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(Feedback Wanted) Video Recording Preferences
posted in Videos
1
#1
0 Frags +

Hey guys,

I'm making a plugin targeted at (frag) video editors, one that replaces SrcDemo2 (while being 4-5x faster). That functionality is complete, now I'm looking for input from some people who have more experience making videos than I (although even if you are still a novice with "startmovie" recording, please provide feedback anyway).

Specifically:

  1. Is there a reason you don't use motion blur in your videos? Is it simply because it takes too long to render, or is there some other reason? (When I'm talking about motion blur, I'm talking about more subtle uses, like this example)
  2. How much do people really want PNG output? When creating videos, some people have expressed to me they'd like to be able to output PNGs instead of TGAs. However, (at least from the CPU side of things) TGAs are *significantly* faster to create than PNGs (because of the compression, PNGs make things 30-40% slower overall). I also find that enabling file and folder compression on a folder can be just as if not more effective than storing frames as PNG.
  3. Would people be interested in an FFMPEG-based output mode? This would let you output mp4/mkv/avi etc, straight from the engine. You'd still be able to output lossless h.264 or something else as well. Is that more preferable to outputting stills + a wav file?

Thanks!

Hey guys,

I'm making a plugin targeted at (frag) video editors, one that replaces SrcDemo2 (while being 4-5x faster). That functionality is complete, now I'm looking for input from some people who have more experience making videos than I (although even if you are still a novice with "startmovie" recording, please provide feedback anyway).

Specifically:
[olist]
[*] [b]Is there a reason you don't use motion blur in your videos?[/b] Is it simply because it takes too long to render, or is there some other reason? (When I'm talking about motion blur, I'm talking about more subtle uses, like [url=https://gfycat.com/CarefulLimpingGrayling]this example[/url])
[*] [b]How much do people really want PNG output?[/b] When creating videos, some people have expressed to me they'd like to be able to output PNGs instead of TGAs. However, (at least from the CPU side of things) TGAs are *significantly* faster to create than PNGs (because of the compression, PNGs make things 30-40% slower overall). I also find that enabling file and folder compression on a folder can be just as if not more effective than storing frames as PNG.
[*] [b]Would people be interested in an FFMPEG-based output mode?[/b] This would let you output mp4/mkv/avi etc, straight from the engine. You'd still be able to output lossless h.264 or something else as well. Is that more preferable to outputting stills + a wav file?
[/olist]

Thanks!
2
#2
11 Frags +

Motion blur makes videos too overedited, and sometimes too... blurry.
I'm not sure about other questions.

Motion blur makes videos too overedited, and sometimes too... blurry.
I'm not sure about other questions.
3
#3
3 Frags +

#3 would be useful as long as the image quality is retained. I've always found startmovie recording far too tedious, so I'm happy there's someone with some ideas to make it faster.

More options tend to be better so you can cover people's personal preferences, but if you include options that are slower (e.g. PNG output), you should note how they will impact rendering speed/quality.

#3 would be useful as long as the image quality is retained. I've always found startmovie recording far too tedious, so I'm happy there's someone with some ideas to make it faster.

More options tend to be better so you can cover people's personal preferences, but if you include options that are slower (e.g. PNG output), you should note how they will impact rendering speed/quality.
4
#4
2 Frags +
Shears#3 would be useful as long as the image quality is retained. I've always found startmovie recording far too tedious, so I'm happy there's someone with some ideas to make it faster.

If you were going through FFMPEG, all the options for it would be available. So you could output lossless h.264, for example. IIRC FFMPEG supports encoding to a few other lossless formats as well.

ShearsMore options tend to be better so you can cover people's personal preferences, but if you include options that are slower (e.g. PNG output), you should note how they will impact rendering speed/quality.

PNG compression results in the rendering being slowed by about 30-40%. It can be fully multithreaded though, so it'll have significantly less impact on people with 8 core CPUs or whatever compared to me (4-core i5).

[quote=Shears]#3 would be useful as long as the image quality is retained. I've always found startmovie recording far too tedious, so I'm happy there's someone with some ideas to make it faster.[/quote]

If you were going through FFMPEG, all the options for it would be available. So you could output lossless h.264, for example. IIRC FFMPEG supports encoding to a few other lossless formats as well.

[quote=Shears]More options tend to be better so you can cover people's personal preferences, but if you include options that are slower (e.g. PNG output), you should note how they will impact rendering speed/quality.[/quote]

PNG compression results in the rendering being slowed by about 30-40%. It can be fully multithreaded though, so it'll have significantly less impact on people with 8 core CPUs or whatever compared to me (4-core i5).
5
#5
1 Frags +

please make it compatible with OSX i'm sick of everyone being able to make frag vids so easily and i have to suffer through the most dumb shit

please make it compatible with OSX i'm sick of everyone being able to make frag vids so easily and i have to suffer through the most dumb shit
6
#6
0 Frags +
gatsanplease make it compatible with OSX i'm sick of everyone being able to make frag vids so easily and i have to suffer through the most dumb shit

Sorry, I don't have the resources to develop or test code on OSX :/ Your best hope is boot camp it seems.

[quote=gatsan]please make it compatible with OSX i'm sick of everyone being able to make frag vids so easily and i have to suffer through the most dumb shit[/quote]

Sorry, I don't have the resources to develop or test code on OSX :/ Your best hope is boot camp it seems.
7
#7
0 Frags +

Do you know source recording tool? That allows you to add and use your own configs and custom stuff (like no explosion smoke script, cfgs with different crosshairs for different classes, different huds) and it had a schelduled recording option where it would record automatically after you put in the demonames and tics. Those are so amazing so pls add that if it's possible!
It's really cool that you're doing this

Do you know source recording tool? That allows you to add and use your own configs and custom stuff (like no explosion smoke script, cfgs with different crosshairs for different classes, different huds) and it had a schelduled recording option where it would record automatically after you put in the demonames and tics. Those are so amazing so pls add that if it's possible!
It's really cool that you're doing this
8
#8
2 Frags +
pazergatsanplease make it compatible with OSX i'm sick of everyone being able to make frag vids so easily and i have to suffer through the most dumb shit
Sorry, I don't have the resources to develop or test code on OSX :/ Your best hope is boot camp it seems.

assuming you're not writing in C# or some shit language u can just make it open source and someone (maybe I) will port it

[quote=pazer][quote=gatsan]please make it compatible with OSX i'm sick of everyone being able to make frag vids so easily and i have to suffer through the most dumb shit[/quote]

Sorry, I don't have the resources to develop or test code on OSX :/ Your best hope is boot camp it seems.[/quote]


assuming you're not writing in C# or some shit language u can just make it open source and someone (maybe I) will port it
9
#9
2 Frags +

Motion blur frame blending (even subtle blending) can make fast flicks hard to follow when watching a fragvid (the frames that get blended are very different) which I think is a major reason it's not used. Clean 60fps videos generally make it easier to understand what's going on a lot of the time.

Motion blur frame blending (even subtle blending) can make fast flicks hard to follow when watching a fragvid (the frames that get blended are very different) which I think is a major reason it's not used. Clean 60fps videos generally make it easier to understand what's going on a lot of the time.
10
#10
1 Frags +

running all the tf2 commands even with lawena is very annoying if not tedious. I don't enjoy having to look up lawena's keybinds every time I want to use it. Maybe it's changed recently but it would be good to keep the in-gamr aspect of it simple, like one button to start and stop recording. Let all the customization be done in a GUI rather than the console. if you're tempted to venture into a wild idea, maybe you can find a way where we just input the start and stop ticks of the bit to record and the program does the rest, and you just come back to a encoded video.

Please have the option for h.264 lossless and even h.265 for future proofing. Stuff like auto deleting the raw PNG / TGA output from game would also be good - to keep the folders clean.

Beyond that, possibly have a input field to allow "override commands" like if people wanna have min viewmodels on or etc. Can't add a check box for every tf2 command on the GUI so this would be good.

Motion blur from tf2 is bad, because even if people do want it, they can add it post production. Post production also allows tweaking to various degrees so there's not much good reason to have motion blur in tf2 on.

Edit: also make sure you support frame rates over 60. I'd say at least 240 or so.

running all the tf2 commands even with lawena is very annoying if not tedious. I don't enjoy having to look up lawena's keybinds every time I want to use it. Maybe it's changed recently but it would be good to keep the in-gamr aspect of it simple, like one button to start and stop recording. Let all the customization be done in a GUI rather than the console. if you're tempted to venture into a wild idea, maybe you can find a way where we just input the start and stop ticks of the bit to record and the program does the rest, and you just come back to a encoded video.

Please have the option for h.264 lossless and even h.265 for future proofing. Stuff like auto deleting the raw PNG / TGA output from game would also be good - to keep the folders clean.

Beyond that, possibly have a input field to allow "override commands" like if people wanna have min viewmodels on or etc. Can't add a check box for every tf2 command on the GUI so this would be good.

Motion blur from tf2 is bad, because even if people do want it, they can add it post production. Post production also allows tweaking to various degrees so there's not much good reason to have motion blur in tf2 on.

Edit: also make sure you support frame rates over 60. I'd say at least 240 or so.
11
#11
2 Frags +

1. Motion blur looks awful
2. No
3. I imagine that would be really great for people who don't need 480 (or more) fps clips (so most people)

Sound cool dude

https://a.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2013/11/3021307-inline-fb-thumbsup-printpackaging.jpg

1. Motion blur looks awful
2. No
3. I imagine that would be really great for people who don't need 480 (or more) fps clips (so most people)

Sound cool dude
[img]https://a.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/inline-large/inline/2013/11/3021307-inline-fb-thumbsup-printpackaging.jpg[/img]
12
#12
3 Frags +

In-game motion blur looks bad. Motion blur in post looks very nice if done right but its easy to fuck up, 60 fps with no blur is faster, simpler and looks just as good for most purposes.
idk why people want png over tga (you can't preview TGA files by default?)
Converting to uncompressed avi on the spot would be handy

In-game motion blur looks bad. Motion blur in post looks very nice if done right but its easy to fuck up, 60 fps with no blur is faster, simpler and looks just as good for most purposes.
idk why people want png over tga (you can't preview TGA files by default?)
Converting to uncompressed avi on the spot would be handy
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