Recent Posts

1376

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Deozaan on May 08, 2018, 09:57 PM »

I updated two computers without issue the other day through Windows Update in the Settings menu.

1377

Developer's Corner / Re: How to get started with Python and OpenCV?

« Last post by Deozaan on May 08, 2018, 04:02 PM »

This is one of those cases where I was asking for something specific (OpenCV+Python) when I really should have asked about OCR in general and seen what knowledge people had on the subject.

As mentioned in the OP, I wanted something that would allow me to analyze a screenshot for certain words and values and then make decisions based on that. It didn't necessarily have to be with OpenCV or Python. That was just the only way I knew of that made such an idea possible.

I'm much more familiar with C# and .NET so I decided to look for some sort of OpenCV wrapper that would allow me to program in C#. I found some, but while researching the topic further, I discovered that Microsoft has a Computer Vision library built in to the UWP SDK. So I can just have a line near the top of my code saying:

Code: C# [Select]

1. using Windows.Media.Ocr;

And voila! I've got OCR in my C# code.

Of course, this also means that I need to build/deploy a UWP app, which I'm also not very familiar with, but at least it's using a language and environment I'm familiar with.


All that said, while experimenting with the Windows OCR, my immediate need for this whole project was accidentally fulfilled so I haven't been pursuing it at the moment. But if/when I pick it up again I'll probably start with UWP and if that doesn't work then I may look more into OpenCV again.

Thanks!

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Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: [Game] Legend Of Zelda - Breath Of The Wild

« Last post by Deozaan on May 06, 2018, 02:21 AM »

For those who don't know, the Switch has a dedicated "capture" button which can be used to take screenshots or videos at virtually any time while the system is running. This includes while on the system menu. I've been abusing that button since I started playing Breath of the Wild, and have been capturing so many photos and videos that just 5 days into the game I reached the Switch's internal storage limit on videos and had to dig out a MicroSD card to clear out some space.

It's been over a year since the game was released, and somehow I managed to avoid spoilers--mostly by avoiding almost every bit of info about the game. So if you're like me and don't want anything spoiled, consider this your spoiler warning. That said, I'm not going to post anything that has to do with plot spoilers, so if you don't mind seeing screenshots and videos of gameplay, feel free to read on.



SPOILER WARNING!





Early on in the game I wasn't very confident in my combat skills, so I'd try to take out enemies from a distance with bombs if I could. I also wasn't sure which creatures were aggressive and would attack me on sight and which were just passive wildlife who would leave me alone. So when I slid down a hill and saw a mountain goat lower its head and start running in my general direction, I prepared for a fight. Here's a video of how that battle went:

https://streamable.com/8auhu


Later on I tried to recreate a similar scenario, and ended up with a shot I was pretty proud of at the time:

https://streamable.com/yo9l9


Here's a funny thing that happened:

https://streamable.com/2sl70


Here's a double rainbow:




Can you tell I really like using bombs?

https://streamable.com/vg2bu

Here I am, cheesing a couple of super tough enemies with bombs:

https://streamable.com/sbwz0
https://streamable.com/w4vo6


Here I'm stealing a treasure chest out from under the enemy's nose:

https://streamable.com/l9ls2


You know how they say you should never stand under a tree during a lightning storm? Yeah... It seems I never learned that lesson.

https://streamable.com/hod3r


I was trying to go inside this window:




I was really surprised by what happened when I fired an arrow at a bird:

https://streamable.com/5lu2s



I realized as I went through all the screenshots and videos that I've taken that I tend to only take screenshots during plot- or progress-specific points in the game, whereas I take videos for cool, funny, or surprising moments as well as sometimes during plot/progress-specific scenes. So I don't have much in the way of just regular screenshots where I'm just enjoying the scenery. Maybe I'll start taking more screenshots now.

I hope you enjoyed watching a few moments of the game I've been enjoying so much this week.

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Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: [Game] Legend Of Zelda - Breath Of The Wild

« Last post by Deozaan on May 02, 2018, 03:04 PM »

I just got this game a couple days ago. I'm really liking it so far.

Maybe one day I'll figure out how to get images and videos off my Switch and I can post some.

1380

General Software Discussion / Re: finding an old password program ...

« Last post by Deozaan on May 02, 2018, 09:45 AM »

Is it LessPass?

Keep in mind that, as f0dder mentioned in that thread (well, he linked to something written by someone else), these kinds of password generators have drawbacks that may not be readily apparent. So if you can find the one you used to generate your passwords, you may want to consider moving to a different password system.

If that's not the one, then as I said, perhaps you should check out the LastPass Alternatives thread.

Good luck!

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General Software Discussion / Re: finding an old password program ...

« Last post by Deozaan on May 01, 2018, 09:19 PM »

I know something like that has been discussed on this site before. I just can't seem to remember where.

I did find this: https://www.donation....msg276252#msg276252

But that thread is really old and I'm pretty sure I remember having a conversation about it more recently than that. I'd guess you might have better luck in one of the LastPass (breach/vulnerability) threads.

1382

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder 2018 Fundraiser

« Last post by Deozaan on April 30, 2018, 04:53 PM »

All of you folks waiting until the last minute.. The time is now!

-mouser (April 30, 2018, 10:33 AM)

1383

Post New Requests Here / Re: Launchbar Commander Menu - Make Right Click require a password before continuing

« Last post by Deozaan on April 30, 2018, 12:49 PM »

See related thread:
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=45421.0

EDIT//
Deozaan moved this back to the LBC board -- it was actually intentionally posted in the coding snack board, as suggested in in LBC (link above)

-tomos (April 30, 2018, 12:20 PM)

Sorry, I was not aware of the fact that this was already requested in the LBC section and that mouser had already said he wasn't going to do it. I'll move it back to the coding snacks section.

1384

General Software Discussion / Re: What's going on with Java?

« Last post by Deozaan on April 30, 2018, 09:00 AM »

Excuse my ignorance but is Java used that much any more?

-Carol Haynes (April 30, 2018, 08:56 AM)

If you consider the Minecraft player-base alone, that's a lot of people who use Java.

And don't forget about Android developers.

1385

DonationCoder.com Newsletters / Re: Super-sized Newsletter for April 2nd, 2018 - A Fundraiser to Celebrate 13 years

« Last post by Deozaan on April 29, 2018, 06:52 PM »

Interesting. It seems I never got it the first time around.

Either that or I deleted it and forgot about it. But that would be out of the ordinary for me; I usually archive those kinds of emails.

1386

General Software Discussion / Re: What's going on with Java?

« Last post by Deozaan on April 28, 2018, 05:30 PM »

Isn't this all just saying that Java 8 is reaching end of life and that we need to be upgrading to Java 9 and 10?

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Developer's Corner / Re: How to get started with Python and OpenCV?

« Last post by Deozaan on April 27, 2018, 12:39 PM »

I split the thread off. Thanks for the suggestion!

I also found that Packt has a free eBook on Python and OpenCV: Learning OpenCV 3 Computer Vision with Python

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Developer's Corner / Re: Ludum Dare 41: April 20th-23rd, 2018

« Last post by Deozaan on April 26, 2018, 10:05 PM »

Okay, I guess it's time to start talking about other submissions I've tried out.

I tried out a game called Sloppy Dungeon. It's a combination of "Super Monkey Ball" (a kind of physics-based, marble labyrinth-like game) and a dungeon crawler.



It's an interesting take on the theme. I found the controls to be very difficult. After failing a level many times I almost gave up from frustration, but on what was going to be my last attempt I got really lucky and somehow managed to complete it. Turns out it was the final level. It's really short. Only 3-4 levels IIRC. Maybe 5. Pretty graphics.

1389

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder 2018 Fundraiser

« Last post by Deozaan on April 26, 2018, 09:34 PM »

I don't quite understand it yet, but one or our members donated $950 last night..

-mouser (April 26, 2018, 08:14 AM)

That's incredibly generous! Whoever you are, thank you very much!

1390

Developer's Corner / Re: How to get started with Python and OpenCV?

« Last post by Deozaan on April 26, 2018, 09:18 PM »

Are there any resources you would recommend that would help me get started with setting up Python and OpenCV?

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Developer's Corner / How to get started with Python and OpenCV?

« Last post by Deozaan on April 26, 2018, 08:17 PM »

[EDIT] Originally posted in this thread: Dice analyzer machine project before being split off into its own thread. [/EDIT]

This is slightly off-topic so if you'd like me to start a new thread I'll do that, but...

I've been toying with an idea to write a little utility that would need to analyze a few words/numbers on the screen (or from a screenshot) and then make a decision and emulate some keyboard input based on that. The thing that's holding me back is that I'm concerned it will take me much more time and effort writing the utility than it would save me from just manually doing the thing I want to automate.

Do you have a recommendation or suggestion or ideas on the relative ease or difficulty it would be for someone like me who is familiar with coding but never really used Python or OpenCV before to get started on extracting data (essentially OCR with a very clear font) from an image?

I can go into more specific details if you'd like but I was attempting to keep this short to prevent myself from derailing this thread too far.

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Developer's Corner / Re: Dice analyzer machine project

« Last post by Deozaan on April 26, 2018, 05:00 PM »

That link is a 404.

1393

Developer's Corner / Re: Ludum Dare 41: April 20th-23rd, 2018

« Last post by Deozaan on April 26, 2018, 04:58 PM »

Oh. Right. Well, I briefly poked around the source code and it seems it's for a complete rewrite which also seems to be abandoned for the past couple of years. So it seems the source code has nothing in common with the version I'm using. But I didn't look too deeply into it this, so it may be that there is source available for the old version.

Probably what I ought to do is just use mouser's automatic screenshotter and then just bug him to add the extra features I'd like to see.

1394

Developer's Corner / Re: Ludum Dare 41: April 20th-23rd, 2018

« Last post by Deozaan on April 26, 2018, 02:26 PM »

From. what I understand (which is admittedly not vey much), MEncoder uses ffmpeg behind the scenes, and requires that it be available It merely serves as a layer to have the correct settings for ffmpeg to utilize the settings for a variety of codecs. Here's a stack overflow article that makes me think I'm not far off in my understanding.

-wraith808 (April 26, 2018, 12:27 PM)

All of that may be accurate, I'm not arguing against it. What I'm saying is none of that really matters because Chronolapse has built-in settings that (AFAICT) can't be changed and that result in unacceptably low-quality videos. When I went looking for alternate ways to make a video from my screenshots, everything I found said to use ffmpeg directly, so that's what I did and it works for me.

1395

Developer's Corner / Re: Ludum Dare 41: April 20th-23rd, 2018

« Last post by Deozaan on April 26, 2018, 10:17 AM »

ffmpeg instead of mencoder

-Deozaan (April 25, 2018, 05:50 PM)

Doesn't MEncoder use ffmpeg?  What's the benefit of the change, other than to reduce the number of codecs supported?

-wraith808 (April 26, 2018, 07:37 AM)

I don't know. I've never used or heard of mencoder until Chronolapse asked me for it so it (Chronolapse) could compile my images into video. But Chronolapse seems to have some important quality settings for mencoder which are not configurable, which led to really low quality (highly compressed) videos even if they were HD+ resolution. So in my searches for how to manually convert images to a video almost all search results said to use ffmpeg.

1396

Living Room / Re: Animal Friends thread

« Last post by Deozaan on April 25, 2018, 10:41 PM »

"I've been bamboozled!"

https://i.imgur.com/SgTKQyL.mp4

1397

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder 2018 Fundraiser

« Last post by Deozaan on April 25, 2018, 10:13 PM »

This is mouser right now:

https://i.imgur.com/gIzKoOU.mp4



EDIT: I tried embedding the video but couldn't figure out how.

1398

Developer's Corner / Re: Ludum Dare 41: April 20th-23rd, 2018

« Last post by Deozaan on April 25, 2018, 05:50 PM »

That's cool!  What did you use to take your screenshots?

-wraith808 (April 25, 2018, 04:38 PM)

Not Screenshot Captor, actually. I use a tool called Chronolapse. Don't let the sleek, modern looking website fool you; I believe the tool has been abandoned for a few years. But it does the job of taking a screenshot every X seconds and has a few other timelapse-related features. It can even compile the images into a video for you. But I found the quality was too low, so I use ffmpeg to make nice HD+ videos from my screenshots.

Maybe I should poke around in the source code of Chronolapse and get it working with ffmpeg instead of mencoder...

1399

Living Room / Re: The new CMS is now LIVE! - Please report any bugs/issues here.

« Last post by Deozaan on April 25, 2018, 04:00 PM »

The quote thing is a javascript script.. I wonder if it is hitting an error of some sort. Maybe some of you browser pros can see if you spot a javascript error in the console next time in malfunctions?

-mouser (April 25, 2018, 03:19 PM)

I'll keep that in mind for next time.

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Developer's Corner / Re: Ludum Dare 41: April 20th-23rd, 2018

« Last post by Deozaan on April 25, 2018, 03:11 PM »

Each of us on the team took regular screenshots so we could create timelapse videos of our work.

The length of the video shouldn't be equated with hours devoted to the project. We all used different settings for how often to take screenshots and how we compiled them into a video, so the videos are of differing lengths.

Here's Durgan's timelapse:

Here is Roidz's timelapse:

Here's my timelapse: