Persephone's Guide to Making Raid Videos

[eternalwhitemoon]

So my guild is going to be raiding either this week or next. Better late then never I say. Anyway, I wanted to record our first kill of each boss, possibly post them on our website etc, so that folks in our guild about to raid can see exactly how WE do it, as apposed to some variances elsewhere.

(The actual question-->) What does the Codec actually do? Is it turning the small little files that seahippo and Arrow were talking about into a more manageable AVI file?

Also, I think I have access to Windows Live Movie Maker. Is this program inferior by miles compared to VirtualDub?

Thank you for the guide.

That exact reason is how I got into raid videos, too.

Codec stands for compressor/decompressor. It's basically a way of compressing video data--it's what makes videos a certain file size and/or visual quality. Like, have you ever seen a video that was all blocky? That's because the codec used for it wasn't very good. It sacrificed too much visual quality for file size. So, it impacts file size, but it doesn't merge files together. That's the job of programs like VirtualDub.

I don't have access to WMM. My understanding is that it's acceptable for super basic editing, but your end video doesn't turn out very clear because of the way it encodes things*. VirtualDub may look intimidating, but it's really not. I highly recommend that you learn how to work with it for good quality videos.

*This is just from word-of-mouth, again, and not my personal experience. YMMV.

[souplix]

Codec stands for compressor/decompressor. It's basically a way of compressing video data--it's what makes videos a certain file size and/or visual quality. Like, have you ever seen a video that was all blocky? That's because the codec used for it wasn't very good. It sacrificed too much visual quality for file size. So, it impacts file size, but it doesn't merge files together. That's the job of programs like VirtualDub.

I don't have access to WMM. My understanding is that it's acceptable for super basic editing, but your end video doesn't turn out very clear because of the way it encodes things*. VirtualDub may look intimidating, but it's really not. I highly recommend that you learn how to work with it for good quality videos.

*This is just from word-of-mouth, again, and not my personal experience. YMMV.

Thanks for the clarification!

[eternalwhitemoon]

Thanks for the clarification!

No problem! Another way to think of a codec is the video version of the difference between saving something as a .jpg picture and a .bmp picture. The .bmp's gonna look better, but it's also going to be bigger in file size than the .jpg. Both are simply ways of saving the data.*

* Although, this comparison is clouded by the fact that codecs don't change the file extension of the video, normally. Anyway you get my point.

[Digitecca]

are you formerly percephone of stormrage, US?

[sizzlinsauce]

Good stuff! I'd recommend scooting around your DBM a bit. Put your main timers more to the left of the screen, under the raid frames, and maybe scoot the upcoming frame down a touch? Omen can stay there, but honestly I prefer to recolor it so that it's less obnoxious; the parchment color is really distracting.

I personally don't like having Recount up while I'm raiding, but having a hunter alt, I totally understand :P Placement of Recount seems fine.

Here's an example of what I mean with DBM and Omen:

You might choose to alter your combat text with something like Mik's Scrolling Battle Text, but that's entirely personal preference. I think it makes for a cleaner video in the end, personally.

He's a hunter all he needs is 2 buttons on his UI, all he needs is cobra shot and feign death..

on topic though besides teh joke, you should've ended with a video that you did.

[eternalwhitemoon]

are you formerly percephone of stormrage, US?

Sorry to disappoint, I'm a Cho'gall native.

on topic though besides teh joke, you should've ended with a video that you did.

Fair enough. At the time, though, I didn't have a video that was recent enough that I felt was decent enough to share.

Now I have an Al'Akir video that I don't mind sharing. Here you go.



Edit: In case it's being stupid and refusing to show up, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d41tPOqSrk

Don't forget to click 720 HD if it doesn't automatically play that way.

[Deleted]

i dont like that girls voice on tankspot..

so i dont view their videos at all..

guess its like, i dont wanna have a girl guiding me on my cars gps.. i'd just get even more lost..

[eternalwhitemoon]

i dont like that girls voice on tankspot..

so i dont view their videos at all..

guess its like, i dont wanna have a girl guiding me on my cars gps.. i'd just get even more lost..

Um, don't watch the video I just linked then. XD

I usually do captions, but my guild leader has been begging me since Ulduar to actually narrate them. So I finally did.

[vacor]

So couple questions incredibly good guide by the way.

1, What filters do you normally use when you edit raid videos( contrast, resize etc)
2, is your personaly monitor size a direct effect on whether videos will come out at 720p or 1080p( refering to youtube)
3, while outside of the scope of the guide, do you know how to add songs from itunes to the videos?

[eternalwhitemoon]

So couple questions incredibly good guide by the way.

1, What filters do you normally use when you edit raid videos( contrast, resize etc)
2, is your personaly monitor size a direct effect on whether videos will come out at 720p or 1080p( refering to youtube)
3, while outside of the scope of the guide, do you know how to add songs from itunes to the videos?

1) I used to resize to 1080(?)x720, because I was using Camtasia and it wouldn't make videos any bigger. I've now found a way to do 1080P, so yay! So I no longer resize, but I do use Brightness/Contrast and up the contrast to 106%, because I just think it looks clean.

2) Your resolution would have an impact, yes. The size you record at and the size your end video is also makes a difference. If your video is 1920x1080, it will have a max of 1080P it can go to.

3) Sadly, no. T.T

[vacor]

thank you!

what do you do to get to 1080P? im stuck at 720 at the moment.

[eternalwhitemoon]

thank you!

what do you do to get to 1080P? im stuck at 720 at the moment.

This depends on a couple things:

1) Your screen and playing resolution.

2) Whether you're recording at full size.

3) Whether you're then rendering at the same size you recorded at, or if you're resizing the video.

To get to 1080P, you want the video height to be around 1080 pixels, such as 1920x1080 resolution. For YouTube specifically, it renders best at 1920x1072 for some silly reason.

You can see the video above is only 720p, like yours, so here's a 1080p to cheer you up:

[vacor]

I love tax Rebates, Really Really big one's that allow me to buy a new monitor!

new question, would having a external harddrive be my movie folder be better then just storing it all on my computer's?

[HeatM1ser]

My Fraps gives me an option to put in a "loop buffer length (*) seconds"

How many seconds should I set this at?

[coldbear]

There's *very* little reason to go beyond 720p. The vast majority of people will never see the difference. Art house movies excepted.

[Deleted]

VIDEO: Best Of Wow Pvp

Thank you for that, truly a epic Collection of awsome Stuff when WoW used to be fun
Geddon Bomb in the AH, Frost reflecting Icetraps etc... good old Times

I liked the Arenamatch with Orangemarmelade also... damn

[eternalwhitemoon]

There's *very* little reason to go beyond 720p. The vast majority of people will never see the difference. Art house movies excepted.

There's a very good reason: because it's shiny and I WILL IT TO BE SO!

I love tax Rebates, Really Really big one's that allow me to buy a new monitor!

new question, would having a external harddrive be my movie folder be better then just storing it all on my computer's?

For Fraps, it depends. If the external hard drive has a USB connection, probably not--in fact, your performance may get worse. FireWire may or may not have that problem; it does have a faster transfer rate than USB, but I personally don't have an external drive to test that for you.

For general movie storage (after it's captured with Fraps) I don't see why that would be a problem.

My Fraps gives me an option to put in a "loop buffer length (*) seconds"

How many seconds should I set this at?

My Fraps doesn't have that... D: I'd probably leave it alone at this point. Where in the settings is it?

[zentenforius]

just out of curiosity, does FRAPS work for a mac? and if not do you know a program that does?

[Donthealme]

Awesome guide, as far as the question adding a song, that would be done within your video editing software and should be possible since even in WMM it is. All you need to do is find where you insert audio and then find your audio file and insert it.

[Deleted]

Nice guide m8. sure i can use some of your pro-tips

I recently had a break from raiding due to exams, so cant wait to get back and record and make new HM movies

Always love feedback on my stuff and my lastest (and one of the first movies) is this on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je9Iq4ziDfY

Much have changed since that, UI which also is emphasized in this guide

Again thx for the guide
/Croid