wiscon_vidparty | Vidding Workshop!

Welcome to the

wiscon_vidparty vidding workshop! We hope this will be a chance for new or potential vidders to find out more about what’s involved in making a vid and to see the wide variety of ways vidders make vids, and for vidders of all skill levels to discuss vidding and share tips and ideas. Everyone is welcome to participate!

This workshop will be discussion- and question-based, so please, start or jump into any discussions you want to have and ask any questions about any aspect of vidding! Finding ideas, getting source, clipping (or not), editing programs, codecs, rendering, effects, specific technical issues you’re having, discussion about specific vids, discussing your own ideas, links to useful resources, tutorials, cheerleading--any and all vidding related topics are welcome.

We’ve created a few categories to keep some of the major topic threads organized. If you have a comment or question or want to start a discussion on a certain topic, just comment below the relevant subject. (We’re flexible though, so don’t fret too much about getting things in the right place. If in doubt, just give your thread a descriptive subject line so people can find it).

Feel free to add new threads if what you want to talk about isn't covered by the categories, but please give your comment a descriptive subject line so readers can tell what’s being discussed.

We have several awesome vidders who have volunteered to participate and introduce themselves at their convenience. We will be linking to their introductions as they appear. Keep an eye out and feel free to ask them specific questions!

Topics (to get you started--add your own threads and subthreads!)

• Vid Idea Development -- Finding and developing ideas for new vids

• Tech Questions -- Hardware and software (PC, Mac or Linux), codecs, aspect ratios, exporting and rendering, effects, etc.
          Questions asked/discussed:
          -- Software to use on a PC? (including discussion of Windows Movie Maker & Lightworks)
          -- Vidding with iMovie09?
          -- Codec rec: Avid DNxHD
          -- Converter recs for Macs?
          -- Linux clipping?

• Getting Started (and Finished) -- From beginning to end, how do you make a vid? Getting source, clipping, editing workflows, tips for getting started, etc.
          • Subthread: Editing workflows/processes
                --chaila (VirtualDub, Vegas, Zarx264gui)
                --heresluck (DVD Decrypter, DGIndex, Premiere, Zarx264gui)
                --thingswithwings (Handbrake, Mac the Ripper, MPEG Streamclip, Final Cut Pro, Sound Studio)
                --ghost_lingering (Adobe Premiere & AfterEffects, Mac the Ripper, and mpeg streamclip)
                --eruthros (DVD Decrypter, VirtualDub, AvsPmod, Premiere, Zarx264gui)
                --such_heights (Switch, audio editing/conversion, Final Cut)
                --beccatoria (avidemux, Cinelerra)

          • Other questions/discussion
           -- How to time clips to the beat?
           -- Using markers
           -- Approaching editing/revising? & how to deal with ambition outstripping effects/transition knowledge?
           -- Free/cheap editing software for Macs?
           -- Ripping DVDs vs. downloaded source?
           -- Note re: codecs & compression

• Links and References -- Link helpful resources from elsewhere on the internet.
          -- Various lists of resources, including subtitling
          -- Mac vidders: how to get the shiniest source
          -- Lots of links, especially about vidding creativity
          -- Panel notes on song choice
          -- A&E's Technical Guide to All Things Audio and Video
          -- Audio editing
          -- Multiple aspect ratio tutorials
          -- Understanding codecs & containers, & Autodesk software for students

• VIDDING SQUEE - All things happy, fun, and inspiring.
          • The first vid you made you're still proud of?
          • Vids/vidders that inspired us!

Meet the Vidder Threads

• Meet the Vidder: Rhi
• Meet the Vidder: metatxt
• Meet the Vidder: such heights
• Meet the Vidder: kiki_miserychic
• Meet the Vidder: Garrideb
• Meet the Vidder: ghost lingering
• Meet the Vidder: here's luck
• Meet the Vidder: chaila

ETA 3/3/14: The main part of the workshop has concluded, but please feel free to add answers or info if you've got them! We've organized a list of the threads, questions and answers for ease of browsing. And don't forget that you can sign up to be a vidding mentor to a newer vidder, or sign up to get a mentor!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm considering making actual physical clips for a project I'll be working on later this year, and I've never done this before on Linux. (I usually import the entire episode or movie into my vidding program.) I worry about video quality degradation -- I usually work from fairly low quality files to start with, and of course I need reasonably sized files with reasonably dense key framing. Any recommendations?

I use Avidemux for clipping. I typically pick all my clips out and add them to the conversion queue, and then do all the transcoding at once when I'm done clipping, so I can just walk away and let it run.

At the moment I'm transcoding with FFV1 codec, which obviously does not produce 'reasonably sized files', but all the lossier codecs I've played with have posed weird skipping problems for kdenlive, and I have plenty of room on my external HD. So I dunno, ask someone else about that part. But Avidemux I like.

Hey, just found this thanks to the new index! Hoorah, Linux solidarity!

I second the suggestion of using AviDemux. I don't personally clip that much but when I had a project that required it, that's what I used. If you go from keyframe to keyframe you can actually just cut up your video file into smaller clips without re-endoding them at all, so there'll be no loss of quality. To do that, open the video file in Avidemux, and in the left hand bar, leave both the audio and video codecs as "copy" and choose the same container (avi, mp4 or whatever). The thing is, this'll only work if your in- and out-points are keyframes. At the bottom of the window there are a number of buttons including play, stop, etc., but also "next keyframe" and "previous keyframe". There are also buttons to set the in and out points of your selection. (Sorry if that was a bit basic explaining where everything is; wasn't sure whether or not you've ever used avidemux before!)

If you do want to re-encode for whatever reason, my honest experience is that if you encode with h264 at something crazy like 8000kbps, your new files are visually indistinguishable. Though of course that has size consequences. If you encode at about 3000kpbs (which is what I do when I'm in that situation) then the degredation is generally at the level where you have to pause the encoded file and start looking at the pixelation patterns to notice the loss of quality, though it's visible.

Finally, I think I remember you saying you use Blender, which I have no experience with, but I know in Cinelerra, Lightworks and in some other video editors, there's a function to "virtually" clip within the programme. It's essentially like marking out the part of the clip you want to drop on the timeline, except you drop it into a bin or a library within the programme instead. It's not a real clip, just a notation of where the in-and-out points are, but you can drag it back to the timeline as IF it were a real clip.

That's two for AviDemux. I think I'll give those strategies a try.

Blender doesn't separate things out the way it sounds like Cinelerra does. I do all my virtual clipping off the edge of the timeline (automatically, when I can) and keep clips there, but for this project I'm thinking it might be useful to have actual clips instead of episodes on my hard drive. I might be wrong, but either way, I thank you and

seekingferret for the advice. It should come in handy -- if not for this project, then for another one. :)

Vidding Workshop!

Re: Tech Questions - Linux clipping

Re: Tech Questions - Linux clipping

Re: Tech Questions - Linux clipping

Re: Tech Questions - Linux clipping