Week 14 - Room 425 Testing Results

Compare recording qualities:
Mac desktop (425) in Nov 07

Back in early Nov, we were able to video capture at 968x544 with the front computer. So why not now... (view 640x480)
Spec:

PC desktop (In-Bum)

Spec:
TechSmith Screen Capture Codec (Camtasia), 720*486, 30fps
Nvidia Geforce 7800 GT, cpu pentium D 3Ghz, ram 2G

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To create HD machinima with Second Life is proven to be problematic based on the current hardware capacity we have in Room 425. There are different recommendations from machinima filmmaker experienced with Second Life:
1. Video capture to DV camcorder.
2. Less avatars present.
3. Less primitives, textures, particle effects ... anything for client to render (client issue).
4. Get a better graphic card.
5. Use windows?
6. Go online during less traffic hour (server issue).

other references: Recording Machinima

Recommendation from Academic Technology:
7. Clear files on the computer to optimize its performance.
8. Less users on network bandwidth.
9. ...

To monitor lag:
Help > Lag Meter
View > Statistics
Advanced > (to see all the real-time rendering details)

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Conclusion:
We will do our best with what we have been using (Second Life & Snapz) and hardware configuration available in Room 425.
1. Only 5 actors (at most) for the shot should log in and present at the set.
2. Two cameramen need to stay outside the filming site.
3. Set needs to reduce its usage of primitives, textures, shine, and glow.
4. Stick to old frame size: 960x540, anti-aliasing x2 (if not working, we will go down to: 869x480, 720x450 and take out anti-alising).
5. Clear files on your computer (work-in-progress folder) and restart.
6. Camera movements kept low. (no zooming in and out swiftly).