tek9 movie contest upload period is over..

..and I didn't submit anything. After changing plans few times, in the end I didn't have much time left. I think they should change their stupid release rules next time, I'll make a forum post at tek9 later.

Looking at their ftp server I see at least 3 quake movies coming up:
- O.M.G._2_by_DisSidenT.rar
- The_Gate_Keepers_by_zeroql.rar
- Rebirth_by_grzesiek.rar (not 100% sure about this one)

Looking forward to these, especially zeroql's one. According to the contest schedule the video release period starts on September the 3rd and ends on the 17th.

Daily update #22

Ugh, movie isn't ready yet. Working on these name tags can be frustrating. First I work on an animation for an hour or so and then after rendering it I'm not happy about it at all.

That's why the movie isn't done yet. I could make half-assed name tags in a few minutes and release the movie even today, but I would feel very bad about it.

I hope I'll finalize everything tomorrow. Just a few name tags left after all. We'll see. Here's the current editor shot in the meanwhile.

Today the uploading period for the tek9 movie contest began. So there's almost a week to end the side project. And I'm not sure what to do as well. I'd have quite a lot of work to do if I want to pull the side project together on time. But then again, the iem4 movie isn't done yet. I wouldn't want to withdraw from the contest.. entering with the iem4 movie is also a possibility but I don't know if that's a good idea, especially because their weird release rules that I've mentioned about before. Also, my dad needs my helping hand everyday so free time slips away easily. All this makes me feel really uneasy. In the end I'll probably leave the contest and release the iem4 normally, as planned. 

On a side note, apparently Han-Sai's ZeroQL, a really good movie maker, famous for his QL movie 'Unagi' and a couple of q3 titles has entered the contest. I can't wait to see his contest entry, also I wish him best of luck.

Daily update #14 and #15

Yesterday, I wasn't able to make a post because of the massive thunderstorm that was coming and going during the evening which eventually leaded to power outage in the night. 

Because of the wheather I wasn't able to do a thing. The only notable thing I've made was measuring the time my sony vegas turns on. It takes almost 30 minutes, lol. Hardcore.

Today, the power went out a few times as well, they were probably fixing some power lines. But this time I made some significant progress, sorted out all the audio issues encountered so far. Also, I spent around 2 hours on fine polishing the intro, and it's done. It's nice and short. :)

I've also messed around with some frags, but didn't make a lot of progress there. 

Time is slipping away and the tek9 contest deadline draws near. I have a lot of ideas in my head for the side project thingy and I'll do my best to make it in time, dunno if I'll make it tho. I'll probably use latest qcon demos as well so stay tuned. :)

Oh, yeah. Here's today's editor shot. Things are starting to look busy. At the same time, it's pretty clean, I really like this shot. :)

Daily update #8

Sadly enough yesterday I didn't manage to make any progress at all. During the day I had to help my dad with something. In the evening there were some short power outages after the thunderstorm that coming and going for the whole day yesterday. In the night I was helping a few new players, teaching them the basics.

Yesterday, tek9 released the global intro for their latest "Sapphire movie contest". That means I'll soon start working on the side project that I will enter the contest with.

Anyway, apparently I'll have quite a bit of free time today, so I'll do my best to make up for the yesterday's lost time. :)

Daily update #2!

I've done quite a bit today, pretty much got the intro ready, I've also rendered a short gameplay clip to check if everything is alright. I've sent it to a few trusted players to check if they can playback it properly. 

After asking ESR members for their opinion, I've decided not to submit this movie for the tek9 contest, instead my entry will be a funny mix, I'm sure people will like it. :)

Here's today's editor shot.

Tomorrow, I'll most probably start putting frags together. :)

Next stage!

I'm done with demos. Today, I finally finished rendering lossless quality footage. My footage folder now contains 79 .avi files and uses 140 GB of my HDD. That's quite a lot, I'm not sure if I had this much for my previous projects. I won't use everything though, I think about 1/4 of those avi's won't make it to the final movie.

Few days ago I started working with photoshop, making name tags to be exact. It's a lot of fun :) I hope people will like them, there's a lot of variety, I don't want to follow one pattern.

A while ago I was thinking whether I'll use this movie for the current Tek9 contest or my next project. Now when there's about a month till the end of the contest, the question changes: Should I enter the contest with the IEM4 movie or should I withdraw. The worst thing about entering the tek9 contest would be the release, according to the rules I won't be able to upload the movie anywhere else before the voting/judging period is over.. which really sucks, because to download the movie, people would have to register at tek9 site. From experience (Zero) I know that people don't want to register at sites to vote/download.. I'll probably make a post at ESR and ask people if they would support me. 

Oh, btw I'm planning to post daily updates of my work on the vid. Stay tuned! :)

Back to work!

Finally, holidays.

After a few days of delay and complete focus on reading a wicked manga called 'berserk' I'm back to work on the vid. As I write this post on my pc, on the laptop calipt is melting cypher with a plasma gun in slow motion as I render the lossless avi file. Today, along with my brother we've installed a new router and hence I finally have internet connection in both my PC and laptop.

Recently TEK9 announced another movie contest, it's not a mini movie contest like last time. Movie length must fit in between 3 and 7 minutes, rest of the rules do not differ from the usual tek9 set. I didn't sign up yet, but I surely will, but I'm not sure if I'll submit my currect project or rather the next one. As I posted before my next project will be a community movie. I already have the idea for the vid in my head, it will be a type of movie that you either love or hate. Soon I'll remind people about sending me the demos..

Alright, on my laptop calipt's plasma balls didn't leave much of cypher's body, time to get back to work!

New movie - seventeen

Almost a week ago my latest movie for the tek9 minivideo contest was released. It's called seventeen. It's a one map video with midair rockets only. Unlike 'Zero' I didn't use any colour correction as well as no motion blur. If you like it, register @ tek-9.org and rate it :) After the community voting is over I'll upload it to youtube and add a download mirror from Maverick.

I also started gathering demos for future projects. More info here.

I'm also starting work on another video, hah. Frag highlights from the IEM4 european finals! Gonna be epic :o

A little update

Didn't have time since last weekend to post anything. A lot of exams and stuff @ uni, luckily so far everything related to uni goes great. :)

Last weekend I've managed to upload the vid yey! Today the tek9 staff updated the 'video release rules' so that starting from tomorrow, they will release 10 videos per day. Which means I have no idea when exactly everyone will be able to see it! Within 2 weeks that's for sure (over 100 vids)

I've signed up for some QL duel cups recently:

• ESReality Community QL League - Season #2
• SideWinder Arena Championship

Today I managed to play and win my first game in the second one. It's a tourney reserved for polish players. Tomorrow I'll have my next match, this time it won't be so easy ;)
I'll also do my best to play a few matches from the ESR league, so yeah some crazy duel action this weekend :)

Deadline around the corner

Uh, not much time left and the vid isn't done yet.. Not much left to do.. I hope I'll make it in time

Happy new year 2010!

woho 2010!

AAaanyway, noghost mapping competition has come to an end. Results:

• -1st Place: Justin "StormShadow" Ingels with Devlilish
• -2nd Place: Tom "Phantazm11" Perryman with Substation11
• -3rd Place: Simon "Sock" O'Callaghan with Focal Point

More info on the official site

On a side note, a little birdie told me that some of the contest participants might have a chance to map for id! Great news =)

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I'm working a lot on the vid.. and there's not much time left =/ Well, it's over two weeks but I'm going back to uni on Sunday and I won't be able to work there. So basicly I have time till Sunday plus two weekends, where while the second weekend I'll have to render and upload the vid. meh
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My friend maverick showed me a site with great music. If you like dubstep or alternative electronic music this is a must www.getdarker.com

Xmas! w00t

Didn't have the motivation to post anything for the last few days. First of all I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. Santa brought me a shaver from Braun ;)

Oh, yeah! Tek9 released the signup list.. and whoa.. I'll give you the exact numbers
number of participants - game

• 1 - BF2
• 1 - COD MW2
• 1 - CS 1.6 / CS:S
• 2 - undecided game
• 3 - COD5:WaW
• 5 - Q3
• 5 - QL
• 6 - DoD:S
• 8 - trackmania
• 11 - TF2
• 13 - COD2
• 28 - CS:S
• 87 - COD4
• 126 - CS 1.6

Which makes a total of 297 participants! >.< pretty sick

I can't wait to see the Q3/QL vids, I'm also curious about TF2 movies.. :)

But I'm not losing time myself, today I've rendered an alpha version of my vid, still quite a bit to improve, but I guess you can call it a minivideo already :)

I'm pretty sure I won't make any bigger changes (music, concept) after changing the concept 3 times ( >.< uh) I'm pretty sure this is it. Experimenting a lot as always. I hope people will like it as much as I do :)

Heh, while rendering the alpha vegas crashed a few times, always in the same point of vid, had to remove it for now.. pretty gay since I've spent few hours on that part yesterday.. gonna try to fix today. Vegas never crashed while my previous projects..

Free time!

Yesterday I got home and I'm not leavin' till like 3-4 of January :) But I don't have time to rest, without wasting time I'm starting to write map reviews today and I'll probably finish them today to start making my minivideo!

Today tek9 will release a signup list for the contest. Three days ago they gave everyone a sneak peak, showing the number of registered participants along with the games they will be working on.
I'll post something once the list is released.