[VIDEO] NWHO: SoCal Herping 2

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technoendo
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[VIDEO] NWHO: SoCal Herping 2

Post by technoendo »

Hey folks!

I've made another high energy herping music trip video from some footage I shot in September of 2017 in Riverside/San Diego/Imperial counties in Southern California. I've spent a lot of time in recent months learning more 3D modeling/rendering techniques in the free software Blender and wanted to put together some animations to try and elevate the visuals. I hope you like it, but it might not be the preferred format for some (feel free to comment!).

Shout out to any northern latitude herpers who primarily chase reptiles that are cooped up indoors and are eager to put your foot through the 2019 herping season! We're almost there dudes. You can feel some warm california desert sun on your face if you play this video and get real close to your video screen! :)

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Ross Padilla
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Re: [VIDEO] NWHO: SoCal Herping 2

Post by Ross Padilla »

Great job with that video. Looks like something you'd see on TV. :thumb:
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technoendo
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Re: [VIDEO] NWHO: SoCal Herping 2

Post by technoendo »

Thank you Ross, that is some high praise! I am glad you liked it. This project might be the best visual work I've delivered thus far. Having some time to reflect I've identified a handful of flaws, and I probably should spend some time doing structured learning (reading/classes) on story telling and writing better dialogue. It does feel good when I make a video that I re-watch months later and still enjoy. I only have a small handful of such videos and this is one of them. I'm almost done with a collaboration video comparing measuring snakes using two different techniques: tape measurements and photo/software measurements of both fake/plastic rubber snakes and some real live captive pet snakes. I'm going to try and crank out a Socal3 video after that hopefully before the reptiles get active in the pacific northwest!
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Fieldnotes
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Re: [VIDEO] NWHO: SoCal Herping 2

Post by Fieldnotes »

Pretty neat stuff for mid-September. I've enjoyed your Northwest videos, so when i saw one from SoCal, I had to watch. Sorry it took so long for someone to help with descriptions, but that's a Western Toad (Anaxyrus boreas), not A. punctatus. There was a time when this place was bustling with amazing herpers, eager to help out. No longer looks that way since this post is from January.
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technoendo
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Re: [VIDEO] NWHO: SoCal Herping 2

Post by technoendo »

Appreciate the correction! Thank you!

I just finished another video and figured I'd just post it here instead of clogging the forum up with too many of my video posts. I set out on this project hoping to test a particular digital photograph and software based technique for measuring snakes against more traditional measurement methods using a tape measure. I went to the Portland Reptile Metro Expo, met up with a fellow YouTube herper (HerpEnthusiast), recruited him to collect additional measurements, and there is also a nice little feature of The Reptile Zone (a reptile pet store/exhibitor).



Metal and fabric tapes were used, and both large (8.5"x11" sheet of letter paper) and small (25 cent coin) measurement reference object sizes were used. Mistakes were made but no data was thrown out as ugly as it might be.

Unfortunately, this particular image and software based technique just didn't work as well enough to be recommended for wider use by anyone. Maybe in some niche situations one can justify it as a better method than "just eyeballing it", but note that in this anecdotal test we demonstrated images being 1/4 to 4 inches less accurate than tape. I think its cool we got some data instead of just making a baseless assumption from our gut. I have used the image based technique outside in the wild before however having done all this testing indoors with captive animals I think my tests outside could only be less accurate.

In any case, some lessons learned, and I got to make a slightly different kind of video and meet some new people! I've had some friends of mine that do field biology work sound in on this topic. One fellow I know measures a ton of snakes in Georgia uses a rigid tape measure, says he sometimes needs 2 people gently restraining a snake, that rigid tapes can be less of a hassle than having a live writing snake trying fighting you as you inch a fabric tape up its body over a longer period of time.

Thanks to HerpEnthusiast for the help on data collection, photo/video footage, and script writing!
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