Friday, August 29, 2008

Una Nota de Isabel Christina

Hola a todos los usuarios de SceneCaster de habla hispana!

Mi nombre es Isabel Cristina y quiero compartir con todos ustedes la experiencia de usar esta increíble aplicación.

Hace un tiempo por fortuna, alguno de mis amigos de facebook me invitó a usar SceneCaster y aunque ignoro muchas invitaciones decidí aceptar ésta. La primera vez que entré a la página debo confesar que no entendí mucho de cómo usarla, baje el programa y cuando ví la cantidad de opciones que tenía para seleccionar objetos no sabía muy bien que hacer con ellos! Decidí explorar un poco y empecé a ubicarlas en la superficie que aparece cuando vas a crear una escena. No tenía idea que podía modificar las dimensiones de los espacios, y debo confesarles que solo después de haber ensayado con unas cuantos escenas bastante simples empecé a usar la opción de vista en 2D.

Ahora cuando veo mis primeras escenas (todas se llamaban Isa 1, Isa 2, Isa 3… muy original por cierto!) debo admitir que eran bastante ‘minimalistas y tímidas’ por el poco uso de elementos, pero no porque fuera mi estilo (alguno de ustedes conoce muchos hispanos tímidos?), sino porque no sabía de la cantidad ilimitada de catálogos que existían a través de la opción de objetos 3D en Google!!!







Las imágenes anteriores son ejemplos de mi primeras escenas ‘minimalistas’.

Después de batallar con mis primeras escenas empecé a explorar cada vez más por la aplicación y especialmente me detenía a observar escenas que otros realizaban, de esta manera empecé a familiarizarme con nombres como Diroshi Raja, Lesley Bergen, Jim Burgersten, Wai-Shan Lisa Lo, Michael Sanders, Mark Zohar, Adrijana Mracina o Aoife Sutidaa, ellos han sido sin saberlo mis maestros, sus escenas son siempre alucinantes, plenas de detalles y muy creativas, mirarlas siempre es placentero, no solo por su belleza, sino también porque entrar a cada una de ellas es entrar en contacto con mil y un mundos. A través de las escenas que realizan los usuarios de esta increíble aplicación he estado en villas del medioevo, baños romanos,la inauguración de los Olímpicos, el medio oeste, la casa de los Simpsons, conocí a los alliens de Diroshi, vi una película en el teatro de Michael, me alojé en el Gran Hotel de Lesley, y desayuné en el chalet de Giulia; de igual manera, cada vez que me iba familiarizando más con la aplicación me animaba a recrear escenas para que otros compartieran conmigo imágenes de lugares que solo existen en mi imaginación como una escena que realicé hace unas semanas a la que llamé Purest White,



donde en medio de la nieve más blanca y pura una mujer se encontraba en absoluta contemplación (la ciudad donde vivo en Colombia tiene una temperatura promedio de 28°C todo el año!), pero también me ha dado la posibilidad de compartir con Ustedes escenas como Delirium Salsa,



en la que a través de un link puedes mirar en YouTube a los bailarines de Swing Latino que son de Cali, mi ciudad, y que han ganado en 3 ocasiones el Campeonato Mundial de Salsa!!! Quién se atreve a decir que los latinos no llevamos el ritmo en la sangre o que nos falta talento y creatividad? Entonces, no sería increíble que cada día hubiesen más y más escenas donde viéramos por ejemplo a dominicanos y panameños bailando merengue, una exposición en el Malba en Buenos Aires, un concierto en el Teresa Carreño de Caracas, o a un grupo haciendo canopy en las selvas de Costa Rica, Ecuador o Perú?

Realmente, SceneCaster es la aplicación más sencilla y entretenida que he encontrado; no solo como herramienta para recrear espacios, sino también como herramienta social, ya que desde que la uso he tenido la oportunidad de hacer contacto con personas de partes tan diversas del mundo como Sri Lanka y Canadá o China y la India!

Yo espero sinceramente que se animen a usarla, que exploren todos sus usos, que diseñen sus espacios con ella, que bajen objetos nuevos con Google y que las compartan con todos quienes hacemos parte de esta gran red de usuarios de la mejor aplicación que he podido encontrar: SceneCaster!!!

Michael's note: My most sincere apologies for this ham-handed translation:

My name is Isabel Cristina and I want to share with you the experience of using this incredible application.

Some time ago fortunately, some of my friends invited me to use facebook SceneCaster and although I ignore many invitations I decided to accept it. The first time I went to the home page I must confess that I did not understand much about how to use it. I downloaded the program and when I saw the number of options open to select objects, I did not know very well what to do with them! I decided to explore a bit and started to locate on the surface that appears when you create a scene. I had no idea that you could change the dimensions of space, and I must confess that only after having experimented with a few, quite simple scenes that I began to use the option of creating in 2D View.

Now when I see my first scenes (all were called Isa 1, Isa 2, Isa 3… very original by the way!) I must admit that they were quite 'minimalist and timid', but not because it was my style (do you know many timid Hispanics?), but because I did not know the unlimited number of 3D objects that existed in the Google catalog!

The previous images are examples of my first 'minimalist' scenes.

After battling my first scenes I began to increasingly explore the application and I stopped specially to watch others doing scenes, thus became familiar with names like Diroshi Raja, Lesley Bergen, Jim Burgersten, Wai-Shan Lisa Lo, Michael Sanders, Mark Zohar, Adrijana Mracina or Aoife Sutidaa, they have been unknowingly my teachers, their scenes are always amazing, full of detail and very creative, always pleasant to watch, not only for their beauty, but also because entering each one is like being in contact with a thousand worlds. Through the scenes being made by users of this application, I have been in incredible villas in the Middle Ages, Roman baths, the opening of the Olympiad, the Old West, the home of the Simpsons; I met the aliens with Diroshi, I saw a movie in Michael's theatre, I stayed at Lesley's Grand Hotel, and had breakfast at the Villa Giulia. As I became more familiar with the application, it encouraged me to create scenes to share places that only exist in my imagination. A scene I made a few weeks ago I called the 'Purest White', where amid the snow, white and pure, a woman was in absolute contemplation (the city where I live in Colombia has an average temperature of 28 ° C all year!) But SC has also given me the opportunity to share with you scenes such as 'Delirium Salsa', which through a link on YouTube you can watch the dancers Swing Latino in Cali, (my city,) They have won the World Championship in Salsa dance! Who dares to say that Latinos do not carry the pace in the blood or that we lack talent and creativity? It would be unbelievable if every day we have more and more scenes where we saw such things as Panamanian and Dominican merengue dancing, an exhibition at the Malba in Buenos Aires, a concert at the Teresa Carreno Caracas, or group doing canopy in the jungles of Costa Rica, Ecuador or Peru?

Actually, SceneCaster is easy and entertaining, not only as a tool to create spaces, but also as a social tool. Since joining, I have had the opportunity to make contact with people from such diverse parts of the world as Sri Lanka and Canada or China and India!

I sincerely hope that this will encourage users to explore all its features, to design their spaces with it, discover the Google objects and that we share them with everybody in this great network of users with the best application that I could find: SceneCaster!

Monday, August 25, 2008

SceneCaster New Editor Release

Our developers have been heads down for the last three months, getting ready for our latest release of the SceneCaster Editor. It is chock-full of tasty new treats for our scene creators as well as our scene viewers.

Installation
The next time you go to create or remix a scene, you'll be prompted to download the new editor. It's a pretty standard installation, but comes with two things to take note of:
1 - You need to close all of your browser windows while the install takes place (including the SC one). Don't worry, we'll re-open your browser for you when the install completes.
2 - about 2/3 of the way through the install, you'll experience a pause of several seconds. Don't worry! It's not frozen, it's just getting some components it needs from Microsoft.

So What's New?
In a word: PLENTY! Most importantly, when you save a scene now, you have the option of allowing 3D viewing. Anyone viewing your scene will now be able to view your scene using our 3D Viewer. They'll be able to zoom and pan from every camera angle and get the full 3D experience without having to remix the scene. Those of you who prefer our classic 2D editor still have that option as well.

About Linking
Good news as well. Now any links you attach to your objects are attached to the object itself, rather than drawing a big box around the object. This will help alleviate any frustration you've had about viewers not being able to click on your links.

Embedded Video
Now any video clips you link to will play right in the 3D scene with their own playback controls. You don't have to link out to external sites anymore!

List of Added Bonuses
You can finally paint ceilings - no joke!
You won't pick up additional objects when you drag & drop anymore.
We turned off collision to make it easier to put objects in/on other objects.

New Keyboard Commands for Advanced Editors
These are gold! Take notes:
Hold down the Shift key and you can free-rotate objects with your mouse.
Hold down the Ctrl and Shift key to move objects up & down. Added bonus: they'll maintain their elevation wherever you move them.
Hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys and you can re-size objects with your mouse.
Select an object and use your arrow keys to nudge objects in 4 directions.
Select an object, hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys and use your Up/Down arrows to nudge them vertically.
Hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple objects and use your arrow keys to move them as a group.
Use the W, A, S, D keys to move your current camera.

Looking forward to seeing what all of you will come up with.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

SceneCaster eNews - the Premiere Issue

It's the maiden voyage of our first ever eNewsletter: Casting Call, and we're as excited as a dog in a house made of beef. Those of you who have signed up should have received Casting Call in your email already. Those of you who haven't signed up yet: shameful! But you can still get a preview here.

How to Subscribe
Easy peasy: click on this super subtle link from any of our FB pages:



Provide a valid e-mail address and you're on your way. You can also unsubscribe very easily, so don't feel like you're signing your life away.

Why Subscribe?
You'd be crazy not to, that's why! We'll be giving sneak peeks at new features, new content, our favorite scenes & SceneCasters, games, contests, rewards and much, much more. So...what are you waiting for?

Monday, August 18, 2008

New Catalog Content - Olympics!

I have been literally glued to my TV every spare moment for the past week, watching coverage of the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing. As an aside, is it just me or did you think it was rude of Usain Bolt to stop trying after he knew he was going to win the 100M sprint?



Anyway, in the spirit of the games, we've just added 60 athletes, flags and patriotically-inspired paraphernalia so you can build your own tribute to the spirit of sportsmanship. We apologize if your country's team is not represented, but we have only so much time left. Remember to use the image upload tool if you want to see your nations flag on the podium, too.

Now go forth and conquer!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Scene Spotlight Honorable Mentions

It was a long weekend here in SceneCasterLand, so I had quite a bit of catching up to do yesterday when I made it back in to the office: dusty, unshaven, tired (renovations - wish me luck).

As it always is when I've been away from the community for a while, I work myself into a frenzy over who will be the Scene Spotlight. Not to inflate all of y'all's ego too much, but you're really getting very good at this!

Our honoree ended up being Susan Johnson's 'Sumo Wrestlers', a tongue-in-cheek (pun intended) look at the grand opening of a Japanese bar where I hope no one ever orders the 'Dirty Martini'.



Why it won: You have to ask? Pure sex appeal, plain and simple.

However, there were so many contenders over the past few days, that I had to give them their propers. And it's an excuse for some shtick (who am I kidding?)

Bonnie & Clyde & Pops? - Susan Johnson



What made it great: Susan versus Susan! It had dramatic tension, a sense of story and incredible camera work. Plus, it paid homage to every great Hollywood action movie with the presence of the 'panicky idiot' (sorry Farrah) in a supporting role.

Basic girl meets fat guy in a little coat... - Ellen Solem



What made it great: Ellen's first take on Basic Girl was called (appropriately) Basic Girl in a Basic World. It won SS hands down! I sent Ellen a clip from (the best movie ever made) Tommy Boy, because the title reminded me of 'Fat Guy in a Little Coat', which was totally snubbed by the Academy Awards in '95. Ellen created this scene, complete with link to the YouTube video as an homage. Stunning!

Earth - Rachel Tan



What made it great: It was like '6 degrees of cloudy blob' over the weekend. CB plays the clouds (duh) in this scene, a bubblebath in LB's Bath Time, as well as Basic Girl's gravity-defying updo. That aside, this scene has stunning lighting effects, a message (environmental conservation) and Rachel's signature whimsical, innocent, color-saturated style.

Those Were the Days - Lesley Bergen



What made it great: Honestly: if she'd named the scene 'Find the Bong', I'm sure her scene views would have doubled (there are three. And no: they're not from the SC catalog, they're courtesy of the hop-heads at Google). I really like how the hazy film covering the windows seems entirely appropriate for the scene, too.

My Dream Bathroom - Diroshi Raja



What made it great: Um, I think you forgot something Diroshi: where's Brad Pitt serving you the no-calorie donuts?

Cool Lookin School - Amanda Howard



What made it great: Amanda's description for the scene reads: "A class room where kids can be calm, but visually stimulated". ROFL! I think Diroshi has a better chance with Brad & the donuts.

Cupid's complot - Isabel Christina Restrepo



What made it great: I don't know what a 'complot' is, but I'm pretty sure it means Isabel had a waaay better weekend than I did. Oh yeah!

Footnote: two days later, Isabel publishes this innocent little number:



Who does she think she's fooling?

Family Room - Ma. Rosario P. Bautista



What made it great: I know nothing of this SCer (yet), but this is just straight-on pretty and I've always got a soft spot for that.

Great work everybody - keep 'em coming!