Portable Multimedia Suite III - GIMP

What is GIMP?

Okay, I'm going to get straight to it. GIMP is an open source image manipulation program (GNU Image Manipulation Program). It's a free alternative to Photoshop. I have recently been working on a project using nothing but free softwares, and naturally, GIMP is one of the first tools that I fired up. It's really good!

Who is it for?

• Artists who can't afford Photoshop
• Artists who have Photoshop, but can't access it
• Amateurs interested in getting into image editing

Why use GIMP:

• Cross-platform (Windows, Mac, and Linux)
• Easy to adapt to/from Photoshop
• Supports Layers, Layer Masks, custom patterns and many other useful features
• Supports reading PSD files
• Supports scripting in C, C++, C#, Python, Perl, and Ruby! Ironically, no JS, VBS, or AppleScript - the 3 languages that Photoshop supports :P 
• Does pretty much everything you'd expect from a professional image editing program
• Offers plenty of documentation, and there are loads of 3rd party learning resources
• It's free!

The Issues:

• Personally, I find the shortcuts to be crazy
• Cannot select multiple layers at a time. So, if you're grouping layers, you have to create a folder, and put one layer in at a time.
• When moving layers with your keyboard arrow keys, you need to select a layer, and click on the canvas before moving. Otherwise, the arrow keys are used to select different layers.
• Creating a layer mask opens up a menu asking you to select what to fill it with (full white, full black, use selection, use layer's alpha channel, etc). It would've been nice if they just applied a default, and provided a menu driven window to access those options. 

Closing Thoughts:

There are quite a few irritating quirks about GIMP that take a while to get used to (like the ones listed above). Personally, I feel that that's to be expected of any open source software. After all, these tools are not professionally built; they're created by a community. Keeping that in mind, I would have to say that GIMP is without a doubt the best open source multimedia application I have seen! (I haven't used blender, so don't throw that in my face). This is officially the first software I'd add to any portable multimedia suite that I make in future.

Bonus 1: It comes pre-installed in Ubuntu Studio!

Bonus 2: Click here for a free ebook on using GIMP. It covers everything from navigation to scripting!

God Bless Ubuntu

The Backstory:

After postponing for a while, I finally met up with a client and collected my work for their next project. I did what I always do: copied all the needed files in a pen drive. Usually, I'd format it before taking it with me, but somehow it just slipped. The only thing I had in that pen drive was Ubuntu Studio, along with some other random files. I knew there weren't any viruses, so there's really no point in formatting my drive (other than to look neat).

The Plot:

I met my client, came home, had lunch, and plugged in my pen drive, only to find this:

The files I need are inside that folder....the selected one.....which has now become "DATA.exe"....

GREAT!!

Apparently, I picked up a virus.

Now, I can't fix this on my mac without installing some random software, which I really don't want to do. Judging from the damage, this seems to be a rather simple virus, something even Windows Defender could handle. On the other hand, the virus would become active the moment I plug it into Windows. It's probably not going to do much, but I can't risk losing those files. (I don't want to end up asking my client for another copy; that's just unprofessional)

Eventually, I decided to fire up Ubuntu (not the one on my pen drive), and see how that flies. So, I booted up, mounted my pen drive, and guess what?

Lo and behold, I can access my folder again! I love how you can see both the original folder, and the virus! Ha ha. 

So, I backed up what I needed, formatted the drive, and went back to catching up on this years Oscar Nominations. (My money is on Eddie Redmayne. Better luck next time DiCaprio!)

The Conclusion:

And that, my friends, is the story of how Linux, an open source operating system, was more helpful to me than either Mac or Windows! You don't need to be a geek to use Linux! (I'm not saying that I'm not one, but hey, that's just me). You don't even have to use it, just have a copy lying around for times like this! What harm could it possibly do you?

Download your copy of Ubuntu now!

#MacProblems

As any Mac owner knows, beyond the sleek design and performance, this piece of machinery comes with its baggage. I won't get into many issues, just one in particular: backward compatibility. It all started when I wanted to install Maya 2016 yesterday, but it required that I update my OS. After much hesitation and deliberation, I decided to go ahead and move up to Yosemite. This, as usual, led to a world of problems.

Errors Ho!

As you can see above, the first problem I encountered was a driver problem for the GPU. The display started acting crazy. Luckily, a couple of updates fixed that issue. Next, I started running my most important apps to make sure they still work. This left me with 3 Java Update requirements, 3 OS incompatibilities, 3 damaged app errors, one configuration error and one plain old "can't be opened" error. Oh, and PTGui just keeps bouncing without doing anything else.

Here We Go...

Finale 2011

First thing I did, was install Java SE6 runtime. That fixed Illustrator and Flash, but Finale wasn't as lucky. It started running, but when I created a note, it displayed an error: "Unhandled Exception Caught" and closed. Next time, it just "quit unexpectedly". At first, I thought something was wrong with the Garritian Instruments plugin, but it crashed even when using the default SoftSynth instruments. Eventually, I was able to use it a bit, but it's still very unstable.

After Effects CS6

Next, I searched for an update for After Effects CS6. I found one on Adobe's website, and after installation, it started running smoothly. *Phew* That one was a bit scary. I can't imagine working without AE. I had to install newer versions of FCP and Compressor to get those working too. (OMG! Compressor looks completely different!)

Nuke Studio 9

Nuke, NukeX and Nuke Studio all refused to open, claiming that the app was "damaged or incomplete". A quick reinstallation took care of that. And I have to say, way to go on the non-commercial license! Thank you, The Foundry!

  

DaVinci Resolve Lite 11

DaVinci Resolve was kind of a weird fix. I uninstalled the current version and tried to reinstall it, but got an error saying 

"Mac OS X 10.6 or Later Required"....Um.....I'm running 10.10! 

Whatever.

Thankfully, the lite version of DaVinci is free, so I just downloaded and installed the latest version from Black Magic Design's website. 

(They have a linux version now?? Sweet!) I can't wait for them to launch a mac version of Fusion! I love professional grade freeware.

Logic Pro 9 running Kontakt 5

Something weird happened with Kontakt. When opened as a standalone software from applications, it gave me a blunt message saying "Can't be Opened". Interestingly, I can still load it as a plugin inside of Logic...Well, that's really the only way I'm going to use it, so, whatever. I'll just let it be.

While I was fixing all of this, I noticed something crop up on my Activity Monitor. I typically have a habit of keeping it open whenever I work, and for good reason. My CPU usage was suddenly sky rocketing for no apparent reason. A closer look revealed the cause to be a process initiated by HP? What? This useless process was eating up my resources much like a virus, and kept relaunching upon termination. A quick search online showed I wasn't alone. Apparently, this was caused by a printer driver.....so much for that update from apple! Removing it was an instant fix. 

Note to self: don't update drives unless necessary.

HP's custom made virus

Closing Thoughts

During the OS update, the installer displayed an error, saying that my Wacom driver will not be supported. Apparently it went ahead and automatically uninstalled it. I downloaded the latest driver and now, my pen tab seems to work fine. In the end, I could never get PTGui working. I guess I fixed everything other than that and Finale...oh well. Irritating as these issues may be, they all stem from one root cause - Mac is based on Unix. Unix has lousy backward compatibility. Like it or not, such issues have to be expected. Although, at the end of the day, I'd rather debug a Windows than a Mac.

P.S. - Red iTunes?? Seriously???

Portable Multimedia Suite II: To Studio, or Not to Studio

I previously blogged about carrying around a studio in your pocket. For those who'd like to get started with that, you can download the latest version of Ubuntu Studio here. To get it to run off of a pen drive,read my old article here. However, I'm now beginning to wonder whether Ubuntu Studio is appropriate for this task. Am I contradicting myself? Well, allow me to explain.

The Ironic Predicament

Ubuntu Studio comes packaged with a lot of wonderful multimedia tools. That's what makes it such a handy OS. Unfortunately, it comes with so many, that one might consider it bordering bloatware! Basically, it's a collection of all major multimedia software available for the OS, neatly bundled and ready to use, but honestly, no one is going to use every single one software. We all have our own tastes and preferences. Ordinarily, this shouldn't be such a big deal, but we need this solution to be portable, every bit counts! Anything that can be cut, should be cut. Now, we have 2 options:

• Install Ubuntu Studio and remove all software that you're not going to use, then add any additional apps you need (like VLC!)

• Install plain old Ubuntu and simply install the tools that you will use.

Weighing the Options

The latter seems to be an ideal choice, only it's more work than meets the eye. You see, you can't just install your apps and expect them to work; you also have to install whatever packages are needed to support your app. For example, if you need to edit a video, you have to install an editor, and the codec required to make the editor support your video. Ubuntu Studio offers all of that functionality right out of the box. Not to mention, the interface of Ubuntu Studio was designed for artists. It's just so much better! Fortunately, you can install a theme that provides that same interface for Ubuntu.

Unfortunately, the problem with the former is that we are running a live cd version, so uninstalling apps is a problem. Removing software from a cd image seems counterintuitive. I've tried, and, well, it seems to have been removed, but I didn't see a decrease in file size, so I guess it's entry was just deleted......

The Not-So-Elegant Solution

There exists an app called the Ubuntu Customization Kit which claims to let you create a customized version of Ubuntu, and create an installation disk for it. Basically, you can make whatever changes you want, install or uninstall whatever software you want, and make a live cd version of the OS at that state, providing you with your own custom flavor of Ubuntu. Unfortunately, it involves coding, and I don't know the first thing about Unix. Honestly, it would be a lot easier to just get a pen drive with a couple gigs of extra space, but.......well, what's the fun in that?

Cleaning Browser Redirect Virus

How many times has this happened: You're on google, click on some search result, which initiates a chain of web page redirections to various malicious websites? Well, you're not alone. There are a lot of articles explaining how to clear such issues on Windows or a Mac, but come on people! We're one and a half decades into the 21st century! Most people are now surfing on their smartphones and tablets, which means iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry must be taken into account! I'll cover the 1st  two here, but the same concept should work on any device.

STEP 1: Clear Browsing Data

That's right. Start with the basics. Clear ALL browsing data: history, cache, cookies, everything. Pretty standard stuff.

STEP 2: Change Your DNS

OpenDNS is built on four cornerstones: safety/security, speed, intelligence and reliability.

Okay, I don't know why this works, but it just does! When you surf the web, your device connects to the internet through a DNS server. The default server is provided by your service provider, but by all means can be changed if necessary. We are going to switch to OpenDNS.  I'm going to assume you're browsing through wifi. With that said, here's what you do:

iOS:

Go to Settings > Wifi and edit the network you're connected to. Change the DNS to 208.67.222.222. You should be fine now.

Android OS:

Go to Settings > Wifi, long click the network you're connected to and select Modify Network Config. Enable Show Advanced Options. For some reason, Android doesn't let you modify your DNS unless you use a static IP Address.....whatever. Go ahead and switch the IP Setting from DHCP to Static. Scroll down to DNS 1 and change it to 208.67.222.222.

That's All Folks

OpenDNS seems to offer much better security than my service provider. This fix has worked in most cases I've seen. I'd love to hear your results in the comments. Enjoy!

-Niranjan

Portable Multimedia Suite - I: Introduction

Are you an artist? If so, you know the hardships of having to ready your computer by installing a plethora of software before you can use it properly. Well, at least that's your computer, so it's just a one time process. On the flip side, when you're on someone else's computer, and your creativity strikes, what do you do? Obviously, since they don't have the required software, there's really not much that you can do! Have you ever felt this handicap before? Don't you ever wish you could do something about it? If so, you're not alone.

For many years now, it has been my dream to establish a portable multimedia solution. Essentially, something that would let me work on any computer, without having to depend on them installing any software. The obvious solution that came to mind was to do something with a pen drive....but what? Initially, I tried using portable versions of various software, but, if you've tried this, you know exactly how irritating it is. Most of the time, it doesn't even work! Now what?

Along this journey, I have tried out using several different distributions of Linux to find an ideal version to store on a bootable pen drive, for emergency situations (for instance, accessing data from a PC that won't boot). Eventually, I decided to use Puppy Linux for that particular cause (you can read further in my older blog). That's fine for basic tasks, but you can't exactly use it for creating media. So, a few months ago, I ended up installing Ubuntu Studio to get a hang of using it. At the time, my basic goal was to avoid using Microsoft as much as possible :P

After using Ubuntu for the past 6 months, I finally have the urge to see how far I can push this OS; not in terms of software, or portability, but both! I want to create a pen drive containing a bootable version of Ubuntu Studio, that has all the apps you need to create and edit media. This particular distro of Ubuntu comes with many such apps preinstalled, but there are still a lot you need to add manually. For example, it lacks a decent video editing software. I heard Cinelerra was a good one...haven't tried it out though.

Anyways, think about how great it would be to just carry around a pen drive, that lets you use ANY COMPUTER to complete your work! Editing? Photography? Composing? Writing? You name it! And the beauty of it is, if you don't have the right app for something, you can always install it!

The only down side is, you have to learn a whole new set of tools, and more often than not, they won't be as sophisticated as your professional software packages. On the bright side, it's always better than nothing. After all, you don't really need Avid Media Composer for editing you home videos, now do you?

In the long run, I want this to be part of a larger set of tools used to trouble shoot a computer. Clearly, all that'll have to wait. Over the next few weeks, I'll delve in to my experience of creating this Portable Solution. One step at a time!

-Niranjan