Video Export Suggestion and Example Output

A suggestion that I have found vastly increases the chance of a successful export from Windows XP.

Make a separate folder in a disk with lots of free space and put only the world you want to export in that folder. Then edit the world as desired. Before you try to export, check that folder and delete anything that may be there other than the world. Now reboot your computer to clear any "memory leak" problems and try the export. Hopefully it will work - if not you may be able to get a clue from the content of the frames folder that was created or the error messages. If it fails, Alice will also now run quite slowly, so I again suggest rebooting your system before going further.

The good news is that the .mov file that is generated by Alice seems to be a fairly standard file. I had no trouble converting the file that was generated to other formats using AVS Video Convertor ( from http://avs4you.com/ ) - something that is not always the case.

For Windows users, getting to .wmv format is quite useful since it lets you use Movie Maker and other Windows specific tools. In particular, Movie Maker will let you add or fix any sound track problems that you may have. Also, .swf is a fairly standard Flash format for Web postings, etc. Both conversions, as well as one to the DviX version of AVI (good for You Tube, though probably not necessary) worked fine, at least for the simple example I was working with.

Thanks for this additional input, DrJim. I have created a folder just for Problems/Work-Arounds for the Export Video "capability" using version 2.2 since this feature of Alice appears to be very important to students in order that they share their accomplishments with their peers.

Kindly continue to provide any input, . . . as will I.

Originally Posted by lanceA

Kindly continue to provide any input, . . . as will I.

Just posted this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53gOzy-Ewa8 and the world is attached. Very quick , but shows both the problems and the potential.

The Alice 2.2 model was actually run in Alice 2.0 so I could get the fade at the end - really haven't seen much, if any, advantage to using 2.2 for a PC/XP user since there isn't a really easy way to edit .mov files.

Even in Alice, the movie export is a screen capture which, unless you're very quick fingered, will need editing. In this case the screen capture was with the free version of BSR, the editing in Movie Maker and the format uploaded was just the default "best for your computer" option.

The models do move nicely in 3D - but also tend to require a lot of tweeking to avoid such things as going through the stairs - but this is a fantasy character.