Lots of n00bish type quetions... maybe...

Well I asked something in another thread but I guess no one hardly ever posts over there...

Here are the questions.

1. How do I record a movie clip in SL? I tried using the one in the file menu, but nothing happened. It asked me where to save it, I clicked save and that was it... Nothing ever got saved. What program can I use to do it?

2. If I wanna make characters have cirtain animations (for a movie I plan to make in SL) do I make them in an animation program like 3DS Max or (even anim8or) and upload them. Or better yet, is there a place I can buy a bunch of animations involving one or two people. I mean like really simple animations to more complex ones that I can use inworld to use in the project I wanna make?

3. I don't really need this yet, but where inworld can I buy a camera to use on the film I wanna make... and are the flight paths hard to create? Can I control it myself. (I'm sure I can but I just wanna make sure.)

4. This was from the First Look viewer forum but I'm not sure if it can h. I wanna make the video in WindLight because... wll... there's wind... and light. But anyhow, what graphics cards do you think could render the graphics in Ultra while maintaining a frame rate of 15-30+? I'm looking at one of the ATI-HD3600 cards. Well, the number is something like that. Will those work?

Now I saw the recommendations page but I'm not sure if those can handle ultra settings and keep an acceptable frame rate. I'm an a computer with Windows XP Pro SP2 32-bit system with an AMD 2 core duo CPU and 4 gigs of RAM.


-Zee-
I know that was a lot, but if you could help me out, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

Believe me I'm no expert but here goes.....the shortened version:

1. You can use 'Fraps' to record in-game footage. There is a trial version that can be downloaded so you can try it out first. I'm sure there are lots of different programs also but this is the one that I'm most familiar with.

2. For animations, if you want to purchase them, try Abranimations, they have a great selection of different ones. Or use 'Qavimator' to try making your own....look on it as yet another learning experience.

3. As for the camera......there is a tool called 'Filming Path'....I haven't used it yet but have heard great things about it and it's 'ease of use'.

4. As for the Windlight question......can't really answer that one, I'm not too much of an expert on graphics cards but all you can do is try and see how it comes out.

1. How do I record a movie clip in SL? I tried using the one in the file menu, but nothing happened. It asked me where to save it, I clicked save and that was it... Nothing ever got saved. What program can I use to do it?

You need CODECS to encode a video. Search the internet for "codec packs" that work for your operating system, get information on video-codecs on wikipedia.
codecs come, change and get replaced by newer better codecs, it is a mess of compartibility.

2. If I wanna make characters have certain animations (for a movie I plan to make in SL) do I make them in an animation program like 3DS Max or (even anim8or) and upload them. Or better yet, is there a place I can buy a bunch of animations involving one or two people. I mean like really simple animations to more complex ones that I can use inworld to use in the project I wanna make?

All animations in sl are bipedal K-chains of a limited accuracy and length (due to compression for low traffic). They only set joint rotation-changes of a keyframe. The joint lengths are set by the avatar shape. It is very easy to find sitting, dancing, cuddling or fucking poses. All else may need more searching. the animation format used in sl is quite common. there are many exporters or free standalone animation converters. it is easy but the mess is in the details.

3. I don't really need this yet, but where inworld can I buy a camera to use on the film I wanna make... and are the flight paths hard to create? Can I control it myself. (I'm sure I can but I just wanna make sure.)

search youtube videos from "Torley Linden", where he explains essentials for camera movement. He also gives away a "follow cam" script for some basic scripted camera effects.

4. This was from the First Look viewer forum but I'm not sure if it can h. I wanna make the video in WindLight because... wll... there's wind... and light. But anyhow, what graphics cards do you think could render the graphics in Ultra while maintaining a frame rate of 15-30+? I'm looking at one of the ATI-HD3600 cards. Well, the number is something like that. Will those work?

That highly depends on the avatar and prim count as well on the view range in the scene (and ocf course resolution and the used video codec setting, some codecs are slower and may be higher compressed and some are just faster).
Indoor scenes need much less processing power than dogfights.
Assumign that your video uses some sort of jpg-compression annyways, the highest setting may be a waste if it gets lost in the video quality anyways. And noone wants your uncompressed .avi video on bluRay.

5 Now I saw the recommendations page but I'm not sure if those can handle ultra settings and keep an acceptable frame rate. I'm an a computer with Windows XP Pro SP2 32-bit system with an AMD 2 core duo CPU and 4 gigs of RAM.

Ram is most important for SL, it caches roughly 2 gigabytes almsot only for textures in the scene and those textures come and go just by turning 90° to the side.
Also make sure to defrag your hard disk drive and clear the sl cache regularily.

Hi Zee - I think Torley Linden did a short tutorial about making films in SL. It might be worth a search through the blog archives to find it.

Yes, you can make your own avatar animations using a number of external packages such as QAvimator or Poser. I suggest you scroll down to the Animation forum and look at the FAQs and stickies - heaps of useful information there.

The ctrl-shift-A video capture function that is built into the SL client works, sort of, but has no added functionality that would help to make it actually useful.

Here's the secret to making it work: it cannot store its video files on the desktop, or in any directory in the desktop's directory tree (e.g. a folder on the desktop). You can create a directory on the C: drive (or whatever drive you want), and store the files there. So when you press the ctrl-shift-A combination and it asks you where to save the file, direct it to that new folder you created.

If that works, the next window you will see displays a list of available codecs. Some work, some don't. Try each one to see which works best. As soon as you select a modem and click 'OK'. it starts recording. (BTW: to stop capturing, press the same key combination again.)

Better yet, download and install Fraps! It's easy to use, includes a great codec, and you can store the files wherever you want!

I run an nvidia 8600GT and I believe I have everything turned up to full - will need to check when I get home. I've found it to be a good card and it won't hit you hard in the wallet either (got mine for £60 inc delivery)

Core 2 processor and 4 gigs of RAM is plenty though - with a decent card that will handle pretty much anything you throw at it - it won't even break a sweat with Windlight

Sorry, but these weren't noobish questions, newbish maybe.

Noobish questions are:

Where do I find the biggest gun?

Will you give me some L$.

Wanna XXXX

U R HAWT Sechs now?


This game sucks, where is the lewt? WoW had lots of LEWT.

Can I loot your body?


Noob is an attitude, one that never leaves a person. Newb is being short of knowledge and experience, It can be fixed.

LOL. Ollj, this may be the most uninformative bit of technospeak I've seen this month. I'm not criticizing, mind you...I'm awestruck.

OP: The Second Life avatar mesh and animation limitations are compatible with Poser 2 from Curious Labs (you can use later versions of Poser, but you'll have to save your work as the earlier version's format, and without newer versions' features.) The animation file format is .bvh.

Rather than buy Poser, though, there are a couple of free animation programs that can be used to make SL animations, such as QAVimator. See the Animation tech forum on this site for much more information.

You may have seen some very realistic animations, such as the dances from Bits N Bobs or Sine Wave. These were created using motion capture equipment. If you aspire to this level of realism, you are looking at a very significant dollar investment.

Graphics cards: The general consensus seems to be that NVIDIA gives a slight edge, but ATI has a strong following as well. The basic requirements are a card with good Open GL drivers and as much video RAM as you can afford.

I think others already dealt with this, but FRAPS is a popular choice.



There are many different animation stores in world, or you can create your own using QAvimator or Poser - anything which can output .BVH files. You can also buy motion-captured animations from professional sites such as TurboSquid to use in SL - this may be expensive but is probably cheaper than making them yourself. The only problem with this is that you'll have to manually adapt them to fit the Second Life armature.



There are several free ones, such as the Alt Zoom camera, which will move along tracks. I make one system, called BijoCam, which doesn't support moving along tracks but can automatically move the camera viewpoint between positions when triggered by the avatar being in a particular place. There are also some other systems, for example, Caligari Cam which focuses on positioning the camera precisely.

One problem is that at the moment, all of the scripts that support smoothly moving cameras requires you to sit on a prim, meaning that you cannot act in your own film (unless you find someone else to be the cameraman). As part of my system I experimented with moving cameras that don't require this, but the current SL scripting engine is too slow to calculate smooth motion by other means, although it might be possible with Mono..



I can get fairly smooth Ultra with an NVidia GeForce 7800. Remember that CPU speed can be important too, though, and remember that OpenGL render time is important (that can vary between drivers - some Vista drivers are notorious for slowing it down)

I take it the folks in the Animation Tips or Movies & Machinima don't post often.

Well to tell you the truth, I didn't cehck the animation thread, but I didn't find much in the movie thread... But I figreud since I had questions in all those subjects, it'd just be easier to make one post here.

Hmmm... How would I make a path for a camera... and where would I get one... or do you mean I make a track fo the main one I haev now...

I'll look into the animation thing.

As for the graphics card... I'll check out the GForce ones and see what I can come up with although none of the stores seem to sell those for some odd reason. (none of the stores around here anyway.)

Well if I can't controle the camera and move... I'd have to get someone else to play me then which means I'd have to go as someone else (since I want to record the graphics on my end.

Well I'll test out the recording and the cameras... I don't know what you mean by Mono or Caligari. Do I find those somewhere?

Thanks for all your help. I know a bit more now. I'd love to go try some things out but it's late so yeah.

I get the same result, nothing happens.
Have downloaded all available codecs I could find, re-installed SL, tried it on dazzle, pulled hair, stomped floor, etc. What is most annoying is that ctrl-shift-A worked last time I tried it but not now on my PC using XP running SL version 1.19.0 (5) Feb 28 2008.

After you select the file location to save the video, it skips the step where you select the codec from a dropdown and so nothing happens.

The posts on the problem are piling up over the last month so hopefully it will get some attention, or someone will take the time to post it on jira.

-MRO

What's stopping YOU from posting it on JIRA? If you do, I'll vote for it.

Wow, where'd you find this? lol

Ok well I use Fraps now as it's better... but for some odd reason, it won't record sound which isn't too bad because I'm planning on putting in my own sound anyway but still...

I'm still wondering about those camera paths.

I was able to record a video using the SL vid recorder but it was REALLY BAD!!!!

Fraps is kinda choppy but that might be my graphics card. I plan on getting an ew one soon though.