How To Record A Video With Fraps

[Dixie_Doxie_Long_Dawg]

Overview
Fraps - Installation and Settings
Post processing and compression of the Video
Compression
Remove sound
Store video
Sound processing and Sound mix
Final steps: Combine Video+Sound
Upload of the finished Videoclip


Fraps - Installation and Settings

After installation and program start of Fraps you'll get a tiny symbol in the system tray next to the clock. If you click on it with the right mouse button, you can edit some settings.

Now you can start recording in the game when you have set it up for full screen display (it doesn't work in window mode) when pressing F4 (resp.F2 if you set it up with that hotkey). Same key stops the recording again. Remember, the videos will take an enormous amount of disc space: 2 mins recording equals to approximately 700 MB ! So it is as much as the data of a complete CD. This is due to the fact that the videotaped data is stored uncompressed. To make such a Video suitable for the internet, you need to post process it in certain steps.

Post processing and compression of the Video

After you extracted VirtualDubMod_1_5_10_2_All_inclusive (no installation required), best is you create a shortcut in your quick start bar, so that you have a symbol to launch this video editor more quickly . With the first start you have to click on four notification windows which do inform you about some details.

I just want to give a brief guide on the most neccessary steps for processing your video. There are hundreds of guides and tutorials on the web for VirtualDub, so if you want to learn more, feel free to search the web.

You can either open the recorded video via File- Open Video File or by just Drag & Drop from the Windows Explorer by dropping the videofile on the program window.

In the bottom part you'll find buttons for playback control or for cutting out a self defined area of the clip.
Take the Trackbar below, to quickly wind through the film. Stepum schnell durch den Film zu spulen. A step-by-step (exactly frame-by-frame) move through the video is possible with the use of the arrow keys on your keyboard.

With these little Mark in and out buttons you can mark the start & end of an area and remove it with the Del key. So go first to the proper start of the film, as you would like to have it in the final result, then click , and now move to the beginning of the videotaped session and click . The area is now marked and can be deleted with DEL. The end of your video can be cropped in the same way. Wind forward to the end of your recording and click again, then rewind until the last frame picture which should appear in your video. Now click and press the Del key.

Compressing
For reducing the video (e.g. make 15 MB out of 700 MB) choose in the menu bar the item Video - 'Full processing Mode'. Following this, now determine the compression type with <CTRL>+P. It is important here to choose Microsoft Windows Media Video 9 Codec. If you don't have it, you got to download it from here then install it and reboot.

Remove sound
It is important now to process the sound! The soundtrack in the video file is uncompressed as well and should be compressed seperately, if your film is recorded including sound.
In the menu choose Streams - Stream List

Doubleclick on the sound track to deactivate it for the decode process. Save the sound as a seperate WAV file HUH the button on the right side.

Store video
Now the actual compression process can be started. Press F7 or choose in the menu File-Save as... to store your cropped video without sound as an intermediate file. Enter a temporary filename for this intermediary result. The now oncoming compression process takes a while, probably a few minutes, depending on the length of the video clip, and you can see this progress display meanwhile:

Soundtrack processing and Sound mix

For sound processing and the mix of the game sound with your own music you'll need another program for perfect results. I recommend Steinberg's Wavelab, which you can download in a 30 day testversion here. For sure there are other audio tools, but I want to explain the steps with this extraordinary program.

At first you open the WAV file you exported from the video before or you just let it drop via Drag & Drop from the Windows Explorer on the program vindow. Next set up the View on the complete file by clicking View- Zoom - Overview.

Start and stop the playback with your space bar. Here, you can wind through the track with the help of the arrow keys, too. Its moving hundredths of seconds-wise as well. Remember well the exact end of your file, meaning the length (perhaps you write it down?).

Now open a second file with your favourite mp3 song or whatever you want to put together with the game sound. It should preferably be exactly as long as the clip, but in many cases it is obviously longer as the film itself. So you have to crop this end as well (choose Zoom-Overview again), by positioning your cursor exactly on the time where you video clip ends. Then press the Shift key (the one for capital letters) together with the End key, so you get everything marked after your determined end. Now press Nun Del to copy this area.

Now wind backwards for 5-10 seconds and mark this final area with pressed mouse button. Then press CTRL+F or choose from the menu Ausführen - Fade-In/Out. One last OK and the end of your sound track is gradually faded out.

Now press CTRL+A and then CTRL+C, to get the whole track into the clipboard. Now go back on the first file with the game soundtrack. Rewind to the beginning by hitting Pos1 on your keyboard. Now hit [CTRL]+V und or choose from the menu Edit - Insert special - Mix . In the following dialogue you can determine if the inserted sound should be louder or softer in the sound mix. Just choose OK right away and listen to the result in the first place.

Play it again by hitting the space bar. If you don't like it, you can undo the last step via Edit - undo and mix it again by inserting via Shift+V and this time choosing + 20 dB for doubled volume or -10 dB for one third softer volume mix.
Save the final result of your soundtrack as an MP3 file by hitting Strg+E. The default setting of 128 kBit/s und 44,1 KHz Stereo is pretty okay.

Final steps: Combine Video+Sound

In Virtual Dub you open your encoded videofile, which you stored as a temporary result like described above. Now enter menu Streams - Stream List, and you'll see an empty window - because there is no soundtrack in the clip. Click on Add and choose your recently stored MP3 track. It should possibly have the same length as the film, too. Click OK.

Now enter menu Video and set it to Direct Stream Copy.





And finally you save the finished clip under a new file name by hitting F7 or choose File-Save as....




Don't forget to set the compression back to Full processing Mode before encoding another video.

Upload of the finished Videoclip
The terminating upload of your video film into the internet, so that others can watch it too, is processed in the easiest way on http://www.rapidshare.de.
Remember: The upload of a video clip with 'only' 10 MB can take approximately 15 min. - even with a fast ASDL connection. Download is going much faster.