Well... I've made my first attempt at an intro movie for Chapter One of The Relbonian Chronicles, bringing me ever closer to a final release, although I have hit a snag with it. Although I don't have PowerPoint, I managed to combine my editing skills in both Windows Live Movie Maker and Activision "The Movies" to make something I'm satisfied with. In order to keep the file size down I couldn't go into the complete Mythology, so condensed it down, hoping that it will be enough of a teaser to encourage further reading on the subject within the module, and give an indication as to why our hero is destined to meet the God of Death.
My problem stems from the process whereby the video is "Binked" to make it compatible with NWN. My understanding was that the process would condense the file, but in reality it has doubled the size to over 40 meg, which is clearly undesireable. Perhaps if the movie started in AVI format Bink would be more successful, but I don't have the tools to convert my movie to AVI in order to experiment. Perhaps someone here can offer suggestions?
Anyway, here's the movie (subject to successful imbedding). Comments appreciatted. :)
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
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2 comments:
Hi Geoff,
That's a great video! I hope some of my directions helped. :)
I don't think having the movie in any format will make much difference as the bik file is a standard, which means whatever the original format, any "binking" results in the format the bik wants.
The length was about right really. Anything longer may have "lost" the viewer, and is something that can be expanded on later throughout the module itself anyway.
By the way, you mention Activision's "The Movies" - is this a free program? Is there a link?
How did you end up capturing video footage? You have some "movie" shots that show "moving static images" that looks interesting. How was this done? The Activision prog? E.g. Most of the shots involving the moon and planet.
And where did you get the music from?
While I am used to many of the techniques, there are one or two that look as though you had extra software that may be offering some useful angles to work with.
Maybe this requires another visit. ;)
Great stuff!
Lance.
"The Movies" isn't free, but I believe you can still buy it, although from my understanding the official website that used to host uploaded user created movies is no longer supported.
It's a great tool, particularly with the expansion pack (Stunts & Effects) that allows you to position the camera anywhere within a scene.
On the downside it lacks any fantasy sets or even costumes. Had it had that, it would have been the perfect tool. Having said that, there are community mods available that offer free expansions, but I'm yet to find anything that would suit. For moving static shots however, you can easily import backdrops that could be NWN screencaps, which is something I am considering for the end movie. I let the Windows Movie Maker deal with the text as it had more options than "The Movies."
As for the music, that was from "The Movies" too.
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