NoLimits for Mac Help

Hey guys and girls

I've been using NoLimits for a few years now and have just bought it on a Mac. The reason being Is that for Design and Technology at school I have decided that designing a rollercoaster using NoLimits for a new theme park (Wet'n'Wild Sydney) will be my project. The reason for the Mac Is because all the systems at school are Mac

So here's what I need help with

Firstly, I've never done this, even on PC, I need to record the screen as the simulator is running (unless there is something else I can do). Can anyone suggest a free or relatively cheap screen record software program available for Mac so that I can use it to make a DVD.

Secondly, I've never custom made the car texture for a coaster before (I am using a 4 seat Hyper Coaster on NoLimits). Can anyone suggest an editing programagain relatively cheap or free which can let me edit to make a custom car texture. Also I'd even leave this open for a person if they want to design the car, I will have a logo for the ride name so that can be developed further. If not can anyone direct me to or give me a basic Know How to create a car texture using a Mac Program

Last I'm looking out to anyone who could help with just analyzing and evaluating my design and even tweaking or giving opinions on the track.


I hope someone can offer a lending hand

Thanks Peeps

> JuzzaMcFluzza

recording the screen is...interesting. I've only ever done it 2 ways, neither of which are optimal. My current preferred method of screen recording in NL is setting up my camera on a tripod and pointing it at the screen. It works pretty well - the quality isn't perfect, but it gest the job done, especially if you're going to go and add effects to it; it sort of gives an ominous look to the whole scene. Using the built-in video function in NL is, imo, even worse, since 10 seconds of video is something like 400MB. So only do that if you've got more than enough HDD space. As in, probably 10-15 GB for any reasonable about of recording time. It's ridiculous, and I have yet to learn why that's the case.

As for cartextures, I use photoshop, but I know it's expensive. GIMP's a free image editor for UNIX (the base of Mac OSX) that has a lot of photoshop's features, but none of the nice UI things. I have no experience with it, though, so ask someone else about that. I'm perfectly willing to make a cartexture for you, but I have no guarantees on its quality. See my latest two tracks for exmples of what I've done. Nothing special, but it gets the job done. Try it out on your own first though. Experience is always good, no matter what it is!

QuickTime has screen recording.

Doesn't work for NL.

Originally posted by boneplaya

recording the screen is...interesting. I've only ever done it 2 ways, neither of which are optimal. My current preferred method of screen recording in NL is setting up my camera on a tripod and pointing it at the screen. It works pretty well - the quality isn't perfect, but it gest the job done, especially if you're going to go and add effects to it; it sort of gives an ominous look to the whole scene. Using the built-in video function in NL is, imo, even worse, since 10 seconds of video is something like 400MB. So only do that if you've got more than enough HDD space. As in, probably 10-15 GB for any reasonable about of recording time. It's ridiculous, and I have yet to learn why that's the case.

If you don't have enough HDD space to take a few minutes of 24fps 640x480 video, that is a problem in and of itself. Speed is not an issue, as NL will slow things down for you and compile the resulting frames together to create the video. Recording using a camera is by far the worst method and has always resulted in atrocious quality as well as distorted/skewed video. The only time it is ever done is if the computer is too slow AND the program in question to be recorded lacks a recording function, or if you don't have a capture card and want to record from a game console.

Anyway, just use NL's built-in recorder. Edit and/or compress the video when you're done and delete or archive the source clips to save space. There's plenty of software available on windows for editing, capturing (if you need uncompressed quality or are recording in other programs), and converting, but not sure what's available on Mac.

Personally, I would stay away from a school that uses all Macs, but that's just me. There is absolutely nothing you can do on a Mac that can't also be done at least as well in Windows and there's no reason to require the Mac OS for anything.

Snapz Pro X is a nice one. It doesn't burden your processor, as it renders everything afterwards. I torr...legaly downloaded it fairly easy.

Use NLSC fps recording for best quality.

Originally posted by RideWarriorNation

Use NLSC fps recording for best quality.

Is there anyway to increase that quality because it's still crap using the NLSC

Originally posted by Rolling Coaster

Snapz Pro X is a nice one. It doesn't burden your processor, as it renders everything afterwards. I torr...legaly downloaded it fairly easy.

This program is available for Mac?

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/

There it is. If you plan on upgrading to Mac OS X Lion this summer (June 6th?), I believe you couldn't run this program on that operating system.

I heard Screen flow is a good one too.
http://www.telestream.net/screen-flow/overview.htm

Originally posted by JuzzaMcFluzza

Originally posted by RideWarriorNation

Use NLSC fps recording for best quality.

Is there anyway to increase that quality because it's still crap using the NLSC

How is the NTSC crappy quality? 30fps at your full resolution is far superior to most screen recorders!

I heard Macvide ScreenCap ( www.macvide.com ) is a good screen recorder too, anybody use this app?

Need help on news Mac. How do you maneuver or fly-around in 3D in the editor? And is there a way to change colors on supports?

Thanks.

Originally posted by Steve Benham

Need help on news Mac. How do you maneuver or fly-around in 3D in the editor? And is there a way to change colors on supports?

Thanks.

You should always read the tutorial file that came with NL.

Hey NightwindElf ,

Read it, tried it, doesn't work. Does it work for you?

NightwindElf,

Got to to work, never mind, thanks!

Yes.