GRRR Squad Forum

Recently I have been pondering how i can contribute to the clan with regards to content creation. So after some deliberation, and inspiring videos from Ph4tso and Sexy_Jonny, i have decided i want to give video editing a crack when bf4 gets released.

So in order for me to get cracking I was wondering what you seasoned pros use for editing and video capture?

Also if money was no object, what video editing software would be the best? on the flip side, what is the most noob friendly, and what would be considered a good balance?

Sony Vegas Pro 12 - Very simple to use, full of features, powerful - good app - Phatso favorite
Adobe Premiere - NoobUNFriendly, exceptionally powerful - still my favorite
EDIUS - NoobUNFriendly, exceptionally powerful - still S3xyboys favorite

It boils down to experience and workflow, but you'd do well to start with Sony Vegas Pro 12.

Special Effects added to Video:

Adobe After Effects - Good for adding special effects to clips. Over an above the fade and awesome functions Premier pro deliver. Both Packages have a steep learning curve but once you the the basic's it becomes rinse and repeat.

But take Slipo's hours over mine I've only clocked a couple of hundred hours over and above Slipo's MILLIONs!

mmm, Stu is correctus - For adding additional effects - Adobe After Effects is almost unmatchable - I lurv AE and I want her to have my kittens

EDIUS for editing
http://www.grassvalley.com/products/nlesoftware


& Canopus Procoder for conversions
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/497234-REG/Grass_Valley_606195_ProCoder_3_Encoding_Software.html

(I think you can get both as a package for about R6000, so quite 'spensive.)

You CAN get a lightweight version of Edius called Edius Neo 3 which only costs about R2000, but then you still need a converter.

Capture is still best with FRAPS imo. If you record 'Full size', it literally captures the exact quality that you see when you play. The better the quality of your original footage, the better it will look after it's been compressed for YouChoob.

EDIT: In the meantime, may I suggest that you record your footage and upload it to YouTube as unlisted then send me the link and I'll do some edits of your gameplay til you're comfortable doing them yourself?

So far as I know (everything that I've read and researched) - the Nvidia ShadowPlay tech that's being release on 28th October with the newest driver - will be even better. Hardware h.264 encoding of full screen - close on 0% impact on performance as video is encoded in the hardware (no performance ht) and written to disk (small i/o performance hit to write).

Basically the new ShadowPlay capture tech will purdy much put FRAPS out of business.

BUT - we havent seen it in action yet - so, reserve comment and associated thumbs up till then.

ShadowPlay is only available for Cards that have the H.264 chip built in (Nvidia 600 - 700 series cards)

While its awesome learning to video edit and very satisfying after working hard on something, there are serious nuances with all the software. Sony Vegas as an example, cannot work with AVI files, which is the primary output of 90% of recording software out there. Which means I have to use Handbrake to convert files from AVI (DXtory's output) to MP4 (what Vegas will accept). ++Reason for why Shadowplay will be the seks.

Harddrive space is another issue. I record to one of my SSD's and have to move files off of it to make space for more recording. A bit of a pain, but read/write speeds of hard drives make a big difference when recording gameplay and how noticeable the performance impact is. ++Reason for why Shadowplay will be the seks.

Things get tricky when you want to record VOIP too.

If you record gameplay while in TS, unless you have seperate audio channels for TS and games, you will record chatter over gameplay which is not always ideal. On the flip side, if you want to capture chatter, that is why I use DXtory, because you can record multiple audio tracks. BUT, then you have to rip them out using software (VLC can do this believe it or not.. I need to double check what software I use, but it may be Audacity+FFmpeg plugin). You then have to ensure that your video and audio are sync'd correctly so the conversations flow.

Windows Movie Maker (LOLPANTS RIGHT?!?!?) is not a bad little tool that is free for if you really wanna take it slow getting into editing. You get tracks and a few special effects. Unless you going to town with a vid, its not the worst thing in the world.

After all of this, you need to ensure you render into a YouTube friendly format... Things like file size, resolution, quality etc etc.. But that all depends on the software you use. For example, I made a custom preset in Vegas for 720p only, and still has high-ish quality, while keeping file size sort of down. In the future I will be looking at getting some 1080p out.

Anways, enuff wall 'o txt... Can chat whenever in TS if you wanna know more.