I would like to record some simple videos, for example to show off some stuff of a custom map.
I have basically zero experience with video recording/editing at all.
So I would like to ask, how to do this the best way. What would I need in terms of hardware to be able to record non-lagging videos in appropiate quality? What programs would I need to use? My hardware is not the best, any tricks for better recording? (something like record on slower game speed and speed up the video when editing - is this possible and does it help?)
What to do with the video after recording? What format and compression to take? Order of steps? How to make some basic editing?
Anything else to care about?
I searched google for a kind of "youtube video guide" but did not find all of those informations.
However, I searched and tried around a bit, Fraps is mentioned for recording in most places, VirtualDubMod for compression. Do you agree with these choices? Are there alternatives (maybe a freeware fraps?)
Ideally, I would like to be able to
-record videos at at least high starcraft settings in about 720p youtube quality, lagless if possible
-add some cuts and images and maybe the sc2mapster intro into the video (nothing fancy, just connect 2 videos or show an image for some seconds)
dunno, if this is the correct section (actually, I just did not find a better one); if not, just move me ;)
I use Windows Movie Maker. I've tried Virtual Dub, but in all honesty it's just extra work for no real gain unless you know what you're doing. WMM just lets you set a file to render and upload without attendance, and this process takes hours even for short videos so is best done while you sleep. Another reason to do this while you sleep is because rendering will rape your processor and uploading will either kill your connection or force you to use a bandwidth limiter, so using WMM's all in one process is another plus. Virtual Dub is better for advanced stuff but WMM is simple and still decent.
Enough about that anyway. Hardware, well, it's more about software really. I guess you're recording sc2 footage. This part is simple but NOBODY seems to do it. If you're recording in sc2, set your graphics settings to the render quality you will be using for the video. For example, if you're going to be uploading at 720p HD, then don't record sc2 at 1680*1080. You're literally recording 4 times more footage than you can even use.
Editing and compression, well, depends on what you use. WMM gives you some simple compression tools and, as I said, you should start here. VD offers plugin support which gives a really huge selection of compression methods. Choice of compression is only really important if you are really chasing absolute high quality. Typical effects of compression are colour distortion, and choosing the right compression for your video can limit that. Nobody can really tell you the best compression to use, but I'd advise just forgetting about different types of compression and, again, just use WMM.
Cutting and adding images are supported by both WMM and VD. They're both simple to figure out. You didn't ask, but both support sound overlays too if you're wondering how people add music to videos.
Lastly, check your file size. If you're over 40mb per minute of video, you've done something wrong if the video's destination is youtube.
So for 720p I will set my SC2 to 1280x720. I have no wide-screen monitor, should I do this regardless? € no way, just tried it and got a video mode not supported message ;)
Many people recommended x-fire as a free alternative to fraps (since it can record fullscreen, which most other freeware programs do not seem to be able to), so I just tried it out. On sc2 high settings, with my standard resolution of 1280*1024 (standard 19'' non-widescreen) the recording was not that smooth, huge lag spikes in between, almost every second, even, when the map was just idling. I tried 30 and 25 FPS, full-screen.
Something else I have to be aware of? Some settings which have to be made? Or most likely a hardware issue? (in case someone needs to know: I use an intel quad q6600 @ 2.4 ghz / 4 GB ram /Radeon HD 4670 (1GB)/win 7 x64)
Oh, well, it seems you are damn right about this. Xfire just plain sucks!
I tried Camtasia Studio for recording and my ingame FPS never dropped below 50, nice quality and no problems at all.
Can pretty much confirm what Eiviyn has said. Nearly anything is 'better' at making movies than WMM, but most programmes are so damn complicated to figure out that it's just not worth getting into them. WMM, while it is very limited, simply has the basic options you want if you're just starting out. If you start out with something like Virtual Dub right away, then you'll have to spend a week just learning the damn programme to access the same functions as WMM.
Im quite familiar with Sony vegas pro 7-8-9 and i know a small part of Adobe After Effects, But as mozared and Eiviyn said, Its not worth it to learn unless your going to dedicate your life into it.
Lastly, check your file size. If you're over 40mb per minute of video, you've done something wrong if the video's destination is youtube.
First video is about 8 MB, second one about 16 MB (6 times shorter but double the size :p). Should be okay then :)
Recording and compression was done with Camtasia Studio (There was an option to save the recorded footage as an HD youtube mp4 video directly, so I did not even need to bother with WMM; Camtasia seems to be very simple to use as well just from the look of it)
I use Windows Movie Maker. I've tried Virtual Dub, but in all honesty it's just extra work for no real gain unless you know what you're doing. WMM just lets you set a file to render and upload without attendance, and this process takes hours even for short videos so is best done while you sleep. Another reason to do this while you sleep is because rendering will rape your processor and uploading will either kill your connection or force you to use a bandwidth limiter, so using WMM's all in one process is another plus. Virtual Dub is better for advanced stuff but WMM is simple and still decent.
o_0 hours? Both videos were compressed in about 3-5 minutes each and the upload for the first one was about 3, for the 2nd one maybe 6 minutes. The youtube processing time took another 2 minutes after the uploading finished (but that does not even use my pc anymore, I guess), so I could watch the videos in bad quality within 15 minutes. HD took maybe half an hour after this, I did not check the exact time
Okay, the videos are very short, and its only 720p and no 1080, but after your post I expected this to take WAY longer.
Im quite familiar with Sony vegas pro 7-8-9 and i know a small part of Adobe After Effects, But as mozared and Eiviyn said, Its not worth it to learn unless your going to dedicate your life into it.
To all you pro youtube video recorders
I would like to record some simple videos, for example to show off some stuff of a custom map.
I have basically zero experience with video recording/editing at all.
So I would like to ask, how to do this the best way. What would I need in terms of hardware to be able to record non-lagging videos in appropiate quality? What programs would I need to use? My hardware is not the best, any tricks for better recording? (something like record on slower game speed and speed up the video when editing - is this possible and does it help?)
What to do with the video after recording? What format and compression to take? Order of steps? How to make some basic editing?
Anything else to care about?
I searched google for a kind of "youtube video guide" but did not find all of those informations.
However, I searched and tried around a bit, Fraps is mentioned for recording in most places, VirtualDubMod for compression. Do you agree with these choices? Are there alternatives (maybe a freeware fraps?)
Ideally, I would like to be able to
-record videos at at least high starcraft settings in about 720p youtube quality, lagless if possible
-add some cuts and images and maybe the sc2mapster intro into the video (nothing fancy, just connect 2 videos or show an image for some seconds)
dunno, if this is the correct section (actually, I just did not find a better one); if not, just move me ;)
I use Windows Movie Maker. I've tried Virtual Dub, but in all honesty it's just extra work for no real gain unless you know what you're doing. WMM just lets you set a file to render and upload without attendance, and this process takes hours even for short videos so is best done while you sleep. Another reason to do this while you sleep is because rendering will rape your processor and uploading will either kill your connection or force you to use a bandwidth limiter, so using WMM's all in one process is another plus. Virtual Dub is better for advanced stuff but WMM is simple and still decent.
Enough about that anyway. Hardware, well, it's more about software really. I guess you're recording sc2 footage. This part is simple but NOBODY seems to do it. If you're recording in sc2, set your graphics settings to the render quality you will be using for the video. For example, if you're going to be uploading at 720p HD, then don't record sc2 at 1680*1080. You're literally recording 4 times more footage than you can even use.
Editing and compression, well, depends on what you use. WMM gives you some simple compression tools and, as I said, you should start here. VD offers plugin support which gives a really huge selection of compression methods. Choice of compression is only really important if you are really chasing absolute high quality. Typical effects of compression are colour distortion, and choosing the right compression for your video can limit that. Nobody can really tell you the best compression to use, but I'd advise just forgetting about different types of compression and, again, just use WMM.
Cutting and adding images are supported by both WMM and VD. They're both simple to figure out. You didn't ask, but both support sound overlays too if you're wondering how people add music to videos.
Lastly, check your file size. If you're over 40mb per minute of video, you've done something wrong if the video's destination is youtube.
So for 720p I will set my SC2 to 1280x720. I have no wide-screen monitor, should I do this regardless? € no way, just tried it and got a video mode not supported message ;)
Many people recommended x-fire as a free alternative to fraps (since it can record fullscreen, which most other freeware programs do not seem to be able to), so I just tried it out. On sc2 high settings, with my standard resolution of 1280*1024 (standard 19'' non-widescreen) the recording was not that smooth, huge lag spikes in between, almost every second, even, when the map was just idling. I tried 30 and 25 FPS, full-screen.
Something else I have to be aware of? Some settings which have to be made? Or most likely a hardware issue? (in case someone needs to know: I use an intel quad q6600 @ 2.4 ghz / 4 GB ram /Radeon HD 4670 (1GB)/win 7 x64)
Oh, well, it seems you are damn right about this. Xfire just plain sucks!
I tried Camtasia Studio for recording and my ingame FPS never dropped below 50, nice quality and no problems at all.
Can pretty much confirm what Eiviyn has said. Nearly anything is 'better' at making movies than WMM, but most programmes are so damn complicated to figure out that it's just not worth getting into them. WMM, while it is very limited, simply has the basic options you want if you're just starting out. If you start out with something like Virtual Dub right away, then you'll have to spend a week just learning the damn programme to access the same functions as WMM.
Im quite familiar with Sony vegas pro 7-8-9 and i know a small part of Adobe After Effects, But as mozared and Eiviyn said, Its not worth it to learn unless your going to dedicate your life into it.
In case someone is interested: These were my very first tries just to record and upload ingame videos, no real editing so far:
(somehow I extended the video when compressing/uploading it, so the last 4.5 minutes are black)
Well, looks fine for me, I think ;). No heavy lags, 720p quality, text is readable, SC2 at high settings, thats all I need, I guess.
If you see any big blunders I am unaware of, please notify me (other than the 4 minutes blackscreen in the first video ;) )
First video is about 8 MB, second one about 16 MB (6 times shorter but double the size :p). Should be okay then :)
Recording and compression was done with Camtasia Studio (There was an option to save the recorded footage as an HD youtube mp4 video directly, so I did not even need to bother with WMM; Camtasia seems to be very simple to use as well just from the look of it)
o_0 hours? Both videos were compressed in about 3-5 minutes each and the upload for the first one was about 3, for the 2nd one maybe 6 minutes. The youtube processing time took another 2 minutes after the uploading finished (but that does not even use my pc anymore, I guess), so I could watch the videos in bad quality within 15 minutes. HD took maybe half an hour after this, I did not check the exact time
Okay, the videos are very short, and its only 720p and no 1080, but after your post I expected this to take WAY longer.
Vegas was this 500$+ thing, wasn't it? ;)