my first(but not last) CoH video
By
Clay_Man,
Posted on: 2007-01-17 03:51 in Multi-Media Fan Creations
I'm going to be brutally honest, here.
It's dull. All you've done is filmed a couple GM encounters and put music to it, cliched music at that. We can't see anything that's going on because of YouTube's compression and because you've chosen to keep the camera zoomed out. At one point the camera is stuck behind a tree, obscuring the action!
What you've essentially got here is a proof-of-concept. Okay, so you now know how to use the equipment -- make a real movie with it. That means working out a story. And using varied shots: long shots, medium shots, close-ups, tracking shots, trucking shots, pans, zooms. All the things you see in a regular film.
People have done that with the CoH engine, so you can do it, too. But my advice to you is to keep practicing, and until you're as good as some of the ones we've seen before, you should probably keep them to yourself. Don't just throw everything you do on the internet, because it looks like a kid's finger paints stuck on mom's fridge.
I'm sorry if that comes across as overly harsh, but I watched the premiere of American Idol last night and the spirit has moved me. Sometimes people need to step back and appraise their work objectively.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
First things first, set up macros/binds for powers and remove the UI (that's all that chat boxes, power trays, health bars etc. There's an option for this in the uh... options.) while filming... second, buy the full version of fraps, it doesn't cost much and you get better quality from the stuff you film.
I think it would probably be easier just to do a demorecord and then Fraps that, if he wanted to just film in-game video. See Zloth's guide and demoeditor for more.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
Yes, random (or maybe not) clips of people playing their games with all the boxes open, unleashes a great fury from within me, I shall go beat something.
Also, I do not think I myself could make very good movies, this probably is way better than anything on my first try, keep at it, read some guides watch the movies that others have made on and off this website.
Screw Fraps. It's totally useless and way to complicated. All you need is a basic movie editing software (like Windows Movie Maker) and DemoRecord. Turns out DemoRecord (using Zloth's awesome guide and launcher) transfers perfectly to a movie using the Demo Dump feature.
What you have right here is what most of us made our first time around. It's badly structured (if at all), uses a program that actually causes the game to lag more AND adds a stuipid logo at the top. Not to mention your entire interface is showing and you have no real camera angles.
Sorry for all of sounding harsh but please don't take it as us saying you shouldn't try ever. You just need to think it through and plan it better, not to mention not post EVERYTHING you make. I've made 14 CoH videos and haven't uploaded a single one because they were all just me proving concepts and such or I felt they weren't ready yet. Use restraint.
@Jeffery Duke
Meanwhile...On The Internet...
Cool, constructive criticism is very welcome. As I have said, it was my first, so I need the feedback from people with experience. Thanks a million, I will check out those guides!
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I think it would probably be easier just to do a demorecord and then Fraps that, if he wanted to just film in-game video. See Zloth's guide and demoeditor for more.
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Uhhh, well, yeah.... about that....
Demos are currently pretty bad off. Animations and effects just don't link up most of the time so you get a laughable mess when fighting breaks out. Your character will start running in place, stop running, then slide to the correct position a few seconds later.
Anyway, one thing I found with my demos, AV/GM fights tend to be real dull. They may be great fun to play but they aren't good television. There's a mass of people standing around some enemy blasting him over and over and over and.... Unless something dramatic happens in the battle (like a team wipe and recovery), it's terrible dull. Fights with a lot of movement are much better.
Ehhh right now all I'm thinkin about the video is that my TVP teacher would want to beat you with a stick for those jump shots. I agree you might want to pick up the ful version of fraps to remove their ad. Using the /demorecord function in the game would help you remove all the things that people dont want to see such as chatboxes and all your trays. Zloths demoedit I'll be honest couldnt figure it out but, it did do me one thing by just saving it from the demoeditor as a .txt file I can creat my own scenes with these models . If your good at math and use the /loc in game to find good camera angles you should be able to creat a video that looks really nice and that you actualy created.
"while some people would say fish, cow, ambush!"-Ice9
Use your math! (And that would be MY proof-of-concept video. MercyKilling's is better by far, but mine has a cooler start. 
)
Oooo, 5000th post!
OK, long as we're critiquing vids....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8XRG1Nuxfw
This is a Port Oakes flyby, recorded via Fraps full version, then clips dropped into Windows Movie Maker. Did a lot of fade cuts, but I admit my camera movement is jerky (yeah I'm using the raw demo, not going in to edit it, Zloth can whap me about the head and shoulders and then explain patiently how to do SMOOTH camera zooms and pans by tweaking numbers...)
And, I tried not to use something that was on Pop-40 as soundtrack. 
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
That's a good choice of song. My only real issue is that it doesn't seem thematically tied together, just sort of random outdoor shots. In which case, I'd like to see the highlights from all of City of Villains. Especially since I can't really play that side of the game, what with the lag and all.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
Nah, I won't whup up on ya for that. It takes a lot of time and really isn't worth it for lots of things. HOWEVER, you will be whupped around for doing a Port Oakes video and never going to the fort with the ghost traps! Oh Blues how COULD you!!?
To be honest, I have your demoedit and playback stuff, Zloth, but it is rather complicated for me, as I have no background in programming, video, or anything. I saw some really cool videos made by others, and decided to learn. that was just step one. I promise it only get better from here.
IMHO, posting these videos for critique is the best way to improve. I lean (heavily 
) on the wisdom and experience of others right now.
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Nah, I won't whup up on ya for that. It takes a lot of time and really isn't worth it for lots of things. HOWEVER, you will be whupped around for doing a Port Oakes video and never going to the fort with the ghost traps! Oh Blues how COULD you!!?
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*whaps self*
D'OH!!!
OK ok, version 2!!
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
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To be honest, I have your demoedit and playback stuff, Zloth, but it is rather complicated for me, as I have no background in programming, video, or anything. I saw some really cool videos made by others, and decided to learn. that was just step one. I promise it only get better from here.
IMHO, posting these videos for critique is the best way to improve. I lean (heavily ) on the wisdom and experience of others right now.
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Mercy, here's what they do the first day of film school: they show you a movie clip and say, "Watch this carefully." Then they ask you, "How many cuts were in that scene?" No one ever gets that answer right, because you generally don't notice the edits of a film. Once you start paying attention to that, you'll be amazed at how many times the perspective changes.
Check out how many cuts are in this simple scene, for instance. (Plus it's funny as hell.)
That's a huge part of making an engaging film -- variety of shots. The point of any single shot is to convey information. Because of the lack of expression on the CoH sprites, close-ups are mainly used for variety. But even a cutaway to a blank face can improve the emotional impact of a scene.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
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I need to keep this thread living, as I can use the info garnered from it. I have come up against a problem.... using Zloth's demoeditor, I can playback the demo, but I get this weird "delay" (for lack of a better word). My toon makes the motion to run up on the enemy, but does not actually move. Power fires ok, target reacts ok, but there is this insane distance between the two, and none of the wizards help. At least, not that I can figure out. Can I get some suggestions? PM'ing me is ok.
Thanks in advance for your genius!
Apparently I8 broke demos. I haven't actually tried an edit since then, but Zloth said there's something wonky going on.
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
Yep. Actually it was showing up in Issue 7 but in 8 it got bad. It doesn't matter how you launch the demos, I don't think. You just get bad timing all over the place. Your character does the running animation, stops, THEN slides to the new location. Actually, I need to check the latest patch to see if it still does that.....
(And if it does, I need to update my FAQ.)
so, at what point do we ask if this can be fixed? and what would we (or even I) need to do?
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so, at what point do we ask if this can be fixed? and what would we (or even I) need to do?
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Errr, bumping is against forum rules you know.
Anyway, what you can do is look at the devs longingly with puppy-dog eyes. They've got NO obligation to fix this one at all as it isn't really a game feature. I think it's just a tool that Cryptic put in so they could make some demonstration footage for promotions and for QA purposes. Then they were kind enough to clue us in on it. It will probably get fixed next time they need to do some promotional videos - or maybe we'll get lucky and they'll hand the technology over to a new programmer to help them learn the ropes.
So, why is bumping against forum rules? Is there some unwritten ettiquette(sp?) that I am unaware of?
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Here is the forum rules. I suggest reading them. Expecially after someone tells you nicely about the rules in order to help you out.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...e=0#Post278583
The actual entry about bumping is here:
3. No spamming or thread bumping.
There are no circumstances under which spamming or thread bumping is acceptable. If you ask a question on the board (not answerable by the Customer Service Knowledge Base) and it hasnt been addressed by a moderator, there is a reason for that (or there is not an answer currently available). Bumping or spamming will not make the answer appear any faster, so please refrain from doing it. This includes, but is not limited to: comments not contributing to the board, advertisements, cross posts, and messages posted repeatedly.
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Here is the forum rules. I suggest reading them. Expecially after someone tells you nicely about the rules in order to help you out.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...e=0#Post278583
The actual entry about bumping is here:
3. No spamming or thread bumping.
There are no circumstances under which spamming or thread bumping is acceptable. If you ask a question on the board (not answerable by the Customer Service Knowledge Base) and it hasnt been addressed by a moderator, there is a reason for that (or there is not an answer currently available). Bumping or spamming will not make the answer appear any faster, so please refrain from doing it. This includes, but is not limited to: comments not contributing to the board, advertisements, cross posts, and messages posted repeatedly.
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*bump* 
So, I got the free version of fraps the other day, and was messing around with it, and I decided to give Windows movie maker a try at making a music video. This is the link, and please give honest opinions, I do plan on getting better at this!
YouTube