Some people have already made some very good videos showcasing their builds and I'm certain even more are thinking about making videos. The thing I'm wondering about is if those who have already made videos would be willing to give some pointers to the those who're thinking about it?
Examples of stuff that might be useful to know are:
What programs are good for recording videos?
What programs are good for converting videos?
Where can you find music that you're allowed to use on YouTube?
Other useful things to know (I'm one of those thinking about making my own videos so I'm more in the asking than answering category :p )
What programs are good for recording videos?
I personally use FRAPS.
What programs are good for converting videos?
I use Windows Live Movie Editor - very easy to use and works as well.
The benefit of this for me, is that I can very simply add frames before/after with information, and use a few default visual effects :).
In addition when uploading to youtube through that program, it let's you select the quality too.
Where can you find music that you're allowed to use on YouTube?
I personally prefer to voice my video's explaining what is going on. I understand that not every video needs this, or that not everybody feels comfortable doing so, but I personally don't really like video's that don't explain what is going on :(
I use recordMyDesktop. An excellent program and free as in beer. Unfortunately it is only for GNU/Linux. Fraps is probably you best option for windows.
I have used many, they all seem to work pretty well.
Capax infiniti wrote:I use recordMyDesktop. An excellent program and free as in beer. Unfortunately it is only for GNU/Linux. Fraps is probably you best option for windows.
I have used many, they all seem to work pretty well.
I have never used music.
Thanks! As you can probably tell from my avatar, I use Linux too, so I'll be sure to try this one out!
tundragrass wrote:
sargunster wrote:I'm on a Mac, and I use ScreenFlow to record and iMovie to edit.
Oh nooo!!! Whaay sargunster whaaay!?
Hey, what's wrong with Macs? I personally use Linux, but Macs are still pretty cool.
FlowerChild wrote:Remain ever vigilant against the groth menace my friends. Early detection is crucial in avoiding a full-blown groth epidemic.
Yay, my first video is uploaded :D It's only an intro/opening I made for my "real" videos though. I'll wait for BTW to be updated before making any "real" videos :p
Urian wrote:Yay, my first video is uploaded :D It's only an intro/opening I made for my "real" videos though. I'll wait for BTW to be updated before making any "real" videos :p
-snip-
That looks really nice! What did you you use to make it?
sargunster wrote:That looks really nice! What did you you use to make it?
Thanks :)
After Effects mainly, I edited the music in Soundbooth at first but ended up being lazy and simply using a fading timeline on it since file size isn't an issue with youtube for such a small file (~180 Mb)
Nice intro :D ... Is it sad that Urians first video is better than mine... Even tho I've been doing it for some... uh.. 2 years now??
Edit: @Urian: Youtube has a thing where you can pick music from a list that they have, It totally overides the main sound i believe, but if you aren't doing comentary it's not a big deal.
sargunster wrote:I'm on a Mac, and I use ScreenFlow to record and iMovie to edit.
im running a macbook pro.
I dunno how happy you are or whatever with Screenflow, but if you have Snow Leopard you can actually use Quicktime Player to do a full screen recording. To patch in audio you need a plugin called "Soundflower". And obviously Imovie to edit, altho i rarely edit mine, i make them fairly "to the point" lol and havent made big "as i build" videos so i havent needed to speed it up or cut stuff out yet.
Im going to look into this screenflow though just because Ive never heard of it lol.
sargunster wrote:I'm on a Mac, and I use ScreenFlow to record and iMovie to edit.
im running a macbook pro.
I dunno how happy you are or whatever with Screenflow, but if you have Snow Leopard you can actually use Quicktime Player to do a full screen recording. To patch in audio you need a plugin called "Soundflower". And obviously Imovie to edit, altho i rarely edit mine, i make them fairly "to the point" lol and havent made big "as i build" videos so i havent needed to speed it up or cut stuff out yet.
Im going to look into this screenflow though just because Ive never heard of it lol.
I tried quicktime for my first video, and the framerate was horrible compared to Screenflow. Screenflow is expensive though. ($99)
sargunster wrote:I tried quicktime for my first video, and the framerate was horrible compared to Screenflow. Screenflow is expensive though. ($99)
Yea i shrink my res down to 1024x680 and kill all things outside of MC and Quicktime. Don't get much slowdown. The soundflower plugin seems to cause a delay tho, which i know i could correct in imovie but im lazy.
Im sure i could find a deal on screenflow if it really is that much better. Does it output directly? Quicktime allows me to save directly to a HD 720p or 1080p video file (cant do 1080p with a 1024x680 res, but when i do 1440x900 it does 1080p fine.
I've looked at FRAPS and am considering using it to work on some tutorial videos (mainly for my benefit. I learn best when I'm teaching). I wanted to get some opinions on whether shelling out the $$ for the full version is necessary or not. Are there significant features available in the full version that aren't usable in the free version?
Also, does anyone have any suggestions for a mic suitable for recording audio voiceover? I'd like one I could use with Skype, but I know the one I currently have for that purpose is nowhere near quality enough for recording to video. Anything under the $50 would be best.
Adjudicator79 wrote:I've looked at FRAPS and am considering using it to work on some tutorial videos (mainly for my benefit. I learn best when I'm teaching). I wanted to get some opinions on whether shelling out the $$ for the full version is necessary or not. Are there significant features available in the full version that aren't usable in the free version?
Unless they have changed it, the free version only records for a very short time; like less than a minute. I could be wrong though.
Just to mix things up here, I also use fraps for my vids, but I have not had much luck with freeware/open source video editors. In my frustration I went to a video encoding IRC channel and some guy gave me tips on how to encode with a program called "x264" and "AVIsynth". I punch in a few command lines into "cmd" and my videos are put into H.264 format and ready for upload to youtube!
Its uhh... not too good for editing though as it seems very difficult and i've not yet been able to pull it off, so I guess its a matter of time before I try a video edition suite again.
Confused on how to build a two-floor elevator? Check my tutorial
TheYaMeZ wrote:Just to mix things up here, I also use fraps for my vids, but I have not had much luck with freeware/open source video editors. In my frustration I went to a video encoding IRC channel and some guy gave me tips on how to encode with a program called "x264" and "AVIsynth". I punch in a few command lines into "cmd" and my videos are put into H.264 format and ready for upload to youtube!
Its uhh... not too good for editing though as it seems very difficult and i've not yet been able to pull it off, so I guess its a matter of time before I try a video edition suite again.
For compressing, I've found the freeware VirtualDub to be very good. I still use After Effects for editing but I think that it's possible to do it in VirtualDub as well (I think that's what Etho does at least)