As I am really enjoying doing the live-streams, I thought I’d pick up a little tool to help me in them. I had it in the background on last nights eModels stream, but nobody noticed….
It’s a Streamdeck. I had a little play with it before the stream, but haven’t really got to grips with it yet.
Apparently it can be programmed to do many of the things required while streaming: posting chat messages, changing camera or lighting, starting and ending streams, changing “scenes “ as well as launching web pages and applications.
At the moment I have it set with my logo as a background, but in use each button can be set to display any small image to make it easy to see what you’re doing.
At the moment it doesn’t directly integrate with the StreamYard software I am using but they are working on it and I am confident it will soon become invaluable.
Thursdays “Evening with” went well with the new StreamYard broadcasting software. I shall be continuing to learn how to use it and make the shows more fun and interesting to watch.
If you also stream, you may like to look into StreamYard, if you decide to use the paid version this code will give you a discount, and will kick some back to me too….
https://streamyard.com?ref=5104276441399296
You may have noticed my Warhamster stream last night failed.
It seems my internet wasn’t behaving very well and the upstream wasn’t as good as it should have been.
I think it’s ok now, and will be trying it out on the emodels stream tonight!
Assuming it’s all ok, and still ok on Thursday, my plan for the “An Evening with Everyone” will continue (with slight adjustments!)
The software I was going to use gave me trouble so I have migrated to a different one. It seems nice!
I will be using “StreamYard” as my base for Thursdays. It makes no difference to you as a viewer except hopefully a better, more professional appearance.
If you would like to join me, it’s as simple as it used to be. Just follow a link. It does work a little differently once you are in, but it’s very easy.
StreamYard have put together this guide to bein a guest, please take a look and make sure you’re happy before joining in!
As I’m settling into doing the regular live-streams, I feel I need to do something about my background.
The bench view is fine, but for the emodels and the Evening with streams I think I could do with a better background.
Now, I can setup the green screen and probably get that to work but I am thinking about a better “back wall” I can put up behind the bench, possibly something I can change up from time to time.
It is a window, and I do need to open it from time to time (in this current heat, most of the time!) but I can have something in front.
I’m asking for suggestions. I do have several posters like the ones I currently use, but I’m thinking of something “nicer”. Not exactly art, but possibly some of the better metal prints or similar. But I don’t know about subject. It’s pretty much got to be model related in some way, or at least be a theme that models are available in.
Thursday, as you may be aware, is when I host my “An Evening with” livestream. It’s a 90 ‘show’ where I sit in front of the camera and hope someone joins me. 🙂
Every week is open to my “Gang”- the collection of fellow model makers I have gathered around me so I can get credit for their awesome work. Also invited are my patrons at the “Geek” level and above. And every month on the last Thursday I throw the doors open to everyone. I do enjoy those chances to get to know you a little more. None of you look or sound like I imagine from your log-in names!
This week is a little different as today is the last day Hangouts on air is meant to be running. It’s the software I (and others) use to host multiple people in a stream. We have found an alternative, but it means a small change if you want to join from a mobile device.
In Hangouts, you got a link to join a stream. This launched the Hangouts app and connected you. The only difference now is you won’t launch the hangouts app, you need a new one.
The software I plan on using is called Jitsi. The app you will need is called ‘Jitsi Meet’ and is available on iOS and android. You will need to download and install it before joining.
I am running tomorrow as a regular “Gang and Patrons” night, but the following week, the 8th August, is going to be a bonus “An Evening with Everyone” stream. So you have a week to get yourself sorted!
Today is the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.
Such an impressive achievement even today, it’s hard to imagine how it was managed with technology of the time. Your smartphone has many times more computing power than the entire spaceship had.
Why not spend the day watching my build series of the Apollo V rocket? The playlist is here.
If that’s too much for you, I have done a couple of Lego builds that fit the day, both the Saturn V and the special 50th anniversary Lunar Lander kit. They are I. My “Lego” playlist here.
No more Sazabi to report on, so I thought I’d delve back into the album for something to post about.
As you may know, myself, Foxx and Paul occasionally form together into Team Inept, a computer game playing group that aren’t usually very good. We have played many games both together and separately, one of which is Elite: Dangerous.
I happened upon a 3d printing file of the ship I was flying at the time and thought it would be an interesting mini project.
Printing it out was easy, and I only did some very minimal sanding. Then I tried to replicate the paint job I had on my digital ship. I’m pretty happy with the end results.
Even though I haven’t been brave enough to try to copy the writing…. perhaps someday.
I did do some more painting of the frame yesterday, but I’ll leave that update for another time when I have more to show.
Today I thought I’d go back to a little project I haven’t really talked about much, my 3d printed Ladytrooper.
I found the file on Thingiverse , a site that has loads of things to print on a 3d printer. Things from door stops and hooks to movie props and busts. If you can imagine it someone has probably designed one.
I’d seen similar things around and thought they look cool, so I had a look around and found a couple of different ones. This one caught my eye. I downloaded it, and set the printer running.
It came in 3 parts, the base which is designed like a Tie fighter wing. The legs and the upper part. Each took several hours to print and a few more to do some sanding to remove some of the “print lines” that are part of the way the printer works.
After glueing her together I gave her a coat of automotive filler primer. A thicker than usual primer coat that also fills the lines in some more. It does this at the expense of filling in some detail though, so I couldn’t use much. A couple of rounds sanding and priming again got me to a level I was happy with. Well, if I kept going it would lose all the detail….
I decided to go with a traditional stormtrooper armour look, black under white. This did pose a bit of a problem as I had to paint the black first and then the white. So if I messed up and got black where the white needed to be it would be harder to cover it up. So I went carefully. And only stuffed it up a few times. 🙂
The end result is something I’m quite happy with. As a learning experience it was great. Printing your own figures and busts is a cheap way of getting stuff to paint and you can remodel them if you know what you’re doing! The only real expense in 3d printing (after the machine itself) is time. I’m not happy leaving the printer running while I’m not around so it does limit me to prints that can be done in several hours, but there are still more to choose from than I have time to print!
I’ll leave you with the finished product, there is a video about the “build”, but it is a patreon exclusive. You can help support my Modelmaking by becoming a patron here.
