Has anyone used SB as a trg aide???

[zipperhead55]

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum, and I must say there are a lot of diehard types dwelling here. I first played SteelBeasts after it came out, and while impressed with the realism, I wasn't overwhelmed by the graphics (I am a bit of a graphics whore 8) ). SB2 looks like it will satisfy my graphics habit, and be a realistic sim as well.

Anyhoo, I was brainstorming up a way to teach a class on crew commanding a vehicle (I am an instructor at the Armour School in CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick, Canada), and thought about using a armour vehicle sim "game" and using video capture software, and splicing it all together to suit my needs. We rely on PowerPoint for the visuals while teaching (in garrison), and in my experience, it doesn't get the point across as well as I think my idea would. I feel that if the students could get the feel (visually) of what it's like to crew command a vehicle cross country, with all the steps required (selecting best ground, types of positions to adopt, directions to crew, etc) we could save a lot of time once we hit the field, and could hit the ground running, so to speak.

Having said all that, has anybody done (or heard/seen) anything similar? I was toying with the idea of learning (!!!!!) and using 3D graphics programs like 3DSMAX, etc, to make "movies" but I think that it would take way too long, and if I was to do something like I mentioned above, I could save myself a substantial amount of work (and get to play some games in the process!!!)

Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated, and the future crew commanders of the Canadian Armour Corps will likely plant a tree in your honour :cvcys:

Allan Luomala

[Gunfighter]

ZH55, talk to 12A, McDLT and 9erRed. 8CH use this stuff as a low grade trainer for their unit. I have used it for our unit as well for Defense and Withdrawal Tutorial. I think I can dig up a *.WMV splice for "Taking a Turret down Minus, Turret Down and Hull down." Its 50megs big, do u have an FTP port?

[Wolfman]

Howdy Zipperhead, its nice to see more tank-netters over here.

I'll let Ssnake discuss the training aspects of SB for your purpose, just thought I should welcome you to the forum. 8)

[Ssnake]

Your idea is sound, and valid. I see basically two or three valid approaches. Recording on the same workstation that is running Steel Beasts Pro.
Requires a fast CPU (3 GHz recommended), but quite possible. Check out FRAPS in this case. Recording on a different workstation.
Requires two PCs, a capture software, and graphics cards with a video out and video in software, e.g. the VIVO models of various Radeon cards.
Then there's the question of methodology to take the scenes: Have a network of two or three computers running Steel Beasts Pro in a network session. Have one workstation show the commander's hatch perspective, one the external observer, and the instructor host picking an independent point of view, either a fixed position, or tethered to the platoon in motion. Or run the same mission over and over again from different points of view.
Once that you have all the raw material, it's off to the cutting room.

[ShotMagnet]

I wouldn't recommend using Fraps. Some have reported success, others (myself included) have not found the utility particularly useful. Beyond difficulties of employ, fraps doesn't seem capable of capturing more than 30 seconds of 'film' at a time. If you're going to use SB as a training aid, spending the money for some capture software and equipment would probably produce much better results.


Shot

[MatsW]

We have used SB to make films for teaching in tactics and standard battle drills. It´s excellent way of making films in a cheap way or as an first film version before you make a real movie with live vehicles, troops and ammo.

I recommend that you use an ordinary digital video camera which you connect with cables into the PC video-card and one cable into the sound card. Then you can capture long time sessions into digital film without putting GB:s of films into your PC.
After that you can either capture the film parts that you are interested in into the PC and cut it or make the cuts as ordinary videotapes.

We have tested Fraps and I think it´s the download test version that just capture 30 seconds of film. However, using Fraps or similar screen capture software will fill the hard drive quit fast.

[zipperhead55]

Many thanks to all who replied so quickly!!!

I am looking at doing this as a "thinking outside the box" project on my own. I am limited in budget (ie. everything is on my own coin) and outside the "official" parameters of our miltary. I don't want to get into office politics, but I am at the pointy end of the school, not a Carpetland Commando (yet...)(ie. I teach tactics in garrison and teach it in the field, as well as manage the soldiers that we use as "training aids": the drivers and Surveillance Operators (we use the LAV "Coyote" Recce vehicle as a platform, but I think it would be hard to find a sim that uses the LAV or LAVIII as a platform, so I can settle for the M1 or Leo2 (and so would my students, I'm sure).

Anyway, I don't have an unlimited budget, but I am a computer nerd (ie. I have a P4 2.4 GHZ comp and a DV camcorder) and the (limited) ability to use some of the software I would need. I also would be using "borrowed" technology (read between the lines please :oops: ) to assist me. The ends justify the means, methinks, in that my students would have a better appreciation for the process(es) involved with crew commanding an armoured vehicle before our boots and tires hit the training area. And maybe, just maybe, we could convince our school to use SB (or SB Pro, which I haven't seen or have access to....) as a trg aid. We still have some dinosaurs floating around who feel that these new-fangled computer thingies are a fad that will go away (****SARCASM ALERT*****) and wouldn't dream of using "games" to teach, so I have to do "end runs" around that type of thinking. As well, I'm doing this on my own time, so I am looking at cutting a few corners (I have 3 young children, so I don't want to sacrifice parenting time) to accomplish this mission.

Many thanks again, and any offers of videos, clips, links would be greatly appreciated. I have used WSFTP(?) in the past, and I'm not afraid to use it again!!! :P

Take care all,

Al

[mapman]

ZH...Welcome!

For more information on SB pro see:

http://www.esimgames.com/steel_beasts_pro_improvementshdr.htm

SB Pro PE (Personal Edition) is due out just before December and may be the best solution for your needs. Ssnake can answer that better than I, but the price is right for what you get versus the full Pro version (which it sound like you will need to "sell" to your superiors).

Don't be a stranger!

[12Alfa]

Al Please e-mail me at L.Macdonald@rogers.com

I can help you, but as usuall it will cost you big time, LOL

Or go on teamspeak, we will talk

[Homer]

For making presentations, I use HyperCam (http://www.hyperionics.com/).

It will do everything you were inquiring about except for editing. It will record video of any resolution/color depth and audio including your mic. Performance is based on your hardware... for reference, they state that a P133 will record 320x240, 8 bit color at 10 frames per sec. Your P4 should do just fine. There does not seem to be a limit on duration of the recording except for the size of your HD.

Its not a super fancy program but its under 1mb in size, extremely easy to learn and use, and most importantly, it does the job. There is a demo that you can check out...

[12Alfa]

Al I see your on, try teamspeak.