how to create a GeneRally video, movie

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LongBow
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how to create a GeneRally video, movie

Post by LongBow »

Ivo asked me if I could write a tutorial on how to create a GeneRally video, movie, so here it is, step by step on how I made my movies :)

Tutorial on how to create a GeneRally video/movie
Step 1
The first thing you need, is an idea on what would you like to create. Is this a short promo video, maybe a medium long action video, a music spot perhaps…? It is important that you vision is clear as all the following steps will depend on this.

Step 2

Once your concept is clear its time to capture some GR action which is going to be the base for your video. Fire up GR and drive with your car(s) and track(s) of choice, with or without AIs, using other palettes or not,…depending on what would you like to show in your video. Note that if you are not satisfied with the view angle of the replay(s) or with the palette(s) used, you can change that just before start of step 4. Remember to save each action replay you would like to use in the video, as you going to need them in the next step.

Step 3

The replays are done, now its time to »convert« them into raw video format. For this task you are going to need a screen capture software like HyperCam, Fraps,...
I have used HyperCam for all my videos, however I have noticed that HyperCam had some problems working under win XP back than. I suggest trying various programs to see which ones suits and/or work better for your needs.
Now, before the next step, there are some tips that you can use for better GR recording (it works with all programs):

- don’t use any compression method while recording. You will get bigger video files but the CPU usage will be lower, allowing you to capture more frames per second.[/list]
- don’t capture direct GR game play but the game play replay instead. Set the replay rate to 1/2 or even less and than record with the software with less frames per second that usual. This will lower CPU usage giving you smother video in the end. Of course you will need to speed up the recorded video in order to get a "realistic" GR game play. But all this is done in post recording phase. Obviously if you CPU is fast enough, you can ignore this tip.
- record only the desired area and not the full screen (unless is strictly necessary). Most program allows to set a recording window. This will lower the CPU usage.
- after you have the recording software and GR running as well, go back to desktop and run the task manager setting the CPU priority for the recording software. This should help you in the recording process.
- don’t forget to check that the recording software records sounds as well as you might need them in your video

Of course you need to play a little bit with all those tips in combination with the recording software settings to get the best result.


Step 4


Before you start off with this step you might want to change the view angle of your replay(s) (maybe for a cool close up or maybe to change the »camera« to a different side) and even the palette(s) you would like to use.
To change the view setting do the following:

1. open the gr.ini file (located in the main GeneRally folder) in a text editor (notepad for example)
2. the settings you will need to change are the following
[Viewport]
; Override Camera settings for all tracks. Defaults: default
ViewAngle = default
Rotation = default
Zoom = default

3. change them to this for example. Try various combinations to get the result you want
[Viewport]
; Override Camera settings for all tracks. Defaults: default
ViewAngle = 45
Rotation = -87
Zoom = 52

4. save the gr.ini file for the settings to take effect it works with all tracks as it overrides the original tracks settings!

For palettes changes I suggest using one of the custom made programs for GeneRally palettes which can be found on the GeneRally Archives website under the palettes section.

Run the recording software and then GeneRally. Once in GR, load the replay you want to record and press the button (or combination of buttons) to start the recording process. Use the tips mentioned in step 3.
Recording a full screen should not be a problem. But if you want to record just a part of the screen you will most likely need to test different settings (in recording software) of the recording rectangle offset and/or dimensions in order to record the desired area. The recording phase is rather important as the quality of what you recorded is going to be the base for the next step. I even used to record twice the same scene in case there was something wrong with the first recording.


Step 5


You got the videos now. Its time to join them together in the final video. To do this you are going to need a video editing software. I used Virtual Dub (which is free/licensed under GPL) and a very old version of adobe Premiere for my videos. Virtual Dub is quite an interesting program. Not really a classic video editing program but can be quite useful for converting various video types and adding filters, cutting and resizing… I’m not going to explain you here how to an video editing software work as I would need a complete new tutorial for this. The main things you should focus on are:

- changing all videos resolution to the final one (800 x 640, 300 x 400,….)
- never convert the video type until the entire editing process is done. Keep it in raw state, uncompressed, to prevent loosing quality during editing process
- add/remove sounds from the video and add a music of choice,
- In the end convert the final video to a smaller compressed type of video like divx, xvid, mkv,....


Step 6


Your video is done. Just give it an appealing name like »GeneRally 2012 crash movie« :cool2: and upload it to You Tube or similar and share it with us.


Final note


Its going to take you some time to get you familiar with entire process and to learn things out. Patience is the key. I remember that I used 10 hours to make my first video and it was only 10 seconds long :sweatdrop:

If you find something unclear or maybe something should be added to the tutorial let me know by posting here or contact me by email.
I have also added a .pdf version of this tutorial so you can easily download it for your needs.
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Tutorial on how to create a GeneRally video movie.zip
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Trigger Happy
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Re: how to create a GeneRally video, movie

Post by Trigger Happy »

Thank you. :bowdown:
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egamad
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Re: how to create a GeneRally video, movie

Post by egamad »

A great tutorial, thanks. :bg:
Have you tried making any videos with the GeneRally v1.10b/c? I'm asking because I haven't had any luck with recording gameplay footage for JET03. The recording software was the same as for JET01 video (hypercam), only the game version was different than before (I recorded JET01 video in GR v1.10, I now have v1.10b).. I don't exactly recall, what was wrong, I think the colours were black-ish or something like that. :? Just wondering, if it's got anything to do with new version of GR.
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LongBow
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Re: how to create a GeneRally video, movie

Post by LongBow »

egamad wrote:A great tutorial, thanks. :bg:
Have you tried making any videos with the GeneRally v1.10b/c? I'm asking because I haven't had any luck with recording gameplay footage for JET03. The recording software was the same as for JET01 video (hypercam), only the game version was different than before (I recorded JET01 video in GR v1.10, I now have v1.10b).. I don't exactly recall, what was wrong, I think the colours were black-ish or something like that. :? Just wondering, if it's got anything to do with new version of GR.
Well, I haven't tried recording any game play in GR v1.10+, so I cant really tell what could be the problem. I guess that you should try some other recording software to see if it helps.
However it happened to me once that the recording software didn't work the way it should (the recorded screen was all black) If I remember correctly there was a sort of conflict with another software on my computer but I cant recall which one. I solved it by simply restarting the computer :roll:

@ Ivo: No problem, my pleasure :bg:
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ivaneurope
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Re: how to create a GeneRally video, movie

Post by ivaneurope »

Windows Movie makes is also merging videos.
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