Bink Video Tutorial
This tutorial is using Adobe Premiere Elements. If anyone knows of freeware video editing software with a high resolution output, please feel free to make note of it.
Tools UsedEdit
Fraps - Tool for realtime video capture of game.
Adobe Premiere Elements - Tool for editing video files.
RAD Video Tools - Tool for converting multimedia files to .bik files. (also known as Bink Video Tools)
PrepartionEdit
First, obtain a copy of Fraps and RAD Video Tools and install them. Start up Fraps and make sure that it is setup with video capture set to F10 so that you dont end up loading a previous quicksave or doing something else.
Next, determine the way that you are going to capture the video. Scripts can be written to manipulate the character and create a predetermined movement or this can be done by hand. I would suggest writing a script if possible since it provides the easiest way to create a smooth transition from spot to spot. In my experience, placing the script on an activator is the easiest way to initialize the script.
Video CaptureEdit
Start Oblivion and go into options and change your screen resolution to 1280 x 720 (Note that this may rearrange icons on the desktop depending on the amount of icons there. This is the default resolution used by Bethesda for video captures for widescreen monitors - yes it looks odd on a non-widescreen monitor). Next, enter the game and go to the point where you wish to obtain the video clip.
Press ~ to open the console and type in tm then hit enter to remove the menus from the screen so that you can obtain a (relatively, if you are using the free version of Fraps) clean video capture. If your planned movements are in the air, then also enter tcl and hit enter. Press ~ again to exit the console. At this point, press F10 to start the video capture. If you are using the free version of Fraps, you have 30 seconds to move the character or activate the object and record video. For longer video, multiple recordings or the purchased version of Fraps are needed.
Video EditingEdit
Open Adobe Premiere Elements and create a new project. Once the program is open, click on the Add Media button up on the taskbar. Find the media files to be edited and import them into the program. Double-click on the clip that you want to edit first and it will be loaded into the monitor. Use the arrow buttons on either side of the play button to move the video one frame at a time until you locate the frame in the video that you want to start the final video from. Click on the In button to start the edit of your clip for the final video. Move to the end of the portion that you want for the first clip. Note that the frames showing when clicking the buttons will be included in the clipped section from the imported video. Click on the Out button to end the section of video to be cut from the imported video.
Next, take the mouse and left click on the screen showing the video and drag it down to Video 1 on the timeline. Clicking on the timeline at this point will switch the monitor to the video clip in the timeline. Clicking on the Play button will then play the section you just dragged down to the timeline. To go back to the imported video for more sections to edit, click on Clip at the top of the monitor. Change imported videos as needed and repeat the above procedures to put clips together for the final video.
Note:Edit
- Videos can be resized to remove the tagging by Fraps by clicking on the video in the monitor when it is set to the timeline and stretching it vertically. Additionally, the video may need to be resized due to the settings in Adobe Premiere Elements to retain the original resolution. This needs to be done for each clip put into the timeline section.
Clips in the timeline can be moved around in order to arrange sections of video to the appropriate place in the final video. Once they are arranged to your liking, play the video in the monitor to make sure that it looks the way that you want.
Now that the final video is assembled from clips, we need to edit the output for the video to the save file. Click on the Export button on the right end of the taskbar and pick Windows Media. On the Export screen, click on Cable Modem, DSL in the list and then on the Advanced... button down below.
When the new screen comes up, choose Video from the list on the left side and change Bitrate Mode to Constant.
Next, click on Audiences and change the Frame Rate [fps]: to 29.97, the Frame Width [pixels]: to 1280, and the Frame Height [pixels]: to 720. Then set the Maximum Bitrate [kbps]: to 650 and Image Quality: to 100. Finally, click Save and name the preset in the popup box. Then click OK in the Export screen. Lastly, name the file and click Save.
Conversion ProcessEdit
Open RAD Video Tools and find the edited video that needs to be converted. Highlight the file then click on the Bink Video button on the lower left hand side. A screen will pop up looking like this:
Make sure that Compress to a data rate (bytes): is set to 650000. I would also suggest checking the Compress Audio: and setting Compress level (0=perceptually lossless, 4=barely lossy, 99=very lossy): to 0 and choosing the 16-bit/stereo radio button. The only other change I made was changing How many frames to preview during bandwidth allocation (2-64): to 64. Finally, click Bink on the right hand column of buttons and it will convert the file for you. Once the file is done converting, move the file to Oblivion\Data\Video and it is ready to be played using PlayBink.