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Darcy
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How I Make Videos - You Can Do It Too!
« Thread Started on Feb 16, 2008, 11:40pm »

I am frequently asked about how I make videos and also others asking for help creating their clips. Well, I am going to try and lay it all out in 1 thread. I will make updates if necessary to keep up with program updates.

•What will I need?
The basics:
VirtualDub
XviD Video Codec
Lame MP3
The extensions:
DVD Decrypter
WMV, MPEG2 & AC3 Plugins (VirtualDub)
[Save yourself the trouble of Googling them all, Download them all here]

•How to install?
VirtualDub - Extract all the files to a directory, then simply run the .exe from there
XviD Video Codec - Run the installer and keep all default settings
Lame Mp3 - Run the installer and keep all default settings
DVD Decrypter - Run the installer and keep all the default settings
WMV & MPEG Plugins - I've installed these with VDub for you already, no action needed
AC3 Plugin - Extract all the files and right click on AC3ACM.inf and click Install. Wait a few seconds (box may flash up and away) then that will have installed.

Right, now you have all your programs installed, what next. Well, it all depends on your source files (the video you will be editing). VirtualDub (with the plugins I have included) will be able to handle every codec besides .dvr-ms encoding (this is what Windows Media Center uses). If you are using a DVD, scroll down to the DVD Section.
So, lets begin...

•Operating in VirtualDub
First of all, we need to open the video you are working with.
File>Open Video File. Depending on your video, this may take some time, in other cases, it may be instant. Now that your video is loaded in VDub, it's time to chose what part of the video that you would like to keep (or which part you would like to remove).

Note in the above image the buttons circled in Blue, these are the Mark In (the start of the section you are selecting) and Mark Out (end of that selection) buttons. We will be using these in a moment.
Navigating through you video
You can play your current video by pressing the Space Bar, and re-pressing it to pause on that current frame. Pressing the across arrows on your keyboard will move through the video frame by frame. Holding down Alt and and arrow key will move through your video 50 frames at a time (equal to 2 seconds).
Selecting the segment of video
- To be saved: Select the frame from which you would like your video to start. Once you are on that frame, click the Mark In button. Then navigate though your video until you find the frame on which you would like you video to finish. Click the Mark Out button. (If you have your video ready to save, you can skip the next section)
- To be removed: If you would like to remove any section from the video, do as above and select the first frame from the selection that is to be removed and click on the Mark In button. Find the last frame of the segment you would like to remove and click the Mark Out button. Now, it's as simple as pressing the Delete key on your keyboard, now it's gone!
Customize your settings
Once you have your segment of video selected (marked with an In and Out frame) you can move onto the technical side of the project. Settings are very much a personal thing so after you have mastered how to set them, feel free to have a play around until you get some that you like. For this example I will use the exact settings I generally use for the 2007 Formula 1 videos. Okay, so here goes, Video>Filters>Add (this section is not needed if you wish to keep your video at the same resolution). Here we have an array of Filters to apply to your video, we wont go into detail as generally we'll only need to use the Resize filter. Scroll down and double click on it.

You'll need to fill in all blue shaded regions in the above image. Select all the Blue shaded circles and select Lanczos3 from the drop down box. Next, fill in the new resolution of the video. The first box is the width and the second box is the height. Enter in a whole number, in the measurement of pixels. I enter 682 (box 1) and 384 (box 2). This gives me a widescreen ratio of 16:9. If you are working with an analog ratio of 4:3, you could enter 682 (box 1) and 512 (box 2).
Now you can click on the Ok button. Now, back in the filters window, we are finished here too, click Ok.
- Compression: Video>Compression. If your XviD codec has been installed correctly, you should be able to see it in the list presented to you.

Select it and then click Configure. If this is your first time using the XviD codec you will need to click on "Target Quantizer", this will just put it into the right mode for us. Click on Other Options and untick the "Display encoding status" box and click Ok. Now, this is the important bit and also the most variable. You must select what quality you want your video to be. In the "Target bitrate (kbps):" box, you will input the desired bit rate of your video. [This is how many kilobytes there will be in each second of video] The higher the kbps, the higher the quality, but also, the higher the final file size of the video. Once again, for the example I shall use the settings I use for my F107 videos.

Those are the settings I use. Some other settings which are common are Two Pass 2200kbps and Two Pass 8000kpbs (DVD Quality), however I find my settings perfect for what I need.
Then click Ok, then Ok again.

Well done, your video is ready! But don't get too excited yet, there is still the Audio to deal with, obviously, if you don't have any audio in your video, you can completely skip this section.
Audio>Full Processing Mode. Then, Audio>Compression. If your installation of Lame MP3 was successful, then it should be available to you in this list.

The number of possible formats (in the left hand side box) will differ depending on what audio format you are working with. If none are showing, you are possibly working with an incompatible audio stream (go to DVD files, further down, that may help). Simply select a format from the list that is high enough quality for you. I use 128kbps (whichever one is available to me). As with video compression, the higher the number, the higher the quality, but the final file size will also be higher.
Once you have selected the desired bit rate, click Ok.
Now, does you audio sync to your video? ie. is the sound happening at the right time? If not, you will need to go to Audio>Interleaving.

Fill in the Highlighted box with your settings. -1000 will bring the audio forward 1 second. and 2000 will push the audio back 2 seconds. Edit this to suit.

Now your Audio is ready to go as well, Brilliant!

•Saving your video
The most exciting, and the simplest bit yet. Once you are sure that you have all the settings the way you desire, File>Save as AVI. Chose your location and click Save. Hopefully, if you have done everything right, the processing box will appear to let you know that the video is saving.

This will take a variable amount of time, factors which will influence duration will be; video length, source quality and your quality settings.
After this has completed, the box will disappear, leaving you back at the VirtualDub working window. Go to where you saved your video and open it up and see how you've done!

This is just how I do it, and there are many different ways to do it and it really boils down to personal preference.

Any questions? Please ask in this thread.

Why do we need "DVD decrypter" I hear you asking? The next section will deal with using DVD video as your source files.

•Getting the Video off the DVD
This may seem simple enough, but it can be tricky. Make sure that your DVD is in it's DVD drive. Open up DVD Decrypter. Mode>File. Ensure that the File option is ticked. DVD Decrypter should automatically detect the disc and load a list of the disc's files. Select the Destination folder or take note of the default location) and then click the big DVD Disc > Hard Drive button.

This will take some time, up to 45mins for a dual layer disc.

After the process has completed you can open up VirtualDub.
Follow all the video instruction as in the previous section. The main difference with DVD's is that they use the AC3 audio codec.
This means that you will need to do the following.
Audio>Full Processing Mode. Then, Audio>Compression. If your installation of AC3 codec was successful, then it should be available to you in this list.
The number of possible formats (in the left hand side box) will differ depending on what audio format you are working with. If none are showing, you are possibly working with an incompatible audio stream, sorry, I can't help you here, Google demuxing. Simply select a format from the list that is high enough quality for you. I use 128kbps (whichever one is available to me). As with video compression, the higher the number, the higher the quality, but the final file size will also be higher.
This is the only setting that is different to the previous section, I repeat the only setting, so follow all the other instructions.

Once again, this is how I do my video processing, and am providing this tutorial as a detailed set of instructions so others can enjoy the Video Processing hobby that I do.
As always, any questions, ask in this thread.

« Last Edit: Feb 19, 2009, 6:19pm by Darcy »