How do you create a video?

[Srobertson1956]

I can not find information on how to create a video of a Trainz route. I assume the camera views are used to set the scenes, but how is this captured? Is there an internal way to do this or is a third party software needed to capture a view from the screen? Any recommendations regarding software for a MAC is appreciated.

 

[1611mac]

On a Mac you can use the built in "QuickTime" app for screen shots and screen recording. Read the QuickTime help or just web search for "QuickTime screen recording"

 

[DARTrider]

I can not find information on how to create a video of a Trainz route. I assume the camera views are used to set the scenes, but how is this captured? Is there an internal way to do this or is a third party software needed to capture a view from the screen? Any recommendations regarding software for a MAC is appreciated.

Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) is a good option.

 

[Srobertson1956]

I will look into Quick time. Thanks

 

[1611mac]

Know that Quicktime is just to capture the video/audio, you then need an editor. I only require simple transitions and fades and Apples iMovie does that quickly and simply. Been wanting to checkout the above mentioned OBS - I'm going to take a look at it myself. Considered trying it several times but it's hard to break from what you know and already use.

 

[Srobertson1956]

Thanks. MAC also has iMovie, which I believe is for editing. Right now I just want to share my initial idea with some others. A real movie style video will come later as I gain more experience.

 

[Srobertson1956]

Oops, you did mention iMovie. My bad. Thanks

 

[capdiamont]

Just use the screen capture app built into Mac OS. You can do a pic or a video recording. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/take-a-screenshot-mh26782/mac

I don’t think QuickTime works on the newer OS versions.

 

[tonyfrancis]

SCENE RECORDER

Try ITop screen recorder. the free version does show a watermark but is not intrusive.

 

[PWillard]

You will really like OBS. Its pretty easy and its even multi-platform.

 

[philskene]

I support OBS too. The one significant failing is that there is no on-screen indication that you are recording. Eventually, after searching to the far ends of the Universe, I came upon a suggestion to make the hot key for recording = Scroll Lock. This at least gives you an indication on your keyboard that OBS is recording.

At some stage you may need to edit your video -- cut, copy, delete, merge, transitions, captions, add an audio track, ... . For this I recommend Shotcut. Again it's freeware.

The final suggestion is that if your monitor supports it, record at 1440p or better. This comes out much better on youtube. This is one of my latest videos (best watched at 1440p / full screen):

Phil

 

[dundun92]

I use OBS too and I absolutely love it. Its very customizable.

record at 1440p or better. This comes out much better on youtube. This is one of my latest videos (best watched at 1440p / full screen):

The reason 1440p looks better than 1080p on YouTube, Phil, is partly because of the increased pixels being rendered, but it's actually more because videos uploaded to YouTube that are 1440p or higher use Google's VP9 encoder, but videos 1080p and lower will use the very bad AVC encoder, which looks really bad especially in scenes with high motion. Instead of recording the game at 1440p however, I'd recommend recording in 1080p, then upscaling it to 1440 in the video editor (which is what I do) in order to trick YouTube into using the VP9 codec (the difference in quality between a 1080p video and a 1080p video upscaled to 1440p on YouTube is massive - simply because of the change in codec). This will save resorses when playing and increase your game performance, while giving you great quality on YouTube, plus smaller file sizes to process.

 

[philskene]

Thanks for that. At 1080p I was wondering why the TurfFX grasses looked so blurry.

My newer monitor has 1440p resolution so that is what I use for recording. But, yes, the file size is very large. Shotcut compresses the file considerably, making it easier to upload to youtube.

Phil