I've Been Wanting to Edit Star Trek Movies/Episodes And Produce My Own Special Effects

I've always been impressed with people who do this on YouTube. Produce edited version of episodes or movies and put themm on YouTube or produce alternate special effects.

I was wondering how to get started on this? I was told there are some tutorials on YouTube that walks you through some of the steps but I have not found any yet.

Can anyone direct me to them?

Certainly the video editing's not so hard. I'm sure there are lots of freeware/shareware tools out there for that (googling "video editing software free" produced many hits).

But doing your own special effects? In my opinion, not possible/practical as an individual effort if you want something that will look decent. CBS employed a whole department's worth of highly skilled digital modelers, designers, animators, compositors, storyboard artists, matte painters, etc. and gave them very high-end hardware and software tools to produce the new VFX for the HD releases of TOS. That's not something that one guy--even with skills and plentiful resources--is going to be able to reproduce.

The effects can be done, you'll need the software for it though. The models can be created in 3D Studio Max or Lightwave, and so can the effects. Both have the ability to create particles and the light effects from explosions. There are fan produced clips that look just as good as those from the enhanced TOS episodes, done by one person.

I jave 3D Studio Max, and the full CS6 package from Adobe from which I can go and create the models, animate the scenes and then go into After Effects to clean up or add in further effects. If I wanted to create a scene of say the Enterprise destroying a Bird of Prey I could. I'd use Studio Max to create the Enterprise and B.o.P, and render the scene. I could use Studio Max to create the weapons fire and the B.o.P being destroyed. I'd leave the background blank by using green to create a green screen. Once the was done I would then use After Effects to add in the background, composite the scenes together, add in audio effects, and if needed add in any further FX the might be needed.

It can be done at home, just rendering the scenes in Studio Max could take several hours for a minute or two of video. Creating the models and the scene would take dozens of hours, unless you download the models. Even then you might need to create a new skin for them, and this could also take several hours. Creating models in Studio Max or Lightwave can take days, it's not something you can sit down at and start and have an Enterprise in a few hours. There's a steep learning curve to it, and it fairly difficult to learn.

So yes, it can be done but how much is Dayton willing to invest? So Studio Max would run around$3500, CS6 would around $1900 or so if he wants to get After Effects (video editing), Photoshop (backgrounds/mattes), and possibly a few other Adobe products. To get that you're looking at around $2000 or so. I don't know how old his computer is, but a decent one to do this on he would need to spend at least $800 or so. While creating then a decent graphics card would be helpful, and when he's ready to render the scene a faster processor would be needed along with plenty of RAM.

So about $6200 to start, and then several weeks of learning the the software. A few more weeks to create, render, and edit the scene. So maybe 6 months to create a 1-2 minute scene.

Lightwave does cost $2600 less, so that route you're looking at $3600 to start.

You'll probably need these to start.

Adobe CS6 packages
3D Studio Max
Lightwave

I was gonna say, given the graphic software options out there (none of them free, BTW) one person could do it, but it's going to take money, time, and talent.

Thank you. Especially to you Ed for the cost and time estimates. Perhaps I'll simply try video editing to start with since that seems simpler. Hell I used to do some of that compiling battle scenes using a couple of VCRs. I wonder what the basic program you would use for editing together clips and inserting them into other episodes and movies?

A year or so ago I was told that it was a simple matter to simply play a DVD of an episode or movie and "capture" certain scenes to use later.

There is GMax, which is a stripped down version of 3D Studio Max. Both have the same feel, and since GMax was created from 3D Studio Max you could learn a good amount by using GMax, like creating models, lighting, texture (skinning), and most of the basic and some intermediate skills. If you go that route, that would be a good way to start and decide if you really want to continue with the retail version of Studio Max.

Forgot this one, Blender is also a decent free program. I haven't used it much, I'm used to using Lightwave and 3D Studio Max. So I can't say for sure how well it compares to the others.

You're welcome.

If you want to do it that way, there's a few ways to do it. One way would be to use a DVD, and then use software to convert it to a video file on your computer.You can download Handbrake to rip a DVD to your computer. Then convert that ripped DVD over to a video file. Once you have that you can use non-linear video editing software to cut the scenes you want from the video. I don't use handbrake, I have it on my computer but I bought DVD Fab a while back, and to me it was worth it since it's easier to use and also comes with updates that will bypass new encryption or anti-copying measures.

There's a few decent to good programs to do that with, either VSDC or Lightwaves (not the 3D software). Both are decent, Lightwaves is a bit harder to learn though. I've also used NCH Videopad, which is pretty good. And you might be able to locate a version of Adobe Premiere Elements as well, it comes with some computers when you buy them, it's a stripped down version of Adobe Premiere Pro.

I'll leave it up to you to find them, since I don't feel like looking for the links.

Premiere Elements will let you do a bit more than the others, mainly in applying effects to video. If you're just looking to video edit, then any of the ones I mentioned will work as well.

I've playing around with video editing, adding in special effects, 3D modeling, video manipulation, image editing, etc. for about 10-12 years now. Most of it I learned on my own.

I do like After Effects and Adobe Premiere since a good number of the filters in PhotoShop are available in After Effects and Premiere.

NCH also has audio and photo software as well, and they do offer some free non-commercial versions of their software.

One thing I thought I could do with editing was a new version of the climatic part of "The Defector" on ST:TNG 3rd season.

In the original version the Romulans back down when the three Klingon Birds of Prey appear. I wanted to do a version where they decide to fight it out. It seems to me that there are already enough existing footage of Romulan Warbirds firing, BOP firing, Enterprise firing, et cetera to do a pretty decent remade ending without freshly creating new effects.

Here's two screen captures, one of GMax and the other is from 3D Studio Max. You can see that they're very similar,

Gmax Screen


3D Studio Max Screen



3D Studio Max Screen



As you can see, 3D Max has the rendering tools available, GMax doesn't. But you can still create scenes if you want to, you need to export them to another program to create models that you can use in games. GMax was created to allow people to create models/characters/vehicles etc. to use in games. So that's why you can't just create a model and then render and image or video from it.

A question has occurred to me.

In the TNG episode "Survivors", the Enterprise unloads on the Husnok warship (at least the illusion of one) with simultaneous phaser and photon torpedo fire.

The scene shows the Husnok ship (shielded) in the foreground with the Enterprise in the background firing its weapons. Does the video editing technology currently exist to isolate and use the part of the scene with the Enterprise firing its weapons while removing the Husnok ship?

For a reasonable price of course.

Yes, though I doubt that you could afford the software (and hardware) for the programs that would make it look really good.

I think he wants to hire someone else to do it?

Well no. I figured that as computers get faster the prices of the required technology would start coming down.

Some samples of what Blender can do:











Given that this is a hobby for Dayton, his best bet is to invest in a good PC (lots of RAM, a good video card, and a really big harddrive), and just work with Blender. I would also do a search on iTunes for VFX podcasts and start listening to them. There's several of them, produced by people who actually do VFX for a living in major movies, Matt Wallin, who worked on Watchmen, for example, does one called The VFX Show.

It occurred to me that the exact same technology would allow one to isolate the images of the Klingon ships exploding in the Koboyashi Maru simulation in the 2009 Star Trek movie and use that footage in other work.

I've been wondering about the following:



This video seems to show technique that copies the ship movements from preexisting footage but substitutes other ship models in their place.

Is this a similar or more complex technique? If I could master it, it would probably save me huge amounts of time and effort.

Granted, I did watch the video on my phone. But it looks like all new CG footage. So it would all be new composited scenes.

There may be a shot or two near the beginning that use original SFX, but most of it looks newly made. Most of the ships aren't rendered all that well. Crude, without much detail at all.

I was referring to the movements of the ships not the details of the ships themselves.

For example, several of the patterns of ships movements seems to have been taken from "First Contact" while the two shots of Romulan Warbirds moving in looks like copies from "The Search" in DS9 where the Jem'hadar fighters are attacking the U.S.S. Defiant.

I quoted ed because I was responding to his post not yours, coach.

For someone who knew what they were doing, I don't think it would be all that hard to duplicate those moves, especially if you "Rotoscoped" them (or whatever CGI animators call it).

Can you explain "Rotoscoped" Shooter?

"In this week's episode of, Dayton Asks Others to Do Stuff That He Could Easily Do Himself..."

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=rotoscope

What is the point of this discussion board Shooter?

Discussion.

That said, when someone uses an unfamiliar term, I Google it myself so as not to proclaim my ignorance to the rest of the board.

Rotoscoping could work, but is usually used for animation or to add elements to scenes. A good example would be the way the lightsabers were done. For ships there is better, and easier method. But due to this snide comment, when @shootER made a valid and often repeated point, I'm not contributing anymore to this discussion on how to achieve the desired results.

Except for this.