Mandopony - Picture Perfect Pony

[Profpatsch]

I'm on it.

You know the feeling when you get a personal message from someone like ask-theCrusaders (JanAnimations)? I do. ;D

Renard, if we are fast we could get this to BUCK or even EFNW. Starting right now.

[Renard]

Wait - Jan asked you to do this?
Oh my. :D

[Profpatsch]

No, I contacted him and he, like, immediately replied.
So, pretty awesome.

Btw, I finished a beta version for BUCK and EFNW, though there is still some work to be done.
Some timings aren't a hundred percent exact (wow, that rap totally kicked my ass) and the material basically is the youtube 1080p vid, where the sound is only decent.

Some cool artwork is still needed, too, especially for a background pic.

[Smilley]

You could ask Jan, but I guess he'd only do it as a commission.

[Smilley]

Gave the song a whirl. Not bad. Interesting that you cropped multiple words into one note during the rap phases. Not a complaint, just something I noted.
Some lines are cut off early, read this for tips to fix it.
Also, my old heap o' junk of a PC totally caved in with the video, 4 FPS and MASSIVE lag. I noticed desyncing with MP4 files with other (non-Pony) songs, but never this much. If you ripped it off Youtube, you could try YTconv.net. Both the avi and MP4 give decent quality.

[Profpatsch]

The multiple words really where necessary because it was so fast.

Ah, and the line clipping theoretically shouldn't happen, because I didn't even use Composer.

My workflow (of which I am really, REALLY proud ;) ):
1. Open up UltraStar Creator.
2. Fill in the tags.
3. Insert lyrics and split into syllables
4. Confirm bpm with a tapping tool (It said 370bpm while the song actually is 140bpm, 280 in the file)
5. Tap that thing (If to fast set speed to 50–75%, sounds funny but works like a charm (except for that rap, crazy fast))
6. Set the basic pitch to the one that appears most often (saves work later)
6. Open up in USDX, fine-tune GAP if necessary, double-check bpm at the end of song (could be frustrating otherwise)
7. Beat match
8. Pitch (you can use a piano and/or the Practice option in Performous)
9. Check in Performous with Ctrl+S, very easy to notice timing and pitch mistakes.
10. Singing test
11. If it's very off, pause Performous before the song ends and use Ctrl+arrow keys to go forward/backward
12. Correct the mistakes you see visually in Performous (your voice pitch), switching between Pf and USDX. I love my workspaces on Linux so much, on Windows you have to alt-tab. Tip: Use a lightweight desktop, like Gnome 2 w/o effects or KDE.

About the vid: It's a simple YT 1080p vid.
Avidemux says: H264, 30FPS, mp4.
On my laptop it runs like a charm, it simply uses a lot of processor. But it's never out of sync.
I guess that's one of the biggest "disadvantages" of Linux. Because everything simply runs you don't see that others could have problems with the same stuff you think is normal. Same with Firefox and IE.

[Smilley]

Play the song with USDX once and you'll see the problem, I think.
The USDX editor has a bit of a problem recognizing linebreaks, and the player uses them very strictly. The problem's similar than with Composer, and the solution's the same: Open the otherwise finished .txt with a basic texteditor. If it's one line, broken up by squares, edit and save it once with USDX.
Sung notes are coded as follows: it starts with a ":" for normal notes, "F" for freestyle or "*" for Golden notes. After that is the starting beat, then its pitch and its length, and finally its text marking.
EDIT: Actually, the correct order is position, length, pitch and text.

Now look for rows with a "-"; those are the linebreaks. Obviously, their beat count should be at least as high as the preceding note's position + length. Preferably, you should have a 2-3 beat pause between the last note and the linebreak.

[Profpatsch]

So I have to check every beat manually with USDX?
And how do I see if the lines are broken in the player?

[Smilley]

No, not every beat, just every linebreak. Let me illustrate. I just took the first 3 lines from CCR - Bad Moon Rising as an example:

: 0 4 7 I
: 4 4 7  see
: 11 3 3  the
: 16 4 5  bad
: 24 3 5  mo
: 28 1 3 -on
: 32 3 7  ris
: 36 6 3 ing
- 48
: 64 3 7 I
: 68 7 7  see
: 80 3 5  trou
: 83 2 3 ble
: 88 2 7  on
: 92 1 3  the
: 95 7 3  way
- 100
: 128 4 7 I
: 132 8 7  see
: 144 3 5  ea
: 148 3 3 rth
: 151 5 5 quakes
: 156 2 3  and
: 158 4 7  light
: 162 8 3 ning

The lines in italics are the breaks. The bold numbers are those you need to look at. In the first example, 36+6 add up to 42, so there's plenty of room 'til the next line is loaded at beat #48 (actually, a bit earlier, hence the clipping errors in the thread linked above).
In the second line, the last note adds up to 95+7=102, so the linebreak at 100 definitely comes too soon. Since you have more than enough space between the note's end at 102 and the next one's beginning at 128, you can just put the break to something like 110.
If you only have one beat or two between lines, just put the break on the same beat as the next note, otherwise, try to balance it. This is something appearantly neither Composer nor the USDX editor seems to get right consistently, so you have to do it manually. It does add a last amount of polish to the song, though.

[Profpatsch]

Will there be an error in USDX or Performous if I don't do it?

[Smilley]

Not as such. The CMD Edition will flag it as faulty and you can see the exact errors in the log, but you can play it both with the normal and CMD Edition. The line will cut off early, loading the new line, though.
Don't know about Performous, but since you can play this song, I'd say no.

EDIT: Fixed it for this song. Took the better half of... two minutes, maybe?

[Renard]

Quick question about the ending credits. Can we edit them out from the video (and the MP3 file), and just leave the "Ask-TheCrusaders Presents" at the beginning?

I know it doesn't seem fair, but the credits are too long during gameplay. What happened at EverfreeNW was that people just first had a puzzled look on their face, then skipped them.

[Smilley]

Imagine my puzzled look, after having to disable the video, what the long outro was about. But I remembered eventually.
We should definitely ask Jan about that, though I guess he'll agree to it. And if the .nfo idea kicks off, they'll get their due credits anyway.
EDIT: While you're at it, could you reformat the vid to the one we use regularly? I think my hardware just can't handle 1080p.

[Profpatsch]

About shortening: You know that there is a #END-tag, right?
http://ultrastardeluxe.xtremeweb-hosting.net/wiki/index.php?title=Song_file

About the files: Jan uploaded the original files to my webspace, so we got everything in the highest quality possible. We should resample from there.

Here you go:
<removed>
Actually, I shouldn't post these in a public thread. You'll get them via mail.

[Smilley]

Isn't that what the Dropbox folder is for?
EDIT: Urgh, the #END tag is calculated in milliseconds. Couldn't they have picked a more cumbersome unit?  ::)

[Profpatsch]

Na, that's what my server is for. This file is 150+MB. But you can have the links if you so desire. Already sent them to Renard.

Haha, yeah, I wondered how to get the miliseconds, too. Maybe use vlc?

[Smilley]

VLC, or any other media player. Look at the timestamp (eg. 2:30), convert it to seconds (150, in this case) and add 3 zeroes (so 150000), give or take a thousand or two. My point was, you'll need this kind of precision on the starting gap, but never at the ending cutoff. They could just as well have used beats, since the game shouldn't end before the scoring begins.
But... *shrugs*... meh. ;)

[Renard]

Wooo files. I wonder if my netbook can handle some video editing, I'll try to cut the background video properly tonight.

[Profpatsch]

Wowowow, what was I thinking?
This is terrible. oO

Well, I kind of finished it in two or three hours and never looked back. ;)

[Smilley]

I did a bit of work on it. What'ya say?

Code Select Expand


#TITLE:Picture Perfect Pony
#ARTIST:MandoPony, EileMonkey
#CREATOR:Profpatsch
#EDITION:My Little Pony
#GENRE:Pony
#LANGUAGE:English
#MP3:song.mp3
#COVER:cover.png
#BACKGROUND:background.png
#VIDEO:video.mp4
#BPM:280
#GAP:9301
#UPDATED:08-18-2012
#COMMENT:http://www.karaoke.derpy.fr/
F 0 7 7 There's
F 7 11 7  something
F 18 3 7  I
F 21 7 7  want
F 28 2 7  to
F 30 10 7  share
F 40 5 7  with
F 45 10 7  you...
- 77
F 80 4 7 And
F 84 5 7  I
F 89 5 7  think
F 94 3 7  you
F 97 7 7  all
F 104 5 7  are
F 109 5 7  very
F 114 7 7  much
F 121 6 7  going
F 127 6 7  to
F 133 6 7  like
F 139 12 7  it
- 157
F 172 3 7 You're
F 175 6 7  going
F 181 4 7  to
F 185 8 7  love
F 193 4 7  what
F 197 2 7  you
F 199 12 7  see...
- 237
: 246 4 7 If
: 250 3 4  there's
: 254 2 7  a
: 258 3 4 ny
: 262 4 7 thing
: 267 2 4  you
: 270 7 7  want
- 277
: 277 4 2 You
: 282 3 4  know
: 287 3 4  I
: 291 3 2  can
* 295 3 7  give
: 299 3 7  it
- 306
: 311 3 7 If
: 315 3 4  there
: 319 3 7  is
: 323 2 4  a
: 326 5 7  dream
: 331 3 4  you
: 335 6 4  dream
- 341
: 343 3 1 I
: 347 3 4  can
: 351 4 4  let
* 355 3 1  you
: 359 4 4  live
: 364 3 -1  it
- 370
: 375 3 9 Take
: 380 3 9  a
: 384 4 9  chance
* 388 2 11  and
: 391 3 7  let
: 395 3 4  me
: 399 5 4  do
- 405
: 407 3 2 What
: 412 3 4  I
: 416 3 4  do
: 420 2 2  the
: 424 6 7  best
- 434
: 439 3 7 We
: 443 3 4  can
: 447 3 7  take
: 451 3 4  you,
* 456 3 7  clean
: 460 2 4  you
: 463 4 7  up
- 468
: 468 3 2 And
: 472 3 2  make
: 476 2 4  you
: 480 4 4  shine
: 484 3 2  a
: 487 3 2 bove
: 491 3 4  the
: 495 5 4  rest
- 501
: 501 2 4 It
: 504 4 9  does
: 508 3 9 n't
: 512 4 9  rea
: 516 3 11 lly
* 520 4 7  mat
: 524 3 7 ter
- 528
: 528 3 4 What
: 532 3 2  they
: 536 4 2  thought
: 541 3 4  of
: 545 3 4  you
: 549 3 2  be
: 553 8 7 fore
- 563
: 569 3 7 By
: 573 3 4  the
* 577 3 7  time
: 581 2 4  that
: 584 4 11  I
: 589 3 4  am
: 593 3 2  done
- 596
: 597 3 4 No
: 601 3 2 po
: 605 3 4 ny
: 609 4 4  will
: 614 2 2  i
: 617 5 4 gno
: 622 3 2 -ore
- 631
: 633 5 9 You,
: 640 3 9  lit
: 644 4 11 tle
* 650 6 7  you
- 657
: 658 3 4 Now
: 662 2 2  a
: 665 4 2  great
: 669 3 4  big
: 673 4 4  su
: 677 3 2 per
: 681 8 7 star
- 695
: 697 5 7 Stick
: 705 4 7  with
: 710 2 4  me
: 713 3 7  ba
: 717 4 4 by
- 721
: 721 3 4 And
: 726 3 2  I'll
: 730 5 4  make
: 737 3 4  you
: 740 4 4  go
: 745 14 2  far
- 763
F 767 6 7 That's
F 773 10 7  right,
F 785 4 7  I
F 789 6 7  can
F 795 6 7  make
F 801 6 7  you...
- 816
: 823 3 4 A
* 827 4 8  pic
: 834 5 8 ture
: 843 5 6  per
: 850 3 4 fect
* 855 6 6  po
: 863 4 6 ny
: 867 16 4 -y
- 887
: 889 2 4 A
: 891 4 8  pic
: 898 7 8 ture
* 906 6 6  per
: 914 5 4 fect
- 923
: 923 2 2 Po
: 927 2 4 ny
: 931 2 4  po
: 935 2 2 ny
: 939 2 2  po
: 943 2 4 ny
: 947 2 4  po
: 951 2 2 ny
- 954
: 956 5 8 Pic
: 963 6 8 ture
: 970 5 6  per
: 979 3 4 fect
* 983 7 6  po
: 991 4 6 ny
: 995 10 4 -y
- 1013
: 1017 2 4 A
: 1019 6 8  pic
* 1027 5 11 ture
: 1035 6 6  per
: 1043 6 4 fect
- 1051
: 1051 2 6 Po
: 1055 2 7 ny
: 1059 2 6  po
: 1063 2 7 ny
: 1067 2 6  po
: 1071 2 7 ny
: 1075 2 6  po
* 1079 4 4 ny
- 1083
F 1083 4 7 Pho
F 1087 5 7 to
F 1092 2 7  fi
F 1094 2 7 nish,
F 1100 3 7  that's
F 1104 2 7  her
F 1107 4 7  name
- 1111
F 1111 4 7 Makin'
F 1116 4 7  every
F 1120 4 7 pony
F 1125 3 7  pretty
F 1128 2 7  is
F 1130 2 7  her
F 1132 5 7  number
F 1137 4 7  one
F 1141 2 7  game
- 1143
F 1143 4 7 She
F 1149 3 7  do
F 1152 2 7  what
F 1154 2 7  she
F 1157 3 7  do,
F 1160 5 7  to make
F 1166 2 7  you
F 1168 2 7  more
F 1170 3 7  than
F 1173 4 7  you
- 1177
F 1177 3 7 No
F 1180 4 7 pony
F 1184 4 7  gonna
F 1188 2 7  care
F 1190 2 7  if
F 1192 2 7  what
F 1194 2 7  we
F 1196 5 7  share
F 1201 2 7  is
F 1203 6 7  true
- 1209
F 1209 2 7 Cuz
F 1211 6 7  lies
F 1217 3 7  are
F 1220 7 7  beautifil,
F 1227 1 7  the
F 1228 5 7  truth
F 1234 2 7  is
F 1237 4 7  not
- 1244
F 1245 2 7 Come
F 1247 2 7  on
F 1249 4 7  little
F 1253 3 7  mare,
F 1256 2 7  you
F 1258 2 7  better
F 1261 4 7  shake
F 1265 4 7  that
F 1269 4 7  plot
- 1273
F 1274 2 7 You
F 1276 3 7  know
F 1279 2 7  that's
F 1281 2 7  what
F 1283 2 7  they
F 1285 4 7  really
F 1289 4 7  all
F 1293 4 7  came
F 1297 2 7  to
F 1299 5 7  see
- 1306
F 1307 2 7 A
F 1309 8 7  picture
F 1317 8 7  perfect
F 1325 12 7  pony
- 1341
F 1341 3 7 Why
F 1344 2 7  you
F 1346 3 7  gotta
F 1349 4 7  ruin
F 1353 4 7  every
F 1357 4 7 thing
F 1361 2 7  with
F 1363 10 7  questions?
- 1373
F 1373 4 7 Shut up,
F 1377 4 7  tune
F 1381 4 7  out,
F 1385 4 7  and
F 1389 3 7  don't
F 1392 4 7  forget
F 1396 2 7  to
F 1398 3 7  mention
- 1403
F 1403 2 7 How
F 1405 4 7  happy
F 1409 4 7  you
F 1413 4 7  are
F 1417 2 7  that
F 1419 3 7  they
F 1422 3 7  all
F 1425 3 7  came
F 1428 2 7  to
F 1430 3 7  see
F 1433 4 7  you
- 1436
F 1436 2 7 Or
F 1438 2 7  how
F 1440 2 7  you
F 1442 7 7  understand
F 1449 8 7  everypony
F 1457 3 7  wants
F 1460 3 7  to
F 1463 4 7  be
F 1467 6 7  you
- 1493
: 1495 5 4 Now
: 1502 4 7  let
* 1507 3 4  me
: 1511 3 7  clear
: 1515 3 4  up
: 1519 2 7  a
: 1522 3 4 ny
: 1526 4 7  doubts
- 1531
: 1531 3 2 You
: 1535 3 2  may
: 1539 3 4  think
: 1543 3 4  you
: 1547 3 2  pos
* 1551 8 7 sess
- 1564
: 1567 3 7 Eve
: 1571 3 4 ry
: 1575 3 7 po
: 1579 3 4 ny
: 1583 4 7  will
: 1588 2 4  a
* 1591 4 11 dore
: 1596 2 4  you
- 1599
: 1599 3 2 When
: 1603 3 4  they
: 1607 3 4  see
: 1611 3 2  you
: 1615 3 2  in
: 1619 3 4  that
: 1623 7 4  dress
- 1631
* 1631 7 8 Fans
: 1639 3 8  screa
: 1643 3 11 ming
: 1647 3 2  e
: 1651 3 4 very
: 1655 4 4 day
- 1660
: 1660 3 2 To
: 1664 3 2  get
: 1668 3 4  a
: 1672 4 4  piece
: 1676 3 2  of
: 1680 6 7  you
- 1692
: 1696 6 7 Lights,
: 1704 3 7  came
: 1708 2 4 ras
* 1712 2 7  all
: 1715 3 4  the
: 1719 8 7  time
- 1727
: 1727 3 2 Wat
: 1731 4 4 ching
: 1736 4 4  what
: 1741 3 2  you
: 1745 4 4  do
: 1749 3 2 -o
- 1755
: 1755 3 9 You
: 1760 3 9  know
: 1764 3 9  it's
: 1767 4 9  what
: 1772 3 11  you
: 1776 4 7  want
- 1781
: 1781 2 4 I
: 1784 6 4  mean,
F 1792 4 0  how
F 1796 3 0  could
F 1800 3 0  you
F 1804 3 0  say
F 1809 7 0  no?
- 1819
: 1821 3 4 There's
* 1824 4 7  ne
: 1828 3 4 ver
: 1833 3 7  been
: 1837 3 4  a
: 1841 3 7  po
: 1844 4 4 ny
: 1849 6 7  here
- 1857
: 1857 3 2 With
: 1861 3 4  the
: 1864 5 4  guts
: 1869 2 2  to
: 1873 10 4  go
- 1885
: 1885 3 7 And
* 1889 7 9  why
: 1898 3 9  would
* 1902 3 11  you
: 1906 3 7  run
: 1911 2 4  a
: 1913 4 7 way?
- 1919
: 1919 3 2 It's
: 1922 4 2  e
: 1926 3 4 very
: 1930 4 4 po
: 1934 3 2 ny's
: 1939 8 7  dream
- 1949
: 1951 3 4 To
: 1954 3 7  be
: 1957 2 4  a
: 1962 5 7  star
: 1968 2 4  in
: 1971 2 7  ou
: 1973 3 4 ter
* 1978 5 7  space
- 1983
: 1983 2 2 Where
: 1987 4 2  no
: 1991 3 4 po
: 1995 3 4 ny
: 1999 4 4  he
: 2003 3 2 ars
* 2007 3 4  you
: 2013 6 4  scre
: 2019 5 2 am
- 2023
F 2023 3 7 It's
F 2027 4 7  why
F 2031 4 7  you
F 2035 4 7  wan
F 2039 4 7 na
F 2043 8 7  be
F 2051 8 7  a...
- 2059
* 2059 5 8 Pic
: 2066 6 8 ture
: 2076 4 6  per
: 2082 5 4 fect
* 2088 7 6  po
: 2096 3 6 ny
: 2099 12 4 -y
- 2117
: 2119 2 1 A
* 2123 6 8  pic
: 2131 7 8 ture
: 2140 5 6  per
: 2147 5 4 fect
- 2157
* 2157 2 2 Po
: 2161 2 4 ny
* 2165 2 4  po
: 2169 2 2 ny
* 2173 2 2  po
: 2177 2 4 ny
* 2181 2 4  po
: 2185 2 2 ny
- 2187
: 2189 4 8 Pic
: 2195 8 8 ture
: 2204 6 6  per
: 2212 4 4 fect
: 2217 6 7  po
: 2225 4 7 ny
: 2229 11 4 -y
- 2248
: 2250 2 -1 A
: 2253 5 8  pic
: 2259 6 11 ture
* 2269 5 6  per
: 2276 5 4 fect
- 2286
: 2286 2 6 Po
: 2290 2 7 ny
: 2294 2 6  po
: 2298 2 7 ny
: 2302 2 6  po
: 2306 2 7 ny
: 2310 2 6  po
* 2314 2 4 ny
- 2317
: 2317 5 8 Pic
: 2324 6 8 ture
* 2333 5 7  per
: 2340 4 4 fect
: 2346 6 7  po
: 2354 3 7 ny
* 2357 9 4 -y
- 2378
: 2380 2 -1 A
: 2383 3 8  pic
: 2389 6 8 ture
* 2398 5 6  per
: 2405 5 4 fect
- 2415
: 2415 2 2 Po
: 2419 2 4 ny
: 2423 2 4  po
: 2427 2 2 ny
: 2431 2 2  po
: 2435 2 4 ny
: 2439 2 4  po
: 2443 2 2 ny
- 2446
: 2446 5 8 Pic
* 2454 8 8 ture
: 2463 4 6  per
: 2470 4 4 fect
: 2475 6 6  po
: 2482 4 6 ny
: 2486 11 4 -y
- 2504
: 2506 3 -1 A
: 2510 5 8  pic
* 2517 6 11 ture
: 2526 6 6  per
: 2533 5 4 fect
- 2543
: 2543 2 6 Po
: 2547 2 7 ny
: 2551 2 6  po
: 2555 2 7 ny
: 2559 2 6  po
: 2563 2 7 ny
: 2567 2 6  po
: 2571 2 4 ny
E