Screencapping Tutorial
I promised fififolle a tutorial on screencapping. It's not exhaustive and definitely not the only way to do it. But it's how I do it, and it works for me, hopefully it will work for you and anyone else who wants to give this a try :D
If something doesn't make sense, let me know!
Screencapping tutorial
This is going to cover the absolute basics of capping a show. In this case, Primeval :D
This uses Virtual Dub. It's a program I've used for years to cap anything and everything. It's very nifty in that you can control the quantity and quality of caps, and even which sections of a video file you want to cap. You can also set a batch job to cap all the things while you do something else.
Download VirtualDub here and install the program: http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net
Open VirtualDub. File>Open Video File and locate your video.
The second screen is only necessary for editing, or picking sections of video to cap.
Frame rates. This is the key to capping with VD. The frame rate is how many still images there are in a second. The standard for European/Region 2 DVDs is 25fps.
Open the frame rate control through Video>Frame rate
25fps is confirmed in the box at the top. In the second section, where it says 'Decimate by' is where you control how many caps you take. Decimating by 25 means one screencap for every second of footage. In a typical episode of Primeval this is around 2600 caps, which is plenty for most things. Decimating by 5 means there are 5 caps for every second of footage, which means I end up with a ridiculous average of 13,000 caps per episode. Whatever you do, put a number in that box! Otherwise you will end up with every single frame of footage as a cap. When you've put a number in, click 'OK'.
Time for the main prep work. Go to File>Save image sequence.
This is where it can get fiddly. Filename prefix is exactly what it says: this will be the file names of your caps. I use hyphens to stop it becoming a block, especially with large numbers of caps, and the episode numbers for obvious reasons. The caps will automatically be numbered as they are generated.
Click on the dialogue box at the end of the space under 'Directory to hold images'. This will bring up a menu. Find a folder to store your caps in. Sadly VirtualDub doesn't let you create a folder this way, you'll have to do this in a separate window.
The path for mine is visible along the top of the window. And this folder won't be empty for long!
Once you have selected your folder, click 'OK'. You'll then come back to the Image output filter menu.
The directory to hold images is now filled in. Also make sure you've selected JPEG as an output format.
Note: JPEG is a relatively low quality image but take up less space than other, nicer image formats. I've ripped my .avi episodes from normal DVDs, which are of a decent quality to begin with. Caps like this are perfect for icons and other small graphics. Using blu-ray quality source footage will obivously yield higher quality caps, but the process for making them doesn't change. Image quality and format both increase file size, which is something to consider if you have limited hard drive space. Don't use the BMP format, the files end up too large, there's no point.
If you just want to cap the one thing, this is where you click 'OK' at the bottom, and watch VirtualDub do its thing!
If you're like me and want to do other things while the caps are being made, click the box I've highlighted. Batch mode is a beautiful thing. Once the box is checked, click 'OK'. The caps now won't be made until you specifically instruct the program to start.
From here, open another episode and repeat the image sequence process with each episode as many times as necessary. Skip the frame rate, the program remembers that information for as long as it's open.
Just make sure the file names and directories match up with the episode. It keeps the caps for each episode in separate folders, which makes navigating them much, much easier. Check the box for batch mode each time as well.
To check on job control, hit F4, or go to File>Job control.
I've capped multiple things before, and there is a limit to how many jobs VirtualDub can handle, due to its limited processing capability, sadly I can't remember what the limit is! The complete series of Primeval, however, is a doddle.
Once you have all your jobs lined up in the Job Control window, simply hit 'Start'. If, like me, you like to go to bed while the computer is doing things, while in Job Control, go to Options and click on 'Shutdown when finished'.
The time taken to cap will vary depending on how you chose to decimate the frame rate. The lower the number you decimate by, the more caps, the longer it takes, etc.
When job control has finished, go back to your folders.
Ta-dah! Screencaps!
If something doesn't make sense, let me know!
Screencapping tutorial
This is going to cover the absolute basics of capping a show. In this case, Primeval :D
This uses Virtual Dub. It's a program I've used for years to cap anything and everything. It's very nifty in that you can control the quantity and quality of caps, and even which sections of a video file you want to cap. You can also set a batch job to cap all the things while you do something else.
Download VirtualDub here and install the program: http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net
Open VirtualDub. File>Open Video File and locate your video.
The second screen is only necessary for editing, or picking sections of video to cap.
Frame rates. This is the key to capping with VD. The frame rate is how many still images there are in a second. The standard for European/Region 2 DVDs is 25fps.
Open the frame rate control through Video>Frame rate
25fps is confirmed in the box at the top. In the second section, where it says 'Decimate by' is where you control how many caps you take. Decimating by 25 means one screencap for every second of footage. In a typical episode of Primeval this is around 2600 caps, which is plenty for most things. Decimating by 5 means there are 5 caps for every second of footage, which means I end up with a ridiculous average of 13,000 caps per episode. Whatever you do, put a number in that box! Otherwise you will end up with every single frame of footage as a cap. When you've put a number in, click 'OK'.
Time for the main prep work. Go to File>Save image sequence.
This is where it can get fiddly. Filename prefix is exactly what it says: this will be the file names of your caps. I use hyphens to stop it becoming a block, especially with large numbers of caps, and the episode numbers for obvious reasons. The caps will automatically be numbered as they are generated.
Click on the dialogue box at the end of the space under 'Directory to hold images'. This will bring up a menu. Find a folder to store your caps in. Sadly VirtualDub doesn't let you create a folder this way, you'll have to do this in a separate window.
The path for mine is visible along the top of the window. And this folder won't be empty for long!
Once you have selected your folder, click 'OK'. You'll then come back to the Image output filter menu.
The directory to hold images is now filled in. Also make sure you've selected JPEG as an output format.
Note: JPEG is a relatively low quality image but take up less space than other, nicer image formats. I've ripped my .avi episodes from normal DVDs, which are of a decent quality to begin with. Caps like this are perfect for icons and other small graphics. Using blu-ray quality source footage will obivously yield higher quality caps, but the process for making them doesn't change. Image quality and format both increase file size, which is something to consider if you have limited hard drive space. Don't use the BMP format, the files end up too large, there's no point.
If you just want to cap the one thing, this is where you click 'OK' at the bottom, and watch VirtualDub do its thing!
If you're like me and want to do other things while the caps are being made, click the box I've highlighted. Batch mode is a beautiful thing. Once the box is checked, click 'OK'. The caps now won't be made until you specifically instruct the program to start.
From here, open another episode and repeat the image sequence process with each episode as many times as necessary. Skip the frame rate, the program remembers that information for as long as it's open.
Just make sure the file names and directories match up with the episode. It keeps the caps for each episode in separate folders, which makes navigating them much, much easier. Check the box for batch mode each time as well.
To check on job control, hit F4, or go to File>Job control.
I've capped multiple things before, and there is a limit to how many jobs VirtualDub can handle, due to its limited processing capability, sadly I can't remember what the limit is! The complete series of Primeval, however, is a doddle.
Once you have all your jobs lined up in the Job Control window, simply hit 'Start'. If, like me, you like to go to bed while the computer is doing things, while in Job Control, go to Options and click on 'Shutdown when finished'.
The time taken to cap will vary depending on how you chose to decimate the frame rate. The lower the number you decimate by, the more caps, the longer it takes, etc.
When job control has finished, go back to your folders.
Ta-dah! Screencaps!