- Feb 12, 2009
- 607
- 63
We're all TF2 players here, and we all want to show off our demos and sexy kills and put them in a frag vid. But what's the best way to take your .dem and make it into a streamable video?
The most popular way is to use Fraps to make an .avi. Fraps works my recording what ever is happening on your monitor and all the sounds your computer emits. It's has if you were taping a TV show by using a camera to film what's on your TV. This way is very inefficient, for it makes large files, severely deterioates the quality (fraps can only record 30 frames per second tops), and is a pain to use.
There must be a better way.
Well there is! All it is is one quick and easy phone call away. All you need to do is have your steam id and password handy and call 1-800-FIS-HING.
But since this is the Internet and the only phones you have is on skype I'll send you the information free. All you need to do is send some tits to /b/@4chan.com
But really, there is a much better way that keeps the great quality and isn't the biggest pain in the butt to use. And it really keeps the quality, so USE IT!
NOTE: I should add this here that this is not my original tut, but that I am bringing it over here to spread the love. All credit goes to Durban from TF2F.
Instead of using fraps to make the video, I prefer to export the footage directly through TF2, onto my hard drive using the console command startmovie. What startmovie does, is once you play a demo, or exit the console, it begins to create a series of tga (image) files and a wav (audio) file of your demo.
All this info is based on my experience, and these 2 sites:
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Demo_Video_Creation
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Demo_Recording_Tools#Demo_console_commands
I highly recommend you take a look at them, but for convenience, I have written down the essentials.
Before you make the movie, though, be sure your resolution is set to something at or below 800 x 600. Each 800x600 file you produce takes up 1 meg of hardrive space or more. So in the end, you'll have thousands of these image files which can add up to many gigabytes of data.
The best way to play back and record demos is in windowed mode. To set up your game to play in windowed mode, and at the resolution of 720 hd standard resolution, type this into the Launch options of tf2.
-novid -applaunch 440 -window -width 1280 -height 720
**You can choose any width and height you want, but this is just what I use (720 HD).
------^^--------
Before you begin recording, you are going to want to find just the best parts of the demo to record. Otherwise, you will end up with gigs of useless footage of respawning etc. So I suggest going through the demo with a notepad out, and carefully watch the demo and write down the tick ranges you will want to record.
Type demoui into console, which opens up controls for demo playback. Load the demo, and watch it carefully for those ticks where you want to start recording. I want to note that its best to give a little "lead" time before and after (but more importantly before) the actual shot that you want, so note 500-1000 ticks before where the shot begins.
Once you have gone through your demo, found and written down all the tick #'s of the shots you want to keep, in demoui, open up the demo editor - click Edit...
This will open up a new window in which you can create a list of commands to do various things within the demo playback.
In the editor create the following commands:
New --> skipahead
starttick: usetick - 0
skipto: 15000 (or whatever tick you want it to start recording)
New --> PlayCommands - snd_restart
starttick: usetick 15001 (this command restarts your audio one tick after the demo starts playing *this part is important if you want your audio to record properly)
New --> stop playback
usetick = 16000 (or whatever tick you want the recording to end)
Then, when you use the console command startmovie and then play the demo, tf renders (creates) a sequence of numbered images...THOUSANDS of them (depending on how long each clip is) into your tf folder. Each frame that you see in game, gets saved as a numbered image file (.tga) - just like the ones you get by pressing your screen shot key (F5 by default). Also, a .wav file will be created for your audio. You take this image sequence (think of it like a digital flip book) - and bring them into a video editing software like vegas, after effects, or premier along with your audio.
3. startmovie Time!
To create a targa sequence and .wav of your demo, go to console type the following commands:
sv_cheats 1
host_framerate 30 - sets the framerate, so you dont render everytick and get stuck with a full hard drive.
startmovie moviename - starts a recording
playdemo demoname - plays the demo
endmovie - ends movie *** -- ***make sure you do this before you leave your computer for a long while, because you may just fill up your hard drive if you forget***--
This produces a targa sequence at 30 fps which I then drop into a composition in Adobe After Effects along with my audio. I sync the video and audio, then I go to render, choose compression settings - Quicktime .mov @ animation compression for my pre-compositions, then delete the targas. Once I have all of the .mov files ready, I make a new project and drop all of those into their own compositions and combine it all for the final edit.
If you want slow motion you will need to record the shot at 60, 90, or 120 fps so just use :
host_framerate 60
(or whatever framerate you desire)
The following list gives an overview about the available demo commands:
SkipAhead Skips demo playback ahead to a specified tick and resumes playback.**
StopPlayback Stops demo playback immediately.**
PlayCommands Executes a console command.
ScreenFadeStart Fade screen in/out.
TextMessageStart Shows a simple text message.
PlayCDTrackStart Starts playing a CD track.
PlaySoundStart Plays a .WAV or .MP3 sound file.
Pause Pauses playback for given seconds.
ChangePlaybackRate Changes the playback speed.
ZoomFov Adds a zoom in/out effect.
Other useful command variables
sv_cheats <0/1> Required for following commands.
r_drawviewmodel <0/1> Hides weapon model.
cl_drawhud <0/1> Hides entire hud. **
hud_saytext_time 0 Hides chat text, default = 12. **
hideradar Hides radar location text.
cl_radaralpha 0 Hides new radar overviews (def. = 200).
drawradar Enables radar.
thirdperson Enables third person view (firstperson to change back). **
cam_command <0/1> Enables camera mode. (*Use this instead of "thirdperson")
cam_idealyaw <value> Rotates the camera around model horizontally (0-360)
cam_idealpitch <value> Rotates camera around model vertically (0-360)
cam_idealdist <value> Sets the distance from player to camera (default = 64)
Use the "find" command to find other camera
options (+camyawleft, etc) Usage: find cam
Demo Console commands
demo_debug <0/1> Shows additional demo debug info
demo_fastforwardstartspeed <factor> Go this fast when starting to hold FF button.
demo_fastforwardramptime <seconds> How many seconds it takes to get to full FF speed.
demo_fastforwardfinalspeed <factor> Final playback speed when holding the FF button.
demo_interpolateview <0/1> Enables/disabled view interpolation between demo ticks
demo_quitafterplayback <0/1> Quits game after demo playback**
demo_recordcommands <0/1> Record commands typed at console into .dem files
demo_pause [seconds] Pauses demo playback, seconds optional
demo_resume Resumes demo playback
demo_togglepause Toggles demo pause/playback
demo_gototick <tick> [relative] [pause] Skips to a tick in demo. If the relative parameter is 1 the tick is an offset to the current tick. If the pause parameter is 1, playback while be paused when tick is reached
demo_timescale <scale> Set the demo playback speed as a factor, 1.0 is normal playback
snd_restart reloads audio**
**useful
Other useful sites:
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=87850
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Console_Command_List
The most popular way is to use Fraps to make an .avi. Fraps works my recording what ever is happening on your monitor and all the sounds your computer emits. It's has if you were taping a TV show by using a camera to film what's on your TV. This way is very inefficient, for it makes large files, severely deterioates the quality (fraps can only record 30 frames per second tops), and is a pain to use.
There must be a better way.
Well there is! All it is is one quick and easy phone call away. All you need to do is have your steam id and password handy and call 1-800-FIS-HING.
But since this is the Internet and the only phones you have is on skype I'll send you the information free. All you need to do is send some tits to /b/@4chan.com
But really, there is a much better way that keeps the great quality and isn't the biggest pain in the butt to use. And it really keeps the quality, so USE IT!
NOTE: I should add this here that this is not my original tut, but that I am bringing it over here to spread the love. All credit goes to Durban from TF2F.
Instead of using fraps to make the video, I prefer to export the footage directly through TF2, onto my hard drive using the console command startmovie. What startmovie does, is once you play a demo, or exit the console, it begins to create a series of tga (image) files and a wav (audio) file of your demo.
All this info is based on my experience, and these 2 sites:
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Demo_Video_Creation
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Demo_Recording_Tools#Demo_console_commands
I highly recommend you take a look at them, but for convenience, I have written down the essentials.
Before you make the movie, though, be sure your resolution is set to something at or below 800 x 600. Each 800x600 file you produce takes up 1 meg of hardrive space or more. So in the end, you'll have thousands of these image files which can add up to many gigabytes of data.
The best way to play back and record demos is in windowed mode. To set up your game to play in windowed mode, and at the resolution of 720 hd standard resolution, type this into the Launch options of tf2.
-novid -applaunch 440 -window -width 1280 -height 720
**You can choose any width and height you want, but this is just what I use (720 HD).
------^^--------
Before you begin recording, you are going to want to find just the best parts of the demo to record. Otherwise, you will end up with gigs of useless footage of respawning etc. So I suggest going through the demo with a notepad out, and carefully watch the demo and write down the tick ranges you will want to record.
Type demoui into console, which opens up controls for demo playback. Load the demo, and watch it carefully for those ticks where you want to start recording. I want to note that its best to give a little "lead" time before and after (but more importantly before) the actual shot that you want, so note 500-1000 ticks before where the shot begins.
Once you have gone through your demo, found and written down all the tick #'s of the shots you want to keep, in demoui, open up the demo editor - click Edit...
This will open up a new window in which you can create a list of commands to do various things within the demo playback.
In the editor create the following commands:
New --> skipahead
starttick: usetick - 0
skipto: 15000 (or whatever tick you want it to start recording)
New --> PlayCommands - snd_restart
starttick: usetick 15001 (this command restarts your audio one tick after the demo starts playing *this part is important if you want your audio to record properly)
New --> stop playback
usetick = 16000 (or whatever tick you want the recording to end)
Then, when you use the console command startmovie and then play the demo, tf renders (creates) a sequence of numbered images...THOUSANDS of them (depending on how long each clip is) into your tf folder. Each frame that you see in game, gets saved as a numbered image file (.tga) - just like the ones you get by pressing your screen shot key (F5 by default). Also, a .wav file will be created for your audio. You take this image sequence (think of it like a digital flip book) - and bring them into a video editing software like vegas, after effects, or premier along with your audio.
3. startmovie Time!
To create a targa sequence and .wav of your demo, go to console type the following commands:
sv_cheats 1
host_framerate 30 - sets the framerate, so you dont render everytick and get stuck with a full hard drive.
startmovie moviename - starts a recording
playdemo demoname - plays the demo
endmovie - ends movie *** -- ***make sure you do this before you leave your computer for a long while, because you may just fill up your hard drive if you forget***--
This produces a targa sequence at 30 fps which I then drop into a composition in Adobe After Effects along with my audio. I sync the video and audio, then I go to render, choose compression settings - Quicktime .mov @ animation compression for my pre-compositions, then delete the targas. Once I have all of the .mov files ready, I make a new project and drop all of those into their own compositions and combine it all for the final edit.
If you want slow motion you will need to record the shot at 60, 90, or 120 fps so just use :
host_framerate 60
(or whatever framerate you desire)
The following list gives an overview about the available demo commands:
SkipAhead Skips demo playback ahead to a specified tick and resumes playback.**
StopPlayback Stops demo playback immediately.**
PlayCommands Executes a console command.
ScreenFadeStart Fade screen in/out.
TextMessageStart Shows a simple text message.
PlayCDTrackStart Starts playing a CD track.
PlaySoundStart Plays a .WAV or .MP3 sound file.
Pause Pauses playback for given seconds.
ChangePlaybackRate Changes the playback speed.
ZoomFov Adds a zoom in/out effect.
Other useful command variables
sv_cheats <0/1> Required for following commands.
r_drawviewmodel <0/1> Hides weapon model.
cl_drawhud <0/1> Hides entire hud. **
hud_saytext_time 0 Hides chat text, default = 12. **
hideradar Hides radar location text.
cl_radaralpha 0 Hides new radar overviews (def. = 200).
drawradar Enables radar.
thirdperson Enables third person view (firstperson to change back). **
cam_command <0/1> Enables camera mode. (*Use this instead of "thirdperson")
cam_idealyaw <value> Rotates the camera around model horizontally (0-360)
cam_idealpitch <value> Rotates camera around model vertically (0-360)
cam_idealdist <value> Sets the distance from player to camera (default = 64)
Use the "find" command to find other camera
options (+camyawleft, etc) Usage: find cam
Demo Console commands
demo_debug <0/1> Shows additional demo debug info
demo_fastforwardstartspeed <factor> Go this fast when starting to hold FF button.
demo_fastforwardramptime <seconds> How many seconds it takes to get to full FF speed.
demo_fastforwardfinalspeed <factor> Final playback speed when holding the FF button.
demo_interpolateview <0/1> Enables/disabled view interpolation between demo ticks
demo_quitafterplayback <0/1> Quits game after demo playback**
demo_recordcommands <0/1> Record commands typed at console into .dem files
demo_pause [seconds] Pauses demo playback, seconds optional
demo_resume Resumes demo playback
demo_togglepause Toggles demo pause/playback
demo_gototick <tick> [relative] [pause] Skips to a tick in demo. If the relative parameter is 1 the tick is an offset to the current tick. If the pause parameter is 1, playback while be paused when tick is reached
demo_timescale <scale> Set the demo playback speed as a factor, 1.0 is normal playback
snd_restart reloads audio**
**useful
Other useful sites:
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=87850
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Console_Command_List
