making video from quake - is there a tutorial?

2009-12-20 05:20:32 am

So I would like to create some videos for youtube from demos that I have recorded in quake. Is there a guide or tutorial how to do this? Any hints and tips are appreciated.

Thread title:

djcj

2009-12-20 09:01:23 am

Fraps + AnriChan/MeGUI?

Lag.Com

2009-12-20 11:31:56 am

sda loyalist

joequake-gl has built in AVI-writing capability, look at the capture_* console variables

If you need some more info, ask dex

Baker5

2009-12-21 09:56:16 pm

How to capture in JoeQuake:

1. Get DivX and XVid encoder/decoder http://www.divxmovies.com/codec/

2. Have JoeQuake 0.15 or even use a modified FitzQuake 0.80 with AVI capture ( http://quakeone.com/proquake/src_other/fitzpro399.zip )

capture_fps 15 (defaults to 30)
capture_codec DIVX
bind enter "capture_start mysegment1"
bind ctrl "capture_stop"

3. Play the demo, press ENTER to start capturing. Press CTRL to end capturing. Your AVI is in quake\capture folder.

The END

dex

2009-12-22 07:52:14 am

Invisible avatar

Quote from Baker5:

How to capture in JoeQuake:

1. Get DivX and XVid encoder/decoder http://www.divxmovies.com/codec/

2. Have JoeQuake 0.15 or even use a modified FitzQuake 0.80 with AVI capture ( http://quakeone.com/proquake/src_other/fitzpro399.zip )

capture_fps 15 (defaults to 30)
capture_codec DIVX
bind enter "capture_start mysegment1"
bind ctrl "capture_stop"

3. Play the demo, press ENTER to start capturing. Press CTRL to end capturing. Your AVI is in quake\capture folder.

The END

For youtube that will be adequate, but I nevertheless usually recommend capturing with a lossless codec, like lagarith (capture_codec lags), and then reencoding with VirtualDub or something like that to preserve more quality. Also, if you want to capture one demo, you can just write 'capturedemo xxx.dem' in the console and the entire demo will be replayed and captured automatically.

Ankh

2009-12-23 03:50:34 am

I still have some questions. I would like to uderstand some things.

For divx:
Is there any way to alter the compression settings? I get very bad quality in results.

For lagarith:
The codec has to be installed in windows right? There is no need to put any files into quake folders?
I get very big file sizes for even a short demo. I suspect the compression isn't working. How can I check if the encoder is doing anything?
capture_codec lags ?? this is supposed to be set in joequake right?

Mandel

2009-12-23 09:55:26 am

Mumma

I don't know about setting the compression quality from within JoeQuake, I suppose it might go with some sort of default settings instead.

For lagarith, setting "capture_codec lags" from within joequake is correct (as long as lags is the correct fourcc which I suppose it is). The codec only needs to be installed in Windows. Captured video using a lossless codec such as lagarith is huge, with file sizes of several GB. After capturing the raw (or losslessly compressed) video, you should recompress it again using for example virtualDUB or your own favourite video editing tool. In this tool you have full control of codec selection (perhaps divx now?) and settings.

dex

2009-12-23 06:50:29 pm

Invisible avatar

Quote from Ankh:

I still have some questions. I would like to uderstand some things.

For divx:
Is there any way to alter the compression settings? I get very bad quality in results.

Not to my knowledge.

Quote from Ankh:

For lagarith:
The codec has to be installed in windows right? There is no need to put any files into quake folders?

Has to be installed in Windows, no need for any files in Quake folders.

Quote from Ankh:

I get very big file sizes for even a short demo. I suspect the compression isn't working. How can I check if the encoder is doing anything?

Lagarith is a lossless codec and will produce *huge* files, however it will not sacrifice any quality. Afterwards, you can compress it again using your favorite codec with your desired settings, for example in Virtual Dub.

Quote from Ankh:

capture_codec lags ?? this is supposed to be set in joequake right?

Yep.

12114

2010-02-10 12:25:36 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

joequakes capture tool takes forever, it took me 5 min to record a 5 sec video... but everything else is good (size quality etc).
any way to speed up the process?

p.s i used 50 fps (obviously the lower i set the faster it'll be, but is there any other way?)

Megalodon

Edit history:

Megalodon: 2010-05-13 06:06:50 pm

2010-05-13 05:44:03 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Quote from 12114:

joequakes capture tool takes forever, it took me 5 min to record a 5 sec video... but everything else is good (size quality etc).
any way to speed up the process?

p.s i used 50 fps (obviously the lower i set the faster it'll be, but is there any other way?)

Before capturing in Quake, you can change encoder settings. I use Xvid myself and the decoder config can be accessed via the start menu in winxp. With a targetrate => 4000 kbps I get acceptable quality for Youtube, like you see here on my page:
http://www.youtube.com/user/megalodonNL#p/u/0/-7UeYdAGjjE

Now these videos, at these settings capture pretty fast. When I do 640x480, it's almost real-time speed on my Athlon X2 3800 with GF7600GS, which is probably a slower system then most of you gamers got. HD is a slower ofcourse. I capture in Ezquake though, and have no experience with capturing in other engines.