Originally posted by ZAMO
ALF, ty for your stuff. It is different from what I do and It answered some of my doubts. Anyway I still have big doubts:
Where is really the IMPORTANT job in makeing the film? where is the secret? the real work?.....In the CAPTURE function? In the AVI convertion where you select wiews and angles? Or is the AVI esditor where you really mix everything and you work a good film?
As with so many things, it is vital that you start out with the best building blocks as you base/foundation. You cant expect a 5-star meal from food picked up from the quickie-mart. You can dress it up all you want...its still immitaition american cheese and a hot dog
So while the initial film (the AHF files) must contain good footage, it is VITAL that the captures (lets call them takes...as in p-51 shoots down spit...take 1.....ACTION)you make from that film are of high quality, and look good on their own, allowing the composition of them put together to add to the overall feel and become somewhat greater than the parts alone. Select the angles and camera movement that enhances whats there and hides any problems/weak points.
So make sure the individual takes look good, and the movie will take care of itself.
Another question: I also build short pieces of film BUT...every time a new section begins my view change automatically to INTERNAl view ....the engine turns on and the propeller begins to rotate as they are stopped...so It ruins your film....imagin 20 cuts with 20 changes to internal view and 20 engine "turn-on".
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Ahhh! DOnt make the individual slices of film IN GAME (ie: dont be going crazy with ALT-R).....rather start the film 30 seconds before you get into the engagement area, and then dont stop recoding untill your are in egress. You want to try and keep the AHF films reasonable in length (especially if your computer is wanting for ram), but a 5-10 minute AHF file is easy enough to work with.
You make the individual AVI pieces by using the external film editor for AHF files, and then running thru it a time or two, writting down the key start stop points that seem obvious in 20 sec-60sec chunke (ie: 3:25-3:45 diving on spit from above.....4:00-4:15 high yo yo kill spit). Write this down on a scap of paper to refer to later. After you have the basic times for events in the AHF file...use thise times in the film viewer thingy to save just those pieces one at a time (when savings choose the little button that says SELECTION ONLY, not the ENTIRE FILM....there is a bug wheere sometimes you have to click on the END SELECT and retype it, then start the save as AVI again to get the selection only button to be available....your not crazy...its a bug). Save several versions of each small bit of film....different angles and such.
Another question..Imagine you want to make a kill from the victim angle (not your plane)...Is in the avi convertion the only way to do it?
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See fig {E}. Click on the plane you want to jump to. Bear in mind that if the plane is more than 1000 yards away from YOU, its movements are somewhat interpolated, and are not updated enough to make a good film.
A: Select SECTION ONLY here, and file name. 320x200 is good, while 640x480 is much better, its very slow (good for fast pans), and take HUGE amounts of HD space and memory to effectively edit.
B: Click this IGNORE VIEWS BUTTON!!!!
C: This is where you select what part of your long film you are making into an AVI....30 sec to 60 sec clips are usually best. Be sure to start the clip a few seconds early (allows you time to change the view before you get to the part you really want)and end it a few seconds late (just in case).
D: See the small portion of the 7min film we are actually capturing here.
NOTE: You just need to enter the times in fig C, the player will fast forward to that section when you choose SELECTOIN ONLY for the avi file save.
