View source for Demo Video Creation

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Once you've [[Demo Recording Tools|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) and .wav audio files==
{{warning|Be aware of hard disk space requirements for long or high resolution videos. It's easy to chew through gigabytes very quickly (especially when using uncompressed formats like TGA) and if you run out of hard disk space, Source will just crash to desktop.

'''For TGA format:''' Every frame in 800x600 resolution generates approximately 1.5 megabytes, 1280x720 generates 2.63MB and 1920x1080 generates 5.93MB.

'''For JPG format (at 90 quality):''' Every frame 1920x1080 resolution generates between 390KB to 500KB (total 235MB for all frame - 7 seconds JPEG video on {{code|de_dust2}} map).
}}
# Load your chosen {{src|4}} 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 1280x720 or 1920x1080 video, set your resolution to 1280x720 or 1920x1080. 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 <code>sv_cheats 1</code>, then <code>host_framerate #</code> into the console, where # is the framerate that you want your video to record at.
# Enter <code>startmovie %videoname%</code> into the console, where %videoname% is the name of the video you want to record.
# Type <code>playdemo %demoname%</code> to playback your demo. %demoname% 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 <code>endmovie</code> into the console.
# Type <code>host_framerate 0</code> into the console.
# Quit the game and browse to the root folder of your mod or game (the one with the <code>gameinfo.txt</code> in it, e.g. <code>Steam/SteamApps/common/Half-Life 2/hl2</code> or <code>Steam/SteamApps/SourceMods/metastasis</code>).
# Here you will find numerous Targa files named <code>%videoname%%framenumber%.tga</code> and a Wave file by <code>%videoname%.wav</code>. 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 {{Wiki|VirtualDubMod}} (free, but poor UI) or Adobe Premiere or whatever. {{note|It's at this step where the underscore at the end of the videoname becomes useful. If you've recorded two similarly named videos, e.g. <code>your_tf2_video1</code> and <code>your_tf2_video2</code>, it can be difficult to tell when one ends and the other starts when you're just looking at a directory full of hundreds of files named <code>your_tf2_video%random_number%</code>.}}

== Importing images & turns them into video ==
===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 (<code>File->Import...</code> and browse for <code>%videoname%.wav</code>).
# Import the set of frames by selecting the first frame of the video (<code>%videoname%0000.tga</code>) 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 <code>File->Export->Movie...</code> 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 (<code>Composition>New composition...</code> or <code>CTRL+N</code>) and set the composition settings to match those you recorded the video (frame size, pixel ratio, framerate).
# In the <code>Project</code> window, rightclick and choose <code>Import>File...</code>. Choose your first frame from your screenshots, and check <code>Targa sequence</code>. Click <code>OK</code>.
# To import your audiofile, rightlick in the <code>Project</code> window again, choose <code>Import>File</code>, and select your audiofile. Click <code>OK</code>.
# Now drag your imported footage into the timeline.
# To render it, make sure your timeline is the active window, then go to <code>Composition>Create Movie...</code>, choose a filename, and click <code>Save</code>. A new window called <code>Renderqueue</code> will pop up. Check and tweak the codec settings to get a balance between quality and filesize that you are happy with. Then click <code>Render</code>.

===DaVinci Resolve===
# Open a project, then go to <code>Project Settings</code> 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 <code>%videoname%_0000.tga</code> is selected last. Drop the selection into your project's Timeline, and wait for them to load.

===FFmpeg===
{{note|While ffmpeg is available for free on most Linux distros repositories, Windows and macOS versions can be downloaded from [https://ffmpeg.org/download.html ffmpeg download page] which are provided by third parties. [https://chocolatey.org/ Chocolatey] package is also [https://chocolatey.org/packages/ffmpeg available].}}

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

{{note|It's assumed that path to ffmpeg binary for command line is specified in <code>PATH</code> system environment variable, which is likely set by package manager or installer. If you don't have it (check by simply running <code>ffmpeg</code> in commandline), you must either edit PATH variable by appending path to <code>ffmpeg.exe</code>, or specify full path to ffmpeg when launching like <code>C:\Program Files\FFmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe</code>}}
{{note|30 is default frame rate for imported images. If you had rendered movie in another frame rate, specify frames per seconds for <code>-framerate</code> command, otherwise you'll get video and audio de-synced.}}
{{note|There are many other options available like specifying another output format with different audio and video codecs, applying filters, etc. Search for tutorials on internet and refer to [https://ffmpeg.org/documentation.html official documentation].}}

===Sony Vegas===
# Open Sony Vegas, then go to <code>File>Properties</code> to set up your project-settings. These should be matching your frames you extracted. <code>Field order</code> should be <code>None (progressive scan)</code> and <code>Deinterlace mode</code> should be <code>None</code>. Click <code>OK</code>.
# Now go to <code>File>Import>Media</code>. 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 <code>Open still image sequence</code> is checked, and the number of frames is correct in the textbox of <code>range</code>.
# Click <code>Open</code>.
# A new window called <code>Properties</code> will show up. You can make some settings on your new clip, but leaving everything on default will doing fine.
# Click <code>OK</code> to close the <code>Properties</code> window.
# You now have a new clip in your <code>Project Media</code> 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 <code>Explorer</code> 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 <code>File>Render As...</code>. To render it as DivX, or XviD, choose the filetype as <code>Video for Windows (*.avi)</code>, then click <code>Custom</code>. In the new Window make sure you've choosen <code>Best</code> in the <code>Video rendering quality</code> field. In the <code>Video</code> tab, go to <code>Video Format</code>, and choose your preferred videocodec. Now go to the <code>Audio</code> tab, and choose your preferred audiocodec. Clicking <code>OK</code> will close the window. Now you can start the rendering by choosing a filename and clicking <code>Save</code>.

===VirtualDub===
# Open VirtualDub, then go to <code>File>Open</code>. 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 <code>Video>Compression</code>, 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 <code>OK</code>.
# Now go to <code>Audio>Wav File...</code> and select %videoname%_.wav. 
# Go again to the <code>Audio</code> menu and select <code>Full Processing Mode</code>. 
# Finally, go to <code>Audio>Compression</code>, 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 <code>Audio>No Audio</code>) Click <code>OK</code>.
# 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 <code>Video>Filters</code>, and click <code>Add...</code> From the list of filters, select <code>resize</code> and click <code>OK</code>. In the two boxes given, enter the dimensions that you would like your final video to be. In <code>Filter Mode</code>, select <code>Bicubic</code>, and click <code>OK</code>.
# Now that you have set up your video processing, go to <code>File>Save AVI...</code> and choose a save path. When you click <code>OK</code>, VirtualDub will process the TGAs into an AVI file.
# OPTIONAL: If you are processing multiple images, check the box marked <code>Don't run this job now...</code> 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 <code>Save AVI</code>, and check the checkbox again. You can continue doing this until you have all the AVIs queued up to be processed. Then, press <code>F4</code> to go to <code>Job Control</code>. Click the <code>Start</code> button to process the videos one by one.

===VirtualDubMod===
# Open VirtualDubMod, then go to <code>File>Open</code>. 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 <code>Automatically load linked segments</code> is checked. VirtualDubMod will take a moment to load all the frames it can find.
# Go to <code>Video>Compression</code>, 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 <code>OK</code>.
# Now go to <code>Streams>Stream list</code> and click <code>Add</code>. Open your %videoname%_.wav. Now rightclick on your new audiostream in <code>Available streams</code> and choose <code>Full processing mode</code>. Rightclick on your audiostream again, and click <code>Compression</code> to choose your audiocodec.
# Click <code>OK</code> to close the <code>Available streams</code> 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 <code>Video>Filters</code>, and click <code>Add...</code> From the list of filters, select <code>resize</code> and click <code>OK</code>. In the two boxes given, enter the dimensions that you would like your final video to be. In <code>Filter Mode</code>, select <code>Bicubic</code>, and click <code>OK</code>.
# Now that you have set up your video processing, go to <code>File>Save As...</code> and choose a save path. When you click <code>OK</code>, VirtualDub will process the TGAs into an AVI file.
# OPTIONAL: If you are processing multiple images, check the box marked <code>Don't run this job now...</code> 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 <code>Save AVI</code>, and check the check box again. You can continue doing this until you have all the AVIs queued up to be processed. Then, press <code>F4</code> to go to <code>Job Control</code>. Click the <code>Start</code> button to process the videos one by one.

== Exporting to videos directly ==
=== Prerequisites ===
# Start the 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 1280x720 video, set video resolution to 1280x720. Also set whatever graphical niceties you want - you don't need to worry about keeping something that gives you a good in-game framerate. If your PC hardware is old or weak (low-end), don't go too high or you might find the recording takes longer to encode (since this encoding only uses your system CPU and not GPU accelerated like most modern video editing software or video encoders).
# Enter <code>sv_cheats 1</code>, then <code>host_framerate #</code> where # is the framerate that you want your video to record to. Usually "30" or "60".

===Exporting to AVI ({{l4d2}} and pre-{{srcmp}})===
# Enter <code>startmovie %videoname% avi</code> to start recording a AVI File.
# A dialog box will pop up, it is required to choose a codec. [https://www.xvid.com/ Xvid] is a nice, lossy codec. {{bug|hidetested=1|{{l4d2}} Creates avi files NOT OpenDML Compliant. AVI Files over 2 GB are corrupted and AVI files over 4gb are unplayable.}}
# Enter the command <code>playdemo %demoname%</code> where %demoname% 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 <code>endmovie</code> and <code>host_framerate 0</code>.
# To find your recorded AVI file, Go to <code>steam\steamapps\common\Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2</code> where your AVI file will be. E.G <code>Left 4 Dead 2\left4dead2\%videoname%.avi</code> (Once again, %videoname% is the name of your AVI file.)

===Export to MOV/MP4===
As of the Replay Update for Team Fortress 2, it is now possible to export to .MOV/.MP4 files. This also works with other {{tf2branch|1}} games including {{css|1}}, {{hl2dm|1}}, etc... and all {{src13|1}} games (tested in {{hl2|1}} 20th Anniversary Update).
{{Note|Videos will be encoded in H.264 (AVC) format. Source current implementation of H.264 requires QuickTime to be installed.}}
{{bug|hidetested=1|MOV recording does '''NOT''' work in 64-bit version of {{tf2|2}} as of the [https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/April_18,_2024_Patch April 18, 2024 patch] because QuickTime (which is required to encode H.264 (AVC) videos in Source) isn't supported in 64-bit.
{{Workaround|Launch the game in 32-bit using {{code|-force32bit}}.}}
}}
{{warning|Be aware of hard disk space requirements for long or high resolution videos. It's easy to chew through gigabytes very quickly (as the QuickTime H.264 encoder settings, by default, exports the video with very high bitrate and light compression) and if you run out of hard disk space, Source will just crash to desktop.
A MP4 video in 1920x1080 in 02:23 length generates about 1GB, with 65kbps bitrate. A 4 minutes video in same resolution will generate around 2GB (73kbps bitrate). 
}}
{{Note|[https://support.apple.com/en-us/106375 Click here] to download QuickTime (for Windows). You will need to restart your computer after installing QuickTime, in order to be able to encode MP4 videos}}
# Enter {{code|startmovie %videoname% h264; playdemo %demoname%}}.
# 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 7 (above) and you should find your <code>%videoname%.mov</code> 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==
* [http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1125358 Thread talking about the MOV format on Facepunch]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmx5vXUfNz4 Video tutorial about recording and exporting demo files]
* [https://youtu.be/l4MK_XJeNqA?si=NXYU-ng8BnS18Lxo Video tutorial about TGA Exporting with virtualdub]
* [https://www.xvid.com/ Xvid codec for encoding your AVI Files]
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