Intro:
A
well-edited video, from a game or from the real world,
can have a real impact on any audience. The right
timing, sequencing and soundtrack can transform even a
relatively basic video into a masterpiece. These short
(around 3-5 minutes) videos captured from games are what
we'll be concentrating on in this topic - but the basic
principals apply to any short movie.
Many examples of these videos captured in Flight
Simulator can be found on YouTube, Google Video and
FS2004.com . A lot of inspiring (but real-world)
aviation movies are also made by American Airlines pilot
Kent Wien;
www.kentwien.com
Before we begin,
here are a few pointers on what you'll need for video
editing:
Hard-drive space:
Applications which capture directly from games rarely
have time to encode the video. This means that even the
clips needed for a short video will take up a good few
gigabytes before you edit them. Don't worry though, the
size decreases a lot when you are done editing
Memory
(RAM):
Video
editing eats up RAM at a phenomenal rate. A recommended
minimum is 1GB - I have 1GB and my editor frequently
crashes as it runs out of RAM - with the big un-encoded
raw files, that's just the way it is and you have to
deal with it. Remember to save your work after
completing a section or whatever, so that if your system
does hang you won't lose very much.
CLICK ON
PICTURE FOR FULL SIZE VIEW
The FRAPS window in the "Video" tab. Note
the options for video and sound recording,
including where the raw video files will be
saved. |
The unprocessed movie files take up a lot of
space on the hard drive. This will
dramatically decrease once edited. |
Something to capture the footage:
In games
the number one choice for video capture is FRAPS. It's
payware but a trial version is available;
www.fraps.com
A video
editor:
Such as
Windows Movie Maker. But you knew that by now, right?
(
Not me Dave!)
Patience:
Video editing takes time, and you can be certain that
there'll be more than a few crashes, freezes, illegal
operations, and plenty of other bugs we have Microsoft
to thank for before you're done. In particular, it is
easy to run out of RAM which makes your system very
unstable and will most likely cause the video editor to
hang.
First, a quick note about FRAPS. Many users report a
massive drop in frame rate when using FRAPS. To get good
performance whilst recording it is important to get the
settings right. Firstly, set it to record at half the
resolution. This makes both smaller files and
dramatically increases performance. Next, set it to
record at around 20FPS. 20 is the best balance between
smooth movies and a good file size. If you are planning
to just add music to your movie, you can save a few FPS
by un-checking Record Sound too.
Already supplied with most computers is Microsoft's
Windows Movie Maker. As video editors go it's pretty
basic but everybody has it and it's simple enough to be
useful for beginners. WMM and most other modern editors
use a storyboard-type interface which lets you adjust
speed, cropping and synchronisation fairly easily. This
is very difficult to explain in words but once you see
the layout you will probably have a good idea of where
to go. Basically each video clip can be
dragged-and-dropped into the storyboard on the bottom of
the screen.
To
start making the video merely drag and drop the
video files into the storyboard at the bottom.
You can preview the movie by selecting a clip
and hitting the Play button on the right-hand
window. |
Sounds (such as music) can also be layered
on top of the clips to give a nice accompaniment. Again,
this all sounds a lot harder than it is in WMM - the
layout is good and users should have no problem
understanding it. Text can also be added, and there are
a number of text movement styles and transitions to be
selected from too. When you have finished your movie
there is a Publish function available in the File menu
which will let you build your movie in a video format
such as .WMV. It's a good idea to keep the WMM file too,
to make future editing easier.
Now that the technical stuff has been explained, here
are some pointers that I like to use when creating my
own movies:
Edit to music:
A good song in the background can make all the
difference. Try to pick a song that fits the mood you
are trying to achieve in the video (in many cases I
don't even start to make a movie until I have a good
song to go with it). When you've done that, a nice touch
(but not always a necessary one) is to manipulate clips
clips to fit the rhythm of the music. I try to do this
so that different clips coincide with verses and
choruses in the music. A wide selection of royalty-free
music is available here:
www.freeplaymusic.com - however, I emailed them and
if you want to put your video on the internet for anyone
to download, you are required to buy a license. There is
also a lot of royalty-free music here:
www.vistaoz.org/music - you may also be able to get
a song written for you if you're lucky!
CLICK ON
PICTURE FOR FULL SIZE VIEW
Music or other audio files can be imported in
the same way as videos (so can pictures). Just
drag it onto the storyboard or Audio/Music layer
of the timeline. |
Use the "Save Movie File" option from the File
menu to build your video into a proper WMV movie
file. |
Transitions:
These can make or break a video. Subtle
transitions at the right time have a really good effect,
however new users in particular tend to get "addicted"
to transitions and overuse them. Again, try to use the
background music (if any) to decide what will fit
better: a slow transition or an immediate snap to the
next scene.
Text: Again, text can have a nice effect but it's
important not to overdo things. Try to have the text
colour and font co-ordinated throughout the video, and
experiment with the different effects to find one that
best suits your movie.
Tip:
(which I have Mutley himself to thank for) is to add the
following line under the [MAIN] section of your fs9.cfg
or fsx.cfg file: HideInfoText=1 This works both in FS9
and FSX, it stops all on-screen messages from appearing
and whilst it can make flying a little more difficult
you get a nice clean video without annoying FS messages!
Of course, Windows Movie Maker isn't the only editing
software out there. Many payware alternatives are more
powerful but require more knowledge to operate than WMM.
On the other hand, practice makes perfect, so by all
means experiment with the more advanced editors if you
want. At the moment I use PureMotion's EditStudio 4. I
find it very useful but it tends to be quite unstable
with larger videos as it runs out of RAM.
Hopefully that has been of some use to you. I am always
happy to help people out with any problems they might be
having so do feel free to drop me an email.
Below there is
a link to a sample of my latest work
Vertigo. This
is my Flight AAL442 (with Mut
himself onboard, from SFO to MIA. 6 hrs 30 mins of
flying, 4 hours editing, and 2 hours building and
uploading. Phew!
Vertigo
(23mb download wmv format)
Email dave.1337computers@hotmail.co.uk |