Program for making Half-Life movies

[Physicles]

I just finished work on the first version of my new method of video editing, CML (Cinematographic Markup Language). I thought it might be of some interest to the community, since it was designed with Half-Life (2) music videos in mind. The project website is:

http://www.umich.edu/~fischmt/cml

Here is a description from the website:

"CML is an XML-based language that describes operations that can be performed on sequences of images located in time. Basically, it is a method of video editing without using a GUI. CML does certain things very well, such as split-screening and synchronizing video with music."

The download includes a program to interpret the CML files, as well as documentation for learning the CML language. There is a demo video on the website.

(I wasn't quite sure where to post this, but it's related to Half-Life 2, so I stuck it here)

 

[Fireindaho]

Am I being out of line if I ask you what advantage using this program would be, over say, using Virtualdub and a video editor?

I'm dloading the trailer now, to see what it shows.

edit: HOLY CRAP! Downloaded, gonna try a couple of things, see how it goes.

 

[Fireindaho]

Umm, that's somewhat more involved a process than any of my movies warrant at this time...unless someone were to write the code for various effects and make it available for download, and users would just have to enter the proper image file names and such.

It's something to keep in mind for the future though.

 

[Physicles]

Am I being out of line if I ask you what advantage using this program would be, over say, using Virtualdub and a video editor?

Not at all. I created CML because I didn't know of any good, free, non-linear video editors that could do the things I wanted to do. A commercial program like Adobe Premiere is probably better overall for making movies, but it's rather expensive, and I think (but I'm not sure, I haven't used Premiere) that CML makes it easier to do the synchronization operations I mentioned before.

Yes, the process is a little more involved at first (CML isn't for everyone), but once you get the hang of it it's quite simple. While creating the demo, I found that the majority of my time was used either gathering Half-Life demos and recording them (something you'd have to do anyway), or debugging the CML interpreter (something that only I need to do).

 

[RabidJester]

Looks great man.


I think my setup is pretty decent at the moment, but I'll look into it for future projects.

 

[urban]

sounds interesting and new will check it out

 

[MigaS_tX]

Seems pretty cool, thank ya.

 

[urban]

ok just HAD TO POST AGAIN, i got so into the red alert 2 music, i'm VERY excited bout this program looks very ace after watching the demo...

very well done i look forward to using it..

 

[bliink]

Moved to General Editing :hmph: