Vidding help?

[silversolitaire]

I know a couple of peeps on my f-list have had experience with vidding. I'm trying my hand on one right now, too. I don't expect any stellar results, but right now I'm encountering a bunch of problems that annoy the fuck out of me and that I just can't figure out. My main problem is that my source is in letterbox format (which I can't really pinpoint since somehow every video seems to have a different size >.>;). Anyway, it's letterbox. But Microsoft Movie Maker only wants to output 640x480 or 320x240. Which makes sense. Yet it causes the end result to be squashed. That looks mega sucky and I hate it. Obviously, I need to add black bars at the top and bottom. But how?!? And how can I make the program do what I want? x_x

Alternatively, I'm willing to use a different program. I tried out Zweistein but I couldn't even begin to figure out what it wanted from me O.o. I'd like to have a program that's pretty much catering to n00bs like me.

And then there's the problem that the end result is less than stellar. I understand that I can't expect supermegacrisp images with a free program, but I want them to at least not be completely and utterly shitty and grainy. Is there any other way to achieve that? I see that I can save it as some DVD thing but then the output is insane! Like 800 megs or so! This is inacceptable obviously... Unless I can reduce that again later with VirtualDub... must check. But how do you guys do it? O.o;

Comments

[krss.livejournal.com]

May I point vidderella, my very accomplished vidder friend, to this entry?

I haven't used WMM with anything else than ordinary format (I just used it for one vid), but I don't think you can put strips on the vid with it.. there's not much you can do with that crappy prog. I would suggest Sony Vegas 5, but only if you can get it.. cheap. =P Then you can do anything of what you said, and way more. And it's easy to use.

After you output a good quality and huge video you can reduce it with a converter to .wmv format: Windows Media Encoder. That's free, offered by Microsoft.

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Sure! If you can get an accomplished vidder to actually want to listen to my n00by talk, I'll be more than happy! XD;

WWW seems simply to use... but that's about it. It really has a lot of limitations. But so far, it's the only program I found that actually works intuitively. Because I really suck at reading instructions and manuals. I just don't get them. I'm the type who just messes around and figures it out and then needs to ask questions when it doesn't work out. I probably annoy people with it, but I just can't understand manuals.

Sony Vegas 5... hmmm. None of the vidding help sites I found mentioned this program, but I'm gonna trust your judgement and see if my, er, local distributor has it >.>.

I've already managed to figure out how to solve the aspect ratio problem (after I could pinpoint the name of the problem, google works like a charm, haha) and I just rendered a huge file and then ran it past Virtuadub to reduce size. Unfortunately, now I got a DivX logo stuck in the corner -_-. But I guess that's my lesser problem for now. The far more pressing problem now is that apparently I suck XD;.

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

What do you know, they had Sony Vegas 5 >.>. Anyway, I tried it out and it's pretty cool! It doesn't have that nice old movie filter though that MMM had, but I'm sure that can be fixed. Right now I just have one bizarre problem O.o. How do I save the entire movie? I can save the project just fine, but when I hit "Render as" it renders ONLY the segment it's at. What gives? *teh confused*

[krss.livejournal.com]

It doesn't have the old movie filter? I don't rememeber.. There are tutorials for it though. Loads.

I pointed her, hopefully she'll arrive soon. =)

You need to select the entire movie and then 'Render as'. You drag your mouse above the tracks to select something.

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Well I suppose I can find one somewhere eventually. I haven't really checked them all out yet. I tried a combination of sepia, film grain and noise before but the results were rather, erm... not so nice. Guess that's the only upside of MMM being a progpy for n00bs. It comes with a couple of really neat pre-made things (just like Windows!) so you don't need to think much, but as soon as you want to customize and raise your head above the flock, yer screwed (just like Windows!).

I actually tried to select the whole movie but for some reason it totally ignored me -_-. I just closed and opened the project again and then it worked. >.> Easy fix. hehehe...

[krss.livejournal.com]

Yah, WMM is similar to Windows.. it was better than what I used in the beginning, a prog that didn't even cut clips, but I ditched it for Vegas in a heartbeat.

Hehe. When it doesn't work, close all windows and open them again. =P

[hinky.livejournal.com]

I was pointed! Seems I may be too late.. ?

For your render problem though, make sure the "Render loop region only" ISNT checked when you go to render your vid. It's a little checkbox under the drop down box of render settings..

For old movie effects, there isn't one EXACTLY the same as WMM, but you can do it like you've been doing by combining sepia effects, noise, etc, or there is an effect "Film Effects" which give you results closer to that WMM offer.

The best thing about the Vegas effects is that they're really highly customizable, so by playing around with the settings you should be able to get pretty close to the Old Film effects in Movie Maker. ^_^

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Haha hi! Thanks for trying to help me out! Krss is right, the program really is pretty good. It did exactly what I wanted it to. What I haven't quite figured out yet is how to do fade ins and stuff. I mean, I don't want to use them a whole lot, but right now I can't find them at all! How can I make one scene blend into the other one, possibly with effects? What I'm trying to do is this: I've had this longish scene, which is taking place "now", which I intercut with flashbacks which I marked with them being monochrome. Then I kinda want to show that the rest of what we're seeing is "dwelling on memories", kinda. But I don't want the whole thing to be in black and white now, you know? So I was kinda thinking that if I end the scene that's the beginning of this montage with a kinda of... warp-effect or so, that might do the trick. But I can't find any of that. Especially, I can't seem to use an effect on just a part of a segment, such as the end of it, but always have to apply it to the entire thing. Got any input on how I can achieve that? Or maybe you got a better idea on how to achieve the effect I'm looking for? Thanks! ^^

[hinky.livejournal.com]

Ok, so no idea what you have in mind for "warp effect". Any examples of that one? lol. All I can suggest at the moment is browsing through the transitions tab?

The way you apply effects to just part of a scene is with Keyframes.
(http://photobucket.com)

If you wanted to, for example, apply a blur effect to the last 20% of the scene, you'd set the keyframes 1 and 2 (in the image above) to 0% and keyframe 3 to 100%. Doing it this way you wouldn't need keyframe 4, but you'll find that the footage will go from 0% effect applied, to 100% effect applied pretty much instantly which can be a little jarring on the eye.

If you wanted to go for a more progressive blur, you'd set keyframes 1 and 2 to 0% and keyframe 4 (you wouldn't need #3) to 100%. That way, Vegas will build up the blur effect over the time it takes to get from #2 to #4.


To fade in/out is simple. The easiest way is to simply grab the top left corner (to fade in)/top right corner (fade out) of your clip and drag in inwards. It will create a curved line on your footage, showing you the way Vegas will fade in/out. You can alter the type of fade, too (sharp, gradual, etc) by right clicking on the fade and choosing a different fade type. This works for audio as well as video..

I hope I haven't drowned you in information.. lol