well….at least MY A to Z. I am usually a quick learner…but this thing…..intimidates me a bit. And I’ve got no time to bubble and ponder on how or where I should grab this beast and get started. So here is my dumpsite for my findings and I’ll periodically rearrange the resources in the order they should be (hence A (start with what) to Z (the movie)). This post collects all my readings while figuring out Machinima. This is still not the step-by-step final solution to filming. See “How-to: Record SL Movies” post for that.

Where to find classes and be on top of things/news:
http://machinimalibrarians.blogspot.com

Getting started: MUST-READS

Educational uses of video
http://www.umsl.edu/~tlc/Educast/Curriculum/ed_uses.htm

Machinima Librarians Blog (+Jan27, 08 chatlog, detials of workshop, etc.) http://machinimalibrarians.blogspot.com/2008/01/iste-machinima-workshop-jan-27-2008.html

Machinima Institute in SL: Eduisland 3 60,30,221
>to pick up the instructional slides for in-world quick reminders & the Machinima Starter Kit
Alt-Zoom Theatre: Lukanida 10,10,24
>to pick up the Machinima Starters Kit & try the tool in the theater (full-permissions)

Machinima wiki for software options for screen capture, editing, etc.:
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Machinima

Introduction to Machinima -Cheat Sheets-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/sets/72157603693424324/

Examples
Aimee Weber’s The Making of the Solar System: http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/03/her_worlds_her_.html
Wam7c Macchi’s Tibetan Lesson: http://wam7c.blip.tv/#646217

The Tools
Set Building: my booth at Info International
Storyboarding: Atomic StoryBoard Pro (http://movies.atomiclearning.com) -free
(Filming: BuhBuhCuh Fairchild’s Alt-Zoom camera (Lukanida 10,10,24) -free)
Screen-capture: FRAPS: http://www.fraps.com/ -$37
Compress: VirtualDub (free download at http://www.free-codecs.com/download/VirtualDub.htm); loading the FRAPS movie without compressing it straight to jumpcut takes a LONG time
Post-production editing & publishing: jumpcut; microsoft movie maker, blip.tv
Tutorials
How-to: Alt-Zoom Camera http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVzow1-Yh-w
Noob Be Gone Series: Second Life Camera Tutorial by NSS (*) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LMcryDCIYk&feature=related
(*): Contact NSS regarding voice-sync mouth animations of av.
FRAPS video capture: http://www.fraps.com/faq.php#videocap
VirtualDub explanation: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/VirtualDub.htm

See my post “How-to: make movies in SL” for my step-by-step solution. Notice that several tools listed here are not used in my final -and personal- Machinima technique. This is my solution. Others might have other techniques.

March 18, 2008
Jeremy Kemp  promptly replied my SLED posting of “How-to: Make SL Movies” with his similar work. This is wonderful. I do wish I had found his post earlier. This would have saved a lot of time. Excerpt:
“…

Please see "Making Machinima in Seven Simple Steps"

This slide show outlines the process of creating
videos using 3D environments and video capture tools.

http://www.slideshare.net/jeremykemp/making-machinima

The seven steps:
1) Watch two documentaries;
2) Learn some history;
3) Gather your tools;
4) Choose a 3D platform;
5) Find Actors and Shoot;
6) Edit the Video and add Sound;
7) Distribute it on the ‘Net

It explains and promotes the Alt-Zoom toolset among
others.

--J

(source: https://lists.secondlife.com/pipermail/machinima/2007-November/000182.html)

Record voice straight from SL & during filming:
Set up your voice-mic headset in Control Panel
Set up FRAPS accordingly
pro: good for short segments. Quick and easy
cons: not so good for longer segment / potential for differences in sound quality between different segments in final movie edit.

Post-production:
With standard / customized gestures
*with Audacity: http://youtube.com/watch?v=QBVmFafFatE&feature=related
*with Microsoft Movie Maker: standard post-production edit. Just set FRAPS so that there is no sound recording while recording video. Then in edit, create your audio track and add it to the video segment.

With lip sync technology
*Crazy Talk (http://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/default.asp; free trial download: http://crazytalk.en.softonic.com/)
*DA Group (demo: http://dagroupplc.com/swf/vms/vms.swf)

Magic:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AZyBNBW2yjI&feature=related
(lighting, odd angle…)

Shortcuts:
ctrl + alt:  camera orbit
ctrl + alt + shift: camera pan
ctrl + 0 (zero): super duper close up on face (prblm with getting back to normal view though)
holding shift while on prim and drag: clone the prim (very useful for setting up waypoints!)
ctrl+alt+D: open Client and Server Menu (useful for setting up video preferences)
fog ratio: preference / advance graf / set it to 10 (prblm with trick: system goes only til 4.0. How did Torley do it?) -very important for clear backdrop for pictures. 10.0 would really be better.

-Several options and choice to create gestures and animations in SL-

Organizing gestures and animations into a scenario -from existing scripts

1-http://youtube.com/watch?v=6WKo4G8aQBc&feature=related “How to use gestures”-Thanks Torley

2. http://youtube.com/watch?v=WplYhxyFd3M Speech gestures -copy from library into gesture folder, drag onto avatar to activate. talk to initiate gesture.

3-Organize the animation overrider (ao)
(note: need to find ways to modify the scenarios offered in my current ao. Limited lines of actions? Also, when I first tried my ao, the gestures seemed to stick with the avatar for a while even after the ao is off. A “stop all animations” command was needed to override the ao even after I dropped it off the av.)

.http://secondlife.com/community/resident_resource.php?category=1 animations

communication tools http://secondlife.com/community/resident_resource.php?category=16

4-gesture-scenario for filming:
>Inventory / Create Gesture
>Rename gesture
>Add or Move Up/Down animations/sounds/wait/chat/
>Save
>Preview
>Activate
Make sure that trigger is not used for another gesture
>Change shortkey trigger so that you can start the animation without moving the mouse.
Film gesture with audio
>click F9 (start fiming)
>click F2 (my animation shortkey for “Second Life intro”) & “v” (my shortcut for inworld voice. I set up FRAPS so that it records what it hears -double check Control Panel / Audio /input choice -mine is headphones)

Creating from scratch (’scripting’) gestures and animations

1-not my first choice…ahah. Will get back to this once I figure out scenarios based on existing gestures in my library and what I can find that is full-permission.

It’s a Small World: How Virtual Communities Are Changing the Ways We Relate -March 12, 2008

http://alum.mit.edu/lt/learning/broadcasts/index.html

“…Speakers:

• Hello Avatar! What Virtual Worlds Mean for Human Communication
  

  Professor Coleman will discuss her research on the use and design of avatar-based virtual worlds and how they are entering popular use in networked communication.

  Beth Coleman, Assistant Professor of Writing and New Media

• What Kind of World Would You Make: Second Life as Thought Experiment
  

  Second Life and other virtual worlds represent a powerful demonstration of what I call Participatory Culture. From the start, it was marketed as a world which would be created through the collective contributions of its users. And because users come with many different motives and from many different kinds of settings, Second Life represents a hybrid media environment, one where commercial, nonprofit, governmental, educational, subcultural, and amateur contributors seek to reshape the world in their own images. Each of these groups are deploying Second Life as the site for thought experiments which allow them to rethink their real world institutions and practices.

  Henry Jenkins, Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program and the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities

Moderator:

• Steven R. Lerman ‘72, SM ‘73, PhD ‘75, Dean for Graduate Students; Class of 1922 Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering; Co-director for the Singapore-MIT Alliance; Chair, Faculty Advisory Committee of the MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW); and Director, Center for Educational Computing Initiative.

Viewing Opportunities

Participating Areas
Several local Clubs will be hosting receptions and an opportunity to view the broadcast as a group, allowing you to explore a fascinating societal phenomenon from an academic viewpoint, as well as connect with the local MIT community and network with fellow alumni.

• Tampa Bay, FL
• Cambridge, MA
• Minneapolis, MN
• New York, NY
• Portland, OR
• Southwest Virginia

Individual Viewing
If you don’t live in a city hosting an event, you can log onto this Web page to view the broadcast from your personal computer. Check back on March 12 for the link. The live broadcast from Cambridge will be at 7:00 p.m. EST. Please note: there will be limited slots available for live viewing, although the link will remain active for viewing after the broadcast time.”

I am waiting for info on possible registration fees for the individual viewing.**********

March 6th -MIT-SL events coordinator answers:
“There is no fee for viewing the broadcast online. Up to 200 people can atch it live at 7:00 p.m. EST. The content will then be archived and available on the same web page (http://alum.mit.edu/broadcasts) around 10:00
p.m. EST.”

Groovy!!!

-to archive
-to share
-to get and provide feedback
-to network
-

 Pictures:
www.flickr.com

 Power-Point Presentations:
www.slideshare.net

Videos:
www.YouTube.com
http://blip.tv.com

more to come to complete the list.