General recording properties
Use the general recording properties to simultaneously start or stop recordings for all active Recorders in the Recorder List (listed in the Recorder window). You can specify the recording duration and frame rate.
Recorder controls and Recording Mode
| Property | Function | |
|---|---|---|
 [Record Button] |
Starts or stops a recording session. | |
| Start Recording/ Stop Recording |
This button has exactly the same function and behavior as the Record Button (see above). | |
| Exit Play Mode | When you enable this option, the Recorder automatically exits Play mode when it finishes recording. | |
| Recording Mode | Allows you to specify the frames or time interval to record. | |
| Manual | Start or stop recording when you manually click Start Recording or Stop Recording, respectively. | |
| Single Frame | Record a single frame. Use the Target Frame property to specify this frame. | |
| Frame Interval | Record a set of consecutive frames during Play mode. Use the Start and End properties to specify when to start and stop. Important: if you set Start to a value greater than zero, the Editor still plays all the frames from the beginning when entering Play Mode before starting to record the specified frame range. The Editor needs to compute and render all these frames to ensure determinism, for example when the playback involves physics simulation or procedural noise. Notice the skipped frames mention during the playback of the non-recorded frames. |
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| Time Interval | Record a specific duration, in seconds, during Play mode. Use the Start and End properties to specify when to start and stop. | |
| Target Frame | Specifies the number of the frame to capture when in Single Frame mode. | |
| Start/ End |
• In Frame Interval mode, these values specify the range of frames to capture. • In Time Interval mode, these values specify the time, in seconds, to start and stop recording. |
Frame Rate properties
Use the Frame Rate properties to specify how to constrain the frame rate during recording.
The Frame Rate properties determine the number of frames recorded, which affects the size of a movie file or the number of the files in an image sequence that Recorder outputs.
Constant versus variable frame rate
Constant and Variable playback properties affect the timing of the frames when the file generated by the recording is played back.
When Constant is selected, Recorder applies the same time interval between each recorded frame without regard to the time required to render the frame.
Constant frame rate is typically used for recording non-interactive content.
When Variable is selected, Recorder captures frames at the rate at which they are rendered during Play mode in the Game view. The duration of individual frames can vary.
A video player that supports variable frame rate displays each frame for the time interval associated with it in the recording. If rendering time increases during recording, the resulting frames are held longer during the playback of the recorded frames. The action can vary from slow and choppy to smooth and fast.
Variable frame rate is typically used to record game play.
Notes:
- The ProRes encoder does not support variable frame rate recording.
- To record using variable frame rate, you must use the Recorder window. Variable frame rate is not available in Recorder Clips on the Timeline.
| Property | Function | |
|---|---|---|
| Playback | Specifies how to control the frame rate during recording. | |
| Constant | Limits the Recorder to a specific frame rate. Use the Target property to specify this rate. | |
| Variable | Reproduces the irregular time intervals between frames that occur when rendering in Game view. Specify the upper limit of the application's rate during recording with the Max FPS property. | |
| Target FPS | Sets the frame rate to capture the recording at. This property appears when you set Playback to Constant. The Recorder captures at this rate regardless of whether you run your application at a higher or lower frame rate. For example, if you set Target FPS to a custom value of 30 fps but you run your application at 60 fps, the Recorder captures at 30 fps. |
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| Max FPS | Sets the minimum duration for a frame, therefore limiting FPS. Recorder slows down updates in the Game view to stay within the specified frame rate. This property is available when Playback is Variable. |
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| Cap FPS | Enable this property when the frame rate of your application is faster than the Target FPS. This property is available when Playback is Constant. |
Starting a recording
When you use the Recorder window, you must always start the recording manually. When you start a recording, the Recorder activates Play mode (if it is not already active) and starts to capture Play mode data using all active Recorders.
To start recording, you can do any of the following:
- In the Recorder window, select the Record button or the START RECORDING button.
- Press F10/fn+F10.
- From the main menu, select Window > General > Recorder > Quick Recording.
Notes:
- During recording, you cannot modify the properties in the Recorder window.
- Only Mono or Stereo audio recording is supported. If a non-supported speaker mode is selected in Project Settings > Audio > Default Speaker Mode, Recorders that include audio cannot start.
- If your recording includes audio, the audio signal is sent to the Recorder, not to your system's audio output.
Stopping a recording
Most Recording Mode settings stop the recording automatically, although you can manually stop it before it finishes. If you set Recording Mode to Manual, you must stop the recording yourself.
To stop recording, you can do any of the following:
- In the Recorder window, select the Record button or the STOP RECORDING button.
- Use the F10/fn+F10 shortcut.
- Close the Recorder window.
- Exit Play mode.
Note: When a recording stops, the Editor remains in Play mode unless you enable the Exit PlayMode property in the recorder controls.