13 replies to this topic

[benji]

I thought it would be a cool idea for those of us into editing/animation to share our talents and post our work here! I'll go first :]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an older clip that I had worked on for a personal 'Black Ops' video. I know the general video quality isn't that great, but this was before I upgraded to my current beast :]



I initially read a tutorial from Video Copilot to learn the overall process, but for about 90% of the project I winged it and did it my way. I more or less just needed an outline on how to get started designing my bullet. Watching it again I see a good bit of lag, which is unfortunate. I think I may re-do this scene one day with my proper PC!

I'll go ahead and post one more :]



I had a lot of fun with this project, mainly because of the amount of time it took me to align my video over the projector in Black Ops 'Hanoi' map. There's a small animation at the end in the bottom left corner, which is pretty simple as well. *Ignore the music, hah. I was going for a cheesy play on words with the, "let me take you to the movies" line since this was a demo call for a movie of mine*

How you like dem no skawps?

More to come soon!!

[Deft]

Keep them coming. Are you planning on making GW2 videos? I think you've got some skills.

[benji]

Keep them coming. Are you planning on making GW2 videos? I think you've got some skills.

I most definitely will be making GW2 videos! Thanks, I really appreciate the kind words :] Here's what I think is my best and most entertaining work.

The very beginning where the solly kills the medic+sniper was recorded at 1000FPS. This was still on my old (bad) computer, so I can't even imagine what it'd look like on my newer! Sadly enough I haven't worked on much since I upgraded. Here's a little demo video of me messing around with high-fps capturing. It's pretty entertaining! :]

I have a good bit more, but I'll save them for later. I actually plan on working on a few projects I've been itching to start, so wish me luck!

[StandBY]

nice vids benji! what programs did you use to record and edit?

[benji]

Thanks Standby! Most steam games have a unique recording system through which you type, "record blahblah.dem" in console and it starts recording a demo locally. In Black Ops I'll use the Theater to watch a previously played game and record the whole thing with fraps. I'll describe the process in a little more depth below:

TF2
- Record demo in TF2 through console command (record demonamehere.dem) OR play in servers with the Replay function enabled, and save clips as I play (this is the easiest way)
- When I load up the clip/angle/whatever I want to record I type, "startmovie blahblah 480" in console. What this does is starts taking a series of screenshots at 480FPS in targa format (.tga), naming them, "blahblah0001" and so on.
- Depending on the FPS you recorded at and how long the clip is, you could very well have a huge set of tga's. Since tga's are an image extension, you have to convert them to video via VirtualDub!
- VirtualDub is it's own discussion, but basically I convert the tga's into an uncompressed video format (You want to keep EVERYTHING uncompressed until your final render, so you can maintain superb quality)
- I then bring the clips into After Effects CS5.5 / Premiere Pro and do my thing.

There's a few steps after the editing that are included in what I do, but I'll save that unless someone really wants to know the whole process.

TL;DR

I use a combination of in-game recording through Steam games and Fraps to record. To edit I use Adobe After Effects CS5.5 and Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5. I'm also have Sony Vegas when I feel like using something different :]

Here's my all-time favorite video I've done. All footage you see was played by me as well! I'm not the best, but I enjoy playing and editing what I capture of myself! I recorded the actual footage at 60FPS, but dubbed it to come out at 300FPS for optimal editing with velocity changes!

lol's @ 1:21

[Aku]

All I have to say is that I envy your skills to do such a thing. Maybe some tutorial videos before GW2 comes out?!?! Haha but anyway great videos and keep up the good work. I look forward to your GW2 videos in the future!

[Zyll]

I request a thread name change to "benj's awesome videos". Seriously man, those effect's actually make B:Op's look good visually haha!

My Youtube channel is filled with me playing bass when I was an ultra noob at it, no need to go there... Just yet. I am however hoping to start doing a bit of Duel Commentary for PvP/ WvW when the game launches, just throwing that out there if anyones interested / can point me in the right direction


P.s. Thank you for introducing me to a new band (Mayday Parade).

[benji]

All I have to say is that I envy your skills to do such a thing. Maybe some tutorial videos before GW2 comes out?!?! Haha but anyway great videos and keep up the good work. I look forward to your GW2 videos in the future!

I'm not trying to be modest, but I still have a lot to learn and improve upon. My style of editing is a very clean one. I don't believe in flashy animations all over the screen to capture my audience, but instead I prefer to use the perfect soundtrack with my clean editing and good video quality! I'll see what I can do about some video tutorials, but like I said earlier I still have a TON to improve upon.

I request a thread name change to "benj's awesome videos". Seriously man, those effect's actually make B:Op's look good visually haha!

My Youtube channel is filled with me playing bass when I was an ultra noob at it, no need to go there... Just yet. I am however hoping to start doing a bit of Duel Commentary for PvP/ WvW when the game launches, just throwing that out there if anyones interested / can point me in the right direction


P.s. Thank you for introducing me to a new band (Mayday Parade).

Thanks for the kind words! I'm a firm believer in maintaining footage that is 100% pure and of perfect quality. I do this by utilizing a very large hard drive and keep everything pure and uncompressed until my final render with Easy H.264 :]

Post your YouTube I'd like to see! I play drums and I have some videos set as hidden of me playing. Unfortunately I sold my drums because I was tired of moving with the a million times and I never had a proper place to set them up at. I'm pretty much a noob, and I can't remember the last time I played; but I'll post a video.

http://video.google....221769136352105 <--- Google videos won't imbed! ;x

This is a pretty old video from my Freshman year at college. Yes, I had long hair! :] One thing I was really proud of was being able to play double-bass with one foot/pedal, which is what you hear in this video.



Meh, that's a more recent video. The downfall of it all is that I was never the best at making time to pratice, so learning was a very long process. As you can see there are frequent messups and even moments that make you cringe.

On a lighter note, here's something pretty entertaining!

[okuRaku]

Okay, I'll bite. I don't consider myself a great video editor but I thought I put together some fun compilations back when I played WoW. I'd record a lot of footage then edit and piece it together during lulls at work when I was a student. I was a demo/screenshot fiend before WoW but never really put much together in video form or out for the public.

My vids look rather ugly since they weren't made for YT, just for my own use / use of the guild, so please ignore the weird titles and stuff.

Here's probably my favorite (maybe just cuz I remember the feeling), kinda long, don't hate on me too much for having been a WoW player please!



Here's one with more editing, almost a slideshow though with lots of screenshots. Made it to be a chronicle of the life of my char to that point:



Kind of a troll video but hopefully enjoyable :



The rest of my vids are basically just footage with some titles at the front. Also all very old and very much not made for youtube hehe.

[Deft]

I have a lot of video ideas for GW2. Most involve bar brawls and dancing in my underwear. Benji I'm thinking you should "talk to freelancer" about helping with our intro video, when the time comes.

[benji]

Oku, I loved the videos! It's pretty sad to watch them and think back on all the good memories I had during Vanilla. I'm very glad I'm a part of Team Legacy and will be making memories in GW2 as well!!!

Deft, I am 100% interested in assisting in this manner. When the time comes, I'll be ready!

[Zirith]

kinda wish i had hooked my xbox up to my comp while playing blops, I have gotten so many amazing kill feeds :/
My favourite was when I dolphin dove out of a window on the snow map with the factory, as bullets are flying by my head and as a grenade blows up behind me as i fly out killing 2 people. When i land i kill 3 people that lined up with a burst, followed by an amazing hipfire spray that picked off the other 3. XD

Also ballistic knife rampages, olympia 25 kill streaks(gun kills onll)

Oh ya, I also got the good sniper with an acog and held the previous building that i dove out of, and got 9 kills in 9 shots in about 10 seconds.

Nostalgia

[benji]

kinda wish i had hooked my xbox up to my comp while playing blops, I have gotten so many amazing kill feeds :/
My favourite was when I dolphin dove out of a window on the snow map with the factory, as bullets are flying by my head and as a grenade blows up behind me as i fly out killing 2 people. When i land i kill 3 people that lined up with a burst, followed by an amazing hipfire spray that picked off the other 3. XD

Also ballistic knife rampages, olympia 25 kill streaks(gun kills onll)

Oh ya, I also got the good sniper with an acog and held the previous building that i dove out of, and got 9 kills in 9 shots in about 10 seconds.

Nostalgia

Hah, I wish I had some of that to work with! Black Ops was a ton of fun for me. I really enjoyed playing CTF... I guess it brought back great memories of my CoD2 days!!! :]

Here's the VERY FIRST Black Ops video I made! It's pretty simple, but I feel it's a bit different than a lot of other frag videos you'll see. I was aiming for this video to tell a story.. well, you'll get it :]


Here's the second Black Ops video I made. It's pretty screwed up and you can tell there were some places that are just..... bad. I got a little crazy with the color-correction as well. This is probably the only video that I'm ashamed that I deemed finished and released. I think if I would have worked a little harder or even had more experience at the time, that it would have turned out a lot better. It just had so much potential!

[benji]

I had this game yesterday, and was just really impressed with what I was able to do. I know it's pretty basic, but I'm really new to RTS games and using this much strategy in games - period. I'm having so much fun learning this game and even witnessing marginal improvement. :] More to come!