I would like to make a video and have my concept put together. Although I have filmed a few videos in the past I would like to improve my techinique by learning how to film the smooth panning shots and external movement shots that you see in videos like this: (especially at the beginning and at 1:48-1:54).

 

 

My video will be primarily a cockpit video showing a flight on Vatsim so I want the quality to be high.

 

In terms of tools, I have Fraps, EZDok, TrackIR and both Windows Movie Maker and iMovie.

 

 

 

thanks

Really? Nobody? I was hoping to get some help but I am starting to think that I am not supposed to know the "secrets". Anyway, hopefully the video experts are just taking a few days away from the forums.

Just saw your post and can understand that question. Because of not using Ezdok I can only suggest to start with the tutorial videos here: http://www.simforums...topic38637.html

 

You are talking about using the world camera feature. For that also an how to set up video is there: http://www.simforums...topic44852.html

 

Three infos I can share. Because of some decades real world flying I use for some scenes (the "pilot views") zoom 1.1 when I want a view to be real world like so that I fits my idea of how it should look.

 

Fraps is a framerate eater, no problem for me normaly, but when I come into FPS near 30 I tend to record the flight with fsrecorder and when I know, what scenery I want to film, I use an older alpha version of fsrecorder which has a video render function. No sound of course but you can put on every effect you want and you get a video which runs as smooth as possible. The program renders the video frame by frame, that takes some time but you get a video that is the way one wants FSX to be like. The version is still downloadable on Mathias Neusinger's website.

 

Colour and contrast in FSX are a bit to soft concerning reality. So I use more contrast, less light, some changes to Gamma and a bit sharpening.

I cut it in Windows Moviemaker and adjust later in a Magix Program colours, contrast and the rest. That's pretty much it for me.

 

Good luck!

 

Manfred

I've heard of some people recording at 1/2 sim speed, then increasing the speed in post production to normal. I've doen a few things in video with time lapse that worked pretty nicely.

thanks for the input, appreciate the help.

I would say your videos are one of the best I have seen in a while. What do you need more of?

If you are talking about the video above.....unfortunately that is not my video !! I wish I could do that.

 

I tried last night and got good results, using FRAPS full rather than 1/2 size. I have seen others recommend 1/2 size for Youtube. Only issue is the panning. I tried with the tophat and its way too quick and jerky.

 

 

btw, here is one of my videos. More instructional style that I made for my Vatsim FIR.

 

Hi nice instructional video ... im not an expert and maybe you know the below tips already

 

1-Record your scene in fsx using fs recorder

2- Run fs recorder at 1/2 speed while recording with fraps (ps: fraps is an fps eater this is why step number three is used)

3- In windows live movie maker, edit your scenes and then multiply by 2 which will give you doubled fps.

4- Use ENB series if possible for Blooming effect and realistic colours

5- when you run x2 as far as i know you will loose the audio file, try to record the audio separately and then insert it to the video

6- save your video for high definition display

 

Hope this helps a bit and here is a video i made using the above method flying over a demanding fps scenery and using fraps:

 

 

Hi Mark,

 

I've been able to achieve reasonably smooth panning (always depends on achievable FPSs doesn't it) using a Spot camera to be used with EZdok which was developed by the author of EZdok especially for movie makers. Here's a link to a video I made which demonstrates that camera and compares it to FSX's default Spot Camera. I don't know if you're familiar with that camera but if not and what you see in the video appeals to you, then download it from the EZdok forum and installed it. You can do a search in that forum using 'Spot' or 'Spot camera' which should yield several posts which discuss it. If you need further help, don't hesitate to send me a message as I may not visit or find this post again.

 

 

Regards,

 

JJ

Thanks, great tips.

 

JJ - just noticed your post now, very interesting, will definitely give that a try as well.

Mark,

 

Regarding FPSs, I want to say that the video was not made using my 'home build' rig. I'm sure if I did it again using my current rig, smoothness would be improved by quite a bit.

 

JJ

I've done some video "renders" with FSRecorder which seem to come out much smoother than a Fraps recording from what I've seen. FSRecorder "renders" the scene rather than capturing it, that means if you specify 30 FPS, FSrecorder will take whatever time it needs to render each frame of the video so that you get 30 FPS without stutters, etc. You first record your flight with FSRecorder, then you play back the recording and select "render video". It may take 20 minutes to render a 3 minute video depending on the video settings you've chosen and the complexity of the scenery, the end result is perfectly smooth video, however the downside is that FSRecorder doesn't record sound. You can replay the recording and capture sound with the Windows sound recorder though, and dub it in with Adobe Premiere or just dub in some music or whatever.

 

I was reading on the FSRecorder forums where the latest version has the capability of recording views as well as aircraft movement. I haven't tried that version myself, maybe that's the answer?

 

Regarding the slow movement across the scenery, I have a sort of scenery builder's aircraft called "crosshairs plus", it's basically a crosshair that you can use to position objects, get elevations from the sim, etc. That's all beside the point though, it just happens to be great for recording video too. It has tweaked helicopter flight dynamics so it's pretty easy to "fly". It also lacks a VC so in VC view you see nothing but the scenery out in front of you.The catch is you have to spend some time learning to fly the silly contraption smoothly. You record yourself flying it acround the scenery, then play back the recording while rendering video. Here's an example of a raw render I did using the crosshairs aircraft at S43 Harvey field, the video actually comes out smoother and more stutter free than the actual flying did:

 

http://www.cat-tamer.com/flightsim/atchmnts/s43_test.wmv

 

Here's the crosshairs aircraft if you want to try it:

 

http://www.cat-tamer.com/flightsim/downloads/Crosshairs_Plus.zip

 

Jim

Jim - very nice smooth video. The rendering idea is another thing I will have to try out. My video concept is essentially a full flight of the ConcordeX from KFJK to EGLL. I will be cutting down the video to mostly show the setup, checklists and the departure & landing. It will still be 30 minutes or so long I am guessing. The in-cockpit stuff is really easy to do because I will not be moving for most of it in the startup phase but wanted to at least have some nice film of the departure (Kennedy One with Canarsie Climb). I will also be doing the flight at a separate time on Vatsim and recording the interaction with ATC to overlay on top of the video. Based on the information you guys have given me the pressure is now on to do a great job of it!!!

Something I also find important is to slow down car traffic, which is way to fast in FSX. There is an option to do that in Flusfix for FSX.

 

Take care!

 

Manfred

I have the car traffic turned off so that is not an issue for me. I now have my EZDok world cameras set up and have the EZDok spot camera working. I also noticed in FS Recorder that I have render available but I did not try it yet. I think to get around the sound issue I will just need to run Audacity to capture the aircraft sounds during filming.