Trying to make a CG of a computer screen

Hunter schrieb am 03.04.2004 um 22:18 Uhr
I'm trying to make an intro to a short video that looks like a computer display with words being typed, like a hacker trying to gain access to a file. My first attempt looks "ok" but still lacks the "DOS" look and proper terminology. I found it very hard using text generator to make words appear letter by letter, having to first put spaces in for each letter then replace each with the next letter of the word - keying each letter. My second attempt - still working it - is to capture a DOS CMD prompt screen with what I want to appear, but having trouble making it say what I want.
Anyone every try this or have any ideas how to make it easier and look better?

Kommentare

Cheno schrieb am 03.04.2004 um 22:32 Uhr
there are some typwriter / keyboard simulation scripts on the Sundance site. As for hacker terminology.. plenty of sites out there that will offer that. you should be able to create a prettty good looking dos screen with generated media. Lots of keyframing but I know you can do it all with Vegas.

mike
Hunter schrieb am 04.04.2004 um 02:17 Uhr
LOL thats how I did the first take, well got the veg then made my own. My biggest problem lies in the creation of the typed text.
Chienworks schrieb am 04.04.2004 um 04:09 Uhr
Last time i needed to do this i went real simple and easy: i pointed my camera at a computer running in DOS mode and typed the stuff myself while taping. It was a heck of a lot faster and easier than trying to use the text generator and keyframes.
TorS schrieb am 04.04.2004 um 08:30 Uhr
In your first attempt, I think you've forgotten to left-align the text. You should not have had to replace spaces with text.
But yes, for displaying a lot of text it is a tedious method. On the other hand, you should have very good reasons if you must use a lot of text in a video. It is not a text medium. There was a bloke at Chieworks' site some months ago who apparently had a program that read screeen activity in Word and somehow translated it to avi files. I thought he'd put too much text in his video - but the method seemed fine.
Tor
Zulqar-Cheema schrieb am 04.04.2004 um 08:44 Uhr
There is this VEg file out there,

green_terminal_text.veg

looks like an old green screen pc with text like you see in the film Alien.

If you can not find it e-mail me and I will sent it.
johnmeyer schrieb am 04.04.2004 um 18:41 Uhr
Here's the link to the Terminal Text veg file:

Terminal Text

You might look around for a different font than the OCR font. I think if you do a quick search on Google you might find a font you can download that would be very close to the old font embedded in the original IBM PC.

The download doesn't include the PNG files that were used to add the subtle raster lines to the background. You can either figure out how to create them yourself, or you can contact the author, or you can just forget about that subtle touch.
Hunter schrieb am 04.04.2004 um 20:33 Uhr
To replay to "I think you've forgotten to left-align the text" from TorS, I tried everything. Text still crept across the screen as each letter was keyframed.
As for green terminal text veg ... thats how I started my project.

Hunter
Liam_Vegas schrieb am 04.04.2004 um 20:48 Uhr
Or... try using CAMTASIA studio to capture the screen activity direct into an AVI file.

You can bring up a DOS window and type directly into it and capture it live. No video camera required.

For this sort of thing I think you will find Camtasia is a great way to do this.

Details on Camtasia Studio here

You can download a fully functioning 30 day trial version.

[edit[
And in your earlier post you asked about how to "make" the DOS "simulator" to say what you are looking for .. when you want it to do it. I guess the problem here is that if you use a "real" DOS/Command prompt then anything you type in will likely result in some "error" like "command not found".

This is probably where you should create a fake DOS screen using something like "Photoshop" and then use that as a background onto which you type stuff using their text tool. Then capture just that "fake" DOS window with your typing over it.

The easy bit will be your typing the commands and other things. That is entirely under your control. That hard bit you are finding is how to get the "computer" to respond with the things you are looking for related to your story?

Probably this is where you would have to "fake" it using Vegas afterwards. However in this case (as it is the computer responding) maybe you do not need the "typewriter effect" and you can quickly display the prompts / results you are looking for so that would be easier to do in Vegas.

Hope that helps.
Hunter schrieb am 04.04.2004 um 21:11 Uhr
I hearken back to the days of the language Basic.
LOL
AlanC schrieb am 05.04.2004 um 16:56 Uhr
Hunter,

I have a Windows based programme that simulates typewriter but the screen output will have to be captured with a capture prog to convert it to AVI.

You select the colours, font and background, the font size and style and the typing speed.

Then you load your text file created in Notepad etc. and it displays it as if it's being typed by an invisible secretary!

(Not that secretary's use typewriters these days).

If you are interested it should be ready by tomorrow (6th)

Alan