Tales of a modern life

2016-04-18

continuous Multicam recording

I know, I have too many cameras.
What do you say. It's a hobby of mine.

But every now and then I actually use all of them... at the same time.
Lectures and events have a tendency of ending up as multicam events that need more then 20 or 40 minutes per camera and should have their highest possible quality because they simply can't be repeated.

Surprisingly I got my hands on a used Ninja 2 on eBay.
Now I have completed my setup!
(inserts manic laughter here)

Center

One GH4R with no internal recording limit can be powered by an Atomos Power Station and record in 4:2:2 onto a Ninja Assassin in UHD for the wide shot that also gives crispy sharp, post-stabilized, post-panned FullHD medium shots as a crop. It doesn't move or refocus and thus needs little monitoring.(for Wifi monitoring I would have to switch from 10bit down to 8bit and I won't do that)
An internal MPEG backup recording is running.

Zoom H6 does the sound as 6 wav including - 4dB backup against clipping channels ,if not all channels are uses and has its line out run into the Ninja Assassin too. Channel 1+2 are the Mid/Side microphone because that gives perfect Mono down mix and can not have any stereo cancellations like the shotguns 3+4. 5+6 is a Rode VideoLink digital wireless channel to a Lavalier.

Remote Right

One Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera on the far right. Powered from a Lanparte V-mount plate. An Atomos H2S converts the HDMI to SDI.
An internal ProRes LT backup recording is running.
It provides FullHD Closeups from the right .
The SDI cable runs to left side.

Left

There am I with an Atomos Samurai Blade, monitoring and recording it and giving instructions via PMR radio to match my own framing.

Myself I am with another Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera, another Lanparte battery plate and the Ninja 2 for matching Closeups from the left side. Monitor is not as good and I have no scopes but I have my eyes and the screen of the camera.

Now we have wide shots from dead centered with any crop we desire and Closeups for dialogues from left and right.
Wenever something important is obscured from one side, we have 2 different angles to choose from.

Advantages

Each recording has a backup.
I can see what the opposite camera is doing including focus peaking and give instructions

HDD (Fullhd) and SSD (UHD) drives last forever
so do the batteries
audio from 3 locations +lav in case a chair chair squeaks and for a wide applause with no single shouts standing out
all recordings are in 10bit (or raw) - no banding when I pull the midtones up of down in post or pull up the shadows
all recordings are in ProRes (or raw) - fine noise floor for NeatVideo to work with and no MPEG artifacts
Editing off the 3 SATA drives directly with no need to copy anything

2016-04-11

GH4 und Lumix Club - Wie kriegt man die 100GB?

Mit dem V2.5 Firmware Upgrade für die GH4/GH4R soll man 100GB freien Speichersplatz bei Google Drive bekommen.
Kommt aus dieser Presse-Meldung:

http://www.presseportal.de/pm/14151/3293032
und wird auch so fleißig überall abgedruckt.

...bis man mal versucht das so zu machen.

Zitat:
"*Nutzer müssen sich zunächst im LUMIX CLUB (http://lumixclub.panasonic.net/ger/c/) registrieren, um dort den Speicherplatz für Google Drive zu erhalten und bis 30. September 2016 den Account Service aktivieren.
Eine Kurzanleitung zur LUMIX Club Registrierung ist verfügbar unter ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/camera/howto/compact_cameras_how_to_create_a_lumix_club_account_howto.html" 

Im Lumix Club findet sich kein "Google Drive" 
Einen "Account Service" gibt es dort gar nicht 
Auch die angegebene Kurzanleitung schwiegt sich zum "Account Service" und zu Google Drive aus. 
dafür aber das schon vor Jahren in Google+ aufgelöste Google Picasa -> Der Lumix Club zeigt auf der Startseite dem Nutzer 3 Wartungsmeldungen aus dem Jahre 2014  
Wird die Englische Sprach-Variante benutzt, kann für Support-Anfragen "Deutschland" nicht als Land ausgewählt werden 
Support-Anfragen sind auf ein Feld von nur einer Zeile und 20 Zeichen Breite beschränkt.

Wie zum Henker soll man das machen?

2016-04-09

Film making power box MK II

As many of you know, amateur film making is a hobby of mine.
One particular topic I started to adress was having all these different battery types and their chargers for all the cameras, hdmi recorders, monitors, lights, ...
A while ago, I made a charging box. A euro-sized box with a 19" power socket strip and 2 velcro strips to hold all my chargers in place.

charging box MK II

I upgraded my charging box to twice as many power sockets.
Also there are 4 rows of velcro, to hold twice as many chargers.

I'm still waiting for a universal charger with 2x2A and independently interchangeable plates for NP-F, GH4, AA/AAA and BMPCC batteries. That one will take up additional space and an additional power socket and I was already running out of both.

proper labeling

All NP-F batteries are now labeled with their size on side add front and all chargers with their maximum current and battery type.

There is enough confusion and chaos as it is.
Simple, ubiquitous tasks like Batteries and charging should not be a part of that.
1 standard, stackable Euro-sized box, 1 power cable, 1 switch and it even has sockets to spare.
All my chargers are attached with Velcro also can be removed to use them elsewhere and exchanged for different ones.

Each camera has its box and you can see the size of the batteries just by looking into the box (front) or when it is mounted in some device (side).

Lanparte VBP- 01

Why this emphasizis on NP-F? Because that's my ONE battery standard that can power everything now.

Two Lanparte V-mount plates arrived.
With 2xNP-F to V-mount adaptors I can now power everything(5V accessories, 7.4V cameras and recorders and 12V accessories and 12-15V cameras) , from one type of battery and from mains power while charging these batteries in the Lanparte without taking them off.
AND I have the option of renting huge, expensive V-mount batteries without even having to rent an expensive charger for very, very long sessions.
(The charging and mains power is the huge advantage of the more expensive Lanparte plates.)

Future project:
Add a step-up converter into the dual NP-F to V-mount adaptors, so they also work with only 1 battery. Meaning I can replace batteries on the go. Downside is: I will loose the ability to charge the NP-F.

WARNING
The ground level on left and right side of the Lanparte is different. Some people have burned their BMPCC and BMCC HDMI ports by powering an Hdmi recorder and the camera from the same plate while they are creating a ground loop via the HDMI cable.
I GUESS using the same side (you have 12V on both sides) SHOULD be safe.

Also the HDMI splitter in the Lanparte is incompatible with the signal a BMPCC outputs. I already knew this.

2016-04-08

should I get a laser cutter?

Today the Kickstarter campaign for Mr. Beam II started.

Version I was a kit for 500-600eur.
That's the price of the very common Chinese laser cutter. They take a lot of reworking to make them safe and reliable and the kit takes assembly.
So it's okay and I considered and finally declined it.

The price point

Version II comes fully assembled for 1400eur on Kickstarter and +40% later.
That's a lot of money.

Why shell out so much when you can upgrade a 600eur one?

Why get a personal one when you can travel to the nearest FabLab for such a seldomly done thing? (Same thing with a lathe when I have a 4 axis mill. )

What to use it for?

Let's see...
I have a large and a portable CNC milling machine and a super reliable 3D printer.

Plywood constructions
Any (ugly) plywood T-Slot cases I can do on a mill just as well. More noise but no fumes and no 4mm depth limit.

Labels, front plates and stamps
Engraving I can do on mills as well and I'm not even limited to flat objects but can make use of the rotational axis as well.
Stamps are easier to on a laser but that's a very seldom use.
Front plates need deep cuts in addition to labels.
Quite frankly I usually include the label, logo or QR code as an embossed part of the complex design itself instead of labeling things afterwards.

T-Shirts
Vinyl cutting I can do without heating and burning the material by mounting a knife in the CNC.

In addition to that I can do all kinds of complex, non flat shapes on the 3D printer.

Conclusion

I'll rather design a mount for the 4th milling axis with a vector knife in the spindle mount = vinyl and stamp vector cutting.
... and get a second 3D printer because the first one is running near 24/7 when I'm building another Robot Arm or other machine with lots of parts.
The large CNC mill was just as expensive then the - 40% Kickstarter laser and is much more versatile. But also louder and makes more of a mess.

2016-03-30

MyPrivateDisplay

I just installed a privacy screen protector on my phone.
Since I travel a LOT, I wanted people left and right of me to not be able to see the screen.

protection

Aparently it only limits the viewing angle left and right.
So in landscape mode, it does nothin at all.

colors

Colors still less saturated and highlights are clipping. Not very good.
It's like watching an overexposed photo of your screen.

touch

Tough screen working...so far.

2016-03-22

Building a "uStepper Robot Arm rev. 2" during EasterHegg

The Plan (tm)

During EasterHegg in Salzburg, I want to build a "uStepper Robot Arm rev. 2".
(Sorry, Thingiverse doesn't offer a nice iFrame-Embedding as YouMagine does.)

I want to build it, as it is. Using their assembly instructions from GitHub. Then check it out and install improvements.
Planned improvements are:

mounting holes for optical homing switches on the gears
reduce the number of different bolt sizes and ball bearings
Replace the uStepper with NEMA17 steppers controlled by a chain of L6470 (e.G. SparkFun AutoDriver boards) due to simpler synchronisation of multiple axes

3xAutoDriver - Stepper Motor Driver (Watterott: 2x 38eur , Sparkfun 34USD) 3A, 8-45V

15x 2 pin screw-on terminals with 3.1mm pitch (3xpower, 3xGND, 6xstepper coild, 3xE-Stop) "Schraubklemmen 2.54mm Pitch (2 Pin)"
5-6x 2x5 2.54mm headers (Comms-In + Comms-Out) "Wannen-Stiftleiste gerade 10 polig RM2,54"
5-6x 2x3 2.54mm headers (Meta-In + Meta-out)
"Wannen-Stiftleiste gerade 6 polig RM2,54"
2x cable for 2x5 2.54mm headers on both sides (SPI between boards)
1x cable for 2x5 2.54mm headers on one sides (SPI to Arduino)
3x cable for 2x3 2.54mm headers on one sides (Meta to Arduino)

3xNEMA17 (Watterott: 2x16eur) 0.33A, 12V
any power supply 1A, 12V for testing (final power supply will be 38-40V)

Change the joins with to not only be press-fit into the aluminium tubes but to have a bolt running across it (into the tube, through the join and out the tube on the other side) to allow for pulling small loads upwards.
Change the effector mount to use a standard ISO-9409-1-50-4-6 (=4xM6 on a 50mm circle)
Have a hole in the center of the mount to allow for cables

Preparation

I know the uStepper Robot Arm is still a Work In Progress.
I hope to get the original CAD files just in time for Easterhegg, so I can design my improvements.
I did get most of the parts from their BoM:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1398215#comment-834544

bearings

5x 608Z

standard skateboard-bearings.
for 8mm shafts
Z=closed on one side.
ZZ=closed on both sides or 608 = open will work too.

5x 625Z

for 5mm shafts(I'm missing these)

10x 624Z

for 4mm shafts

(I did an order of all standard bearings 3mm-8mm a while back. So I *hope* my stock has these covered.)

Nuts

20x M3
7x M4
1x M5
2x M8
(done)

Bolts

The BoM didn't specify the type of head or material for any bolts.
So I tried to stay with hexagonal headed and PH2 ones and tried to stay away from sink-hole bolts.

1x M8x40

used in Fig.10 - use hexagonal head, so you can have the bolt from below and nut on top. Other flat heads mean the nut has to be at the bottom and can fall out on disassembly.

1x M8x70

used as main axis for the large gears

1x M5x40

1x used in Fig.48

4x M4x20

2x used in Fig.55
1x used in Fig.56
1x used in Fig.57

1x M4x30

1x used in Fig.55

1x M4x35

1x used in Fig.63

1x M4x55 substituted M4x60 as 55mm was not avaliable.

1x used in Fig.65

15x M3x8 substituted M3x10 counter sunk head

use 4x (M3x10) in Fig.29
use 4x (M3x10) in Fig.31
use 4x (M3x10) in Fig.33
TODO: where to the other 3 go?

2x M3x10 substituted M3x10

2x used in Fig.25 - longer is okay. Any flat head type.

4x M3x12 substituted M3x16

4x used in Fig.9 - must be 11-13mm, head must have at most 5mm diameter

7x M3x20

5x used in Fig.3 - any flat head. steel brass or aluminium but even plastic bolts are okay.
2x used in Fig.21 - indended maximum head diameter 5mm but larger ones work if the head is at most 3mm in height

4x M3x30

4x used in Fig.44

Washers

5x M8 OD=15,8mm
4x M5 OD=9,8mm
2x M4 OD=8.8mm
I didn't find ANY of these sizes. So I hope grabbing large and small washers for M4,M5 and M8 from my stock will do.

Spacers

1x 14m (update: inner diameter just wider then M8 threads)
1x 7mm (update: inner diameter just wider then M4 threads)
Didn't find any because the BoM doesn't specify what kind of spacers they talk about.
I can't find them on the image nor the instructions.

Update: found them. Fig.36 has a typo and speaks of "space" instead of "spacers". Aparently they must have an inner diameter to fit an M8 and M4 bolt loosely.

tubes

The instructions don't specify if they talk about the outher or inner diamter
and what wall thickness is expected. (Clearly as seen in figure 20 and 22, inner AND outher diameter are important.)

1x 15x300 I got 1m of 16x1mm, it seems to be a snug fit in Gears_main_arm_15mm.stl, large_joins.stl fits but is a bit loose
1x 15x220
2x 6x240 I got 1m of 6x1mm
1x 6x252

...as you can see. The pure number of DIFFERENT bolt sizes is staggering.

Progress

Done:

sourcing all nuts and bolts (some bolts replaced by longer versions)
cutting tubes to length
assembled the first parts. List of suggestions for improvements is growing...
Written the source code that will rund this arm using G-Code to control L6470 chips.
Assembled the original design as far as I can without the 625Z bearings.
I forked the project on github to post an improved version of the parts and the manual

Doing :

Waiting for the electronics
manual is coming along nicely...
starting to design improved parts...

Notes about assembly instructions

name inner+outher diameter of tubes
name head-type of bolts

M8x40 is for Fig. 10, any flat head. Steel brass or aluminium
M3x20 is for Fig.3 and ??? any flat head. steel brass or aluminium but even plastic bolts are okay.
...

name where longer versions of bolts are acceptable and up to what length
name and show all dimensions for spacers (one is for M8, the other for M5)
Fig.1: a 608 (no covers) would do just as well as a 608z(cover on one side) or 608zz (covers on both sized)
Fig.2: prepare how? What am I supposed to do in this step?
Fig.3: no comment
Fig.4 use M3x20.
Fig.5: no comment
Fig.6: use a sturdy table to help press-fit the 608Z or 608ZZ skateboard bearing
Fig.7: "prepare" means "insert M3 nuts"
Fig.8: this is "side2.stl", not "side1.stl"
Fig.9: use M3x12 (at most 13mm) to mount the sides to the base?
Fig.10: use M8x40mm
- M8 x 40mm
Fig.11: add an M8 washer of 9-12mm (if not included as a feature of base.stl)
Fig.12: use M3x8mm(M3x10 works too) to mount the small gear to the motor-shaft
Fig.13:

M3x10 is too short for the NEMA17 motor but the M3x8 are the only ones we have >12pcs of ??? (same for Fig.29+31. Question asked here)
you may want to do this before Fig.12 because the mounted motor determines where on the shaft the gear has to be

Fig.14: no comment
Fig.15: no comment
Fig.16: no comment
Fig.17: use a sturdy table to help press-fit the 608Z or 608ZZ skateboard bearing
Fig.18: no comment
Fig.19

Is this large_joint.stl ?
The "main arm" the short 15mm pipe

Fig.20: use glue and/or a drill and an additional M3x20 with a self-locking M3 nut
Fig.21: use M3x20mm
Fig.22: no comment
Fig.23: use a sturdy table to help press-fit the 608Z or 608ZZ skateboard bearing
Fig.24 TODO: I seem to be missing 624Z or 624ZZ bearings
Fig.25: use M3x10mm
Fig.26: no comment
Fig.27: TODO: what size of washers?
Fig.28:

use M3x8mm(M3x10 works too)
don't forget about the M3 nut (hole is slightly larger then M3)
use the thinner one of the 2 small gears

Fig.29: use 4x M3x10mm, make use of the recess for the bolt-heads
Fig.30:

use M3x8mm(M3x10 works too) to mount the small gear to the motor-shaft
use the wider one of the 2 small gears

Fig.31: use 4x M3x10mm, make use of the recess for the bolt-heads
Fig.32: this is needed because you can't reach all 4 motor-bolts with the main gear on
Fig.33: use 4x M3x10mm, make use of the recess for the bolt-heads
Fig.34: no comment
Fig.35: no comment

Fig.36

"space" should be "spacer"
Spacer is 14mm long and fits around an M8 bolt

Fig.38 one washer between gear and side plate is plenty
...
Fig.44:

use 4x M3x30mm, bolt heat must be <4mm in diameter
bracket_part1.stl
bracket_part2.stl

Fig.45: nothing to do here
Fig.46: nothing to do here
Fig.47 see comment for Fig.48
Fig.48 why M5? It's the only 5mm bolt in the entire construction and introduces an entirely new type of ball bearing. M4 would have worked just the same.
Fig.49 one washer on the bearing, the other where the bolt exits
Fig.50 one washer where the bolt exits
Fig.51 this should be a nylon locking nut or else it will shake loose.
Fig.52: nothing to do here
Fig.53: nothing to do here
Fig.54: nothing to do here
Fig.55

use 1x M4x30 on the secondary arm joint
use 2x M4x20 on the 2 rods that connect to the triangle
TODO: Where to put what rod-length and what side to mount to (inside/outside)

Fig.56

use 1x M4x20 on the rod that connect to the triangle

Fig.57: use 1x M4x20
Fig.58: nothing to do her
Fig.59: nothing to do here
Fig.60: no comment
Fig.61: nothing to do here
Fig.63: use M4x35
Fig.64
Fig.65: use M4x55 (or longer)
Fig.66: finished! (with the mechanical hardware)

Notes about improvements:

holes for bolts should have a camfer to make inserting bolts easier by having them self-align.

the holes for the 608 bearings work surprisingly well without them but it would still be a good idea since not every printer produces dimensionally accurate results.

labeling the holes with the bolt-sizes costs nothing in 3d printing.
use less different bolt sizes
name bolt sizes in assembly steps
all parts are very low resolution. Lots of clearly visible polygon-edges.
Gears are a highly simplified design. They however do have only little backlash.
...
base.stl

M3 bolt-holes too small. 3.1mm would be better.
M3 nut-holes could use a camfer (any stray sterand of filament makes this harder).
my bolts have a 6mm wide head. The hole is 5mm. Wider heads should be supported.
Make M8 hole smaller to allow for M8 washer of 9-12mm to sit on bottom 608/608Z/608ZZ bearing OR include that washer as a feature of the base.stl design

Gears_bottom_edited_plus10.stl

M3 bolt-holes too small. 3.2mm would be better (slightly larger then the hole in the side that holds the nut).
nuts are inserted too deep. You can't align them after having them fall down the shaft to meet the bolt.

side_plate1.stl

is a very tight fit into base.stl
a tapper on the nuts that slide into base.stl coult also help.
holes for M3 nuts should be hexagonal and closed on one side to prevent the tiny bolt from slipping out. (This isn't laser-cutting.)
move the bolt that doesn't go through the bottom gear further outwards, so it can be removed without having to disassemble the bottom gear.

Gears_main_arm_15mm.stl

camfer for 3mm bolts needed. Any stray strand of filament makes this harder then it needs to be
label the gear "main gear"

Gears_second_arm.stl

no tapper for M5 nuts
mirror the small gear to have the bolt on the inside of the machine (accessible from above). That way it won't interfere with a longer bolt in the side_plates and the side plate can be made stronger by not having the access tunnes for this bolt.

second_gear_arm.stl

no hexagonal holes for the M3 nuts. They may shake loose.

link.stl

M4 hole is too tight
large hole needs camfer. Hard to inser.
A flat instead of round end should make push-fitting the rod with force easier

triangle.stl

M3 holes definately need a camfer
convert to use M4 and get rid of the 625Z bearing size in favor of only using 624Z

end_part3.stl

integrate the M4 spacer into this part

bracket_part1.stl

wider brace to allow for 16mm aluminium rods
convert to use M4 and get rid of the 625Z bearing size in favor of only using 624Z

bracket_part2.stl

should have a slightly wider holt then bracket_part1.stl , so the bolt fastens properly in the plastic
should allow for wider bolt-heads
wider brace to allow for 16mm aluminium rods
convert to use M4 and get rid of the 625Z bearing size in favor of only using 624Z

Software

I'm planning to use this trivial Arduino G-Code parser, throw out the Bresenham line algorithm (since we need not generate step+dir pulses ourself) to instead feed tool-coordinates into the L6470 Autodriver boards.

Result

2016-01-26

recording and matching V-Log on the GH4 camera externally

The few things I blog here are mostly about making things.
However I DO have another hobby. Cinematography. Especially the technical aspects.
Currently I do use 2 Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras and I have waited patiently for years to get a good deal on a non-EU GH4 or GH4R to combine 2 FullHD closeups (left and right interview subject/dialog participant/stage side) with a DCI 4K or UHD wide shot that acts as both wide and semi-wide by taking FullHD crops in post.

Motivation

I'm finally going to get a GH4R with an external recorder.
Recording much on Blackmagic Pocket cameras, V-Log looks nice.
However there are some reports of issues it has. Many with 8bit 4:2:0 internal recording and sounding like they may go away with 10bit 4:2:2 recording.

Status: I did receive the GH4R and Ninja Assasin. However the Power Station is going to run late.
I'm not entirely disapointed about that, given the bug of the current Power Station mentioned below.

Reading material on V-Log

This is the text-list I have come up with so far to get a grip on this topic:

Very interesting read on VLog vs. Cinelike-D vs. Natural on the FH4 when using 10bit external recording and 8bit internal recording on the #GH4.

Linked to from this discussion:
http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/9431-v-log-l-captured-in-8-bit-vs-10-bit/

after reding this in-depth anylysis of the color-spaces:
http://forum.slashcam.de/gh4-aces-unterstutzung-vt127380.html
(better LUTs then the ones from Panasonic at the bottom of the thread.)

Some practical analysis of V-Log in 10bit here:
http://www.provideocoalition.com/v-log-l-on-the-gh4-don-t-panic

conclusions about V-Log

Record V-Log externally as compressing this huge dynamic range into 8 bit 4:2:0 MPEG leaves you with banding and green+magenta noise.
Maybe overexpose slightly when using V-Log to reduce noise in the shadows.
(8-bit ProRes seems to work well but...file size doesn't matter when recording to a hard disk/SSD-drive. anyway )

whenever possible but only recorded externally
priority on high dynamic range (e.g. lights at night)
high contrast situations (e.g. film noir)

For scenes with low dynamic range but important skin tones, "Natural" or "Cinelike-D" seem to be called for.

when priority is on subtle skin tones
when subtle gradients in the midtones are important (deep blue sky, rolling but bright fog)
hazy footage where focusing gets difficult (unless I can focus with a LUT and peaking on the recorder)
when recording internally

power everything

The Atomos Ninja Assasin for external recording comes with an Atomos Power station.
Aparently the Assasin drains batteries like crazy (not as crazy as the Blackmagic Pocket). So Atomos hands out larger batteries for the early adopters and makes a limited time deal for Power Stations to the later crowd.
It already includes the adapter to also power the GH4.

HOWEVER, numerous reports state that the Power Station has a few flaws in it's current firmware or hardware.

Same battery in Power Station lasts just half as long as directly plugged into the Ninja Assasin/Shogun
Full Batteries in Power Station suddenly reported as empty

The voltage detection seems to be confused with the large power draw of the Shogun. It works fine with a small camera. My guess is that due to the power draw the voltage drops and thus the batteries are reported as empty way ahead of time.

matching cameras

Obviously I want to match the GH4 to the two BMPCC.
I found the color chart automatic matching in Davincy Resolve to be a great starting point.
However it does not match gain (white level 786 vs 1024), gamma (grey at 130 vs 250) and olive/green seems to be rendered differently (despite nothing non-green having any color cast at all).

The perfect way to go seems to be ACES "Academy Color Encoding System".
Yes, that's the Academy as in Academy Awards = Orcars.
Yes, Resolve V12 can convert footage into the camer-neutral XYZ color space using an IDT=input device transform.
Yes, there are IDTs for GH4 in V-Log and BMPCC in ProRes (Cinema DNG does not need an IDT as it contains all that transform information).
No, Resolve can not import IDTs and is limited to the few it has.
Choosing BMDFilm for the flat BMPCC and Sony SLog for the Panasonic V-Log gets you close.
However not as close as the color-chart.

Since I can't do this properly yet, I'll use it as a simply starting point whenever I can't have a color chart before/after the shot.

2016-01-08

Warum "Wiso EÜR+Kasse 2016" (Mac) sch*** ist.

Vor kurzem habe ich die folgende Bewertung (2 vom 5 Sternen) für die o.G. Software angegeben:

Navigation und Prüfung mangelhaft. Abschreibungen schlecht

Buchungen zu Abschreibungen dürfen nicht bereits aus dem Online-Banking rein gekommen sein.
Eine absolut weltfremde Trennung.
Buchungen zu AfA-Gütern allgemein unnötig kompliziert.
Keine Navigation aus Buchung in Ausgabe-Konten und zurück.
Eigentlich überhaupt keine Navigation durch die Buchungen auf Ausgabe-Konten.
Ausgabe-Konten nur sehr unständlich über Reports erreichbar.
Prüfung muss mit Papier und Bleistift erfolgen.
Vergleich von Konto-Salden mit Buchungsliste und navigation zurück zur ersten Abweichung nicht sinnvoll möglich.
Navigieren von Konten als endlose Liste, wie zu Störtebeckers Zeiten, statt als der Baum, den sie aufspannen.

Verfasst von Marcus W. am 07. Januar 2016

Kommentar des Buhl Teams
Sehr geehrter Herr W.,

vielen Dank für Ihr Feedback zur Software WISO eür+Kasse:Mac 2016.

Bedauerlicherweise können wir die von Ihnen beschriebenen Sachverhalte nicht nachvollziehen. Sehr gerne überprüfen wir Ihre Anmerkungen zur Software WISO eür+Kasse:Mac 2016.

Zu einer genaueren Prüfung benötigen wir von Ihnen noch weitere Informationen und bitten Sie, sich zur weiteren Klärung direkt mit den Kollegen des technischen Supports in Verbindung zu setzen. Diese erreichen Sie beispielsweise per Festnetz-Rufnummer unter 02735 / 90 96 90 oder indem Sie auf https://kundencenter.buhl.de ein "Ticket einreichen".

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Kommentiert von Buhl Data Service GmbH

Naja...wenn man so grundlegende Sachen "nicht nachstellen kann", dann braucht es wohl ein wenig Hilfestellung und ich sollte das mal als Blog-Beitrag aufbereiten.

Updates

Das erste was eine frisch von der Website heruntergeladene Version machen will... ist 30MB an Updates zu ziehen.
Offensichtlich schafft es hier jemand nicht wenigstens auf der eigenen Website für Abonenten die aktuelle Version vorzuhalten. Immerhin gibt es auch Leute die ihre Fibu Offline nutzen.

Trennung Afa-Buchungen und Online-Banking

Der Sinn von Online-Banking ist daß alle Buchungen rein kommen und man genau sieht, daß wirklich keine fehlt, keine doppelt ist, alle das richtige Datum, den richtigen Eur-Wert und den richtigen Wert in der Orginal-Währung haben (wenn denn Wiso hier mehrere Währungen unterstützen würde).

Nun gibt es aber auch Wirtschaftsgüter, die man abschreiben muss.
Deren (erst/zu-)Kauf-Buchungen muss man in den AfA Dialogen anlegen. Da die Buchung aber schon durch das Online-Banking da ist (man hat das Wirtschaftsgut ja bereits gekauft und per Überweisung oder Kreditkarte bezahlt),
fehlt hier einfach die Möglichkeit die existierende Buchung auszuwählen statt eine neue anzulegen.

Antwort von Buhl Data:

Üblicherweise werden Umsätze von Bankkonten abgerufen und anschließend verbucht. Wird bei diesem Vorgang die Buchungsart "Freie Buchung" und ein entsprechendes Anlagekonto ausgewählt, öffnet sich üblicherweise ein Assistent für das Anlagevermögen und die Neuanschaffung wird programmunterstützt verbucht. Diese Funktionalität ist in der aktuellen Version defekt. Dies wird mit einem kommenden Programm-Update behoben. Wir bitten um etwas Geduld.

Hätte ich jetzt ohne die Nachfrage und diese Antwort nie gemerkt daß das so gehen sollte. Gibt absolut keinen Hinweis darauf.

Konten-Baum

Die Konten in einer Fibu spannen einen logischen Baum auf.
So sieht das in Gnucash aus:

Man navigiert den Baum hinunter.
A-Aktiva -> 1000 Konten -> 1200 Bankkonten -> 1201 eigenes Firmenkonto

So wählt man statt dessen in Wiso ein Konto aus:

Eine endlos lange Liste.
Es mag unter Buchhaltern normal sein die Nummern z.B. eines SKR03 Kontenramens auswendig zu kennen aber in einer Software für die kleine Pommes-Bude von nebenan erwartet man heutzutage eher:

eine Baum-Navigation um sich zum richtigen Unterbaum und schließlich Konto vortasten zu können
eine Suchfuntion (existiert) welche die Liste beim Tippen verkürzt (existiert nicht) und so auch weit voneinander entfernte Treffer (e.B. bei Suche nach "Auto") finden zu können
Bonus Punkte für die Nutzung eines Deutschen Synonym-Wörterbuches, wenn jemandem die exakte Schreibweise des gesuchten Ausgaben-Kontos nicht einfallen will.

All das existiert nicht.

Antwort von Buhl Data:

Zum Einschränken der beim Buchungsvorgang vorgeschlagenen Konten können Sie die bereits aktuell vorhandene Funktion im Menü "Verwaltung > Konten aktivieren" verwenden. Hier können Sie nicht bebuchte und nicht benötigte Konten einfach per Mausklick ausblenden. Zudem erfolgt bereits eine Beschränkung der ausgewählten Konten durch die Auswahl der Buchungsart (Einnahme, Ausgabe und so weiter) während der Erfassung der Buchung. Weiterhin besteht auf der rechten Seite die Möglichkeit auf den Kontenplan umzuschalten, der dort komfortabel durchsucht werden kann. Das gefundene Konto können Sie dann per Doppelklick direkt in das markierte Kontenfeld übernehmen. Eine Suchfunktion mit Synonymen existiert zum aktuellen Zeitpunkt tatsächlich nicht.

Ändert natürlich absolut nichts an der Steinzeit-Denke daß Konto eine Liste sind, die man mit den Augen durchsucht oder auswendig lernt statt einem Baum.

Buchungsvorlagen erzeugen....nicht aus dem Online-Banking

Erzeugt man eine Buchung manuell, so hat man diesen praktischen Link "aus dieser Buchung eine Vorlage erzeugen".
Nur leider erstellte man im 21 Jahrhundert 99% der Buchungen nicht selbst sondern bekommt sie über das Online-Banking rein.
Genau hier gibt es diesen Link aber eben nicht.
Wiso erwartet ernthaft, daß man weiter macht und die restlichen 200 Online-Buchungen zu Ende importiert, dann in die Buchungs-Liste geht, irgendwie versucht in der endlosen Liste die einzelnen Buchungen wieder zu finden aus der man Vorlagen erzeugen möchte (die man in den 200 anderen Buchungen des gleichen Imports sicher gebraucht hätte, warum sonst verspührt man den Bedarf nach eine neuen Vorlage), dann die Vorlagen zu erstellen.

Das war mit der 2015 Version. Die 2016 scheint beim Abruf von der Bank reproduzierbar einfach stecken zu bleiben und auch nach Minuten nicht mehr auf Eingaben zu reagieren.
Der Button "Abbrechen" führt nur dazu daß der Dialog "Umsätze abrufen..." gleich wieder erscheint und bricht nicht etwa das Abrufen der Umsätze tatsächlich ab.
Update: Es ist der nächste Morgen und das Teil ist immer noch dabei die "Umsätze abzurufen" und lässt sich weder über "Abbrechen" dazu bewegen aufzuhören, noch über "Beenden" im Apple Launcher.

Antwort von Buhl Data:

Möchten Sie aktuell aus einer bestimmten Buchung des Online-Bankings eine Vorlage erstellen, verwenden Sie bitte eine bereits verarbeitete Buchung. Die verinzelt auftretende Unstimmigkeit beim Abruf der Bankumsätze wird aktuell ebenfalls durch die Kollegen der Entwicklungsabteilung geprüft. Auch hier wird eine Korrektur mit einem kommenden Update erfolgen.

Also....ja, das ist tatsächlich so und wird auch in kommenden Versionen nicht absehbar besser.

Konten-Navigation

Nun bin ich mal in einer Buchung im Bank-Konto.....in Wiso kann ich NUR im Bank-Konto sein.
Ich habe keine Möglichkeit in eines der Ausgaben/Einnahmen-Konto zu navigieren um zu prüfen, welche anderen Buchungen dort sind.

Ein Augaben-Konto ist genau so ein Konto wie ein Aktiva-Konto. Es gibt genau gar keinen Grund hier keine Navigation zu haben.

Will man in Wiso die Buchungen eines Ausgaben-Kontos durchsehen, so führt der einzige Weg über einen PDF-Report Aller Buchungen Aller Konten.
Ja...das ist deren Ernst.

Willkommen in den 1990ern.

Abo-Modell

Ob man eine Fibu für 2015 oder 2016 macht ist für eien Fibu-Software kein Unterschied.
Trotzdem ist die Wiso-Software künstlich verkrüppelt worden um nur das eine Jahr verarbeiten zu können.
Man muss sie jedes Jahr auf's neue kaufen.
Wiso EÜR+Kasse 2016 ist keine neuere Version von 2015, es ist der gleiche *** noch mal.
Oder finden sie auf der Website oder sonstwo eine Angabe, was an der 2016 Version besser geworden ist und warum man updaten sollte?
Das ist nicht nur einfach unschön, es ist kaputt.
Denn in den ersten Tagen des neuen Jahres eingebende Zahlungen die zu Vorgängen aus dem Vorjahr gehören (z.B. das Entgeld am 2.1. zur Arbeit im Dezember des Vorjahres) gehören zum Vorjahr.
Das Online-Banking Modul ignoriert aber alle herein kommenden Buchungen, die zum neuen Jahr gehören.

2015-12-29

Testing nGen filament

I'm currently on the 32C3 congress, testing Colorfabb nGen filament (Amphora AM3000) on my Ultimaker II extended using an Olsson block with a 0.4mm brass nozzle.

work in progress....

I solved some issues with:

first layer adhesion to the glass bed
unexplainable underextrusion
warping

So now I'm printing the hell out of it to see about it's reliability.
See the bottom of this posting for an Ultimaker .ini file for this material and the preliminary conclusions I draw from the tests described here.

test cases

nozzle cleaning

A Cold Pull/Atomic cleaning doesn't seem to work anymore.
Below 100 degrees it's impossible to remove by hand and
above its not pulling out anything but stretching like bubblegum.
I need to find a temperature that works for a cold pull to have repeatable test-conditions...

at 240°C

There seems to be a recurring underextrusion issue.

All test-parts are brittle. A part that would be strong in PLA/PHA I I can now crush with 2 fingers in nGen. (1cm thick, 20% infill, 3 solid layers)

After I temporarily fixed the underextrusion by changing to another new nozzle (as a cold pull doesn't work), I noticed very heavy warping.

These are the settings:

240°C Nozzle

85°C well leveled glass Bed with glue stick

4.5mm retraction at 45mm/s

fans at 50%

0.1mm layer height (Cura "normal" profile)

0.8mm walls (Cura "normal" profile)

0.6mm tops/bottoms (Cura "normal" profile)

60mm/s (Cura "normal" profile)

5s minimum layer time (Cura "normal" profile)

I printed with and without a front door present on the UM2extended.

at 220°C

I'm currently doing a comparison print in 220°C/75°C with the speed reduced from 60mm/s to 40mm/s as suggested on the "recommed settings" page below.

The part simply doesn't stick to the glass surface at all with or without using a glue stick.

at 220°C with a very hot bed

Still at 40mm/s. Let's try the lower printing temperature with a very hot bed, to make it stick...

It doesn't stick as well as 240°C+85°C but better then 220°C+75°C. It seems to actually get a first layer down. ...some of the times.

It still doesn't still every time. Even with a fresh layer of glue-stick.

And I was not able to get a working print. Cleaning the nozzle with a very soft accupuncture-needle and test-extruding into thin air dosn't show any signs of clogging. Cura is also set to the correct nozzle diamter. Drastic meassures like +30% overextrusion didn't work due to the first-layer adhesion issues.
I have the impression that the issues are getting worse since I can't clean the nozzle via a cold pull.

nozzle cleaning using PLA

32C3 is over and the printer is now placed in a private home.
Based on some feedack on Google+, I just cleaned the nozzle using some PLA/PHA (my usual melt at 220°C, then pull at 70°C). As the melting points are so similar, this worked well. I also cleaned the bed from excess glue-stick using a wet paper towel.

I'm attempting another nGen print at 230°C + 85°C now in this new environment.

Fan still at 50%, no front door.

First layer sticks well, no signs of any problems yet.....still printing.

The part did come loose from the cleaned glass. It is however strong and shows no signs of underextrusion.

I'm trying again using 220°C/75°C after some fresh glue-stick. (no intermediate nozzle-cleaning)

Some signs of underextrusion. Aborted to do another cold-pull cleaning using PLA. I did not push until only black PLA exited the nozzle.

Printing again (230°C/85°C fresh glue stick applied after heating up)...
...Severe underextrusion.
Cold-Pulling PLA again. This time pushing until there is no more white nGen.
I'm thinking of exchanging the expensive Teflon-inset in the Ultimaker II hotend.

(230°C/85°C/130% feed rate/fresh glue stick applied after heating up)
Despite 130% material flow and a perfectly clean nozzle, still underextrusion.

the PTFE liner

I took apart my hotend and replaced the PTFE liner. This part needs to be replaced regularly with any kind of filament. Aparently mine was at the end of it's life. (My failed attempts to cold-pull nGen with nGen surely didn't help.) Surely this has caused at least some of the issues.

Sadly Ultimaker sells this part for 15eur + 20% VAT + 20eur shipping=38eur. Currently the ship sends you to end endless loop of selecting a reseller where you can only select Ultimaker itself to be sent to select a reseller....
This was my last spare one.

You can get them in China but they are probably not glassfiber-reinforced as Ultimaker claims their ones to be. Beware that at least one dealer there seems to oversize them (3.2 instead of 3.0mm on the inside and +0.1mm on the outside.)

Printed again (230°C/85°C/back to 100% feed rate)
Not perfect but not far from it either.

Cura infill speed

Objects with thicker infill have underextrusion in the infill. I forgot the fact, that Cura by default prints infill MUCH faster (80mm/s). Way outside the speed these settings are recommed for.
Since I can't change that mid-print, the photo shows layers where I manually adjusted the flow rate to 110% to compensate and not loose this part.

bridging

I accidentally did some extrusion into mid-air and the nGen handled that surprisingly well.

wear and tear

...now doing more testing to compare it's reliability to PLA/PHA.

I started to have underextrusion issues again. These are 2 out of 5 attempts. The others had walls you could shine light through or break with 2 fingers. Could it be that the PTFE liner didn't last for more then 5 prints? Everything else seems to be accounted for (cold pulled, bed cleaned and glue stick re-applied, no moving air in the closed room, bed leveled, correct nozzle diameter, no dust).

I'm currently trying to reduce speed by -20% to see if less pressure helps as I don't have yet another 40eur PTFE liner and receiving UPS shipments in this private home address doesn't work (I have to work during office hours because these are...office hours).

I checked the PTFE liner and, while it didn't show much wear, it did have a grove on the inside.

Luckily I still had 2 of the expensive hotend-kits. Both are no longer of any use after the Olsson Block upgrade. So I took yet another PTFE liner from there. ..this is getting real expensive.

I'm testing some lower temperature, slower settings from the recommed ones.
At 75°C hopefully the glue stick won't evaporate as quickly and at 220°C the PTFE liner may hold up better.(I'm printing a spring replacement, so the PTFE-liner is not pulled up during a cold-pull.)

[material]
name=NGen
temperature=220
bed_temperature=75
infill_speed = 40
print_speed = 40
fan_speed = 50
fan_speed_max = 50
flow=100
retraction_speed = 45.0
retraction_amount = 4.5
diameter=2.85

(Note: Inner walls are still too fast with these settings)

Experiment:

be more careful in cold-pulling (the PTFE liners are getting real expensive here)
use wood glue with water insted of glue sticks. It is sticky and stays sticky when the water evaporates.
use colder temperatures and lower speeds.

Result:

With the lower temperaturs it sticks to the print bed even worse.
wood glue doesn't work.

Cleaned, new PTFE liner, spring replaced.... this 18 hours later. (This object must be strong to perform it's function. It has 35% infill and 1.2mm walls for that purpose.)
I fear my reliability-test of Colorfabb nGen filament has failed completely.

repairs

Due to feedback as to the size of the spring-replacement, I found out that my Olsson block was not perfectly installed.
This may or may not have any inpact. The machine has been taken apart, the spring is installed again, the Olsson block is 3mm deeper, so is the nozzle, the heater cartridge is sanded down and inserted deeper, heat sensor is still sticking out by 2mm as before, everything is cleaned again and currently printing a small 10h job at 230°C/85°C and 60mm/s. It starts of perfectly but real results as to the reliability won't come until it has completed 5-10 real world prints.

preliminary conclusions

ngen.ini

(this is the content of an ngen.ini file that you can import into an Ultimaker II)

[material]
name=NGen
temperature=230
bed_temperature=85
fan_speed=50
flow=100
diameter=2.85
infill_speed = 0

preliminary findings

It doesn't seem to me to be as reliable as PLA. Certainly not more reliable. Sadly that's the whole point of this material in the first place.

Cold pull of nGen doesn't work (yet). Clean the nozzle using a cold-pull with PLA!

Push until PLA exits the nozzle. nGen doesn't seem to stick to PLA/PHA.
Beware of your PTFE liner. Don't go below 70°C to not damage it and/or replace your spring with a printed tube that doesn't give in when pulling.

Clean glass doesn't stick. Use glue-stick as with PLA!

beware. Glue stick doesn't like high tempearatures. It evaporated quickly and isn't sticky anymore. So apply it after the hot end has heated up and moved upards but before the print starts.
At 220/75°C it doesn't stick to anything well. At 230/85°C this completely goes away.
The surface needs to be sticky. Not just rough as with PLA. So glue-stick must be fresh.

Warping! Avoid low tempeatures in the build volume. 85°C bed, no drafts from an air conditioning. A front door is not required.
Obviously keep the bed leveled and cleaned of excess glue-stick.
It may be requied to clean the nozzle very often. This is a good idea anyway.
Chek your Cura settings for infill-speed. By default in "normal" profile it's 80mm/s while these are recommed settings for just 60mm/s. I got underextrusion in the infill but not in the 30mm/s(outher)+60mm/s(inner) surface layers.

2015-12-27

32C3....I broke my 3D printer

I am on the 32 Chaos Communication Congress (CCCFr space in the hackcenter).
The plan was to upgrade my Ultimaker II extended to an Olsson Block and then try some new filaments with the replacable nozzles.
Including to print some important parts that I need in my workshop in the first week of january.

What the installation instructions on the Ultimaker site fail to mention...
you are likely to rip apart your themperature sensor and a new one from Ultimaker costs 55eur including shipping with no choice to NOT use a B2B courier (a very common 1eur part installed into a 3mm tube) including FedEx-shipping (that doesn't work for delivery to private homes. Only business offices open continously Mo-Fr 8-16:00).

That's exactly what happened to me.

"luckily" it's Sunday, the first day of 32C3. So I ordered my replacement to be shipped directly to my hotel and told Ultimaker in an email that it MUST arrive in time or I won't be able to receive it at all.

....somehow I don't think it will actually arrive before I leave Hamburg. Tomorrow I'll call Ultimaker in the Netherlands to see what they think about their chances of this happening. Fedex is a courier service after all. So let's see if they ARE faster then a regular parcel (2 days).

Update:
Ultimaker can't ship due to the holidays. Igo3D doesn't list the part but says on the phone that they have it in stock and can ship it right away.

Update:
Where igo3D and Ultimaker both failed, another Ultimaker-Forum user stepped in. I was able to pick up a sensor from him, just 2 train stations away from the congress.

2015-12-23

BMPCC did not record...solved

(See below for the reason. I found it while typing up all the details for this blog posting.
The camera is actually working fine!)

I just had a problem with my Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera.
I thought I had recorded dozens of snippets of a 2 hour event.
Instead I ended up with 926KB or 640KB or 1 DNG-file (with no wav-file) per clip!
1 Frame!

What I did

Batteries in the BMPCC don't last long. So I had to switch the camera off whenever it was not in use and switch it back on just before recording (and hope whatever I wanted to record was still there when the camera was ready).
The audio recording with the Zoom H6 (that I used as a counter-weight at the back of my shoulder rig) simple ran all the time. I just canged the levels via the remote control on my left handle.

The symptoms

After half of the event was through, I noticed that the red "rec" indicator was glowing but the counter didn't move at all.
Since I can not watch my footage on the BMPCC, I had to go on and hope for the best.

The circumstances

I recorded on 2 different SD-cards. Both "Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB" that I used before and that always performed flawlessly.
One formated by the camera as HFS+, the other formated by the camera das exFAT.

I used 2 lenses. a Panasonic 12-25mm f2.8 Power-OIS and a Panasonic 7-14mm.

I used 3 or 4 batteries.

I recorded just after the camera was switched on, after it had been running a minute and after it had recorded and was idle for a minute.

I recorded as ProRes422HQ, ProRes422 and as RAW in 1920x1080p25.
ISO 1600 and 800, 180° shutter, 7000K white balance....
DAMN!!!
I think I found the problem. It was set to "time lapse interval 10min".
Just below the white balance setting.

2016-04-18

Center

Remote Right

Left

Advantages

2016-04-11

2016-04-09

charging box MK II

proper labeling

Lanparte VBP- 01

Links

2016-04-08

2016-03-30

protection

colors

touch

2016-03-22

The Plan (tm)

Preparation

bearings

Nuts

Bolts

Washers

Spacers

tubes

Progress

Software

Result

Links

2016-01-26

Motivation

Reading material on V-Log

conclusions about V-Log

power everything

matching cameras

Links:

2016-01-08

Navigation und Prüfung mangelhaft. Abschreibungen schlecht

Kommentar des Buhl Teams

Updates

Trennung Afa-Buchungen und Online-Banking

Konten-Baum

Buchungsvorlagen erzeugen....nicht aus dem Online-Banking

Konten-Navigation

Abo-Modell

2015-12-29

work in progress....

test cases

nozzle cleaning

at 240°C

at 220°C

at 220°C with a very hot bed

nozzle cleaning using PLA

the PTFE liner

Cura infill speed

bridging

wear and tear

repairs

preliminary conclusions

ngen.ini

preliminary findings

Links

2015-12-27

2015-12-23

What I did

The symptoms

The circumstances