Wonderful World

This is my very first 'machinma' attempt....actual moving footage as opposed to my previous 'snapshot montage' routine..

In four days, I will have been resident of SL for exactly a year and it's been one of the most enjoyable years I've spent.. So I thought I'd try to do something that captures what I think of SL.....

Thanks so much to all of the great people I've met and talked with that have helped to make my SL experience such a wonderfully interesting and happy one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlv38moSDII

Excellent movie , if you are like me, it puts a smile on your face, when you see any movie you created, rendered for the first time...... only I spend the next few days, even weeks, fiddling with it ...

You did a great job..

Thanks AWM.....I'm only just beginning and there are so many things I haven't a clue about..lol

I've done a few more and I'd love to hear your opinion if you get the chance... The one thing that's annoying me is the finished video is 'fuzzy'.....I know it's probably something to do with 'codecs' etc....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2abm4KC7ZvA

Nice work on the video...I know what it takes to make one. =)

Oh and Happy Rez Day!

- Infrared

Hi

The initial 'fuzziness' is due to the way that YouCrude applies its conversion to your media. The flv codec is a useful streaming delivery system, depending on who presets the codec parameters. YouCrudes business model is to show movies of its members, whilst supporting paying advertising, nothing new there. To support more and more users, they have to consider the balance between income and expenditure.

I have seen other similar Web 2.0 sites that use the flv conversion in a much less aggressive way, but their overheads are perhaps much lighter and can therefore afford to attract users with better quality.

Have you tried blip.tv? They are one of many wannabe YouCrude type hosts but with better quality.

I noticed you shoot full screen. Potentially you are wasting effort capturing much of what you do not need. You may want to try Fraps, or my personal favourite HyperCam (both are Windows Programmes). Both are useable screen capture programmes and similar in most ways, except that HyperCam lets you select the area of the screen you want to capture.
To gain smoother action, capture at least (bare minimum) 15fps, preferably at 25fps. I'm not sure what editing/rendering programme you are using, there are a prolifercation on the market. Download and use Trial versions until you find one that you are comfortable with. My personal favourite is Sony Vegas. Apart from giving you good control over the output media with a higher degree of codec types and settings, you can create templates for those resolutions, codec, pixel size and colour depth you find most suited to your requirements. Getting the balance right between quality and streaming ability, is always the 'trick' to learn. Although a steep learning curve, it is perhaps better to have a lot of useful tools to use, than rely on a preset assumption. You can also 'zoom/crop' in the vast majority of editing programmes, to remove unwanted screen areas and recompose the shot.

Ingame tools such as using FlyCam (advanced menu) will help you in some circumstances, other tools such as FilmPath give you some predictable control and a way towards a professional input footage. Research the Ken Burn technique will also help you greatly in controlling 'movement' within a movie, without actually having to move the camera. Combined with movement scenes, will add to your abilites.

Don't make the same mistake some machinimaists do, and go overboard with 'special effects' and transitions, just for the sake of it, they should only support your work where needed, not subsidise it.

You already have the 'Directors Eye' for a good shot, aspect and composition, with the right tools to set you free, you will no doubt develop into a greater artist.

AWM....that's such helpful info for me and I really appreciate it... I'm using Fraps but using the 'full screen' option, I haven't really played around with it a lot but I plan to.. I'll definitely give blip.tv a try....and perhaps download some trial versions of various editing software just to see what's out there... At the moment I'm using Moviemaker...(please don't laugh..lol)

I'm just going to read as much as I can about the whole process and see where I can go from there.....