26 replies to this topic

[Retharias]

Could anyone please give me an overview of how to create a cinimatic on BMFE II or ROTWK? I don't think there's a tutorial anywhere.

[Dre@mer]

Here you go.

1) Click on "Edit" option

2) In dropdown menu select "Edit Camera Animations"

3) Now you should see a blank window (here will be your animations displayed) and a menu called "Camera animations" - click on "Add" button, then sellect free animation (i've never used the look at animation)

4) Type in the name of the animation as well as its lenght in frames (30 frames = 1 sec.)

5) Time to play with the camera options - set the values as you would like them to be (in this moment you're setting camera's starting view)

6) Now that you have a starting point it's time to create the whole camera movement - notice the scale (in frames) at the bottom of WB's window. Select any frame you want (let's say 60 - this means that camera will move from point X to point Y in 2 seconds) and click on "+" icon. Your second point is created. Again, adjust the camera view. Remember that you can always preview your animations by clicking on the "play" button (it's often useful to check "real time" options to play it faster). Create another points till you're satisfied with it.

7) To play it ingame, use script "move using camera animation" ( camera --> move --> move using camera animation)

You'll also want to script another things (e.g. music, cine border, units movement, reveal the map, set up the skybox...) to make good ingame movie.

[Retharias]

Thanks! But how do you load it ingame? Do you just set it up as a skirmish, or do you do something else?

[Dre@mer]

I think you missed step #7

[Retharias]

No, i saw that, i was just wondering if there was a special "required" format for cine maps, like skirmish and campaigns have their own formats. Mostly, though, i've been having trouble with camera effects scripts. (fade, shake-screen, etc.) Also, should skyboxes be set outside or inside the map boundries, and what's a cine border?

[Dre@mer]

- the format of the map is irrelevant.

- "been having trouble with camera effects scripts" - that doesn't tell me much. Could you be more specific?

- as for skyboxes, it works both ways.

- cine border - as the name suggests it's the border at the top and bottom of the screen that can be added for a better cinematic feel.

[Retharias]

Ok, by camera effects scripts, i meant two things:

One, a script that shakes the screen when it enters a certain trigger area.

Two, a script that fades the camera out at the end of its animation.

The screen-shake script really doesn't do much, and the fade script prevents the animation from ending. It also doesn't fade out like its supposed to.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, and i'm having EXTREMELY bad lag issues with the in-game tests. Any thoughts on how to fix this?

And one more thing:

I noticed there is an AVI capture mode on the camera. Is that a built-in recording feature, and if so, does it avoid really slow framerates in the results?

Edited by Rokqua Shadowkin, 13 September 2010 - 01:09 AM.

[Dre@mer]

Lag issues are normal when you use certain camera angles as your pc has to render larger portion of the map.

As with the AVI capture mode, it is indeed a built-in recording feature and yes, you'll be able to avoid slow framerates because it captures your gameplay frame after frame. It takes some time but the results can be rather nice - I've used it for a S.E.E trailer last year and there is a new cinematic trailer that uses this tool as well.

http://forums.revora...mp;#entry820986

I'm not sure about the screen-shake script as I haven't used it but I'm certain that the fade in&out scripts are 100% working, you can see them in action on my map here:

http://www.moddb.com...on-the-new-menu

[Retharias]

Right. Thanks. But how do you access the AVI recordings? I looked in the appdata folder, the program files folder, and the my videos folder, to no avail.

EDIT: Ok, i found literally THOUSANDS of screenshots that i believe are from my tests. Are these the recordings? Or is there something else?

Edited by Rokqua Shadowkin, 13 September 2010 - 10:50 PM.

[Lauri]

Maybe there's a place where you have to set it to record an avi... so it doesn't capture frame by frame, one picture at a time

[Rob38]

That's what the AVI capture script does. It takes pictures frame by frame and throws them in your pictures folder. You can then take these pictures and combine them all together into a movie. This method allows to capture scenes with no lag at all. As for sound, you would have to record it separately and then add it to the movie.

[Retharias]

Oh, right. THAT'S what Dre@mer ment by

It takes some time but the results can be rather nice

.

Do you know of any good sound-recording programs i can download? Or is there one already on windows? (i use windows 7)

[Rob38]

Fraps allows you to record sound.

[Dre@mer]

Alternatively, you can extract sound files from the game and use a program like Audacity to create your audio separately - then you can put it all together even in a basic program like windows movie maker.

[Retharias]

Hmm. The one problem i have with that is when i record the video, the in-game frame-rate is about 1fps, so i never know exactly when to add the sound files.

Speaking of that, could i reduce lag by removing the cursor or any form of in-game control from the player during the course of the recording?

And how do i do that anyways?

[Rob38]

If you are just trying to record sound, set your graphics to very low and create a script that fades the screen to black. There should be little lag then.

[Retharias]

Ok, thanks.

But i'm still need to know how to prevent the player from giving commands to their units or structures, or even having a cursor.

I don't want to risk my cursor showing up in the middle of a finished cinematic

[Dre@mer]

Hmm. The one problem i have with that is when i record the video, the in-game frame-rate is about 1fps, so i never know exactly when to add the sound files.

Speaking of that, could i reduce lag by removing the cursor or any form of in-game control from the player during the course of the recording?

And how do i do that anyways?

I'm not talking about ingame framerate - when you edit your video file, the footage should already have be 100% smooth so there's no problem in adding sound to your video.

Removing cursor is easy - camera -> modes -> UI Hide

(off topic) And to answer your question you sent via pm, the piece of music I used for my FotIC trailer is called Rising empire from immediate music.

[Retharias]

For some reason it still allowed me to select objects in-game, even with letterbox mode on. I was able to select the gate in front of the camera and open it.

(off-topic): I knew what song it was, i actually listen to their music on youtube. But i have no idea how or where to buy it. I only found about 15 or so songs of theirs on itunes, but even these were no-where NEAR as good as some of their other songs.

[Dre@mer]

Yes, it's normal that you can select objects ingame when you don't use the "UI Hide" script.

I couldn't find it anywhere, too - so I simply downloaded it from somewhere if I remember correctly. I'm not a lawyer but I'd say it's unlikely that you'd get sued, unless you were trying to make money off of it somehow. It even seems that immediate music is one of those companies that welcome it, in hopes of a good viral video bringing them free advertising.