Steam Conversion

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Steam Conversion

Saturday, July 19 2014 @ 06:18 pm EDT
Contributed by: masodo
Views: 4,944

Ralph Bakshi has nothing to fear.

Explanation: I have been sitting on several little video clips that I shot at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry a while back. I have converted this one into an animated GIF. As I reduced this video to its basic elements (frame-by-frame in Photoshop) I was reminded of some of the techniques used in the animation classic Wizards.

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Steam Conversion
Authored by: Dale.Harkness on Saturday, August 02 2014 @ 05:31 pm EDT

Your animation is pretty cool. It's almost mesmerizing to watch the machinery turn. I almost forgot about Wizards. Definitely a unique style of animation. The topic it delved into was equally interesting about the conflicts with the references to World War II. Lots of interesting animations from that time frame. Heavy Metal from the early 80's was another fascinating film.

Steam Conversion
Authored by: masodo on Monday, August 04 2014 @ 09:11 am EDT

Hey, thanks Dale for visiting and taking the time to leave a comment. [smiley::D]

The most amazing thing about this whole project is that I was actually able to find the source video when I decided to do this GIF (my photo collection is the digital equivalent of shoe boxes full of loose photos.) I took little video clips of several scale models of mechanical devices such as this many years ago with the thought that I might do something like this with them.

The real challenge (after finding the video) was in the fact that the movie was shot hand held and the subject appears to move 50 or 60 pixels to the right through the course of a single cycle of the contraption's action. getting a loop to not abruptly jump as the cycle repeats itself required nudging each frame to align with the frame before it (in Photoshop of course.)

There is a slight jump visible when the cycle repeats in this gif owing to a slight counter-clockwise rotation of the camera that has not been compensated for. The lesson here boys and girls is use a tripod - that is what they are for [smiley:;)]

I submitted this image to the "Mechanical Gifs" sub-group on Reddit and have received mixed reviews (currently 62% upvoted.) If you enjoy the hypnotic effects of viewing mechanical processes in looping GIF format I suggest you browse the Reddit page linked to above; it is fascinating. [smiley:thumbup]

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- save the pulp -

Steam Conversion
Authored by: sonmicloud on Monday, August 04 2014 @ 06:09 pm EDT

Well done that man! I have a particular interest in Steampunk and steam engines have always been a delight to me since I was a small child. Great gif. I've been enjoying some of your comments on the President and Founder's blog too as I randomly skip through his backlog. You do a fine bit of verbal there :D

- sonmicloud.

Steam Conversion
Authored by: masodo on Monday, August 04 2014 @ 06:33 pm EDT

Oh good, I am glad you like this GIF sonmicloud!

I too enjoy the steam punk concept and marvel at the many artistic endeavors that have been taken in that vein.

Yeah, I have planted many a commentary seed throughout the President and Founders blog during my sojourn there a few weeks back; when I managed to read the website from cover to cover. I have been absent for a week or so and I fear I will need to block out a considerable chunk of time when I return if I am to stand any chance of catching up...

Thanks for the reminder on that. I will link him here as a further reminder to pop-in on the institute:

The Illimitable Ocean of Inexplicability
The Institute For The Study Of Slightly Varying Circumstances