karch Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 I just made 2 quicktime movies of a MkIV blowing up a building full of British troops.... Not that I have anything against British troops, mind you. I made them with a PowerMac G4 and a program called Snapz Pro. I kept the frame rate low so the files didn't get too huge. Here they are from the german view and from the british http://homepage.mac.com/scottandwendy/.Movies/bldg_german.mov http://homepage.mac.com/scottandwendy/.Movies/bldg_british.mov Let me know what you think and if anyone with a mac would like some advice on how to make these. It's cool! Scott Karch [This message has been edited by karch (edited 01-18-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob/1 Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 I would!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karch Posted January 19, 2001 Author Share Posted January 19, 2001 sorry about all the edits... I had a heck of a time getting the URLs to work right to my mac.com account Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob/1 Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 Those are sweet man how do you do that! DO tell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karch Posted January 19, 2001 Author Share Posted January 19, 2001 First you need a really fast Mac. My iMac DV barely cuts it... my G4-400 at work works great.. anything faster and you can crank up the resolution. I had to keep it to 640-480 to get usable speed. Get the program Snapz Pro by Ambrosia Software. http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/Products/SnapzPro.html Cue up the movie to where you want to record. Hit the hot key to start recording the movie, start playing the cm film, hit the hot key to stop recording the movie.. and then stop playing the cm film. You then get options for video codecs and sound options. Muck around with those. I think Sorensen is the best on a Mac until QT 5 comes out soon. That's really about it. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob/1 Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 you think A G3 with 193 MB of RAM will cut it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob/1 Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 Thats a bad link man I dosen't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karch Posted January 19, 2001 Author Share Posted January 19, 2001 Which link doesn't work? I just hit them all again and they seem fine on my machine. As for your G3, can't hurt to try. You just will be restricted by the frame rate you can capture. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slapdragon Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 This is a much better solution than I was using. To record CM I borrowed a Sony DVW-1100 VTR and an VGA to CCIR-601 digital converter box. The DVW is a D1, each tape costs $250 dollars and the VTR costs 175,000 (which is why I borrowed it and promptly returned it). Then I replayed the tape and used the VTRs output to run into a CCIR-601 equipped AVID. Finally I carried the output from the AVID to the G4 by fire wire drive, a major pain in the butt. This is lower quality, but much much easier and you can do it for the cost of a shareware program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 Um.... Snapzpro, iMovie 2 and a G4 PowerBook sounds like a good combo to make a full length CM film. Can't wait til that Titanium sucker arrives. ------------------ Regards, Mark:-{) Getting in line for a Mercury Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karch Posted January 19, 2001 Author Share Posted January 19, 2001 hi slapdragon.... i loved your tang-tank. i can get over twice the framerate, i just wanted to keep the file size manageable. i think i've gotten up to 20fps at 800x600... that makes for some big files. i would then run it through premier or something to antialias the whole thing. i just wanted to post something and show people they can make quicktime movies to save or show off. i love my macs. scott karch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aikidorat Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 cool post. Thanks for the tip. I'll have to try this out over the weekend. dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slapdragon Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by karch: hi slapdragon.... i loved your tang-tank. i can get over twice the framerate, i just wanted to keep the file size manageable. i think i've gotten up to 20fps at 800x600... that makes for some big files. i would then run it through premier or something to antialias the whole thing. i just wanted to post something and show people they can make quicktime movies to save or show off. i love my macs. scott karch<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Thanks! One thing that works nice for compression is Media Cleaner Pro. The current suite is pricey, but they used to have an LE and it is the best compressor I have used on PC or Mac bar none. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tom Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 Sigh...I wish there would be something similar to record movies with a PC...... without expensive add on hardware. Regards Tom ------------------ Visit Toms Combat Mission HQ ( bilingual site ) at http://home.germany.net/101-77027/CM/TCMHQ.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 OK!! Major Break Through! That is Cool I just Downloaded and I hope I can play with it this weekend. Makeing movie's from CM and saveing them and showing them from a web site! cool now that's Hi Tech!! Karch, Major kudo's for figuring this one out and posting your movie and this new solution! I'm sure ALL Mac users will want to play with this new toy! Thanks again! -tom w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triggerhappy Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tom: Sigh...I wish there would be something similar to record movies with a PC...... without expensive add on hardware. Regards Tom <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Actually, there is something similar. First get HyperSnap from www.hyperionics.com. Enable the Quick Save function in the menu and check the box that reads "repeat capture every X seconds". Set the value to 1 or a lower value. Remember the key to disable the auto-capture function! Start up the game. Hit the hotkey for the screen shot (that's scroll lock by default for a DirectX screen shot). When the sequence is finished disable auto-capture. There should be plenty of screenshots in the HyperSnap directory now. You can make a movie of them by using AnimationShop (comes with PaintShop from www.jasc.com) for example. Just load every single frame and save the in AVI format. The more frames you've captured the smoother the animation will run in the end. There are only three problems. 1. You will need a *really* fast machine for this, especially a very fast hard disk. Every time a frame is captured, the program writes up to 1 meg of data to your hdd. I recommend using JPEG format with a moderate compression factor to reduce file size. 2. There is no way to record the sound with HyperSnap. There are other programs to do this but it is to my knowledge impossible to include sound in avi animations made with AnimationShop. 3. The AVI files that AnimationShop creates are *huge*. Nonetheless it is possible to create short flicks with the method described above. ------------------ Rührt euch! CMPFCICM2 - Combat Mission Players for Campaigns in Combat Mission 2 - Join us! ;D [This message has been edited by Triggerhappy (edited 01-19-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Triggerhappy: 3. The AVI files that AnimationShop creates are *huge*. Nonetheless it is possible to create short flicks with the method described above. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Welcome to the world of Digital Video Many people don't realize that ALL digital video files are BIG. how big? 5 minutes of 720 x 480 D1 Compressed Digital Video requires 1 Gig of harddrive space Some math at 72dpi a 720x480 still frame is about a one Meg (900 k whatever) how many DV frames do you need for D1 for one sec of action 29 frames ok so far 29 frames for one Second is 29 Megs how many secs do you want? 1 minute? 29 Megs x 60 = 1740 Megs that's uncompressed Fortunately to make this all managable there is compression. for D1 that is about 5 to 1 compression. and yes a hardrive that spins at MORE than 7200 rmmp is required to prevent some frames from dropping out. Most New Macs (in the last two years, G3 and G4's were designed with Digital Video work in mind which is why Apple gives iMovie away for free, and now iDVD and iTunes as well. Yes I'm a Mac fanatic, I make no appologies for that one. that was intro to Digital Video 101 I suspect some other Mac Digital Video Fantanatics (SlapDragon ? ) here will correct my math or the statements above if they are inaccurate. -tom w [This message has been edited by aka_tom_w (edited 01-19-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirOscar Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 This may be a dumb question but how did you get rid of interface buttons at the bottom of the screen? Did you edit them out or is there a hot key to turn them off that I don't know about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SirOscar: This may be a dumb question but how did you get rid of interface buttons at the bottom of the screen? Did you edit them out or is there a hot key to turn them off that I don't know about?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Thats a good question? how did he just capture the "movie" part and not the rest of the interface? -tom w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Der Unbekannte Jäger Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by aka_tom_w: one Meg (900 k whatever) <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Actually 1024k Sorry couldn't resist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
argie Posted January 19, 2001 Share Posted January 19, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by aka_tom_w: Thats a good question? how did he just capture the "movie" part and not the rest of the interface? -tom w<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> You can make a selection of the screen. Is a capture mode in one of the pop up menues. (Yes, I have a G4 and I was playing with the new toy) Ariel [This message has been edited by argie (edited 01-19-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scott Clinton Posted January 28, 2001 Share Posted January 28, 2001 Sorry, I just noticed this thread. I did not know folks were still looking for these utilities. For the PC the two best I have found (for free) can be found at: SCREENCORDER2 and S-DEMO They both capture your screen action directly to video. I think Screencorder is nicer because it writes to avi format whereas S-Demo uses its own compression format. But if you are going to be serious about this you may want to look into a converter to then convert the avi files to a better (i.e. smaller) format. There are many of these on ZDNet. In addition to the above caveats mentioned by others (i.e. large file size, etc., etc.) I must admit neither works worth a crap on my PC. But I have a strong suspicion that is because I have a lowly P2/400 with a 32meg S4 PCI video card . If anyone has a real fast CPU and a real fast AGP card I would curious to know how it works for them. Good luck. ------------------ Please note: The above is solely the opinion of 'The Grumbling Grognard' and reflects no one else's views but his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabla Posted January 28, 2001 Share Posted January 28, 2001 Thanks for the tip. The link to Screencorder 2 given above does not seem to be working. However, the program can be downloaded at <A HREF="http://www.matchware.net/screencorder2/default.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.matchware.net/screencorder2/default.htm </A> Haven't tried it yet, though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Crow Posted January 28, 2001 Share Posted January 28, 2001 Originally posted by Scott Clinton: Sorry, I just noticed this thread. I did not know folks were still looking for these utilities. For the PC the two best I have found (for free) can be found at: SCREENCORDER2 and S-DEMO They both capture your screen action directly to video. I think Screencorder is nicer because it writes to avi format whereas S-Demo uses its own compression format. But if you are going to be serious about this you may want to look into a converter to then convert the avi files to a better (i.e. smaller) format. There are many of these on ZDNet. I would curious to know how it works for them. Good luck. Running a 1.1 GHZ, 256mb ram, 7.5k rpm 20mb HD and 64mb Prophet II. Tried the Screencorder and Hypersnap with Quicktime. Screencorder didn't produce good framerates no matter how you adjust it. Hypersnap could get good frame rates but you have to make a trade-off with resolution. Best I could get was 800X600 16bit producing about 90fpm which was too choppy for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scott Clinton Posted January 28, 2001 Share Posted January 28, 2001 Thanks Old Crow. Tis as I expected. As much as I will never own a Mac, one must admit there are SOME things they do better than a PC. ------------------ Please note: The above is solely the opinion of 'The Grumbling Grognard' and reflects no one else's views but his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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