can you animate the camera?

[tellurye]

Played the Demo and loved it. Was thinking about purchasing it so I can make machinima. The site says the editor allows you to mod just about anything, even existing levels, but saw a post here that the mod community is small, editor documentation is small and incomplete and not a large community to support.

I was wondering can you animate the camera to make a machinima? If so are there tutorials? Are there good tutorials for modding, or is it true that it is small and incomplete?

Thanks

Tellurye

[kalme]

With some tools like Powermad or in the editor you have control over the camera and can place and move it free. It's also possible to make custom tracking shots, but it's very painful and very limited (sideways not possible for example).

Modding community is very small. There are virtually no real tutorials made by community members besides what you can find in this forum. The official document is a starting, but a lot of things are undocumented, and if you want to use other tools than Maya, prepare yourself for a long and steep learning curve.

The biggest drawback for machinima makers however is that you have NO control of the models. All you can do is spawn and place them and maybe add movement areas or waypoints. You can't alter animations or add new models to the game. You also can't change or modify existing models. That's because the model format is proprietary and we have no importers/exporters or anything else that allows working with it.

I'd rather go for another engine for machinima.

[fleabay]

kalme, it would be cool to create some camera controls.

It would be REAL cool. :)

I also had in mind a custom no-clip function. It saves your xyz co-ords when you no-clip and when you exit the mode, it restores you to your previous position.

[Varus77]

For the logical way:
- flying in no-clip-mode > button save this in demo.CArea
and create:
o.Points[1] = VectorA:New(x,y,z,0) and so on

therefore you will get an nice procedure to build a waypoint route for a cam.

Problems persists: you can not control the building, the characteristics of the cubic spline - but it'd be much better than before...

If I saw it right - there is a parameter for the angle of the cam but I'm not sure if this parameter included all 3 axis...

[fleabay]

If you ever have played serious sam, thats what I would like. You know when he goes into a room that has the item hes been looking for, it goes to a wide camera view for a short while.

It shouldn't be to difficult. I might look into it once I lose my current interest in modeling. ;)

[kalme]

... and what exactly do you mean by "camera controls"?

[Varus77]

... once I lose my current interest in modeling. ;)

Hey...I'm curious...what are you doing???

[tellurye]

With some tools like Powermad or in the editor you have control over the camera and can place and move it free. It's also possible to make custom tracking shots, but it's very painful and very limited (sideways not possible for example).

Modding community is very small. There are virtually no real tutorials made by community members besides what you can find in this forum. The official document is a starting, but a lot of things are undocumented, and if you want to use other tools than Maya, prepare yourself for a long and steep learning curve.

You can't alter animations or add new models to the game. You also can't change or modify existing models. That's because the model format is proprietary and we have no importers/exporters or anything else that allows working with it.

I'd rather go for another engine for machinima.

OK, thanks anyways. I think this will be difficult. I already know 3D, but yeah, sounds like you can't add animations, or models for that matter. This engine is so beautiful, its uncanny. I wish there was a way to animate the camera :(

Thanks guys.

Tellurye

[fleabay]

Kalme, I'm not sure how to implement them. Like when you start a level, it does a quick overview of the level with a flyby and then circles your character before you start. Scripted cinemagraphics type cameras.


Hey...I'm curious...what are you doing???
I'm not saying much cause everytime I start creating a level, I lose interest.
I'm brushing up on Maya more than anything. I just modeled my first car. I got a 69/70 Mustang fastback to do next. ;)

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/8827/shot00176ao.jpg

[Varus77]

Yes..therefore we both know how hard this work is at all. Running over a map is easy...to make one that's a hard challenge for a one-man-show.
Better...sometimes it's like a crazy idea to do it...I thought this often the last month.

BTW...that looks very nice...you could change the texture of these "statues"?...with light or detail textures?