Darkwind - Viewing Topic: Darkwind Videos

Marrkos
88 MPH
Darkwind Guru
Renegade

Avatar

Group: Members
Posts: 3,711
Joined: Mar 28, 2006

Not too long ago there was a spurt of interest in making videos of events, and the only real downside seemed to be the crazy-heavy time needed to edit the video down to something reasonable.

So, I've been playing with a little application that strings together a series of screenshots and makes a QuickTime movie out of them.

The recent UI changes have changed how the screenshot series gets handled, and now the output is much smoother. (Thanks DEV TEAM!)

About the only thing that disappoints me so far is that I had to export the movie from QuickTime Player as an MP4 because neither Google Video, nor YouTube would accept the original. As a result, publishing the video for public consumption isn't as simple as I'd like it to be.

At any rate, the link below is a test movie I made. Opinions encouraged.

Hotshot Lap

......................... vet wv community
Posted Sep 7, 2008, 2:49 am

*Lugal*
Luna Sea
Darkwind Guru
Renegade

Member Level

Group: Marshals
Posts: 2,246
Joined: Jan 27, 2008

Considering that was stringing screenshots, I thought that was very nice!

It looked like you were taking pics during the Movement/Firing phases - were you actively doing that or is there a special command for it?

......................... vet marshal wv
Posted Sep 7, 2008, 5:23 pm

Marrkos
88 MPH
Darkwind Guru
Renegade

Avatar

Group: Members
Posts: 3,711
Joined: Mar 28, 2006

Cmd (Mac)/Alt (PC) + P schedules a series of screenshots which get taken as the next move plays out, so you get a screenshot for each 'frame' of action as the cars move to their next positions.

Different than taking a single screenshot each turn as that would only capture the vehicles at their start/end positions, and would lose all the firing phase stuff (unless you were super-speedy with the screenshots during the firing phase).

I'm pleased with the end result, and reasonably pleased with the conversion to something YouTube will accept. The former is better than the latter.

Also, my camera-work needs....work.

Thanks for commenting!

......................... vet wv community
Posted Sep 7, 2008, 6:02 pm

*sam*
The Salthill Sluggerz
Darkwind Guru
Renegade

Avatar

Group: Lead Developer
Posts: 16,781
Joined: Jan 19, 2006

The process seems to work well, yeah. How much effort was it?

......................... marshal vet deathrce1 paintladder combat1 wv ped1 cont slay2013
Posted Sep 7, 2008, 9:16 pm

Marrkos
88 MPH
Darkwind Guru
Renegade

Avatar

Group: Members
Posts: 3,711
Joined: Mar 28, 2006

*sam* said:

The process seems to work well, yeah. How much effort was it?

How much effort was what? Making the movie? Pretty much 0.

Filming: For each turn, position the camera, and press the keystroke combo (Cmd + P). With proper timing the camera can even be moved while the screenshots are being taken.

Creating:
1. Move the screenshots from the Darkwind folder to an empty folder
2. Set the values in the application:
a. Location of screenshots
b. Front and End titles
c. Dimensions
3. Push the 'Create' button

Uploading to YouTube/Google Video:
1. Export from QuickTime Player as MPEG-4 (Broadband - High)
2. Do the stuff YouTube/Google Video requires for uploading

http://www.graymattercomputing.com/files/screenshots/DW%20Movie%20Maker.jpg

Very rough UI, because it's just for me (so far).

......................... vet wv community
Posted Sep 7, 2008, 10:31 pm