UnitySample

An editable Unity sample demonstrating runtime recording from two cameras and the player screen, either as separate videos or as one automatically edited multi-source video.

Download the latest release.

Run and record

Video recording requires Windows x64, an NVIDIA NVENC GPU with a recent driver, and FFmpeg. Set FFMPEG_PATH to the absolute path of the FFmpeg bin directory containing ffmpeg.exe and ffprobe.exe before launching Unity or the app.

PowerShell:

$env:FFMPEG_PATH = "C:\tools\ffmpeg\bin"

Git Bash:

export FFMPEG_PATH='/c/tools/ffmpeg/bin'

UnitySample passes this directory to RecordingSettings.FfmpegPath. The recorder resolves ffmpeg.exe and, when statistics are enabled, ffprobe.exe inside it.

Open Assets/Scenes/RecordingSample.unity in Unity 6000.0.61f1, press Play, select Camera 1, Camera 2 and/or Screen, then click Record. Each selected source produces a separate MP4, and Screen includes the application UI. Recording continues until Stop recording is clicked. An explicit command-line --duration requests a timed recording. Stop recording finalizes the files.

Build

Install Unity 6000.0.61f1 with your platform's build support module. Put Unity / Unity.exe in PATH or set UNITY_EXECUTABLE. Save and close Unity, then run in Bash (Git Bash on Windows):

Clone the repository with its recorder and nested dependencies:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/cine-capture/UnitySample.git

bash ./build.sh

The script builds UnityRuntimeCameraRecorder and its FFmpeg and native encoder dependencies, copies their DLLs into the Unity plugins directory, then builds the current OS player into Builds/Windows, Builds/Linux or Builds/macOS. Logs go to Builds/Logs/build.log. Linux/macOS players support preview, not the current NVIDIA video backend; they have not been tested locally.

On Windows, clean, build and package the Release player with MSBuild:

dotnet msbuild Assembly-CSharp.csproj -t:package

The archive is written to Builds/Packages/UnitySample-Windows-x64.zip. It contains the Unity player, UnityRuntimeCameraRecorder.dll, Direct3DVideoEncoder.dll and FFmpegMediaWriter.dll. FFmpeg and FFprobe executables are deliberately excluded and must be installed separately.

Command-line example

With FFMPEG_PATH set in the launching process:

./Builds/Windows/UnitySample.exe --render 4k --resolution 4k --fps 60 --codec h264 --quality high --vsync on --aa 4 --record camera1,camera2 --duration 30 --statistics --quit-after-recording

Switches use the same settings as the UI:

Switch	Values
--render, --resolution	fullhd, 4k: render/window size and video size respectively
--fps	30, 60
--codec	h264, hevc
--quality	low, medium, high
--vsync, --fullscreen	on, off
--aa	off, 2, 4, 8
--camera	1, 2: preview only
--record	Comma-separated camera1,camera2,screen; both or all also accepted
--single-output	Combine all selected recording sources into one automatically edited MP4
--duration	Seconds, at least 0.1
--statistics	Generate a statistics text file for each output video
--quit-after-recording	Finalize and exit; requires --record
--purge	Permanently delete only sample-prefixed output files before recording

Without --record, the app only previews. Keep it visible: batch/headless player runs are not valid recording tests. With FFMPEG_PATH set, run bash ./run.sh in Git Bash on Windows: it records camera 1 and screen for 10 seconds in 4K/60 max, H.264/High, VSync and MSAA 4x, exits after finalization and prints the session's JSON statistics. It uses --purge, deleting only sample-prefixed output files. Linux/macOS video recording still needs a compatible backend.

Output and editing

Videos go into output beside the executable (project root in Play mode). With --statistics, each video also produces a *.stats.txt file. The Export JPG button writes one second of JPEG frames into a subdirectory. Statistics include Unity render FPS; output FPS is a ceiling. Edit UI positions under Diagnostics > ApplicationCanvas outside Play mode.

The bundled libraries are UnityRuntimeCameraRecorder, Direct3DVideoEncoder and FFmpegMediaWriter.

The Quality menu selects Low, Medium, High or Highest (default); H.264 is the default codec. Profile details are documented in UnityRuntimeCameraRecorder, and native settings in Direct3DVideoEncoder. HDR is not supported today.

Resources

Soundtrack: "Iced Out" by LSPLASH, available for use in videos and livestreams.