MAKING A VIDEO FOR VS

1.  Firstly you obtain yourself a copy of FRAPS www.fraps.com , pay for it, its worth it.

2.  Install it, you need to make sure that you set the "Capture Key" as something that isn't used in VS (F9 for example).

3.  Make sure you've got heaps of hard disk space where you will capture your video (the total size of the video files can be as large as 1Gb when you are finished capturing).

4.  Start fraps, then start VS. Load your favourite boat and scenery, set the weather and display properties (Recommend not using bump mapping for the water unless you have a 512Mb Video card as the FPS will drop dramatically when you start recording). When you are happy with your settings, press F9 to start recording and F9 to stop recording.  Note that you'll see a new set of FPS readings in large yellow font at the top left corner of your screen, these numbers will turn RED when you are recording.

5.  Once you've recorded all the things you need to record, its time for editing. Use WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER, its the easiest software to use and it comes pre-installed with Windows XP. If you use Linux, you're sh*t out of luck I'm afraid. Using WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER is simple, you simply import the video file that you want to start with then drag it to the time line at the bottom of the screen. You can clip bits out from the beginning and end of the selection aswell. Keep importing video files and drag them to the time line in the sequence that suits you.


 

6.  Once you have imported all the clips and adjusted the sizes as necessary, you can put some funky stuff in between the clips, these are called transitions and add a bit of professionalism to your new movie.  Use the simplest transition first off, click on VIEW VIDEO TRANSITIONS in the "EDIT MOVIE" section on the left side of the screen, scroll down the page until you see FADE, drag this to the point between your clips as show in the image below.  Be warned though, that if you intend being creative, try not to mix too many different transitions into your movie as it can become boring and take the viewers attention away from the actual content of the movie.

7.  You've put all your transitions in now and you are ready to add music.  One place to get music for free and legally is from www.FreePlayMusic.com they allow use of their music scores free of charge for non-commercial puroses, so don't try and sell your creation :).  Download your music scores and save them somewhere handy on your PC.  Try and download a score that fits the timeline of your movie clip with a bit of fat on either side, ie. if the total timeline of your movie clip is 3.15, try and find a score that is 2.50 or something close, this extra fat will be used for adding a title and credits later on in the tutorial.

8.  Back to the MOVIE MAKER now.  Click on IMPORT AUDIO OR MUSIC from the CAPTURE VIDEO section on the left side of the page, select the location where you saved your music score, select the file, then click IMPORT.  Drag the imported file to the AUDIO/MUSIC section of the timeline as shown.

9.  You can move the music and clip the music to your desired length, but its not recommended to do this unless you want to end your clip suddenly.

10.  You've now done the following:

    RECORDED, EDITED, ADDED MUSIC

11.  It now time to do the finishing touches before you save your movie.  Lets add a title and some credits at the end.

12.  Click on MAKE TITLES OR CREDITS in the EDIT MOVIE section on the left side of the MOVIE MAKER.  You need to do some experimenting with text size, animations etc here, but this is what I use.  There won't be much writing from here on, as its pictures paints words.

Click on TITLE AT THE BEGINNING

Type your title in the top section and your name in the bottom section, then click on CHANGE THE TITLE ANIMATION

I always use MOVING TITLES, LAYERED - TRANSPARENT OVERLAPPING TITLES, I think its the best title available.  Select this and then click on CHANGE TEXT FONT AND COLOR

Click on the text color box, select your favorite text color then click OK.

Click on the background color box, select your favorite background color then click OK.

Click on INCREASE/DECREASE TEXT SIZE until you are happy with the outcome in the preview window.  Click DONE, ADD TITLE TO MOVIE.

Now we need to make sure that the title and the first frames of the clip blend in together, do this by RIGHT CLICKING on the first clip after the title and select FADE IN.

Now we can add the credits at the end of the movie.

Click on MAKE TITLES OR CREDITS again, then select CREDITS AT THE END. 

Type the title of your movie in the top box, then add the credits as shown above.  Its not recommended to change the animation in this instance, unless you are feeling adventurous, so leave the animation as it is.  You can change the background and text colors by doing the same as the previous steps for adding a title.  Once you are happy with the outcome in the preview window, click DONE, ADD TITLE TO MOVIE.  Now we need to make sure the final frames of the movie blend in with the closing credits, to do this, RIGHT CLICK on the last clip in the move before the credits at the end, then select FADE OUT as show below.

13.  You are now ready to save the movie as a movie file to your PC.  Click on SAVE TO MY COMPUTER in the FINISH MOVE section, then follow the prompts.

Select a name for your movie, then click NEXT

Click on the radio button beside BEST FIT TO FILE SIZE:, use the up and down buttons to select 4MB then click NEXT

The movie will be saved and compressed, this may take some time, depending on the amount of clips and effects you used in your movie.  Once the movie has been saved, the following screen will be displayed.

You can now click on FINISH.  View your completed movie before you close MOVIE MAKER by navigating to wherever it was saved and opening the movie file in your favorite movie viewer.  Once you are happy with the outcome, you can close MOVIE MAKER and delete all the clips (unless you want to save them for later).

Thats about it.

TIPS

1. Record for 30 seconds or less at a time.
2. To change angles, press F9 to stop recording, then press ALT to pause the simulator, change to another view (External, fly by etc) press ALT again to restore the simulation and then F9 again to resume recording.
3. Try to keep your total recording time below 5minutes, no-one really has the patience to watch a long recording that is doing the same thing over and over again.
 

Jason Simpson