Bricks in Motion
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Forums - Bricks in Motion » Equipment & Software » How do you make your films (or film them) in high quality and have a w
We have decided that it is about time that we began to film in higher quality, and because we are eventually getting the quickcam 9000 (we use the quickcam 4000 right now), we would like to know how to do this. We would also like to know how to film our animations with a wide-screen. This feature is awesome and somehow seems to add a lot to a film, so please let us know how to do it! Any help is much appreciated!
Well what software do you use at the moment?
For a Quick cam pro 9000 I would recommend helium frog.
And for wide screen you can change the settings for the camera with the software that comes with it.
(thread moved to a more appropriate subforum)
It's cool that you want to work in widescreen, but remember to actually use it well. It's annoying to see a film that's in WIDESCREEN!!!!! where everything just looks cut off and awkwardly framed.
I think these guys know that Night Owl. 
We currently use Monkey Jam to film (along with our quickcam pro 4000). We use Pinnacle Studios 11 to edit (along with a large variety of both free and non-free software). Does anyone know if there is a way to make widescreen using any of these programs? We will look into Helium Frog, but until we get the quickcam 9000, we need a program that works for the quickcam 4000. Oh, and @Nightowl, we do know when to use it and not to use it.
Can't you change the frame size in Pinnacle? I know you can in Sony Vegas 9, that's what I use.
Do you mean widescreen as in, stretching the video into something out of the original aspect ratio and will therefore look pretty bad?
Or widescreen as in, putting in black bars to make it appear widescreen and therefore limiting the view of the original video?
We currently use Monkey Jam to film (along with our quickcam pro 4000). We use Pinnacle Studios 11 to edit (along with a large variety of both free and non-free software). Does anyone know if there is a way to make widescreen using any of these programs? We will look into Helium Frog, but until we get the quickcam 9000, we need a program that works for the quickcam 4000. Oh, and @Nightowl, we do know when to use it and not to use it.
VirtualDub. See this tutorial. Basically, you animate your raw footage in the native format (usually 4:3), and then cut off the top and bottom in post-production.
Is Helium Frog as good as Monkey Jam? We use Monkey Jam, and it is a great program, so we are a bit inquisitive to know if we should give up using this program and switch to Helium Frog.
Helium frog is a new program recently developed by some guy, IMO its a bit slow, but it has better features than MJ.
We looked into it, but we didn't really get it... The math didn't seem to work, and the dimensions all got mixed up (using virtual dub). We will keep trying, but it seems that it doesn't want to work. Is their any other way? 
What about adding the black bars at the bottom??? We have since been able to figure out how to crop, but not how to add black bars!!!!!! Maybe Smeagol knows...
If you get your video into an uncompressed .avi format, from there you can use this tutorial to add black bars in VirtualDub. Not sure why you'd want black bars, though, makes more sense just to upload your video without them unless it's for an HD Youtube upload or something.
Videos it seems are more readily accepted as higher quality and more profesional it seems if they are widescreen and have black bars. Isn't this true?
YouTube automatically letterboxes now. It's cool, though I have to say I'm pissed off, because it means that everybody who actually took the care to get the right aspect ratio in the past now has an awkward double letterbox on all of their stuff.
YouTube automatically letterboxes now. It's cool, though I have to say I'm pissed off, because it means that everybody who actually took the care to get the right aspect ratio in the past now has an awkward double letterbox on all of their stuff.
I agree. One of my films now has black bars on all 4 sides where it could have had none. This sucks,
The QC9000 as I understand has a 1600x1200 sensor in it so naturally films in 4:3 ratio. Your best bet is to film with the QC9000 at 4:3 ratio, but avoiding the top and bottom of the screen. Many programs have a safe area rectangle that gives you a guide where to stay within.
Then use an editing program to clip top and bottom.
Most cameras and webcams have 4:3 sensors. If they do offer you a widescreen setting you often find they just clip the top and bottom off the image internally in software.
How do you download Helium Frog? I tried and it just showed pictures.
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