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Movie making in a nut shell!
Difficulty: Beginner
Category: CS:S > Movie MakingAuthor(s): J2K

//============================================
//CS: Source movie making tutorial by J2K!
//============================================


This tutorial will teach you how to make a CS: Source movie from start to finish including everything from demoing to rendering!

I suggest adding it to favorites as you will need to go in and out of Counter-Strike Source many times and when it comes to rendering you'll probably want to go get a coffee as it takes a long time.

Note: All screenshot links are attributed with "_blank" to make them open in a new window so don't worry about losing this page if you click on the links (:

//=========================================
//Part 1 - The necessary files.
//=========================================


Obviously you will need CS: Source, so if you don't have it, get it from SteamPowered.

As for editing and rendering the movie, i suggest using Sony Vegas Video 5.0b (or higher). That is what will be covered in the tutorial. Click here to download Sony Vegas 7.0d 30 day free trial.

To ensure you have the latest wmv codec on your computer, install Windows Media Player 11. This is the simplest codec to use and i find has very nice output results.

You will also need huffyuv 2.1.1, a lossless video codec. This will save a lot of hard drive space without sacrificing quality in your video.

//=========================================
//Part 2 - Making demo files of you playing.
//=========================================


Recording demo files in CS: Source is quite simple and has no adverse performance effects while playing. I get 72fps with or without recording.

When you start the round, open console and type:

record DemoName

Proceed to own some people and when you have some good footage, open console and type:

stop

This ends the demo recording. The demo is saved to:

C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\UserName\Counter-strike source\cstrike\DemoName.dem

//=========================================
//Part 3 - Playback of demo files.
//=========================================


To play a demo file, open console and type:

playdemo DemoName

While viewing the demo, you can open some advanced playback controls by typing the following into the console:

demoui

Get used to navigating the demo until you feel comfortable you are ready to make a movie from it.

To stop demo playback, open console and type:

stopdemo

//=========================================
//Part 4 - Creating uncompressed video footage from demo files.
//=========================================


Just a tip before we start; If you record at 30fps (the final frame rate of many CS movies), you have much smaller files, but can not do fast forward or slow motion smoothly.

If you have a 30fps video, and slow it down to half speed, you only have 15fps in your final render and it looks choppy. If you have a 60fps video, and slow it down to half speed, you still have a smooth 30fps final output.

For this reason, i suggest recording all your cs clips at 90 frames per second.

To do this, open console and type:

host_framerate 90

Now play back your demo file as described in part 3.

As your desired scene approaches, open console and type:

startmovie ClipName avi

Screenshot

A small dialogue will be displayed with a list of codecs (Coder-Decoders) for you to choose from. Select huffyuv 2.1.1 and click Configure...

Enable RGBA and click ok.

Screenshot

Press ~ to remove the console and begin outputting the demo as an avi (Audio-Video Interleave) file. When your scene is over, open console and type:

endmovie

This then saves your movie to
C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\UserName\Counter-Strike Source\ClipName.avi

//=========================================
//Part 5 - Editing your movie in Sony Vegas Video.
//=========================================


Open up Sony Vegas and click:

File > Import > Media...

Navigate to
C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\UserName\Counter-Strike Source\ClipName.avi

Import your clip.

Screenshot

Drag your clip onto the time line.

Screenshot

From here you can delete any excess footage before and after your clip by dragging the vertical black line to the point you want to seperate the video, then pressing the s key. This splits the video. Click on the part you wish to delete and press the delete key.

Screenshot

//=========================================
//Part 6 - Rendering your movie.
//=========================================


To begin rendering, click:

File > Render as...

Fill out the fields via the screenshot below:

Screenshot

Conratulations! You have now made your first CS movie!

You may notice the quality isn't exactly great by the default wmv templates, have a look at my Advanced rendering in Vegas Video to learn how to render much better quality videos.
Added: 2 years agoTags: cs, counter-strike, source, movie
Feedback (34)
Page of 4   1 2 3 4 Next Page
Judo .
09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0Y2M
Posted 27 days ago
Posted by cool_zed

My css wont find the codecs!!

How did you install them and what codecs are you using?
- 09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
cool_zed .
BananiteY2M
Posted 1 month ago
My css wont find the codecs!!
- Bananite
.
Love you.Y2M
Posted 3 months ago
Some screenshots are down.
atselfors .
cssY2M
Posted 4 months ago
Yeah, but when i use 120 instead of 90 the video and audio is not at the same length in vegas.
- css
Judo .
09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0Y2M
Posted 4 months ago
Posted by Ungotter-Kyuubi

I'm having great problems with my recorded footage, it all works out perfectly until I watch the .avi its moving way too fast a clip that was 10 seconds now becomes 0.5 seconds long. Anything I am doing wrong here?

It's not your fault, that's a DirectShow problem. You must have installed a buggy codec (or splitter).
- 09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
Judo .
09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0Y2M
Posted 4 months ago
Posted by atselfors

Does it matter if you have host_framerate 120 and not 90?

No, but the file will be bigger and supposedly the human eye can't see any difference after 70*. Your choice.

* According to studies of "average, middle-age humans".
- 09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
Ungotter-Kyuubi .
I'm gunna become Metal Kid >_> Y2M
Posted 4 months ago
I'm having great problems with my recorded footage, it all works out perfectly until I watch the .avi its moving way too fast a clip that was 10 seconds now becomes 0.5 seconds long. Anything I am doing wrong here?
atselfors .
cssY2M
Posted 5 months ago
Does it matter if you have host_framerate 120 and not 90?
- css
Judo .
09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0Y2M
Posted 6 months ago
Posted by AcidTongue

Im importing the .avi file into Vegas Video and it says its an unsupported format

If you followed the tutorial perfectly, it should work. I'm guessing you forgot to enable RGBA. See this off-site post for some more information.
- 09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
AcidTongue .
BananiteY2M
Posted 6 months ago
Posted by Judo

Posted by AcidTongue

When i try to import the avi movie it says it is an unsupported format :( help plz

What are you trying to import the video into?

Im importing the .avi file into Vegas Video and it says its an unsupported format
- Bananite
Page of 4   1 2 3 4 Next Page
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