How to Record Xgl with DemoRecorder

Please note that this HOWTO is obsolet:

Xgl is outdated technology. Nowadays, all X-Servers have AIXGL integrated which does everything ( and more ) that Xgl was supposed to do, but in a more stable and performant way.
DemoRecorder has a new OpenGL/Animation-mode which is much better suited to record visual effects as generated by Xgl or its successor technology AIXGL. Also that new mode records the main desktop instead of a nested one. ( You can select that part which is recorded ). read more ...

If you really want to read the outdated HOWTO please scroll down one page.

DemoRecorder has special support for Xgl -- here you learn how to use this special feature

Before I give you the details and instructions, please watch the following videos to get an idea of what you can expect.

(Please note that Xgl-recording support in DemoRecorder is still experimental, but due to the huge interest this gets everywhere, I decided to publish these instructions now.)

please scroll down for the instructions.

This video has been recorded with DemoRecorder with a resolution of 640x480 pixels on a Athlon 2Ghz. The graphics card used does not support 3d acceleration, DemoRecorder emulates that in Software, using Mesa.

This video has been scaled down to 320x240 resolution. You may watch the full size video here, but you need a very fast network connection ( at least 4Mbit/sec ).

This video has been recorded with DemoRecorder with a resolution of 800x600 pixels.

This video has been scaled down to 400x300 resolution. You may watch the full size video here, but you need a very fast network connection ( at least 4Mbit/sec ).

Step by Step instructions

Here are the instructions:

Download and Install the newest version of DemoRecorder at:
http://www.DemoRecorder.com/download/
Download the Xgl-binary at:
http://www.DemoRecorder.com/download/Xgl-cvs20060429-drpatch-bin.tar.bz2
Unpack the Xgl binary in /opt. (please note that it is bzip2 compressed, so use "tar xvpjf" instead of "tar xvpzf")
```
cd /opt
tar xvpjf your-download-dir/Xgl-cvs20060429-drpatch-bin.tar.bz2 -C /opt
```
This will install an Xgl package under /opt/Xgl.
Make a symlink to your X11-fonts, so Xgl finds them:
```
mkir /opt/Xgl/lib/X11
cd /opt/Xgl/lib/X11
ln -s /usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts
```
If you have your native X installed in another location than /usr/X11, such as /usr/X11R6, please replace the path in the "ln"-command in second line accordingly.

E.g. on Unbuntu, the following may need to be done
```
mkir /opt/Xgl/lib/X11
cd /opt/Xgl/lib/X11
ln -s /usr/share/X11/fonts
```
Start DemoRecorder with commandline-option --xgl, which automatically starts Xgl from /opt/Xgl before starting the desktop:
```
/opt/DemoRecorder/bin/demorec --xgl
```
If you want to use another resolution, say 640x480, please specify it with --width and --height
```
   
/opt/DemoRecorder/bin/demorec --xgl --width 640 --height 480
```
If compiz is not started automatically by your desktop, please open a shell-window in the Desktop nested inside DemoRecorder and enter the following commands:
```
compiz --replace decoration wobbly fade minimize cube rotate zoom scale move resize place switcher &
gnome-window-decorator &
```

That's it!

Have fun,

Chris

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