Software Technical Help

[Sparky]

Got a problem with a particular program?

Maybe you need help with free cam in The Movies Stunts & Effects or recording voiceovers using Audacity? Maybe you need to know how to convert to a .DDS file or resize an image using Gimp for a poster?


Chances are, whatever issue you are facing with any given piece of software, someone round here will be able to help - so just ask. Post your question in this thread and hopefully one of our fine TMU community Members will be along with the answer (or at least an educated guess)

:cool

[Donekardio]

i would like to know how to make some good movie posters with gimp or if there is a better program for that....
Thankyou


---John Greer---

[Uber]

photoshop is the industry standard, but isn't free. With these products, you get what you pay for.

[Sparky]

i would like to know how to make some good movie posters with gimp or if there is a better program for that....
Thankyou


---John Greer---

There is a very good tutorial on how to use gimp for posters ect HERE (http://allboards.lionhead.com/forums/thread/2780709.aspx)

cheers

[Donekardio]

Ok!
Thankyou


---John Green---

[Howitzer]

I was wondering if anyone else here uses PaintShop Pro (as opposed to Photoshop, which is too expensive for me lol).

If so, do you know how to create transparent overlays using the software? I've tried following as best I can for the ones based on Photoshop but get confused and it never seems to work...

Cheers :D
Howie.

[Sparky]

Not sure if this'll help Howi - quick explanation i found by just Googling your problem

"If you are doing an image from scratch, keep your background transparent. If there is more than one layer, merge them as All Visible and not Flatten, this will keep the background transparent.


When you have the image you want, you can click on File > Export > PNG Optimizer. Or you can have PNG Optimizer on your toolbar.


When the optimizer opens, click on transparency tab, and choose either Single color transparency-which will leave the edges a little rough, or Alpha channel transparency, which will leave a nicer image.
These both have transparent backgrounds, though they may show as white.

This works for Paint Shop Pro 7 through 9, I don't know about earlier ones.
Note: PNG alpha transparency is not supported in Internet Explorer 6 and earlier."

But if you ever need any transparent items making, gimmi a shout and i'll sort it for you nickity-split (so rare i have opportunity to use that phrase)

cheers

[Howitzer]

lol, thanks Sparky :) (I never was good at using the interwebs :P)
I'll give it a try and, if it still works like stereo instructions I'll give you a shout :P

Cheers!
Howie.

[Killian]

Here's a quicky for the more technically minded of you...

What's the best way to increase the resolution of the in-game export (if there is, indeed, even a way to do so)?

I ask as although I'm exporting at highest quality, it seems to be dropping some rezz; then when going into Magix, which naturally means chopping the film around, and exporting, it's losing a lot more definition and coming out a lot flatter and more pixelated than I'd like.

Any advice to increase the cinematic quality would be gratefully received; merci beaucoup in advance :)

[Sparky]

Its probably more to do with the quality and type of file you render out at the end as opposed to the exported file you put into Magix. What do you render the final movie as? i.e file type, frame rate, picture size etc. I'm not familiar with Magix itself so i'm not sure what options you have (I know that Sisch uses it though)

cheers

[Killian]

Wondering what the optimum would be for quality vs file size; am doing some experimentation at the moment with this to see what the best settings are.

You're right, thinking about it; the final render is the kicker, so am going to have a mess and see what balance I can get (don't want to be spending 3 hours rendering a 10 min short if I can do it faster and still get a good quality video).

[Uber]

Tarison found a way to export movies at true High Def, but i never got around to it, try moonlight studios, he's doing it.

[Killian]

:thumbup1:

[Stoke Studios]

As Sparky says, it could be the export res in Magix that's the problem. I use Magix, and after some trial and error (because all of the available sizes don't work for me), I found that 1280x720 exports fine.

Have a play with the various size options to see what works for you. To save time, just export a very short clip. Hope this helps.

[Killian]

Thanks, SS; have had a bit of a mess with it this afto and 1280x720 seems to work nicely with some audio bitrate tweaking (wouldn't render correctly with the audio rate set to default, for some reason; it's probably my pile-of-plop PC that's the problem).

Cheers for the help, all; think it's cracked now :)

[Jase180]

Oh, greenscreen/greenbox is kicking my ass. WTF

I definitly need some help with this.:censored:

[Killian]

You using Magix or Vegas?

[Jase180]

opps, sorry Magix

[Killian]

Ok.... and what part of the greenscreening process is causing you gyp?

I could do a long-winded post going into the whole procedure, but if it's only part of it, I won't :001_tt2:

UPDATE: Working on a quick and dirty vid tutorial on the basics of greenscreening; will bang a link up when it's done.

UPDATE 2: Check your PMs, Jase.

[sgporsche48]

Okay I've hit a snag in exporting using Magix Movie Edit Pro 12. What happened was that during export (mixdown) it said something along the lines of "Error in video codec. If continues revert to normal settings." I saw that about 9 minutes of the film had exported and it was way out of sync. Any help?

[Killian]

Hmmm... possibly could be a corrupted or not upto date codec installed... let's start with the obvious ones.

1) Have you updated any codecs recently or d/l anything that may have had an updated codec? (Could be an issue with a conflict).

2) If 1) was no, you could try it :)

3) Is this an export format you have used previously with no problems?

4) Were you doing anything else at the time or just exporting the film? (Have had errors in encoding myself previously when I've alt-tabbed or done something else while it's been ticking away and had a similar issue)

[sgporsche48]

Haven't updated anything to my knowledge and don't know how to check this.

New problem: Everything has slowed down immensely when I put it in the editor. Sounds that are like half a second long now take 2 seconds and have been slowed down. Help!

[sgporsche48]

I've fixed my latest problem: reset the program settings to default and really not sure what happened to make it play everything back at a milisecond a second. I'm going to be doing another export this week to see if the problem about the codec is still there and if so then I'll definitely be doing some snooping in the program.

[Killian]

You using a custom preset for exporting?

I ask as I had a similar problem to yours earlier on and found out it was my preset file that was screwed. Something to bear in mind if you get a repeat of the same thing...

[sgporsche48]

I reset everything to the standard settings in magix and I got the same error message:

During export with an external video codec, an error has occurred. Please check and adjust the export settings (resolution, frame rate, etc.). If experiencing difficulties, it is recommended to resort to standard settings.

and then when I click export (in order to get to the export settings, as this is the only way I know how to) I get this:

Error in module "lr50_32.dll" (Load address: 0x0fa50000) to address 0x0fa84d4b. Exception 0xc0000005 "ACCESS_VIOLATION"



Help?

[Killian]

That's bizarre... didn't know this error code so googled it and found this (http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://edu-welfare.net/src/comn_stdguide/s_doumi_error_view.asp%3Fnum%3D-10%26page%3D2&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dlr50_32.dll%26num%3D20%26hl%3Den%26cl ient%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26hs%3Dxee) as the only hit for that .dll. It sounds like it could possibly be corruption in the file.... you might need to re-install Magix.

Bit out of my league here if it's a system problem. You could try looking at the support forums for it, though, and seeing if it's a known problem.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help :(

[thebiz]

Is anyone running into sound sync issues exporting from MEP14Plus? Been seeing a lot of post on other forums complaining about this issue.

[Killian]

Not had any issues myself that I've noticed... I always tend to play the whole thing through 2 or 3 times to check any obvious glaring errors when it's all packed together in the project file, just prior to exporting, and not noticed any major issues with it here.

It could be down to the codec you are exporting with, I suppose...

[Norrie]

Mac man with Final Cut Express gloats insufferably.

(yet make few movies? Go figure) :huh:

[thebiz]

Has anyone had any luck using the screen capture recording in Magix Movie Edit Pro 14 Plus? I hit record and get nothin but an empty file. Changed formats, exclude sound, doesnt seem to matter. Erg

[Norrie]

I know Sisch is using Magix' screen capture in her latest production.
I'm sure she'll be able to sort you out when next she surfaces from the depth of MS.

[sisch]

Has anyone had any luck using the screen capture recording in Magix Movie Edit Pro 14 Plus? I hit record and get nothin but an empty file. Changed formats, exclude sound, doesnt seem to matter. Erg

Mhm.. not sure.. how do you go about it?
When I hit the record button, I get a pop-up where I can choose "screen". Next comes the helpscreen, and then it asks you for the format you want to record in. So far, I recorded without sound only -

I choose MVX - user defined format - settings are 1280x720 in my case, framerate 17 (because X³ reunion uses that rate), 16:9, Interlace modus: progressive.

Next comes a little window which gives me the option to choose if I want to see the mouse movement, the window I record in, the dialogue.. I adjust the window and hit record.
Voilà.

It might be you chose the wrong framerate - the more you record a chosen program, the more easily Magix is able to adjust the framerate, though it might be that your version looks and works different to mine (I've got deluxe 15 premium, and to make it more complicated, the english and german program names differ).

Hope you can gleen some useful information from these ramblings....

[thebiz]

I have recorded some successfully and failed at other attempts. Havent had a full testing period but my thinking this morning has to do with how I stop the recording, as I seem to be successful when I use the tray icon to stop instead of the stop button. Weird huh. Will test some more tonight.

[sisch]

Actually, the tray button doesn't do it for me - I have to hit the stop button (even though the manual says the tray button should work).

[Sparky]

Ok, one for the OS editing community (which already includes me i know, but we are all still earning).

So, on with my point.....

Looking for tips/advice on creating a good 'reflection' effect i.e. seeing the persons back and also their reflection moving in time with them in a mirror. I have a few ideas but would like to know if anyone has met with great (or any) success with this effect?

cheers

[Killian]

Biggsy did something similar (see his post on the OE Tips thread); just off the top of my head, am thinking shoot the same scene twice from front and back (front one with a blue/greenscreen "mirror" behind the actors), composite the two together and add a "reflection" effect onto the mirror-shot. Not sure how well it would come out and might need some practising to get the shot looking right, but it should work.

[sisch]

Ok, one for the OS editing community (which already includes me i know, but we are all still earning).

So, on with my point.....

Looking for tips/advice on creating a good 'reflection' effect i.e. seeing the persons back and also their reflection moving in time with them in a mirror. I have a few ideas but would like to know if anyone has met with great (or any) success with this effect?

cheers

Oookaaay... once you've filmed the character you want to mirror from back and front, go to your editor of choice and put the one you want as "mirror" in the slot above the backshot. Next thing, go to visual effects and flip the mirror image (so that it's actually mirrored). Next make the "mirror" image somewhat translucent by simply approximately "halving" the film - like you make sounds in Magix louder or lower. You now should see both images overlayed over one another.

Next comes the tricky part - adjusting the "mirror" image so that the perspective is right; you do that by going to "image size and position" and fiddling... if need be you have to do some 3D changes, too.

There's a lot of fiddling involved, actually! :) I tend to do a very slight "blur" effect on the mirror image, so that it looks as if it's a reflection. A mirror image in an actual mirror is harder to do realistically than someone mirrored in a window... because it involves even more fiddling with perspective, and you don't have the benefit of making it translucent, which hides little imperfections. I did a mirror effect in "Intermediate" and was never entirely satisfied with it....

Edit: for a mirror- mirror effect it would probably be best to make the mirror in the first scene a greenscreen, so that you can put the mirror scene into that, come to think of it. :)

... and I think I've said mirror too often! :p

[BiggsTrek]

Biggsy did something similar (see his post on the OE Tips thread); just off the top of my head, am thinking shoot the same scene twice from front and back (front one with a blue/greenscreen "mirror" behind the actors), composite the two together and add a "reflection" effect onto the mirror-shot. Not sure how well it would come out and might need some practising to get the shot looking right, but it should work.

That's Mr Biggsy to you, son. ;)

Oh, and this is the thing I did. The camera movement is minimal, almost unnoticeable, but it's there.

http://biggstrek.googlepages.com/Blue16-GenDMirror2.wmv

Required just thinking "laterally inverted" when making up the secondary shot and picturing what the mirrored image would look like and making a shot to match (at least that's what I did. There's probably a better way but I tend to do things by guesswork.)

[sisch]

It looks very good, Biggsy!

[TINMAN]

Tis a reflection of your genius-ness! Very nice!
K4

[Orky]

Okay folks, this is likely an absolutely brain-dead question to ask but stay with me here, because I'm a bit out of it.

So I just recently opened up Windows Movie Maker for the first time, played around with it for a bit, and overall it seems to be pretty idiot-proof. But one thing that is bugging me is the way the sound files work. You can't place two files on-top of eachother like you can in TM - the file your trying to place on the other just pushes it left or right down the line. So, because I am often-times plagued by the horror that is the sound-bug and intend to start sound-synching in WMM as opposed to TM, I was just wondering if there is anyway I could get around this, or do I gotta' write down the times each sound comes up in the movie and individually place each file in audacity, linking them up into one "major file" and doing it like that? Because that method seems awfully complicated. So to recap, my question is - is there any setting or something you can check which lets you place sound files "on-top" of eachother in WMM? Thanks in advance!

(By the way, I know there is a way for you to record whatever sounds you computer is playing with audacity, but for whatever reason I can't get that to work, even with the most recent sound-card updates, so for me, that method ain't happenin')

- Orky

[Sparky]

Hey Orky. From what i know the major flaw with WMM is the sound issue that you describe. I did find this 'cheat fix' on the WMM help site though. It might be better than nothing.

"Another way to create two audio tracks is to superimpose them. MovieMaker allows you to superimpose two audio clips using the same timeline track … though the method for doing this is not obvious. First, lay down your music clip on the timeline. Then, lay your second audio-track on the timeline AFTER the first one. To superimpose the two, you first have to move the second clip so that its starting edge touches the end of the first audio clip.

http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/Images/icon-overlap1.gif
Now, pick up the second audio clip again and move it to the left. You’ll see a blue “triangle” form over the first audio track … that means they are superimposing.

http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/Images/icon-overlap2.gif
Unfortunately, there is a problem with this method. If you try to “completely superimpose” both audio clips, (so they both start at the beginning of the movie) the second clip will try to jump in front of the first one. It’s really hard to get that second audio clip to start where you want it.
As you can see, running two audio tracks in Movie Maker 2 is problematic. However, in the program’s defense, MovieMaker is meant to be a simple video editor. If find yourself needing multiple audio and video tracks that run concurrently, you may be better served with a professional editing package like Adobe Premiere. Movie Maker 2 is meant to be an easy-to-use program, so they’ve simplified much of the interface to accommodate novice users."


Personally, i have had success using the akward method you described for creating a 'master track' elsewhere. One Last Breath was totally scorred this way using Mixcraft and a silent final cut of the finished movie. For any sound fx that need to be very specific (like gun fire) try JUST adding those into PP when exporting. Hopefull the sound bug wont hit because there is no other audio being rendered at that time.


To record sound straight from your pc in audacity is dependant soley on your soundcard. If you have a good enough sound card to perform this task, you will have a drop down menu as shown below


http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/7065/audacitydh7.jpg


As you can see i don't have it because i cheaped out on my last sound card (a mistake i will never repeat). If you can do it, you will have source options in this box to record sound playing on your pc straight into Audacity.


Cheers

[Orky]

Heya' Sparky, thanks for that, that does actually help me out, especially with the ambience files and such. My soundcard is older than my grandmother so I can't do the PC-to-Audacity thing (I do have a drop-down menu though, which has three choices ("Microphone" "Line-in" and "Rear-Mic", despite having only one (a microphone) plugged in), but I'm sure that method I was talking about is probably a lot less awkward to do than it sounds. Onto the WMM movie making I go!

Thanks again!

- Orky

[thebiz]

What output format, frame rate and perspective do most of you guys use when exporting your movie?

Which file format offers the best quality for the smallest file size? Which just offers the best quality?

Do various sites use different sizes and perspectives? For instance, the tmu player seems bigger than the tmo player and looks like it stretches things out. Is youtube and blip and the like all different perspectives or simply different sizes?

[Dulci]

I just found this section on Vimeo about exporting files using various programs. Hopefully someone tech savvy can tell me if these instructions would be useful for uploading to TMU as well:

http://vimeo.com/forums/topic:3671

[Killian]

I just found this section on Vimeo about exporting files using various programs. Hopefully someone tech savvy can tell me if these instructions would be useful for uploading to TMU as well:

http://vimeo.com/forums/topic:3671

Looking at the Magix settings there, that would make a huge file size movie (I tend to export at Windows Media Export: Video: 768x432; 24.00 Frames/s; VBR Quality 90; Audio: 44100 kHz; Stereo; CBR 31 kBit/s, and even that makes over 100mb files (yeah, so they are 20-30 mins in length...), so god knows how big a movie exported in that quality would be... or how long it would take to render... I might try it and see...

UPDATE: Set my Magix to the listed settings and tried to export the first part of the Finale, just to see what a) the results are like and b) how big it will be and how long it will take... answer to b)2 is 4 hours and rising, and 10 minutes into the process the file size is already 25mb...

So, in answer to the question... yes, they will probably look great, but exporting will take hours and it's very likely that most people will time out before getting the file upped to the movie site. And, bearing in mind the issues the site tends to have with complex movies of large size over a certain length, I wouldn't recommend it for here, anyway...

[BiggsTrek]

One of the largest file size exports I did was also the quickest to render. It was a raw .avi file (no codecs involved) that I created (about 15 mins of footage) that came out at over a gig (might even have been 10... it didn't last long on my harddrive!)

[EDIT: I don't know nuthin' about .avi files, I've just had to deal with them a couple of times as certain contests required .avi submissions. I much prefer .wmv. The size of avi's can be drastically reduced with a good codec. Xvid works ok for me (DivX, not so much...)]

[thebiz]

Whats the benifit of AVI vs WMV? Why is AVI so freaking big?

[Killian]

I don't know if there really IS a benefit of AVI over WMV. According to Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVI), AVI is one of the older formats (which might explain why file sizes are so large in comparison with newer formats that support native compression, which AVI apparently doesn't).

Maybe someone with some more technical know-how can answer this one :)

[sisch]

I can't help you with knowing the difference between .avi and .wmv, I only know that the format MS exports best to is .avi - and it looks incredibly good (whereas .avi's made with Magix don't look that crisp anymore, but that might have to do with the codec? Magix uses).

I usually export my films in 1280x720 (TM, too; I've got a neat little .exe made by Hirsches (german community) that enables exporting from TM in that size) , 25.00 frames (TM uses 24, but the higher framerate doesn't seem to create any problems), VBR quality 90 (thanks to Killian for the tip), audio: 44100 kHz; Stereo; CBR 48 kBit/s. Of course the films are insanely big, but I think it's worth it, it looks so good!

I'm curius how big "Saving Grace" will be in the end..... :blink:

[thebiz]

Hmm, I thought TM ran at 10 fps..or was that just the overlay rate?

[BiggsTrek]

Hmm, I thought TM ran at 10 fps..or was that just the overlay rate?

That's the overlays. And I thought the hires output was at 30fps... (or so Vegas told me).

[Jase180]

That's the overlays. And I thought the hires output was at 30fps... (or so Vegas told me).

While cutting Story of us in Magix, I noticed TM created extra frames and a few 1/2 frames. When I viewed the timeline in single frame, I was annoyed to find that some frames were 1/2 one scene 1/2 another.

thats how I got glitches. annoying as hell

[Killian]

Yeah have come across that a lot as well when doing tidy-up cuts once I got the footage out of TM. Spent ages hacking out partial scenes but still missed a few (hard to spot unless you are going to spend as long as it takes going over a 20-30 min movie frame by frame, cutting and splicing to take them all out...)

[BiggsTrek]

Yeah have come across that a lot as well when doing tidy-up cuts once I got the footage out of TM. Spent ages hacking out partial scenes but still missed a few (hard to spot unless you are going to spend as long as it takes going over a 20-30 min movie frame by frame, cutting and splicing to take them all out...)

Likewise with the soon-to-released- UPM-2-2, loads of "stutters" between scenes thanks to TM's PP (all gone now, but tricky to remove sooo many).

:1eye:

[sisch]

Well, Magix says that movies exported from PP have 24.00 frames per second, MS has 25.00 - though you can get that up in their export thingy to 29.95, if I'm not mistaken (never tried it and don't know what it does to the movie, really).

I think I've encountered the problem with half-scenes in TM, too - it makes for very un-smooth (?) transitions.
But exporting it at 25 frames looks exactly the same (at least to my eyes).

Oh, and overlay framerates in TM is 12, not 10?

[Killian]

Reading back on Sisch' Saving Grace (http://www.tmoaradio.com/vb/showthread.php?p=14666&posted=1#post14666) thread, I've seen and experience some of those issues myself when doing the Finale.

Magix is limited to what your system can handle at once, so there are a few ways to tweak a bit more out of it, even with a low end system (and here I'm talking Athlon LE1600 2.21Ghz chip, 4gig of RAM and a Geoforce 7800 gfx card, so hardly the Rolls Royce of systems; more like the Reliant Robin :P)

In order to cut down on the problems you're having, I can recommend you try the following out (some of them are a real bleedin faff, but might just save your sanity):-

1) Make sure you are real-time rendering at a lower setting when editing (half rezz or lower); it won't look as good in the editor, but while you're working on it it will not use as much resource, and you can easy pop the settings back up at the end, right before you do your export, to check how it looks;

2) Use lower rez footage in your edits (not great, I know, but needs must when the devil plops in your saucepan... or something);

3) Assign more system resource to Magix when its running (warning: this could make your system unstable, so be warned, and don't try to have more than Magix and maybe a browser and one other low resource program running at the same time (i.e. don't try this if you want to run MS, Audacity, TM, Magix and other stuff at the same time (though quite why you might want to, I'm not sure)). Start Magix; cltr-alt-del to bring up Task Manager; go to the Process tab; find "MovieEdit.exe"; right click it; select Set Priority and select "Above Normal" (try this setting first and run it in a bit before trying "High"). Close everything down and reboot your PC, then run Magix again (be aware that this is the XP version of accessing Task Manager; got no idea how Vista handles it, I'm afraid, so don't ask);

4) Edit and export smaller chunks of working footage (i.e. no more than 5-10 mins tops); complete work on that chunk, then render it out in a format that is slightly higher rezz than you want the end product to be. Do this with all your working footage (stacked overlay scenes for chromakeying, soundtrack, VOs, etc etc), until you have X number of completed chunks.

Once you have them all done, open a new blank project and import all the previously rendered files into that. Save it once you have everything in, then export THAT file at the rezz you want the final product in. Because Magix isn't handling umpteen different overlapping files, sounds, etc, all at once, it should have an easier time dealing with the less complex (i.e. less elements being rendered individually) combined film strips at the same time.

Hopefully some of this might be of use. To address the others who have expressed some concerns, please remember that Sisch pushes the envelope of everything she does, so whilst she might be experiencing issues with the editor, most of us mere mortals won't have a problem using it at all :wink:

[sisch]

Hehehe... pushing the envelope... :D - I guess you're right!

Thanks for your detailed tips - one thing I will definitely try out is the "lower rez when working on it" - sounds good, and I never thought of that myself!

I tried to assign more resources to Magix - didn't make a big difference (if not to say none at all) - probably because I'm playing around with 1280x720 material.
Which brings me to lowering the quality or size for the whole film - that's the one thing I won't do, because I want the endproduct in the big format - I want to be able to play it on our homecinema screen, which is 3,85m across - we've got a projector!

If worst comes to worst, I will export in little chunks - but as quality gets slightly worse with each render, I'll try to avoid that. Mind you, the "getting a little worse" might be totally unimportant and only visible to me, but.... erm... you know me. :biggrin: Perfectionista on the run....

Thanks for the great tips! :)

[Killian]

Most welcome, Madame :)

I think the biggest issue you have is purely down to the resolution of your footage, which your rig is struggling with a bit memory-wise; I would say try and keep an eye out and whack another 2-4gig in there as soon as you can, as that will help enormously.

[Norrie]

I think the biggest issue you have is purely down to the resolution of your footage, which your rig is struggling with a bit memory-wise; I would say try and keep an eye out and whack another 2-4gig in there as soon as you can, as that will help enormously.

Ooh, kind of disagree with you there Kilian. Rendering is little to do with memory, and all to do with CPU. Otherwise "Real Time" (an oxymoron in regards to any MS OS) would suffice.

I'm curious to know if Magix is utilising both cores? I suspect not. *looks for mad scientist smiley*

I thinking bad programming, before bad machine.

[sisch]

I actually contacted Magix about that - because I checked the taskmanager while rendering - only one core seems to work at 100%, while the other one is snoring away...
they answered Magix does use both cores - even if it doesn't show up in taskmanager. I'm not quite sure about that, but the handbook says it, too...
One thing I did notice is that Magix uses very little RAM. Just a few days ago I upped from 2 to 4 GB - no big difference at all, so I highly doubt that more would do anything to help.

Oh well, I'm just hoping that my dad will upgrade his computer in january (I always get the left-offs, and his current machine is much faster than mine, which was his last discarded one...) :D

[Killian]

Can't argue there about the CPU (though, strangely, Magix 14 Pro DOES say "Noticeably smoother performance on PCs with Dual Core processors and/or GPU support.").

Try checking the support boards (http://support.magix.net/boards/magix/) and see if there's any mention there of performance tweaks (the German forums seem to have the most posts, but hey, that's not a problem for you :P).

[BlazeLeeDragon]

I need help with the movies PC game...i've not played in over a year as many may know...well I tried to reinstall today to continue production on projects that have been waiting all this time...

like
13 Part 2
Irony of the Fly
and
Return of the Apathic Priest...

the problem is, that when I click install I hear a beep and it closes, will not even start installing no error nothing...HELP!!!

[Uber]

try copying the whole disk to a file on the hard drive and instaling from there.

[squirrelygirl]

Okay, hopefully someone can help me with this. My first episode is going to be around 30 min. It's 25 right now without the title sequence and credits. I rendered it as an mp4 just to see what it looks like and that took away a lot of the quality. Also it was around 112.72 MBs! I might mention here that I'm using Sony Vegas 9 (the regular one). It's a fantasy flick so there are some particles for a "magic" look.

Anyway, here's my question/problem. Is there a way to compress a movie to make it smaller - less than 100 MBs - and not take away from the quality? Is there another render I should be going for in vegas or a different program I can use?

I really want this movie to look as good as possible so any help would be much apreciated. Thank you in advance! :flowers:

[sisch]

112 MB is already quite small a file for a film of that length, Squirrel!
It would be interesting to know which size the footage is - 1280x720? Maybe you could tweak the keyframes a little to make it smaller.. (and how did you make mp4 format work? I have Vegas, too, but that format doesn't work for me at all).

The only way I can think of to make it smaller is using the divx format - divx has quite good compression without much quality loss.

[Killian]

Unfortunately, as with most things, you're always gonna have to make a trade off between size and quality...

If you want it to look good (i.e. rendered in a good resolution) and it has a lot of particle effects, sounds, etc, unfortunately it all adds to the file size.

Just as an example, the last Odyssey episode was shot as native TM format resolution (768x432), 49 mins approximately and came out at a final size of 377mb; the one before that (despite being slightly longer) came out at 353mb for 54 mins at the same resolution (both of these were done in wmv, for comparison).

So, yeah; for TMU purposes, 112mb for a 30 min movie is no problem at all, either to upload (provided you can up it within the 150min upload window) or to make available for offline download, should you so wish.

The best recommendation I can make is to play around with the export settings until you get something that you're happy to release (a good resolution and a file size you are happy with); after all, it's YOUR movie, and you have to be happy with how the final product renders out.

[kuroken]

I'll echo what Sisch said - 112 megs for a 25-30 minute movie is pretty small to begin with.

I usually use Divx for encoding - the paid version is cheap ($20 or something) and using it and the free Dr. Divx (http://labs.divx.com/DrDivX)software to get to an optimal quality/size compromise.

Ken

[JazzX]

Okay, hopefully someone can help me with this. My first episode is going to be around 30 min. It's 25 right now without the title sequence and credits. I rendered it as an mp4 just to see what it looks like and that took away a lot of the quality. Also it was around 112.72 MBs! I might mention here that I'm using Sony Vegas 9 (the regular one). It's a fantasy flick so there are some particles for a "magic" look.

Anyway, here's my question/problem. Is there a way to compress a movie to make it smaller - less than 100 MBs - and not take away from the quality? Is there another render I should be going for in vegas or a different program I can use?

I really want this movie to look as good as possible so any help would be much apreciated. Thank you in advance! :flowers:

I wouldn't worry about it - it's well within the 200mb limit.

But if you do insist on making it smaller, you can use good old Windows Movie Maker - just drag and drop the film onto the timeline, then export using "fit to file size" option, which you would set at 100MB - you'll see stats at the bottom left corner changing as you reduce the file size (bitrate and framerate etc.) The final export is usually smaller in size than the limit you set.

I did that last night when I compressed one of Trewill7's films (that one's just over half-an-hour) down from 330 mb to 166 mb (I set the limit at 200mb, but that's what it produced) - it still came out as gorgeous quality.

[squirrelygirl]

112 MB is already quite small a file for a film of that length, Squirrel!
It would be interesting to know which size the footage is - 1280x720? Maybe you could tweak the keyframes a little to make it smaller.. (and how did you make mp4 format work? I have Vegas, too, but that format doesn't work for me at all).

The only way I can think of to make it smaller is using the divx format - divx has quite good compression without much quality loss.

Thank you, sisch! I didn't know that 112 MBs was an okay size for the length of the movie. This is my first attempt at a movie this size, which is why the first episode is taking so long to release. I'm trying to make it as good as I can.

I chose mp4 and then the default size, I'm not sure what the default size for vegas is. The quality went down with the mp4 setting and I don't mean down a little, I mean down a swirling vortex of doom! The whole movie is blury and glitchy.

I will definently try the divx format. Thank you very much! :flowers:

[squirrelygirl]

Unfortunately, as with most things, you're always gonna have to make a trade off between size and quality...

If you want it to look good (i.e. rendered in a good resolution) and it has a lot of particle effects, sounds, etc, unfortunately it all adds to the file size.

Just as an example, the last Odyssey episode was shot as native TM format resolution (768x432), 49 mins approximately and came out at a final size of 377mb; the one before that (despite being slightly longer) came out at 353mb for 54 mins at the same resolution (both of these were done in wmv, for comparison).

So, yeah; for TMU purposes, 112mb for a 30 min movie is no problem at all, either to upload (provided you can up it within the 150min upload window) or to make available for offline download, should you so wish.

The best recommendation I can make is to play around with the export settings until you get something that you're happy to release (a good resolution and a file size you are happy with); after all, it's YOUR movie, and you have to be happy with how the final product renders out.

Thank you, Killian!
I do understand that there will be a trade off with compression, but this was like trading a luxury vehicle for a Pinto! lol.

I'll fool around with the export settings as you suggest. I think I'll just try rendering the first few minutes until I find one that works. Then I can just divide, mulitply and come up with what the file size should be for the whole thing. The good think is I only have to figure out the setting that works for me once. :)

[squirrelygirl]

I'll echo what Sisch said - 112 megs for a 25-30 minute movie is pretty small to begin with.

I usually use Divx for encoding - the paid version is cheap ($20 or something) and using it and the free Dr. Divx (http://labs.divx.com/DrDivX)software to get to an optimal quality/size compromise.

Ken

Thank you, Ken! I'll check out Dr. Divx! :)

[squirrelygirl]

I wouldn't worry about it - it's well within the 200mb limit.

But if you do insist on making it smaller, you can use good old Windows Movie Maker - just drag and drop the film onto the timeline, then export using "fit to file size" option, which you would set at 100MB - you'll see stats at the bottom left corner changing as you reduce the file size (bitrate and framerate etc.) The final export is usually smaller in size than the limit you set.

I did that last night when I compressed one of Trewill7's films (that one's just over half-an-hour) down from 330 mb to 166 mb (I set the limit at 200mb, but that's what it produced) - it still came out as gorgeous quality.

Thank you, JazzX!
I always overlook the simple solutions. I hadn't thought of using Windows Movie Maker to change the file size. I think I'll try this now and see what I come up with. :)

Thank you to everyone who has responded to my question. I really apreciate all the help! I'm sure at least one of these answers will work for me. :thumbup1:

[Gojira_Addicted]

Hey guys,

I've always had a problem with the free cam since I started playing The Movies on Windows Vista. I can't rotate the camera anymore. When I hold down the left and right mouse buttons, the game simply doesn't react. It no longer works in any stage of the game. This worked fine before Vista, mind you. Any ideas how I can solve this?

And another quick question: Is it possible to upload some of my iTunes music to the game?

Thanks in advance!

[Sparky]

Hey guys,

I've always had a problem with the free cam since I started playing The Movies on Windows Vista. I can't rotate the camera anymore. When I hold down the left and right mouse buttons, the game simply doesn't react. It no longer works in any stage of the game. This worked fine before Vista, mind you. Any ideas how I can solve this?

And another quick question: Is it possible to upload some of my iTunes music to the game?

Thanks in advance!

I dont think this is a Vista issue. i run windows Vista and have (so far) had no problems with free cam controls etc. You could try running the movies in xp sp2 format. From the desktop link that TM creates when it is installed, right click this go to properties/compatibility / select windows xp service pack 2 from the drop down list and check the "run this program in compatibility mode for: " box. The program should now run as if it were using windows xp sp2 instead of Vista (only affects the one program). If this doesnt work id hazard a guess that there is a fault with your copy of TM. A reinstall of the game may solve this. if not then there is possibly some file corruption

As for Itunes, i don't think you can use the protected MPEG-4 that Itunes uses to store music on your hard drive because of the nature of the file. You can save Itunes music directly onto a CD, and then burn that CD back onto your hard drive. I havent tried this but id be surprised if the files saves to CD as protected MPEG-4. Hopefully it will save as an mp3 which is much easier to convert to use with the movies (I convert most sound files to OGG as they are much more manageability to to high compression)

Hope this helps

[wackyal3000]

Actually you can very easily turn any iTunes file into a useable mp3.
Got to Edit then click Prefernces. Click General and then Import settings. Choose mp3 encoder. From now on when you import music it will be in mp3 but you can change it back. What is important is that now if you select a song and click Advanced at the top there will be an option to Create mp3 version.

[Gojira_Addicted]

Hey, my computer broke down and I ended up losing all of my data and games. I've finally got everything back and whatnot, and I finally just got around to trying this for the first time. When I switch to Windows XP Service Pack 2, I get this message:

"Cannot locate The Movies: Stunts and Effects CD
Please insert The Movies(TM) Stunts & Effects CD, select OK and restart"

I was just playing The Movies fifteen minutes ago, prior to switching to XP Service Pack 2. The CD is still in my computer, so I have no clue whats going on here. I just want the Freecam to work the way its supposed to. :/

[Evan Waters]

Okay, I'm exporting something from The Movies S&E which runs about 16 minutes, at Highest Quality. Obviously this will take a while but I have no choice because High Quality is so blurry.

Still, both times I've tried, it's hung at the "Exporting Movie. Please Wait" screen for upwards of 15-20 minutes. This shouldn't be happening, should it?

As best I can tell the only solution is for me to divvy it up into smaller chunks but this is a real pain given how the editor works. Am I missing something?

[Killian]

When exporting, make sure you have nothing else running in the background at all if you can help it (especially anything using codecs, like a video player or music).

I've never tried to export anything longer than about 8 minutes in one go in case this happens; I always shoot in chunks and assemble outside.

One thing you could try if you get no other suggestions:-

1) Make sure the studio lot is saved with the entire project as it is at the moment.

2) Take the script into PP. Make sure the whole thing is saved in PP with the name you've given it.

3) Delete everything after the 7 minute mark (or as close to it as you can get without splitting a scene).

4) Resave the edited version in PP but make sure you call it something else.

5) Export that half.

6) Exit the PP building and save the game again with a different name (make it something easy to remember so you know what part of the movie the studio lot contains).

7) Reload the first save you made (with the entire movie).

8) Go back into PP and delete the first half of the movie (sort out all your vocal tracks etc again); once it's how you want it, export the second half of the movie. Save it via PP with another new name so you know what the file is, export, exit and resave the lot again with a name you'll remember.

You should then have your exported file in two pieces that you can stitch back together as 1 half externally.

It's a major pain doing it this way, but it may be your last resort to try if all else fails.

[Evan Waters]

Yeah, I guess I'll have to look into incremental shooting from now on. It seems- I dunno, counterintuitive to me, but whatever works.

Am in the process of divvying my latest into pieces now.

[Harb40]

As Killian says, do your film in sections then assemble it in an outside editor. When I did Steph which was a bit over 12 minutes in length, I did it all in one shot using TM and it took over 30 minutes to render out.

The more you have in the film (sounds, music, fades) the longer it will take to render since it has to process it all. You will notice that first it does a sound update then it renders the film.

Try adding sound effects and music in an outside editor to free up TM's memory requirement for rendering.

[ashe5k]

Since I've been using an outside editing program I've been limiting my filming within the movies itself to about 5 minutes per block, or even just one scene at a time. It helps when you import it into the editing program if you ahve it arranged by scenes as some editors allow you to make folders to store and organize your clips, sounds, etc.

[Killian]

Since I've been using an outside editing program I've been limiting my filming within the movies itself to about 5 minutes per block, or even just one scene at a time. It helps when you import it into the editing program if you ahve it arranged by scenes as some editors allow you to make folders to store and organize your clips, sounds, etc.

These are wise words :)

I always do this; 5-8 minute scenes or blocks of scenes, only use the VO tracks and use the old "some assembly is required" adage in your outside editor, adding everything else afterwards.

It does, believe it or not, help a ton (although it does seem counter-intuitive); if for whatever reason you need to reshoot a portion of the movie (because you notice a glaring error or something after you've rendered it out), it doesn't then take hours to redo the whole thing. You just need to pop the bit you need back into AMM, re-jig, re-shoot that one sequence, re-render and voila!

None of this sound or scene shifting bug; much more painless and much easier in the end, in my opinion.

[Evan Waters]

I'm already going to do "pickups" for a few bits I've discovered I need (at least I will once I have the dialogue script worked out).

[sgnr76]

Yeah, I guess I'll have to look into incremental shooting from now on. It seems- I dunno, counterintuitive to me, but whatever works.

Am in the process of divvying my latest into pieces now.

If anything, incremental shooting is more like making a "real" movie.

The way I've been doing things is similar: shoot everything that needs to be done on the same set at the same time, and put everything together in the correct order in Vegas.

[shidden]

i do it like i would shoot a real movie, i shoot scene by scene - coz after a scene i will say CUT (by the way im using iclone). after shooting the scene.....example character is talking and i want a close up shot (only mouth and nose are in the frame), i shoot the close up scene and then render it and watch the file if everythings aiiight to me, then i shoot the next scene where maybe the characters talks further but then he ends his line and u see his full face. depends on what u want. i also could zoom from the close up shot out to the full face. you know what i mean. but the best thing u can do is shoot scene by scene and not 5 minutes in a row, where u see after rendering that something is wrong and u have to render it again. heres an advise to everybody thats interested... film ur animation movies like u would film a real movie. thats it.

[xyrzrockrain]

Hey guys! I have a question for you. How can you make the camera move more than twice in the movies? The movie asylum did this and I don't know how he did this.
CLICK HERE! (http://www.tmunderground.com/watch/6a223862e0fdd2577705/Asylum)

You can see that he pans the camera left and right.

How does he do that?

[ashe5k]

Hey guys! I have a question for you. How can you make the camera move more than twice in the movies? The movie asylum did this and I don't know how he did this.
CLICK HERE! (http://www.tmunderground.com/watch/6a223862e0fdd2577705/Asylum)

You can see that he pans the camera left and right.

How does he do that?

It looks like they used the shaky cam mod, but to get pans, you make the move with the camera in the first scene to where you want it to stop, then duplicate the scene. From there pick up where you stopped the camera and start it panning in a different direction. Then splice the two shots together to make one continuous shot at where the two spots met.

If you don't want to do this within the game itself, you can always just do the set-ups with the duplication and splice the two movements together in an outside editor as well.

Hope that makes sense. I'm sure there's another method to do it, but that's the way I learned to do it.

[xyrzrockrain]

It looks like they used the shaky cam mod, but to get pans, you make the move with the camera in the first scene to where you want it to stop, then duplicate the scene. From there pick up where you stopped the camera and start it panning in a different direction. Then splice the two shots together to make one continuous shot at where the two spots met.

If you don't want to do this within the game itself, you can always just do the set-ups with the duplication and splice the two movements together in an outside editor as well.

Hope that makes sense. I'm sure there's another method to do it, but that's the way I learned to do it.

I was hoping multiple pans was possible in one freecam movement but :(

Thanks anyway. Btw where can I find this shaky cam mod?

[ashe5k]

I was hoping multiple pans was possible in one freecam movement but :(

Thanks anyway. Btw where can I find this shaky cam mod?

While I can't find a link to the shaky cam mod, I MIGHT have a copy of it in my back-ups, but I won't be able to look through those until tomorrow.

[Harb40]

where can I find this shaky cam mod?

Augie64 filter mod (http://8eyedbaby.com/8eyedCM/content/displayMods.php?ModID=2808)

This mod allows for camera shake, camera blur, film scratches, burn holes, yellowing effects and more. Each setting has multiple levels so you can have very little shake or an earthquake, very little blur or almost obscurred.

Install it & put a shortcut on your desktop. Start the filter mod, make your choices, then start TM. What ever you have selected in the mod will then show up on your rendered film. You must exit TM and close the filter mod each time you use it or it will remember the filter settings and do that until the mod is reset. One thing to remember, this will effect the whole film.

If you only want the camera shake in a certain scene, start the mod, shoot the scene, render it, save it and then use an outside editor to piece together your film.

Have fun with it.

[Uber]

It is also very possible it was doe with some editing software like vegas, magix or ae.

[xyrzrockrain]

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

EDIT:
Can anyone point out a a good resource for freecam tips for the movies?

[Augie64]

Augie64 filter mod (http://8eyedbaby.com/8eyedCM/content/displayMods.php?ModID=2808)

This mod allows for camera shake, camera blur, film scratches, burn holes, yellowing effects and more. Each setting has multiple levels so you can have very little shake or an earthquake, very little blur or almost obscurred.

Install it & put a shortcut on your desktop. Start the filter mod, make your choices, then start TM. What ever you have selected in the mod will then show up on your rendered film. You must exit TM and close the filter mod each time you use it or it will remember the filter settings and do that until the mod is reset. One thing to remember, this will effect the whole film.

If you only want the camera shake in a certain scene, start the mod, shoot the scene, render it, save it and then use an outside editor to piece together your film.

Have fun with it.

Wow, i cant believe my old mod is still alive and being used :thumbup1:

[Harb40]

Wow, i cant believe my old mod is still alive and being used :thumbup1:

WOW! A blast from the past. Glad to see you are still keeping your eye on the community Augie. :clap:

Of course your mod is still in use. I use it quite a bit and people have asked me where to get it. Outside of Tarison's bluescreen mod, I truly believe this is one of the best mods made. :punk:

[Augie64]

WOW! A blast from the past. Glad to see you are still keeping your eye on the community Augie. :clap:

Of course your mod is still in use. I use it quite a bit and people have asked me where to get it. Outside of Tarison's bluescreen mod, I truly believe this is one of the best mods made. :punk:

I wish i still had the code for it. So many computer crashes and reformats that it got lost. It was a simple program that just wrote a new config file somewhere.

I would have at least tweaked the help file to direct to here since it seems reviewtrader is gone the way of the dodo.

[Makrim]

need help making an entire greenscreen set also struggling to find more custom animations... any help? I coloured the tile texture that comes with with the download to green but still no luck on getting the flooring entirely green also need help with removing the shadows on the set. If someone could link me to a site with the animations for the tarison set then that would be a great help too thanks!