Where the Magic Happens
Posted by Eddy in Extras, Machinima News, News, TheLeetWorld on Jul.17, 2009.
Nick and I have been hard at work on the series finale, parts 1 and 2 for the last couple of weeks. We’re hoping to release them close together, but we haven’t quite decided on how that will go down yet. We have a limited amount of time to finish all of this, and we’re working our butts off to do so. You’ll get the first screenshots this weekend or early next week.
I know that some of you long timers have seen some of our setup pictures before, but I thought it would be cool to talk about again. For those of you that don’t know, TLW isn’t made inside of a studio, but rather, in my spare bedroom, with a total of 6-7 computers, depending on what’s working at the time. That’s machinima for you.
Ideally, we’d show this in the making of video we’ve been wanting to do, but that’s been put on hold indefinitely while we try to finish this darn show. Anywho, there’s a general overview, with pictures, after the jump.
Four of the computers you see there are “actor” computers. They control the characters that make up each scene. The other two computers are the “camera” and “capture” computers. The camera computer is the player camera that captures the footage. You might also notice the piles of scripts everywhere. One of those is for Episode 13.
We almost never use spectator cam for the show, in case you were wondering. Rather, we use the following source commands: sv_cheats 1, cl_drawhud 0, and cl_drawviewmodel 0 to remove the HUD and the weapon model (we film through sniper rifles for adjusted fov values).
Anywho, you can see the camera computer above. It’s connected to the capture computer, which is Daniel’s Mac that has been essentially confiscated by Smooth Few Films. The camera computer runs out via DVI to component cables over to the AJA Kona card, so that we can capture in 720p. See all the crazy cables above, as well as the back of the capture card.
The “sound booth” we use is actually just a closet. Notice the ghetto tape holding the mic stand up, as its puny snake neck buckles under the weight of the mic and the popper stopper. Totally not glamorous in the slightest.
So there you have it. Hopefully that doesn’t let the air out of your tires any. This show is mega ghetto. And we are ghetto fabulous.
July 17th, 2009 on 3:00 am
ROFL at microphone there
DDDDD
July 17th, 2009 on 3:31 am
huh… and i thought the back of my computer was confuseing
July 17th, 2009 on 3:46 am
damn, anyone of You got traped by those crazy cables?
July 17th, 2009 on 4:02 am
Nice
!!! BTW good idea with the sniper rifles!
July 17th, 2009 on 4:39 am
Glad to see what setup you dudes have… I’ve been waiting for a long time to see it; though despite what you think Eddy this looks very professionals for machinima
July 17th, 2009 on 5:49 am
That’s very nice…maybe one day I will do something like you guys if i have extra space in my house lol…….You guys rock…. Hope your having a good summer!!!
Pce from Srbija even tho i am Canadian
July 17th, 2009 on 6:52 am
Wow, that is ALOT of wires and computers. Your power bill must be expensive =S
July 17th, 2009 on 6:57 am
LOL. I’d expect a studio of sorts. kinda messy. BUT IT WHERE THE MAGIC HAPPENS!!
July 17th, 2009 on 7:01 am
Nice setup, noticed the same mouse I have (Logitech MX518 – badass) in the first couple of pictures. Also, kickass sound setup with the tape xD Can’t wait for Ep13, DAMN YOU AND YOUR CLIFFHANGERS D:
July 17th, 2009 on 7:25 am
First!
Awesome stuff guys.
Good to know how it works
July 17th, 2009 on 7:53 am
Wow I cant beleive a closet has the skill to be a sound booth
also why nobody comment on this????
July 17th, 2009 on 11:05 am
Uh, huh ?… Why sniper rifle? Why you don’t just type “fov [NUMBER]” in console ?
July 17th, 2009 on 11:25 am
We do that for some shots, but surely it’s easier to just press one button and achieve the same effect, right? Rather than typing it in constantly?
(The answer is yes)
July 17th, 2009 on 1:09 pm
Awesome. Just awesome. Some cool tips here.
How do you get smooth camera movement?
July 17th, 2009 on 1:14 pm
Nick’s always the man behind the camera, so I suppose he’s just got gentle and smooth hands
In all seriousness, though, we try to limit camera movement when possible, just because controlling with a mouse can be pretty rough. When we do have camera movement in shots, we just do it over and over until we get it right. A good mouse helps, too.
July 17th, 2009 on 1:25 pm
Lol, I always wondered what that sound booth looked like. I somehow pictured it as a spare closet with a window and foam padding all over the walls.
Anyways, what kind of mic is that?
July 17th, 2009 on 1:56 pm
what you might try for a smoother mouse is using something like the numpad to control the look on the camera computer. Im not sure how it works, but i think you can run that through the console.
July 17th, 2009 on 2:05 pm
I remember seeing a few of these pics around season 1 and I thought it was a pretty decent setup for the show at that stage, but now TLW is a much bigger beast and it amazes me that this still the same SFF headquarters as last year.
Seriously, did anything in that office er um “bedroom” change?
July 17th, 2009 on 2:59 pm
That would actually be a decent solution for a few shots, I think, though it might look a little robotic.
Yeah, we’ve had most of the same equipment from the get-go. The only real thing that has changed is our process, and our workflow for tackling episodes. I think it’s become much more efficient.
July 17th, 2009 on 4:08 pm
Nice idea, but it comes a little late don’t ya think
I’m gna go mess around CS now without my guns hahaha
July 17th, 2009 on 4:46 pm
O hai,
first of all: you guys are awesome! TheLeetWorld is really my favourite machinima. I’m very sad that it will end soon, but everything needs to end at some time.
Well, I enjoyed every episode of TheLeetWorld (more than one time), and I really wanted to see your recording equipment, and now I’m like..wow. Paradise for nerds.
Oh well, just bind it with bind key fov number, would archieve the same effect ;D
Greetings from switzerland (all ur money r belong to us!)
July 17th, 2009 on 7:08 pm
wow so thats where 3 men started this legend
I thought it would be more (except recording booth) but i supose its the know how that pushes forward compared to the tech.
praise to the person who pays the electricity
crack from England (your a global legend)
July 18th, 2009 on 5:27 am
awesome! You guys create such a masterpiece with a very limited equipments! 4 thumbs up!
July 18th, 2009 on 4:52 pm
I just read the twitter update,
“Recorded some of the last audio for Leet World tonight. Weird.”
Almost makes me cry. But at least there’s going to be the movie, right? It’s not over till it’s over!
Also I remember back in season one when you guys showed the whole setup, it’s nice to see that nothing has changed. Still the ghetto Smooth Few that you were back then XD
July 18th, 2009 on 6:02 pm
What a nice Office. I don’t know how you can afford all that. IMP BUTT!
July 19th, 2009 on 1:36 pm
on a side note how can i download the shows to my computer? because i cant and i want a memory of it
July 19th, 2009 on 1:42 pm
Go to the Leet World page and right click the episodes to download them.
I’m not trying to sound like a jerk, but I’m surprised by the amount of questions we get about this. It seems like it’s common sense to me, but is it hard to figure out? I want to be sure our site makes sense. Any feedback on this is welcome, so we can be sure to adjust it when change the site in the next month or so.
July 19th, 2009 on 8:23 pm
wasnt your problem it was mine cos my primary internet browser is firefox the automatic thing to do on all the downloads is to play it rather then download except the ipod but i dont like the format ipods use
but it works with fantabulous IE
July 19th, 2009 on 9:46 pm
just a few things:
-for the movie, can you add intentionally shaky cam movement , to just make it more action-y (if it is primarily action)
-the download link for all episodes of TLW DO NOT WORK for me (unless my Google Chrome is buggy)
-it is possible to entirely script animate TLW: The Movie? (as in a “code” script, not “dialog” script)
-any possibility that TLW: The Movie will be in 1080p HD (pls. say YES!!!!!!!)?
July 20th, 2009 on 1:44 am
will your website always be up even after the show ends, i just asking incase i ever need to re-download the episodes. bye
July 20th, 2009 on 8:16 am
With the downloads, have you tried multiple times? Our host is STILL throttling our video bandwidth (they have been since the start of the season) and won’t tell us why, even though we stopped hosting our flash embeds like they asked us to. So sometimes, it just locks people out of downloading them. If you try to download a few times, eventually it will work.
As to the rest of your questions, no no and no. Short hand version: too long, too big.
July 20th, 2009 on 7:07 pm
Somehow, the download is up and running again for me today. In the error message before, it said that either you already reached your bandwidth limit or that the servers weren’t working.
I wasn’t surprised when you said no to scripted animations, but when you said no to producing TLW: The Movie in FULL HD GLORY, I was sad. After all, it IS the VERY last of the TLW series and you said you wanted to give it the best you’ve got. But, hey, this is America. Do whatever you want to do.
July 21st, 2009 on 7:00 am
Sweet mac pro you got there! Hope to have one myself someday.
One Q.
Does the “Popper stopper” work well? I never used one before, but if it’s good for recording crisp and clear voices, I like to get one.
July 21st, 2009 on 7:13 am
@ Eddy
You requested feedback about the website. It does make perfect sense, please do not change anything about it. No offence, but the people who don’t find download links etc, have you been living under a rock? I like the simple but stylish wordpress layout a lot.
I’ve discovered TLW at about S1E4 (Dust 2 Dust – which still is my favorite episode) and I must say you keep the website up-to-date very well! I guess that’s why I haven’t made a post till now, I create websites myself and it’s nice to get some good feedback.
In short: awesome show, great ‘support’ & good job
July 21st, 2009 on 8:33 am
Eddy, I can confirm what hypnotek said: keyboard control is very smooth, and it always provides a steady rate of movement, which I’m assuming you can adjust in the options or Gmod, or somewhere. I actually still play Marathon with only a keyboard and win fairly regularly, I can suggest a few control schemes if you’d like.
July 21st, 2009 on 12:52 pm
why don’t you use noclip? doesn’t that make camera movment smoother without the footsteps’ up and down. its pretty apparent you don’t use it at S2E6, at 3:04, when Westy says, “PLAYER, NO!”
i guess you don’t really run most of the time, so that’s why you don’t use noclip, plus, its hard to get the cameraman positioned outside of a wall.
July 21st, 2009 on 3:00 pm
Well, noclip brings with it a host of other commands, since it quadruples your forward, side and back speeds instantly. So every time we used no clip, we’d have to find settings for our walk speeds. That’s just not very efficient. In addition, if your mouse is pointed at any angle whatsoever, that’s where the camera move goes with noclip. It makes more sense to keep a level plane (like the ground, for instance) and move back and forth along it to preserve the framing of our shots, if you’re thinking like a filmmaker. Sometimes we use noclip to get our shots, but for camera moves, it’s mostly unreliable.
Thanks for the suggestions, but remember that we’ve been doing this for 2 years, and surely we’ve tested your suggestion and have a reason for not using it. I mean, we discovered that we didn’t like noclip and spectator cam in like July of 2007.
July 21st, 2009 on 4:03 pm
Ok now i want to ask about something.
Ahamad died in S2 EP10.
Leeroy killed himself in S2 EP11.
But only Leeroy ended up in “The Death Room”.
And he “Spawned Back In One Piece”, soo where’s Ahmad?.
Hawaii ?.
-The Producer
July 21st, 2009 on 5:03 pm
Oops, totally disregarded the “years of experience” part. It’s just that I just heard of it and thought it might be better. Haven’t tried hacking into my CS:S ever, so my advice is totally novice.
Wonder what will the world be without more TLW? I also wonder how G.R.I.E.F. and the other upcoming shorts will be like.
July 21st, 2009 on 6:32 pm
Leeroy explained he hacked into the challenge system where you can activate the death room. Ahmad died just in the plain normal world. He found out the hard way in S01 that nades do serious damage when he almost killed Player.
Ahmad is just dead and gone, not in Hawaii. I mean if you respawn to Hawaii do you think the likes of Chet and Ellis wouldn’t have shot themselves yet?!
Nice name btw..
July 22nd, 2009 on 4:27 am
Umm, i think this might be dumb question, but…..Have you ever heard about valve demo smoother? It would allow you to get as smooth camera movements even if the camera rotates like cartwheel. (You tell where the camera has to be at certain times and the engine calculates smooth movement between those places)(+you alrdy have it since its integrated to the source engine) I always thought your machinima was done in different style. Just didnt know it would be done with this ultra wired supa room.
July 22nd, 2009 on 9:36 am
We’ve heard of demo smoother. It’s just better to get what we want in real time and capture it in a broadcast format instead of having to assemble demos. We were thinking long term in case the show could go to DVD, TV or beyond. Obviously that’s not going to happen at this point, but we were future proofing it.
July 22nd, 2009 on 10:08 am
Eddy and I were talking about this… it seems like the DIY nature of machinima means that everyone has their own favorite way of making a show, and wants to share their technique. The perception seems to have arisen that everyone and no-one is an expert.
I know you guys mean well when you share your techniques, but nobody ever seems to take into consideration the fact that Eddy and the guys have figured out a process flow that works really well for them.
Their chosen techniques let them produce an episode every 2-3 weeks, which, as I understand it, is fairly quick and surprisingly consistent for ANY machinima show, especially one done as basically a full-time hobby (on top of full-time jobs).
If they actually wanted process advice, they’d surely ask for it, and you’d be the first to know. It’s honestly just kind of strange sometimes how a lot of folks seem to read peeks behind the scenes as perfect times to provide suggestions on how to change the process. It’s hard not to find that frustrating, admittedly.
July 23rd, 2009 on 3:30 am
Mebby the style is the one thing that makes this show so special. In my country theres a saying; “You cant fix equipment thats not broken”.