Demo Video Creation

Once you've recorded your demo, it's likely you'll want to turn it into a video to share with others.
Here's different ways to do that:
==Exporting to images (jpeg, targa) avi files and .wav files==
# Load your chosen engine game and open the console.
# Set your graphics settings to be what you want the video settings to be. E.g. if you want an 800x600 video, set your resolution to 800x600. Also set whatever graphical niceties you want - you don't need to worry about keeping something that gives you a good in-game framerate, but don't go too high or you might find the recording takes an eternity. 
# Enter sv_cheats 1, then startmovie %videoname% into the console, where %videoname% is the filename that you want your video to record to.)
# Enter host_framerate # into the console, where # is the framerate of the video you want to record. (Startmovie already sets host_framerate at 30.)
# Type playdemo %filename% to playback your demo. %filename% is the name of the demo you want to record. 
# Sit back and grab a beer while it records your demo - it won't necessarily run in real-time. Depending on your machine and on the graphical settings you chose, it might take quite a while. When it's done, the game will return you to the console.
# Type endmovie into the console.
# Quit the game and browse to the root folder of your mod or game (the one with the gameinfo.txt in it, e.g. Steam/SteamApps/common/Half-Life 2/hl2 or Steam/SteamApps/SourceMods/metastasis).
# Here you will find numerous Targa files named %videoname%%framenumber%.tga and a Wave file by %videoname%.wav. Now you need to take these frames and the audio and turn them into a complete video, using the external video creation application of your choice, be it (free, but poor UI) or Adobe Premiere or whatever. 
===Exporting to AVI ( ONLY)===
# Load your copy and open the console.
# Set your graphics settings to be what you want the video settings to be. E.g. if you want an 800x600 video, set your resolution to 800x600. Also set whatever graphical niceties you want - you don't need to worry about keeping something that gives you a good in-game framerate, but don't go too high or you might find the recording takes an eternity.
# Enter sv_cheats 1, then startmovie %videoname% avi where %videoname% is the filename that you want your video to record to.
# A dialog box will pop up, it is required to choose a codec. 
# Enter the command playdemo %filename% where %filename% is the name of the demo you want to playback.
# Sit back and relax while it records your demo; it will take a long time considering it compresses the video too.
# Once it's done, the game will return you to the console. Type endmovie to stop recording movie frames.
# To find your recorded avi file, Go to steam\steamapps\common\Left 4 Dead 2 where your avi file will be. E.G Left 4 Dead 2\%videoname%.avi (Once again, %videoname% is the name of your avi file.)
===Adobe Premiere===
# Start a new project and set the project settings to match those you recorded the video in (frame size, pixel ratio, framerate).
# Import the audio (File->Import... and browse for %videoname%.wav).
# Import the set of frames by selecting the first frame of the video (%videoname%0000.tga) in the same Import window, and checking the "Numbered Stills" checkbox.
# Drag the set of frames and the audio onto your timeline, and line them up at zero.
# Select File->Export->Movie... to save out your video. Remember to check and tweak the codec settings to get a balance between quality and filesize that you are happy with.
===Adobe After Effects===
# Create a new composition (Composition>New composition... or CTRL+N) and set the composition settings to match those you recorded the video (frame size, pixel ratio, framerate).
# In the Project window, rightclick and choose Import>File.... Choose your first frame from your screenshots, and check Targa sequence. Click OK.
# To import your audiofile, rightlick in the Project window again, choose Import>File, and select your audiofile. Click OK.
# Now drag your imported footage into the timeline.
# To render it, make sure your timeline is the active window, then go to Composition>Create Movie..., choose a filename, and click Save. A new window called Renderqueue will pop up. Check and tweak the codec settings to get a balance between quality and filesize that you are happy with. Then click Render.
===DaVinci Resolve===
# Open a project, then go to Project Settings and set up the resolution to match the exported video or frames.
# Import your video and/or individual video frames. In case of the latter, select all frames and ensure %videoname%_0000.tga is selected last. Drop the selection into your project's Timeline, and wait for them to load.
===FFmpeg===
Run in command line. In this example, we simply import images sequence and audio, and output result to video:
 ffmpeg -framerate 30 -i %videoname%_%04d.tga -i %videoname%_.wav %videoname%.mp4
===Sony Vegas===
# Open Sony Vegas, then go to File>Properties to set up your project-settings. These should be matching your frames you extracted. Field order should be None (progressive scan) and Deinterlace mode should be None. Click OK.
# Now go to File>Import>Media. Browse to the Source game's working directory, such as "C:/Program Files/Valve/Steam/SteamApps/yourusername/Half-Life 2/hl2".
# Select the first frame, such as %videoname%_0000.tga. Vegas will take a moment to scan all the frames it can find. Make sure Open still image sequence is checked, and the number of frames is correct in the textbox of range.
# Click Open.
# A new window called Properties will show up. You can make some settings on your new clip, but leaving everything on default will doing fine.
# Click OK to close the Properties window.
# You now have a new clip in your Project Media window. Drag'n'drop the new clip into your timeline. Now you can start editing it like a usual movieclip.
# To add your soundfile, go to the Explorer window, and find your %videoname%_.wav file. Drag'n'drop your soundfile to your timeline, like you did it with your videoclip.
# To render your movie, go to File>Render As.... To render it as DivX, or XviD, choose the filetype as Video for Windows (*.avi), then click Custom. In the new Window make sure you've choosen Best in the Video rendering quality field. In the Video tab, go to Video Format, and choose your preferred videocodec. Now go to the Audio tab, and choose your preferred audiocodec. Clicking OK will close the window. Now you can start the rendering by choosing a filename and clicking Save.
===VirtualDub===
# Open VirtualDub, then go to File>Open. Browse to the Source game's working directory, such as "C:/Program Files/Valve/Steam/SteamApps/yourusername/Half-Life 2/hl2" 
# Open the first frame, such as %videoname%_0000.tga. VirtualDub will take a moment to load all the frames it can find.
# Go to Video>Compression, and choose a compression codec. If you have them, DivX and Xvid are recommended. Xvid generally results in a smaller quality loss, but DivX is smaller and is more popularly used.
# Click OK.
# Now go to Audio>Wav File... and select %videoname%_.wav. 
# Go again to the Audio menu and select Full Processing Mode. 
# Finally, go to Audio>Compression, and choose MPEG Layer 3. (more commonly known as MP3) Choose a compression level. (If you don't need audio for your clip, you can instead go to Audio>No Audio) Click OK.
# OPTIONAL: You can add a resize filter to your video so the resolution is brought down in the final video. To do this, go to Video>Filters, and click Add... From the list of filters, select resize and click OK. In the two boxes given, enter the dimensions that you would like your final video to be. In Filter Mode, select Bicubic, and click OK.
# Now that you have set up your video processing, go to File>Save AVI... and choose a save path. When you click OK, VirtualDub will process the TGAs into an AVI file.
# OPTIONAL: If you are processing multiple images, check the box marked Don't run this job now... at the Save AVI dialog. Then, open your next initial frame and audio file. You do not need to change any settings, as they are kept during a session. Go back to Save AVI, and check the checkbox again. You can continue doing this until you have all the AVIs queued up to be processed. Then, press F4 to go to Job Control. Click the Start button to process the videos one by one.
===VirtualDubMod===
# Open VirtualDubMod, then go to File>Open. Browse to the Source game's working directory, such as "C:/Program Files/Valve/Steam/SteamApps/yourusername/Half-Life 2/hl2"
# Open the first frame, such as %videoname%_0000.tga. Make sure Automatically load linked segments is checked. VirtualDubMod will take a moment to load all the frames it can find.
# Go to Video>Compression, and choose a compression codec. If you have them, DivX and Xvid are recommended. Xvid generally results in a smaller quality loss, but DivX is smaller and is more popularly used.
# Click OK.
# Now go to Streams>Stream list and click Add. Open your %videoname%_.wav. Now rightclick on your new audiostream in Available streams and choose Full processing mode. Rightclick on your audiostream again, and click Compression to choose your audiocodec.
# Click OK to close the Available streams window.
# OPTIONAL: You can add a resize filter to your video so the resolution is brought down in the final video. To do this, go to Video>Filters, and click Add... From the list of filters, select resize and click OK. In the two boxes given, enter the dimensions that you would like your final video to be. In Filter Mode, select Bicubic, and click OK.
# Now that you have set up your video processing, go to File>Save As... and choose a save path. When you click OK, VirtualDub will process the TGAs into an AVI file.
# OPTIONAL: If you are processing multiple images, check the box marked Don't run this job now... at the Save AVI dialog. Then, open your next initial frame and audio file. You do not need to change any settings, as they are kept during a session. Go back to Save AVI, and check the check box again. You can continue doing this until you have all the AVIs queued up to be processed. Then, press F4 to go to Job Control. Click the Start button to process the videos one by one.
==Export to MOV, new with Replay Update for Team Fortress 2==
As of the Replay Update for Team Fortress 2, it is now possible to export to .MOV files. This however, requires QuickTime.
# Enter "startmovie %videoname% h264; playdemo %demoname%" (without quotes).
# At this time, your game will appear to freeze. If you're in full-screen mode, you'll have to Alt-Tab out of the program, then click back in to see the codec selection pop-up window. If you're in windowed mode, you should easily see the window. Choose your MOV codec here - DivX (Recommended) is good if you want to compress the video (archiving, uploading, etc.), whereas a lossless codec like Huffyuv is good if you're planning to edit the video and create a movie (or something similar).
# Once recording is done, browse to the directory mentioned in step 9 and you should find your %videoname%.mov file. That file contains both the video (compressed with your chosen codec) and the audio (in an uncompressed WAV format). If you'd like to use either the video or audio for other purposes, you can easily load this file into any video editor or utility, like VirtualDub.
==External links==
* Thread talking about the MOV format on Facepunch
* Video tutorial about recording and exporting demo files
* Video tutorial about TGA Exporting with virtualdub
Category:TechnicalCategory:Publicity & Publication