Hexaflexagon Construction - the slow way
Channel: Paul King
Date: 09/12/2012

Making hexaflexagons the slow way, a video inspired by Vi Hart, but a video that takes its time.

This was my first "live" video for YouTube. It was filmed using an Olympus 610-UZ digital camera, and mounted on a standard tripod that was folded and placed horizontally on my hutch above my desk for a "downward" shot. There is some ambient sound, since the camera also records sound. 

The video was also processed in LightWorks (free version). I used Lightworks to flip the image so that all writing appeared rightside-up, and to add a sound track for the narration. Thanks to the LightWorks forum for helping me with some of the most basic issues of using the software.

The original MP4 file Lightworks produced had proper sync. I read it into QuickTime Pro (a $29.00 piece of software, just about the only non-free software I used), since YouTube recommended that I do that to reduce syncing problems. It appears to work.

The "original" file of 170 megs was itself compressed from a source file that was about 30 gigs (yes, for a 15-minute video). The initial compression was done using Eyeframe (which is also freeware), and that got it down to 170 megs. The file was compressed further in QT Pro, down to 34 megs. Of course, the problem with that much compression compared with 170 megs, is that the numbers on the hexaflexagon strip are nearly illegible, and edges are not well-defined. I'll need a dark marker next time.