And More: Share And Tell - The Open Broadcaster Software Logo, A Cinematic Adaptation (Production Logo, 'Ident') [4K-XAVC-S]

I just wanted to share a little 'intro' I made for the OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) project:

Feel free to Download and use this logo for anything you desire (following any rules set by The Open Broadcaster Software Project). Once I figure out how to offer a high-quality download link more directly, I will put it right here!

[The above video clip contains only Royalty-Free and First-Hand-created content and is Distributed here via the Creative Commons Attribution License (any use, even commercial, with attribution listed); the Logo/Intro itself is 12s00f long, so trim off my identifier after that point, to use it for anything you wish]



I recently Downloaded OBS to try recording with it again - I tried OBS only for a very short time a few years ago, barely touching it; but recently thought about it again and gave it a go and see how it works for recording gameplay (what I mean herein, is Offline ("Non-Streaming") Locally-Recorded gameplay clips)... And I love it! Although it has to be 'set up' somewhat before easy operation, after that, it seems to be able to produce great quality with little impact on performance. I was just using the 'default' x264 (H.264/AVC MPEG-4 Part 10) codec that seems built-in to the program, utilizing my own x264 settings that I found worked well for local recording with x264 over the past few years (found in previous articles here at the blog - just Search for "x264" on the right side there). I look forward to trying a GPU-Accelerated codec in the future, in OBS (I am not a Programmer, otherwise I would like to contribute towards this, as well).

[I plan on doing a 'TestRun™' article on OBS here in the future; but fitting with this blog, it would be more concerned with showing others how to use OBS to record gameplay locally on their system (just like using Bandicam or MSI Afterburner) and what kind of results to expect from it - for now,
enjoy this little logo...]

Behind The Scenes - The Creation Of The Above Thingamajig

Creating this Logo/Ident for OBS was an idea I had, because although I had seen a couple of past Submissions of Logos for OBS on their Official Forum, there was no "cinematic-style" logos done that I could see, so far - ones that could be presented in a Professional Setting, perhaps at the beginning of a Streaming Event that was utilizing OBS. This is more what I was 'going for' here - something that looked "professional" and then on top of that, I personally wanted it to be "Cinematic"...

I used programs I had purchased in the past few years, for the logo (mainly Corel's VideoStudio Pro x8 and CyberLink's PowerDirector 12 Ultra Edition), along with some Open Source Software for tweaking the various elements, such as The GIMP (Graphical Image Manipulation Program [although I think they just call it "GIMP" now]) and Inkscape, Audacity (an Audio Editor) and FontForge.

It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, to create an 'only twelve second long' production... I knew what I wanted in my head [the way it looks in the end, thankfully]; but what I wanted specifically couldn't be done, with any of the Software that I had available. So, when a situation like that arrives, I like to "forge my own trail" and figure out how to make it happen, despite not being able to do so easily, with the Tools at hand.

What I mean for instance, is the black OBS 'disc' that comes in from the lower-left. It seems like that would be easy to do perhaps, and at first I avoided Blender because I thought I could just use PowerDirector to have a "circle" of some Font (Wingdings or Webdings, etc) and apply the Logo to the Font face and manipulate it there – which seemed really easy in my head, five minutes work maybe.... The problem was, PowerDirector wouldn't apply the image properly onto the front face of a Font 'circle' character - it was always offset oddly. I even tried applying the Logo to a circle character in VideoStudio's NewBlueTitler, but it did the same thing - the logo got applied all 'wonky'. I surmised it was the Font itself that was offset oddly for what I wanted to do (it's dimensions/metrics) and so, after searching through a ton of Fonts to find a 'simple circle', it turned out I couldn't find one and had to create a font from scratch and create a circle character inside that font, to do what I wanted...

[I realized I could have just created a circle and manipulated it in Blender, but I liked the Automation of Font manipulation that was offered in the NewBlue Titler add-ins that came with a couple of the video editing applications I purchased (VideoStudio Pro and PowerDirector) - I thought it would be easier...at first]

So, I created a Font and drew out a circle. I saved the one-character Font and installed the Font into Windows and then tried applying the OBS logo 'disc' once again to the front facing of the circle – it worked! The thing is, the font came out looking 'blocky', the circle didn't have a nice roundness to it - it was more like an octagon. I figured it was the resolution of the Font being displayed, but that was something couldn't really be adjusted, so I went back into the Font itself and added nodes for the circle character I created… painstakingly making it more complex and 'round', by altering each node one-by-one, lining them up into a circle shape, until eventually, I had a better 'circle' to use. Then, going back into NewBlue Titler, I set up the Font, applied the facing of the logo and it matched up enough - and looked like a 'circle' enough - to start manipulating it how I wanted…

A 'flipping coin until it sits flat' type of movement, although more 'monolithic' in style, is what I wanted for the OBS 'disc' - and that animation was actually built into the NewBlue Titler Add-on in VideoStudio Pro, it was really close to what I was thinking. Great. I then wanted the Text that you see on the right side, desiring to emulate logos I had seen at the OBS Project website (the “Powered By...” ones). I settled on a Franklin-Gothic-styled font that was Royalty-Free [I do not know the Font that was actually used in the “Powered By...” logos at the Forum I saw in the past – in fact, I can't find them there anymore either].

The “space-y” background I wanted was a free one included in PowerDirector, but I tweaked the particle generators (more particles and added custom types) and changed all of the colours and levels to how I wanted [“space travel but classy” if that makes any sense lol] - I thought it would give a sense of 'going out there to everyone' that was befitting OBS. I brought down the Saturation a lot, to make it match the feel of the two-tone OBS logo and also not take away too much from the logo/text reveal... [I might share an early “daily” I had, where there was waaay too much Glare and Flares going on haha].

The right-side text was finished in VideoStudio, where the NewBlue Titler there allowed me to give it a nice Chrome finish (there is even a Chrome style Preset in there). The animation was also from the same NewBlueTitler there, tweaked slightly. [I had tried to get the Chrome style I wanted in GIMP and Inkscape, but couldn't get what I was looking for in those, for the moment, despite having used them in the past for similar 'chrome'-desired projects]. After all that, only a bit of lining things up, a bit of tweaking here and there, and it was almost done! All it needed now was an inspiring Backing Track…

Both video editing suites (VideoStudio Pro and PowerDirector) included an 'automated music generator' type of module within them [what a great thing, coming from always having to create my own Backing Tracks in the Old Days] and I found what I wanted in PowerDirector's version (even though Corel's offers more Tracks to choose from). Royalty-Free for Any Use, I tailored it down to a crisp, "majestic-yet-hopefully-still-'classy'-and-also-cinematic" 12 seconds, which was what my animation seemed to be settling on. A few more tweaks and timing line-ups later and what you see above is the final result... Slash-Whew!


I have my little Identifier/Disclaimer at the end, but just cut if off by Trimming the clip to 12seconds00Frames and use it however you desire. Enjoy it! And please feel free to let me know what you all think of it and if there are any Suggestions to further tailor it for The OBS Project (and public) usage.

Thanks to all the contributors of The OBS Project for your hard work and inspiration for this logo, my own Personal Project. I hope everyone can eventually enjoy and use this logo as they desire.

Hitman: Blood Money - Something That You Might Have Missed... "Gun Owners Hate Him!" [Discovery **Updated to Glitch]

This is actually a Personal Discovery (something I found in the game) that I have never seen before (even though it was there)** - and initially I thought that maybe it was something that was well-known and has been talked about, especially in a game over a decade old now - but after doing some searching and poking and prodding, it appears that this may in fact be an actual "discovery" - something 'unearthed' that, even though it was 'already there', it was never before seen (or at least, noticed)**

Now, I don't like Articles on the Intertubes that take a long time to 'get to the point'
[one of the reasons why I try to put a "Short Version and Long Version" in my longer articles with explanations]
so here it is:

When Agent 47 loads the W2000 Sniper Rifle, he 'flips' the clip magazine into place¹.

^1[I wanted to say 'clip' here, as a gun novice, but as I understand after some quick researching, 
the big block-y thing is called a 'magazine' and not a 'clip']

I'll say it again, just to let it sink in: When The One And Only Hitman puts a magazine into his W2000, he 'spins' it, 'kicking' the cartridge in with his hand**

I never saw this at all, or at least, never 'caught' it happening, previously. And after looking all of the above words up (putting them into different forms of phrasing in searches online), I don't think anyone has noticed this - hence, my slightly over-the-top title - I really do think I discovered something here...**

"How can I not have seen this before?", I asked myself. And Myself answered [it often does that, don't tell anyone]:
"Well, we didn't have this technology before" - at least I didn't. That seemed like the explanation. We (meaning me, I shouldn't really say "everyone has missed this for years on end") have never had the capability to turn up the graphic settings in a game as much as in recent years. Basically, I'm putting the blame on the fact that I have never been able to see such detail in this game before (I recently upgraded to a R9 Series Radeon 280 and so I was never able, in the past, to 'turn everything up' in this game and therefore, never caught it - which is why I'm terming it a 'discovery' (at least, for me) - and it was discovered by accident...

I was doing some Speedruns of A Vintage Year, trying to beat my own Personal Best [of 1:44, which I did, a video to be uploaded Soon™]. While doing so, on one run, while near a corner of a wall, setting 47 up to open his Sniper Rifle case and put his weapon together, the camera rotates to show The Hitman loading up his rifle. The camera however, got 'caught' on the nearby wall, moving along the wall and causing a 'zooming-in', which highlighted this little occurrence.

Here is a short GIF I put together showing off this little move he does:

Agent 47's "spin move" with the clip magazine, loading the W2000 sniper rifle...
(**which, upon closer inspection isn't him 'kicking it in', it is a glitch)
GIF created using Sony Vegas Movie Studio and Honeycam

I can't tell from the recording if the clip magazine gets partially inserted (and then 47 'kicks' it in with his hand, which would be the source of all the awesome), or if it is more of a 'glitch'**, and the graphical model of the magazine is getting caught/stuck on the handle of the rifle, causing a spinning motion as 47 then pushes it up and into the magazine receptacle [I don't know the name of the slot on the gun where the magazine inserts into lol]. Until I get a Final Ruling on this matter, for now, I am going to consider it a little personal 'trick' of 47's and sit in awe of his awesome hitman-ness...** Maybe I will slow it down and put it above, in a GIF for all to see, Soon™

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go do some more Speedrun attempts in Blood Money. I have to beat my previous time!

**Update (and explanation of the many instances of **): Initially, I wrote this article with the 'spinning of the clip magazine' as a really neat discovery (something I didn't see before and I didn't find anyone talking about online) - thinking that The Hitman was 'spinning the cartridge into place'... but upon further analysis, I feel it now to be more of a graphical 'Glitch' [I am changing the title to Glitch, to reflect this]. This is based on my own observations within the game and an attempt to create a 'final explanation' to myself (and to help others). The clip magazine appears to 'float' in midair on further inspection/zooming/slowmotion/etc, it seems to be getting 'stuck' on the handle of the rifle - and why would it even be 'flipped/spun' after being 'placed' in the rifle, by a person using it? It would not... Hence my own personal, final decision then: The coolness factor may still be there, but it is not a 'fully functional' coolness - it seems to be more of a graphical glitch, where the model/mesh of the magazine is getting caught on the butt of the handle... /sigh - oh well, still a little enjoyable thing nonetheless [I am changing the title, adding "Glitch", to reflect this decision]