System requirementsVideo compression using QVM requires a good PC configuration with a lot of disk space (to store screenshots) and quite large amount of memory. 256 Mb of memory should be a minimum.Main windowA good processor is obviously something that would make generation comfortable.
Tested configuration:
655 Mb of memorywhich is considered as a small configuration (except for memory).
Athlon TB 900Mhz
20Gb of disk (6200 rpm)
Operating systems: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP Pro (there may be issues on Windows XP Home Edition).
These requirements have nothing to do with what's needed for Quake and screenshots generation.
Here is QVM main window:
PrincipleA movie is composed of successive scenes. The left part of the main window shows all scenes and some details about them.What is a scene?Selecting a scene in the list refreshes the right parts of the main window: Parameters, Preview and Transition according to all scene parameters.
Upon generation, QVM compresses scenes after scenes using the list order and scene parameters.
A scene is composed of successive images/screenshots (sequence).Scenes management
In order to create a scene you have to tell QVM where is the images sequence and what is the filename format for the sequence files. Most of the time sequence files are made of a prefix a number and a file extension. Sequence images usually reside in the same folder. It is highly recommended to store you sequences in different folders to make it easier to work with them.
A scene can also be composed of part of an already existing AVI file.
You can add, delete, duplicate and sort scenes using Scene entry in menubar or right clicking in the main window.Scene Parameters
Move Up, just moves up the selected scene in the list, where Move Down, moves it down.
You can preview selected scenes in the list, instead of using complete movie preview.
You can "hide" a scene by clicking on the little icon on the left of its name.
If a red cross appears, the scene is hidden where a green arrow make it show. Hiding a scene just consists in skipping it in preview and/or generation.
This prevents from deleting a scene and losing all its parameters for further rework on it. This is also usefull to hide a scene that is used in PIP effect.
Name: a symbolic name for the scene.
Sequence folder: folder where screenshots files reside. Click the ... button to change folder.
Sequence format: Filename format for screenshots sequence or single file name in case of still image or AVI import. There are predefined sequence formats in the drop-down list attached to this field. But you can specify any kind of sequence format, for more details go to Sequence Format section.
This field is editable, you can enter a fixed name file for still image or a for an AVI file. The # signs are for image sequence definition only. You can click the ... button to browse for such file, this will also override the Sequence folder field. See all supported file formats.
Scan Frames: button to scan all files in the sequence folder according to the sequence format definition. This step is mandatory in order to validate files (image format) and frame range. When frames are validated, preview window is enable.
Start Frame: indicates the number of the first selected frame in the sequence
Stop Frame: indicates the number if the last selected frame in the sequence
Duplication Factor: how much it slows down the motion for this scene. It actually duplicates frames by the given amount during generation.
Wizard: if you don't feel comfortable with the Folder/Format fields, click on this button. This will help you in defining source images for the sequence in a very few steps.
Sequence PreviewThis part is activated when frames have been validated with Scan Frames button in Scene Parameters.You can play, step forward/backward, etc, the frames detected by QVM. Use the slider below the preview to quicky navigate in the sequence.
If Preview selection only is checked, it will only preview frames from Start Frame to Stop Frame (displayed in Scene Parameters section), otherwise it plays all valid frames found in Sequence Folder.
To change Start/Stop frames: freeze preview to the beginning/end of the sequence, then click Mark Start/End buttons.
This gives you the opportunity to select part of the sequence to be generated, cutting off unnecessary frames at both end of the sequence.Apply: click this button if you want to save new scene parameters to current selected scene.
Revert: if you made changes into parameters, this reverts all parameters to the last saved parameters.
TransitionsTransitions are video effects between two consecutive scenes. A transition effect is specified for the current selected scene to the next scene in the list.Special EffectsEffects are applied on the very last frame of a scene and the very first frame of the next scene. So it's a transition effect between two still images.
The speed slider specifies how long the transition will be, from 0.1 second to 1 second.
There are some available effects (depends on QVM version):
- None. Non effect, abrupt break between scenes.
- Fade in/out. Smooth transition fading current scene into the next one.
- Zoom in. Zooming in the next scene to eventually replace the current scene.
- Zoom out. Zooming out the current scene to relveal the next scene.
- Horiz. Venetian Blinds. Horizontal stripes progressively reveal next scene.
- Vert. Venetian Blinds. Vertical stripes progressively reveal next scene.
- Corner left to right. Like going around a building corner. New scene comes from the left going to the right.
- Corner right to left. Like going around a building corner. New scene comes from the right going to the left.
- Wipe upward. The new image is progressively revealed from bottom to top.
- Wipe downward. The new image is progressively revealed from top to bottom.
Special effects (Special FX tab) are video effects that can be applied on a scene. If you want to apply a given effect on a scene, check the Active box , effects are cumulative.
See Special Effects section for detailed description.
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