#Enchi's guides

[tortoisesshells]

First Line Game

Rules: List the first lines of the last ten stories you published.  Look to see any patterns you notice yourself, and see if anyone else notices any.  Then tag some friends.

Thank you for the tag, @fericita-s!

(1) “What’s this now?” asked Hendricks, dropping into the chair opposite her own with a whuff of protest from the upholstered seat, “Mrs. T asleep midday? I thought at the very least I’d catch you on Long Wharf, but not a single cardinal was yours. For shame, madam.” 

(2) Mary Phinney found the Chaplain in the one-time ladies parlor, scrubbing the floor almost viciously. 

(3)  "You're a vampire."

(4) Rufus knows how these jumps are supposed to feel – like a ball caught in a wave, tossed like Lake Michigan in winter – but there’s something else he feels, standing outside the broken shell of the Lifeboat.

(5) She had fainted, they told her.

(6) How in hellfire had it all come to this? – Nellie Treat, alias Captain Dyer, was thinking.

(7) Of course, she thought later, without pleasure or recrimination, Thomas on her hip in the cool spring sun.

(8) “The Ashley Book of Knots,” read Anna Smith-Strong, adding it to her patron’s pile, where it jostled with Knight’s Modern Seamanship, and Navigation: A Newcomer’s Guide, and a half-a-dozen other similarly titled books besides. 

(9) A woman’s name should only appear in the paper three times, Mother and Granny have always said: when she is born or christened (The Alexandria Gazette of October 5th, 1919: Emma Artemisia – Daughter of Jas. Green and Jane Muir Green; Sponsors, T. M. and Lucretia Fairfax), engaged or married (The Alexandria Gazette of December 14, 1941: Mr. and Mrs. Jas. Green of Fairfax Street, Alexandria, have announced the engagement of their daughter, Miss Emma Green, to Henry M. Hopkins, of Williamstown, Mass.), and finally buried.

(10) Not everyone could be so fortunate as to play on a stage designed by Wren, and on whose boards Hart and Gwyn and Macklin had trod – but Mansion House Theatre was not such a far step down from Drury Lane that one couldn’t dream, perhaps, of Mr. Sheridan himself welcoming them there –

(Thought Mrs. Hastings, at least, when she was feeling charitably inclined – normally between midday and dusk, when the excesses of the previous night had worn away, and before the stresses and myriad strains of the night to come impressed themselves upon her.)

Observations and conclusions: I am not nearly as guilty as run-on starting sentences as I first feared; I tend to start with dialogue or internal monologue; I am not adverse to infodumping in the WORST way even from square one - which, regrettably, I did expect.

Tagging: @shoshiwrites, @montmartre-parapluie, @tockamybeloved, @enchi-elm, @r-osehips, @theonlyredcar, @deardaaery, @ilikeimpossible, and anyone else who wishes to play!

[wheremyscalesslither]

Call for Photos

Hi all! I'm putting together a guide on how to identify common base morphs and I need your help! I am looking for people willing to submit exceptional photos of specific single gene animals. I need multiple examples of the following genes: Albino, Axanthic (please describe line), Banana/CG, Butter/Lesser, Black Pastel, Cinnamon, Enchi, Fire, Hypo, Mojave, Mystic/Phantom, Orange Dream, Pastel, Pinstripe HRA, Spider, and Yellowbelly.

SINGLE GENE ONLY! The photo must belong to you. You will receive credit in a caption on the guide, with a link to your facebook page, blog, or website (your preference). To be clear, the photos must be focused, full body pictures with good lighting. This guide is going to be a publicly accessible resource. Thank you!!

even if you dont have these morphs, a boost can go a long way :)

[enchinebula]

Why video bitrate matters

A lot of people don't seem to understand the importants of video bitrate when it comes to making videos. I will show you why it is in this guide. Video bitrate is essential for HQ videos. Not setting the right bitrate could leave you with a video in low quality, rather than the desired output. In short: The higher the bitrate, the better quality the video will be in. If the bitrate is low, the quality for the video will decrease. Higher bitrates tend to take up lots of storage space and generally take longer to render, but it is worth the wait. For example, when I record 4k 60fps videos at 90,000mbps or 90mbps (megabits per second), a 1 and a half hour long video can equal up to 55GB or more. If space is a concern for you, I recommend getting either an external HDD or a large capacity internal HDD and a HDD docking station in order to use the internal HDD. (The docking station is only recommended if you are using a laptop/have no more room for HDDs in your PC case). If you need to check what bitrate your video is, I recommend using the program Mediainfo which can be downloaded from here. Mediainfo is only for windows users. You can always check the video bitrate natively in Windows by right clicking the video file, selecting properties and then going into the "Details" tab. Below is a guide of what you should set your bitrate to for various platforms and for the most common resolutions and formats. YouTube

SDR video upload

2160p (4K) with 60 fps: 53-68 Mbps

2160p (4K) with 30 fps: 35-45 Mbps

1440p (2K) with 60 fps:24 Mbps

1440p (2K) with 30 fps: 16 Mbps

1080p (HD) with 60 fps: 12 Mbps

1080p (HD) with 30 fps: 8 Mbps

720p with 60 fps: 7.5 Mbps

720p with 30 fps: 5 Mbps

480p with 60 fps: 4 Mbps

480p with 30 fps: 2.5 Mbps

360p with 60 fps:1.5 Mbps‍

360p with 30 fps: 1 Mbps

HDR video upload

2160p (4K) with 60 fps: 66-85 Mbps

2160p (4K) with 30 fps: 44-56 Mpbs

1440p (2K) with 60 fps: 30 Mbps

1440p (2K) with 30 fps: 20 Mbps

1080p (HD) with 60 fps: 15 Mbps

1080p (HD) with 30 fps: 10 Mbps

720p with 60 fps: 9.5 Mbps

Tip for YouTube: It is highly recommended to upload your videos in HDR 4k to avoid compression on the platform. Twitch

‍1080p (HD) with 60 fps: 6 Mbps‍

1080p (HD) with 30 fps: 4.5 Mbps‍

720p with 60 fps: 4.5 Mbps‍

720p with 30 fps: 3 Mbps

Instagram

3.5 Mbps. 

Twitter/X

5 Mbps Vimeo & Facebook

Both Vimeo and Facebook use YouTube's bitrates. This guide was created on the 4th of September 2023 and will be updated if necessary.

My Other guides

Go here if you would like to know what programs I recommend for making/manipulating videos. Go here if you would like to view other guides I have written.

[enchinebula]

Programs and tools I use to make videos

Hi, today I will share the list of programs and tools I use to make high quality videos. I will also explain what they are, and the settings I personally use (for the programs that need it). This guide is aimed towards Windows users. All programs are free, unless otherwise stated.

Definition of words that will be used in this list:

Codec: Codecs are compression technologies and have two components, an encoder to compress the files, and a decoder to decompress. There are two kinds of codecs; lossless, and lossy.  GUI: Short for “Graphical User Interface.” Converting/converter: Video converters are computer programs that can change the storage format of digital video. Append: Combine two or more videos into one.

Program 1: Media Player Classic with K-Lite codec pack

You can download MPC-HC with the K-Lite codec pack from here. About MPC-HC: It is a better and faster alternative to Windows Media Player. MPC-HC can play all sorts of different video formats with the added K-Lite codec pack. Both MPC-HC and K-Lite codec pack are completely free.

Program 2: AMVtool

You can download AMVtool from here. About AMVtool: AMVtool is a video converter mainly aimed towards AMV creators. It is a GUI for FFmpeg. This program is completely free. The Settings I use for AMVtool The difference between slower (placebo) and faster (ultra fast) presets is the slower ones tend to have better quality, while faster presets convert the video faster, but at the cost of reducing quality.

Program 3: MKVToolNix

You can download MKVToolNix from here. About MKVToolNIX: Is a small collection of tools that allow you to manipulate MKV video files. This program is completely free. What I mainly use it for: I find this program very useful for appending many video files into one. Here is a visual guide on how to do that. You need to have at least one video added on the list before you can append videos. To get the option, right click on the video you have added. The neat thing about this software is that it allows you to select multiple videos to append at one time, rather than one video at a time. Be aware that all video files need to be in the same file format and codec in order to be appended properly without any visual errors. The program will save your final video as MKV. You will need to convert it if you want it in a different format.

Program 4: Avidemux

You can download Avidemux from here. About Avidemux: A free and open-source program for non-linear video editing and transcoding multimedia files. What I mainly use it for: Trimming/splitting videos should they need it. This method is so much faster than re-rendering the entire video in a video editing software like Vegas Pro or After Effects. Here is a visual guide on how to trim videos. Be sure to change the video, audio, and output settings before saving (if you need to). Splitting a video is similar. Just only set one marker instead of both.

Program 5: Media Downloader

You can download Media Downloader from here. This program also has extensions which you can get from here. About Media Downloader: A program that can losslessly download videos from YouTube and other places (depending on what extensions you have installed). It is also a GUI for yt-dlp. yt-dlp is considered the best way to download videos. Extensions I use: gallery-dl, wget, and you-get. Both the program and extensions are completely free.

Program 6: FFmpeg/FFmpeg Batch AV Converter

FFmpeg can be downloaded from here. Go here if you require a guide to install FFmpeg. FFmpeg Batch AV Converter can be downloaded from here. About FFmpeg: A tool consisting of a suite of libraries and programs for handling video, audio, and other multimedia files and streams. It is a powerful tool with many options, but has a bit of a learning curve. FFmpeg is mostly for advanced users. About FFmpeg Batch AV Converter: A GUI for FFmpeg and the easiest way to use FFmpeg. Both programs are completely free.

Codec 1: Lagarith Lossless Video Codec

This codec is not included in the K-Lite pack. I highly recommend downloading it. You can download it from here. If any other codecs are mentioned from here on out, they are not included in the K-Lite pack and need to be downloaded separately.

Tool 1: Voukoder

Voukoder can be downloaded from here. (Instructions are included). About Voukoder: Voukoder is a system-wide video and audio encoding service for Windows. This tool can be used on various editing software. It improves the render quality. Here are the settings I use. Warning: File sizes for the videos can drastically increase with this tool + these settings. Render times may also increase.

Notable mentions:

DaVinci Resolve. The program can be downloaded from here. About DaVinci Resolve: It is one of the best free video editors. There is a paid version, but that is optional.

This guide was created on the 29th of August 2023 and will be updated if necessary.

My Other guides

Go here if you would like to know why video bitrate is important and what bitrate to use for your videos. Go here if you would like to view other guides I have written.