spideyrdr
July 2nd, 2013, 02:32 PM
For those asking how I did the videos I posted from this past round, I can point you to the tools but can't teach you to use fully them yet - I am still learning, so any lessons I have to give could end up being 'wrong' down the line. But in the spirit of passing along what I know, I present...
What you need to make your own "enhanced" videos
Hardware:
1) GoPro or other camera to get footage (duh)
2) One of the following:
A) Smartphone that has GPS - either an old on that you can dedicate to this or your daily phone if you wouldn't be bent out of shape about if you lost it or broke it. Most smartphones can only log at 1Hz (1 sample per second), which might be acceptable but at race speeds, you might see some significant timing issues.An iPhone MIGHT work, but I don't own anything made by Apple.
B) A standalone GPS datalogger running at 5Hz or 10Hz
C) A standalone GPS receiver that can run at 5Hz or 10Hz or higher that also has bluetooth and can be paired with a smartphone to act as the datalogger. THIS IS WHAT I USED TO MAKE MY VIDEOS. I have a Qstarz 5Hz GPS receiver and it connects to my old Samsung Galaxy S phone over bluetooth for logging the data. I have read 5Hz is about as high as you can go with this sort of setup before the phone can no longer accurately log the data, but I am not sure if that's true or not.
3) A computer that's got decent horsepower. I use a PC running Windows 7 - a Mac might work since there is a Mac version of the RaceRender software, but again, I have no Apple products.
Software:
1) RaceRender (http://racerender.com/RR2/Features.html) running on the computer. This is really the coolest software I have seen in a long time. There is a free version but it's limited to 3 minute clips and is pretty much trialware. $25 gets you the "Deluxe" edition, which is what I used and it is worth every penny. The "Ultimate" edition is $10 more and I don't know what exactly you get that would compel you to go that route, but it has more features and customization options apparently.
2) RaceChrono running on the Android smartphone or some other GPS datalogger. There are several options that will work with RaceRender, but RaceChrono is what I used and it's free. Different apps are available for iPhone users as well.
VERY general overview in usage:
1) Start logging the data using your phone. If you're using RaceChrono, either select the internal GPS on the phone or an external GPS receiver, and start recording.
2) Start recording video with your GoPro or other camera.
3) RACE YOUR ASS OFF!
4) Stop the video once the throngs of fans that have flocked to congratulate you have finally left.
5) Stop the data logging in RaceChrono and export the session as a CSV file. This is very simple even if it sounds hard - just a few taps in the app and it's done.
6) Copy the exported session file to your computer. If you don't know how to find the file on your phone, refer to the RaceChrono help or something.
7) Copy the video from the camera to your computer. If you don't know how to do this, I cannot help you.
8) Open RaceRender and it should prompt you to select which template you want to use. Pick one to start with (I used the "Datalogger - Simple" template to get going). Note that whichever template you pick, you can add or remove elements such as additional video inputs for PIP or whatever, but "Datalogger - Simple" seems like a solid bet for motorcycle racing footage.
9) It will then ask you to select the input files to use with that template. Depending on what you picked in step 8, you might have different options, but the "Datalogger - Simple" template prompts for a Datalogger file (the CSV file from RaceChrono) and a video file (the video from your camera).
11) Now it will ask for a Data Template. This is what determines which visual items will be on screen by default, such as the speedo, track map, etc. This is again only a template and you can add, remove, reposition, etc items later so pick whichever you think looks cool to start with. Personally, I ended up creating a template of my own based on what I liked, but "Compact - 2" works as a good starting point in my opinion.
12) You will next be asked which data visualizations you want to have displayed - basically this is asking you which elements from the Data Template do you actually want to have visible on screen. Uncheck items that aren't applicable (throttle position or gear indicator may not be applicable so uncheck those). Note that these objects might still be in the project but they are not active, aka they aren't visible.
13) Now you should be in RaceRender with your video up and some gauges and indicators. Here is where everyone will probably do it slightly differently so I will only cover some of the major options.
NOTE: Depending on which template you started with, the track map may rotate as you move. A cool feature for some but a bit dizzying when you are trying to edit / synchronize, and for me I just prefer a stationary map. As with pretty much any object in the project, you can change the style of the track map and choose one that doesn't have the option "Rotate Track Map Based on Vehicle Heading" checked in order to keep it stationary. In fact, I almost think there's a bug in the software where that option is checked by default on some of the styles but becomes unchecked if you change the map style. In any case, choose whichever track style works for you.
Now on to the main options.
A) TRIM: Highlight the video file under "Input Files" and use the trim feature to first trim the start and finish of the video. I usually trim the start to the roll up to the grid and then the end is trimmed to the end of the cool down lap. Note that if you don't trim it, it's not a problem because when you output the final video you can set the start and end time there. Trimming just makes life easier in my opinion as you work on the project. Next you can trim the data file too and similar rules apply to the video but don't trim the data MORE than you trim the video otherwise you'll have a problem lining them up. The data trim tool is actually pretty ingenious in that it shows where you are in the track as you move the slider so it's actually pretty easy to tell where to trim - I trim to when we are in pregrid (seriously, you can easily tell where pregrid is in the tool) and end it I am back in the pit).
B) SYNCHRONIZATION TOOL: This is what you use to synch the data to the video, so it's obviously really important. What I do is get the video positioned to just before the race starts down in the Preview window, then select the data file in the Input Files window, click the Synchronization Tool button, then move forward until I see the speedometer on screen get back to zero following the warm up lap and my position on the map is on the starting grid. Then I fiddle with the synchronization until the speed / position line up to the video (the speed jumps up when the bike starts moving, duh). Sounds complicated maybe, but it's not. After doing 5 races, I can get them synched in a minute or two.
C) MANUALLY SET START / FINISH POINT: Now that your video is synchronized to the GPS data, go to town with other options / objects on the screen. If you want lap info (lap time or lap count) you're going to have to tell it where start / finish is. To do this, double click the data file under Input Files and click the Manually Set Start / Finish Point. You'll end up in a screen similar to the one used for trimming the data file. To find Start / Finish, I just drag the slider ahead until I can tell I am sitting on the grid. Then I slowly work ahead until my dot starts moving forward - this is where I set the start / finish at. Set it too early and the timer will think the race started while you're sitting there (bad) or set it too late it won't start counting until you're practically in turn 1. This step is maybe the hardest since a tiny adjustment can throw things off, but thankfully you can play with it over and over to try to get it right.
D) CUSTOMIZE THE SCREEN: Now is the time to customize the view to suit what you want to see. Change to a different speedometer, move stuff around, resize the track map or gauges, add text, add logos of your sponsors, whatever you want. You can even add in additional video as I demonstrated in the MWEnd video. There are so many things you can do in RaceRender, there is no guidance I can give here except to play with it and have fun with it.
E) CREATE VIDEO FILE: Ok, so you've called in sick and spent the last 3 hours playing with the screen and you're finally ready to create a file for the world to see. RaceRender has some fairly simple settings that allow you to output a very high quality video rather easily. Click the "Create Video File" button and you'll have a variety of options. If your video is from a GoPro or probably almost any source, leave the file format as "MPEG-4 H.264". For the "Distribution Profile" I personally select the one that most closely matches my input video. I use setting "2" on my GoPro which is 720p I do believe, so in RaceRender I use roughly the equivalent setting of "Local File: High-Def (720)". If you use video option "1" on your GoPro, "Local File: High-Def (1080)" might be more appropriate. IN any case, select whichever "Distribution Profile" you like the best, but bear in mind if you go too much higher or lower than your original source, you'll either end up with crap video or an unnecessarily large file. I personally use the highest "Output Quality" setting, but cannot comment on the true impact going lower will have. Finally, the only other setting I have touched on that screen is WHAT to output: the default is to render it all, but you can choose your start time and end time for the output (remember I mentioned this up when talking about the TRIM option?). I usually adjust the start and end time here so the video isn't filled with us sitting on the grid for 10 minutes or a boring cool down lap. Once the options are all set, click the "Create Video File" and walk away while it does its thing. Depending on the horsepower of your computer this could take a few minutes or it could take a few hours.
F) Once the video is done, upload it to youtube, share it with your friends, post a link on the MRA forum, show it to your sponsors, watch it on your TV if you have the means, etc. Accept the "ooo's" and "ahhh's" from everyone with grace, and pretend you had a professional studio produce the final video.
I hope this brief (it got kinda long there didn't it?) tutorial helps some of the budding video stars out there. I am by no means an expert on any of the hardware or software involved, nor do I work for, endorse, or am compensated by anyone for any of this. This how-to is provided as-is with no warranty, and I assume zero liability if you decide to use all or part of these instructions and something goes wrong. I do, however, assert copyright claim to these instructions in so far as if you wish to reproduce them, please don't try to pass them off as your own. All trademarks here are property of their respective owners.
One final note. Please support the team that created RaceRender by buying it if you are going to use it instead of trying to get a pirated copy or by using someone else's key. At $25, it is incredibly cheap for what it does, and I truly believe the makers deserve to get paid for this really cool tool.
Cheers,
Jamie
What you need to make your own "enhanced" videos
Hardware:
1) GoPro or other camera to get footage (duh)
2) One of the following:
A) Smartphone that has GPS - either an old on that you can dedicate to this or your daily phone if you wouldn't be bent out of shape about if you lost it or broke it. Most smartphones can only log at 1Hz (1 sample per second), which might be acceptable but at race speeds, you might see some significant timing issues.An iPhone MIGHT work, but I don't own anything made by Apple.
B) A standalone GPS datalogger running at 5Hz or 10Hz
C) A standalone GPS receiver that can run at 5Hz or 10Hz or higher that also has bluetooth and can be paired with a smartphone to act as the datalogger. THIS IS WHAT I USED TO MAKE MY VIDEOS. I have a Qstarz 5Hz GPS receiver and it connects to my old Samsung Galaxy S phone over bluetooth for logging the data. I have read 5Hz is about as high as you can go with this sort of setup before the phone can no longer accurately log the data, but I am not sure if that's true or not.
3) A computer that's got decent horsepower. I use a PC running Windows 7 - a Mac might work since there is a Mac version of the RaceRender software, but again, I have no Apple products.
Software:
1) RaceRender (http://racerender.com/RR2/Features.html) running on the computer. This is really the coolest software I have seen in a long time. There is a free version but it's limited to 3 minute clips and is pretty much trialware. $25 gets you the "Deluxe" edition, which is what I used and it is worth every penny. The "Ultimate" edition is $10 more and I don't know what exactly you get that would compel you to go that route, but it has more features and customization options apparently.
2) RaceChrono running on the Android smartphone or some other GPS datalogger. There are several options that will work with RaceRender, but RaceChrono is what I used and it's free. Different apps are available for iPhone users as well.
VERY general overview in usage:
1) Start logging the data using your phone. If you're using RaceChrono, either select the internal GPS on the phone or an external GPS receiver, and start recording.
2) Start recording video with your GoPro or other camera.
3) RACE YOUR ASS OFF!
4) Stop the video once the throngs of fans that have flocked to congratulate you have finally left.
5) Stop the data logging in RaceChrono and export the session as a CSV file. This is very simple even if it sounds hard - just a few taps in the app and it's done.
6) Copy the exported session file to your computer. If you don't know how to find the file on your phone, refer to the RaceChrono help or something.
7) Copy the video from the camera to your computer. If you don't know how to do this, I cannot help you.
8) Open RaceRender and it should prompt you to select which template you want to use. Pick one to start with (I used the "Datalogger - Simple" template to get going). Note that whichever template you pick, you can add or remove elements such as additional video inputs for PIP or whatever, but "Datalogger - Simple" seems like a solid bet for motorcycle racing footage.
9) It will then ask you to select the input files to use with that template. Depending on what you picked in step 8, you might have different options, but the "Datalogger - Simple" template prompts for a Datalogger file (the CSV file from RaceChrono) and a video file (the video from your camera).
11) Now it will ask for a Data Template. This is what determines which visual items will be on screen by default, such as the speedo, track map, etc. This is again only a template and you can add, remove, reposition, etc items later so pick whichever you think looks cool to start with. Personally, I ended up creating a template of my own based on what I liked, but "Compact - 2" works as a good starting point in my opinion.
12) You will next be asked which data visualizations you want to have displayed - basically this is asking you which elements from the Data Template do you actually want to have visible on screen. Uncheck items that aren't applicable (throttle position or gear indicator may not be applicable so uncheck those). Note that these objects might still be in the project but they are not active, aka they aren't visible.
13) Now you should be in RaceRender with your video up and some gauges and indicators. Here is where everyone will probably do it slightly differently so I will only cover some of the major options.
NOTE: Depending on which template you started with, the track map may rotate as you move. A cool feature for some but a bit dizzying when you are trying to edit / synchronize, and for me I just prefer a stationary map. As with pretty much any object in the project, you can change the style of the track map and choose one that doesn't have the option "Rotate Track Map Based on Vehicle Heading" checked in order to keep it stationary. In fact, I almost think there's a bug in the software where that option is checked by default on some of the styles but becomes unchecked if you change the map style. In any case, choose whichever track style works for you.
Now on to the main options.
A) TRIM: Highlight the video file under "Input Files" and use the trim feature to first trim the start and finish of the video. I usually trim the start to the roll up to the grid and then the end is trimmed to the end of the cool down lap. Note that if you don't trim it, it's not a problem because when you output the final video you can set the start and end time there. Trimming just makes life easier in my opinion as you work on the project. Next you can trim the data file too and similar rules apply to the video but don't trim the data MORE than you trim the video otherwise you'll have a problem lining them up. The data trim tool is actually pretty ingenious in that it shows where you are in the track as you move the slider so it's actually pretty easy to tell where to trim - I trim to when we are in pregrid (seriously, you can easily tell where pregrid is in the tool) and end it I am back in the pit).
B) SYNCHRONIZATION TOOL: This is what you use to synch the data to the video, so it's obviously really important. What I do is get the video positioned to just before the race starts down in the Preview window, then select the data file in the Input Files window, click the Synchronization Tool button, then move forward until I see the speedometer on screen get back to zero following the warm up lap and my position on the map is on the starting grid. Then I fiddle with the synchronization until the speed / position line up to the video (the speed jumps up when the bike starts moving, duh). Sounds complicated maybe, but it's not. After doing 5 races, I can get them synched in a minute or two.
C) MANUALLY SET START / FINISH POINT: Now that your video is synchronized to the GPS data, go to town with other options / objects on the screen. If you want lap info (lap time or lap count) you're going to have to tell it where start / finish is. To do this, double click the data file under Input Files and click the Manually Set Start / Finish Point. You'll end up in a screen similar to the one used for trimming the data file. To find Start / Finish, I just drag the slider ahead until I can tell I am sitting on the grid. Then I slowly work ahead until my dot starts moving forward - this is where I set the start / finish at. Set it too early and the timer will think the race started while you're sitting there (bad) or set it too late it won't start counting until you're practically in turn 1. This step is maybe the hardest since a tiny adjustment can throw things off, but thankfully you can play with it over and over to try to get it right.
D) CUSTOMIZE THE SCREEN: Now is the time to customize the view to suit what you want to see. Change to a different speedometer, move stuff around, resize the track map or gauges, add text, add logos of your sponsors, whatever you want. You can even add in additional video as I demonstrated in the MWEnd video. There are so many things you can do in RaceRender, there is no guidance I can give here except to play with it and have fun with it.
E) CREATE VIDEO FILE: Ok, so you've called in sick and spent the last 3 hours playing with the screen and you're finally ready to create a file for the world to see. RaceRender has some fairly simple settings that allow you to output a very high quality video rather easily. Click the "Create Video File" button and you'll have a variety of options. If your video is from a GoPro or probably almost any source, leave the file format as "MPEG-4 H.264". For the "Distribution Profile" I personally select the one that most closely matches my input video. I use setting "2" on my GoPro which is 720p I do believe, so in RaceRender I use roughly the equivalent setting of "Local File: High-Def (720)". If you use video option "1" on your GoPro, "Local File: High-Def (1080)" might be more appropriate. IN any case, select whichever "Distribution Profile" you like the best, but bear in mind if you go too much higher or lower than your original source, you'll either end up with crap video or an unnecessarily large file. I personally use the highest "Output Quality" setting, but cannot comment on the true impact going lower will have. Finally, the only other setting I have touched on that screen is WHAT to output: the default is to render it all, but you can choose your start time and end time for the output (remember I mentioned this up when talking about the TRIM option?). I usually adjust the start and end time here so the video isn't filled with us sitting on the grid for 10 minutes or a boring cool down lap. Once the options are all set, click the "Create Video File" and walk away while it does its thing. Depending on the horsepower of your computer this could take a few minutes or it could take a few hours.
F) Once the video is done, upload it to youtube, share it with your friends, post a link on the MRA forum, show it to your sponsors, watch it on your TV if you have the means, etc. Accept the "ooo's" and "ahhh's" from everyone with grace, and pretend you had a professional studio produce the final video.
I hope this brief (it got kinda long there didn't it?) tutorial helps some of the budding video stars out there. I am by no means an expert on any of the hardware or software involved, nor do I work for, endorse, or am compensated by anyone for any of this. This how-to is provided as-is with no warranty, and I assume zero liability if you decide to use all or part of these instructions and something goes wrong. I do, however, assert copyright claim to these instructions in so far as if you wish to reproduce them, please don't try to pass them off as your own. All trademarks here are property of their respective owners.
One final note. Please support the team that created RaceRender by buying it if you are going to use it instead of trying to get a pirated copy or by using someone else's key. At $25, it is incredibly cheap for what it does, and I truly believe the makers deserve to get paid for this really cool tool.
Cheers,
Jamie