Record and Edit Gameplay Videos for Champions Online?

crypticbuxom

This is something I've been wanting to do for a while but want to know what all of you use for your game recording and editing.

What kind of programs do you use to record gameplay with the best quality?

Do you use a separate recorded for your microphone to save its input and how do you overlap that onto the video?

Do you edit the video in your program and what's your methods?

I just want to know what all of you use and how you go about doing it so I can start doing it myself and maybe others might be interested in this. Also if there are any tools in the Cryptic engine that can be used to enhance recording that would be nice to know of too.

Inform us with what you got!

tiedyedninja

I use Fraps to record and Vegas to edit.

Edit: For how, just Google it. There are a bunch of tutorials all over the internet.

nextnametaken

Start with demo_record, where you can play back and export frames without the UI in the way as well as getting control of your camera positions, even swap out characters. Give yourself time to get into that thread I linked and learn a bit of the built in tool.

Export high quality frame sequences into a folder then merge them as a movie file using Photoshop, maybe Gimp, Google's Picassa makes a lower resolution movie than the files you start with, I have Corel's VideoStudio Pro, but really haven't used it much.


You could just do raw gameplay captures (Fraps, Corel) as well, but the UI and lame third person camera pretty much makes all those videos complete trash.

If you want to record sound you may have to 'show disabled controls' in your 'recording devices' to capture audio from the sound card, all options were hidden on my panel, right click to reveal the hidden option to show hidden controls.

truecampor

It really depends what you want out of it. If you're doing commentary of some sort (like for a Let's Play or for information regarding gameplay), I'd suggest either Fraps or Dxtory. Both are pretty damn good recording software, and they allow you to record your own microphone based audio using them. Fraps has a reputation for being a bit of a hog when it comes to framerate though, so if that's an issue I recommend Dxtory.

I personally just let Fraps record my audio as well, just make sure you set it to record the right device so you don't end up losing it because it was recording your speakers or some nonsense.

For editing, I prefer Adobe Premiere because it has a lot more functions and options of what to do with footage. For the most basic editing though, free programs like Windows Movie Maker work well enough.

Really, it's all about what you need it for, if you're looking for free programs and what your computer can handle.

tiedyedninja

nextnametaken wrote: »

Start with demo_record, where you can play back and export frames without the UI in the way as well as getting control of your camera positions, even swap out characters. Give yourself time to get into that thread I linked and learn a bit of the built in tool.

Export high quality frame sequences into a folder then merge them as a movie file using Photoshop, maybe Gimp, Google's Picassa makes a lower resolution movie than the files you start with, I have Corel's VideoStudio Pro, but really haven't used it much.


You could just do raw gameplay captures (Fraps, Corel) as well, but the UI and lame third person camera pretty much makes all those videos complete trash.

If you want to record sound you may have to 'show disabled controls' in your 'recording devices' to capture audio from the sound card, all options were hidden on my panel, right click to reveal the hidden option to show hidden controls.

I disagree. It's good to be able to see people's hotkey bars and such and that awesome video of a guy winning with 1 HP left wouldn't have as much suspense if you didn't know how close it was. Shooting without UI is only good for machinima. I do agree about demo modes in general being awesome for making videos. I didn't get to try the one in CO yet though so I can't offer any help with it.

PS: And no, don't make your videos out of .gifs or whatever he's trying to tell you to do. That's crazy talk, obviously.

truecampor wrote: »

Fraps has a reputation for being a bit of a hog when it comes to framerate though, so if that's an issue I recommend Dxtory.

It's not Fraps. It's people trying to record to the same HDD they're playing from. It's a good idea to use a separate drive just for recording.

truecampor

I've tried recording to another drive, but Dxtory just tends to give me better frames than Fraps does regardless. I don't really know why, but that seems to be the general consensus when it comes to comparing the two. I just prefer Fraps in general.

crypticbuxom

These are good starts. But I should be more specific about what I want.

Here's the list:

Record gameplay including the UI and sound.

Have what is said into your microphone recorded separately but within the program itself.

Have an alternative function that records gameplay without the UI and use the freecam option I heard that exists in the Champions game already.

Have the program edit the video, allowing me to mute the sound in specific places, put the recorded mic sound where I need to with what chunks I need, and only use the footage I need.


If there is anyone who would like to make a video of how they do their recordings and upload them to YouTube, and I know you guys exist since you post videos regularly, please it would be a great service to both helping me figure it out and anyone else who is inspired to record and edit their footage to upload online for whatever the reason.

truecampor

Well, gameplay and sound is easy enough- The recording programs already mentioned do both of those.

For the second point, I might need some clarification but it sounds kind of like you want three separate tracks? Meaning one for video, one for game audio, and one for external input, like the microphone? I don't know any single recorder that does all of those. For that, you might be better off using one of the aforementioned recorders and recording the microphone separately using Audacity or something similar and then synching them up by hitting record on both and having a phrase you use to mark the beginning of the video and the synch point. Or, if you're doing cuts and such in the video, record the main portion using basic Fraps/Dxtory, then do post-production recording on spliced in parts. Again, it's really dependent on what you're going for, so more details would help.

For the third point, recording programs are almost always third party and don't directly affect the game in any way. You could always take in-game video files using those parts and edit the different parts together, but then you run the risk of having different levels of quality. You'd want to test them before-hand.

For editing, video recording programs very rarely have any degree of editing control. You really would need another program for that, and the level you get in-depth changes what programs you need for what purposes.

Posting a video of it would be possible, but someone doing a Let's Play commentary based video for instance would have a very different way of going about it than an informational video, or a trailer, or anything related to them.

crypticbuxom

I want to do this to record playthrough of content, do informational videos about the game like how tos and promotional videos for the game or even create my own "theatrical" trailers using the game.

truecampor

Okay, in that case I'd personally recommend recording the informational and playthrough content using one of the aforementioned external recorders and using a separate microphone recorder. You're more likely going to want to do post-commentary so you can focus on what you're saying rather than splitting focus between playing the game and speaking over it, but it's possible to synch them together if you want to do something live.

For promotional/trailer based videos that are less about proper gameplay and more about visuals and angles, you'll want to use the in-game recorder as it has more options to do with changing how the game actually looks. Overlaying that with external microphone audio SHOULD be possible, but I don't have much experience with demorecord files so I can't be sure.

crypticbuxom

I'll definitely expand my options to do both commentary type recording as well as live recording for any of my friends who play the game with me. A lets play style for the content of the game and a commentary style for instructional videos.

honestresearcher

tiedyedninja wrote: »

I use Fraps to record and Vegas to edit.

Edit: For how, just Google it. There are a bunch of tutorials all over the internet.

Good choices. Mine are similar.

Recording: Fraps. Fraps is good, but a little bit too 'high file size' but as long as you have some HDD space to blow, then its fine, even for 1080p Lossless recording

Editing: Cyberlink Power Director 10. I have a lot of crashing problems with this on Windows 7 64bit (ultimate) It's a great editor, but you may run into some snags.

tiedyedninja

crypticbuxom wrote: »

If there is anyone who would like to make a video of how they do their recordings and upload them to YouTube, and I know you guys exist since you post videos regularly, please it would be a great service to both helping me figure it out and anyone else who is inspired to record and edit their footage to upload online for whatever the reason.

Like I said before, people already have. The internet is full of them. Nobody is going to spend a couple of hours to make you your very own guide just because you don't want to spend a few seconds to find one. Know when you asked how to put a voice over in a video? Here's a guide. It literally took me 5 seconds to find. Google isn't hard. Go try it.

truecampor

crypticbuxom wrote: »

I'll definitely expand my options to do both commentary type recording as well as live recording for any of my friends who play the game with me. A lets play style for the content of the game and a commentary style for instructional videos.

Recording Let's Play-style videos is quite a bit easier. That tends to be live commentary, and recording Skype and other audio programs can be done at the same time, at least with Fraps. I think Dxtory as well. Then it's a lot less complicated. All you have to do at that point is bring all the video files into an editor, string them together, do some basic cutting/editing/sound balancing and then render it for upload.

Instructional videos as I said would be better off being done post-recording so you can cut up any mistakes or screw ups and keep everything concise.

crypticbuxom

Fraps seems like the best option so far. Thanks for the input. I'll look into more editing programs too.

tiedyedninja wrote: »

Like I said before, people already have. The internet is full of them. Nobody is going to spend a couple of hours to make you your very own guide just because you don't want to spend a few seconds to find one. Know when you asked how to put a voice over in a video? Here's a guide. It literally took me 5 seconds to find. Google isn't hard. Go try it.

I was simply asking if someone doesn't mind doing it. It wasn't mandatory. So no need to be a prick about it.

Google is obviously a go to answer for all questions. I just prefer opinions from other people who have experience specifically with recording Champions Online. So your Google solution would just bring me right back to the forums here and I would have to ask anyways.

So your input is accepted but done from a rather "full of" attitude. So thanks.

nextnametaken

tiedyedninja wrote: »

PS: And no, don't make your videos out of .gifs or whatever he's trying to tell you to do. That's crazy talk, obviously.

You don't know what you are talking about. You even admitted it.

The High definition TGA files exported from demo_record files convert to a high resolution Photoshop layer file that can be easily imported as a filmstrip into video editing programs, or the file sequence itself can be imported into the video editor.

Just like traditional hand drawn or stop motion animation, and exactly how the Champions Online programmers intended to make videos from their software. Thats why the built in export images command is there.

In-between frames and special effects can be added with paint programs in this way that can not be done when you have a video file that's interlacing and compressing data between frames already.

A .gif export from GIMP is still an option with a big batch of individual files with basically the same workflow as making a layered PSD/filmstrip file.

deathsentry2012

I've gone the cheap route and use Fraps and Windows MovieMaker. I used to record for CoX, especially when we had mission architect so I would record custom missions and critters i developed.

I've done a couple for CO and have found for basic recording, editing, the two tools above were sufficient. Oh should add that when I upload to Youtube, especially for the CoX videos, I used Youtube's editor to add notes, dialogue bubbles, etc.

One of my earlier CoX ones from mission architect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxJ6SCv3kEg

This was a CoX one towards the end using one of the maps in Ultra mode
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q51OqZ2Rs8

I the lemuria invasion mission but had to turn down the resolution, Fraps was really dying along with my card in general when facing the big monster towards the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT1qMxrfBWk

nextnametaken

Turn off all the ugly damage floaters for better performance.

I found some video tutorials for demo_record from STO.

Soriedem's Demo Record Tutorial - Introduction

Soriedem's STO Demo Record Tutorial 2 - Easy Path & Points

Soriedem's Demo Record Tutorial 3 - From Demo to Trailer

Soriedem's STO DemoRecord Tutorial - Controls & Camera Movement

Soriedem's Unholy Alliances I - Slave Action Trailer

Quality stuff, should be helpful.

malvou

I just use a mixture of Fraps and Windows Movie Maker to cut down on the file size, then edit clips together in VideoPad Video Editor.

But I REALLY want to get better editing tools. WMM really can't take 1080p 60fps 3gigabyte files that frequently anymore.

and Videopad just takes HOURS to save if I want to make just a minor edit to a 1minute video and save it as an .avi at 720p 60fps

I just don't know what to use that's good and free.

Here, have an old favorite video of mine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN4wgOTrUZA