Tag Archives: blogger

Video Producers Using Unreal Game Engine For AR Graphics And Sets

LAS VEGAS —  A couple of years ago, ChyronHego announced a partnership with leading game developer Epic Games to integrate the Unreal Engine with ChyronHego’s family of augmented reality (AR) graphics and virtual sets solutions. With the integration, news broadcasters and other customers of ChyronHego’s Neon and Plutonium software will be able to leverage Unreal’s industry-leading rendering and real-time special effects capabilities to add powerful new photorealistic and hyper-realistic elements to their on-air virtual sets. Only a decade ago, editDROID and other Laserdisc based systems were still commonly in use with a much more rudimentary set of effects possibilities- this new Neon and Plutonium software system is an industry wide ‘game changer’.

Here is a look at 2017’s  ChyronHego’s live use demo-

“In an environment that’s more competitive than ever, our broadcast news customers are on a constant search for innovative ways to tell a better story and captivate viewers,” said Olivier Cohen, senior product manager, virtual solutions, ChyronHego. “Virtual sets that harness the amazing graphics capabilities of world-class gaming engines are the wave of the future for news, sports, and weather broadcasting, and Epic Games is the perfect partner to take us there. The integration with Unreal is just the latest link in our CAMIO Universe strategy to place the industry’s most powerful storytelling tools at news producers’ fingertips and drive template-based, unified news and weather workflows.”

“Since we launched Unreal Engine 4, it has become one of the world’s most powerful rendering engines for the game industry — but its flexibility, real-time performance, and robust set of tools make it ideal in just about any type of content creation workflow,” said Marc Petit, general manager, Unreal Engine Enterprise at Epic Games.

Augmented Reality Broadcaster set

“ChyronHego’s AR and virtual set solutions for broadcast production are the ideal match for Unreal Engine. By partnering with one of the leading broadcast graphics providers, we can continue to expand our presence in the broadcast, film, and entertainment industries.”

ChyronHego will work to integrate the CAMIO graphic asset management server with Unreal Engine, including creating broadcast-specific camera movements. Unreal’s 3D graphics engine enables producers to generate AR graphics through the templated workflows of the CAMIO Universe. Via custom user interfaces built with ChyronHego Live Assist panels, producers can then present the AR graphics on air using ChyronHego’s Plutonium and Neon virtual set and robotic camera tracking solutions.

Unreal GFX Engine logo

Cohen added, “As one of the world’s most powerful rendering engines from one of the world’s foremost gaming companies, Unreal will bring new levels of openness and scale-ability to our virtual set solutions. Unreal Engine is easily customizable and expandable, and five million users around the world will benefit from Epic Games’ vast reach across the global community of gamers and game developers. It means news broadcasters will be able to render effects in their virtual sets that rival anything their viewers have seen in the gaming world, with special effects like real-time shaders, bumps, sliders, and highly photo-realistic objects.”  For the Silo, Lyndsey Albright. 

Supplemental- The Revolutionary Video Toaster and Amiga Computer system 1991. 

Wellness Blogger Offers These Healthy Summer Snack Recipes

“Every story and every memory from my childhood is attached to food,” Dawn Lerman writes. Our relationship with food starts at a very young age: what and how we eat is often determined by our environment and our upbringing. Our eating habits and snack tastes are cultivated by our family members’ relationships to food, for better or worse. Dawn knows this first hand. The author of the New York Times Well Blog series, “My Fat Dad,” shares her food journey and that of her father, a brilliant copywriter from the “Mad Men” era of advertising at Leo Burnett and McCann Erickson, in her book, MY FAT DAD: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Family, with Recipes (Berkeley; September 29, 2015; Trade paperback/$USD16.00).

Summer Snack Book Dawn And FatherDawn’s father was known for his witty ad campaigns; he was responsible for such iconic slogans as “Coke Is It,” “This Bud’s for You,” and “Leggo My Eggo.” Unfortunately, he was not able to use the same problem-solving skills when it came to his weight. Dawn’s father was obese as she was growing up —450 pounds at his heaviest. His weight would go up and down like an elevator, depending on what fad diet he was on–or what ad campaign he was assigned to. He insisted Dawn, her mother and sister adapt to his saccharine-laced, freeze-dried food plans to help keep him on track. Dawn’s mother never cooked and she witnessed her mother eat only one real meal a day—a can of tuna over the kitchen sink—while she dashed from audition to audition pursuing an acting career.

“As far back as I can remember, there was an invisible wall that separated me from my dad, a distance that I could never completely penetrate,” Dawn remembers. “His closest relationship was with the bathroom scale – his first stop every morning and his last stop every evening. The scale controlled his moods, our days, what we were going to eat and basically ruled our family life.”

Snacks were a particular downfall of her father, especially when he was working on fast food marketing campaigns. “My dad felt that in order to create a good slogan, you needed to believe in the products you were selling,” Dawn explains. “He was always the best customer for the food and drinks he advertised, testing them excessively—especially when Wells Rich & Green promoted him to head creative director for Pringles potato chips”

Listening to him crunch away canister after canister on the crispy snacks in the privacy of his room– trying to come up with the perfect slogan, Dawn knew she had to get inventive to help her dad get healthy while still staying inspired. At 9 years old Dawn had become the official chef for her family, turning her maternal grandmother Beauty’s Jewish weekly recipe cards into diet friendly meals and treats that would keep her dad motivated. It was her grandmother who instilled in Dawn a passion for cooking for oneself and others as she learned that the best food is prepared with the freshest ingredient.

One recipe Dawn developed during that time was her special homemade hot air popped corn coated in ranch seasoning. Upon trying it her father declared “Dawn now that you popped, you can’t stop!” That statement of delight was the kernel of an idea that took her dad around the world– filming highly attractive people on beaches and other fun places, joyfully indulging in Pringles potato crisps that exploded out of the can as the top popped off while the voice over announced…” Once You Pop, You Can’t Stop!”

My Fat Dad Summer Snack Book CoverDawnLermanThis spring and summer try these healthy and delicious snacks from My Fat Dad with no stopping required. The potato chip recipe, derived from that long-ago hot air popped corn recipe, can be enjoyed throughout out the day as they are satiating and nutritious. Pair it with Dawn’s Hummus recipe, which is loaded with protein. The combo of complex carbs, protein and healthy fats –will fill you up without weighing you down. A win-win for both mood, energy, and weight control!

Recipes below from MY FAT DAD: A Memoir of Food, Love, Family, and Recipes By Dawn Lerman

Berkley Books/2015

MY FAT DAD: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Family, with Recipes By Dawn Lerman  Berkeley / 2015 Trade Paperback/$16.00

Dawns Potato Chip Recipe

Herb Infused Ranch Style Sweet Potato Chips with Coconut Oil

Yields: 4-6 servings

These sweet potato chips are crunchy, slightly salty, and have that wonderful ranch taste. They are a healthy take on traditional store bought chips. They are fried in coconut oil– which not only helps the chips to brown beautifully, but aids in speeding up your metabolism. They are a constant staple in my formerly fat dad– 450 pounds, now 210 pound –snacking regime.

4 large sweet potatoes, can also use white potato’s or beets

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 teaspoon of dried parsley

1 teaspoon of garlic salt

I teaspoon of onion powder

1 teaspoon of minced onion

Sea salt for seasoning

Fresh thyme for garnish

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees, scrub potatoes to remove dirt. Then slice into thin, even pieces. You can cut them by hand or use a slicing attachment on a food processor. Rinse your potato slices in cold water. Now soak the slices in cold water for 30 minutes.

Drain the potatoes and lay them on a paper towel or paper keeping them slightly moist. Dip in bowl with herb mixture –dried parsley, garlic salt, and onion powder. Make sure chips are coated.

In a skillet melt the coconut oil over medium heat. When the oil sizzles place them in the oil for about 1 min till they get slightly brown. Do not over crowd the pan. Best to do in small batches. Use a slotted spoon or spatula to remove your chips from the coconut oil. Drain the chips on a layer of paper towels, and repeat till all chips have been fried and blotted.

Then place all the cooked chips on a baking sheet and bake for 1 minute. Remove and serve warm. Sprinkle with sea salt and garnish with fresh thyme.

*NOTE: if you do not want to fry the chips you can take coated chips, lay them out on a baking sheet sprayed with coconut oil and bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees until golden brown.

Sweet Potato Hummus

Yields: 6 servings

If you are looking for a light, healthy snack this sweet potato hummus is bursting with flavor, spice and color. Because of its high protein content, it will help control your appetite and mood. My dad named it the caviar of hummus—exclaiming, that it was almost illegal for something so nutritious to be this delicious. Pair this with my Potato Chip recipe for the perfect blending of protein and carbs.

1 large sweet potato (about 9 ounces)

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

5 tablespoons olive oil (plus additional, as needed, for thinning)

2 tablespoons tahini

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, peeled

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Pinch of nutmeg

Position the baking rack in the middle and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Wrap the sweet potato in foil and bake in a shallow baking pan until it can be easily pierced with a knife, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow the potato to cool completely.

Peel the skin off the sweet potato and transfer to a food processor fitted with a blade. Add the chickpeas, olive oil, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, coriander, cumin, salt, and nutmeg, and process until smooth. If the hummus is too thick, add a little extra olive oil or water and process until the desired consistency is reached.

MY FAT DAD is as much a coming of age memoir as it is a recipe collection from Dawn’s upbringing and culinary adventures in Manhattan. Her recipes include some of her grandmother’s favorite traditional Jewish dishes, to healthier interpretations and creations. Her father’s life-long struggle with food, along with her grandmother’s love of cooking fresh foods, led Dawn to become a well-respected nutritionist, NY Times blogger and chronicle her story in her best-selling book. Today her dad is a healthy 210 pounds and vegan.

“Dawn Lerman grew up Jewish in the 70’s. I grew up Italian. Might sound different, but for the most part, it’s the same. Especially when it comes to food. The philosophy was simple, food = love. My Fat Dad hilariously and poignantly captures that essence. Whether you’re Italian, Jewish, or anything else you can relate to how family, food, and the love of both affect how we grow up, and live our life. Mangia!”

—Ray Romano, Emmy award-winning actor

“The Manhattan nutritionist was raised by a diet junkie who tried every regimen under the sun and food — or the lack of it — ruled her life. My Fat Dad is about her eccentric upbringing and her constant state of hunger as Albert imposed his wacky ways on the whole family.” The New York Post

“My Fat Dad is an exploration of the many ways food shapes our connection to family. It also includes many delightful recipes.” Michel Martin, NPR, All Things Considered

“It is clear Lerman ‘s life is centered around the table and she gives readers a seat at hers” Baltimore Jewish Times

” ‘My Fat Dad’ is a memoir of food, love and starvation” New York Daily News

ABOUT DAWN LERMAN, MA, CHHC, LCAT

Dawn Lerman Nutritionist Blogger AuthorDawn Lerman is a Manhattan based nutritionist, bestselling author of My Fat Dad: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Family with Recipes, and a contributor to the New York Times Well Blog. She has been featured on NBC, NPR, Huff Post TV as well as several other news outlets. Her company Magnificent Mommies provides nutrition education to student, teachers and corporation. Dawn counsels clients on weight loss, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other diet-related conditions. She is a sought-after speaker and cooking teacher and lives in New York with her two children.

For more information about Dawn, go to www.DawnLerman.net .

 

How To Start Blogging With Plastic Deerheads And Ironic Moustaches

The trendy and kitschy Owl. images/photos: Charity Blaine
The trendy and kitschy Owl. images/photos: Charity Blaine

Blog writers are like Indie music that’s about to become “cool”, or rather, they are the people that enjoy the Indie music before it’s “cool”, in fact, they are most likely part of the reason it eventually becomes popular. Only it’s not just music. It’s everything. Lifestyle bloggers like EVERYTHING before it’s cool. Therefore, I, as a blog reader, know about everything cool before it is cool. I, am a blog world hipster, and I’m only partly ashamed to admit it.

To clarify, it’s not just the blogs themselves that set the trends; it’s also the only shops where bloggers sell their handmade goods, such as etsy.com. Years ago, I remember searching for kitschy little polymer clay earrings shaped like foods at etsy, today, when I no longer want them, they are available for a fraction of the price at popular stores such as Clare’s and Arden’s, although truthfully, they do look cheaper. The handmade versions look more like real food than the store bought versions.  You should never believe anything that doesn’t come with proof, so here are three substantial examples of bloggers, not retailers, setting the trends.

 

1)      Owls. I really hate owls. I don’t think they’re cute. I don’t understand the obsession at all, but so many places these days sell things adorned with owls. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that owls were popular years ago, but this is a reference to the current owl obsession. Forever21.com  and http://verified.codes/Forever-21 sells more than a dozen owl accessories so does Clare’s. Where did I first see an obsession with owls? In the blog world, for example, blogger Elycia Watson (loveelycia.com) from Hamilton, Ontario posted regularly about owls more than three years ago. All the blogs I initially read as a blogger were full of owls.

 

geometrics

 

2)      Geometric Shapes. Bloggers love chevrons, triangles, lines, squares, any simple shape that can be coloured pink or gold. This isn’t the best example, but two years ago, the Sidney Crosby  of blogs, A Beautiful Mess, did a ‘do- it –yourself’ project “making a geometric mobile”. It’s a clothes hanger with dangling wire triangles wrapped in yarn, basic and geometric. Most of the bedding at Urban Outfitters these days is adorned with chevrons and triangles. This also points to the ‘do- it- yourself’ trend. These crafty women have been doing it yourself way before pinterest made it popular. To sound even more hipster, I remember when pinterest first started, in those days, there were no weight loss schemes or a surplus of one direction photos, it really was mostly crafts and home décor, and bloggers used it to find inspiration for new blog posts. I love pinterest, so thanks again bloggers for being cool before it was cool.

 

deer heads

 

3)      Since I’ve already given four substantial examples I don’t really need a number 3, but just in case you still doubt, take a look at Faux Deer Head for your wall. Flipping through a home décor magazine lately, I found a photo of a plaster deer head, in the style of the mounted, taxidermy deer head that hunters would have on their walls. Currently, even Home Hardware sells them. Bloggers have been doing this for years. They even use old piñata heads. They give the deer head hats and jewelery. The Dainty Squid was one of the first places I really remember seeing this phenomenon. Kayla found a plastic deer head more than 3 years ago, plopped a wig on its head and called it beautiful.

So the conclusion is- if you really want to be ahead of the wave, read blogs, small, crafty, lifestyle blogs. By the time any of that stuff hits the mainstream, you’ll be really sick of it and you can officially embrace your inner hipster and tell everyone, while sporting an ironic moustache, that you liked all those things, including ironic moustaches, before they were cool.  For the Silo, Charity Blaine.  

Supplemental- Street Trends: How Today’s Alternate Youth Cultures Are  Creating Tomorrow’s Mainstream http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0887308759

A 3D printer Photo Booth prints miniature versions of you http://tinyurl.com/mkw924