My duty at the race was to stay with the last few runners to make sure everyone finish safely, so I had no need to be with the front users.  I took ten photos of the users dashing off but alas no animation was made.  I don't think it's because of the camera I used, a traditional digital camera from which I uploaded the photos via iPhoto into a Picasa album.  I think it's more because in Prospect Park the trees and bushes on the side of the road appear as a big blob to Google's computer eyes.  It cannot discern the forest scenery.  It probably didn't help that every now and then someone would go against traffic and passed too close to my camera.  So no animation.  Live and learn.

The photos, sans Awesome animation, are at

https://plus.google.com/photos/109153989599275468311/albums/5902126806398015457

GOOGLE AUTO AWESOME IS... AWESOME

Pleasant surprises are, well, surprisingly pleasant.  On my run this morning, I decided to head over to what I call the Belt Parkway waterfront, a pedestrian/cyclist path that runs along the Belt Parkway from Caesar's Bay (Bay Parkway) to Owl's Head Pier (Bay Ridge Avenue).  I usually run from my home to Caesar's Bay then along the water, pass the brief split of the bike and walker paths, to the first bench, then back.  I usually take the footbridge that goes into Bath Beach Park and also the steps that go to Dyker Beach Park, for a little elevation.  Tracing my way back and I would have my daily 8 km.  Today, just a little past the slope was the turnaround point of the NYCRuns Shore Road 10K.  I stopped to watch the race with the race volunteer stationed there.  Runners can be so focused on the race and would keep following the road even if there are a bunch of cones on the ground.  It's safest to have someone out there to tell them turn around.

I hoped to catch, if any, runners with PPTC gear but there was none.  After a while I decided to just photograph people randomly.  I pretty much stood in one place, against the railing.  When I sync'd the photos to Google+ later, Google automatically detected the same background in the set of photos and made a short animation out of it.  Very interesting.  I learned that the technology is called Auto Awesome.  Animating is just one of its few capabilities.  Pano (panorama) and Mix are two other techniques I will explore.

https://plus.google.com/109153989599275468311/posts/cF6t72rD4Mj

While it's easy to share the above animation to my Google+ audience, it took me a while before I found the way to share it elsewhere.  When I clicked on the animation itself, there was no indication that a link could be obtained.  The More option only allows downloading the picture or adding it to album.  In the end, I discovered that I had to use the actual post in G+ itself, on the upper right corner, to find the pasteable link.