Random Space Engineers Bullshittery - Update #4

Good morning everybody. I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas and New Year. Another update on the editing front.

Short version: Editing of the latest bullshittery is on day 30 of an expected...err....30? (it appears my estimates are off sorry). The video is edited to the 20 minute mark. But there's a handful of important "hero" sequences missing and it still needs to go through quality-assurance. I'm going to need more time.

Full version: So it's the end of week 6 on this latest project. Sorry these things take ages. I've managed to complete the full editing of "phase 1", meaning the whole video is playable from end-to-end, with some scenes intentionally skipped.

So what I'm currently doing is backtracking through the edit to finish these missing sequences.

As mentioned previously, one of the major problems I have is making sure the audience can follow what is happening in the three big action sequences. For those not familiar, this one includes some scrapheap challenge style fighting, in which the various players on the server build ships and battle them. A bit like Besiege, I suppose.

The problem is, that footage consists of shooting at a distant blob of pixels. And those who don't play Space Engineers especially will have no idea what is going on.

As such, my plan is to work on a template for 6 brief introduction sequences in which a narrator briefly explain what each ships strengths and weaknesses are.

I've been having some fun on that front.

I've gone into Space Engineer's creative mode and have either retrieved the original blueprint (politely requested from the ships owner), or where that's not been possible, built an exact replica from the footage.

The result is this. Six fighting machines reporting for duty. Allowing me to get close up shots of their guns, engines, cockpits, etc:

With the above, you can probably appreciate my problem as an editor.

Since there are six very exotic looking ships, with few design similarities, I need a way to communicate to the audience what their strengths and weaknesses are. Or the fight sequences will be extremely confusing.

So my next task - these special purpose sequences.

I've also been up to some mischief :) I was trying to pose the ships in such a way that would let me create a rotating 3D model for an info screen. But Space Engineers has a physics engine and this is creative mode.

So I'd just slap the ship's controls off and plop it on a rotating magnetic leg:

Then switch off the leg and pull the piston out of frame, leaving the ship spinning in space:

And voila. The ships can spin in the corner of their intro cards whilst a narrator can briefly describe their properties:

So thus far all is going well. I just need to get these last big sequences finished, then start the daily rendering and error-fixing. I'm not sure of an exact time estimate for completion, sorry. It depends how smoothly this narration section goes. But as soon as I'm able. 

Happy New Year everybody!