Cut Scenes

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MaNiac
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Cut Scenes

Post by MaNiac »

Now then, I understand that the original source FMVs are quite old and that this might be quite hard to do but would there be any chance to improve the quality of the Cut Scenes?

Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled when you had added them to the game, along with the music because without out them it wouldn't be the same.

If you could make the scenes the same high resolution as the game play has (1680x1050) then I think it would give the game a bit more up-to-date edge. :cool:
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by hjhjhj »

MaNiac wrote:Now then, I understand that the original source FMVs are quite old and that this might be quite hard to do but would there be any chance to improve the quality of the Cut Scenes?

Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled when you had added them to the game, along with the music because without out them it wouldn't be the same.

If you could make the scenes the same high resolution as the game play has (1680x1050) then I think it would give the game a bit more up-to-date edge. :cool:



How bout: Video Enhancer 1.9.3

Never tried it, just Googled Video quality :rolleyes:

--------------------- Edit

But ones the bitrate is low, not much you can do -.-
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Buginator
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by Buginator »

MaNiac wrote:Now then, I understand that the original source FMVs are quite old and that this might be quite hard to do but would there be any chance to improve the quality of the Cut Scenes?

Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled when you had added them to the game, along with the music because without out them it wouldn't be the same.

If you could make the scenes the same high resolution as the game play has (1680x1050) then I think it would give the game a bit more up-to-date edge. :cool:
We need someone to re-encode the vids, but we don't have the source material.

All we got is 320x200 and 160x200 original vids, so stretching them to 1680x1050 makes them look VERY ugly/blocky.

That is why we have the option for original size, double, and full screen...
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Revelo
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by Revelo »

Buginator wrote:
We need someone to re-encode the vids, but we don't have the source material.

All we got is 320x200 and 160x200 original vids, so stretching them to 1680x1050 makes them look VERY ugly/blocky.

That is why we have the option for original size, double, and full screen...
I always wondered why the vids were not made open source like the rest of the game. :-S
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whippersnapper
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by whippersnapper »

.

The original FMVs were done in 3DMax and when it came to liberating the source the Max Project files could not be found... apparently
lost in the transition from Pumpkin to Pivotal long before 2004. At least that is what i was told when I asked the head programer
oh so many years ago.

They did find one FMV that was NOT in the retail release and they included that in the source release. It was nothing really
special, just a curio for die-hard fans.

IMHO, all other things being equal (adequate time, skills, a powerful inclination to re-create an others work), I think the most challenging
element to re-making them at a much higher GFX quality is good voice acting - & in multiple languages to boot...

Regards, whipper
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by Revelo »

whippersnapper wrote:.

The original FMVs were done in 3DMax and when it came to liberating the source the Max Project files could not be found... apparently
lost in the transition from Pumpkin to Pivotal long before 2004. At least that is what i was told when I asked the head programer
oh so many years ago.

They did find one FMV that was NOT in the retail release and they included that in the source release. It was nothing really
special, just a curio for die-hard fans.

IMHO, all other things being equal (adequate time, skills, a powerful inclination to re-create an others work), I think the most challenging
element to re-making them at a much higher GFX quality is good voice acting - & in multiple languages to boot...

Regards, whipper
.
Might I enquire as to this FMW in the source release? I have gotten up to Beta 3 in the 2.2 Release Candidate 1 version and was rather happy to see more Cut scenes included between Alpha 12 and Beta 1 regarding NEXUS and Team Beta falling under attack :) That was awesome. At least I got to keep my units between campaigns :P

It's a shame really, I figured that the task of resizing FMW scenes to fit more resolutions would have been easy to boot. But I can't complain that at least they are in 2.2. :)

PS: Regarding keeping units between campaigns, Does that happen again between Beta 11 and Gamma 1?
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by hjhjhj »

Did research a bit, how about this program for better video res.:

http://www.vreveal.com/

Didnt try it because i dont have the videos in a playable format :-S
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by Revelo »

hjhjhj wrote:Did research a bit, how about this program for better video res.:

http://www.vreveal.com/

Didnt try it because i dont have the videos in a playable format :-S
Likeiwse, just checked the 2.2 files on my Laptop and couldn't see them and I did check the download links on here to get the vids by themselves and couldn't find a link, otherwise I'd test it too.

If i am reading the features right we would be able to at least double the resolution of the videos using vReveal. 640 x 480 is not brilliant but I'd be happier looking at it. All we need is the Cut Scenes in something like Windows Media Format and it should work.
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by cybersphinx »

Revelo wrote:It's a shame really, I figured that the task of resizing FMW scenes to fit more resolutions would have been easy to boot.
Well, it is. In a way. Just use the fullscreen option.

But with better quality? Where do you want to get that from? The originals have a resolution of 320x240, there isn't more quality.

If you want to try some upscaling software, get http://download.gna.org/warzone/videos/ ... i.tar.lzma and try it (though I doubt the result will be really better, just a different kind of blurry).
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by Revelo »

cybersphinx wrote: Well, it is. In a way. Just use the fullscreen option.


But with better quality? Where do you want to get that from? The originals have a resolution of 320x240, there isn't more quality.

If you want to try some upscaling software, get http://download.gna.org/warzone/videos/ ... i.tar.lzma and try it (though I doubt the result will be really better, just a different kind of blurry).
Hmm, puts a big enough wrench in my plan that I don't know what to suggest. I do use the fullscreen option.

Was thinking if we get the Vids into WMV format, use that vReveal software to double or sharpen the resolution and see how well it fits back in. Although that was what just occurred to me, it was a theory and nothing more. I honestly don't know :(

I don't get much chance to delve into modding games or improving quality too much, not with an Engineering degree to worry about. At the very least I could experiment over the summer and see what can be done by taking a proper look at the vids using vReveal, but the cynic in me isn't going to expect much.
Last edited by Revelo on 31 May 2009, 01:36, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by whippersnapper »

cybersphinx wrote:
But with better quality? Where do you want to get that from? The originals have a resolution of 320x240, there isn't more quality.

If you want to try some upscaling software, get http://download.gna.org/warzone/videos/ ... i.tar.lzma and try it (though I doubt the result will be really better, just a different kind of blurry).
Yep... I tend to agree.

BTW - you have to buy those apps if you wanna generate output without a watermark.

All those apps are doing is what is called "Pixel Warping towards the edges" (being 1 of 2
techniques. The other is called "Pixel Convolution"... In the case of the FMVs, warping
would be better, relatively speaking)...

Instead of those commercial apps - get the free OSS "VirtualDub" and run the "Pixel Warping" Filter.
Free of watermarks and you'll see if it produces a better "blurry"...

Regards, whipper :)
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Revelo
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by Revelo »

whippersnapper wrote:
Yep... I tend to agree.

BTW - you have to buy those apps if you wanna generate output without a watermark.

All those apps are doing is what is called "Pixel Warping towards the edges" (being 1 of 2
techniques. The other is called "Pixel Convolution"... In the case of the FMVs, warping
would be better, relatively speaking)...

Instead of those commercial apps - get the free OSS "VirtualDub" and run the "Pixel Warping" Filter.
Free of watermarks and you'll see if it produces a better "blurry"...

Regards, whipper :)
.
I will have a look when I get home from Uni in a couple of weeks and I have no assignments or work to put me off :P It's not like there's anything to lose anyway ;) I'm not going to go on a rant against the Project, it's good they got them in there.

If it cleans up the blurriness somewhat then that's something anyway. :)
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by Buginator »

For what it is worth, this is my version of Devastation : http://download.gna.org/warzone/videos/ ... 20x240.ogg

Do you guys think it looks/sounds better than what we have now? (look in seqences.wz for file devastation.ogg to compare)
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by cybersphinx »

If it cleans up the blurriness somewhat then that's something anyway. :)
At least some of the blurriness comes from the Theora encoding. That will be better once the new Theora version ("Thusnelda") is released, and the videos are encoded with that.
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Re: Cut Scenes

Post by Zarel »

cybersphinx wrote:But with better quality? Where do you want to get that from? The originals have a resolution of 320x240, there isn't more quality.
Well, currently, the FMVs that come with Warzone are much worse than the original 320x240. After all, they've been compressed from 1GB down to 180MB. And a good upscaler could work wonders.
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