Capturing Image Frames - Lumberyard User Guide
Capturing Image Frames with Render OutputCapturing Image Frames using a Capture TrackCapturing Image Frames with Console Variables

Capturing Image Frames

Open 3D Engine (O3DE), the successor to Lumberyard, is now available in Developer Preview. Download O3DE or visit the AWS Game Tech blog, O3DE Discord, or O3DE GitHub to learn more. The Lumberyard forums have been deprecated. You may view past forum discussions in the archive.

You can capture image frames using render output, a capture track, or console variables.

Capturing Image Frames with Render Output

You can use the Render Output tool in the Track View to capture image frames.

To capture image frames using Render Output

  1. In Lumberyard Editor, choose Tools, Track View.

  2. In the Track View, click Tools, Render Output.

  3. In Render Output, set the input and out properties, and then click Add. You will see the capture added under Batch.

  4. Click Start to start the capture.

Note

You may need to adjust the aspect ratio for captured image frames.

To change the aspect ratio for image frame captures

  1. In Lumberyard Editor, choose Edit, Editor Settings, Global Preferences.

  2. In Preferences, click Viewports.

  3. Under General Viewport Settings, change the value for Perspective View Aspect Ratio. The default value is 1.3333.

Capturing Image Frames using a Capture Track

You can capture image frames when a sequence is played in game mode.

To capture image frames using a capture track

  1. In Lumberyard Editor, choose Tools, Track View.

  2. In the Track View, right-click the Director node and choose Add Track, Capture.

  3. Double-click the created track to add a capture keyframe. You can set the following key properties:

    Key Properties Description
    Duration

    Sets the capture duration in seconds.
    Time Step

    Forces a fixed frame rate, in seconds, by using a specified time step. Time step = 1/number of frames. Units are in 1 fps (frames per second), so a time step value of .0333 results in a game frame rate of 30 fps.
    Output Format

    Specifies the image output file format.
    Output Prefix

    Specifies a prefix to apply to the image file names. For best results, use the same prefix as the sequence for clarity.
    Output Folder

    Specifies the directory where the image files are stored under the following path:

    lumberyard_version\dev\Cache\project_name\pc\project_name\
    Buffer(s) to capture

    Specifies the image capture format. Choose from the following options:

    • Color – RGB pixel information

    • Color+Alpha – RGB pixel data and Alpha channel data

      Note

      To capture Alpha channel data, you must set Output Format to tga.
    Just 1 Frame

    Chooses between single or multi-frame image capture.

  4. Set up a Script Canvas graph to play the sequence on game start.

Capturing Image Frames with Console Variables

Capture image frames with the following console variables. For more information, see Using the Console Window.

Capture Image Frames Console Variables
Console Variable Description
fixed_time_step

Lowers the game speed to achieve a constant frame rate throughout the sequence. For example, a time step value of 0.04 specifies a 25 fps gameplay speed.

Default value: 0.0
capture_frames

Enables frame capture, if the value is set to 1.
capture_file_format

Sets the output format for the images.

Valid values: .jpg, .tga, .tif
capture_file_prefix

Sets a file name prefix to use for captured frames.

Default: Frame
capture_buffer

Sets the type of buffer to capture.

Valid values:

0 = Color (RGB pixels)

1 = Color with Alpha (RGBA pixels where the alpha channel is set to 255 where geometry exists)