[TUTORIAL] How to make an intro movie!

[spaceweasels]

We've certainly seen the little "instructional" movies that comes with VALVe TF2 maps. Here's how you can make your own!




First Step: RECORD YOURSELF PLAYING THE LEVEL

First, you'll need a tool to record yourself playing the level. You can use FRAPS (http://www.fraps.com/download.php), but it has a 30 second record limit. It'll save the files as AVI.

Although you can record a demo file, you can't convert the demo file into a real video file (not that I've found). That's why you'll need FRAPS.

Optional: If you have a video editor program, it's a good idea to maybe edit different AVI clip files together.

Optional: If you want to add a bit of the music from the VALVe video files You can find three TV tuned sound files in %SteamDir%\steamapps\%username%\team fortress 2\tf\sound\ui that are perfect for the little video.




Second Step: CONVERT THE INFIDEL! uh... I mean THE VIDEO FILE

TF2 will play BIK (Bink) files. You can get the RAD Video Tools here (http://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm), which will allow you to convert many different video file types into BINK.

Supposedly, TF2 plays uncompressed AVI files. I tried but it didn't work for me. I had to convert them to BIK files.




Third Step: EMBED YOU VIDEO

Next place your BIK video into %SteamDir%\steamapps\%username%\team fortress 2\tf\media directory. Make sure you name your video file the same name as your map, so TF2 knows which it belongs to. Thus, if your map is called CTF_brownstone_beta make sure the video file is also called CTF_brownstone_beta.




Fourth Step: Enjoy a little movie

Now your map should have an option to "Watch Movie". Huzzah!

If you want to test this without going to all this hassle, go to %SteamDir%\steamapps\%username%\team fortress 2\tf\media, copy and rename one of the VALVe BIK movie to the name of your map, and you'll see it plays.




I'm in the middle of editing some AVI files of me playing my map, and I'll post up a real video later. If you absolutely, positively want proof that this works, and you've downloaded my map CTF_brownstone_beta (http://www.esnips.com/doc/23d2a8e4-e4f9-4dd2-b022-81d8aa435b46/CTF_brownstone_beta), then download CTF_brownstone_beta.BIK (20MB) (http://www.esnips.com/doc/5aa8c025-740c-4e4a-9156-21b328347c92/CTF_brownstone_beta) and place it in the directory mentioned above. It isn't the finished video, but it works ;D.

Fell free to post any questions or comments. Good luck!

[Immortal-D]

Very cool ;D Now we just need someone to use me as an actor :p

[Oddish]

well in source u can convert .dem to .avi by using startmovie command. Here's a small tutorial. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4MK_XJeNqA)

[spaceweasels]

Thanks, Oddish. I'll have to look into that.

[TheBladeRoden]

Is there a way to watch demos from a specatator-like viewpoint instead of just locked onto the view you recorded from? Could make for more artistic intro movies.

[Vilepickle]

I like it, but it just seems like a waste to me by making a zip 20mb bigger than it has to be (or 10-ish, whatever). Useful information however :>

[jakeparlay]

@blade:

yes, you can use the demo smoother utility. it will take a few hours to learn, and every clip needs an hour or two worth of effort. but it can make for some very nice video

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Demo_Recording_Tools

[vegit0r]

def. bookmarking this, wheres the steam-download for freetime btw

[Haas]

i made the movie:
http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=-4486782613692249793&hl=nl
Converted to bink but it went from 4 mb to 28 mb :S
And I recored the demo as quick as possible to prevent big file size :(
Does some one has any ideas?
Maybe make it grayscale like the original movies.

[dendster]

Thanks all - a very handy thread. Does anyone know if there is a way to compile the video in the with the map or does it have to be placed separately in the media folder like the Valve ones? I remember hearing that the maker of cp_steel (sorry, can't recall the mapper's name) had this problem and just wanted to find out if there was a way round it.

By the way, to record footage I used the WeGame client from http://www.wegame.com/

[Lord Ned]

There's a bigger thread on Facepunch with a couple written versions of the Source Recorder.
Basically it's:
sv_cheats 1
host_framerate 30
Shift + F2, load your demo.
Click pause right away.
startmovie blah
close console hit resume, quick hit shift + f2 again.

When it finishes type endmovie.
Perfect 30fps footage, into tga's. You can also change host_framerate to anything. 120 is 1/4th speed, etc.

I usaly render at 60, and speed up to 2x in editing for what appears to me, to be smoother footage.

[Youme]

What are the dimensions used in the official ones?
how much of the 'tv' effect is added to the video itself?
Has anyone managed to use the demo smoother tool in tf2? A friend of mine has tried and could not get it to place new cameras at all, rendering it practically useless.

[Lord Ned]

What are the dimensions used in the official ones?
how much of the 'tv' effect is added to the video itself?
Has anyone managed to use the demo smoother tool in tf2? A friend of mine has tried and could not get it to place new cameras at all, rendering it practically useless.

I've done it before. Go to youtube, search lordmatthoffman, and get to my user profile. Look under my videos for like "Heavy Noob Take 1" or something. Old shot for a movie that was never finished, but very much so smoothed.

What happens when he tries to place cameras? Does it snap back to where he recorded it from? (If so the remedy is click and hold, then move to where you want the camera and release.)

Also make sure you have the smoothing info loaded, etc.

[grazr]

Is there a way to watch demos from a specatator-like viewpoint instead of just locked onto the view you recorded from? Could make for more artistic intro movies.

Pardon my ignorance but you can use HLTV on source right? Or surely a newer version of it? If you record a demo from HLTV it will capture footage from all camera's and all players perspectives. I believe you can even free rome. So you can have great flexibility when compiling your video.

[Youme]

Yup source tv captures all angles because it records everything. then you get a spectate mode free

and I'm searching lortmatthoffman now ;)

[Lord Ned]

Saved ya the trouble. Went on youtube via Proxy @ School.
YouTube - Take 1: Heavy Noob
All demosmoothed. (And the short jumps etc are from too much smoothing data in one file.

I think.

:/)

[dendster]

I read somewhere that the res for the official ones is 720*576, though I can't remember where. Sorry for the lack of link.

[nman]

So I made a video for a map, here's some tips I found:
1. Valve uses 512 by 384 videos, half of 1024 by 768, for those of you who like maths, so if you want a "true" conversion just play at 1024 by 768 and resize it to 50%.
2. You can record yourself without using a demo smoother or another pc to capture sourcetv, just use sourcetv locally. I did "Tv_enable 1" when TF2 booted up, and then did "Create a server" and "TV_record NAMEHERE". After that you can just go do something, and then play back the demo in spectator mode. It's useful to stand still for a minute or two in the recording before doing things so you can navigate in less of a rush with the camera. And no long hours of smoothing.
3. I notice you use fraps, which leaves the horrible watermark, try this tutorial (http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Demo_Video_Creation) instead. I like VirtualDub the best.
4. Someone said they had their video become huge, well, if you look at the options, get it like the picture below, by changing the setting to 100% of the original, instead of a bit rate. If you use a bitrate higher than the original, you result in a bigger file, so just keep it at 100%. I think my video went up by 200 kilobytes or something small, resulting in a 100 second video at only 3.9 megabytes.
http://nmanphotodump.googlepages.com/bink.JPG

The one I made is here (http://www.filedropper.com/finalwithsound), and the bink file is here (http://www.filedropper.com/cpcolawarsrc1video). Rename it to any map you have, so it has the same as the map like ctf_2fort (KEEP THE ORIGINAL VIDEO!), and when you play you'll see it in all it's glory.


I hope I helped clear stuff up that the op left out, and that now you guys will be able to make videos for your maps. :thumbup: Feel free to add this to your original post if you want to.

[Inexistence]

Hey. I've followed the guide and everything, and it all works in TF2, but when I go on play movie, the movie plays, but it has green lines over it. They're a real eyesore, was wondering how to get rid of them?

[shpladoink]

The "Lock camera" tick box doesn't show up in the demo smoother for me. I'm also missing "drive fast" and "drive slow" buttons that show up in the image on the dev wiki page. Do I need to enter a different mode for these to show up, or have they been removed?

[Nineaxis]

Thanks all - a very handy thread. Does anyone know if there is a way to compile the video in the with the map or does it have to be placed separately in the media folder like the Valve ones? I remember hearing that the maker of cp_steel (sorry, can't recall the mapper's name) had this problem and just wanted to find out if there was a way round it.

You can use a .res to make the video download off the server into the media folder of the player, the same way language files work.

[shpladoink]

argh, i just did a perfect flythrough except for the LAST CORNER WHICH CLIPPED AND NOW I SEE NO WAY TO FIX IT OTHER THAN STARTING OVER THIS IS HORRIBLE oh hi caps lock sup

[IceWarrior]

Just one thing. When using the Source Recorder all you have to do is put in this code to get a pure avi video "startmovie <demoname> avi" without the quotes. From here you will see a window come up asking which codec you wish to use. I forget which I use, but I'm sure you'll find one that works best through trial and error.

Don't forget to "playdemo <demoname>" before you start the movie and use endmovie to stop recording.

Also don't forget host_framerate 30 (30 is recommended for normal video, higher is recommended if you intend to do slow-mo scenes. The more FPS the better it looks when being slowed down).

Good tutorial though :D

[JDB]

Hey. I've followed the guide and everything, and it all works in TF2, but when I go on play movie, the movie plays, but it has green lines over it. They're a real eyesore, was wondering how to get rid of them?

I have the same problem, anyone got a solution to fix this?