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 Used

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)

Prepartion

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 Capture

Start Oblivion and go into options and change your screen resolution to 1280 x 720 (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 Editing

(to be added)

Conversion Process

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:

and it will convert the file for you.