ClicksyPicsWiggle animations and anything old timey!

I believe this is is Trajan’s Kiosk, on Agilkia Island.  Here is the wiki page, which also has a current image. Seems in the 1960′s, they moved this monument from the island of Philae because of high waters due to the construction of a dam on the Nile.  I believe they got the date from existing images of the site.  With a quick search I was able to find another flooded view from 1906 here.

I had trouble dealing with the warping of the kiosk on this image, but wanted to try out the water effect.  I used a free program, Sqirlz Water Reflections, available at CNet here.  The resulting gif was then chopped up so the top is wiggle between the two sides of the stereo, and the bottom was the Sqirlz gif.  I added too many frames, which is why I’ve sized it down a bit.  I would prefer to do the water by hand, but that’s taking some practice.  There just aren’t any tutorials about how to create flowing water in an existing animation, especially with only 2 to 4 frames.  And then taking that water and integrating it into the animation in a way to retain the 3d effect.  There are, however, plenty of tutorials on how to make crappy ugly fake looking water in just a few frames.  Maybe if I figure it out with a simple technique I will post one.  If anyone knows of some good water tutorials, I’d love to get a link.

Find out how these are created here.  View the original image here.

Another with a more slight wiggle.  I’m finding I need more transitions between the two frames to create more realism in the animation - at least until I get the hang of adding extra movement.  This one is primarily edited for movement in the sails.   Another that I’m not totally happy with, but I’ve been staring at it way too long, and declare it… good enough.

View the original stereo card here.  Find out how these are created here.

I was a little disappointed in the depth of this image, there’s not all that much wiggle.  The lights are natural flares from the lens angles being different between the two sides of the stereo.  I’ve actually done this wiggle before, but it was at a time when I wasn’t very good at aligning, and didn’t colorize yet. But I liked how the star came out.  I was wondering when I started, what purpose they would have for noting the time of night.  Then I noticed, if you look closely on the right side, you’ll see Big Ben.  The time is very clear on the original here.

(If you’re new to this site, find out how these are created here.)

I’ve been taking my time a little more with these because I’m trying to learn how to integrate animation into the wiggle more seamlessly and realistically.  It’s taking a lot of practice and patience.  But I wanted to let my regulars know it’s not at all a lack of interest that’s caused my infrequent updates lately.  It’s just the opposite.  A lot of it is also a push for quality.  So many nights I sat up trying to pump these out to keep people coming back, and when I go back through I always see things I wish I would have changed.  For now, I may only be able to add animations once a week, or twice.  But soon enough I’ll be much better at creating this extra movement and be able to get them out more frequently with a higher quality - both in regards to the animation itself and the restoration work I have to do to make these more pleasant to look at.  In the meantime, I’ll put more of an effort to provide some more interesting links.

Also, a big thank you to all those linking my blog and sharing my posts on facebook and twitter.  I had to pay a bit more for my hosting, and that little bit of extra ad income has *almost* broke me even again.  Every little bit helps, thanks for your support!

View the original from the Library of Congress website here.

The guy reminded me of the Marlboro Man.  View the original here.

I was amazed at the clarity of this image.  There is considerable fading, but it’s impressively sharp for the time.

To find out how these are created, go here.  View the original image from the Library of Congress here.