Making Videos in Second Life

There are lots of tutorials on this subject. This article isn’t a tutorial. It is a collection of tutorials and information about making video using Second Life or any virtual world. I saw that Hypergrid Business has an article up titled: 5 tips for video tutorials and 3D simulations. The article is written by Ann Cudworth.

Image by Honour

Image by Honour

She manages to write the whole article without using the word Machinima. I’m not that much into Machinima so, there may be some nuanced difference between the terms machinima and video tutorials. But, I don’t see it. 

The Urban Dictionary defines Machinima as: The art of using a pre-rendered gaming engine and making it into a film. The word is derived from: Machine and Cinema.

The Wikipedia defines it as: the use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production.

It seems to me that a video tutorial made in a virtual world would also be machinima. Whatever…

I found that some significant number people search for the tools needed to make video in virtual worlds use the word machinima in their search. Examples: machinima in WOW, in Minecraft™, and of course Second Life™. Use of the word machinima might have helped people find the software tools they need.

Oh well… it is still a good set of tips for anyone that is new to the idea of machinima. It provides an overall outline of how to make movies.

Did you know that Torley Linden has a wiki page titled ‘Guide to Making Movies!’? Torley gets into more of the actual details of what you physically need to make movies. He also provides some Second Life specific tips. Others have contributed to the page too. There are suggestions for software you can use. Plus some short video tutorials. The Hypergrid article is information I didn’t see in the SL Wiki.

The Torley page is a ‘MUST READ’ page for anyone wanting to do machinima in Second Life. One of the points he makes is use of Windlight settings, which are about controlling how the viewer renders the SL environment. If you have seen a foggy day picture in SL, chances are it was made using Windlight settings.

If you have visited Bryn Ho’s Immersive exhibit (see Hamelts article: Immersive Art Installation. – This is a MUST SEE exhibit. If you like exploring, this is totally awesome. Pictures here.) you know that the SL Viewer is short on Windlight presets (about 36). The Torley page has some presets you can add.

Strawberry Singh has an article on Windlight settings. See her: WindLight Settings. She provides settings she uses and explains how to install them.

You’ll find more settings in the SL Wiki here: Resident-created WindLight settings. There are more tutorials on how to use Windlight and install presets. Plus there are more presets and tutorials here: SL Blogger Support.

My favorite photographer-explorer, Honour, explains how to setup and tweak Windlight settings and shadows in: Shadows & Windlight Settings & a Trick in Second Life. If you don’t know, shadows are adjustable.

Way back in 2009 Hamlet pointed me to these settings by Mescaline Tammas

One thought on “Making Videos in Second Life

  1. Pingback: Making Videos in Second Life | Zarf's

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