Guides and explanations for the recording processes I follow for Inkipedia uploads, especially those that require group coordination. For those interested in helping or the simply curious

Recording equipment

What is a capture card?

A capture card is a device that intercepts the video signal produced by a gaming console (or other device) and allows for the video to be recorded on a computer as the console is used live. It is not possible to record Wii U or Switch console footage in full resolution without a computer set up with a capture card. A capture card does not by default record all content its set to intercept; think of it like a DVR (device used to record TV shows) for Nintendo consoles that needs a computer to be used. Most capture cards (external ones) look like small flat rectangular boxes: they don't have a screen or buttons.

Only the TV screen output (what would be seen on a TV if your console was hooked up to a TV) can be recorded with a capture card. This means you can't record a Wii U Gamepad screen, and that a Switch must be docked; only standard and OLED Switches can be recorded. Switch Lite models' video cannot be recorded with a capture card.

Two types of capture card exist: internal (built-in) cards, and external (HDMI-based) cards. For this guide I'll be talking about external cards that connect to both one's console and computer via HDMI and USB. Internal cards can also be used for recording the same way, but are generally more expensive and must be installed into a desktop computer's motherboard (a completely different hardware setup process than the one I describe here). External cards are simpler to set up for the layman user, easier to disconnect/move if needed and can be used on laptops. Internal cards offer less lag between the console and the user's screen, though the lag seen with external cards tends to be minimal to begin with.

The two capture card brands generally considered great at this time are Elgato and AverMedia. A card from another brand that costs under $100 most likely does not produce good quality. The current model Elgato offers will run you around $250, but previous models that do the job for Switch games go for around $160.

A strong enough graphics card in your computer is required to interface with capture cards. Each card model has its own individual minimum requirements; make sure to verify everything will be compatible *before* you purchase a card. Research is important!

A program that can access the capture card's video output is required for recording. In this guide I describe using OBS, a free open-source cross-platform program.

My equipment

I use an Elgato HD60 S via OBS; I have the card hooked up to my desktop PC and exclusively view its display via the OBS window, rather than through a monitor/TV/etc. You can set up your card to output video to an individual monitor/TV/etc. rather than your computer to minimize the lag between your console and your view of the screen, but it's not possible to record anything when doing such. My Switch is docked on my desk.

My computer specs:

CPU: Intel Core i-5-9400F CPU @ 2.90Ghz
- This is my computer's processor
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660
- This is my computer's graphics card (the GPU is within the graphics card)
RAM: 16GB
- This is how much memory my computer has access to; more memory means more things can be done at once
- I have installed more RAM than is typically included with computers; the standard 4-8GB is usually enough for recording
I have an additional internal 1TB HDD drive, which is where I store my screenshots and recordings.
- SSD drives are faster than HDD drives.
- My recordings do not take up the entire 1TB, but do note that high quality recordings such as those I do for the wiki take up a lot of space. Please ensure you have at least 10GB of free space just for the recordings you plan to do. Your computer should have at least 10GB of free space per drive in general separate from that to ensure its performing well. Keep things tidy within your recordings (delete things you wound up not needing for the wiki and don't intend to keep for other purposes).

To clip videos for the wiki as losslessly as possible, I use Simple Video Cutter (less accurate, easy to use) or LosslessCut (more accurate, difficult to use).

For S2 and S3 the Switch's built-in recording function may alternatively be used for most things, though the built-in trim function notably compresses already-compressed clips further and should be avoided.

Plugging in your capture card

In order to use a capture card, you will need the following components:

A computer
- Minimum hardware requirements vary per card
- You can check how your hardware compares to the minimum requirements with these sites: CPU GPU
A Nintendo Switch (standard or OLED)
A Nintendo Switch dock (off-brand versions should work)
A Nintendo Switch power cable (off-brand versions' results vary)
2 HDMI cables
1 USB-C to USB cable
Steady access to electricity

In order to use a capture card, your Switch must be docked and plugged into an outlet. This means your Switch should be in TV mode; it should be set up ready to be hooked up to play on a TV, except we're plugging it into a computer instead. It is not possible to use a capture card with Switch Lite models.

In general, remember that search engines are your friend; if you're struggling to understand what part of your device is which, you can look up if there's labelled diagrams or pictures of the manual online with Google. Feel free to message in the Inkipedia Discord server if you need help.

The hardware setup process is as follows: (see the diagram for visual assistance)

Set your Switch inside its dock
Attach your Switch's power cord one end to an outlet, the other to the dock
Identify the IN and OUT ports on your capture card. These should be labelled on the device itself, or in its manual
Plug one HDMI cable from your Switch's dock to your capture card. Make sure this enters the IN port of your capture card
Plug the other HDMI cable from your capture card to your computer. The USB-C (micro USB) connector goes in the capture card, the USB connector goes in your computer
Plug one HDMI cable from your computer to your capture card. Make sure this enters the OUT port of your capture card

Capture card software setup

Prep

Ensure your Switch is currently on, and your capture card is currently hooked up correctly (differs per card; on Elgato cards a light might briefly flash when it's first connected. If needed I'm happy to provide tech support)
Install OBS

In OBS

Route the Switch's display through a dedicated scene
- Click "Add scene" (plus sign in Scenes box)
- Under the "Create new" option, enter desired name (eg Switch Capture/Splatoon 3 Capture)
- Click "Add source" (plus sign in Sources box)
- Select "Video Capture Device" in the dropdown menu that appears
- Under the "Create new" option, enter its desired name (eg Capture card), press OK
- In the "Device" section dropdown menu, select your capture card; mine is named "Game Capture HD60 S" here. If your device isn't showing up troubleshooting is necessary
- A red rectangle should show up in your display area; video footage is only recorded when this rectangle is lit red. It can be deactivated by clicking on the margins between the scene area and the application's borders. To activate it, click on the scene area (which could be pitch-black, or display your Switch's display)
- Right click on the scene area (within red rectangle) and select "Resize output (source size)" then click "Yes". This ensures youre recording at the correct resolution; no matter how you resize your OBS window, it will record at the correct resolution
- In the Audio Mixer box, ensure "Desktop Audio" and "Mic/Aux" are muted via clicking the white speaker 🔊 icon. When these icons are red, but the "Video Capture Device" (or as named, eg Switch Capture) audio icon is white, OBS will only record Switch audio.
- In the Sources box, select your newly-added video source, then the gear ⚙ icon
- In the "Color Range" section, select "Full" then OK
Ensure your screenshot/recording output is maximum quality
- General
  - Go to File>Settings>Advanced
  - In the "Video" section, ensure Color Range is set to Full
- Screenshots
  - Go to File>Settings>Hotkeys
  - Navigate to the "Screenshot Output" option, and enter your desired hotkey. Pressing the set hotkey when desired is the only option to taking screenshots within OBS
  - The "Screenshot Selected Source" screenshot hotkey option also works, but only when your Switch's scene is selected (highlighted via red rectangle)
  - Take a test screenshot and verify that it's output is .png (it should be)
- Recordings
  - Go to File>Settings>Output
  - In the Output Mode box, select "Simple"
  - In the Recording tab, set "Recording Format" to mp4, and "Recording Quality" to either "Indistinguishable Quality, Large File Size" or "Lossless Quality, Tremendously Large File Size"
  - Take a test recording and verify that it's output is .mp4. Verify the sound is recorded properly if you're planning to record something with audio
- You're almost good to go!

On your Switch

This is accessible when viewing in OBS, no need to remove from dock if you're following these instructions in order

Setup resolution, color settings, margin size
- Go to System Settings (sixth option in footer buttons)
- Navigate to TV Settings
- Verify/swap the settings to match the following:
  - TV Resolution: 1080p
  - RGP Range: Full Range
  - Adjust Screen Size: verify the teal arrows touch the corners of the OBS scene
  - TV Sound: Stereo
You're fully good to go!

Testing

The options here may not be one glove fits all; to ensure your card's output is up to wiki standards, try to take a S2/S3 screenshot that's similar to an officially provided one (S2 official screenshots link / S3 official screenshots link) and make sure the colors are the same
- Your screenshots should be generally identical to officially captured screenshots. If not, troubleshooting for your card's color settings is needed in OBS
Please note near-imperceptible differences in color output are completely fine

Extracting screenshots from capture card videos

VLC max quality screenshots (simple option)

In VLC media player navigate to Tools>Preferences>Video
in Video snapshots, set Format to png
Open a recording in VLC Media Player
Press Shift+S to take a screenshot
If needed press E to advance an individual frame

FFmpeg max quality screenshots (advanced option; not necessary for most cases)

This can take up an immense amount of hard drive space and typically eats up processing power; be careful with this please only attempt if you have cursory knowledge of command line processes and know your computer hardware's limitations
Install FFmpeg
Open CMD in the folder containing the video aiming to rip from (*
To convert the entire video to its frames, create a folder in the same directory as the video file, enter in cmd ffmpeg -i filenamehere.mp4 -r 60 foldername/image-%3d.png
I use this to extract from official trailers

Preparing files for upload

These guidelines apply for all images needing upload, not just capture card output files.

Optimizing .pngs

ezgif.com offers quick in-browser .png optimization but recently has started attaching metadata to its output files. Make sure to remove the metadata afterwards if you go with this option.
ImageOptim is a MacOS program that optimizes images as well and removes their metadata in one go.
There's two command line image optimizer programs for the task. These program don't have a user interface; it must be called like a command using a [wp:Command-line interface|command line]. While this may seem intimidating, it's a straightforward and very simple process that poses no risk to your computer.
- Optipng is compatible with Windows.
- Download the
Pngcrush is compatible with Windows, MacOS and Linux

Removing metadata

ImageOptim is a MacOS program that optimizes images as well and removes their metadata in one go.
ExifCleaner is a cross-platform program that removes metadata from batches of images

Multiplayer recordings

S1 Win/Lose animation videos

Cosplay guide

Players 1 and 3 dress up as Kaori:
- Inkling Girl with second skin tone, orange eye color
- Equips the Studio Headphones, White Tee, Pink Trainers
Player 2 and 4 dress up as John:
- Inkling Girl with first skin tone, blue eye color
- Equips the Pilot Goggles, Zink Layered LS, Purple Hi-Horses
Player 5 doesn't need to dress up, as they won't be in any recordings

Private Battle setup

Participating editors must friend one another beforehand
Any player opens a Private Battle lobby
Battle settings: Turf War on Urchin Underpass
Player 5 is on team Alpha, Players 1, 2, 3, 4 are on team Bravo
Anyone on Alpha team may record the clip; whoever is recording must enable the color lock option in settings
- The intent is for all clips to feature orange inklings

Weapons guide

Please equip the "basic" version of each weapon for the recordings;

Shooter: Splattershot
Charger: Splat Charger
Roller: Splat Roller
Slosher: Slosher
Splatling: Heavy Splatling
Blasters and Brushes share their animations with the Shooter and Roller class respectively; consider recording them anyway just as proof/before we're unable to

Gameplan

Players 1 (girl) and 2 (boy) equip the same weapon of the same class; Players 3 (girl), 4 (boy) do the same for another clip per clip in two "sets"
- eg. Players 1 and 2 have the Splattershot, while Players 3 and 4 have the Splat Charger
Team Bravo wins the match
A member of team Bravo records the win animations from the results screen
Another Turf War with the same settings is run
Team Bravo loses the match
A member of team Bravo records the loss animations from the results screen
Players swap to another weapon class