I'd like to start making FSX movies - where do I start?

Hi all,

I've been hoping to start creating my own FSX videos sometime in the near future. I've spent a lot of time watching some of the great movies that have been shared on YouTube which feature HD aircrafts and scenery with fantastic music and effects. I wanted to try and make some similar movies, but had a few questions for anyone who has done this before:

1. From what I've read, FRAPS seems to be one of the most popular recording applications - is this still true?

2. Any recommendations for editing software?

3. Does the video need to be rendered after editing? If so, is it a good idea to render the video on a separate machine from my FSX gaming machine (would the render be too hard on the CPU over time)?

As always, I appreciate your time and feedback! Thank you!

Fraps is a good product and easy to use. You can try it for free in 30 second segments before you buy it. FSX has already done the "rendering." Fraps records it.

I use the free Movie Maker which comes with Windows to do my editing. You can use these tools to learn the trade and practice your technique and if confident, you can move up to more expensive editing tools, but MM has a rich tool set for beginners.

-Pv-

You might also try Shadow Play. Look here: http://www.geforce.com/geforce-experience/shadowplay

Although it says FSX is not supported I had no problems getting it to work. I use Movie Maker for editing.

Be aware that those "great movies that have been shared on YouTube which feature HD aircrafts and scenery with fantastic music and effects".......

are made by folks with a LOT of experience and many hours of time creating them.

Start off slow and easy and use the free FRAPS initially as well as the Windows Movie Maker built in to your OS. Once you get the basics, then slowly work into the higher end editing, you will find that it's a lot of work to get to the level of some of those videos.

A couple of tips...

FRAPS records as .avi files and they are large, you should use a dedicated hard drive for all your 'capture' and always defrag it prior to editing.

Using WMM to edit, you will have a choice as to how you want to save and export the video, using differetn 'codecs'...I suggest you stick with .wmv at first, as those will play in most locations.

Remember that the end product is only as good as the source video, so take your time setting up the shots, "fix it in post" is something to avoid as much has possible.

Above all, have fun with it! :-)

WMM will save to MP4 which is easily played on most computers, YouTube and Windows media player. The MP4 compression is very good and without it, some movies could get too big to upload/download.

-Pv-

I agree with everything that has been said. I just wanted to add that you can learn to use FSRecorder to 'add' to your filming experience. It offers views, replay, saving footage, playing multiple recorded video(s) of aircraft 'as AI' then recording those 'replay' footage at the same time (ie: multiple aircraft flying together). Just an idea for you to consider. Here is an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeL9yG7aJkI .

Your system is more than qualified to do videos. Be sure to choose 'High Quality' (large file) for saving of Win Movie Maker videos. The 'pro' software can be very expensive (ie: Vegas). Learn to use WMM. Save a buck. It will do, for now. Cheers.

Chuck B

Napamule

Thank you for all of the feedback and suggestions, I sincerely appreciate it!

I will take a look at all of the applications suggested here and start to tinker around with them - primarily FRAPS, WMM, and FSRecorder. I certainly have my expectations in check in terms of starting with the basics before moving onto the more advanced editing techniques, but I just needed an idea of what applications or tools I should be starting with :D

When I finally get some free time back on the weekends, I'd love to start making these movies as an expansion to my FSX hobby :pilot: so I appreciate all the assistance!

EDIT: I also appreciate the clarification regarding where the "rendering" is done. I am obviously new to the world of video editing, and didn't even think of FSX as already doing the actual rendering!! From what little I know, I understood that video rendering could be intensive of a CPU, so I was just trying to be mindful of that on my gaming machine, but since the game itself is already rendering the video, there's no issue there! Again, I appreciate the clarification here.

'Video rendering is the process by which a computer processes information from a coded data source and uses that information to produce and display an image.'

This is what your video card's 'JOB' is: to covert code (ie:1's and 0's) being generated by the FSX 'Engine' and translate that ('render') into a display of fluid motion of aircraft flying though the air (aka: graphics). You can use a 'screen capture' program such as Fraps to make video (as '*.avi' in this case).

But YouTube won't accept *.avi footage as *.avi video's file size is HUGE (10X a wmv). Thus you must 're-compile' it using Win Movie Maker, which can convert footage to '*.wmv', '*.flv', or *.MP4', and reduces the file size. Those 3 are 'ok' file size for a YouTube video. The average, or ideal, video length is around 4 minutes. A 10 minute video usually is too long for an 'average' viewer (they get bored easy). Just a hint.

FSRecorder CAN render video. You save a replay and FSRecorder will render the footage (if you set it up first) when replayed. FSRecorder takes it's time doing it (as rendering is not being executed in 'real time' (it's a replay) so this result is much smoother graphics (no stutters). There's a learning curve. But not impossible to learn.

Chuck B

Napamule

"I understood that video rendering could be intensive of a CPU"

Yup, thus the complaints about FSX frame rates and stutters!

Game engines are essentially 3D rendering engines and in FS, the system CPU does more of the work than in modern games where an increasing amount of workload is getting sent to the video card as vid card features get richer and GPUs continue to get faster. This is a large portion of the work being done with P3D to "modernize" FS to pass more of the workload off onto the GPU.

-Pv-

Just a suggestion about what could you do, not editing and stuff. I think there isn't many reviews of aircraft and sceneries. There obviously are some, but bear in mind , that not many. Also, you could do flights with live commentary, or do something aboout how to land in a crosswind or how to use taildraggers, becuae these aren't the most popular solutions for YT flightsimmers.

Good luck!!!