Why, and how, to use the Youtube video editor

I’ll start with the ‘why’. Once you upload a video to Youtube, any changes you make will require that you:

1. delete the original video, and
2. upload the new, updated video

Why is this a problem? Because any views or comments you get on the old video will be lost.

The only exception to this is if the changes you want to make are minor. In that case, you can use the in-built Youtube video editor to make small changes to the existing video.

What kind of changes? Let me show you in this 4 minute, how-to video that I created:

I decided to have a little fun with the ‘speaking bits’ so used one of my gaming avatars to ‘animate’ the boring bits. Ahem…

In the example shown, the ‘tail’ of the video was too long. The tail is the bit right at the end which is where you want to display end screen information:

These ‘elements’ encourage viewers to see other videos you’ve created, or subscribe to your channel. The last thing you want is for viewers to switch off without seeing more of your content.

So the end screen elements are very important, but they can only be added after you upload your video. This makes getting the timing right a bit of a challenge. I’m sure professionals know precisely how long to make the ‘tail’ of the video, but I always seem to make them too long.

According to my research, end screen elements need to be on-screen for a minimum of 5 seconds. Anything less than that and they simply don’t appear. The maximum time they can appear is 20 seconds, so you need to find the sweet spot and time your ‘tail’ to match.

After much messing around, I finally got my end screen elements to appear just after the ‘blow kiss/goodbye’. And I had to use the method shown in the video to do it. 🙂

And finally, this is the video that made me scoot down this rabbit hole in the first place:

I’m having a lot of fun creating these gaming walkthroughs, but I’m also learning the skills I’ll need once I start making how-to videos in earnest.

cheers,
Meeks

The tiniest Aussie van-house

I’ve been fascinated by the idea of Tiny Houses for years, but this one literally blew my mind:

I’m not sure I’m tidy enough to live in such a…neat…space, but I totally fell in love with the aesthetics of it.

Still smiling,
Meeks

New toys, new skills

Some months back, I invested in Corel VideoStudio Pro, as well the Action! video capture program. One helps me take good quality video footage, the other helps me turn that raw footage into something a great deal more professional. Unfortunately, both have required quite a steep learning curve, but I’m proud to say I can now do a proper ‘voice over’^[1].

In time, I hope to make short how-to videos to complement my how-to posts. You saw a tiny snippet of that in my last post. For now though, I’m doing player housing walkthroughs while I learn the ropes. This is my latest walkthrough:

A narrated walkthrough of the Undercity

This particular housing project is set in an area that looks like a real wasteland, so I tried to reproduce some of the things I visualised in The Vintage Egg, in particular the story about the Christmas Roast. I think I managed to fudge the grim feel of the Undercity, but I couldn’t quite re-create the high tech architecture. Still, I had a lot of fun. 🙂

I’m off to practise some more new skills.

cheers,
Meeks

^[1] My first efforts saw me recording the ‘narration’ at the same time as I was trying to film the video. Okay for simple things, next to impossible for more complex things. Now I can focus on the video first, then record the narration over the top of the video. Still need a script but it’s miles easier.]

Dieselpunk House – Anpire

I love building things in ESO, and I think I’m pretty good at it, but this house – built by Anpire – is beyond exceptional:

Not only is the building itself incredible, but the ‘cinematography’ is brilliant as well, and the laid back, jazzy music suits the build perfectly.

cheers,
Meeks

ESO housing – Lion’s Cradle

This is another video walkthrough that I’m posting, partly for posterity and partly because I’m proud of the level of editing I was able to achieve. Still not ‘professional’ by a very long country mile, but getting there.

I’ve turned comments off as these posts are mostly for gamers.

cheers,
Meeks

Update on WordPress problem using Opera browser

After posting about the problem I have been having accessing comments on WordPress [here], I decided to do some sleuthing online. I went from link to link until I finally found a forum talking about an unrelated issue some people were having with WordPress and Opera.

One of the possible solutions posted on this forum was to clear the Opera ‘error console’. Now despite having used Opera for years, this was the first I’d heard of an error console. Nonetheless, I went searching and finally found it. I was shocked to see masses of error messages. Taking a deep breath, I deleted them all. Then I logged into WordPress and clicked on the comment notifications icon…

BINGO! I now have comments again!

Before I do a quick walkthrough for others having the same problem, here is some background. Right from the word go, Opera has been notorious for sticking to the HTML and CSS standards. You’d think that would be a good thing, right? Well the reality is a wishy washy ‘yes and no’. The problem is that few sites are as compliant as Opera. This leads to errors, and apparently, the build up of errors within the error console can lead to snafus like the one that’s plagued me.

Okay, enough theory. If you use Opera and WordPress, and you are having problems with the way Opera displays WordPress, here is a possible solution :

1. Go to the Opera tool bar and click Tools/Advanced/Error Console [as shown below]

2. Click the first error message in the list and hold down the SHIFT key. Now click the last error message in the list. All the messages should now be highlighted.

3. Click the CLEAR button at the bottom of the page [as shown below]

And that’s it. I was wrong, there is one more small step. After clearing the error console, you will have to close Opera to get the changes to take effect. I discovered this today when I found my comments gone again. [4/2/2014]

Those of a nerdy nature might be interested to look at the error messages before deleting them. Most have to do with HTML or CSS issues. That said, I have been using WordPress and Opera together for a couple of years now, and this problem has only cropped up a couple of times. The first time, I just had to suffer until ‘something’ changed again and my comments returned. At least now I’m back in control of my apps. Unfortunately, until WordPress cleans up its code, this problem with Opera is likely to happen again. -sigh-

[Note : the problem did happen again, after just one day of use. Luckily clearing the error console and closing Opera did the trick].

Happy blogging,

Meeks