Video Editing - Day 4 (January)

WHAT I DID TODAY:

Today I finished up my entire video. All I did today was add text, add a 'filter', cleaned up a bit, and changed some transitions. And then rendering the video or exporting it took like 15 minutes because despite the video only being 20 seconds or so, there are lots of effects now and I exported it at best quality. (pretty sure the quality will still be bad on blogger though.)

This is the final timeline of my video or what the editing process looked like.

FINISHED

And here is the final product. 

WHAT I LEARNED:

I learned that at the top of the video preview there's a button that says 'preview (auto)' 

• It's a button that changes the quality of the video preview. I think it's important to mention this because if the quality is higher aka resolution, the preview is going to lag very hard especially for low-end computers. That's why the option exists, so people who have good computers can preview on high quality. 

Also the lower the resolution, the less laggy it is basically.

Another thing I learned was adding a filter. 

• Sony Vegas has thing called "Coloring." In other words you can call it a filter as it is technically the same thing. Except filters are way more complex on here as you can change a bunch of things and even create your own.

As for me, or this edit specifically, I used someone's coloring and downloaded it. This is just to say that I learned about coloring and how to install it into the program.

WHAT I WILL BE DOING TOMORROW / NEXT TIME:

As you may have noticed by now, the title of my posts are 'Video Editing' and not a specific program name. What I had in mind was whether I would use the program Sony Vegas or Adobe After Effects.

After using Sony Vegas, I realize that it's a pretty simple editor and I feel as if I can learn much more using AE as it's more complex.

I will use After Effects in my next class, but still, stick to video editing. The purpose of this was to see which program is better for me.

Next day I will use After Effects, and do another basic video, as it's a whole different program, but even more complicated.

Video Editing - Day 3 (January)

WHAT I DID TODAY:

Today I added transitions to my video. This took up the whole time as I was trying to find the perfect transitions that fit. I realized that there weren't many transitions that fit my taste or style so I ended up using one transition repeatedly but I'm satisfied with how it turned out.

One problem that I ran into when adding transitions in, was that when adding transitions it meant I had to drag a clip on top of another clip like attach the beginning to the end of each clip to make a smooth flow of transition kind of. (that's the best I can describe it) So basically the point is that each clip got shorter so my total videos didn't reach the 20 seconds of the song like it did in the beginning in my first render...

I had to fix that by dragging out each clip or slowing it down, then I had to reorganize everything to make it match with the song again.

timeline of current progress

This is what my video looks like now after adding the transitions in.

WHAT I LEARNED:

One of the things I learned today was a lesson that it's best to add in transitions while adding clips. It could be temporary transitions, but it works better than having no transitions at all. Or else it would mess up the whole duration of the videos and beat.

• And this is probably already noticed but I learned how to add transitions in! It's really easy with this program as you just choose your desired transition in the options then drag it into the timeline.

• I also learned how to speed up/slow down clips. All I have to do is press ctrl then drag backward with my mouse to speed up or click and drag forward to slow down the clip. This is very useful if a clip you want is too fast. (which is what I did in my edit for a clip or two.)

WHAT I WILL BE DOING TOMORROW / NEXT TIME:

Next time I will completely finish up my video. I'm at the near point of being finished but not quite yet. I want to fix my video up, add a filter like I've seen in a tutorial before, and maybe add some text to show that I got the basics down.

Video Editing - Day 2 (January)

WHAT I DID TODAY:

After using the last class to get my videos and music ready/finding them, I started a short video edit today. It may seem like I didn't get very far considering all I did was cut clips, then replace them and organize them, but it actually took longer than I thought.

I had to go through and cut down 2-4 minute videos and take out clips that I want to use in my edit. The song was only 20 seconds or so, but I wanted the clips to match the beat of the music kind of so it took a while to get the right clips.

MY EDIT TIMELINE SO FAR

To sum it up, all I did today was trim clips, and organize and also render the video aka export basically.  Below is the video that I have so far.. (keep in mind that I haven't started transitions yet so it may look plain)

ALSO, I RENDERED THE VIDEO IN THE LOWEST QUALITY SETTING THEY HAD (WHICH WAS ONLY 720P) BECAUSE IT IS JUST THE ROUGH DRAFT SO IN MY FINISHED VERSION IT WILL BE THE BEST QUALITY I CAN GET IT TO.

WHAT I LEARNED:

I learned a bunch of new things today, mainly shortcuts which I used a lot. 

Here's a list of shortcuts that I learned:

• s = split 
• u = detaches a video from it's original audio 
• m = marks a spot (in case you want to split somewhere for example)
• using > and < allows me to go frame by frame
• del = delete
• ctr z = undo

Some of those were pretty self-explanatory but I still learned how to use it in this program so I would say it counts.

WHAT I WILL BE DOING NEXT TIME / TOMORROW:

Next time I will add transitions to each clip. I'm pretty sure that's all I'll be able to do next class because it takes a while to get the transitions perfect and since I'm a beginner I can't do it that fast since I'm basically learning while doing it at the same time.

Video Editing - Day 1 (January)

WHAT I DID TODAY:

Today I started to work with a new program to move on from coding. I started learning about the program 'Sony Vegas Pro.' I chose this because I have a great interest in video editing and love to do it on my own time. 

SONY VEGAS PROGRAM

It is different this time though because I'm starting this program not knowing anything about it besides the fact that it is a very strong video editor that many people can use in different ways. 
(I am a total newbie at this and can't wait to learn how to edit videos on here.)


So today I haven't actually started doing anything yet. I spent the whole time setting everything up. What I mean by that is downloading my videos and music in order to edit. I also just watched a bunch of basic beginner tutorials to get me started in the next class. It took a longer time than I thought because I had to learn how to download videos in good quality.

WHAT I LEARNED:

The first thing I learned was how to download videos in order to get started. I had to download videos using a mp4 converter where I enter the link and can download it. It took me a while to find a good website that can allow me to somewhat download good quality videos in a short amount of time.

I also used the same thing like a mp3 converter to get music, or I just plug in my phone and import the music from my phone to the computer.

just download symbol

WHAT I WILL BE DOING TOMORROW / NEXT TIME:

Despite not starting today, I already have in mind what I want to do in the future with Sony Vegas. My goal is to make short edits for now with the effects that I learn.

Since it's technically my first day on using this program, next time I will start off by editing a video that just has simple transitions/cuts.

Python - Final Project - Day 4 (January)

WHAT I DID TODAY:


Today, I found out that it's important to structure your code and to organize it better to organize thoughts and for outside 'readers' to easily understand the code. You're able to see what functions you're running and what the functions do. With this structure, I am able to control whats able to run on the program more easily, which is why I decided to fix my entire structure today.


Today I also added in more comments to help me remember stuff and thus making my thoughts more organized.



This was the result of the structuring..

YOU CAN SEE THAT THE FORMAT OF MY CODE IS NOW LOOKING NEATER AND CLEAN 

PART 2 OF THE CLEANUP AND COMMENTS

I'm pretty sure I mentioned it last time, but this is my last post so here is my final small quiz program/game. I honestly am a bit upset because I can only code to that extent but then again I also understand that it's not that easy to remember everything and code perfectly.

I am satisfied however with what I was at least able to create.

The link to my program or just the code:

Quiz Game

WHAT I LEARNED:

• To sum it up, I just learned to organize my code all the time and the reasons as to why it's important to do so (as stated in the section above)

• Another thing I learned was calling functions etc; I actually already learned about this in code academy but since it was all a bunch of information crammed up with barely any practice (unless I get the pro version) it was a bit hard for me to fully understand how it works..

But since I'm creating my own program now I actually have to use it so I had to fully search and learn more about it until I was able to use it on my own. 

Today with the def function, I used it so it can take all the score in and at the end give the final score. 

• The final thing I learned about was modules. I learned that modules are kind of like plugins that you can import to have more different codes and functions you can use. For example, if I downloaded the module 'pygame' there will be codes that are related to games that I can use, and without the module, I wouldn't be able to use that code.

WHAT I WILL BE DOING TOMORROW / NEXT TIME:

This was my final post for Python and coding in general. I have decided to wrap up this project and move onto video editing.

Python - Final Project - Day 3 (January)

WHAT I DID TODAY/ LEARNED:


Today I have completed coding all 20 questions of my quiz. This is the complete code of the 20 questions..

PART 1 OF CODE

PART 2 OF CODE

PART 3 OF CODE

Just like last time, there isn't much for me to explain, but this time I added something new besides also adding questions. Today like I said in my last post, I added an 'ending screen' that calculates the total score and gives a message based on it.

THE CODE FOR ENDING SCREEN

Basically, to sum it up, since this quiz is kind of like a 'joke' I made it that if the person got more than 2 wrong so 18/20 the message will still be negative. The only time the message is full-on 'nice' is getting 20/20.

Also, I will not show the output this time because it's the same as the other posts so there is no point.

And today I didn't learn anything new either, I just used codes I've learned previously.

WHAT I WILL BE DOING TOMORROW / NEXT TIME:

After doing that Python course I had so much information crammed in that I don't know or remember how to make use of it. So in order to do a small program that was solely based on my skill level, this is what I have created.

Next class, I think I will just wrap up this project with what I have because it actually showcases my level of knowledge in code.

Python - Final Project - Day 2 (January)

WHAT I DID TODAY/ LEARNED:

Continuing on from last time, I stated that I will be adding even more questions to my quiz game today. Last time I did 3, but today after getting a hang of it, I have added 9 more which leaves me at 12 questions out of my goal of 20 questions.


So it wasn't anything super new/exciting today. But here is the code of my new questions..

PART 1 OF CODE

PART 2 OF CODE

PART 3 OF CODE

Also since the output is all the same, I'll just show a few from my new questions instead of showing them all.

RESULT

I don't have much to explain today because I did most of it in the last post, and I did the exact same thing today. I also didn't learn anything new because I basically have the knowledge to make what I want for now, but later when I add new features I will probably learn new things.



WHAT I WILL BE DOING TOMORROW / NEXT TIME:


Next time I will finish up the 20 questions, then I will try to add a final message of the game. For example the 'ending screen' where it will announce the total score and results.

Python - Final Project - Day 1 (January)

WHAT I DID TODAY:


Since I have completed the Python 2 course on Code Academy, I have decided to end off on a final project to code a program. After researching and trying to find what I can do for my final, I have decided to do a quiz game.


It may sound simple but I chose it because I feel like it's a perfect way to actually incorporate the skills I've learned and since I am practically a beginner, I feel as if I can actually understand what I'm doing in this project. This project also can help me learn new things in a way that doesn't stress me out with all different types of information. 


Now I will talk about what I did today. First I researched and found an 'editor' or a program that actually runs my code. It's just called 'Python IDLE.' I then started by making a multiple-choice kind of quiz. The theme of the quiz is basically random/stupid questions to frustrate people that make absolutely no sense.


So far today I got to code 3 questions.

this is my code for the quiz so far

I was very surprised by how helpful that Python course was because it taught me all the basics and I was able to create this.

The above picture shows the code and the picture below is the output/final result. (I went through the quiz to show an example)

OUTPUT

WHAT I LEARNED:

I only learned 1-2 things today, but it was very helpful information.

• The first thing I learned was finding a program that actually runs the code. Since I've only been using Code Academy I didn't really think about how to find a program that'll output the code etc; In fact, I barely even knew how it even worked. 

THE PROGRAM IM CURRENTLY USING

• The second thing I learned was a code. It's very simple but it's the code I've actually used the most since starting this quiz. It is \n - What it does is basically line breaks. It's how my multiple choice answers are placed like that row by row. 

WHAT WILL BE DOING TOMORROW / NEXT TIME:

Next time I will just be adding in a lot more questions. I actually aim to make at least 20 questions, and I know that I won't have time to do anything else after adding even more questions, so that is all I aim to do next class.