Remember that kitties have no thumbs so this is a VERY basic, step-by-step process. It does not make the BEST movies but it makes GOOD movies. It's really here as a starting point so people can learn the process. I'm updating this slightly from my
post in the Screenshots and Video's forum.
Conventions used in this post:
<text> - This represents text. Usually something you're required to type in. There are no <>'s or ""s or anything other than what's inbetween the <>'s. Again, don't use the <>'s.
Now, one of the best things about making CoH videos is that almost everything needed to do so is free. Now if you want to share them, you'll need to spend a few dollars on something called a "Codec" but it's really not very expensive.
Here are the tools that you will need:
1)
Sloth's Demo Launcher - HIGHLY recommended for all users and required for the Kitty Video Process.
2)
Virtual Dub for Video Editing - I use this (free) AND Adobe's Premiere (not free) for making videos.
3)
IrFan View - Used for Image Conversion. ZDNet often changes the link when a new version comes out so if you can't find it just go to Google and enter "Irfan View".
4)
DiVX Pro Codec - This is NOT required. It is NOT free. However it WILL allow you to make your movie files relatively small and maintain a very nice picture quality. Kitty strongly recommends DiVX.
Other than City of Heroes, that's all you need! Nothing too hard yet!
Now, on to the how-to! <ul type="square">[*] Play CoH.[*] type in "/demorecord <demoname>" to start recording your demo.[*] type in "/demostop" to end it. Zoning also ends Demos.[*] Exit CoH.[*] Start Demo Launcher[*] Click "Demo Dump" checkmark.[*] Set your screen/video resolution. The larger you select the more disk space you will use. I like 1024x768.[*] Set your Frames Per Second. 12 is OK, 20 is good, 30 is awesome. Again, higher = more disk space required.[*] Launch demo and wait. When the demo is done you will have a new folder in your CoH\client_demos directory called "screens" and under that you find another folder named <demoname> with all the JPGs of your demo. 1 for every frame per second you selected.[*] Launch IrFan View.[*] Go to File->Batch Conversion[*] Browse to CoH\client_demos\screens\<demoname>[*] Click Add All[*] Select an Output Directory (can't be the same as the input)[*] Ensure "Batch Conversion" is selected under "Work As"[*] Change the Output Format to "TGA - Truevision Targa".[*] Click Start[*] Wait for process to finish and click OK.[*] Close IrFan View.[*] Launch VirtualDub (just doubleclick the VirtualDub.exe file in the folder you unzipped it to)[*] Go to Video->Framerate[*] Click "Change to [ ] frames per second."[*] Enter the Frames Per Second you used in the demo dump.[*] Click OK[*] Go to Video->Compression[*] Select a Codec, such as DiVX 5 or Uncompressed.[*] Go to File->Open Video File[*] Change "Files of type" to "Image Sequence"[*] Browse to the output folder you selected with IrFan View.[*] Select
only the first TGA file.[*] Click Open[*] Wait a few moments while the sequence is compiled[*] Go to File->Save as AVI to save your movie![*] Done![/list]
Now again, this is a very basic process designed only to take a raw demo file and make it into an AVI movie file that doesn't require the CoH client to play.
As always I will attempt to answer any questions I can regarding the process both here and in PMs.
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Itti BittiKitty Science, Tanker. Security Level 42
Arctic Magma Mutation, Blaster. Security Level 36
Bloodveil Magic, Scrapper. Security Level 30
City of Heroes Faces!
