Video Creation - Tips, Tricks and software

[synkrotron]

That Nerus video worked better than I thought Tony.

One criticism I read somewhere about Sonic Candle is its handling of the higher frequencies. Along with that, a lot of stuff I do doesn't do much over 5kHz and so there's not much action in the spectrum over to the right.

One idea I have had to try and improve that is to take a version of the track I want to use and boost the EQ at the higher end. And then in the video editor, mute the audio that comes with the Sonic Candle video and use the original track.

In fact, I think you should mute the Sonic Candle audio anyway, because it may not be doing such a great job with it. I used a 320kbps file for Sentinel, which may not have helped at all with the audio quality. I did try a 24 bit 44.1kHz file at first and Sonic Candle couldn't handle it.

So, as simple is it seems, I think that we could get some more mileage out of Sonic Candle, by using it in slightly different ways within the video editor, and not making it the centre of attention.

[synkrotron]

Okay... I have decided to bite the bullet and delve further into fractals.

I tried doing some animated stuff with JWildfire last year, but I didn't get anywhere with it. Partly down to me and partly down to the software.

I knew that Stan (Boson Spin) used one the the popular fractal generators to create some of his track artwork, and he told me today that he uses Chaotica, which I have heard of, but never looked into it.

There are three levels at which you can use this software, each has its limitations. The free version only allows thirty second videos, for instance:-

http://www.chaoticafractals.com/

Here is a thirty second snippet I did this morning, after much messing around and a few fails:-

https://youtu.be/klA6jZLOnr0

Quality is poor, as I am using the free version.

I'm sure that the higher quality stuff will leave my laptop crippled for many days!


cheers

andy

[windspace]

OK, dipping my toes in here...
I used a brief fractal animation that I previuosly created Using Frax HD on my iPad. (If you like messing around with fractals even a little bit, you should definitely go get this app immediately!) Then I inserted the video into Reaper (as .mov) and added a soundtrack using Bazille. Then rendered to mp4 using Reaper.
This was done mainly as an upload test as my rural internet connection is painfully slow. Upload speed is listed at 0.28 mbs. I think we might hit that on a good day...
So a few days ago it finally worked it's way into my consciousness that if I wanted to create videos, that would be all fine until I tried to share one of them! Ergo this little test. Mp4 file size = 3.4 MB. Upload time was surprisingly a little less than a minute. So there is hope if I can limit the file size.
To that end, a question for you fine folks - What video resolution and file formats do you use; and what is a typical filesize for the videos you create?

https://youtu.be/TMkz9g7NgLs

[synkrotron]

Hi Bruce,

That video is listed as private so we cannot view it here. Not quite sure how that works... I think you may have to e-mail a link, or something.

Resolution and file sizes... Well, this is still an area that is a but hit and miss for me.

My M81 video is a tad over eight minutes long and was rendered at 1280 x 720, 25 fps as a WMV file. Can't remember why I went for WMV, but the file size is around 471mb. The audio was rendered at 192kbps/44kHz.

Sentinel, which is seven minutes long, was rendered at 1920 x 1080, 29 fps as a MP4 file and is around 861mb. Audio was 192kbps/48kHz.

Not a clue why the audio is slightly different. Choosing formats is something I still need to get a grip of, amongst other things and as soon as I think I have it sussed I'll post about it here .

The thirty second Chaotica test is similar to Sentinel and is around 60mb, so is kind of around the expected size, using Sentinel as an example.

[windspace]

Andy,
Thanks for the info! And thanks for letting me know you couldn't see the vid. It's the very first time I've uploaded anything to YT. I'll change the settings so you can see it.
i'm going to search around for some kind of 'YT tips-n-tricks stuff to see if I can find some format recommendations. Right now if I need to upload anything of any size, I need to go to town somewhere that has a reasonable speed connection!

[rant]...It was better earlier last year but then corporate acquisitions occurred and we have subsequently been throttled back...because you know, rural customers just don't even need to have faster connections available...especially if the provider wants to sell the bandwidth to online TV viewers in the city...[/rant]

[YnotB]

One criticism I read somewhere about Sonic Candle is its handling of the higher frequencies. Along with that, a lot of stuff I do doesn't do much over 5kHz and so there's not much action in the spectrum over to the right.

One idea I have had to try and improve that is to take a version of the track I want to use and boost the EQ at the higher end. And then in the video editor, mute the audio that comes with the Sonic Candle video and use the original track.

In fact, I think you should mute the Sonic Candle audio anyway, because it may not be doing such a great job with it. I used a 320kbps file for Sentinel, which may not have helped at all with the audio quality. I did try a 24 bit 44.1kHz file at first and Sonic Candle couldn't handle it.

So, as simple is it seems, I think that we could get some more mileage out of Sonic Candle, by using it in slightly different ways within the video editor, and not making it the centre of attention.

Yeah. Good thinking, andy. The Sonic Candle audio is muted - was necessary otherwise there was some awful distortion with both audio tracks playing. The EQ shift idea should work. I'll give it a go

[YnotB]

The Fractal stuff is interesting. Summat else to look into. Thanks all :-)

[synkrotron]

Okay Peeps,

Here's another Chaotica test video.

I've tried to give a brief description of the creative process on the youtube video:-

https://youtu.be/iJJeUsal5K4

Not particularly interesting, but it is giving me ideas for future creations.

The Chaotica worlds were not that complex with just two iterations and transformations. However, the 1800 images took over eight hours to render...

[YnotB]

Good stuff andy. Great track too

[windspace]

Found some fast internet in the city today and uploaded this video.
Production notes: Video originally captured with point & shoot digital camera. Edited video in shotcut - Sepia and Contrast filters with slight cropping. Added audio track in Shotcut also.

This is a song I recorded last year, the audio has been up on Soundcloud for that long, but I thought this footage fit the song so well...

https://youtu.be/0tuSoCoGbF8

[synkrotron]

Thanks for uploading that Bruce

Like you say, the video footage and music go together really well.

And it shows that the simplest seeming idea, videoing an outdoor scene, can be used to great effect

[gis_sweden]

Interesting reading!
But, no, I won’t invest time in this area too. I stick to Movie Maker :roll:
Feel tempted, however…

Trends right now: kaleidoscope effects and fractal effects.
Why?

[synkrotron]

Why?

Because we can :D

[synkrotron]

Okay, this is the last time I am posting a fractal based video here, as I think I may have kicked the arse out of it. And, after all, this topic is about tips and tricks and although I can obviously share with you how I created this, I think I've just about covered using Chaotica for animations:-

https://youtu.be/Q_33CGxN23Q

If anyone has any questions, I will do my best to help


cheers

andy

[YnotB]

Excellent, andy. Great work