Need Easy Starter Machinima Info/Links

[Elora Lunasea]

I'd like to try my hand at Machinima but it seems incredibly complicated and daunting to me. I've been reading through some of the blogs; started with Strawberry Singh's because hers are usually easy to understand but darn even that just seems way over my head right now. I'm not technically inclined though I can push myself to learn if motivated enough (my partner/husband is here to help if need be - he's the house tekkie)

Can anyone point me to some easy to understand sites that fully explain what software is needed, how to set it up, etc? I'm usually working on an Acer laptop but I also have a PC if using the laptop is just not robust enough or too clunky an option. 

Many thanks!

 

 

[Chic Aeon]

Informational notecards on the wall here at the Machinima Open Studio Project :

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA6/107/56/1003

 

Have fun. Feel free to film.  That's what the sim is here for.

Lots of software that you can use. Much is free. There may be suggestions here (hope so). Try what you can and see which works best for you. No giant LEADER that I know of. 

 

[Elora Lunasea]

Awesome, thanks for that link Chic - extremely appreciated!

[Pryda Parx]

I got excited from a very simple start, just capturing what was on my viewer as a video. If you have Windows 10 the Windows key/Alt and R does the trick to switch on and off the capture. The rest is just creative ways to put what you want in your viewer and editing the finished result. Stick with it its real fun.

[Marianne Little]

On 4/26/2019 at 9:12 PM, Pryda Parx said:

I got excited from a very simple start, just capturing what was on my viewer as a video. If you have Windows 10 the Windows key/Alt and R does the trick to switch on and off the capture. The rest is just creative ways to put what you want in your viewer and editing the finished result. Stick with it its real fun.

Really? I have Windows 10. Can you link one of your films that you took this way? What's the editor you use?

[Pryda Parx]

9 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

Really? I have Windows 10. Can you link one of your films that you took this way? What's the editor you use?

Practically all my films I did this way. See https://www.youtube.com/PrydaParxStudio. I start by sizing my Window to capture HD size (on a 4k screen) switch off all the UI stuff and HUDs then capture. The editing it all in Blender, which I think is a really wonderful tool. I'd be happy to discuss it in more detail is you have some more questions.

Also, I think I'll post my most recent video in a separate thread in a few minutes. This will be the trailer for Future Shock series 3 and shows the results if editing and captions overlays.

[DeepBlueJoy]

what if you have windows 8.1? thanks

[Dean Haystack]

You need 3 things to do Machinima.

1) Capture software.
2) Edit software.
3) A script.

By a script I mean an idea of what you wanna do, often times believe it or not this is the hardest part.
So keep it simple at start, and short too, trust me you'll thank me later.

For capturing, someone already mentioned the built in capture tool of Windows 10, that will work for you but you can get a better quality video from some other tools.
OBS is free and widely used, although it might be intimidating for a beginner, so skip that for now but keep it in the back of your head for the future.
Other than that, you graphics card manufacturer also offers free capture software.
Nvidia gives you Shadowplay, AMD gives you ReLive.

For editing a video you don't need anything fancy, trust me, don't jump on the pro level stuff, all you need is something that will string together your clips and crop them.
Good news is there is a lot of simple and very cheap programs these days. The last one I used was Filmora, you asked for a link for some machinima here's some I did:

 

[Bloodsong Termagant]

i use FRAPS (paid version) specifically for music videos.  it creates uncompressed files that scrub back and forth better in my (aged) sony vegas 10 editor.
i'm not entirely sure how 'live' fraps still is.
http://www.fraps.com/

BandiCam creates compressed files, and will save hard drive space.  unpaid version has a watermark on it.
https://www.bandicam.com/

 

and i can't recommend highly enough, the free (yes FREE) high-end video editor: hit film express.
https://fxhome.com/hitfilm-express

we're talking professional effects level, here.  we're talking light sabers.  HUDs.  one or two point motion tracking.  effects compositing.  SERIOUS stuff!

  starting out can be a bit daunting, but they have a tonne of tutorials.
there is a paid version (if you ever become a professional filmmaker), and there are add-ons/plug-ins you can purchase.  but otherwise free.  they're nuts.

 

[Jackson Redstar]

You need to capture the screen to start.  I used to use FRAPS but seems was having lagging issues. I use OBS now (what strawberry uses) Having a 3D mouse is not required but for a flycam type of filming it is needed (Space Navigator mouse) Lastly, you will need to edit then render your video. Thre are some good free/low cost editors out there (Davinci Resolve is free) I use Adobe Premiere but dat ***** be expensive!

There are some in world scripted cams you can check out too some of which may be useful. 

I found this post too 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X21kpM33uqg&list=PLzq27AiUEAGwdZweJAH3lxjFnQioEItMP&index=28&t=0s

 

Edited May 14, 2019 by Jackson Redstar

[Glasz DeCuir]

Another good tutorial, "First part of a tutorial serie about making machinima" here:

https://vimeo.com/98659455

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Glasz DeCuir