How to Do A Class Online

Below you will find a review of WebCamMax. This program forms part of a set of programs and hardware that will easily allow you to run a classroom online.

In order to get some idea of how it is done, I will run through the example of our Blueline Academy classroom.

This is obviously particular to the Blueline Academy. But I think you will be able to see how you can easily stretch this to fit your situation.

Step 1) Open wgge.exe, select and orb, and enter 3d space.

Step 2) Use alt-D to put the editor into 640x480 mode. Actually is a little off-size, but that gives you the approximate dimensions.

Step 3) Open WebCamMax

Step 4) Select Screen on Sources drop-down

Step 5) Click "Show Selected Area" button to put the red square on the screen.

Step 6) Under Mode select "Specific Area". You could also have opted for "Follow the Cursor", "Specific Window" or "Full Screen." Specific Area works best for Blueline Academy.

Step 7) Move the square around and resize so that it fits whatever part of your screen you want to send.

Step 8) There is a little button in the far upper right (next to X that would close the program) that will let you make the WebCamMax into a small bar on your screen. This will get it out of the way.

Step 9) Open Flash Media Encoder (FME)

Step 10) File->Open then select the xml file for your Justin.TV account. Refer to Justin.tv help for how to do this part. Or email and I'll try to explain.

Step 11) Select "WebCamMax" as video source. I leave audio source alone. That works for me.

Step 12) Press the Start button and you are now live online streaming a piece of your desktop to the world -- or a select group if you have an Access code on the channel.


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A few safety precautions.

1) Close all programs that are not needed.
2) Do not type urls, passwords, names, or any other content you don't want sent to everyone on the planet.
3) If you get a phone call during the broadcast, be aware that unless you turn off sound (and are utterly sure it is off) you will be transmitting your half of the phone call to the world.

WebCamMax and Blueline Academy

Found two things recently Justin.tv and WebCamMax.

Justin.tv is a broadcasting site that allows for broadcast streaming. Normally one would be restricted to streaming yourself staring into a webcam. However, with WebCamMax it is not only possible but pretty simple to stream chunks of your desktop.

Before I say more about streaming your desktop it would be only fair to confess that the program does much more, much much more. You can stream a dvd. You can stream multimedia files from your hard-drive. You can switch between any number of connected and active webcam type devices. And, for those that like the extra possibilities of Picture in Picture -- that is available too. Pretty sweet.

However, those are not the features that first attracted me to WebCamMax. For me it was the ease of streaming parts of my desktop. I use Camtasia to record tutorials for upload to YouTube. I like Camtasia for just that purpose. But what about those occasions when you'd like to run a classroom?

With Justin.tv and WebCamMax I am able to run International online classes of pretty much any size. I have seen channels on Justin.tv with many thousand views. I don't expect that a HowTo channel will very soon run out of elbow room.

So, I've been doing Blueline Academy workshops, tutorials, and classroom lessons using WebCamMax. I can work in the program, people can view what I'm doing live. Ask me to clarify a particular point, redo something, and in general interact. Can't beat that.

There seems to be a minor glitch in the system if you want to use voice over while running a video. Well, what do you want for $29.95? And, I'm not entirely convinced there might not be a workaround for that issue. The problem is, in order to broadcast you are juggling Flash Media Encoder, WebCamMax, and your audio card mix board. Lots of buttons to monkey with. So who knows what other potentials exist.

For me, I know that just doing the simple stuff I can manage to get my mic to transmit audio and the WebCamMax to transmit my desktop, and thus I can do online classes around the world. A major boon for a distant learning program. And the total cost is practically zero.

GetDataBack to the rescue.

If you happen to be reading these blogs from the bottom up, or for some strange reason actually reading them as they are posted, then you know that my computer had a major harddrive crash.

I used SpinRite to repair the drive as much as it could be repaired. Did its job well enough. But no miracle in data recovery. Okay, I know that grc.com (Gibson Research) doesn't promise data recovery. But I was hoping that somehow fixing the bad sectors would magically make the data come back.

I would have had better luck waving a bowl of Lucky Charms over the drive.

So the next step was google and the long dive off a short pier into the murky waters of data recovery. Man, there is a ton of bull shit websites devoted to taking advantage of some poor sucker desperate to get data back.

Fortunately my karma musta been good (alright not too good or maybe the drive would not have gone belly up) but still, I managed to stumble across a helpful website.

I'm sure there are more. There may be much better. Don't know. Since I only needed one working tool and no one is paying me to do a comparative study of recovery tools, I quit looking when I found runtime.org and GetDataBack.

I was a little put off by the fact that I had to know what type of drive I had. Might be nice if they made a little tool to tell me. Don't laugh. Do you know if you have a six or twelve volt battery in your car? What, they come in different sizes?

Much to my surprise, and the reason I decided to give these guys a chance, they have a totally enlightened approach to retail on their site.

They give you a free download of a fully functional program with one exception -- the ability to save your files. Other than the fact you can't save the files it functions 100%. Might sound like a major bummer. You put all the time into discovering if you can get your data back only to find out you can't save it.

Well, that is exactly what I wanted. I wanted to know if I could save my data before I shelled out $79. As bad as it is to have totally lost data, it is even worse to spend money then find out the data is totally lost.

But what about all that time spent waiting while the GetDataBack rebuilds new directories and scavenges around for files? Not a problem. If you find that you have access to your data, you buy the program, they give you an instant registration, you input the registration into the STILL open program, you save your files.

So basically you can poke around and see if your data is recoverable before you shell money out to recover it. I like that.

An interesting side effect of this was a serious talk with myself about the value of the lost data. Before I found the data I *knew* it must be valuable. After I found the data and was staring at it (face to face) I finally confronted the real question "Are those missing files worth $79 to me?"

In my case the answer was yes. And fortunately the GetDataBack performed as promised.

Notably I am so shell shocked as a consumer on the web that I am still waiting for the gotcha. Whether it be spyware, backdoors, identity theft, or ????... I can't quite shake the feeling that I've been screwed. Why? Because as a consumer on the web every time I turn around I'm getting screwed -- or almost screwed.

In this case, so far so goo....

Yay! Found a solution.

Don't know if you caught the full story. My iMac was displaying bold blue text in red and bold red text in blue. Regular blue text was showing up blue and regular red text was red -- as one would expect. But, the bold was reversed. Red for Blue and Blue for Red.

I didn't even call Microsoft on the issue. After twenty some years they have trained me well to expect nothing in the way of support.

Apple has these wonderful commercials that make them sound so bright and cheerful and willing to help. I expect they might be -- unless you call about an issue with Boot Camp and the functioning of Windows in the Boot Camp environment.

I had the wonderful experience of trying to get support from Apple Care on this red to blue and blue to red issue.

Lord, the minute you mention the dreaded words "WinXP" they stop listening. "Not our problem." Just because it doesn't happen on any other machine in the universe than the Mac running Boot Camp does not seem to phase them. Just because it is only happening on the piece of hardware I purchased with the wonderful apple logo does not phase them.

Their only suggest was to delete the partition and reinstall Boot Camp and WinXP from scratch. All data gone, all programs gone. And this was of course just a way to trouble-shoot the problem. Not a promised defined solution. Not a "hey sorry dude, we know it's a bitch to do it. But everyone that has this problem finds the only solution is to delete the partition and start over." No it was "hey, it's not a problem. If you insist on making us give you any kind of help on this issue the only thing we can think of is to have you delete the WinXP and start again."

A little harsh dude (or dudette depending on which support call I am referring to).

Fortunately before doing this I gave one more try at something else. I reinstalled my video drivers.

First I did a repair using my Leopard disk. Then I went to the amd.com website http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/mac/bootcamp-xp.html and installed the drivers there.

The trick here is that when you go to the general driver page http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html you need to scroll down in the OS selection box to notice an option for Apple Boot Camp WinXP. I use iMac and it fixed it for me. Don't know if it will work for others or not. But this is very well worth the effort before deleting the partition and reinstalling Windows. Especially since that is only a trouble-shooting test.

I call myself a Zebra. Apple loves their animal names for the OS. So I figure Zebra is a good name for the idiots such as myself that want to make serious use of Windows on the iMac. I would consider switching to 100% Leopard if I could. But there are many applications I use that simply do not exist in Mac osX. Even if I wanted to shell out the thousands of dollars to buy new Mac versions of the software, the mac version does not exist -- period.

Hence, I have to function as a Zebra. Some of my work in Leopard, some of my work in WinXP.

I'm not saying that Apple Care should be responsible for all my Windows issues. Would be nice if someone was because Microsoft has demonstrated no ability in that area. I don't expect Apple Care to handle much of anything other than hardware issues. And for me, I consider drivers to be part of the hardware. The hardware manufacture is responsible for drivers that run their devices.

Now if Apple supplied an empty box which I would fill myself with odd bits of hardware purchased off the internet then I expect that I would need to bug the individual hardware dudes for support. But, since they assemble all the pieces and sell me a fully loaded box, I kinda expect some support when the hardware and drivers go whacky. Well I can expect free beer to fall from the sky in 40 ounce bottles. That won't happen either.

As I said, I didn't even dare to dream that Microsoft would care or help. But I fell for the marketing and allowed myself to dream that with the iMac I was coming home after a long journey in the woods to a warm fire and the friendly support of folks that would care. Well, they do care. As long as I'm not a Zebra. Apple Care and Microsoft share one thing in common -- neither of them will give much support to us black and white stripped freaks.

Could Happen Sooner Than You Think.

It's a bit odd writing a thread when you know that most folks will encounter the pieces of the thread back to front. Definitely a different headset. At the moment my only concession to this oddity is to periodically drop a hint on what the hell the topic is referring to. Such as "recall that this thread started as a result of hard drive turning into burnt toast."

Even though I'm working on my brand new (alright, it's a year old but it really is hardly used) computer with its new hard drive I can't escape the feeling that I might need to go through all of this again very soon.

These feelings of dis-ease come from two sources 1) the sting of recent events, 2) every time I turn around on the apple support forums for bootcamp and winxp they are advising re-install windows.

What the bleep is up with "re-install windows" as the first "go to" answer when encountering a problem. Don't these guys have more than one or two programs they run? Don't these guys have a life? I'm running on into the third day of this installing my way back into a working environment. The flippant manner in which it is advised to *try* reinstalling windows knocks my breath away. It's not like they are saying: "yo, I know it's a pain, but I can assure you that if you install windows it will solve your problem."

Well, I'm on the phone as we speak (or I type in the present and you read in the unknown future) with AppleCare. Lord have mercy, if you are thinking about buying an iMac and using bootcamp as a way to transition from the Windows world to the Mac world give it some hard thought.

Basically, if you don't actually need to use any windows applications then by all means consider the switch. But, if you truly need any of your windows applications then look out. After calling Apply Care with an issue the first thing they determine is "are you having the problem in Leopard or in WinXP?" If the answer is WinXP then they instantly stop listening.

The way it goes is this. The computer is Apple. Boot Camp was written specifically to allow the installation of Windows on the computer. But Windows is most definitely a distant (and not looked upon fondly) third cousin. The official line from Apple Care is "If the problem is occurring in the Windows side it is Window's problem not Apples." Actually it is not Windows problem it is mine. It is my problem running Windows on a piece of hardware that I was led to believe would run it.

Frustrating? You bet.

Firefox Plugins

Boy this was a tough one.

Back when I stumbled across and installed my favorite plugins they didn't seem so difficult to find. I guess the "stumbled across" part is what made it easier.

However, there is another factor now, massive competition in the plugin world. Doing a search for plugins turns up a zillion possibilities where a short while ago it was just a few. So now, I need to wade my way through a fair number of "maybe this" and "maybe that" to find the plugin that is the one I used.

Might sound like I use a ton of plugins. Not so. I just like the few I use.

Web Developer 1.1.6
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60

Html Validator 0.8.5.2
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/249

IE Tab 1.5.20080823
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419

HttpFox 0.8.2
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6647

I've listed them here. So that maybe next time I go through this maybe I won't have to hunt so hard. I'll just read the above and "ta-da" there they'll be.

As predicted it is the small stuff that is the most irritating.

As the hard drive recovery saga continues, I am finding a near endless litany of small adjustments necessary to my computer environment.

For example, Sound. Why in the hell does Microsoft think it is necessary to make a beep sound every time a confirmation box pops up on my screen. Do they get a royalty for each time the beep is played like a radio jock playing their tune on the air?

In any case, it is off to Control Panel, "Sounds and Audio Devices", Sounds Tab to turn some sounds off. I'm happy enough to leave the "Yo! your computer is about to melt" sound on. But the "Default Beep" and "Exclamation Beep" had to go. Just highlight the option, then select "None" from the drop down list of possible sounds.

I like to use the play sound button to confirm this is the offending sound. So far default and exclamation have been the only true irritants.

Now for the hunt.

Found Sony Vegas Pro. Hidden away in a "safe place". One of these days I will learn to stop putting things in a "safe place". That makes them almost impossible to locate later. I would be much better of it I put them where they belong.

The install for Sony Vegas is so unsettling. Actually it isn't the Vegas that's a problem, it is the .NET framework that is a bit weird. The progress bar will move along fairly rapidly then when it gets to 99% it just sits there forever. Did I forget to click a button? Is my computer a doa? Just about the time I figure, let's push cancel and try again up pops another window's progress bar giving me some assurance that things are progressing according to plan. Just wish that plan had some room for putting the poor computer user at ease -- at least a little.

Of course the trick here will be remembering all of the plugins that were installed. I could look through my browser history, I suppose, to find the sites I've been visiting, except for two little problems 1) I delete all history over 30 days old, 2) All of my bookmarks and history were on the C drive (remember C and G died). Those of you reading top down might have missed the beginning of this adventure -- my computer hard drive went the way of burnt toast.

Camtasia Studio was slightly easier to locate. It was still sitting in the place I reserve for putting things that I haven't figured out where to put them yet.

Some Modeling Progs

Started with Wings3D for no apparent reason other than I remembered the website address first.

Wings3D
http://www.wings3d.com/

Nice little modeling program, and good for massaging models in other formats. It is falling out of use a bit now that I am settling down into a Maya/FragMotion partnership.

MilkShape
http://chumbalum.swissquake.ch/

Very happy I have this. Don't use it much at the moment. (Again the Maya/Fragmotion taking over most functions.) But it has been good for converting some formats that FragMotion doesn't deal with. Between the two of them I'm covered for most low-end, street urchin level modeling formats.

FragMotion
http://www.fragmosoft.com/

This is my workhorse animation program at the moment. Why? Because our target platform required md2 models. "Yikes! Are you idiots still using MD2?" Yes. We are still using MD2 models in our games. And, we actually find they are useful as part of our keep it simple philosophy of programming. Would we use a different format given the chance? Perhaps, but given a chance means we stumble across another lead programmer that is willing to work for nothing (not next to nothing, for nothing) on a non-profit charity project. At the moment the few chumps (i.e. worthy volunteers -- of which I am one) are busy handling other aspects of the engine. Notably lighting, particles and physics. Next we tackle mp3/ogg. Later, we might get around to tearing everything apart so that we can use a more modern model. However, for me, I'd rather jump back into the AI a bit more. We already have one of the best AI systems available this side of Arcturus. But, games can always use a little more AI.


Also worthwhile but maybe not required:
MD2 Viewer
(available from the MilkShape folks) http://chumbalum.swissquake.ch/md2v/index.html

I use then when I can't tell if a model is whack or if the game is misbehaving. If the model behaves in MD2Viewer, I figure it should behave in most games that use MD2.

Ouch! I do too many things with too many programs.

As I'm going through the list of stuff to re-install, the point that I do too much stuff with too many programs is made painfully clear.

This will give me an opportunity to reevaluate whether or not I want to continue along certain creative avenues.

I suspect the answer will be "Yes! Of course". But it doesn't hurt to pose the question to one's self periodically.

It will be the minor almost invisible things that will end up being the largest annoyance. For example, all of my special dictionaries are gone. That means I will need to teach several programs how to spell -- once again. Or, I could stop using jargon that is out of the norm for most spelling program data files.

Notepad+ Was Already Installed Yay!

While waiting for the OpenOffice.org to download (127meg) I figured to fight my way through the install of Notepad+ from Rogsoft. It is an ancient piece of software that I happen to love as a replacement for the standard windows notepad.

Available at http://www.mypeecee.org/rogsoft/notepad.html as an archival download this replacement for notepad is worth the hassle (as far as I'm concerned.) It will edit huge (big big) files, and has many nice features missing from the standard notepad.exe

The hassle part comes from my desire to replace notepad with this program rather than just install then edit every stupid association to point to the new program. Turns out there exist more than a few hard coded references to the notepad.exe file. Leastwise it seems that way to me. So, I go through the trouble of poking and poking and prodding my way through a replacement.

I'm sure there is a systematic approach to this. But for me it mostly involves copying in the file, windows replaces the new file with the old (original [proper]) version. I turn off one option or another, copy in the file, windows replaces the new file again. I try turning off yet another restore option or other and retry. After doing this enough, windows will eventually give up.

Of course I need to replace the file in several folders (including some hidden system folders). If you do a search on notepad*.* and select the look in hidden/system folders that helps.

Call the mortician. It's dead.

Yep, the hard drive on my main work computer died today. Actually just the C and G drives. That means I've only lost all of my programs (on C) and all of my games (on G). Yikes!!!

Now the real work of establishing a new working environment on a second computer starts.

To keep myself amused and perhaps even capture of record of steps for future such disasters, I've decided to blog my progress.

I suppose if you're reading this log, you'll need to work your way backwards if you care for a historical (or perhaps hysterical) account.

So while I take stock of the situation and muddle around trying to find which of the backup disks is the most recent, I'll download OpenOffice. No way will I use the MSWorks that comes preinstalled on most windows systems.

More later. Off to http://www.openoffice.org to download my text editor.

Survival is not the goal

Survival is not the goal.

That doesn't mean to suggest that death or reckless behavior is called for.
Simply, survival is not the goal.

When running a set of linked equations and optimizing on survival you get one answer. Take that same set of linked equations and optimize on something other than survival and you'll get a different result.

I can't really put into exact words the nature of what that other thing would be. I can't put it into words for two reasons. One, the true nature of that other thing is non-human and thus can not be bound in a simple container of human language. Two, the exact nature of what that other thing could very well be different for me than it is for you.

So given that confession of wiggly-fuzziness consider the following as possible alternatives to survival as the goal:

Making the most of the life that one has been given.
Quality of life.
Contribution.
Communion with the underlying is-ness of it all.
Right action.
Not dying like a dog.
...
und-sew-forth

Somewhere in and amongst those phrases may lurk a valid alternative to survival as the goal.

How to tell when it's time for the next grit.

This is not as easy as it might seem. But not to worry, if you happen to jump to the next grade of sandpaper too soon there is one sure fire method to test your progress and determine if you need to bump back to a previous grade of sandpaper.

After you graduate to 320 sandpaper, it is time to let your sculpture dry and look at it under a strong light.

The sculpture to the right was more than a bit of a bear to polish. It took my quite some time before I could find and remove all of the scars from the crevices. That is what drying will bring to light -- scars and scratches.

When you let the sculpture dry and look at it under good light, you will find all of the scratches and scars left by the chisel and rasp. Scratches are a natural result caused by the use of chisel and rasp.

When the sculpture is close to its final form I wills top using chisel and switch to course rasp. The course rasp is useful in the process of shaping and in the process of removing scars left by the chisel.

When the sculpture is even closer to the final form I will switch to a medium rasp. The medium rasp is useful in the process of further refining the shape of the sculpture and in the process of removing scars left by the course rasp.

After the initial shaping of the sculpture each stage requires more and more delicate tools -- leading from hammer and chisel to 1500 grit sandpaper. While shaping is the main goal of each stage of the sculpting process, removing the traces of work from the previous stage is the other equally important goal.

By the time you get to 320 grit sandpaper shaping is done. Now it is all a process of removing traces of work and achieving an appropriate surface for the sculpture. In the case of my sculptures that is smooth -- real smooth.

If when studying the dry sculpture in the light one notices a scratch or scar, then one simply reverts to a previous grit of sandpaper to remove that scratch. Depending upon the depth of the scratch one can just bump up to 220 -- or it might be necessary to go back to 120. If you find it necessary to revert to the use of a rasp, then you jumped into the polishing process a little too early.

After fixing the scratch, proceed with the 320 again, dry the sculpture and study it again.

Sand, rinse, dry, study and repeat as necessary.

When you move on to the 400 grit sandpaper you should have zero worries about scratches. From this point on it is all a matter of polishing.

Did I mention working wet?

The trick to working with wet/dry sandpaper is working wet. (Keep in mind all of my sanding comments relate to alabaster, chlorite, and pyrophyllite).

To do this I use a large black rubber pan that I purchased from Sculpture House. I The pan is designed for use in mixing plaster. Actually, I believe it is manufactured for use in the barn -- pigs, goats, horses, etc. If you hunt in google for "Kanguro bucket" you will find many referencese. All of the references relate to farm/barn and most of them are in the UK. Here is a quote about the Kanguro bucket:

"Kanguro are made from reinforced rubber, they are virtually indestructible ( even for pigs!), and are impervious to frost, sunlight and manure acids. They are the long term answer to all your bucket requirements. 17 litres"

I suppose manure acids aren't a regular part of sculpting. But it's nice to know that if there are any the bucket is impervious.

The part number at Sculpture House for the rubble tub I use is C-100 -- called Cesta Rubber Bucket. I am gonna order one to make sure it is the same as the ones I bought back in 1986. As you can tell, they last a long long time. The only down-side is that the rubber marks my white alabaster. So to prevent this I use a large cloth (old t-shirt) to line the pan.

So with rubber tub filled (about 1/2) with water and the sculpture partially immersed I am good to go for the wet version of wet/dry sanding.

There are several advantages to this:

1. It keeps the dust down (yay!) .
   
2. I achieve a better surface faster.
3. The sandpaper lasts much longer.
4. It is easier to tell when it is time to switch to the next grade of sandpaper.
   

On the larger pieces I can't fit the sculpture in the pan, so I will either run water over the sculpture as I sand or I will have a basin sitting close by and dip into it every few moments to re-wet the sandpaper and rinse the sculpture.

120 Grit

When I finish a stone sculpture I use wet/dry sandpaper to polish the stone. This works very nicely with alabaster, chlorite, and wonderstone (pyrophyllite). I don't do marble, so I can't tell you much about how to polish marble.

But when it comes to polishing alabaster I'm a bit of an old hand. I've polished about 100 different sculptures to date -- some small, small large.

After taking the sculpture as far as I intend with rasp, I start in using 120 grit sandpaper. I used to use 3M 150 wet/dry. Boy that was a sweet sandpaper. Can't get it much anymore -- leastwise not the same quality as the old black stuff. Too bad I didn't stock up more.

The job of the 120 grit sandpaper is to remove all, All, ALL scratches left by the rasping process. If I get anxious and move on to 220 grit (the next sandpaper in the process) before all of the rasp marks are gone, then those rasp marks will be there at the end. This 120 to 220 barrier is an important one.

The sizes of sandpaper I use are 120, 220, 320, 400, 600, 1500. If I move from 220 to 320 a little early it is not such a big deal. The 320 can (with a little extra effort) do the job of the 220. But the 220 just can't manage the job that 120 is designed for. Admittedly it is important to finish with each stage of sandpaper before moving on to the next. Even so, the 120 to 220 is extremely important.

Back in the ol' day -- long before I learned this lesson the hard way -- I would be working with 600 grit and have a very smooth sculpture with a very well defined rasp mark that would just not come out. I tried backing down to 400 to remove it -- no go. I tried backing down to 320 to remove it -- no go. I tried backing down to 220 -- no go. I had to go back to the 120 to remove the mark. Then, of course, I had to re-polish with each of the intermediate grits back up to 600.

You'd think I would have learned my lesson after the first time -- lol. Well, at least I learned it after the second time. Since then I am very careful to make sure that all rasp marks are gone before moving from 120 to 220.