{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "vfx on NateCow's Void", "icon": "https://avatars.micro.blog/avatars/2026/12/1892491.jpg", "home_page_url": "https://blog.natecow.com/", "feed_url": "https://blog.natecow.com/feed.json", "items": [ { "id": "http://natecow.micro.blog/2026/04/30/i-didnt-think-the-server.html", "title": "I Didn't Think the Server Would Eat MY Face.", "content_html": "

Approximately 24 hours ago I switched over to my PC and fired up Nuke because I needed to re-render a couple precomps on which I needed to do some lightsaber roto. One wasn’t rendered with the correct overscan and another shot wasn’t rendered at all. I opened the first script and was greeted with a watermark from Reel Smart Motion Blur, which was needed for said precomp.

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I figured my license server was off.. again. Recently it’s just been powering down for no reason. I went into my network closet to turn it back on and over the next few minutes, began to panic as I watched it kinda-sorta try to turn on and then fail. Status light would flicker a few times, I caught a glimpse of the startup screen once, and then it was just dead.

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Dead Server

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Fantastic. Not only does this stupid little mini-PC serve my RSMB license, but my DaVinci Resolve Project Server also lives on it. I do occasional backups of those libraries to my Synology, but discovered my last backup was from JUNE 2025. BAD COW, VERY BAD COW.

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So today, I took it to the PC repair shop my brother works at, hoping it was just a faulty power cable. But it was not. So we cracked it open and took the M.2 drive out, and shoved it into their data recovery system (wish I had a photo of that; it’s glorious; just a motherboard and various IO hanging on a wall). Luckily we were able to boot right into the Windows 11 install that was on it, and I could get into the Resolve Project Server UI and export backups.

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Restoring Resolve

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Actively experiencing this xkcd comic, as one does in these situations, we just logged into my Synology dashboard, which I had bookmarked on the server, using my credentials saved in 1Password, which was also installed; yippee! Uploaded the Resolve backups to a safe place back home, then trekked home to sort that out.

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Turned out you can’t just go from a project server setup to your local database, as the Project Server uses PostgreSQL and the local database uses some disk database setup. So after a few failed attempts and poking around, I ultimately just installed the Project Server software directly on my Mac Studio, and then restored the backup files and re-added them in the network tab in Resolve. The Mac is basically just looking at itself for “network” projects. Whatever. It’s working again.

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Floating License Fun!

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Next I figured I should get the RSMB floating license sorted out during normal business hours in case I needed to get support involved (spoiler: I did). Scouring their FAQ, I discovered this would involve a $49.95 license transfer fee. And I’d have to run a node lock remover tool on the old system and then send a text file that generates back to their sales department.

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So back to the shop I went, and we fired up the server and downloaded the tool… only to have it not work at all. I don’t know why, but it simply wouldn’t do anything but flash the outline of a terminal window for half a second and then do nothing else. So I opted to just gather whatever information I could. Turns out I had screenshots of the license server and the original system ID prompt that it gave me back when I set it up. I threw those onto the Synology and went home again.

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Emailing RE:Vision Effects, I explained the situation and provided them the system ID of my old server and that of my Mac Studio. Within 2 hours, they sent back an updated license file and waived the transfer fee, since it was a machine failure–YAY!

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So wins all around, but quite an involved hiccup to deal with in a pressing time on a project I’m trying to get wrapped up. One perk: I no longer have to worry about that stupid Windows 11 server staying running in the closet. I was wanting to switch it out for a Linux server eventually… so now at least it’s out of the picture. The main lesson here is I need to be way more diligent about Resolve project library backups. An automated way to do so would be great…

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Okay, back to roto.

\n", "date_published": "2026-04-30T21:31:16-05:00", "url": "https://blog.natecow.com/2026/04/30/i-didnt-think-the-server.html", "tags": ["mac","vfx","Long Moos","nerditude"] }, { "id": "http://natecow.micro.blog/2024/03/22/remastering-core-differences.html", "title": "Remastering “Core Differences”", "content_html": "\n

AI is abuzz in the world of art, film, and tech, the various disciplines around which I find myself continuously revolving. Questions of ethics and threats to jobs are abundant across social media and journalistic outlets. So I’d rather talk about my much tamer and IMO quite interesting use of it in recent months—restoring my own old(ish) video projects.

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Some of the earlier examples of what AI was capable of was in the world of up-resing photos. These examples weren’t merely clever filtering on scaling images up. They could actually identify features and create new detail. This very quickly started being applied to video as well. Over time I would fiddle with various tools that would pop up, try a few things, be unimpressed, and move on. But eventually a demo of Topaz Video AI landed on my Mac… and the flood gates of possibilities opened in my mind.

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Keeping Myself Swamped…

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Without spoiling plans I may or may not have for bringing new life to past projects, there was a fantastic opportunity for a soup-to-nuts test on something small. The 10-year anniversary of Core Differences was coming up—a 2-minute sparring session over preferred styles of lightsaber glows between Christopher “VaporTrail” Spenceley and myself.

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About 4-5 weeks prior to the anniversary, Vapes hit me up with the idea to re-release it as a 4k up-res (the original was shot on my Canon 60D in 1080p). I can’t remember if I had mentioned to him that I was experimenting with this stuff, or if it was totally happenstance. Either way, it seemed a perfect sized project to try out everything I was thinking in terms of workflows, so project code CD4K was born.

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We of course missed our target date of releasing precisely on the anniversary, but that was a combination of my schedule being full with a freelance project (a good thing) and what turned out to be a much more involved and intricate process, from figuring out the right AI models to employ on different shots, to the color workflow, to what sort of finishing work I would need to do in Nuke, all of which I’ll outline in upcoming posts and possibly videos (trying not to overpromise on the video front).

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That’s nothing to say about the process of recreating (and updating) the lightsabers, this time in Nuke and in linear space (more on all this later). I’ll gladly risk being accused of George Lucas’ing my own stuff here. But in my opinion, the more refined lightsaber effects in this 4k version stand as much more distinct from one another, both in style and even shade of blue. The new version is less our old fanfilm preferences of yesteryear—a mere “soft” verses “sharp” lightsaber core; hence the title—and more of a celebratory romp between Original Trilogy and Sequel Trilogy—two camps in which we would clearly put ourselves today.

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A look at my saber styles over the years:

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The original Core Differences was created right in the midst of Duel of the Dorks and Alex vs Nate 2 (we actually shot Core Differences in February 2013, 5 months before AvN2), a time in which I rocked a style of lightsaber that sprung from The Phantom Menace and became rather clean, with a broad falloff and saturated colors. But just a couple years later, I would instantly fall in love with the style of sabers in the Sequel Trilogy, to me a celebration of the characteristics of the lenses and how they react to brightly photographed objects… an embracing of imperfections that give the blades so much life. In a way, a hark back to the quirks of hand drawn, optical lightsabers, which so perfectly brings us full circle to Vapes’ preferred look of Empire Strikes Back…

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That Old School Look

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I spent quite a view versions of a couple of different shots in CD4k trying to nail down the look Vapes preferred as he played the role of a picky client, something I assured him I was used to and had no problem with. Each time I branched out in Nuke to try something new from scratch was an opportunity, like Sam Seaborn trying to nail the perfect birthday message. I ultimately struck upon the solution in the shower, thinking about the old processes used in the 80’s, and what sort of imperfections or “mistakes” could’ve happened, and how to recreate that digitally. It ended up being a bit of a eureka moment, and is well deserving of its own post, I promise.

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Even Tim’s “MS Paint” saber got an update, as my girlfriend Hannah weighed in on my pixelated work-in-progress, opining that it should “look like the spray can.” Great Scott! How right you were, my love!

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Boter’s entrance remains unchanged, merely recreated in Nuke, with a saber reminiscent of Revenge of the Sith, a look I spent many of my much younger years deriding on the internet, but would now merely state is “not my preference.” The well runs deep with canonized lightsaber effects from which to draw inspiration these days. Take your pick and run wild, I say! And take pride in whatever you create!

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What I find most remarkable about this newly remastered version, besides just how ridiculously low quality the original looks by comparison, is the story of how Vapes and my ongoing feud has concluded, with our mutual appreciation of each others’ final lightsaber looks… albeit worth noting he ultimately won. My saber in this is still a little artificially sharper than I personally prefer it now, in order to keep a bit more contrast between them. But Sisters’ Quarrel saw cores soft enough to satisfy all of Vapes’ blurry dreams.

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More thoughts to come…

\n\n", "date_published": "2024-03-22T10:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.natecow.com/2024/03/22/remastering-core-differences.html", "tags": ["vfx","lightsabers","Long Moos"] }, { "id": "http://natecow.micro.blog/2018/12/15/silhouette-academy-award-for-technical.html", "title": "Silhouette - Academy Award for Technical Achievement", "content_html": "

Earlier this year (2018), I was asked by the developers of Silhouette to put together a reel (below) of my most impressive roto work to date to be presented to the Academy for a SciTech Award consideration.

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I can’t really explain what it feels like to know one’s work can be considered a representation of the capabilities of the software. As I continue down the path of compositing, I can think of no better way to put my roto career to bed than having contributed to this well-deserved award.

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Silhouette will remain a vital tool for me, and I will continue to recommend it to any aspiring artists who are looking to break into the industry through this crucial and noble skill.

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From Silhouette’s Facebook page:

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\nYesterday, we received news that Silhouette won an Academy Award for Technical Achievement. Special thanks to Adam Bradley and Eddie Soria of Weta Digital, who demonstrated as part of the awards process, the most complex and articulated roto and paint I have ever seen. It was nothing short of amazing. Also, thanks to Nathaniel Caauwe for putting together an impressive rotoscoping reel and sample footage for demonstration. We could not have done it without you guys. Finally, thanks to all of you for using our tools, and helping us make them better all these years!\n
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Oscars Announcement

\n\n", "date_published": "2018-12-15T16:17:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.natecow.com/2018/12/15/silhouette-academy-award-for-technical.html", "tags": ["vfx","Long Moos"] } ] }