How I dealt with technical challenges behind Second Life video tutorial production
Posted on: May 13, 2008Second Life poses some unique hurdles to make video tutorials for. I want to share my experiences in hopes it'll benefit someone(s) who's interested in making SL vidtuts but has run into the same obstacles I have. And if you've never seen one of my vidtuts before, watch and learn something valuable in just a few minutes!
Way back (in 2006), I was using FRAPS to record my videos, which I originally heard of from BuhBuhCuh Fairchild (ex-Ben Linden). FRAPS continues to be a popular choice for "pure" machinima, but not for video tutorials. Why? Because it fails to capture special cursors (like those used in click actions), has no means of highlighting the regular cursor and clicks (as I've come to enjoy), and it can't capture "regular" applications like Firefox with the ease-of-use Camtasia Studio Screen Recorder can, which is why I switched.
But wait, that's where I ran into another problem: the TechSmith Lossless Codec is great… if you're capturing mostly flat areas of color. But throw in a lot of gradients, motion, and near-photorealistic scenes as Second Life often has, and that's where you run into a lot of problems: my capture often dropped to sub-10 FPS (Frames Per Second), which isn't acceptable for showing Second Life in motion.
Second Life contains game and application attributes, and some might argue, is like an operating system unto itself. That's what makes it so difficult, because teaching in such a vibrant, dynamic medium requires a lot of keep-running improvisation and spontaneous creativity. If you're teaching After Effects or Photoshop (as Andrew Kramer and Russell Brown so excellently do), there's no chance someone will suddenly run up from behind the camera and across the screen. But that's exactly what repeatedly happens when I do my SL vidtuts. Or, I get IMs in the midst of it all, like at the end of "Creating & uploading animations". I sometimes film on alt accounts so I can concentrate better, but overall, I've grown to embrace what actually happens inworld without faking it. (See my 13 Rules for more on that!)
Anyway, about codecs, I tried a whole bunch out and while none of them totally meets my needs, I've settled on the DivX codec using the settings shown here:
» Read more about my step-by-step vidtut process.
It's generally good: captures high FPS and maintains reasonable quality at a small filesize (much smaller than FRAPS, which, I might add, has no compression alternatives), but fails noticeably in two key areas: (1) when there are subtle gradients like a blue sky, artifacting is noticeable; (2) when anything with brightly-saturated colors is shown, like my favorite hot pink, it pixelates really badly. I've asked around and haven't found clear answers to this, and ratcheting up the bitrate hasn't helped noticeably. Kinda odd, but frustrating at the same time.
So, when making vidtuts, I'll alternate between DivX and TechSmith Lossless in Camtasia, depending on if I'm showing SL or an app outside of it (e.g., Firefox, Sculptypaint, QAvimator) . I'm not entirely or even 90% satisfied with this, but I can live with it until a better solution arises.
I continue to use YouTube because they're cheap 'n' cheerful and their sheer audience reach is unparalleled. But, what's maddening with YouTube is poor customer support and neglecting obvious areas of improvement, leaving features half-finished or crippled. For example, I like their custom player and we've embedded it on the Second Life Showcase, but… it's not better-sortable aside from playlist order, and names get cut off. Argh! There's also the issue of so-called high-quality mode having low-quality, distorted audio. I've written to YouTube several times with a clear repro, and haven't heard back since the first volley of emails. What also irks me is when I get blamed for the shoddy noise, since it's beyond my control. On the thankful side, I'm glad YouTube's available to use.
Next: the Official Second Life Blog is hosted by WordPress.com. We originally had some rockiness with stability and uptime, but that's gotten much better. And unlike YouTube, WordPress' recent support has been nothing less than stellar. They often reply in a matter of hours, and believe me, I've sent numerous queries their way. A big tip of the hat off to them. At the same time, customization of the blog is somewhat limited, since we can't install plugins ourselves. I can embed YouTube videos via special code (thank goodness!), but not a more flexible custom player (yet, sigh). I eventually found out about VodPod and it's been a spiffy solution for watching videos from the left sidebar, so I'm thankful for that. Kudos for their responsive support and helpful suggestions on how I can use VodPod better. There's even a Second Life connection, so good things come full circle. 
If you're planning to make a series of videos, I recommend having lots of free space. Buy a cheap 500GB or even 1TB external hard drive — prices regularly drop below US$100 for the former and are listed on dealnews and other bargain sites — so you can back your work up. I've had good experience so far with Aluratek, Cavalry, Nexstar, and AcomData. YMMV. With wise codec usage, you'll easily be able to fit a lot of master project files on one drive. Prices will continue to drop, but things are good now, especially for all the work you put into stuff.
Encoding videos for delivery is another interesting area: I've stuck with H.264 because while it's slow (can't someone make an effective mass-market hardware accelerator? I'm not sold on Elgato's Turbo264) it's high-quality, iPod-compatible, and QuickTime is playable in Second Life. (Considerations, considerations!) I've closely looked at what other sites use, and more often than not, I've seen Sorenson Video 3 with a relatively low (5-10 FPS) framerate used. That's insufficient for Second Life action. I'm willing to explore further means and having most of my original project files means I can re-render in the future if needed (altho it'd be very time-consuming), but I must say I'm impressed by Don McAllister's HD stuff on ScreenCastsOnline.
Also note that my use of smooth zooming to focus on key areas in my vidtuts came out of a need to do 2 things: (1) FOCUS! (of course) and (2) YouTube quality is fuzzy, so I wanted to make sure vital text and other fine elements were still visible. It's more time-consuming than I'd care for to do the manual keyframing (I know Camtasia has an automatic mode but it doesn't have the visual sleekness I'm looking for), but from the reactions I get, well-worth it. And of course, I also use Camtasia's visual effects: a yellow circle around my cursor, a pink circle for left-clicks, and a green circle for right-clicks.
I love to learn about what else is out there: I've watched 100s of video tutorials from many other talented creators and distilled achievables as to what works the best with Second Life. Always more to absorb.
That's a few of my thoughts on how I've worked on this thus far. I have no doubt many great Second Life video tutorials will be made in times to come, and I'm just happy to lead, light, and guide the way. Let me know if your have questions in the comments!
May 14th, 2008 at 1:27 AM PDT
Thanks for this run-down, Torley. I use a similar combination of tools - Fraps for SL and Camtasia for 2d apps like Photoshop.
I think I'll take a closer look at some of the video codec options in camtastia. I love how it highlights the cursor and clicks, but I get horrible frame rates when capturing in SL. I always assumed it was just slow with 3D captures for some reason, didn't think that it might be the codec.
I also like mpeg4/h.264 for the final rendered video. H.264 rocks but my video editor of choice does not support it, and I don't usually want to spend extra time rendering twice. =8-)
Any tips on audio codecs? I have had mixed results and sometimes my audio comes out scratchy. I do tend to skimp a bit on the audio bandwidth - bad habit I guess.
May 14th, 2008 at 4:40 AM PDT
It's probably not applicable for you but I shoot all my stuff without the UI and then add it in later. That way I can customise and highlight the relevant bits as necessary. I usually shoot it as multiple green screen elements and composit it all together. Here's one we prepared earlier.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:10 AM PDT
Great tips Torley
Machinima = fraps, tutorials = camtasia. Completely agree with the reasoning above, and I myself use both for various projects. I don't use anything other than those two.
Fraps doesn't have a built in compressor because, as it's aimed at games, it *must* be fast… the aim with fraps is to capture the best quality and resolution as fast as possible.
This also obviously results in absolutely massive files, so regardless of the approach used, grabbing some external 500GB / 1TB drives is essential.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:15 AM PDT
One Shots: Motu Teya panorama…
Filed under: Screenshots , Second Life , One Shots , Casual Today's One Shots comes to us courtesy…
May 14th, 2008 at 4:54 PM PDT
Torley, this won't help for windows, but for anyone on OS X, currently the hands down winner for me is ScreenFlow (http://www.varasoftware.com/products/screenflow/).
It provides sort of a hybrid between fraps and camtasia. It captures the whole screen uncompressed so the fps is plenty good for SL (my SL fps doesn't go high enough to tax it), and then you can focus on what areas you need to by editing and changing the focal point and zoom with video events on the video track. You don't have to choose compression/format settings until you're done, and you can go back and re-export with different settings at any time.
The ability to edit, do cursor callouts, and also capture your isight cam and do picture in picture (on a separate track again) make it a really versatile app. Not to plug too heavily, but check out slpnvideo.com - any of the videos in that feed made by myself were made using screenflow.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:01 PM PDT
Seems my previous reply was eaten. Apologies if this eventually shows up twice or thrice.
For tutorials I shoot without the UI and then composit it in later. This allows me to customise and highlight the relevant features easily. The bulk of my tutorials have been shot against a greenscreen, tweaked and then added to the background. That technique is probably not useful for what Torley does, but it is another option. It works a treat for corporate customers.
Vlad, for audio codecs try IMA 4:1. It's available through QT Pro.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:38 AM PDT
[...] torley linden How I dealt with technical challenges behind Second Life video tutorial production Quote from the site - Second Life poses some unique hurdles to make video tutorials for. I want to [...]
May 17th, 2008 at 1:13 AM PDT
[...] Torley Linden has certainly been a prolific video tutorial creator, and here is the latest batch of quick tips. He's also given a little tutorial on his personal website on what he uses and how he does it here. [...]
May 18th, 2008 at 7:51 AM PDT
@Vlad: I'm happy you're making video tutorials and sharing your wisdom on Shiny Life! I've experimented extensively with Camtasia, and I wonder if you're getting low FPS due to using the lossless codec as I mentioned.
Re: audio codec, I like the AAC that's often paired with H.264 anyway; comparable (in some cases, perhaps better) than MP3 at reasonable bitrates. I go with 128 kbps and encoding quality = best.
@skribe: I'll check that out, thanks for sharing how you do it!
Alas, I'm not thrilled with IMA 4:1, it's staticky and *old* compared to AAC. Some apps don't allow you to encode with Apple's AAC due to licensing I think, which is why I currently need to do a re-render thing out of QuickTime Pro instead of directly from Vegas.
@Tenebrous:
Actually, Fraps isn't totally lossless itself but uses its own FPS1 codec; its filesizes are still smaller than wholly raw, uncompressed footage, but still too gargantuan for my tastes. FRAPS' competitors like GameCam and even WeGame offer other codec choices, and another hurdle for FRAPS is its movies can't be played (that I know of) on Macs.
@radar: I welcome Mac tips too! Tried ScreenFlow and delight in its UI and simplicity; it's missing several major things which I've seen requested as features like audio clipping protection (limiting) and volume balancing, but its intelligent capture system for highlighting, as you mentioned, looks like a big boon. Self-promotion of cool stuff is welcome here, I'll watch more of your vids!
May 21st, 2008 at 12:46 PM PDT
How about… the "professional industry method"?
If your computer is more recent and powerful enough to make SL rock and roll in the beauty department - (and you are capturing interface) - check your video card for video output.
The best you can get (uber-high-end video cards) is the YUV - but if you have Super (SVHS) - that's the next best thing because it separates the RGB and Luminance signals into separate wiring = cleaner picture. Especially with reds.
Torley: it is a fact that digital color creation in the spectrum used to create video signals: reds are the most difficult to create, hence why older TVs and VHS video tapes "bleed" that color so often. It's likely the reason for your hot pink issues.
Anyway - If you don't have SVHS - then look for RGB Composite output (a.k.a. RCA.)
Run this into your video camera. If your video camera doesn't allow video input (many consumer grades don't) - then record to your VHS machine. You might lose a *little* color definition with VHS, but you will have a computer that puts ALL its effort into framerate and drawing the picture as intended.
Yes, it's a double-whammy because now you have to capture (digitize) from your tape recording back to the computer. But this affords a couple major benefits: Smooth framerates. Takes and retakes - no wasted hard disk space - digitize only the parts you really want. And sometimes a first or second take is much better than a third or fourth.
You also can trim your capture as you log the clips - saving massive console (edit) time.
As for Compressor Decompressors (CODEC): H.264 is the defacto *best*. It is specifically designed from the ground up to be both a BROADCAST *and* STREAMING CODEC.
That is why I am able to take your MP4 videos from the web, Torley, and still 'upconvert' them into SDMPG2 for DVD production (have the Land DVD done by the way - I should post it and email you a link to an ISO image - 'til I finish others to mail to you. LOL)
Stick with H.264 if you can. Doesn't matter the wrapper: DIVX or Quicktime or even AVI (shivers!).
If you must capture directly on the computer, Mac users: the best is Snapz Pro in terms of professional features. PC Users, Camtasia is among the best.
As for things like zooming the screen around and highlighting clicks, et al, I personally prefer to do it in post because it affords far tighter control on the what and where of it all and less work for the computer to do. (sorry… "post" as in post production - editing in the NLE for the locked cut.)
On the PC I love Sony Vegas (Used it since before Sony snagged it). My favorite is Final Cut Pro on the Mac. However, unfortunately for PC users - it's not available - the same for iLife. If you have a Mac with iLife '08 - iMovie is already set-up to do 99% of what Torley does already in about 1/3 the time to do it in Vegas or even Final Cut. Everything except the mouse-click highlights. But that's easy enough to do.
Capture, set zooms, cut to narrative, publish once for all services: YouTube, VodPod, AppleTV, Quicktime and DVD-Ready - all in a single-click, double-pass, saving a lot of time.
Okay wow - I should have just made this a post on my own blog, but I rant (and Torley knows this LOL!)
My *REAL* reply message was - **plug a video cable from your computer to a MiniDV or VHS recorder** and let the computer focus on SL - while you narrate. Even though you have to play it back to get it back into the computer - you actually *SAVE* a lot of time. And capture better-looking video (no dropped frames… usually.)
WHEW!
I'll shut-up now.
LOL
May 25th, 2008 at 6:43 AM PDT
@Ari: Thanks for sharing all these details! Learned some new things. I still wonder if it's something particular to certain codecs because DivX pixelates hot pinks badly, but others like H.264 w/MPEG-4 don't induce the same degradation at sufficient bitrates.
I've been tempted on occasion to get a tool like a Shuttle Pro but haven't found my editing style to really need it, yet.
On Mac, it seems iShowU is frequently cited as an alternative to Snapz Pro, and there's also that nifty new one, ScreenFlow… have you tried that yet? It's relatively feature-bare but the UI is excellent.
I like how differerent Sony (formerly Sonic Foundry) apps look and behave similarly. But as you point out, not available on Mac.
I've used iMovie but haven't found it as easy to use as Sony Vegas for making video tutorials past the initial "align clips" phase: for example, it lacks audio plugin chaining, which I use for noise reduction and boosting my volume level without clipping. That's a big difference most people notice but don't articulate about. It also doesn't have a grid mode, which is what I use to quickly snap/align all the subtitles I insert, as well as pans/zooms. I always look for streamlining opportunities.
May 25th, 2008 at 9:19 AM PDT
Ah yes! I have heard of Screenflow - been meaning to check it out!
Vegas is on-par with professional apps like Final Cut Pro (Mac), Avid Xpress (Mac/Pc), and so on. iMovie is more the consumer side - like Pinnacle (Avid now?) Studio.
For sound normalization and compression (evening out the sound volumes without clipping) - most would use GarageBand. Which they should just rename to "Sound Studio" or something because it's grown to be way more than a music assembler lol.
Hey, your videos look awesome!
Now, keep in mind, when I say that, I am talking about the VIDEO itself. As a professional peer in the creation of them. We can't help but to look at how each other does thing ( Oh good, he used such and such a font for titles, nice sound segue in that edit, would a J-cut have been better than an L-cuy there?) LOL
So, when I see your videos - I think "Wow, this guy knows his stuff - wonder if he is or was in the industry?"
And yes, I wish Vegas were on the Mac and Final Cut on the PC - I use each for certain kinds of projects. Would be nice to have both on the same machine. LOL
June 24th, 2008 at 11:28 AM PDT
@Torley: I've never had any trouble between fraps video files and macs, though admittedly I re-encode them before viewing on anything aside from the original machine.
As for recording methods, one that's unlikely to cause framerate drops but will give you full quality (despite the system requirements of the game/program) is any form of video capture cards. Since you've got a working method for recording now I wouldn't recommend trying something like that, but it's always an available method for anything else as it records exactly what you see on your screen.
Great tutorials so-far btw. I've learned quite a lot from watching your videos!
June 29th, 2008 at 10:58 AM PDT
@Metroid: Thx for your thoughts. I know some people who record using external systems, outputting to another digital format; it's considerably more time-consuming to setup, but if it's what's needed, then it'll do. And thank-you for watching my vids and letting me know!
July 29th, 2008 at 3:35 PM PDT
Hello,
I am totally amazed at the talent and expertise of this panel!
I am a novice, novice, did I mention novice machinimist (wana be, that is)—
i have Fraps and want to do many SL projects.. However one little impediment keeps poppping up—my avatar does not move when I am 'recording" HELP!
Any advice for this machinimist "wanna be" ???
Thank you very much!
Paisa
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:19 AM PDT
@Paisa: Sounds like a focus issue? When recording, can you click inside the Second Life window and try to move your avie? Are you able to open other windows and such?
August 31st, 2008 at 6:48 AM PDT
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