How to make a jk2 movie

TK_Nutritious · 09-13-2002, 12:19 PM

There have been a lot of people asking how to create a movie from jk2 so I thought I'd give a little tutorial on it.

first of all, you need a demo to make the movie from. get into a jk2 game, open console and type these commands:

/g_synchronousclients 1
/record
/g_synchronousclients 0

this will begin recording. once you're done playing and want it to stop recording type:

/stop record

ok now you have your demo, it's time to export the frames of it to the base/screenshots folder. go to the starting screen of jk2, open console and type:

/cl_avidemo 20

The number after the command is the frame rate (fps) that you want your demo to be. 20 is just my preference, the higher the number you choose, the smoother your video will be, but also you will have more frames to deal with and it will take up more hard drive space.

once this command is in, go ahead and play your demo (under play section, then play demo) this will cause your system to play the demo really really choppy and slow as it is making it into .jpg files. I'd recommend reducing your resolution to 800x600 if you have it higher to help speed up the process. also, if you have screenshots from playing games that you want to keep, I'd recommend moving them before doing this as they can get lost in the horde of frames you're about to create.

alright, so your demo is done playing, exit jk2 and go to gamedata/base/screenshots folder. here you'll see all the frames you just created in .jpg format. the problem is, the program I use doesn't take .jpg, it needs .bmp files, so we'll need to convert these screens to bmp. you can find a trial version of the program I used (ACDSee) here:

http://www.acdsystems.com/English/Pr...tm?LAN=English

alright, you just converted all your .jpg files into .bmp files, it's time to create your video. the program I used to do this is called pjbmp2avi, thing is, their website seems to be down right now. I found an alternate site to download it at which is here:
(updated link, thx to Tosh_UK)

http://www-courses.cs.uiuc.edu/~cs31...ate/pjbmp2avi/

[update] if you don't want to go to the trouble of converting all your screens to bmp theres a program called video mach that can create avi's straight from jpg frames. An evaluation copy of Videomach can be found at:
(new link, thanks to Jeff 42)

http://www.gromada.com/
to use this program, first select where you have all your screenshots next to where it says directory. next, if you want to add music to the video, choose a .wav file next to where it says, yes, wav file. change the frame rate setting to the same number you set after /cl_avidemo. Also, be sure to set the name you want your video to be under next to avi file, also select the directory to save it to with the 3 dots to the right of the box. next hit create (theres a problem with this program where it'll say files not found or something instead of clicking on create when your settings are done, click on the box where you have selected the directory to use and hit enter, this makes it work for some reason)

alright, now you see a screen that says video compression. this can help you video by reducing it's size to make it easier to circulate and play. If you don't have divx codec, I'd recommend using it, it's worked really well for me, you can find that at www.divx.com by downloading it from here:

http://www.divx.com/divx/

choose the one on the far left

alright so you're at the compression screen, choose divx 5.02 codec as your compression and hit configure. the only setting you should worry about right now is the encoding bitrate. the higher you set it, the better quality of video, but also the larger your .avi file will be. try to find a balance that suits you. alright, you set the bitrate, hit ok, then hit ok on compression window. you'll see in the window your movie as it's being created. once it's done, go to the directory you chose to create it in and you have a nice little .avi file that is now your jk2 movie.

I hope this helps you folks that have been asking me about the video. If you have any questions or comments let me know and I'll try and help out.

Good luck

Break_dF · 10-07-2002, 10:21 PM

Thanks Nut. I'm a fan of your movie. One quick question though...the cl_avidemo 20 is typed into the beginning console? or in game...how is this viewed w/out actually being in-game?

Break_dF · 10-07-2002, 10:26 PM

I just realized my question wasn't very clear and rather idiotic...yes, I know that shift plus tilde opens console up...I was just trying to be lazy and do this w/out entering the game (long load times)

wassup · 10-08-2002, 12:31 AM

this should be made into a Sticky IMHO...

very useful and you could create your own Star Wars movies

(though it would take ALOT of time but it would be cool

)

Darth Kaan · 10-08-2002, 03:51 PM

Is pjbmp2avi a dos only program?

TK_Nutritious · 10-15-2002, 09:32 AM

pjbmp seems to work fine in windows xp

I have made a jk2 movie... can get it at www.shinyiu.com if ya want. I'm currently working on a second one

I don't know of any other way of viewing and exporting demos than using jk2mp, sorry break

Luc Solar · 02-22-2003, 04:45 PM

Sticky! Sticky!

Come on guys!

STICKY! STICKY!

Everybody; chant with good ol' Luc:

>> STICKY! STICKY!! STICKY!!!

TK_Nutritious · 02-22-2003, 04:47 PM

lol give me points and I will do teh sticky

Hekx · 02-22-2003, 05:28 PM

I have yet to trying using that way of recording.

I agree this should be stickied.

Project_Fusion · 02-22-2003, 06:24 PM

LMAO!

You all didn't know that? I thought everybody knew that...

You can just download that script that records for you, then convert it to .avi... Lol I can't believe nobody knew that, I must be one of the first to film lol. :P

TK_Nutritious · 02-22-2003, 08:14 PM

it's not like it's included in the jk2 manual or anything, the average jk2 player isn't just gonna miraculously know how to create movies.

Bilbo Skywalker · 02-23-2003, 10:12 AM

what was the 'wait' command that was used in conjunction with upping the avidemo to something like 60, you know so you have higher fps for slow-mo bits.

[edit] you guys can rate his first post, that way he gets an extra point, which will help him to sticky it.

TK_Nutritious · 02-23-2003, 01:52 PM

that command 'wait' represents is having a script pause for one game tick of time. Usefull if you want a time gap between commands. You're probly refering to the fast forward script I use in video making which lets you use higher cl_avidemo numbers without hitting the screenshot limit. An example would be:

demo <demo name>;timescale 100;wait 40;timescale 1;cl_avidemo 60

If you tweak the amount of waits you can fast forward a certain amount into the demo and then have it start recording later. Anyway, hope this helps. I'm gonna try to edit the first post here to include everything in a guide shinyiu and I wrote about video making.

ryudom · 02-23-2003, 02:19 PM

wow thanks

Bilbo Skywalker · 02-23-2003, 02:20 PM

yeah, that was the one, thanks.

unt0uchabl3 · 02-28-2003, 02:47 PM

"(theres a problem with this program where it'll say files not found or something instead of clicking on create when your settings are done, click on the box where you have selected the directory to use and hit enter, this makes it work for some reason)"

??????????

griff38 · 02-28-2003, 03:44 PM

unt0uchabl3, are you refering to the pjBmp2Avi program TK mentions above?

It's kinda buggy, click in the top field that shows the directory where the .bmp files are stored. Once the cursor is flashing, hit enter. Then it's down hill from there. When your done if you can't find the avi look in the original bmp source folder.

TK-99 · 03-11-2003, 09:12 PM

you mean doing a jkII demo, not a movie and theres programs out there were you can do demos with them

TK_Nutritious · 03-12-2003, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TK-99
you mean doing a jkII demo, not a movie and theres programs out there were you can do demos with them

did you even read the whole thing?

NemoX · 03-14-2003, 12:28 PM

There is a neat little program called Videomach which you can use to go from .jpg to .avi...you won't need to convert all the images to .bmp format.

Get it here.

It's a 30 day evaluation copy, but if you want the full version you can always try Kazaa

There is also a demo recording script which you can get here.

CanadianSurfer · 03-31-2003, 03:14 PM

I have already recorded all my demo's so I would open the console and type "/cl_avidemo 50?

Bilbo Skywalker · 03-31-2003, 05:28 PM

yes, type that, then play the demo.

50 is very high!

CanadianSurfer · 03-31-2003, 07:19 PM

I've also got a very reliable hard-drive.

kthx

TK_Nutritious · 03-31-2003, 07:25 PM

well that's not really the problem, it's not about hard drive space... The problem is when you get to the screenshot limit of 10000. Folders won't allow you to have that many files in one folder. So if you use cl_avidemo 50 you'd only be able to do about.... (does math) 2:20 worth of a demo before running outta room.

CanadianSurfer · 03-31-2003, 09:29 PM

Ahhh, thanks for clearing that up for me Nutri. BTW, nice movies.

TK_Nutritious · 03-31-2003, 11:20 PM

np & thx

Jeff 42 · 04-02-2003, 02:20 PM

Hey Nutri, a while ago I bookmarked your guide on making videos at http://www.shinyiu.com/video.htm, but now it's not there anymore. Is there any way I could access this guide now?

TK_Nutritious · 04-03-2003, 01:07 AM

edit: hmm looks like the file is gone from my HD :/, if there's anyone here who has it and can email it to me it'd be much appreciated (Nutritious414@hotmail.com)

Jeff 42 · 04-03-2003, 11:32 AM

Darn. Well, the main thing I want to know is, in your fast forward script, how do you figure out how long to "wait" in order to fast forward to a certain point in time?

TK_Nutritious · 04-03-2003, 04:10 PM

well, that comes mainly with trial and error. The wait command isn't always an exact amount of time either, but from a few tests you can figure it out for yourself.

First open up /cg_drawtimer 1 to give yourself an internal game clock to measure by. Then get a demo that's long enough to test on and set it as the demo to play in the script (we'll call the demo 'test'). set timescale to 100 and wait to 100 and then play the demo. Watch the timer on the top right of the demo when it stops fast forwarding to see how much time 100 waits represented. You can try it with say 200 waits to see if you get the same ratio.

Ok so here's the more visual way to see it:
1. /cg_drawtimer 1
2. name demo: test
3. turn on cheats (/devmap ffa_yavin then return back to main menu)
4. run script and watch timer at end

Script would look like this:
demo test;timescale 100;wait 100;timescale 1

to figure out how many waits per minute you can take the ending timer and convert it into a real minute number. Say at timescale 100, 100 waits got us to time 3:24. That's 3.4 minutes (took 3 minutes + (24/60) = 3.4). So do k = waits/minutes (where k is the constant for waits/minute). So in this case k = 100/3.4. So our constant is 29.41 waits/minute. Now you can take this and figure out how many waits you need for any time in your demos.

For example, you want to get to time 14:30 in the demo. Convert it to 14.5 minutes. Then do 29.41 = waits/14.5; w = 426 waits. At timescale 100, 426 waits will get us to the time 14:30 in the demo.

Thing is it can take a long time for 426 waits to happen so there's a really easy way to make it faster. Since timescale and amount of waits is proportional you can double one and half the other and get to the same instant in the demo.

To get to the point 14:30 faster. Double the timescale to 200 and half the amount of waits to 218. If you want it even faster you can do timescale 400 waits 109 etc.

Welp, that's about the end of my thread-turned algebra class. Class dismissed

.

Smood · 04-05-2003, 09:35 AM

Any ideas about how to get external perspectives on playing. So if 2 people are dueling, have a third camera watching the duel, and moving, instead of first person?

CanadianSurfer · 04-05-2003, 11:45 AM

Either someone could spectate you guys, or in the video make itself there's a zoom feature that lets you zoom in or out.

TK_Nutritious · 04-06-2003, 12:26 AM

there are ways to get outside the eyes of a player, however, I don't know of any way to freely control the camera as if it was a spectator. The closest you could do is use several 3rd person camera commands that will let you move the camera in different positions around the player who recorded the demo.

First turn on cheats (/devmap ffa_yavin)
Then, while in the game, find the camera position you want:
/cg_thirdperson 1 (puts camera outside of player)
/cg_thirdpersonangle ### (puts camera a certain angle around the player, 0-360 degrees)
/cg_thirdpersonrange ### (adjusts distance camera is from player)
/cg_thirdpersonvertoffset ## (adjusts vertical angle of the camera to get an above or below angle on players)

these are the basic third person commands to use when in a duel. The drawback is that, unless you're an experienced scripter, you'd have to set the angles before running the demo and would be limited to that angle for the rest of the demo. Also the camera will always have the player who recorded the demo in the very center of the screen and will follow that players movements and direction. For additional thirdperson commands type /cg_thirdperson into the console and it will list the rest of them.

Your best bet is if you know you're gonna record a duel, have a spectator demo it from whatever angle you'd like.

Hope this helps.

Jeff 42 · 04-06-2003, 01:55 AM

Okay, I've finished making a video which I think is pretty good. So now my question is, how do you get them hosted on FileFront?

griff38 · 04-06-2003, 09:25 AM

It's pretty easy, once you are at these sites, find the "submit a file" link. All of the following have stored my videos and make them available for free downloads.

fileplanet

voodoofiles

Fileshack

Jeff 42 · 04-06-2003, 02:43 PM

Thanks. I would prefer FileFront, though, as people don't have to log in to download files there.

CanadianSurfer · 04-06-2003, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TK_Nutritious
there are ways to get outside the eyes of a player, however, I don't know of any way to freely control the camera as if it was a spectator. The closest you could do is use several 3rd person camera commands that will let you move the camera in different positions around the player who recorded the demo.

First turn on cheats (/devmap ffa_yavin)
Then, while in the game, find the camera position you want:
/cg_thirdperson 1 (puts camera outside of player)
/cg_thirdpersonangle ### (puts camera a certain angle around the player, 0-360 degrees)
/cg_thirdpersonrange ### (adjusts distance camera is from player)
/cg_thirdpersonvertoffset ## (adjusts vertical angle of the camera to get an above or below angle on players)

these are the basic third person commands to use when in a duel. The drawback is that, unless you're an experienced scripter, you'd have to set the angles before running the demo and would be limited to that angle for the rest of the demo. Also the camera will always have the player who recorded the demo in the very center of the screen and will follow that players movements and direction. For additional thirdperson commands type /cg_thirdperson into the console and it will list the rest of them.

Your best bet is if you know you're gonna record a duel, have a spectator demo it from whatever angle you'd like.

Hope this helps.

I find /cg_ThirdPersonCameraDamp # to be quite useful as well. Gives you different angles at the same time.

Tosh_UK · 04-11-2003, 05:18 AM

Please RE sticky

Smood · 04-11-2003, 08:13 PM

Thanks for your help Nutri... I appreciate it!

Smood · 04-11-2003, 09:16 PM

I'm getting a strange error when using the sync, and record commands, it occurs when I type the record command itself.

ERROR is as follows

==========================

CL_set Cgame time

!CL.Snap.valid

==========================

And then it doesnt record. However, if I restart the match and attempt to record, it works. Then once I stop and try to record again I get the error. Please help, thanks.