Posts tagged time
IP Streaming and NEW Website
Over this last week I’ve been concentrating on creating the new Penrose Market website for the test event which will be held in just under a months time. For simplicity of administration and to eradicate the need for myself to learn new software, I have decided to build the site on the WordPress Blogging system which I already use to run 3 other websites, including this one.
Now the website is designed, built and is stable, I will hand over the content management to the other two members of the interactive team for this event, This frees myself to carry on looking into IP streaming and how to make it possible with the kit currently available at Ravensbourne.
SCREENSAVER: 3D Cube Webcam
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Over the past couple of day’s I have been playing around with Xcode and Quartz Composer, both of which are very powerful developer tools for the Mac and iOS platforms. This very simple ScreenSaver is the product of about 20mins work playing with Quartz Composer.
The scene shown by my webcam wasn’t very interesting but it gives you the idea of its capability, when loaded as a full screensaver, it also shows the time in various locations. Any feedback is welcome, I’m still just playing with the software, and any thing you would like to see improved or changed, drop me a comment and I’ll see what I can do.
Installation and System Requirements
Installation is very simple process, consisting of copying the 3D Webcam.qtz file from the zip to “MAC-HARD-DRIVE/System/Library/Screen Savers”. Once the file has copied, go to the ScreenSavers menu in System Preferences, and choose “3D Webcam” and Enjoy.
This ScreenSaver has only been tested on a MacBook Pro running 10.6.6, however it should run on any Mac running 10.5.1+. Please note, running this ScreenSaver on battery power, will drain the batteries quite fast (approx. 1hour continuos)
Download
3D Webcam ScreenSaver 1.0.0 Mac
UPDATE:
Version 2 is up – This version is only a minor update with a couple of improvements:
- The cube is now slightly smaller
- The cube now rotates slightly slower
- The cube now also moves around the screen, preventing black screen burn.
LECTURE: TV Systems & Signals
0Today, has been an eventful day mainly due to the snow that has been falling constantly for the last 24 hours. This morning there was only a light dusting of snow on the ground, so I risked it and went to uni as usual, no problems getting in. It was whilst I was at uni, things started to go bad. The snow just kept falling and falling, which i knew was bad right from the start, even though it wasn’t settling at North Greenwich.
This morning we had a practical tv systems and signals lecture with John Palmer. We looked into termination of video signals, and why it was important. which was an interesting lecture. and it surprised alot of us, how much the signal changed based on if it was terminate or unterminated.
At the end of this lecture, the snow was still falling and I was now dreading trying to get home.
Another Electronics Practical in the afternoon, and the snow was still falling, by this time, my dad had phoned me to say we now had nearly a foot at Petts Wood, and that it will be hard trying to get home.
I finally left uni at 5pm, and got to Lewisham via the Jubilee Line and DLR with no Problems. Lewisham had still only 2-3 inches of snow and trains were running ok, into London. MY train arrived about 10-minuets late and was said to be fast to Orpington, which was fine for me, just meant a slightly longer walk back.
We Pulled out of Lewisham and moved slowly down to Hither Green, where we stopped and the opened the doors. This wouldn’t have happened if we had been the true fast service that they had said in Lewisham. We had stopped because there were 5 other trains in front of us trying to reach the South East, all being blocked by one train that had broken down at Petts Wood.
After 3 hours of very slow moving and long waits at stations we finally made it to Petts Wood, the snow is in deed over a foot deep, and there are only two lines out of the usual 4 the could just about be used. Walking back from Petts wood station was just as dangerous, with next to no grip on the compacted snow.
I don’t think, I’ll be going to uni anytime soon.
CIRCUS: AVID and Patching
0AVID
Avid, Avid, Avid, where do I begin, It’s hard to say I liked it, because I didn’t, and the truth be told I don’t think I will be finding much time to edit using it. It’s handy to know the basics and it’s little quirks with the Rave MAM System. This little bits of knowledge will help me troubleshoot problems with the software if required, at a later date.
Patching
Patching was an interesting, yet small session, aim at teaching me on how to route signals around the ravensbourne building. There’s not much more than that i can say about it.
LECTURE: Electronics and TV Systems and Signals
0Electronics
Continuing on from the basics we learnt in the first few lectures, we moved on to some basic analogue circuits, including creating a Hi-pass and Low-Pass filter. These filters are both very simple, yet they provide crucial functionality in many everyday appliances. A good example of this is the Phone it has a 3KHz Hi-Pass Filter in it, creating the distinctive sound you hear. A Mid-Pass Filter is another extremely common one, particularly in broadcasting. Used mainly in TV tuners, to decipher one signal from the next. They are used for this purpose as they can be set to allow a very small frequency range through at a time, useful for splitting the hundreds of signals sent over FreeView.
TV Systems & Signals
TV Systems and Signals, was unfortunately canceled today due to unforeseen circumstances.