How to get frame data (Updated! Now a crap-ton easier)

[hotgarbage]

OOOOK!

To get frame data you're going to need the following:
- a usb capture device or a capture card
- Windows
- virtualdub (http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net/)


STEP ONE: CAPTURING YOUR VIDEO

1. open virtualdub. Looking over this page will help you get your bearings: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtechbeta/amvappvdubmod.html. Note that virtualdub doesn't have the "streams" tab, but everything else is the same.

2. hook up your wii/capture device. (it doesn't matter when you do this, I just put this step here to be thorough)

3. go to the file tab and select "capture AVI". If everything is hooked up you should see the video stream live now. If not, make sure the following settings are correct:
- Go to the Device tab and make sure your device is selected
- Go to the Video tab and check "Overlay". Make sure that "Preview" is not checked.
- Go to the Video tab and select the correct "Video source" (composite or s-video)

4. Go to the Audio tab and uncheck "capture audio". Capturing audio is unnecessary for getting frame data , and disabling it will avoid any possible complications.

5. Go to the Capture tab and click on "timing". Uncheck the top two boxes. This is probably redundant with no audio being captured, but better safe than sorry .

6. Go to the File tab and click on "Set capture file". Proceed to set your file.

7. That should be it! Go to the Capture tab and click on "Capture video" to begin capturing. (note: pay attention to the box on the right and make sure you're not getting any dropped frames)




STEP TWO: POST PROCESSING (aka making your video 60fps by bob deinterlacing)
1. Exit capture mode

2. Go to the file tab and open up your captured video

3. Go to the video tab and click on "filters"

4. Click "add"

5. select the bob doubler filter and click "ok"

6. select the "top field first" box and click "preview"

That's it! Now just scroll through your 60fps video and record your findings

 

[K 2]

Wow...that sounds very tedious. Oh well, something to do on sundays. I might try this one day when I'm REALLY bored

 

[hotgarbage]

Wow...that sounds very tedious. Oh well, something to do on sundays. I might try this one day when I'm REALLY bored

It's not really; though I'm sure the guide looks intimidating because I was trying to be pretty thorough . The most difficult part about this is learning how to use virtualdub, but that doesn't take too long and isn't that hard anyways. Really though, once you know what to do all you do is:
- capture video like you normally would
- open up the video in vdubmod and deinterlace it (by typing in that short command)
- done!

The hardest part about all of this is the actual counting of frames, which can be very tedious. Especially so when it comes to figuring out cooldown, since without the debugging menu you can't see the hitboxes >_______>.

 

[hotgarbage]

just bumping this because it's updated

 

[darkNES386]

I think I got this figured out... guess I'll just have to see if my data matches someone elses.

Now I've just gotta figure out how to capture the frame sequence

 

[zeta]

i can see how you can find start up (first frame of attack animation to first frame of hit box) but how can you find anything else?

 

[BurningCrusader777]

You could probably have Fox spam lasers to test invincibility frames
...

Not sure how you'd accurately test SA frames though.

 

[hotgarbage]

i can see how you can find start up (first frame of attack animation to first frame of hit box) but how can you find anything else?

You can find how long a hitbox is out by repeatedly fastfalling a metal heavy fastfaller onto the move at different times and then looking at the video (verrrry tedious). Invincibility and SA frames can be figured out by using pause and then inputing the moves as you unpause, which guarantees both actions will be performed at the same time. Shield stun, shield hit stun, IASA frame etc are self explanatory. With persistence you can find everything .

 

[infomon]

So the "bob doubler" puts each field into its own frame? Or..... I mean, how exactly does that work? I assume it's doing an interpolation of sorts to fabricate the missing scanlines from each field?

I don't have a capture card, but I have a DV camcorder (Canon GL1), and a firewire card. I can connect my Wii to the cam directly (S-video input), and I'm pretty sure it records the full NTSC 59.94 fields per second. It also has a "frame mode" where it does the deinterlacing itself and records 30 frames per second to the tape. I guess that's not what I want...

Hmm, any tips on how to determine the frame a hitbox disappears at?

 

[Vlade]

What if you have a dazzle? I don't think it's possible to record with virtualdub if you have a dazzle.

 

[hotgarbage]

So the "bob doubler" puts each field into its own frame? Or..... I mean, how exactly does that work? I assume it's doing an interpolation of sorts to fabricate the missing scanlines from each field?

I don't have a capture card, but I have a DV camcorder (Canon GL1), and a firewire card. I can connect my Wii to the cam directly (S-video input), and I'm pretty sure it records the full NTSC 59.94 fields per second. It also has a "frame mode" where it does the deinterlacing itself and records 30 frames per second to the tape. I guess that's not what I want...

Hmm, any tips on how to determine the frame a hitbox disappears at?

The bob doubler separates the fields and then doubles the lines to create a 60fps progressive video. It doesn't do any kind of interpolation.... it just doubles. Needless to say the result is very ugly , but it serves the purpose of getting frame data just fine.

Yeah, from what I know about the DV format (not much) it's standard 59.94 fields per second. ...I'm not sure how virtualdub or avisynth would handle deininterlacing DV video though.

The only way to determine when a hitbox disappears is to run someone into the move at different times. The best way I've found to do this is fast fall a heavy metal character on to the move. It's very tedious, but it's the best way I've thought of :/.

What if you have a dazzle? I don't think it's possible to record with virtualdub if you have a dazzle.

Virtualdub accepts USB capture devices.

 

[Vlade]

Ah ok, there's probably certain settings I'm missing in Virtualdub which is why my dazzle isn't being picked up.

Thanks for writing the guide!

 

[hotgarbage]

Ah ok, there's probably certain settings I'm missing in Virtualdub which is why my dazzle isn't being picked up.

Thanks for writing the guide!

Probably; if you need any assistance don't hesitate to ask .

And sure thing. Hopefully some will find it helpful

 

[hotgarbage]

Shameless bump

 

[infomon]

There's a homebrew code for stepping through Brawl frame-by-frame, so it should be much less critical to collect frame-data via this method.

Thank goodness.

Awesome stuff regardless, though. I'd like, just gotten into collecting data with this tutorial, too hoping to get homebrew stuff setup tonight tho.

 

[hotgarbage]

Oh yeahh..... I had heard about that but never looked into it. Hopefully it's all it's cracked up to be, as doing it this way is a pain in the ***