Making movies

Friendly greetings! Torley, Resident Enlightenment Manager @ Linden Lab here. I once was new to all this, and learned many tips 'n' tricks over the years I've distilled for your convenience.

If you want to make movies in Second Life, you've come to the right place. Whether it's video tutorials or story-driven machinima, the basic principles are the same. I know your time is short and you want to get started soon — this guide isn't meant to be all-comprehensive, but is intended to smooth your path so you can get up and running quickly.

How it happens

Making movies in Second Life usually goes like this. On a suitable computer with the right recording + editing software installed, you:

1. Start the recording software.
2. Log into Second Life.
3. Use the recording app's shortcut (or press a button, but it's slower) to start filming.
4. Do what you need to in SL: move your avatar and the camera, direct other avatars, etc.
5. Use the record app's shortcut to stop filming.
6. Open your footage (usually an .avi or .mov) file in your editing software.
7. Edit your movie.
8. Render and share your movie: the most common way is to upload it to the Internet.

A video tutorial on this will be coming!

Once you know how, practice will incrementally increase your skills, as it did for me — then you'll come up with your own best trips 'n' tricks to share with others (I hope you do!).

Hardware

For optimum results, you'll need a high-end computer which exceeds our System Recommendations. The main reason is to capture smooth footage, and since you won't just be running Second Life but recording it at the same time, it's important that your bottlenecks are minimized. For example, this is Torley's current system (as of Sept. 2008). Definitely not the only good configuration and it need not be expensive. If you can't upgrade, a capable PC rig can be built for under US$1,000, and here are some key things to look for:

• Multi-core CPU - If this confuses you, as of this writing, the Intel Q6600 a great buy. Of course, technology keeps moving on so check what's hot on the market, but this particular model is great for running SL and other apps (like an image editor or video editor) at the same time. If multitasking — doing many things at once on your computer — is a priority to you, be sure to get a multi-core CPU.
• Fast, dual hard drives - You don't want your disk read/write to be throttled. It helps to run SL on one HD while writing to another. If you can afford it, I like Western Digital Raptors — expensive and smaller-capacity but fast. I use a 150 GB one as my main drive, and a general HD as my secondary. (I also have other HDs for archiving.) Some have had great results with RAID systems but they're not required.
• Good graphics card - A fine one can be had for US$100-200 which'll show off all of Second Life's graphical glory at nice framerates. Since pricing in this are can shift even faster than CPUs, go to a deals site like SlickDeals and ask for that's in the "sweet spot".
• SpaceNavigator - Your keyboard + mouse isn't sufficient for tracking cinematic shots. To get creamy motion and use SL's Flycam, a joystick/alternate input device like the SpaceNavigator is highly recommended.

The best way to learn is to do: even if you're not on a powerful system, try capturing footage and editing it anyway.

Software

Recording

As listed on the Machinima page, there are many options. I encourage seeking out what fits your needs, and after trying many of the Windows apps, here's what I prefer and why:

• TechSmith Camtasia - The best app I've found for recording instructional screencasts/video tutorials yet. Records just about anything, not just SL. It can highlight the cursor and clicks, which is useful for pointing out stuff, and you can change between codecs too — important to get a good quality/filesize balance. I use the DivX codec inworld, because it captures much faster than the default "lossless" one. If you're curious, I've written up more details on my Camtasia settings.
• FRAPS - By far the most popular choice of SL machinima artists. Doesn't record standard Windows apps and has some trouble capturing cursors (the special click action ones), and doesn't allow codec change so files will be good-looking but big. Pretty straightforward to use, and since it's already pretty common, finding help is easy.
• WeGame - Pressed for money? Get cheap 'n' cheerful! WeGame is free, and is also the easiest way to upload from SL to an embedded Flash video on the web. Quality is somewhat grainy and audio may have weird clicks/artifacts, but if you're in a rush to dive in, this is a great choice!

On the Mac side, I've had good results with iShowU and ScreenFlow — both are easy to use, but I don't have enough experience to make a solid recommendation.

Master the camera!

If you're going to make movies in Second Life, you need to know how to use the camera! Don't go further until you're comfortable with View menu > Camera Controls and the camera shortcuts (e.g., hold Alt key and drag the left mouse button to zoom).

In analogue film, the camera has been likened to an important actor in its own right: low angles rising upwards can add suspense, continuous shots without cuts (like in Magnolia and Children of Men) can contribute to the heightened intensity of a film. Even simple pans-and-zooms like the Ken Burns effect make static scenes that much more interesting.

For your enjoyment, here are some camera tutorials.

Wield the power of WindLight!

WindLight is the codename of Second Life's atmospheric rendering technology. By using it, you can change the look of sky & water, affecting the tint, tone, and nuance of just about everything within a scene. Yes, it's that influential, which is why no aspiring filmmaker should be without it. For example, it's generally a bad idea to do a building tutorial in the dark, but midnight madness is just the right thing if you're filming a clip about paranormal monsters inworld.

By understanding "the language of WindLight" and the many possibilities, you'll be able to control how your environment looks and create productions which are more polished, professional, and plainly awesome.

Where should I host my video?

There are many video-sharing sites out there. A quick summary: