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Source Film Prepartion & Extraction |
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Written by mrdougan
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Saturday, 13 January 2007 |
927 HITS
Frankly I've lost count the number of times people have asked about the filming techniques i use for the source games i use. So i thought i would put down my thought processes in one place and link them to the page. Everything written down here I have learnt the hard way, by "trial and error". So use my errors to fuel your success.
- Step one - Obtain access to a server
This sounds obvious, but is sometimes overlooked; you don't require a personal server for filming purposes (although it can speed things up), simply be on the look for a public server with the required map that you need and has no current occupants.
One thing to bare in mind when two people join and form into opposite teams, if the server has been on the same map for a long period it will automatically jump to the next map in the maplist.txt file. You can check how long the server has left by typing into chat (Y) "timeleft"; if time is nearly up, you can try "votemap" or "RTV" to choose the next map or to extend the time on the current one. (The latter two commands are dependant upon mani being installed on the server, and what its settings are)
Once you have you server, call in your actors, and get them prepped for the scene. Don't be afraid to do multiple takes; it is better to have too much footage than too little, but be cautious about joyfully hitting the actors with weapons as blood on character/set is very difficult to edit out.
- Step Two - Choose your camera position
There are essentially one of three methods you can run with, but all require you to be in a position to "see" the action, as the GPU/game will only calculate for entities which can become involved with the player (ie you/the camera-man)
{A} In game be an active character but sit out of direct line of gun fire. The advantage of this is you can show off the ideal run of play for the actors and then move out of the way. The disadvantage is you potentially run the risk of having your weapon show during the film. (See later for more details on weapon showing)
{B} Once dead, engage your camera angle. Likewise the advantage of this is you can demonstrate the ideal run of play for the actors and then move out of the way. The disadvantage you can only demonstrate the action only once, and unless you use one of the gun-removal/hud commands (listed later), your film will be recorded in a "letter-box" format (a black bar top and bottom)
{C} Choose spectate mode. The advantage of this is you can choose ANY camera angle you wish for filming purposes. The disadvantage is you can't demonstrate the ideal run of play for the actors, nor can you use in-game chat to convey any instructions (unless of course you hold admin access on the server).
- Step 3 - Filming in game
Once you have chosen you filming method, start recording a demo file. This can be achievd by typing into console record mydemofile. This will generate a .dem file in your source-game directory, which can be played back at a later date. The reason behind the demo file is two fold - {1} you can go back and record from alternate angles from when you first recorded (commands listed later) {2} more importantly, your video extraction program won't lag your computer as much and won't cause your to lag out your internet connection.
When finished type stop into console. Or alternately close the program by typing quit or by pressing the F10-key; however i recommend the first method
(the console is accessed by pressing button under ESC, ~ on american keyboards or ` on UK keyboards)
- Step 4 - Film Playback
Use playdemo mydemofile to play back the demo file you recorded in-game.
Use demo_pause to pause the demo & demo_resume to resume play. Alternately you may wish to bind demo_togglepause to a key to both pause & resume a file. this is achieved with bind p "demo_togglepause", thus bind "P" as your pause/play.
press "Shift+F2" to bring up the demo controller to specify the speed of playback, or even to jump to another time-index in the film
Use cl_demoviewoverride 1, to change your camera-angle. This enables you to freely move in the playback as you see fit, but any motion you make will be proportional to any in-game movement you made when recording (hence why i made the suggestion of standing still earlier)
Finally use cl_drawhud 0 to remove the hud (map, health, ammo, cash, etc), thus avoiding any unnecessary text from appearing on screen when you record your footage.
Now, after this point, you can employ any technique you wish to extract the film footage, your choice of editing software, and the application of special effects, as you see fit.
~~~THE END~~~
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 09 February 2008 )
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