Put this in "word wrap" before going any further.

Created By: Dave Law (DigitalBoy@netscape.net )
http://www.llamanet.net/destiny

Distribution Rights:

You "the user" are granted permission to transfur this file to any e-mail address, server, and person(s). Given the fact that you keep my name and all information with this tutorial un-modified. You may NOT transfur this file over any CD-ROM for public release and sale unless permission is authorized. 
Please, tell me if my tutorial helped you better understand and build your very own movies.
E-mail me any questions and comments you may have about this tutorial.


The Basic Ideas

Think of this project as making a huge animated gif.
It's all just seperate frames merged together. "Just like gif89 animations."
Think of what your doing before starting. "Re-formating seperate frames are a pain."


Getting Started

There are a few materials you need before attempting this and saying: "well I don't have that, I can't do it. There's no way in hell I can make this."  Here's a easy to understand list of what you need:

Materials

 -Paint Shop Pro 5 "Able to view & convert files into new formats and load   palettes." Download at: http://www.jasc.com/pspdl.html
 -Qdata.exe file for compiling the movie data "Where do I get that?, It's   included!"
 -Registered version of Quake2
 -A lot of tolerance for mistakes and errors "Things will not always turn out   as imagined."

Instructions

Please read these steps closely and carefully! If you assume: "Oh, this is simple what a idiot... step by step instructions for this?" Then get into a problem with the video resolution I warned you!

Step 1:

Take a look at my example .bmp file called frame012. The reason why the number is 012 is the Qdata program reads this and estimates how many frames to compress. So, if you had 100 frames they would be labeled "frame000-frame100" Video size is critical to getting this to view well in Quake2. The video should be at: 320x240. You can just delete my picture and use the outline as a base format.


Step 2:  

After getting a clear base form for your grand idea. You need to think about that exactly your going to do. I suggest you make a quick simple movie of your desktop with moving and clicking buttons. To take a full screen shot of your desktop press ALT and Print Screen. To take this and overlay it on the outline click on Paste in the edit menu in Paint. It will then ask if you want the outline enlarged to fit the image...click no.
There, you now have the first "cell" in your movie! This will last in the actual final product about one third of a second. Save this file and name it frame000.bmp. Save this in a 256 color format! Make sure to have this in a place where you can archive future files "frame001-025" Your on your own now...Create!


Step 3:

Once you have these frames ready to be converted.. your asking me: "Why did we use Paint when you can't convert files?" First of all, systems with Windows 95 have Paint installed and ready to use. Second it's the easiest for users to understand and being led though a process step by step. You can download "Paint Shop Pro 5" at 6 MB download at: http://www.jasc.com/pspdl.html. What exactly is a palette? It's a set of colors designed to adjust the quality of the pictures to fit the colors of another CAD program, game, etc. 


Step 4:

Once your first frame is up and the Quake2 palette is loaded your ready to start converting. This is a lot less boring than making seperate frames and saving each. Now your just saving your files in a seperate format. Be sure to click on the second bubble called: Error dithering when converting
Make a different folder than the one you placed the orginal copies in so you'll have it all orginized. Instead of panic and sorting out which is which. The format your going to be converting these files to is .pcx... This is very simple, load the next frame and save it in the directory you made and scroll down at the very bottom until you see the .pcx format and click ok. Don't close the picture or you will need to re-load the Quake2 palette again. Just keep loading frames and converting them untill they're all done. 
Then you may delete the original copies or keep them as backup and referance. Incase of a mistake
If you want an audio file to play in the backround... make a .wav file and estimate it's length.. this is quite complex and difficult.. I suggest you do this with no audio for now....


Step 5:

Tierd yet?, your almost there! Now you have to make a few new folders in your Quake2 directory in order to correctly compile your hunderds of ugly frames into a beautiful movie. First, make a new directory in your Quake2 folder called: source. Then within that folder make 2 new folders called: bin_nt and video.
In the video folder, place your other folder with all the ready & converted frames into it. that folder name should be the same as your frame name such as: "frame" In the bin_nt folder place the Qdata.exe
Here's a quick tree sketch of what you should now have:

Quake2
 |
  source
___ | _____ 
|          |
bin_nt    video
    |         |_
Qdata.exe    frame
                |
      "frame000.pcx - frame025.pcx"

Step 6:

Finally, we need to write a quick script to tell the compiler "Qdata" what we want. In order to do this make a new text file right now. "Don't close or over-write this file.... you'll need it later." In this new text file copy and paste in these commands:

$video  frame    0       1

You then save this file and convert it into a .qdt file. To do this, open the window in where you saved this file. The, click on view and then scroll down to options. Click on the tab called view then choose the checkbox called:  Hide MS-DOS file extentions that are registered. This will uncheck that box and click ok. You'll notice that your text file has a .txt extention on it. delete that extention and replace with .qdt
The message box will pop up asking you are you sure want to do this? Click Yes and view the top sentences to undo the view file extentions later. Open your MS-DOS Prompt window. "Located in your start menu under programs." 

Finally, type in these commands:

cd\quake2
cd\quake2\source\bin_nt\
qdata frame


Once it's done counting and compressing all the frames look in your folder under the video directory and you will find a file called: frame.cin! Move this file and the folder in the Quake2 directory "out of the source folder." Run Quake2 and type in the console: map frame.cin... Then you'll see your own movie appear right before your eyes! You Did It! You just made what seemed impossible and hard. Now that you have the technique down make more complex films and go create better, bigger, movies!


"Qdata was produced by: ID Software and was found in: Quake2 Source Pack."





