Videodownloader

Every once in a while, I encounter an internet video so stunning and poignant, I really want to share with anyone who would appreciate. For some reason, kids doing amazing things fall into this category. Take for example this YouTube video of a nine year old playing Hugo's Impromptu in C-sharp minor.

On YouTube and all other video meccas, you can share the link, but it's difficult or impossible to download an actual movie file. This is the difference between streaming media and multimedia files like Mpegs, AVI's and other video formats. From the standpoint of the video web page like YouTube or MySpace, they have more control over the media (as if they deserve any) if they reserve the right to stream it only from their site. It's all about click revenue; the more they can get people coming back to the site, the more their advertising links are worth.

Streaming links point to server-side RealMedia(.rm), RealVideo (.ram) and other types of links that yield the final product a little at a time, like sipping pine sap through a thin straw. There is no "download" button that gets you a full file.

If you were able to simply package up the entire media into one large video file, you could share that without any requirement that the viewer return to the site from which it was sprung. You might be tempted to cry foul from a copyright standpoint, until you realize that the big video sites do not hold a copyright on the videos they house. They are much more like libraries than bookstores.

You can actually capture streaming video into a file, but up until now you had to pay for the privilege by purchasing software. Now comes the open source software VideoDownloader
in the v0.3 alpha release. Note that if you have an outbound firewall, you will have to give permission to VideoDownloader to access the streaming site. Here's a shot of the VD in action:

Just key or paste in the streaming site URL and click "Download," and the VideoDownloader goes to work collecting the stream into a file type of your choice.

Since I've been doing far too much raving in here lately, I have to pan something. I'll pick on the name. I would have liked to have seen a snazzier name, but I guess Open Source is not about marketing, not in the usual sense any way. Here's a couple of names to consider for the innovators of this great utility:

DreamStream
RealCapture
Got Stream?
YouToo (MeToo, MeTube)
"I don't want to and you can't make me"
MyTube
Clean Catch

Mike

Rigid Chips v1.2

I got this link from the Make Blog
entry of Make Magazine fame. Not much in the way of support buzz on the download link site, perhaps because the originators of this great simulator are Japanese.

What we have here is a scripting language that compiles to rigid body constructs that move in a virtual world according to physical constraints, such as gravity, wind resistance and wheel torque that can be toggled on and off as the viewer sees fit. The screen capture above is the default rigid chips vehicle. Without even reading anything, I learned quickly how to control the vehicle using the arrow keys. To give you an idea of how modular this system is, here is the text code that describes this vehicle and the operating environment in which it is immersed:

//BasicCar
Val
{
Brake(default=0,min=0,max=80,step=80)
HBrake(default=0,min=0,max=100,step=100)
Handle(default=0,min=-20,max=20,step=5)
Engine(default=0,min=-2500,max=2500,step=2500)
}
Key
{
0:Engine(step=-500)
1:Engine(step=500)
2:Handle(step=-0.5)
3:Handle(step=0.5)
7:Brake(step=30),HBrake(step=20)
8:HBrake(step=20)
}
Body {
Core(){
N:Chip(){
N:Rudder(angle=Handle){
W:Frame(){
W:Wheel(angle=90,brake=Brake){
}
}
E:Frame(){
E:Wheel(angle=90,brake=Brake){
}
}
}
}

---------------------0(you get the idea)0----------

From that I guess you can imagine there are some pretty wild vehicles, including a four wheel drive truck and a bike that steers using a balancing stick figure. There's also an airplane with a jet pack controlled by the A and Z keys.

Rigid Chips appears to be a great learning tool suited for an engineering class, but it's a whole lot of fun to play with too. Pressing the '1' key suspends gravity, which makes your collection of chips behave solely on the basis of wind and centripetal forces of its spinning wheels, or from the jet pack included with some of the vehicles.

F8 through F12 control a dizzying array of viewpoints. What a fun tool!

RigidChips is for Windows computers and requires Direct X version 8.0 or later.

Translated from the source's Wiki:

In Rigid Chips, various objects can be freely produced by combining parts, and setting the script to them.
Moreover, it is also possible to do various play by using the produced object by setting the script (Without using it according to circumstances). The multi play can be also possible, and it play by the network by two or more people.

Hoping to find more scripts and racetracks, I did find a Rigid Chips "laboratory" site, but you need to view it (assuming you can't read Japanese) as a Google translation, here. The site where apparently a networking version of the RigidChips environment can be downloaded is here.

It's a little frustrating wading through the translated pages, but there does appear to be a lot more models out there than the default scripts that come with the 1.2 release. Possibly I'm not using the right build, but there definitely are different track layouts. Put everything in the /data directory and have fun!

Mike