Game Trailers
Author
Just a random wondering. When a game company makes a game trailer how do they do it and what tools do they use?
I guess there are a couple of ways do it for instance running scene files through the engine and capturing it with another program. But what I'm looking for is how they make the pre-rendered trailers that look so cool and everyone drools over?
The pre-rendered trailers are just Maya or Max scenes. (that cost a couple million to make...) It's no different from how you make CG for movies.
-me
-me
why would 60 seconds of animation cost so much? wouldn't you just need the software and the graphics guys?
If you're talking about the trailers showing some in-game action, then you could use a tool like GameCam or FRAPS (wikipedia them) to record some gameplay, and then use something like vdub to edit/combine them. vdub is open source, and GameCam/FRAPS are shareware you pay for... though GameCam just sticks a logo at the bottom right of your screen, which is easy to edit out if you know what you're doing (especially if it's out of your actual game play area within the screen).
Well, there's two kinds of movies. The first is the games graphics engine running a script in real-time. You spend lots of time writing the script, but no actual video file is generated. All frames of the movie are created on-the-fly real-time by the graphics engine reading the script.
The other kind is pre-rendered. That's what you do when
1. You don't have the 3D-engine or hardware needed to generate the graphics you want. Such as the 3D cut-scenes in StarCraft when it's not a 3D game. Or the 3D cut-scenes in Final Fantasy when the 3D-engine is too crappy.
2. Your 3D engine is good enough, but the computer it's being run on MIGHT be too slow to produce good enough frames in real-time. Sometimes they pre-render them just to be sure.
So that's when you start doing everything in 3DS Max or Maya instead. This becomes expensive because:
1. It's very much like how you make a real movie.
2. You can't use the 3d-models straight from the game, because they're not detailed enough. So you need to spend lots of time making more detailed versions of them, AND of everything else which you're going to see in the movie.
3. It requires really really top-end machines to render the frames of the movie. Even with such machines then it usually takes a nauseatingly long time to render.
4. It's really tedious, because you need to wait for a render to finish before you can preview your changes. Change, render, change, render, change.... etc...
5. People with the required level of skill at 3DS Max and Maya (and all the other 20 necessary programs) are rare. And they like high salaries.
The other kind is pre-rendered. That's what you do when
1. You don't have the 3D-engine or hardware needed to generate the graphics you want. Such as the 3D cut-scenes in StarCraft when it's not a 3D game. Or the 3D cut-scenes in Final Fantasy when the 3D-engine is too crappy.
2. Your 3D engine is good enough, but the computer it's being run on MIGHT be too slow to produce good enough frames in real-time. Sometimes they pre-render them just to be sure.
So that's when you start doing everything in 3DS Max or Maya instead. This becomes expensive because:
1. It's very much like how you make a real movie.
2. You can't use the 3d-models straight from the game, because they're not detailed enough. So you need to spend lots of time making more detailed versions of them, AND of everything else which you're going to see in the movie.
3. It requires really really top-end machines to render the frames of the movie. Even with such machines then it usually takes a nauseatingly long time to render.
4. It's really tedious, because you need to wait for a render to finish before you can preview your changes. Change, render, change, render, change.... etc...
5. People with the required level of skill at 3DS Max and Maya (and all the other 20 necessary programs) are rare. And they like high salaries.
Quote:Original post by NQ
Well, there's two kinds of movies. The first is the games graphics engine running a script in real-time. You spend lots of time writing the script, but no actual video file is generated. All frames of the movie are created on-the-fly real-time by the graphics engine reading the script.
Yeah. I've seen a few games' source they have an entire section of code dedicated to displaying and running the game trailer. It's full of all sorts of cool effects and sometimes, even code defined models etc... Probably not the most efficient method of producing a game trailer though...
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
