Quote from Nathan_French_14 :

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that when your Mazda was stock, it did not have a tow hook sticking out the front of the bumper?

That is our point. It's a pointless mod, which is a danger to pedestrians and looks stupid. Either way though, ignore us by all means. It's your car, so do as you wish.

Isn't modding anything pointless? Or rather.. isn't buying just about anything pointless? Do computers really need the processing power and 8gb of ram these days just so someone can check their email?

It's not like I drive around to run over people like I live in grand theft auto or something, jesus; I'm pretty sure my car as a whole is more dangerous than something 2 inches around.

If you hate it, that's fine, you don't have to point out to me 500 times that it's dangerous.. everything about a car is dangerous.

If you want to keep going about what all is illegal about my car, lets talk about single reverse light I'm pretty sure isn't the most legal in the US, or how about the clear reflectors in the rear which I know is illegal, and soon the reflectors in the headlight housing will be gone. Pretty sure my car exceeds the dB level noise pollution in a lot of areas (which really my car isn't that loud).. honestly I could keep this list going if you want.. but it doesn't matter, it's all pointless right?

I'm about to get all artsy on you and shit but whatever, i'll stick with laymens terms though; It's there to uneven the car; same as the vinyl on the rear; symmetry isn't attractive to humans. It's also red to bring your eye around the car, the taillights are red, the calipers are red, and the tow hook is red too to allow you to follow the red around to the front, otherwise all the red leads you to nowhere, you're just stuck on the sides and back.. if that makes any sense.. if not then don't worry, but that's my reason for it being there.

@Psycho I don't think I've ever seen plastic bull gaurds before; not in the states, that's for sure.

That tow hook on my car doesn't move up and down; i tightened it up so it's stiff enough that the loop doesn't move unless you put some pressure on it.

Honestly, this tow hook is BEYOND more safe than the OEM one, the OEM one stuck out like 2-3 inches, and it didn't have any give what so ever, this tow hook is completely up against the bumper.

If you want to compare being hit by this tow hook vs. oem one, the oem would rape someone.. literally (disturbing, yes, but my knee has bruises from walking into it to prove it) this one.. if you got hit by it, yes it may hurt.. but so will the remainder of the car hitting you too.


last payment came innnnnn!!! Guess who is buying coilovers on monday!
No idea when I will get them installed though, I gotta do some work before I head home

That's crazy bull bars were illegalized. Personally.. I don't like them either, they ish look cool (GOOD ones.. not cheap ones that everyone buys, but the ones you see on model cars) but at the end of the day that's like an additional 30-40+ lbs of weight you're adding on the nose to an already dumb heavy truck.. such a waste..

I'm sure at some point when I shave up my car the tow hook will be gone (and by shave up I mean remove stickers, eyelids, tow hook.. that's all I can think of now)

old vs new

lol, might be going up to OBX this summer for Epic East Coast Mazda Meet

4 Days left for TWM sponsorship! If I could get everyone to like TWM's page and like this picture of my car that would be GREAT!

http://www.facebook.com/photo. ... 4.131414399191&ref=nf

bilstein is shocks, they don't make any coils for our cars

I mean the KWs aren't that much more expensive, don't get me wrong, they're only a few hundred $ more, but, I don't need parts that will survive nuclear fallout or anything the world can hit them with. BCs are great coils, I just don't need all the adjustment KW has to offer.

she doesn't sit in the rain much but, that day she did:

Quote from e2mustang :

what kind of coilovers?

BC coils; they're made in Florida, and KWs are just dumb expensive for what I'm using them for. I would go KW, but BC has an excellent rep with all the mazda guys, and you can pretty much get anything custom made for whatever your needs are, so I got an extreme drop package.

I could go super cheap and get the cheapo brand KW makes called Suspension Technique but.. BC has much more rep, is closer to me physically and can replace parts for whatever you need instead of replacing the entire package.

Finally some good news; I can afford my coilovers hopefully after this weekend, if not, then either way I will be super close, so the expected install date isn't end of February; rather towards the beginning to middle of it.

That makes sense; I think it's because with Nikon SLR video you can only alter your Aperture; everything else is automatic no matter what...

I probably could have gotten some motion blur if I stopped the lens down all the way for the airplane video; but I think I was running wide open for some dumb reason. I'm not sure.

I know the Rolex video was completely shot at f/2.8 at all times; and the skate video I did recently was mostly at f/8 (except with the wideangle lens, I think it was just at f/4.5 for those.

I'll have to do some tests and see what I come up with then..

Like I said, nearly all canons shoot at a minimum 30fps (fields per second as opposed to frames per second say like a normal camera could shoot [a damn fast one at that!])

All cameras that shoot video will get this rolling shutter effect, (if they're CMOS) just because of the way they "scan" the image from top down; even normal video cameras get it, but you don't see it nearly as much because video camera sensors are .. small .. especially when you compare them to an SLR.

So here for example is an image of one of Sony's SLR sensors, and one of their "handycam" sensors



Quite a difference; so the problem with SLRs is that clearly, their sensors have much more distance to scan; whereas typical video cameras have hardly any space.
So you get that weird jello effect.

Honestly though I'm no expert on this subject, this is just what I've learned about it thus far, I'm sure someone well more knowledgeable on the subject could clarify things, but it's a pretty weird thing to me too.


The aircraft thing also comes down to this; this video of helicopter testings show what's going on. They set the shutter speed to the RPM (or some division / ratio of it, I'm not sure exactly) so that the rotor blades stay still so they can watch for warpage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ6vadFVjYg

So what you're getting when shooting at 24fps is a rather similar effect; the blades are spinning super fast, but the sensor isn't picking up but only 24 images per second; as opposed to say 60 on the average camera.

If that helps any?

Yes; dSLRs use what's called a rolling shutter (similar to how cellphones work); you can get some WEEEIIIIRDDDD effects with them because of the way it captures images. Also the other reason is because my camera captures at 24p (24 fields per second), which is bare minimum; Canons shoot on average 30p, and a 'good' camera, good in both dSLR and actual video cam shoot up to 60p which is excellent for motionblur and slowing motion (because it captures 60 frames per second as opposed to only 24)

You will also notice the effect in the Rolex video of some objects that go by fast have a slant to them (think.. normall you see | with rolling shutter you see / )

here for example is what you can get with a rolling shutter
It's a rather strange phenomenon



that is an extreme though; that's what you get from cell phone cameras really; i'm not sure what they shoot at speed wise.

For the most part though SLRs you only get the slanting or what some people call "jello" effect

Not much you can do :/

All SLRs right now suffer from this jello effect; higher field per second cameras like the 7D still have this effect; however with the 7D you can capture aircraft much more properly. I'm just dealing with what I have, but yes it does look weird!

yesterday:

@scatter I really don't need 1080p, that's just a huge format for no reason; I don't need a resolution gain, I need a speed gain lol; the 24p is killer in video! That's what is nice about even the cheap Canons, they shoot minimum at 30p

The last one with JJ I finally got into a tiny bit of color correction; the Daytona and before videos are completely stock from camera.. which, some cases I needed it. Honestly though I'm pretty happy with the 300s' capture, it doesn't flatten it or push colors or darks bad at all;

Here is a retarded and photoshop destroyed image of me with the rig I got the week before the Rolex video; it's a great setup.

It is from cheesycam.com; it was super cheap; the shoulder mount is great; the expensive things were that LED light (which is SUPER bright and awesome btw) and the LCD loupe

also, my audio is through Rode Video mic; I really want a better one though just because the camera controls so much of the microphone it's ridiculous, the tones just sound strange...

No 3d; I don't have 3dsmax on my computer anymore; got it on an external, but still runnign the same harddrive since I got this computer so I've only got 160gb lol so.. no space between photos and video and 3D, I've been sitting at like 10gb left, just don't want to spend the money on a drive lol

I will say though, there have been a few times I wish I had 3dsmax still running on here, but I haven't put it back just for space reasons; I for sure miss doing it, and will gladly go back and do it all over again; when I have the space and time for it though
No I do miss it though, I really do.

Quote from TiJay :

The 550D shoots 1080p at 30fps and 720p @ 60 (may be wrong about that last figure) and was only £620.

Hmm

Problem is is that I already have lots of money put into Nikon, it would seem slightly wasteful to drop that much on a Canon that I use only once in a while for video.

Sooo no one else shoots video?

I wish I had a Canon 7D lol; being able to shoot at 720p at 60p would be phenominal! The 300s only shoots at 24p under all settings, I hate it

Thanks yall, really just trying to get out there and shoot more video, but, it's a lot more work than just going out and taking photographs haha.

I would say though, totally go Canon just because it has FAR more history with video than Nikon ever has, and they've got it set with the 7D, it is by far the champion of slr video.

I've been going pretty cheaply on video rigs to shoot with too, just for stabilization and for longer more active shoots (like the Daytona video where I was walking around for easily 8 hours with my camera on my back and a huge lens)

I would prefer to get something super nice, but.. you gotta pay the price, and that price costs as much as coilovers lol.. so.. personally, I'd much rather have coils on my car haha. So I'm stuck with some things from cheesycam.com which they work great.. and are super cheap which is great.

@TiJay, no I haven't, but i'll totally look it up right now!

I've always had interest in it, but never had a video camera (still don't really), but have begun shooting video since I got my D300s

I just wanted to start a thread to maybe bring some videographers together, maybe learn some tips and tricks from everyone.

Relatively new to video, okay, I'm actually super new, am using After Effects, know some basics, that's about it.
Anyways, here is basically where I'm at with video (not much lol)

http://www.facebook.com/photo. ... 4.131414399191&ref=nf

"Like" this image on facebook so I can get a chance to win a sponsorship with TWM!

Coils still planned on just before spring now, got a bud that will help install them, wheels I've decided will be Enkei Evo X wheels (still will be painted to match the flag vinyl)

and just for you Jak, eyelids will be coming off for good when I paint the headlight interiors!

@Scrabby, yes I want RPF1s, I'm stuck between those and the rotas, not sure yet; That's JDR's car, his car is so gorgeous!
I asked if I could take some from some of the race teams on Saturday.. obviously they told me slicks were illegal on the street, but no one said no lol, guess if I could figure out how to walk out of the pits unsuspiciously with wheels and tires in hand I could hah!

Anyways, here's a link to a video I made while at the Roar Before Rolex 24 at Daytona International!

(still just getting into video so be easy! I'm not the best lol, still very new)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtsaGkUk22c

oh and here's a picture (I also discovered why my car looks so much higher than the Speeds; it's because they're on 18s, I'm on 17s)

Quote from Shotglass :

whats the goal here? trying to lower the resale value of that mazda as much as possible?

It will never be sold, so yeah; besides, I can return it to stock at any time, I have all of the parts. Which would be a huge plus, because Mazdas are among the highest when it comes to resale value

And then with all of my aftermarket parts I can sell those off, and make nearly all the money I spent.. or near it at least.

@91mason91 The rear badges will stand out a ton more in direct sunlight; not as much in the shade (as you see), so.. we'll see, I like them how they are; chrome was to much, I like black on white, but I think it would compete to much on the hatch like the chrome did.

@s14 gotta lower her first! coilovers come springtime so.. I won't be buying any wheels until the current tires are out of tread (no point in wasting the money.. not that much at least) But I think this is what I'll be going for; color matched Rota P45s to the checkers:



But, obviously I will get them to fit better than that.

When I get the coils in and drop my stock wheels, I may paint them, not sure yet; but they will have spacers on them to fit them better to the body. Especially the rears; even as forza shows.. the rear wheels have so little track on them it's hideous :/

Washed and waxed! in 40 degrees; twas fun lol

Got the badges done; I've decided I will keep them white.

meh.. plenty of other parts of my car are illegal and I haven't been pulled over so.. until then, it's stayin'

Yeah, the grill I want removes the badge, but that's all I've got for now, until I can get the other one to fit perfectly. No one seems to know where to get a Garage Vary grill; besides from Japan of course; but I'm not spending $600 on some unpainted plastic of that size. But that's just me.

Quote from BlueFlame :

How can you love that interior!?

Love for 90s beige computers? bwhahah


New rear M came in today; cut, filed down, just gotta prep for paint and paint it; don't think I will be bleaching this one.. if I have problems with it I will; but I doubt anything will happen to it on the rear.

Thinking about keeping the rears white; once I finish the M I will see; looking at my car again yesterday in the sunlight I liked the white more than I did sitting in the garage.

I think he's kind of right in a way.

LFS IS a product.. but.. I don't think we are the customers. No seriously, think about it; why else would Scawen put so much time and effort into making this model absolutely perfect? If he wanted to sell it as a game, he could easily do that.. you just have to market it correctly.

Sure, it's a game, we've all paid for it, and a lot of people still play it. But I think it goes deeper than that; I see us (game buyers) as temporary income. When he's done with this model he can market that; solely the engine of the game.. I'm pretty sure he can find plenty of companies (think F1 teams) that are willing to pay a little more than gas money (..uhm.. not their fuel costs; our fuel costs lol, bad example..) for a perfected physics engine.

Just a thought.

Quote from IlGuercio :

Is this an advertising lesson?
You see, things don't always go good and well and if something goes wrong people have the right to say it, especially because they're part of the community, like you are.
If we want to be precise positive comments do not speed up the development as well so i can't see what's this "positiveness" about.
Should i pop a Mumm because LFS is stuck with the same content since 2008?
I guess not and even if they don't care (i am sure they don't, and it's clear) i still want to point that out.
I don't like the way this is done and there's no way to be offended just because all you want to hear is positive stuff.

For starters, nothing.. has gone wrong.
Secondly, anyone's positive comments, while no they will not speed up anything, keep the mood positive of all of the people that view the forum.

Think about it like this; when you wake up in a good mood, you're all happy, brushing your teeth, walking out the door, and then to find out all of your work buddies or friends are mad, by the end of the day, you'll be in a bad mood.

People react in relation to the people around them; if the comments start getting negative, that is all we will see.

And where's the fun for some moderator having to go through and prune a thread?

This thread has relatively nothing to do with actual progress; one post does, and that is Scawen's. All the rest is lounge talk really.
I mean, I'm pretty sure the developers are well aware how little we have received in the past few years; instead this is saying 'hey, we are still alive, we are still working, just a heads up on where we are.'


As stated before, LFS doesn't need to be marketed.. I mean hell this is a forum, why would you market to your own game's forum? If people are here, that means you marketed somehow in the right place to begin with. Advertising here for LFS doesn't get anyone anywhere, so no, I am not advertising.

I'm not offended by negative comments at all, this thread is not about me, has nothing to do with me, and is no way personal. What becomes a problem though is when serious word fights occur on the internet.. which do happen; even then, I'm not offended, but that's still work for someone to put up with on their free time.

Anyways I could go on this forever.. it would be cool if we could restrict people to one post per thread.. that would be interesting lol

Alright everyone, yes we've all been waiting a very long time, yes I am sure many of you as I am worried LFS was going to die, but, once again, things are going to take time (clearly).

Whether your post be critiquing, moaning, whining, commenting; what have you, it will not speed up any process. Many of you have been here a very long time, and I know the devs are very proud to have such a strong base of fans out there, enough to keep them through the good and bad, and that is very important.

Here, we are a family with similar interests. Let's not get carried away with not getting S3 for Christmas this year, just.. keep the comments positive please.

Thanks.