• In a number of my recent posts, I have been linking to YouTube videos on my channel, or talking about a lot of my challenges both with video and audio.  In general though, I haven’t really talked about the process by which I actually go thru the editing.  That being said, my process is still evolving – I am not a video editor by trade – and almost all of my methods are self taught (and probably very inefficient).

  • Another round of Star Wars: Armada, facing off the Rebels and Imperials again.  Mission of choice this time was Rescue the VIP, which ended up not being a big factor in the victory, though it certainly influenced initial tactics.

  • After a lengthy editing session, I have managed to distill the latest game session video to a far more reasonable 52 minutes of length, compared to the original 5 hour session.  As is typical, much of the normal gaming session is filled with rules discussions, explanations, and general chatter in the game, and a far smaller portion of actual story progress.  The file has been uploaded to YouTube, as usual, and available immediately. I have also linked a number of game accessories that we use during the game, which may be useful to other groups. Pathfinder Rise of the Runelords…

  • A couple years ago, I made a focused effort to combine the Pathfinder setting with the heavily house-ruled versions of Rolemaster that our group likes to play.  The result was a combination we billed as Pathmaster, with a significantly changed character generation system, and combat mechanics, all of which worked decently well with the Pathfinder setting.  Since then, we have changed game systems to other options, but the resources still exist, and some day, I am sure we will return. At the time, I had the files posted for public use on my old version of the website – which…

  • So, I was finally able to get some time, and as planned, worked with the wife’s DSLR camera, in an attempt to improve the video quality of the various projects.  Dedicated power cord so that the battery doesn’t die – check.  Large enough memory card to hold many hours of video – check.  H1 Zoom audio recorder functions and records directly to video – check.  Significantly improved resolution and frames per second – check.  Ability to record continuously for several hours – umm, we have a problem. Apparently, a common factor with DSLR cameras is a software limitation on the…

  • As part of my ongoing efforts with videos, I recorded my recent wood working project to craft an art pencil box for the wife.  Following the project, I had several hours of footage, which I finally managed to start to tackle last night.  Audio is non-existent – the video camera mic is terrible, and I didnt bother with the H1 since all you would really hear is the sound of power tools.  Instead, I intend to record a narration, once I have the video pared down to a reasonable point. To that end, I spent most of last night, trimming,…

  • In my continuing effort to produce better quality in my videos, I have focused previously on the audio, and very successfully (from my perspective) resolved much of the concerns with an upgrade to a dedicated audio recorder (the Zoom H1 audio recorder to be exact).  This device works very well, has a strong pickup, and very solid sound quality, and with a minimal memory card, can easily hold the length of recordings I need. On the video quality side however, I am still struggling.  Admittedly, my camera solution is about as cheap as you can get, since my budget restricted…

  • Finished the initial edit of the latest game, with the full game video.  Tried a different technique, due to the angle of the camera.  Given its position (and lack of a zoom), there was a lot of surrounding view of the group and activity.  Although its not really an issue, it does tend to be rather distracting, and my goal is to minimize or eliminate the “people” in the video – the intent is the game, not the players.  As such, I tried to apply a mask to the video which fades to black all of the region around the…