Ship Simulator

English forum => Ship Simulator 2008 => Media => Topic started by: [RWP]DJM on May 15, 2008, 22:18:58

Title: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 15, 2008, 22:18:58
Hiya all :)

I've noticed that a lot of members like to make their own movies, and the number is steadily increasing.  If you're interested, I will be happy to offer some of my experience to create a guide, for those of you who are new to movie making, or for some extra tips for those who want to know more :)

Let me know if you're interested, and what kind of things you want me to cover in the guide ;)

I'm no movie expert of course, but I will gladly help out wherever I can ;D

Regards.

DJM/Carl.

Edit:  Added the PDF guide ;)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: TJK on May 15, 2008, 22:22:50
Hiya all :)

I've noticed that a lot of members like to make their own movies, and the number is steadily increasing.  If you're interested, I will be happy to offer some of my experience to create a guide, for those of you who are new to movie making, or for some extra tips for those who want to know more :)

Let me know if you're interested, and what kind of things you want me to cover in the guide ;)

I'm no movie expert of course, but I will gladly help out wherever I can ;D

Regards.

DJM/Carl.
Yes please DJM, that had been fine to haw, so if you haw some left over time please make one. how to do motion pictures tips and advise 
TJK
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 15, 2008, 23:22:42
One thing I would like to point out ;)

This guide won't be specific instructions on how to use a certain package, there are too many to cover.  It will be offering some tips on file types used in movie production, transitions, wipes/fades, certain video effects (blue-screen matte, overlays etc.), and anything else that may be relevant ;)

Any specific requests for things to include in this guide, please let me know as soon as possible, then it stands a better chance of being included ;D
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: trains on May 15, 2008, 23:58:03
well DJ, i still can't activate Windows Movie Maker no matter what. what is the problem? i am using windos xp SP and have what is needed.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 16, 2008, 00:01:00
The only thing you really need trains, is SP2 (or higher) usually.

Are you an Administrator on the PC?
Do you get any error messages at all?

Any further details you can provide, may help to determine the cause of the problem ;)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: trains on May 16, 2008, 00:03:17
i'm using the Admin on the computer. i get no error messages. i install it and no folder is put on the computer.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 16, 2008, 00:06:01
Ok, try updating Windows, and maybe installing Service Pack 3, that may correct the problem ;)

You can use Windows Update from your Start Menu, or click the link below:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

:)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 16, 2008, 00:07:57
Also, you should have a folder in Program Files of 9.8mb called Movie Maker ;)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: trains on May 16, 2008, 00:24:44
i found the file :-[ wasn't there before. weird. thanks. but why isn't it in the Start Menu?
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 16, 2008, 09:01:30
8)

There could be a couple of reasons for it not being in your Start Menu:

Someone deleted it
Installation hiccup

If you really want/need a shortcut in your Start Menu, you can add one manually, and it's very easy to do ;)

Let me know if you need instructions ;D
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: trains on May 16, 2008, 19:34:33
how do i add music to the video so they play at the same time? all i need to do is that to finish my new Trainz movie.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: trains on May 16, 2008, 19:50:54
figured it out. how do i make it a wmv file? youtube won't let me upload the regular file.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 16, 2008, 20:58:46
figured it out. how do i make it a wmv file? youtube won't let me upload the regular file.

I haven't used MM for ages, but there should be a wmv option when you author/export the movie ;)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: Captain Best on May 16, 2008, 21:04:06
I haven't used MM for ages, but there should be a wmv option when you author/export the movie ;)
what editor program do you use then?
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: Shipaddict on May 16, 2008, 21:05:43
In MM, you need to press:

"Save to my computer"

Then follow the instructions.

@ Captain Best, DJM uses MoviePlus 5 from Serif.

www.serif.com
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 16, 2008, 21:10:44
@ Captain Best, DJM uses MoviePlus 5 from Serif.

www.serif.com

Indeed, and Magix: Movies on CD & DVD ;)

www.magix.com
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: trains on May 16, 2008, 21:25:07
i did it and it didn't let me change the file type. do i have to wait?
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 16, 2008, 21:28:15
i did it and it didn't let me change the file type. do i have to wait?

Have you made sure that you have all the relevant codecs/plugins installed?
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: trains on May 16, 2008, 21:36:57
it worked. just had to wait for the upload to finish. now uploading on youtube. a Trainz 2006 movie.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 16, 2008, 21:39:47
8)

I'm sure I mentioned somewhere in this topic about creating a guide........back to it methinks :P ;D
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: trains on May 16, 2008, 21:43:50
might wanna make it then :P ;)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: TerryRussell on May 16, 2008, 22:45:47
Hi DJM.

Out of interest, what video editor did you use for your recent "shoots"?

I've got a load of footage now and I might join in and see if I can make something half-decent out of it all.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide?
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 16, 2008, 23:13:03
Hiya Terry :)

Full setup for my movies is as follows:

Fraps - Capture
Magix: Movies on CD & DVD - RWP/DJM intro, and scrolling credits
Soundforge - Audio editing
Serif: MoviePlus 5 - Main movie editing, and static credits

That's my full set of software for movie editing, but I occasionally use NeroVision Express too, for authoring to DV for editing ;)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 18, 2008, 21:58:20
Hiya all :)

I've added the PDF document to the first post in this topic ;)

If there's anything you would like to ask, please let me know :)

I couldn't include everything, because the guide would be 500mb if I did, but I hope this helps you out a little ;D

Regards.

DJM/Carl.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: TJK on May 18, 2008, 23:12:27
Tanks DJM
that was a OK guide, get allot of tips there for use of Fraps  and to edit i bayed Ulead VideoStudio 11 and use the build in Windows Movie Maker it's a good help to get started
Tanks again my friend
TJK
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 18, 2008, 23:14:31
Always a pleasure TJK :)

I wanted it to be more detailed to be honest, but it would've taken too long ::) :-[

This topic is always open for questions though, even on specific packages.  I have no problem in offering some extra pointers if necessary ;D

I'm glad you liked it my friend :)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: TJK on May 18, 2008, 23:18:17
Always a pleasure TJK :)

I wanted it to be more detailed to be honest, but it would've taken too long ::) :-[

This topic is always open for questions though, even on specific packages.  I have no problem in offering some extra pointers if necessary ;D

I'm glad you liked it my friend :)
I will find you if necessary  ;D be sure about that  :D
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 18, 2008, 23:29:45
Hehe :D
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: mariner01 on May 26, 2008, 13:34:28
Hiya all :)

I've noticed that a lot of members like to make their own movies, and the number is steadily increasing.  If you're interested, I will be happy to offer some of my experience to create a guide, for those of you who are new to movie making, or for some extra tips for those who want to know more :)

Let me know if you're interested, and what kind of things you want me to cover in the guide ;)

I'm no movie expert of course, but I will gladly help out wherever I can ;D

Regards.

DJM/Carl.

Edit:  Added the PDF guide ;)

Hi Carl
Thanks for the useful Pdf guide on movie making ... One Q - how do you make the video (using Fraps) without including all the icons (controls.charts etc) that show at the bottom of the VStep screen?
Best Regards
Terry
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 26, 2008, 13:37:49
Hiya Terry :)

You need to press the TAB key on your keyboard, this will remove everything from the screen ;)

Also, disable the Cursor option in Fraps, and your screen will only have the main graphics on it.......much better for presentation purposes ;)

Regards.

Carl.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: mariner01 on May 26, 2008, 13:47:41
Hiya Terry :)

You need to press the TAB key on your keyboard, this will remove everything from the screen ;)

Also, disable the Cursor option in Fraps, and your screen will only have the main graphics on it.......much better for presentation purposes ;)

Regards.

Carl.

That's GREAT Carl - many thanks!
Terry  :)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on May 26, 2008, 13:48:34
Always a pleasure, have fun ;D

Carl.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: trains on July 05, 2008, 04:40:04
one question. i was wondering how i get one clip in the center and four small ones at the edges. how do i do that?
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: Shipaddict on July 05, 2008, 08:51:54
Hiya :)

I'm not nearly as good as Carl, but I may be able to help ;)

Depends what you are using. In Movie Maker I don't think it is possible, but I use MoviePlus 5, which you can. I THINK it would be similar to other programs aswell :)

Insert a video track and drop a clip onto it.
Resize it and move it where you want.

Hope this gives a rough idea ;)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on July 05, 2008, 09:35:23
Hiya guys :)

Excuse me for interrupting SA :-[

trains, that's what you call video overlay (using more than one piece of video 'overlayed' on top of others).  You would need 5 pieces of video to achieve what you are talking about, and then arranging them to your liking.  You can see a 4-video overlay in my Ship Simulator 2006 movie, when the helms of each vessel are shown, and you can see 2-video overlays on some of my other movies too ;)

Each piece of video is usually inserted onto a separate track, and then moved around etc. (like SA mentioned ;)).

Hope this helps :)

Carl.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: Shipaddict on July 05, 2008, 11:21:49
Excuse me for interrupting SA :-[

Not at all Carl :)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: trains on July 05, 2008, 16:52:07
thanks guys ;D
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on July 05, 2008, 18:54:46
Have fun ;D   ......I always do ;)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: trains on July 05, 2008, 22:15:38
where can i get movieplus 5?
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on July 05, 2008, 22:37:48
where can i get movieplus 5?

http://www.serif.com/movieplus/movieplus5/index.asp

A little tip for you.  Sign up to the Newsletter, and you may receive Special Offers via email ;)

Carl.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: trains on July 05, 2008, 22:39:35
http://www.serif.com/movieplus/movieplus5/index.asp

A little tip for you.  Sign up to the Newsletter, and you may receive Special Offers via email ;)

Carl.
THAT MUCH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on July 05, 2008, 22:43:25
Not necessarily, check my little tip ;)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: Captain Best on July 05, 2008, 22:45:58
THAT MUCH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
how much?
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: trains on July 05, 2008, 22:51:20
how much?
70 or 80 dollars :o
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on July 05, 2008, 22:52:41
Using a Currency Converter, this is how it translates:

59.99 British pounds sterling = 118.51 US dollars ;)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: trains on July 05, 2008, 22:53:52
Using a Currency Converter, this is how it translates:

59.99 British pounds sterling = 118.51 US dollars ;)
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! WHAT A RIP OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M NOT GETTING THAT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on July 05, 2008, 22:55:07
LOL, it's an amazing package, and I didn't pay that much for it ;)

I'm not revealing how much I paid exactly, but I got everything (including all the extras), for less than that price ;)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: TerryRussell on July 05, 2008, 23:39:59
Hi chaps.

I purchased it a few hours ago. Have just made a video of a real trip in the Solent and am uploading it to Youtube now.

Excellent program. Well worth the money!

Thanks for the link, Carl.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on July 05, 2008, 23:41:35
Great news Terry.  It is well worth the money, the best movie editing package I've ever used, and I have used quite a few ;)

Looking forward to seeing your new movie ;D

Carl.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: TerryRussell on July 05, 2008, 23:49:28
It's about 95 meg, so the upload is taking a few minutes. (The avi was 2Gb!).
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on July 05, 2008, 23:53:18
It's about 95 meg, so the upload is taking a few minutes. (The avi was 2Gb!).

I usually export to MPEG 2 for storing them on my PC (untl I back them up on DVD), but I use MPEG 1 for uploading ;)

I am gonna play around with some settings on my next movie though, because I want better quality for my uploads :)

Carl.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: TerryRussell on July 06, 2008, 00:03:31
I've stored in mine in DV format, which takes a bit of space, but hard disks are cheap these days, so not worried on that score.

I converted to mpeg2 for the upload. That gave a good size image and I could set the quality level as I wished. I went for a good level of quality balanced by a reasonable level of compression. So 2Gb went down to 95Meg.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on July 06, 2008, 00:05:33
DV is great quality, and like you, I also have enough space on my HDD's ;)

95meg for MPEG 2 is pretty good going.  I assume that you altered the bitrate manually for the export then?

Carl.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: TerryRussell on July 06, 2008, 00:09:01
Sort of. I have a program I created myself. It has a slider which allows me to balance between no compression (i.e. top-notch quality) and maximum compression (i.e. pretty grotty quality). I went about halfway between the two and was pleased with the result. It takes a while to do the conversion (about as long as the video lasts), but it works well.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on July 06, 2008, 00:11:23
Real-Time conversion isn't too bad though.  When I first started in 2003, it used to take 3 times longer than that ::)

I played around with bitrates a lot in my early days, but I rarely bother now, unless I'm after something specific from the movie.  The standard plugins seem to work ok most of the time though ;)

Carl.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: TerryRussell on July 06, 2008, 08:15:11
Finally, I got it uploaded:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1bkxhwPhzQ
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on July 06, 2008, 10:18:58
Made a comment on your separate 'Media Board' topic ;)

I rarely use proper video footage of my own now.  I did film my Sister's wedding in 1999, and created 2 different edited versions for her.  I didn't have a PC at the time, so it took much longer than it would now, especially with the music video version I did.................cables everywhere ::) ;)

I do use other peoples video footage of course (that they've filmed), and still do some movies for family and friends, including parody movies.....they always get a laugh ;D

Carl.
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: trains on July 08, 2008, 22:23:23
Hiya guys :)

Excuse me for interrupting SA :-[

trains, that's what you call video overlay (using more than one piece of video 'overlayed' on top of others).  You would need 5 pieces of video to achieve what you are talking about, and then arranging them to your liking.  You can see a 4-video overlay in my Ship Simulator 2006 movie, when the helms of each vessel are shown, and you can see 2-video overlays on some of my other movies too ;)

Each piece of video is usually inserted onto a separate track, and then moved around etc. (like SA mentioned ;)).

Hope this helps :)

Carl.
can you mak a video tutorial for that?
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on July 08, 2008, 22:47:18
I could do that, but I've always found that if you lead someone by the hand, how will they ever learn to walk by themselves ;)

That's the ex-teacher coming out there ;D

Carl.

P.S.  I could only do a tutorial with the packages I use, and not everyone uses the same packages.  That's one of the reasons that I did a standard guide, not a full rundown ;)

Edit:  There are some tutorials for MoviePlus 5, available here:  http://www.serif.com/community/tutorials/index.asp

Scroll down a little to find them ;)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: llamalord on July 09, 2008, 08:31:16
Thanks DJM you're doing alot of people alot of good here. ;)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: [RWP]DJM on July 09, 2008, 09:51:13
Well, I don't know about that, but it is a pleasure for me to help if I can :)
Title: Re: Movie Making Guide [Now Available]
Post by: Capt. Le Velle on August 05, 2008, 18:49:41
are there any free movie making software