LESSON 2: FILMING

[MasterBigAb]

this is my homework

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

1.roll
focus
noise

2.getting the wanted views ,it is incredibly hard to get that first try, it really took me a looooooooooong time
getting clipped when the camera is between the men
having the timing of the passing of the soldiers and the passing of the camera properly

3.replay , since im trying out cined

4.first person
noise

5. Cined is not too be underestimated ,it is easier to get going with milkshape and adobe ps than this editor

This is a brief summary of the assignment ,truth be told i still dont get the feeling i really got this assignment... so im going back in
Also had to work on those unique models since they arent finished yet and get familiar with cined since i thought i was going to do this with FRAPS.
Hope final results will be good.

EDIT: are there ways to edit the road your camera follows ? or do you have to add several cameras to make the path of your liking ?

You can for example just creat another "station" between your start and end points and change it, so it is to your liking, or you can just add another way point to the end or beginning of the camera...

All together i know it's damn hard and time consuming to figure this all out (believe me i desperated the when i tried to learn it ), but the vid tutorial tells already almost everything which can be explained, the rest i tried to with the tips in the lesson, but may be it helps you when i tell you that it gets way easier after you've learned it and i for example, can already make a camera following some units in about 2 minutes...

I'll be posting my work tomorrow. I've been hellishly busy this last week! Apologies for the delay.

No problem of course

[Saint Nicholas]

I successfully used the following 3 camera techniques..

Debugging the camera, cleaning the screen, fixing the camera, first person camera, focusing and zooming (n key) and successfully navigating around the battlefield using Q/W/E/A/S/D/Z/X/C keys.

I had difficulty with the following camera techniques..

Focusing and zooming effectively. Camera tended to go off centre and troops kept moving etc. Made it difficult to get the correct shots. General filming, quite time consuming and camera wasn't always very responsive or moved as I needed it to. Familiarising myself with the control should help me with this!

Did you film live or replay, or both?

Only live custom battles.

I tried using the following pro-tips...

• To get the most our of your FRAPS, in the FRAPS settings (under movie tab), you have to change to FULL SCREEN...half screen will give poor quality...also select 29.9 (lowest) FPS capture...above that is wasted for YouTube.
• Smoothness and higher framerates are by far more important than in game high quality graphic settings. A choppy video is very distracting. Anti-aliasing and in-game graphic setting goodies have a high FPS cost, especially with FRAPS running. Anti-aliasing in particular is much less important a visual effect when watching a video, and should only be used on the most powerful computers. Remember: high FPS outranks in-game graphic quality...I would sell my grandmother for 10 more FPS
• Shut down any other program that could be draining your computer's resources, such as any IM or even any virus protections.
• Turn off all in-game music. Not only will it interfere with your audio later, it eats up valuable CPU, thus decreasing FPS.
• Get in close: high aerial shots do not translate very well in video, and should be use quite sparingly. Unless you need to show a particular strategy or tactic, get in close. Really close. Pretend these are real people, and make your video personal.

While filming, I learned that...(name one significant learning experience)

The end file size of your film is absolutely massive. Even 10-20 seconds equates to hundreds of megabytes, uploading is going to be an absolute . Also that youtube clips don't need high fps to run smooth. An interesting and useful point!

[.Mitch.]

My homework, I'd like to appologise for the late arrival, juggling my comitment to my mod, my real Uni and this Uni is hard lol! NO EXCUSES THOUGH! a masterpiece is on its way!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I successfully used the following 3 camera techniques...

-Debugging the cam
-Delete Key
-Cleaning the screen
-Also tried the insert, but didn't like it at all.

I had difficulty with the following camera techniques...

-Using a runner unit, I found it difficult to concentrate on moving them while moving others and filming.
-The insert key didn't really give me trouble I just couldn't get any nice shots.

Did you film live or replay, or both?

-Tried both, ended up using replay completely, much much easier to just film that fight, make the shots you want and then film.

I tried using the following pro-tips...

-Turn off all your unit flags, firing range markers, movements markers...anything that reminds the viewer that this is a game, and not real life (unless you are shooting a vid that needs to demonstrate tactics).
-Finding the perfect balance between gfx settings and FPS for best quality. (MasterAb sorta gave me that one.)
-Turn off camera shake in NTW. While fun to play (maybe), its brutal on film. Shake and jittery camera movement can be simulated with the mouse if you need (with an FPS hit).
-Turn off all in-game music. Not only will it interfere with your audio later, it eats up valuable CPU, thus decreasing FPS.
-To get the most our of your FRAPS, in the FRAPS settings (under movie tab), you have to change to FULL SCREEN...half screen will give poor quality...also select 29.9 (lowest) FPS capture...above that is wasted for YouTube.

While filming, I learned that...(name one significant learning experience)

-The most significat experience I learned was that even though getting some shots is hard as hell, you can just do them again.
-Also I learned for myself that sometimes simply swapping what side of the unit your filming can make a big difference, getting some shots with the sunlight in make it look real nice.

Thanks to all the guys (pretty much everyone) who helped me to. I now have a new profound sense of respect to all who can do this stuff and actualy make it look good!

[SPQG_Juba]

Sry for posting so late, but i confused someting and was waiting for a new email. Anyway, i wrote to Nanny this noontime and im reading the lessons right now. Non the less I've worked on my video anyway, but didnt used some of the techniques from the lesson.

Quote:
I successfully used the following 3 camera techniques...
recorded 500GB of raw footige and made a 9min clip of it. For this project i will do a teaser for this clip. Therefore i will test some of the techniques, especially the camera debugging and fixing.
So far i did all kinds of shots in the replay, static ones, movement, fixed to units (but by using the movement keys), i actually tried to follow a mortar bullet (but it isnt very pretty so far),

Quote:
I had difficulty with the following camera techniques...
adjust the scene i wanted to record during the replay, so i had to start it again, and again, and... I rly need a backwards-button during the replay.

Quote:
Did you film live or replay, or both?
Replay only

Quote:
I tried using the following pro-tips...
I'm going to test prety much all of them, i guess

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While filming, I learned that...(name one significant learning experience)
Creating a video is a process during which no part is secure from beeing replaced by another footage. And u have to see it over and over again, literaly houndreds of times before ur done. but for some reason u dont get bored though

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

And u have to see it over and over again, literaly houndreds of times before ur done. but for some reason u dont get bored though

no worries mate, sorry there was confusion but you are catching up now

Yes, you tend to look at the same thing over and over and over. If I want to wreck a great a piece of music, I stick in it one of my vids...by the time I'm done producing it, I'm sick to death of that music