First dump all of your mysql databases into a temporary directory as sql.gz archived files. Make sure the sql.gz file is the same name as your database name.   Meaning if the database name is milesanimates then make sure the archived file is titled milesanimates.sql.gz.  This command only works if the  mysql database archived as a .sql.gz file.  It takes the name of the file and stores it into a database named the same.  CD into the directory and run the following command.

ls *.gz | awk -F. ‘{print $1}’ | while read A; do zcat $A.sql.gz | mysql $A; done

If it doesn’t run correctly it means that the database doesn’t exist on the server. If that is the case then run this command first to create all of the databases.

ls *.gz | awk -F. ‘{print $1}’ | while read A; do echo “mysqladmin create $A”; done

I hope this makes animating arcs a bit easier for you.

Happy animating.

Before:

Afters sliding the right key over one:

As you can see the green tick slides into an gross position. It isn’t on an actual frame. To prevent this from happening you have to do a little mel scripting magic.

Here is how you can fix the problem if you like colored in-betweens like I do.

First open maya and go to Window > Settings > Hotkey Editor. Under Categories find “Animate”, highlight it.

Next on the bottom right hand side of the “Hotkey Editor” window click “New”.

Name the new hotkey something like “AddColoredKey”. Under description “Change key to special color”. Choose “Mel” as the language. Then in the command box copy and paste this code:

performSetKeyframeArgList 1 {“0″, “animationList”};
keyframe -time `currentTime -q` -tds 1;

This code first creates a key and then changes the key color using the -tds command.

Hit “Accept”.

Next assign this new hotkey to a key you want for me I picked “i” because it makes sense, i is for in-between. To do this in the “Assign New Hotkey” box on the top right hand side enter “i” into key. Then click “Assign”, you might get some messages saying that you will overwrite current hotkeys, if you want to overwrite them, which I do for “i” since I never use that command hit okay.

Finally make sure you hit “SAVE” on the bottom left hand side.

Now you should be able to go into the animation timeline and hit the letter “i” on your keyboard. This should enter in a green tween key. You can now slide the other keys around without having it effect the positioning of the in-between.

Happy animating.

I love the simple story line and design. A brilliant little piece of animation.

Blip from Giant Creative on Vimeo.

Stay young, watch animation.

I hope you enjoyed this animation as much as I do. Stay inspired.

A Monster In Paris (English) La Seine from kinkachu on Vimeo.

1. Choose a local developer.

I am a firm believer that you will get better production quality and work if you stay local. Meaning if you live in Tulare or Visalia California choose someone from Tulare or Visalia. It is okay to choose a developer from a few counties a way but I would advise against doing work with someone that is more than a day’s drive away. Why? because with a local designer you can talk to them in person. Yes, I know this is a strange concept in skype and twitter age world. But to be honest with you, these technologies only work so well, people lose e-mails. It is a lot easier to go over color schemes and designs in person than trying to explain it over the internet. Plus, when you don’t outsource to other countries it helps your local economy and networking circle.

2. Realize your budget and be realistic.

If you have a small budget then don’t expect a spaceship you will probably get a scooter. Stay away from developers that say they can give you a custom site for only $200 dollars. They are not telling you the truth. They are probably going to just give you a template and send you on your way. If you are short on cash I would recommend finding a developer that is honest that you are getting a template. Templates are not always bad, nowadays you can get nice ones for cheap. However, I would stay away from template sites like godaddy.com or oneandone.com. You can get better quality templates for nearly the same price from most local designers. Most developers would be happy to set-up customers with low cost templates, it is a quick buck. I know with a few customers I have offered them packages of finding a template, buying the template, installing the template, making a few hours of customization of the template, and instruction on how to edit the site for around $350 bucks. If someone is offering more than this for that price, I would be amazed. They are not telling you something, you don’t want to do business with those types of people.

3. Monthly fees are not always good.

A lots of web development companies have monthly fees. Most of the fees are legit and needed to insure good quality service. For example, spam filter\mailbox fees and web site hosting fees.
Now when buying a web site there are usually a few ways to pay the developers. One, pay a lump sum in cash and two, pay monthly fees. If you are getting a service, a custom web site, or a template web site be weary of monthly fees. Know what happens to your site if the developer goes out of business.

Both payment methods have their advantages and disadvantages. Usually when you pay a lump sum for a web site, you the buyer, owns the content. When you pay monthly fees you are essentially renting the site from the company. Lump sums usually means you own it but you might not get support after the site is handed over to you. On a monthly contract you often get a few hours free of support. If you are renting you need to know what happens if the developer goes under. Things happen, I have seen it before. One minute you have a web site the next you don’t because the developer lost his shirt but owns the site. If you own the site the hosting company will have to tell you before they go under or if they are in trouble. This will give you enough time to move your site to another hosting company.

4. Be cautious of proprietary software.

I am not a fan of in house content management systems and shopping carts. I think that there are a lots of awesome opensource, or shareware, systems that do the job. There is no need for a developer to re-invent the wheel. If they want to build something from the ground up the cost of the web site will probably be higher. Now if you are selling some wacky product that requires a strange shopping cart then yes, you might need a custom cart. But most customers just need a system like Magento to handle their transactions. A good developer will have his or her favorite shopping carts and recommend a suitable one for you. Go with whatever one they have the most experience with. This will lower production time because they will feel comfortable with the code. If they are masters at their system of choice they will be able to alter the shopping cart and create any needed plugins do satisfy your needs. Also a major plus is that if for some reason you are not satisfied with the design you can have another web developer easily look at the code. If the system is proprietary it is harder for outsiders to understand what is going on. This in the end will cost you more if you need to fix anything without the help of the original designer. So ask them what content management system they would like to use and then research it before you buy.

5. Get a professional.

Just don’t. Don’t hire some neighbor kid from next door. Get a professional like when you get a nice haircut.

6. Shop around.

Don’t just talk to one web developer shop around. If you are in Visalia California google Visalia Web Site Designers. Then call up four or five of the top designers in Visalia, California. Ask them for references. The first web developer on google is not always the best.

locate wp-includes/version.php | xargs -l1 grep -H “wp_version =”

Here is how to flip your playblast in quicktime pro:

First open the file and go to Window > Show Movie Properties.

Next, highlight the “Video Track” in the pop up window. Then select the button circled in the image below.

Now close the window and play your animation!

Hope this takes your animation to the next level.  Happy animating.

An awesome animated short named Elk Hair Caddis from Tumblehead on Vimeo.

Help command:
If there is a command that you need help with and would like to know more about you can always type - -help. For example cp  - -help will print all information regarding copy paste that you might need to know about.

Listing files in a directory:

ls directorynamme

This will print out the sub-directories and files within a directory.

Moving to a different directory:

cd /move/to/folder/you/want

Remember that in linux everything is / not \.

Copy and paste a file:

cp /file/to/copy.html /file/to/copyto.html

This will copy a file named copy.html and paste it\create copyto.html in the same directory.

Copy and paste a directory:

cp -R /directorytocopy /directorytocopyto

When when copying a directory you need to use the recursive command, -R, to copy all the file within the directory.

Making a directory/folder

mkdir directoryname

Remove a file

rm filename.html

Remove a directory\folder

rm -fR directoryname

When removing a directory you once again have to use the recursive command. However this time you will notice that there is a f infront of the R. F stands for force. If you just use -R the system will ask you if you want to delete a specific file within the folder. It will keep asking you on every single file. To avoid this put an f infront of the R.

Changing ownership

chown username:groupname /folderorfile

This will change the ownership of a single file or folder. If you are trying to change the ownership of the directory and the files/subdirectories within the main directory you will have to use the recursive, -R command.

Here is a short cut to changing an username and group name to the same:

chown usernameandgroupname. /folderorfile

This will change the user and group to usernameandgroupname. This is the same as typing out chown usernameandgroupname:usernameandgroupname /folderorfile

Changing permissions

chmod 755 /folderorfile

This will change the permissions of the files.

Mysql dump

mysqldump -u username -p databasename > mysqlbackup.sql

Or

mysqldump databasename > mysqlbackup.sql

This copies your mysql database.

Mysql restore

mysql -u username -p database < mysqlbackup.sql

Or

mysql databasename < mysqlbackup.sql

This restores your mysql database from the dumped file.