The Hl2 G-man Video

LazerManeLazerMane Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2135Members, Constellation
edited July 2003 in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">Rendered or Captured?</div> I couldn't get Steam to work with the HL Videos section, so i downloaded a Binkplayer.exe file of the HL2 G-Man video, and i must say that it looks REALLY REALLY clean and clear. Almost as if my computer was rendering it by itself.... Wait, was that what happened?

I see jaggies on this video, and i see the white pixels happening at the seams at the neck of the G-Man. Thats what leads me to believe that it is actually being RENDERED, and isn't just a screencapture of it happening.

However, it could just be a REALLY REALLY clean and hi-rez video. But i doubt this, the file is only 70 megs big. That is enough space for the G-Man's speech segments, the model, and the lighting system.

70 megs isnt enough for a video of that length with that INSANELY high-quality capture....


But that's what i think. Anyone else got any suggestions?

LM

<span style='color:white'>[edit]</span>Another thing that seems to suggest to me that it is a render is that:

A: It came in an .exe file

and B: I was looking at my performance tab in the Ctrl-Alt-Del menu with XP, and not only does the video use up a lot of the processor runtime, but it also creates a spike in my video card activity.

Or is that just the downloads i had running?

LM<span style='color:white'>[/edit]

The 'edit' button - there for a reason.</span>

Comments

  • CronoSergeCronoSerge Join Date: 2003-03-02 Member: 14228Members
    I think that's plausible, can anybody with a really slow computer verify this by their videos not running?
  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    It. Is. A. Video. They use a special program called "RAD Video Tools" to make it an EXE. If you look on the Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome CD, they have one with a trailer for Command and Conquer: Generals.
  • LazerManeLazerMane Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2135Members, Constellation
    Another thing i have noticed:

    I went into my Geforce 3's menu under the advanced desktop tab and turned up the Anisotropic Filtering to 8x and my Antialiasing up to 4x....

    Now, when i run Quake 3 or HL with these options, i see the jaggie lines blurr onscreen as stuff renders and another thing: its very subtle, but there is a faint refresh-scanning delay going on sometimes when things rotate very fast and the lines stagger across the screen in a vertical refreshing pattern... like my monitor refresh rate is low.

    This happens in the HL2 G-man video when i look at it, but when i turn the filtering OFF on my video card, it disappears. The Antialiasing didnt clear up any of the jaggies in the video, but it did display a faint refresh pattern that i get in Q3 and HL.

    The more i look at it, the more i believe that it is rendered.

    LM
  • LazerManeLazerMane Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2135Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin--CForrester+Jul 15 2003, 08:17 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (CForrester @ Jul 15 2003, 08:17 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> If you look on the Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome CD, they have one with a trailer for Command and Conquer: Generals. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    The only problem with that is that i've seen Bink Player <i>render</i> things, and i've seen it <i>display</i> movies.

    LM
  • aegixaegix Join Date: 2002-08-31 Member: 1256Members, NS1 Playtester
    It's a video. People with really horrible computers see the same thing you see <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • LazerManeLazerMane Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2135Members, Constellation
    So you have a really horrible computer, @egis?

    I've also run a copy of Q3 in the background with a couple bots playing around in True Combat, minimized it, and ran the HL2 G-Man video... Guess what? Low framerate.

    I don't trust you people. How can a video of such high quality be only a 70 meg file?

    LM
  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    *sighs* Video is processed hardware-side, just like rendering. Turn off Hardware Acceleration, and it'll render software. It's compressed into an EXE. IT IS JUST A VIDEO! It will look exactly the same on all computers.
  • Ph0enixPh0enix Join Date: 2002-10-08 Member: 1462Members, Constellation
    Phase to off-topic anyone ?
  • UnderDOGUnderDOG Join Date: 2003-04-05 Member: 15221Members
    and if i cant get it to work with steam, how do i watch it

    is it better quality then the 500 meg on on fileplanet?
  • aegixaegix Join Date: 2002-08-31 Member: 1256Members, NS1 Playtester
    <!--QuoteBegin--LazerMane+Jul 15 2003, 06:26 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (LazerMane @ Jul 15 2003, 06:26 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> So you have a really horrible computer, @egis?

    I've also run a copy of Q3 in the background with a couple bots playing around in True Combat, minimized it, and ran the HL2 G-Man video... Guess what? Low framerate.

    I don't trust you people. How can a video of such high quality be only a 70 meg file?

    LM <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    My computer isn't horrible, but I know people who have horrible comps ;P

    As for running Q3 minimized, try watching a high res avi or a dvd. You'll get the same results.
  • ChackChack Join Date: 2003-01-11 Member: 12192Members
    valve would never release any part of the engine to the public, just for you to watch a HQ self-playing demo. Some haxers would just rip the code in pieces.

    It is a video, and decompressing video takes up CPU/GPU performance, that's why it lags while playing Q3, and that's why really old puters have probs with playing DivX and similar codecs.
  • esunaesuna Rock Bottom Join Date: 2003-04-03 Member: 15175Members, Constellation
    Good lord guys, it's a video. If it WERE being rendered realtime you would have had to download the engine, which i'm pretty sure they wouldn't want you to do before the game was released.

    As for your framerates going down when running Q3 with bots in the background. Er, what did you expect, exactly, ever thought that it was Quake3 lagging your machine?
  • ChackChack Join Date: 2003-01-11 Member: 12192Members
    anyway this silly video keeps crashing after about 10 secs. Anyone else has this?
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