Creating Image Sequenced Video using WHAT??? .... BLENDER??? There are 2 Video Guides, 2.8x Or Newer and 2.7x Or Older

NOTE: **Render options in Blender 2.79 and 2.8x have changed. The current video is geared to Blender PRE 2.79. Read the note I've added above the picture below to find the h.264 codec and render in MP4 format. I'll redo the video in the near future.**

We've all been there!!! Taking HOURS on HOURS to render an extremely long video in MP4 (or worse AVI) Format only to open the finished render to find it darker that we want it, or that it botched up and froze half way through the render process or even worse in the last 5 seconds, or to have SFM crash and burn after 36 hours of rendering.

Most times when the question is asked, "What or How or Why did it happen??", the usual response is, "Render your movie using image sequences!!"

Well I've looked at the various guides here in the Hub and I haven't found or I have missed one that explains the process and decided to put this out there for you.

Now there are TONS of programs that will do the job, some free and open source, others are commerically bought and are quite expensive. Free and Open Sourced programs would include things like Virtual Dub and MS Movie Maker, and commercial products would include things like Sony Vegas, Adobe Premier, etc. Well I'm going to bring another product into the fray. My all time favourite, multi-functional and FREE, 3D editor, Blender!!!

This is an amazing tool, not only as a 3d Editor for creating assists for SFM, but as an image sequence renderer and (although not covered in the attached video) a full fledged image and video compositor as well. It's the tool I use not only to do image sequence renders, but as a slide show generator and to render all my time lapse video stuff.

So, have a look at the video if your tired of wasting your time waiting to see if SFM is actually produce that MP4 or AVI video and have to waste it again because it pooched!!!

If you're using Blender 2.8x or Newer

For those using Blender 2.8x and 2.9x, see this video for the changes.


Here's the Process...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PIk3zB5EwU&t=9s

If you're using Blender 2.7x or Older

Notes For Version 2.79:
** This video shows options for the PRE 2.79 versions of Blender. For 2.79 the render options have changed. To render in MP4 select FFMPEG video from the output options, then select h.264 - MP4 in the Preset list. Make sure to set the output quality to the level you want. **

I will most likely redo this video in the near future to demonstrate the changes.



Here's the process...
http://youtu.be/HjC3kzH30xo


Something I didn't discuss in the video is that I compared the size of the 2 rendered videos, the SFM MP4 file was a whopping 197mbs, where the Blender rendered video was only 14.7mbs, so that makes uploading and processing the file on youtube a whole lot faster.

Food for thought!!!

Getting to the Video Editor and location of the format container in Blender 2.8x have changed.

The actual process hasn't changed, just the way to access things have.
This is how I set up Blender 2.8x for rendering.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2018524599

[Pte Jack]

It doesn't have to be Blender, it can be any video editing program that will create video formats from image sequences. I chose Blender because 1, it's used in creating assets for SFM (and other games), 2. it has a very good video editor for this, 3. it's easy to use for this purpose and 4. It's a free to use program.

[Mac Tonight]

Thanks!

[Pte Jack]

Don't know.

[Scruffygamer]

Would it make the quality better than using Lossless Codec with YUY2 in VirtualDub, or the same?

[driscollgamer]

This helped me use the image seqquence and make videos that are more than 1 minute each session. thanks jack.

[Prof. Purble]

Alright, nice to know. Cheers for the guide btw :)

[Pte Jack]

Yes, eventually but the process hasn't change from Blender 2.79

[Prof. Purble]

Plan to update this for Blender 2.8?

[Pte Jack]

I don't know. If it does Image Sequence rendering, then probably.

[Monitor]

Can You Use Filmnora?