Creatures-Related Tutorials

How to Capture and Prepare Video from Creatures Games (or any game, really)
Written by Aiko, aka Amaikokonut, aka BluburryNorn, etc etc.

Contents:

I. Introduction
II. Setting up your Capture Application
    A. Choosing your Application
    B. Setting up CamStudio
III. Recording Video
    A. Capturing
    B. Troubleshooting
IV. Uploading and Submitting
V. Compressing, Cropping, and Editing
    A. Gathering Tools
    B. Compressing
    C. Cropping
    D. Other Refinements.
VI. Closure

I. Introduction

This tutorial was written for use for the community video montage planned for release during the Creatures Community Spirit Festival '08. Each member of the Creatures Community is highly encouraged to participate in this project. All you have to do is capture a short in-game video of yourself doing whatever you do best in your favorite Creatures game, and submit it along with a short message to be added to the video. This tutorial is also meant to be an all-purpose guide, so any text written in green only applies to clips being submitted for the CCSF'08 montage. It can otherwise be ignored.

Capturing video, especially when you're not entirely sure how, can be a difficult and frustrating process, so this tutorial is here to help you snag your short clip, upload it, and submit it as quickly and as easily as possible. In writing this tutorial I take it slow and explain every step, assuming the reader has no idea what they are doing. If you find some parts of this an insult to your intelligence, or just don't want to read that much, you may wish to try the Super Condensed Version of this guide. On the other hand, if you find any part of this confusing, feel free to let me know so I can explain it to you as well as rewrite it to make it easier for others to understand.

Anyway, on with the tutorial.

II. Setting up your Capture Application
A. Choosing your Application

There are several applications you can use to capture video from your game; these are also known as screencasting applications. For this particular tutorial we will be using CamStudio which is, in my opinion, the simplest of all these applications. Your video is captured, cropped, and compressed in a single step, making the process of preparing a video clip for a montage possible in under five minutes. It's also completely free and doesn't stamp watermarks on your video. Be sure to download the lossless codec too.

If CamStudio is giving you problems for whatever reason, there are other programs available that do essentially the same thing, such as SnagIt or HyperCam. Fraps also works well, but only if you are recording C3/DS, and only if you are running it in full screen mode. However these are not entirely free and the trial versions will often stamp an annoying watermark on your video. Later on, this tutorial will teach you how to crop out those watermarks, so if those applications work better for you, there's no reason not to use them.

This tutorial is limited to CamStudio, however, you may use the guidelines to help you set up any other capture program. In the future, I may write guides tailored for other applications.

B. Setting up CamStudio

The first step in setting up CamStudio is to go to Options > Video options and set your compressor. I highly recommend the CamStudio Lossless Codec (you did remember to download it, right?); it will retain the quality of your video without making the file size obscenely large. At the bottom of the options window, adjust the slider until the gray box labeled "Playback Rate" equals 30 frames/second:

If you intend on having the Hand in your video, which you likely will, go to Options > Cursor Options and hide the cursor. That's right, make sure it is set to hide. If you don't, an hourglass or arrow pointer will appear on top of the hand, which can be very distracting, as seen below.

Next you have to decide if you want to record audio. If you choose to include audio from the game in your clip, select Options > Record Audio from speakers. Keep in mind that this will not only record audio from Creatures, but also any music you have playing, any beeps from IM programs you have open, and so on and so forth, so make sure those applications are closed or muted. If you want to include audio in your clip for the CCSF, please also make sure the ambient background music is turned off in Creatures-- otherwise it will clash with the montage music. If you don't want to include any audio, just make sure Do not record audio is checked.

It is also a good idea to check out Options > Keyboard Shortcuts and set/familiarize yourself with the Record/Pause, Stop, and Cancel shortcuts. These will make it easier to control your recording:

You're almost ready. Now you just have to define what part of your screen the video will be captured from. If you select the Region menu, you will find there are three options: Region, Fixed Region, and Full Screen. If Region is selected, you will be asked to draw a box when you start recording to define the recording area. Fixed Region, my personal recommendation, allows you to set the dimensions ahead of time, ensuring that your clips are all the same size and proportion. Full Screen will record.. well, your whole screen, including your taskbar and any other windows you have up. Keep in mind that the larger your recording window is, the more strain it will put on your processor, so you may want to keep the window a reasonable size to avoid ending up with a choppy video. For the CCSF montage, you may record your clip in any form that you wish, but I will have to crop all clips to fit a 4:3 aspect ratio. If you want to avoid the possibility of getting the edges of your clip cropped off, I recommend using the Fixed Region option and using a 4:3 dimension such as 320x240, 640x480, 800x600, and so on.

Whoo, it's time to record!

II. Recording Video
A. Capturing

If you are recording a clip for the CCSF montage, consider these guidelines: Ideally, your clip should be roughly a minute in length. However, that entire minute of video may or may not be used in the montage-- if there are a lot of submissions your clip may be cut down to 30 or even 15 seconds, so avoid trying to make a one-minute mini movie with a sequential plot-- it's possible only the first half of your video will make it into the montage. Furthermore, please keep the video PG rated. This isn't the time to show off the grendel you taught to say all those naughty words :P

If you are running C3/DS, I highly recommend being in windowed mode (Hold down shift+alt and tap enter to toggle between full screen and windowed mode.) Unless you are recording with Fraps, in which case you need to be in full screen mode to record.

Now all you need to do is tap the record shortcut key (F8 by default). Depending on what you selected from the region menu, you may be prompted to draw a box or place a window before the application begins to automatically record. While recording, the corners of the capture window will flash green. If you wish you can grab one of these corners to drag the window elsewhere. You can also press the record shortcut key to pause the video-- the corners will stop flashing while the window is paused. When you are done recording, press the stop shortcut key (F9 by default) and you will be prompted to save your video.

Tada! Simple eh?

B. Troubleshooting

No? If you're getting really choppy video or having sound problems, it could be for any of several reasons.

1. My video is chopping/lagging/skipping!

If your video files are especially large, it might not be that your video is recording improperly; it might just be playing back choppy because the video is so big. Though this is rarely the case, it is possible, so before you delete your choppy video, watch it a few times. If the pauses and slow choppy parts are always the in the same spots, it's probably recording poorly and you need to follow some of the steps below:

First, try closing any unnecessary programs while recording-- maybe even freshly restarting your computer just to be sure. If that is of little help, try going back to your Options > Video options Menu and lowering the Frames/Second by using the slider at the bottom. If you are using C3 or DS, you can find your ideal frame rate by using Wolf Control. Bring up the Wolf Control menu in Creatures by pressing Ctrl+Shift+W. Look where it says Frame Rate, and adjust your frame rate in the CamStudio video options to match, as seen below:

If you are using C1 or C2, there is no way (that I know of) to find your frame rate-- you'll just have to make your best guess.

Keep in mind that the purpose of lowering the frame rate is to get the frame rate of the recording to roughly equal the frame rate of the actual game so it doesn't put extra strain on the recording video. If the recording frame rate is higher than the game frame rate, you may be putting extra strain on your computer because it will be trying to record more frames than the game is giving you, resulting in random spikes of choppiness, but if the recording frame rate is lower than the game frame rate, and it will just record at a lower frame rate than the game is moving, resulting in consistently choppy video. Balance is key.

If your video is still choppy, consider shrinking the size of your capture window. Capturing your entire screen or large portions of it requires considerably more processor power than capturing a small window. Don't record any more than you need!

Still having problems? Keep in mind that the speed of your creatures world will also dictate the speed of your video. It may be a good idea to export the creatures you want to video and create a fresh new world to import them into for the temporary video session. You might even use specialized agents/cobs or the CAOS command line to get rid of unnecessary agents that may slow down the new world.

If you've tried all of the above and are still getting slow or choppy results, your last resort is to try using a different video capture application. I personally like to use Fraps for capturing in DS, but unfortunately it will not (to my knowledge) capture video from C1 and C2. It also requires a lot of after-work as you have to manually crop the video.

2. My video has no sound/has distorted or strange sound

First of all, make sure your Options > Record audio from speakers is selected in CamStudio. Second, remember that CamStudio will record any sound coming from your speakers/headphones-- that includes sounds from other games, music playing in the background, and so on. Make sure all of that is turned off.

If you're still having issues go to Options > Audio Options > Audio Options for Speakers . Make sure your soundcard is selected and check the volume levels. Run an Auto Search for your recording line (and a manual search if that fails).

If you can't find your recording line and/or your video still doesn't have any sound, you can try a completely different workaround method. To do this you have to actually select Options > Record audio from microphone. Then go to Options > Audio Options > Audio Options for Microphone . Here, make sure your soundcard is selected for your Audio Capture Device, then click the volume button next to it. Then, select Stereo Mix as your recording device:

If you don't see Stereo Mix as an option, you may be in the recording options for another device (CamStudio is just silly like that). If that's the case, in the Recording Control go to Options > Properties, select your soundcard and make sure the Recording bullet is selected, as seen below:

By selecting Stereo Mix and confirming it, you are essentially telling your computer to record any sounds it receives, whether it's input from the soundcard, a microphone, a line in, or anything else. So now you need to make sure that your stereo mix will only contain Wave sound. You can ensure this by going back to Options > Properties, ensuring your soundcard is selected and selecting the Playback bullet. Confirming should bring up several volume controls. Mute all of these except for the main Volume Control (of course) and Wave. This will make sure no other weird sounds get into your stereo mix.

It might help you in the future to know that if you have an analog microphone connected to your soundcard and do not mute it in the volume control, the stereo mix will record both the sound from the game and your microphone-- pretty useful if you want to do a voice narration (just not for the CCSF'08 clip, please :P).

Once everything is confirmed, your video should properly record with sound. If it doesn't... well, unfortunately further sound mechanics are beyond me. :(

Hurrah! Once you have your video clip recorded, you're ready to upload and submit it. However, if you'd like to do a little more fine tuning to your clip, you can follow the directions in step V. Be aware, however, that it does get a lot more complicated, and you will need a lot of patience while you are learning the ropes.

IV. Uploading and Submitting

Now that you finally have your clip, it's time to upload it. Generally, video files are pretty large, so unless you have a huge chunk of webspace somewhere, you probably don't want to upload it to your personal server (although you certainly can if you wish to). You can upload it to one of many file sharing sites, such as MegaUpload and YouSendIt. Several people I know swear by FileFront for uploading videos, too. Please avoid RapidShare if possible-- as I access the internet through a shared campus connection and downloading files from RapidShare is extremely difficult, if not impossible for me. Video sharing sites such as YouTube and Google Video are also not recommended because they compress your video and make it very hard to convert to a usable file format.

Once you have the download link, all you have to do is move on to the submission form. Read the guidelines carefully, then fill out the form accurately and submit your clip. Hurrah! You've claimed yourself a spot in the CCSF montage video!

V. Advanced Preparation (Compressing, Cropping, and Editing)
A. Gathering Tools

I feel the need to stress yet again that this step is absolutely unnecessary if you are simply submitting a clip for the CCSF Montage. I will accept your clips in their raw forms and crop out any watermarks or blank space myself. The only reason you might need to use this is if your file size is too large to upload anywhere and requires further compression. It gets a lot trickier from here on out; you have been warned.

First you will need to gather your tools. For post-capture editing we will be using a freeware application called VirtualDub. If you intend on cropping the video within the same specifications that I do, you may also find The Video Dimensions Calculator useful. This is a spreadsheet document I created to make sure the video crops properly. Right now it's only available in .xls format, hopefully I'll be able to convert it to a better format later so people who can't open spreadsheet files can use it too.

Take a deep breath, we're going in.

B. Compressing

If your file size is simply too large or if you recorded your video with an application that does not allow you to choose how your video is compressed, you may need to do it manually.

Drag your video file into VirtualDub and it should look something like this. The first window is the "before" window and the second is the "after" window. If the windows are too big you can resize them by right-clicking them and zooming out. You don't need to worry about that right now though. All we're doing is compressing the file. Using the menu at the top, go to Video > Compression. You can also use the shortcut Ctrl+P. The compression window will come up.

Select a codec from the list-- likely your list will vary. If I'm dealing with horrendously large files, I like to use the Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V2 (This is also the codec we will calculate cropping for later on). This codec does it's job well-- it reduces those 1GB videos to roughly 60MB without making them distorted beyond recognition. If you use a different codec and plan on cropping the video, keep in mind that it may have different restrictions you'll need to keep in mind. But we'll get to that later.

No need to configure it or change anything, just pick the codec and click OK.

Also, if you're using VirtualDub (or any other program) to compress your video for the CCSF montage, please, please write down the name of the codec you compress it with so if I don't have it, I can find it. If I can't open your video, I can't put it into the montage.

Now that that's done, you can save your video file by going to File > Save as AVI. Name it whatever you want to, but you can't overwrite the original file. What I'll usually do is save it with the original filename, but to a different folder, and delete the original when it's done.

Eh, that wasn't so bad, was it?

C. Cropping

Ooh, the scary part.

Cropping your videos is, to be honest, usually the longest and least fun part of the process if you really want to do it right. It's useful in many ways-- for one, if you're using a trial version of Fraps or other capture program, you can use it to get rid of the watermark stamped on your video. It will also allow you to focus in on a particular part of the video if you originally recorded it full screen

You will crop your videos with VirtualDub. Open a video in it and go to Video > Filters. Click on Add in the window, and scroll down the list of filters to find Null Transform.

Select it, and you will see you can now choose the Cropping option.

Now the cropping window will open. You can crop the video by grabbing the edges of the display and pulling them inward so only the content you want is visible.

These screenshots have been thumbnailed as they are quite large-- click them to enlarge.

Now, in a perfect world, you would be able to save the video and be done with it. Unfortunately, this world is not perfect, and we have many things to consider when cropping the video.

As much as I would love to go over every possible situation we could run into while cropping video, I can only show an example of how video must be cropped according to the specifications that I work within. Even if you don't work within these particular boundaries, the example will at least give you an idea of what you need to consider. Bear with me.

First we must consider the nature and restrictions of the codec we are working with. I am working with the Microsoft MPEG-4 codec, and as it is a relatively old codec, it has a limitation: the final dimensions of the video must be four, or the video will not encode properly. This restriction is obviously not true of all codecs, but it is important that you know what restrictions your codec might have.

Obviously, my example here wouldn't work. The current cropped dimensions would equal 522x211, hardly multiples of 4. If we saved the file right now, it would not encode properly and would end up distorted (Go ahead and try it if you want to see what I mean). We need to fix it so that the dimensions are both multiples of four. You can do this manually, by adding and subtracting a few pixels on the edges and recalculating it, or you can just use the excel file to help you adjust your dimensions. We'll get to that in a minute though.

Second, we must consider the nature and restrictions of the application we will eventually compile all the video clips into. For poor broke college students like me who can't afford fast computers or high-end video-editing software, that application is Window Movie Maker. Windows Movie Maker also has a restriction of its own: all video clips must be in a 4:3 aspect ratio, or it will stretch the clips to fit it.

Essentially that means it would take my current crop setting:

And stretch it into this:

Which... well, isn't all that nice looking.

Basically what you want to make sure is that your finished cropped dimensions fit the 4:3 aspect ratio, meaning the width is roughly 1 1/3 times the height. The easiest way to check this is to divide your width by four and your height by three. If the two numbers are equal or close to equal, it fits the ratio. If it doesn't, you'll need to make some adjustments.

This is where the The Video Dimensions Calculator comes to save the day.

The first thing you have to do is type in the original dimensions of the video in the red boxes, for this example it is 800 x 600. Then enter the offsets for X1, X2, Y1, and Y2 in the blue boxes. They are arranged on the form in the same way they are in the cropping window, as shown in the example:

Keep in mind the red and blue boxes are the only boxes you should change the numbers of! The other boxes should not be touched-- they change themselves based on the numbers you enter in the red and blue boxes.

From there, it's fairly simple to see where you stand. Your final dimensions are seen in the green boxes. The purple boxes tell you if your final dimensions are multiples of four-- if they end with .25, .5. or .75, you will need to add or remove a few pixels to your X or Y offsets until they are whole numbers. A few pixels doesn't usually make a difference in the outcome; it's quite simple.

In short:
If your X value in the purple box isn't whole, give or take 1-3 pixels from the X1 or X2 value until it is a whole number.
If your Y value in the purple box isn't whole, give or take 1-3 pixels from the Y1 or Y2 value until it is a whole number.

The harder part is your aspect ratio. In the pink boxes, you will see two numbers. The further these numbers are from each other in value, the more warped your video will look when Windows Movie Maker forces it into 4:3 aspect ratio. Therefore, your goal is to get these numbers as close to each other as possible.

At first it can be very difficult and frustrating trying to figure out how to alter your numbers to get the aspect ratio right. The orange boxes at the bottom are there to help you with that if you are just overwhelmed and confused. They will give you suggestions for values to add or subtract from your X and Y values. In this example, I could add a total of roughly 240 pixels to my X1 and X2 values, or subtract a total of 180 pixels from the Y1 and Y2 values. So, for example, I could add 80 pixels to X1 and 160 pixels to X2, to make my aspect ratio numbers much more even.

You don't by any means have to use the exact numbers in the orange boxes, it's just to help you get an idea of how to fix up your ratio. Either way, if the X value in the orange box is positive and the Y value is negative, you need to add numbers to X1 and X2 and subtract numbers from Y1 and Y2 until your aspect ratio numbers are close to even. It works oppositely if the X value is negative and the Y value is positive.

Confused yet? Let's get back to the example at hand:

Obviously, this crop isn't going to work. The dimensions are not multiples of four and the aspect ratio is way off.

Let's start with fixing the aspect ratio, since that will change our dimensions drastically anyway. The friendly orange boxes suggest I add 240.66667 pixels total to my X offsets, or subtract 180.5 pixels total from my Y offsets. I don't want to add any more pixels to my X offset, because that would crop out some of my norns. Instead, I will subtract 70 pixels from my Y1 offset and 110 pixels from my Y2 offset (for a total of 180, just as the box suggest). This will add more space to the top and bottom of my crop, as well as even out the aspect ratio.

Much better eh? But still not ready. The dimensions still are not multiples of four. That is easily fixed, however, I just subtract one pixel from the Y2 offset and two pixels from the X2 offset (Obviously, if your codec doesn't have this restriction, you can skip this step). This will very slightly change your aspect ratio as well, this is perfectly okay as one or three pixels won't make a difference. Now that we have our working set of numbers, we enter the updated numbers into the crop window, and click OK.

The worst is over! Now in your VirtualDub window you can see the "before" and "after" views of the video.

Don't save it just yet! Make sure you go under Video > Compression and re-select the codec like you did in the beginning, or else your video will save uncompressed. Then you're ready to save.

Congratulations! You cropped a video and didn't explode! Go treat yourself to a piece of cheese!

D. Other Refinements

Since we're fiddling around in VirtualDub (and have pretty much overcome the hardest obstacle), I might as well demo for you some of the more interesting things you can do with this little application. More than anything, I want to encourage you to play with the filters (But not for your CCSF montage clip, please!). If you've ever used Photoshop or similar software, you probably have a pretty good idea of what filters are.

You have accessed the filter menu before when you were cropping, only you were instructed to use the "null transform" filter. However, if you return to the filter menu by going to Video > Filters you will notice that there is a wide variety of interesting things you can play with. A simple Google search for "VirtualDub Filters" will give you access to even more. Here is a quick rundown of some of the more interesting ones:

1. Logo

The logo filter allows you to overlay an image onto your video. This can be a useful way to watermark your video if (for some reason) it was in danger of being copied or ripped off, or just as a nice personal touch. Don't make it too big though (like I did in my example), or it'll just be obtrusive and annoying.

2. HSV Adjust

If you desire for your Creatures to look like freakish technicolor aliens (wait... isn't that what they are anyway?) the HSV adjust is what you need. Play with the sliders to adjust the Hue, Saturation, and Value until you get a look that pleases you. If you like playing with the colors and values of your video, you might also consider the Invert, Levels, and Brightness/Contrast filters.

3. Motion Blur

This is a particularly interesting effect for Creatures videos. It it impossible to depict in a screenshot because it doesn't blur the frames itself, but instead it blurs the frames together to create a rather surreal feel. You might couple this with the Blur and Box Blur filters to create an even stranger atmosphere.

Once you have your clip the way you like it, you can save it as is, or drop it in another video editor to refine it even further. The best advice I can give you when it comes to video editing is to try everything. Just keep experimenting with the tools that you have-- the better you know your tools, the better ability you will have to accomplish exactly what you want to accomplish.

VI. Closure

I hope this tutorial has proven to be helpful for you. However, if it wasn't, or if you got confused, or if you see a mistake or have a suggestion, you are greatly encouraged to voice yourself. Email your feedback to .

My desire in writing these tutorials is to spread the knowledge contained within it as much as possible. You are therefore free to post this tutorial or portions of it (unedited) on your site or on web forums, but please provide a link back to this page so others will know where to find the most updated version. Also, please do not hotlink my images-- that's just bad conduct.

Happy Editing!