Make Your Own "FOX" Style Theater Logo - Page 3

Render is complete - getting ready to animate! I am excited about this.

For music, I have the "Home Video Album" that has all the movie intros and some great movie music in general:
http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Home%20V...bum:1921047983

This CD is not made anymore, but you can find it used in many places.

Bruce,

Could you please give some details on how you used decrypter to extract the audio files. I have been trying for a few hours now, I cant seem to seperate the audio from the video image file. Also which application in Nerovision express were you using ? Could you give details on the steps you used in Nero.

Thanks for your time.

ED

Opps, Thanks, I got it, just needed to step away for a bit. Sat back down and it almost solved itself .

ED

VERY COOL BY THE WAY, THIS FORUM IS AWESOME

Thanks everyone! I've got it up and running now with sound. I looks really impressive. I have two small problems though that I wanted some advice on.

1) I rendered it in the full screen aspect ratio for my screen (1177X662) - yes it took a long time! When I play the avi file with WinDVD 5 there is a black frame completely surrounding the image so that I only get about 3/4ths of the screen filled. I've actually seen this on some widescreen films too (Four weddings and a funeral) do you know how I can play this so it fills the screen? BTW if I play it with windows media player I can get it to go full screen but I have to start it and then hit the full screen button, then wait a few seconds for the top and bottom menu to go away - then the screen resizes to full screen (and by then the clip is over LOL).

2) My rendered file works great but there seems to be some jumpiness in the shading. It looks like a flickering in the lighting under the platforms that the letters are sitting on. Does anyone else see this? I'm wondering if my render settings had something to do with it. I chose avi-raw and my resolution was 1177X662, I didn't change anything else. If you have any suggestions I'll rerender it to see if I can get them to go away. I just didn't want to go through another 28 hour render session to get the same thing. ;-)

This is a great forum - thanks for all the help!

First: to extract the audio using DVDDecrypter, I used this method:

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=60246

I did have to search a bit and preview a few titles to find the correct one that had the intro I was looking for. Once I found it, as I recall, it turned out to be a single separate chapter. I may have used DVDShrink to actually determine WHICH title the intro was on, and then of course I noted the correct chapter number (in the case of this audio, as I recall, it was chapter one of the title where it was located.)

I then followed the steps in the link above, up until it switched gears and began to describe the "BeSweet" and "Belight" stuff. At that point, I ignored the remainder of the thread, and I started up Nero.

The application I used in Nero is actually called "NeroVision Express." I believe that I mentioned this in my original post above, but if I am wrong, I apologize. I have "Nerovision Express 3." You can also do the same with the predeccesor, "Nerovision Express 2." Note that this program is NOT owned by everyone who has other Nero programs. Many people have "Nero Burning Rom" because it came free with a burner that they bought. I purchased the complete suite of DVD burning programs from Nero, and this program came with it. I started up this program, and chose to "Make a new DVD." from there, I am able to import a video file (including for example any typical .avi file or MPEG file). Once it has been imported, there is a choice to "edit" the video. On that screen, you can then choose to "add an audio file." From there, the program is pretty intuitive. At the end you can burn the thing off to a blank DVD, or you can burn an image to your hard drive, so you can then use it later, with some other burning project.

If you do not have Nerovision Express, do not despair, there are lots of other programs that will allow one to "superimpose" an audio file with a video file. Do a search -- you should find them. In fact, most true video editing programs have this capacity.

Hope this helps,

-Bruce

Thanks for the info Bruce.

I just figured it out right before I posted this reply. I had to step away for a bit to regain my witts from being frustrated. But it works. I used shrink to re edit and burn just the 20 sec segment that I wanted from the Dvd. I was stuck trying to separate the audio file from the video file on the burned segment. Turns out I was wasting my time. I have Nero 7.0, all I had to do was drag the entire video file to the record audio in the dvd edit in Nero, the software did the rest. It came out perfect.
I too am getting the flickering in the lighting in the platforms as electron describes. Is anyone else getting this?, I am thinking it may be a setting, but it takes so long to render an animation(about 12hrs on my computer) that I don't want to experiment, Is anyone else getting this, or is it normal.

Thanks again Bruce. Ed

I fixed my first problem - I used Nerovision to change the avi to an mpg and set the 16:9 aspect ratio. So now it plays full screen (well widescreen) in WinDVD properly. I'm not sure why it didn't with the avi version (maybe the 16:9 flag wasn't set right?).

Baltizar you are seeing the flickering too? I'm going to rerender mine at 720 X 480 with the NTSC option using avi-raw just to see if that will make a difference. That should take about 10hours on my machine. I'll be able to check it tomorrow when I get home from work to see if it's any better. If anyone else has experience with this could you let us know what you did to fix it? Thanks-

I am using Nero Express 2 and I have a mpeg intro I want to use in front of my ISO movie file. I am going through the "Make My Own DVD" option, or whatever it is in Nero, and it allows me to place a ISO file in the "pre-burn" stage and even lets me preview it. It plays flawlessy there, but when I try to burn the dvd, it stops almost immediately when it is ready to burn the ISO file. I know it isn't an accepted file so does anyone have an idea of how I can burn both the mpeg intro as well as an ISO file?

I get the flicker in the burn too. Thought it might be the resolution. So I did a couple of renders at a really low resolution so it would render quickly (under 10 minutes) so I wouldn't have to wait until tomorrow to see if it worked. First small one I did was 128x72 and it had the flicker. Second one was 72x48 and it also had the same flicker. The flicker was in the lines between the words and there was a little in the front face of the block the words are on.

So I think it might be in the spacing of the blocks that make up the lines between the words. The lines are made up of two blocks really close together. I'm guessing they are too close together so they are creating the flicker. Maybe I'll play around with it a little tomorrow and see if that gets rid of it.

Try really small resolutions if you want to render really quickly and try something out in an animation before you do a full resolution rendering.

The flickering problem is because you're using the latest version of blender.

Download version 2.37a and your problem will go away - took me about 5 renders and a load of messing about to realise this!

Thanks w1lders! Yes, I rerendered it last night in 720 X 480 and the flicker is still there. I'll try 2.37a now.

That's why I couldn't fix it. Thanks for the info.

For anyone else who is looking for the older version, try this page:
http://download.blender.org/release/

Ah, so the new version is still problematic, eh? I would have hoped to see more presence from Blazer in his new thread. This is one problem that has plagued this intro since the day we started using it. I hope he can solve the flicker issue with the new versions. I cannot uncover its root cause, personally.

Actually, I thought his latest file would not work in 2.37a due to the nodes. So, now are these people stuck? They made thier own logo with 2.42a that can gen a still but cannot render a video? you seem to indicate that it worked OK for you?

I'll let you know in a couple of hours... I modified the file using 2.42. I uninstalled 2.42 and then installed 2.37a. Then I just went to render and it seems to be working. I guess I'll know this afternoon when I get home from work if it plays the avi file ok (and without flicker).

Can someone please host the blender file? The link is dead.

Thanks!

I deleted Blender 2.42, then downloaded 2.37a, to try to fix the flickering as described as w1lders. I got an error in loading when I try to use blazers file that was already on my computer, so I deleted it and went to re download it, none of the links to the file seem to work. Would someone have a working link so I can try the older version of Blender.

Thanks, Ed

I believe this should get you to the "Blender Release Archive": http://download.blender.org/release/.

DANG!

I never paid attention to this until you guys started talking about it. I just chalked it up to flashes of light from the spotlights. Now That I'm looking for it, I can see it.

Now I'm going to have to go fix it.

Tom

Maybe it's intentional, part of the animation? Blazer003?

Oh no now I feel guilty. I'm making people that were previously happy with their intros unsatisfied! That was not the intent I assure you...

It's just that the render is so clear and beautiful in every other respect the flickering really stood out for me. Sounds like it's a relatively easy thing to fix though (assuming my rerender on 2.37a works!).

Flicker is gone when using the older version. But it took out some of the pillars on the bottom closest building. The pillars on the curved part are still there, but the pillars on the straight part of the building are gone.

OK...
I got the animation done (19 hours). How do I get it into Nero? Oh, BTW, Blender is not responding - I am afraid that if I hit control alt delete, I'll have wasted 19 hours!!!!
Now, mind you, the animation is working perfectly, as is the c prompt window. I am not turning anything off until I hear something from you guys.

Ditto Toxarch - no flicker with the 2.37a version. Awesome! Thanks!

Pam, the render should be on your C Drive in a file labeled render. It should be safe there until you delete it.

You rendered it as AVI raw, right? You should be able to move it to Nero as an AVI.

Mine was set to save the file as "FOX FINAL" in the file I downloaded from Blazer. Look for something named "FOX FINAL0001_0600" in your C drive. It saves the file as it renders the animation so it should be OK to reboot your computer.

Anyone know how to add the pilars back? Maybe there is a way to copy an existing pilar and just paste a bunch of copies. That's the only big change I noticed when going to the old version.

Another thing I noticed is that the new version of blender gives a smoothed out look in the final render. The old version shows more detail when it's done. You can see it in the letters and the easiest place to see it is the light on the left of the letters with the sky background.

I first saved it as a jpeg - then when I read on about the avi, I changed it to the avi raw to animate. However, when I tried to find that file after the freeze, (I guess I never saved that one) only the jpeg showed up. Nineteen hours lost to a frozen computer. It looked wonderful!

To solve my problem, however, I took the jpeg and added it into one of my "Coke Slide" preshow DVDs. It begins with the Coke slides/trivia, then goes into "Let's ALl Go To THE Lobby", then into a "Welcome to our theatre...and now, our Feature Presentation" clip. After playing the "Our Feature Presentation" clip, I fade into the render. I added the Fox Fanfare (with Cinemascope addition) as background music. It'll do for now. When I have another 19 hours to give to the project, I'll re-animate it, making SURE I save it properly.

(sigh) You live...you learn...

PamW, it saves it in a different directory. look in c:\
ender

Right, it saves the file as soon as you start to render it and then alters the AVI file as it goes. You never have to save it manually. It has to be there somewhere.

I'll take a look. Thanks!

(3 minutes later)
I Found IT!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks ya'll!

OK for anyone else having loading / flickering problems with this here's my findings.

Originally tried V2.37a
Couldn't load blend file - "Invalid Read Error"

Changed to V2.42a
Opened fine, edited fine but gave flickering on render.

Only way I could get it to work was save the edited file from V2.42a, then re-install V2.37a and open and render from there. That result was perfect.

Hope this helps someone.

Many thanks for your work on this!


regards

Brian

Ok, my render is done, and I have the WAV file, but when I use VirtualDub to combine the 2, the result is clean for the first 5 seconds, then everything (audio and video) is studdard. Sounds almost like those old movies in elementary school where the film was boucing around and playing all distorted.

If I used Studio 8 (I got for free with my video card) I can add them, but it is more difficult than what Virtual Dub seems to do. Also Studio 8 saves the AVI as 75 megs instead of the over 600 Megs that blender created.

Any ideas?