Screen capture options.

[Winterhome]

So, I've noticed that screenshots are by default saved as .PNG files. This is fine for the most part. However, it can cause some moderate inconveniences when it comes to uploading and downloading said screenshots to image servers, most notably in the form of exceptionally high data usage.

You see, a .PNG file at 1366x768 is generally roughly 1.3 megabytes. Doesn't seem like much, but it adds up, especially since a single screenshot appears to take up more data than loading a webpage. I appreciate that .PNG is the default - it's the most high quality, clear, and easy to create format I've seen. However, it's not perfect for every situation.

My proposal is that we be given options in a configuration file (settings.cfg, maybe? or maybe a capture.cfg created for the purposes of ingame screenshot or "video" capture?) on resolution, format, and possibly image quality.



While typing this post, a second thought hit me that was loosely related to the first.

Demo recordings, 90s style.
A new file format specifically to tell the schine engine how to replicate a scene. Basically, it would collect position, rotation, damage, and other bits of pertinent data, and compress them into a demo file, rather than attempting to record actual video and audio. This way, community members would be able to record demos without having as powerful of computers, send them to one another, maybe even include them on a demo recording location in the website. As an added bonus, it'd potentially be able to work with different texture packs and sound packs, to give any demo a different feel.

 

[Vyor]

I thought that was already there?

 

[rocketman221]

Screenshots should be in PNG since it is lossless and suitable for editing. If you are posting screenshots online, you should be resizing them and saving them in an appropriate format anyways.
Built in video capture sounds like a bad idea, I don't think you would be able to get more than a few fps. You would be much better of using GLC or FRAPS since they are intended for recording games.

 

[Winterhome]

Screenshots should be in PNG since it is lossless and suitable for editing. If you are posting screenshots online, you should be resizing them and saving them in an appropriate format anyways.
Built in video capture sounds like a bad idea, I don't think you would be able to get more than a few fps. You would be much better of using GLC or FRAPS since they are intended for recording games.

They already are .PNG. That is not an issue, but it is definitely an inconvenience. It would not be a mandatory setting, and the default would stay at PNG. But *options* are *options* and therefore would have the potential to increase accessibility in the community.

That's why it's not actual video capture.
Video capture implies constant screenshot equivalent and audio recording, which is not the case.
This would be more akin to, say, saving a text file of the packets your client has received or the relevant data your computer has processed, which can later be loaded and viewed in the schine engine. In other words, absolute minimal processor strain. Perhaps I did not make the concept clear enough, or perhaps you failed to read the post itself.