Machinima Shortcut Tips Using the SL Browser

Guide to using the short-cut keys Using the Second Life Browser: To shoot machinima clips No real life cameras needed

Hands-on

Red Arrow / Beam:

Click on map button or View | World Map

Click on CLEAR button (right side of screen)

Chat Bubbles:

Click on Edit | Preferences | General Tab

Under Show Names: click Never

Mouse Sensitivity:

Click on Edit | Preferences | Input & Camera

Increase mouse sensitivity

Make sure interface sounds such as typing and bumping are turned way down in the Audio/Video tab

Clear up your User Interface and adjust settings-->

Preferences & Settings Draw Distance? Low for close-up High for Aerial Shots A lot of the preferences/settings depend on the speed of your computer, disk space, etc. So play around with it

Preferences

Shooting Close-ups:

Set up your shot first

Get close up to your subject (We’re not shy!)

HIDE / Show Interface: (CTRL - ALT - 1)

Shoot / Stop Movie: (CTRL - SHIFT - A)

Go into / out of Mouselook ( m)

Graphics Preferences & Survival Shortcuts Getting good Aerial Shots:

Change draw distance in preferences

Set it as high as your computer will allow

Get rid of UI & use E key to get up very high

Start to film (CTRL-ALT-1)

Go into mouselook (m)

Now do the Hi-(M) Aerial Fall ~ Just let it go!

Move your mouse very slooow-ly to capture the views!

Woot! How’s this?

Extra Options

Open up your DEBUG Menus:

CTRL - ALT - D

Now you will have 2 extra menus:

Client & Server

Deselect the following:

Show Mouselook Crosshairs

Later on (client menu):

Take a look at the other options

saving high resolution images (e.g. 6 MG images - not for the web!)

recording

Under the Client Menu

Set Window Size

320x240: good for testing, short clips for web, iPod, etc.

640x480: shoot in this size then convert to 320x240

720x480 (NTSC): video standard (29.97 frames per second used in N. America, S. America, Caribbean, Philippines, S. Korea, Taiwan)

768x576 (PAL): video standard used in Europe,

Asia and most of the world.

Hmmm… what is this?

Change Preferences for Using Mouselook Shortcut M

Close Chat text entry field:

Edit | Preferences

Under Chat tab: select checkbox

Close chat after hitting return

Otherwise, you can use:

View | Mouselook

Use ESCAPE key to get out of Mouselook

Hands-on: Shoot Test Video Clip

Preferences:

Get rid of chat bubbles, hovering names /groups, mouselook crosshairs & set your draw distance low if you are shooting close-ups.

Select option to CLOSE chat after hitting enter

File Menu:

Set window size (small) to reduce file size

Shortcut Keys:

Get rid of User Interface (UI)

Shoot Movie

(Start/Stop Movie to Disk)

Go into Mouselook for close-ups

Stop Movie!

Get back UI

Try it! Create Short Video Clips

Resize your window using the file menu (640x480)

You can also shoot at 320x240 for test shots

Create a 5-10 second video clip

File | ‘start/stop Movie to disk’

Window opens to save movie

Change file name and/or location for saving the clip

For the web it is best to shoot your video at a higher resolution (e.g. 640x480 or much larger if you have the space and speed), then in a video editor select a codec (compression/decompression) to reduce the video size. YouTube’s specs are: 320x240 (320x180 also works for widescreen but leaves the black space around it called ‘letterbox’).

Change Preferences for Using Mouselook Shortcut M

Close Chat text entry field:

Edit | Preferences

Under Chat tab: select checkbox

Close chat after hitting return

Otherwise, use View | Mouselook

Use ESCAPE key to get out of Mouselook

Hands-on Test Clips for PCs

PCs Only:

HIDE / Show Interface: CTRL - ALT - 1

Shoot / Stop Movie: CTRL - SHIFT - A

What Else?

Film at a higher resolution (640x480 or more)

Today’s test clips (5-10 seconds):

320 x 240 pixels or 640 x 480

Hands-on Test Clips for MACS

MACS Only:

Hide / Show Interface: CMD - Option -1

Shoot / Stop Movie: CMD - SHIFT - A

What Else?

We usually use a higher resolution (640x480 or more)

Today’s test clips (5-10 seconds):

320 x 240 pixels or 640 x 480

Quick Lookup:

PCs Only:

HIDE / Show Interface: CTRL - ALT - 1

Shoot / Stop Movie CTRL - SHIFT - A

MACS Only:

Hide / Show Interface: CMD - Option -1

Shoot / Stop Movie CMD - SHIFT - A

Going into Mouselook:

Use the shortcut key M

Video editing & Compression:

Free Video Software:

Virtual Dub: www.virtualdub.org

For compressing large AVI files from SL browser or from FRAPS (using MPEG and DivX codecs). Tmpgenc (Tsunami Mpeg Encoder) is also suggested.

On YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MEhLWvhPWI

FRAPS (PCs only): free and paid versions

For video capture (at up to 100 frames per second/60 in some games, as high as 2560x1600 on dual core, 1152x864 on single core; benchmarking and screen capture). Use Virtual Dub and one of the popular codecs to reduce the size of file before uploading to web.