FAQ - Your Questions Answered!

[Vandalist]

This topic is what the title says; an FAQ. I recommend reading it before you come to ask questions.

FAQ Index:
0) Getting Started Movie Making
1) Movie Recording
2) Movie Editing
3) Movie Production
4) Uploading Movies
5) Publishing Movies on WCM
6) Random FAQ



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0) Getting Started Movie Making

FAQ) Okay so I want to make movies, where do I start?
A) Start by watching them. The more you watch, the more you learn about them, and that is the first step towards making them.

FAQ) What programs do I get?
A) Theres many many programs you could choose from. The most popular, and best to use, cost money though. Fraps, is recommend for recording your footage, and is by far the most popular of the recording programs out there. Sony Vegas, any version 6 and up, is fantastic for editing and again the most popular to use. Sony Vegas and Fraps are a great combination that work hand in hand, but they do cost some cash up front.

Side note: Some people still don't like use of Sony Vegas though, it's really your decision. You could go with Adobe, even windows movie editor, and theres probably many more you could search through google. However most of the community has used (or at least has some experience with) sony vegas, and therefor if your new, you can get the most help by using a program we are all familiar with.

FAQ) Can't I just download Sony Vegas and Fraps?
A) Fraps offers a trial version. If you want to download full versions without paying, we won't help you. Sony Vegas is an incredibly program for user-friendly professional editing, and is worth every penny. Buying fraps is a one time deal. Once you buy it, you own every version that will ever come out, new updated and faster ones... Besides, if your really serious about getting into this business, even if its just a hobby, let's do it legally okay?





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1) Movie Recording

FAQ) Best Program for recording?
A) Fraps, hands down. Theres other recording programs for free, but they keep their logo over your footage, and that would ruin a movie.

FAQ) Why does 'fraps recorded' movies take up so much space?
A) One reason fraps records so smoothly even on the worst of computers, is because it doesn't compress the footage. All footage and sound is taken right there and just thrown into the folder. It's not compressed, edited, or altered in any way, as this would really slow down even a decent computer.

FAQ) How much HD space should I have?
A) Small projects, set aside up to 20GB for footage. Large projects extending past 20 minute movies, you might want between 50-80GB depending how often you sift through the recordings to delete the unwanted.

FAQ) Fraps isn't working correctly!
A) Although people here are knowledgeable, we did not make fraps. If you bought fraps legally (which we hope you did!) go to the fraps website, login, and ask them for help. They built it, they'll know what to do.





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2) Movie Editing

FAQ) Best Editing Program?
A) Sony Vegas 6, 7, or any version past it that might come out. 6.0+ has the best amount of features for full editing options.

FAQ) How do I use it?
A) It's simple actually. You open up the program, and drag'n'drop your footage or sound clips into it the window. You can make multiple lines of footage or sound, and tweak them as you please. Professional footage usually has multiple lines of both.

FAQ) I want cool special effects!
A) That is something you have to learn on your own. If your new to sony vegas, try making a small Two minute video and just adding different effects to it for the fun of it. Special Effects is one thing you can really only learn from experience. Once you really get into understanding the program and know your way around... then if you want to get into some deep intense editing, then your better off asking others on forums.

FAQ) How do people get models into Sony Vegas?
A) Use a program called WoW Model Viewer. Experiment with it, you can use any model with any gear currently in WoW. Once you have what you want, record it with fraps. Thats right, fraps can record right from WoW Model Viewer. Make sure however, the background of your model is one solid (yet odd) color. Most professionals use light green (ever heard of a green-screen?), because it is the least common color to come across in any type of recordings and footage. Once you have done so, place the footage into sony vegas as you want it. Now use the masking feature called "Chroma Key" by pressing ALT+8 on your footage, and finding Chroma Key and setting it to the color you choose for the background, (You might have to toy with it a bit to get it perfect). Your model should show with a clear background, letting other footage appear behind it.
A2)Still confused? Try reading: http://www.mmorpgforum.net/showthread.php?t=15

FAQ) How do people get WoW land and architecture into Sony Vegas?
A) WoW Mapviewer, using the same process as in the above faq.

FAQ) How do people get amazing Text graphic effects?
A) Sony Vegas has a lot of great effects, but they are made for animated effects. For still effects (ex. for Text) use Adobe Photoshop/Imageready, and other similar image editing programs. In Imageready you can also make animations as well, and cut them in to Sony Vegas using the same green-screen effect (but saving the file with the green-screen, not frapsing it).

FAQ) How do people get WoW land and arcitecture into Sony Vegas?
A) WoW Mapviewer, using the same process as in the above faq.

FAQ) Where can I get Voice Actors for my movie?
A) One, you can hire them from all over, friends from vent, your server, or these forums.
A2) Two, yourself. Even if you don't have the voice your looking for, there is many voice editing and modification programs where you can just record yourself and edit the pitch, temp, and sound adjustment levels to make yourself sound like and person or creature of any size or strength.

FAQ) I'm making a PvP Movie, any tips?
A) Guide: http://www.mmorpgforum.net/showthread.php?t=2485



FAQ) My imported model from 'wow model viewer' doesn't look like hes really part of the landscape he's in scene with.
A) It's a tricky task. If your trying to make a model walk to a background or appear to blend in with a background, then you have three main tasks:

1) Lighting
2) Size
3) Speed
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1) Lighting is important because your character needs to blend in to the surrounding background. Once your model and land are both in the editor, figure out which is brighter and stands out more and dull it down, or darken it. Or, you could take the duller one and brighten it up, or add other effects to make it stand out just as much.

2) Size: The size of your model needs to match to scale (as close as you can get it) the size of your land. A model walking on land with trees behind it that are half the model's size doesn't look very realistic. Make sure the size of your model makes sense on the land it's trying to overshadow.

3) The Speed of your land clip needs to match that of your model. If your model is walking slow but the land is moving by quickly, you need to slow down the land clip, or have the character re-recorded as running instead of walking, and than adjust the speed of that clip accordingly.

-------- Also; Theres many special effects you can add as we all know, make sure that if (for example) you add some 'special effect' or editing trick to your land, you do it to your model as well so the blend in together and make sense.

Finally, sometimes hiding the land that meets the model's feet works well, such as the buttom of the movie screen cutting off at his ankles so that you can't see the ground itself, but you see with the model and the backdrop that hes walking.


(Continued Below)

[Vandalist]

(Continued From Above)

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3) Movie Production

FAQ) I rendered my movie. It's 10 minutes long and 3GB?! Why is it so big?!
A) You need to use proper compression and codec settings. Highly recommended that you read: http://www.warcraftmovies.com/articleview.php?id=21

FAQ) I rendered my movie, the quality is so poor!
A) See above FAQ.

FAQ) My movie renders REALLY SLOW!
A) This depends on 3 things. The first is how many layers of video footage you have. Rendering compresses each of the layers together into one layer, and the more you have, the longer it will take. Two, your render settings. Depending on the compression and quality settings you choose for both video and sound, it might take longer. Better quality and higher compression takes longer to render, but the end product is better. Three is your computer. Obviously a better computer will render faster. If your have 512MB Ram or higher, you should be fine there. Processor speeds of 2gb+ are best for decent speed rendering. A good video card helps too but not as much as you might think. Extremely large movies might want to be rendered in seperate segments.


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4) Uploading Movies

FAQ) Where can I upload my movie?
A) Anywhere and everywhere. You could simply Google around and find a ton of sites. Filefront is the most popular download one, youtube and google-video are two of the top streaming ones.
A2) Read this guide: http://www.mmorpgforum.net/showthread.php?t=336

FAQ) What is a live stream?
A) A Live Stream is a movie being downloaded bit by bit, and being played as it's downloaded. Rather than downloading it all and watching the movie once the download completes, live stream becomes popular because you can watch a movie right from the start of the download, skip into parts of the clip and so on. Live stream is faster to watch, but at lower quality cost. Downloading it keeps the quality.




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5) Publishing Movies on WCM

FAQ) Where can I submit my movie?
A) http://www.warcraftmovies.com/submit.php

FAQ) What are mirrors?
A) Mirrors are other websites that host your file, giving people multiple choices to download the video from. It's good to have 2+ Mirrors to any video, one stream and one download.

FAQ) When is the best time to submit my movie?
A) You can submit a movie anytime. For maximum views, submit just before the weekend, so the weekend crowds see your movie on the front page. Also, submitting depends on your status. Premium members that are submitting a movie with mirrors, submit 24h avg before the weekend. Premium members w/out mirrors, submit 2-3 days before hand. Regular members w/ mirrors, submit 2-3 days before the weekend. Regular members w/out mirrors, submit 3-4 days before hand. FINALLY: Movies with mirrors, but that do not get uploaded to the WCM-Uploader, add about 6-9 days to that.





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6) Random FAQ

FAQ) How do I change my in-game WoW models so I can fraps myself a special way?
A) First i'll say that this violates WoW's TOS. With that said, blizzard has fixed most of the ways to change your models. Is it still possible? I won't lie, yes it is. But I highly recommend against it. If you want to record a specific model on a background or area... Zoom in until your in first person view in WoW, and record the scene. Then use WoW Model Viewer to create the model and edit it in. Don't ask how to change In-Game Models in WoW here, since it's against ToS, we can't help you.





=========Updated Constantly=========
== Last Update: Tuesday, January 08, 2008==

[Vandalist]

(Final Reserved Post)

If you have any FAQ you think would be useful, please post them or PM them to me and I will add them to this growing list.
Thanks!

[vegito254]

Nice post But I have to say though that this

FAQ) Best Editing Program?
A) Sony Vegas 6, 7, or any version past it that might come out. 6.0+ has the best amount of features for full editing options.

is personal There are people that don't like sony vegas at all and prefer adobe or other programs.

[Thiras]

At the very least you could edit it to be objective. I suppose I won't have to write the FAQ, then.

[Vandalist]

I edited it in, and will add more to the FAQ along the way. Anything suggested I will consider added, and try not to keep anything personal.