Help & Support

An introduction to Moviestorm

A 15-minute walkthrough by Moviestorm co-founder Matt Kelland, showing how to make a simple movie with Moviestorm from start to finish. This video covers set building, character creation, directing, dialog, filming, editing, visual effects, sound and music, titles & credits, and rendering.

 

Permission is granted to use this video for teaching or educational purposes.


Video Tutorials

Clickon the subject areas below, to watch short video tutorials that will help you get to grips with everything from set design to choreography and making vehicles move.

Each one is only a few minutes long, and will introduce you to the tools and techniques of Moviestorm, as well as giving you handy tips on how to get the best of them.



First Steps | Set Building | Lighting | Characters | Directing | Cameras | Post-production | Special effects

First Steps

First Steps

Moviestorm Made Easy - getting started
If you're new to making movies, you'll be surprised just how easy it is with Moviestorm. Find out how it works in just three minutes.

Updated for Moviestorm 1.4.1
Duration: 3'35"

Set Building

Set Building

Moviestorm Made Easy - building walls
Okay, so walls aren't really exciting, but they're kind of necessary. Here's how to build rooms in Moviestorm.

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.1
Duration: 3'14"
Moviestorm Made Easy - ceilings
Working with ceilings: you don't always need a ceiling in an interior set, but on occasion it's useful.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3.0.1
Duration: 1'28"
Moviestorm Made Easy - rotating objects
How to place objects in even more interesting positions with the object transformation tool in Moviestorm 1.3 - the gizmo. It's easy to use, and it's great for making messed up rooms, crash sites, or putting props at different angles.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3
Duration: 2'31"
Moviestorm Made Easy - using backdrops
How to use photographic backdrops to make movies in different locations.

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.1
Duration: 2'41"
Moviestorm Made Easy - changing the sky
Transform your sets in just a few clicks by changing the sky.

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.1
Duration: 2'09"
Moviestorm Made Easy - making buildings
Moviestorm's Town Buildings pack provides a fast, easy way to create many different types of buildings using customisable snap-together parts. Find out how to create a whole street in minutes.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3.0.1
Duration: 3'04"
Moviestorm Made Easy - rock stage
How to give the rock stage set a little something extra using lasers, pyros, and other special effects.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3.0.1
Duration: 4'39"

Lighting

Lighting

Moviestorm Made Easy - creating a laser show
With the Rock and Indie music pack, you can make awesome rock videos, with incredible stage performances. Here's how to use the lasers to create a stunning light show.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3.0.1
Duration: 2'45"

Characters

Characters

Moviestorm Made Easy - basic character creation
With Moviestorm 1.4, you can create a huge range of characters. Here's a quick look at how it all works.

Some of the individual tools are covered in more details in other tutorials.
Duration: 4'04"
Moviestorm Made Easy - creating heads
The head creation tools in Moviestorm 1.4 enable you to create an incredible array of characters quickly and easily. Here's a quick introduction to the morph tools, skin textures, makeup and special effects.
Duration: 3'43"
Moviestorm Made Easy - making costumes
Moviestorm gives you a lot of simple ways to customise your characters' costumes. Here's how to create unique characters in just a few seconds.
Duration: 2'08"
Moviestorm Made Easy - hairstyling
Hair is a key part of making your characters look right. With Moviestorm, it's really quick and easy.

(This replaces the previous tutorial on hairstyling and has been updated for Moviestorm 1.4.)
Duration: 1'50"

Directing

Directing

Moviestorm Made Easy - getting around
How to move around the set in Moviestorm - in under three minutes!

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.1
Duration: 2'45"
Moviestorm Made Easy - speaking
People stopped making silent movies 80 years ago. Your audience wants to hear your actors talk!

Here's how to get your Moviestorm characters speaking - even if you don't have a microphone.

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.2
Duration: 3'25"
Moviestorm Made Easy - what can I do?
You can use a lot of the props on your Moviestorm set, but sometimes it's hard to find which ones are interactive and what you can do with them. Moviestorm 1.4 includes an easy tool to help you.
Duration: 2'08"
Moviestorm Made Easy - doors & windows
How to use doors and windows in Moviestorm - in just 90 seconds!

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.1
Duration: 1'35"
Moviestorm Made Easy - taking a seat
Using sofas and chairs in Moviestorm.

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.1
Duration: 2'54"
Moviestorm Made Easy - sitting on the floor
Sitting on the furniture is all very well, but did you know you can also sit on the floor?

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.1
Duration: 1'24"
Moviestorm Made Easy - driving cars
Find out how to add cars and other vehicles to your movies in under three minutes!

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.1
Duration: 2'47"
Moviestorm Made Easy - looking at things
Controlling where your characters are looking is a key part of directing movies. It tells the audience what they're interested in, and a well-timed look can often say more than dialogue ever can.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3.0.1
Duration: 2'32"
Moviestorm Made Easy - watching TV
How to put a video on a television or computer screen.

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.2
Duration: 1'27"
Moviestorm Made Easy - gettin' smoochy
What's a movie without a bit of romance? Isn't getting the girl what it's all about? With Moviestorm, you can go all the way from a simple kiss to loving cuddles, and all the way to the bedroom.

With Valentine's Day coming up, here's how you can make your Moviestorm characters get snuggly, smooch...
Duration: 4'53"
Moviestorm Made Easy - flying spaceships
You can take your movies right out of this world with the Moviestorm sci-fi pack. As well as aliens and spaceship interiors, you'll get this classic flying saucer. Here's your UFO flying lesson.

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.1
Duration: 1'56"
Moviestorm Made Easy - using the phone
How to use cell phones to make calls, text, go online, and take photographs.

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.1
Duration: 2'43"
Moviestorm Made Easy - cracking a safe
If you're making a crime movie, breaking into a safe could be the key moment. Here's how you do it in Moviestorm.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3.0.1
Duration: 1'56"

Cameras

Cameras

Moviestorm Made Easy - basic camerawork
Moviestorm has a powerful camera system that's surprisingly fast and easy to use once you get the hang of it. This five-minute introduction will take you through the different ways to get the shot you want.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3.0.1








...
Duration: 5'31"
Moviestorm Made Easy - moving cameras
You can do a lot with simple camera shots, but for a really cinematic feel, you need to get your cameras moving. This short tutorial covers filming moving people, as well as moving the cameras themselves.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3.0.1
Duration: 5'14"
Moviestorm Made Easy - close-ups
Movies are about people. And that means getting up close and personal so the audience can see the actors' expressions. So, are you ready for your close-up?

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.2
Duration: 2'29"
Moviestorm Made Easy - hiding objects
It can be really useful to make objects invisible to the camera. It means you can get the shot you want without other things getting in the way, and you can also create intriguing special effects. This is a great trick you can do in Moviestorm that you can't do in real life! Here's how it works.

...
Duration: 1'24"

Post-production

Post-production

Moviestorm Made Easy - basic editing
Editing is one of the most important - and often overlooked - stages of making a movie. The Cutting Room in Moviestorm 1.3 is powerful, quick and easy to use, and because it's fully integrated with the directing and filming process, it includes features you won't see in any third party video editor...
Duration: 3'34"
Moviestorm Made Easy - titles and credits
There's more to making a movie than just filming the action. Titles and credits are an important finishing touch.

Here's how to add titles, credits and subtitles in the cutting room with Moviestorm 1.3.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3.0.1
Duration: 2'53"
Moviestorm Made Easy - adding stills
The Cutting Room in Moviestorm 1.3 makes it simple to add stills to your movie: perfect for title sequences or classic shots like newspaper headlines or setting a location.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3.0.1
Duration: 2'52"
Moviestorm Made Easy - adding sound
Adding music and sound effects in the Cutting Room with Moviestorm 1.3.

Music by Science Never Sleeps, used with permission.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3.0.1
Duration: 3'38"

Special effects

Special effects

Moviestorm Made Easy - making 3D movies
Moviestorm 1.3 includes a new beta feature: 3D!

Here's how to get your movies into 3D and get them onto YouTube, plus a few hints on what you need to do differently when working in 3D.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3
Duration: 3'29"
Moviestorm Made Easy - the cartoon look
Give your movies a more cartoon-style look with just a couple of clicks.

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.1
Duration: 1'46"
Moviestorm Made Easy - weather
Adding rain, snow, and other weather effects to your movies using the Special Effects pack.

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.1
Duration: 1'49"
Moviestorm Made Easy - making magic
Let's make a little movie magic. Here's how to create this scene of a skeleton being summoned in a lonely graveyard. There's no post-production, and no third-party tools - it's all done right within Moviestorm.

Made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.2
Duration: 3'35"
Moviestorm Made Easy - cinematic filters
Change the look of your movies and add visual effects with just a few clicks in Moviestorm 1.3

Made with Moviestorm 1.3.0.1
Duration: 1'56"
Moviestorm Made Easy - vampires
How to use the animations in the Dark Romance pack plus various special effects to create great vampire sequences inspired by well-known films and television shows.

Made with Moviestorm 1.3.0.1
Duration: 3'56"
Moviestorm Made Easy - making a werewolf
If you're making a werewolf movie you want to see him transform right before your eyes, don't you? Here's how it's done.

You can use the same technique in many other ways to produce a variety of different effects.

Note: this was made with Moviestorm 1.2.0.2 and shows an older version of the Cu...
Duration: 4'49"


User Manual

Version 1.5.1, Jan 2012
(PDF, 1,841Kb, 40 pages) 
 
Version 1.4.1, Nov 2010
(PDF, 1,721Kb, 36 pages) 

Printable cheat sheet

Download the pdf, then print and fold to make the ideal Moviestorm reference source

Knowledge Base

FAQ's

Some of the most common questions asked about Moviestorm. If you've just started, check this first.

Resources

Articles, news items and other resources about Moviestorm

Troubleshooting

Identify, diagnose and solve common Moviestorm problems with our handy troubleshooting tips.

Requirements

Recommended and minimum system requirements.

Release Notes

Release notes for Moviestorm versions 1.1 and above.

Hints and Tips

How to get the best from Moviestorm; for more experienced users.

Modding Moviestorm

Interested in creating your own Mods for Moviestorm? Look no further...

Just Ask!

If you can't find the answer you're looking for here, just ask in the forums and someone will help you out.