What codec was the Bink Video based on?

[PCU]

What codec was the Bink Video based on, MPEG-1?

[clsid]

It is not based on another codec.
https://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php/Bink_Video

[benwaggoner]

It is not based on another codec.
https://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php/Bink_Video
I was doing some video game work around the Smacker-Bink evolution, and met with RAD Game Tools periodically around then, including lots of codec design talk.

Bink 1.0 took inspiration from transforms used in other codecs, but was really designed from the "how do we upgrade video game playback, knowing natural image compression techniques" instead of "how to we use natural image compression techniques to make a good video game codec." Efficient software decode across a variety of architectures was the top priority. IIRC, it worked by throwing a whole lot of different transform types at 16x16 blocks and picking the ones that worked the best. Way more variety of fundamental transforms than "normal" codecs. I can't think of another video codec with features like run fill, fill, pattern fill, or raw data. Those make a lot of sense to allow for chroma key in game video, and to encode sharp-edged or textured game content.

Note Bink 1.0 came out in 1999, well before H.264 or VC-1 were even designed. The MPEG-4 part 2 (divx/xvid) spec was first published in 1999 as well. H.263 was the best codec with a published standard when Bink's design began.

Bink 2, which I don't have hands-on experience or knowledge about, looks a little more like typical MPEG codecs, but still chock full of idiosyncratic ways of doing things.

Note both Bink codecs were only ever designed for SW decode, without any HW decoders ever being available. Conversely, MPEG codecs have low-cost HW decoder implementation as a critical design factor.

https://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php/Bink_Video_2

[Blue_MiSfit]

Bink was remarkably efficient at compressing CGI per my (hazy) recollection. I used to do a lot of Bryce animations for fun in high school and I remember using bink drop to convert uncompressed RGB video into tiny bink files that looked good and played perfectly on my modest K6-II system

[benwaggoner]

Bink was remarkably efficient at compressing CGI per my (hazy) recollection. I used to do a lot of Bryce animations for fun in high school and I remember using bink drop to convert uncompressed RGB video into tiny bink files that looked good and played perfectly on my modest K6-II system
Yeah, the run fill, pattern fill, and raw data modes could make for very efficient discreet tone RGB encoding.

Smacker, Bink, and Bink 2 may not have been good at the stuff other traditional video codecs of their eras were good at. But they were REALLY good at what their game development market really wanted.

Heck, the original StarCraft was pretty much a bunch of scripts for playing back Smacker files in various clever ways :sly:.