Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: hblair on March 14, 2002, 01:38:38 AM
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BWahahaha~!
Man. HT, this had to have taken forever to do. The data that is available, being able to jump planes, all the different AVI codecs. WOW. That's a piece of work man. Well, I'm off to trip out over my old films. :)
Awesome work.
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It's fantastic... my favorite new thing in 1.09.
I only have a few beefs with it, most of which are minor. It seems to crash if you load up a film with a lot of planes flying around in it. I have yet to get any films of big furballs to load without crashing the program first. I also wish it would slap an icon on my own plane so I can track it more easily when hopping from plane to plane. It would also be nice if it could swap friend and foe icons when you hop into an enemy's plane.
Otherwise, this thing rocks. I love it!
-- Todd/Leviathn
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been playin with it more then I have been online wtg great feature great update all round......
WTG HT and Crew How you get it done under 30 megs plenty of features best gameply................ real nice
Thanks Big time.............
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Massive Salute and many thanks for all the new goodies HTC :)
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Dead man flying can you send us some films that crash it?
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Did they fix the bug that makes me die like a dog, whenever I turn on the film recorder? :)
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Wicked toy!
Will there be a manual coming out? (yes, I did download the new help file, it doesn't see to be mentioned in it, though)
Is this a simming first? I *believe* it to be......
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Originally posted by popeye
Did they fix the bug that makes me die like a dog, whenever I turn on the film recorder? :)
Just a hunch, but I think this bug is related to the one that makes me die like a dog whenever a newbie rides in the plane with me.
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Which Codec is the best to use. What I mean by that is, which is more common on users systems so that they can view the AVI?
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Originally posted by hitech
Dead man flying can you send us some films that crash it?
Sure thing, HiTech. I'll ZIP up a couple of them and send them your way right now.
Edit: I sent the films to the support e-mail. Is there another e-mail you'd prefer?
-- Todd/Leviathn
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It is a quantum leap. Just played with it briefly, but its very impressive. Being able to cut and splice is awesome.
Is there anyway to turn off icons in the editor?
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Excellent work HT! Was up 'till 3AM last night playing with it.
Here's an excellent freeware AVI editor that includes many filters and ability to add sound.
VirtualDub (http://www186.pair.com/vdub/)
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whatever you do , DO NOT use the uncompressed codec....wound up with a few minutes of AVI footage that i couldn't get ANYthing to open that was 2.4 GIGS!!! YIKES!
So, please watch and experiment with the codecs and sizes. I think it will take a balance of codec, CPU, frame rate, video size etc to fine tune and get a good AVI out of it.
It's pretty good so far, but i see opportunities for improvements and additions, and i can't wait!! this is gonna be my new toy!!
Can we have a forum for this please, i think it's large enough to warrant one. :D
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Here's one I made last night from one of AKNimitz's films. Just playing around with filtering for size/quality balance. No sound added.
G10 vs P51D (1.8MB) (http://lynn.freewebspace.com/stuff/g10-51d.avi)
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Originally posted by hitech
Dead man flying can you send us some films that crash it?
I have one that I'll send you HT, it crashed the viewer everytime last night. It's an old film though from I don't know what version of AH, but I'll send it to you tonight.....
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Didn't get a chance to do anything with this till about 02:00 this am but what I saw impressed me. We need a manual or at least to have anyone who finds anything about how to use this editor to post it here. I can hardly wait to create .avi files, import them into my DV editing programs, create Oscar winning battle productions and then burn them to DVDs for big screen viewing.
Really nice effort HT even without hacking around with it.
Thanks
Beeg
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Camtasia is the best freebie editor I know of. It's what I used on all my realplayer movies.
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Originally posted by hblair
Camtasia is the best freebie editor I know of. It's what I used on all my realplayer movies.
Camtasia is good but last I looked it had 30 day free trial. Cost is about $150.
Camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com)
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Originally posted by AKIron
Here's one I made last night from one of AKNimitz's films. Just playing around with filtering for size/quality balance. No sound added.
G10 vs P51D (1.8MB) (http://lynn.freewebspace.com/stuff/g10-51d.avi)
Iron, what specs (fps, video size, codec, etc etc ) did you use on that film? also, what computer rig setup do you have?
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Mason, I dumped the film from the AH Film viewer uncompressed. I did this mainly to see the effects of different filters in Virtualdub on different compression codec's.
You should be fine using MPEG4-V2. I then used a couple of filters in Virtualdub. I don't rememebr which ones and have to go out for a while. When I get back this evening I'll look 'em up and let ya know.
Iron
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Coool now I can analyze Leviathn's every move!
Uh....and re-live the agony of defeat over and over and over again....and I can watch my plane disintegrate in front of my eyes over and over and over, and if I jump into his POV then I'll see his big fat grin reflecting off the window as my plane explodes into a million pieces.... :eek:
Oh and the best part is I can now make a movie to send home to the family showing that my lousy flying and crummy aim cost me my life, and I can even set it to music!
Wait a minute! This thing has an editor!!!! I can cut it to look like I am the one doing the destruction! Whoohoooo! :D
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Suggest Pinnacle Studio 7.0 for $99.00 doubt that you'll find a better deal than this program which evolved from a super program called VideoDirector. Closest thing to a professional editing package (e.g. Adobe Premiere) that you'll ever see and believe it or not with a detailed 283 page manual which will keep you from blowing your $39.00 ink cartridges just to get a manual. You can make videos in .avi, .mpg and even upload them to the Pinnacle site for viewing by your friends.
Beeg
Originally posted by AKIron
Camtasia is good but last I looked it had 30 day free trial. Cost is about $150.
Camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com)
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Nor the Miro DV coded unless you actually have a Miro (Pinnacle now) video capture board. I've had 3 Miro boards and totally forgot what I read which is that their codec only works on their boards.
Beeg
Originally posted by mason22
whatever you do , DO NOT use the uncompressed codec....wound up with a few minutes of AVI footage that i couldn't get ANYthing to open that was 2.4 GIGS!!! YIKES!
So, please watch and experiment with the codecs and sizes. I think it will take a balance of codec, CPU, frame rate, video size etc to fine tune and get a good AVI out of it.
It's pretty good so far, but i see opportunities for improvements and additions, and i can't wait!! this is gonna be my new toy!!
Can we have a forum for this please, i think it's large enough to warrant one. :D
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Here's the free AVI editor I use. Real easy to use. When it expires, just move the clock back ;)
edit: aw man, cant attach it, too big a zip file. only 1.08 megs :P
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Was very late last night, can't remember what filters I used. the codec I used was MPEG-4 V2. Next time I'll write 'em down.
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Doesn't matter what CODEC I use. I get the BSOD everytime I try to save an AVI. :(
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Fogot to add the check, you must run your desk top at 32 bit
to create avi's
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HT .. every 1.09 film i try to run under XP crashes the film viewer.
Some 1.08 films do also
SKurj
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Originally posted by hitech
Fogot to add the check, you must run your desk top at 32 bit
to create avi's
Even at 32bit... BSOD.
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Iron....
Did you kill your engine on that last pass?
:)
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Rude, that film was made by AKNimitz and yes, he did kill his engine. I'll take the liberty of adding a narrative and post later.
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Here's the film I posted earlier with sound and a few replays added. I used Windows Movie Maker (comes with WinME and XP) to add the sound and transitions. It also reduced the size :) and quality :(
G10 vs P51D (2.8MB) (http://lynn.freewebspace.com/stuff/g10-p51d.wmv)
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"Here's the film I posted earlier "
Brilliant! Worked fine for me (winXP), I can't wait to see how a training library built with this looks!
Can you give a step by step instruction for making that film? The only film I've got to work so far was uncompressed - and quickly filled 3 gigs.......
The image definition is a bit grainy (what resolution was that?), but the close ups look fine.
Without a doubt, the most significant new feature in the last year.
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Eureka!!! Partial success. I was able to turn an .ahf of a 2 spit dogfight into an .avi Best as I can recall this is what I did;
1. Loaded film
2. Ran through entire film to see what was in it and made a men-
tal EDL (Edit Decision List)
3. Ran film past preliminary b.s. and clicked on start select at the
point were I wanted to start the .avi
4. Clicked on start select
5. Using the view radius buttons I selected various views including from my victims perspective
6. At the end I clicked on End Select
7. Clicked on Copy Select
8. Clicked on Save as .avi
9. Selected the 2nd MS MPG compressor, 640x480 (full screen VHS) and 30 fps (NTSC = 29.97)
At the end I closed the editor and looked in the film directory. There was the .avi in all it's glory.
ALAS! NO SOUND on the clip
This was a bit of an experimental hack job and I really wish there was a manual to define the function of various things on the editor e.g. to the left of trail there is a slider and I have no clue what it does. Help tells you nothing other than copyright and version info. With no help file you ofcourse have no idea of how Append films might work etc. or for that matter you have no way of knowing initially that you're not going to get any sound. The work around is to record a .wav file of the sound while running the film in .ahf format, then add that .wav file to the sound track when using your .avi editing program e.g. Premiere or Pinnacle Studio or whatever freebies are recommended here.
There is also no known way of including the text message window.
Don't let my listing of these negatives make you think that I don't value the amazing job HT has done on this first version. Believe me, I've been hacking around these kind of programs for years and this is truly amazing. My ultimate wish is that instead of doing what I've had to do previously e.g. output to my DV camcorder via SVHS at 640x480, then recapture into computer via IEEE 1394, edit and do post production work e.g. music soundtrack and narration, I want a one step solution to create .avis at the same resolution which I normally see on my screen 1024 x 768 or higher.
Being able to crankout that kind of quality would be a tremendous help for HTC's marketing efforts. Imagine being able to distribute DVDs or even VCDs with these grandiose productions on them. Let people send for them, download them or if the budget permits place them in obvious places e.g. flight schools for people to see.
Beeg
Originally posted by Seeker
"Here's the film I posted earlier "
Brilliant! Worked fine for me (winXP), I can't wait to see how a training library built with this looks!
Can you give a step by step instruction for making that film? The only film I've got to work so far was uncompressed - and quickly filled 3 gigs.......
The image definition is a bit grainy (what resolution was that?), but the close ups look fine.
Without a doubt, the most significant new feature in the last year.
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Yuk !!! Squad Vox channel is recorded too, we're busted!:eek:
Other than that, can't seem to get anything but a 0-byte file.
Tried exporting a part from a movie, to a smaller .ahf countries were wrong, no other planes than mine were drawn.
Gonna try each codecs now I guess :)
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I've tried a several different codecs, and it seems to me geerally the DivX codecs works best. As I experimented through the possible codecs(geez, I didn't realize I had that many codecs installed in my system before this!), I found out with Film Editor the Microsoft codecs and famous Indeo codecs don't work too well.
I tried three different DivX codecs.. DivX - Low Motion, DivX - Fast Motion and DivX 5.0. All three had very good results. DivX Fast motion gave out fast recording sessions but quality of the film dropped a bit, DivX Low Motion took a bit more time but better quality, and DivX 5.0 was the best.
So, this was the process I used in making simple films.
* Make the first avi with DivX5.0
* Use a third-party avi editing util to make it gray scale
(slims down the total size + adds to 'historic' feeling)
* Sharpen up the image
* Resave it into avi, 75% original quality using Indeo5.06
This process gave out nice results :)
1.28 MB for a 640x480 6 second film
3.64 MB for a 320x240 30 second film
16.6 MB for a 320x240 60 second film
....
Currently looking for a web hosting spot that allows outward links.. Current website I have needs membership for people to log in and download files :( I don't think anybody would enjoy joining a site that doesn't use English...
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Originally posted by discod
Coool now I can analyze Leviathn's every move!
Having tried many, many, many times in Air Warrior to collect a "self imposed" bounty on Leviathon (AKA +Dead) and filming every time we engaged, I came to the conclusion, that his moves can't be analyzed! :D He just waits for you to engage, then he jumps yer 6, and then yer Dead! hehehe
Guess that sums it up best.
We CUTTS had bounties for certain pielets in Air Warrior. They were usually informed that we were on the hunt as a part of our tradition, and filmed proof was required to collect the loot! Loot being sheep or rum or a wench, of course!
HAR!
Todd .......... Leviathon
K-KEN
http://www.cutthroats.com/
(http://www.cutthroats.com/art/buttons/on_patch8Xs.gif)
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I want to add my "KUDOS" to the list here and say that HT and the group are really great and it's due to their ability to move in directions and create a thing of beauty, called Aces High.
The SIM is ever growing, and to see where it started-as I did in open Beta, and where it is today, the next best thing out there.......isn't out there! This is the cadillac of SIMS, IMHO.
Others have some pluses over AH, but in the total picture, none can hold a candle to AH.
The film viewer is Great! Now, if I can figure out what I was doing wrong, to save an .avi....or even if I dont, thats OK too! hehehe I watched a 53 minute film of Big Week I shot........on of the first frames, and it's very schweeeeeeet! :D
WTG HT and Crew! Salute!
K-KEN
http://www.cutthroats.com/
(http://www.cutthroats.com/art/buttons/on_patch8Xs.gif)