BattleNova™ Videomaker Thread

[drewprops]

I'd love to discuss how you guys are capturing your video (software, hardware, etc) so I am starting this thread for that as a continuing discussion.



Hardware Minimum Requirements

My machine is a MBP, so it sounds like I'm out of the running for playing AND capturing.

Could a MacMini possibly handle running the game AND doing video capture to an external drive?




Software Capture Apps

I have SnapzPro, but I know that there are other, newer video capture apps out there - what are you using and why?



Title Graphics

Each player usually creates their own title screens but sometimes they have a shared graphic to help brand the overall event.

Maybe the winner of each season gets to make or pick the graphic for ensuing seasons?


http://i.imgur.com/d3f5y29.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/q6zhgId.jpg)


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[drewprops]

Resolution

What's an "okay" resolution versus a really good resolution?



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[kscherer]

I think we should stick with a graphic for the sake of continuity/recognition and not go changing it up.

Also, I have to say that I like the one you have created, only I think the swords should be crossed and inside a shield (perhaps wood would look best). ;)

[drewprops]

Well the kerning is way off on this but it could suggest a direction :)

[Robo]

I'm glad you said it so I didn't have to. :p Those Ts were making me T_T

I really liked the little animation/musical ditty that Brad put in front of all his videos. I was like "ooh, production values!"

[RowdyScot]

I wish I had any clue about this kinda stuff. I need to work on a Twitch intro and outro.

[drewprops]

When watching the UHC episodes it helps for me to see DIFFERENT cards for each season, and each player, and a bit of customization between players can be fun. Maybe we have common library elements we can provide to everyone?

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[turtle]

I like the title card you made, though shouldn't it use our texture pack's swords?

Maybe some X-ray blocks and invisible players too. :p

Really though I love the idea. I'm planning to get an Apple Trackpad (or bring mine home from work) so I can play on Beast where I can play and record at the same time. My MBP would run out of space way to fast if I tried to play and record on it.

Personally I'll use ScreenFlow (http://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htm) (regularly in a software bundle for a fraction of retail) or Quicktime (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4024) to record my perspective. I'm also planning to share on Twitch too, so that should be recorded as well. I try to be sure everything I do is 1080p at least so it looks great on large or high res screens. Sure it's bigger, but since most people are going to be watching via Youtube the scaling will be on them for that anyway.

[Brad]

Hardware Minimum Requirements

My machine is a MBP, so it sounds like I'm out of the running for playing AND capturing.
Don't count yourself out! When we played two weeks ago in the inaugural game, I was playing on an early 2011 15" MacBook Pro. I ran the game full-screen with TeamSpeak in the background and Snapz Pro X also capturing full-screen. All local. No external drives or anything like that.

Could a MacMini possibly handle running the game AND doing video capture to an external drive?
Maybe! This probably depends mostly on the resolution of your screen. The larger your screen resolution, the more taxing the endeavor will be on your CPU, GPU, and disk.

I have SnapzPro, but I know that there are other, newer video capture apps out there - what are you using and why?
That's what I use, but I haven't really tried out the competition. Then I (painstakingly) processed the intro, outro, and episodes in iMovie. I really really wish I still had a Final Cut license because I know it would have handled the process far more easily. Making precise anythings in iMovie is an excruciating exercise. I had to make several sacrifices to the elder gods.

[Brad]

I like the title card you made, though shouldn't it use our texture pack's swords?
That was my exact thought when I first saw Drew's post a few days ago, and I'm just now getting around to making my own version. :)

My original title card used the darker, greener anniversary-themed AppleNova background color. I've updated it to use our current background and added some graphics.

http://i.imgur.com/nOga4nB.jpg

Not quite sure if I like the stroke around the text, but in this case the white text needs something to help contrast against the background. I might come up with more alternatives.

edit: here's one that uses a drop shadow instead.

http://i.imgur.com/mSFaS1d.jpg

To compare with the one from the first game:

http://i.imgur.com/dpZd4es.jpg

[Robo]

Ooh, is the next tourney really on July 11?

[turtle]

I'm using the second one with the drop shadows for my video. I hope to publish my first portion tonight. I'm working on it now as a matter of fact.