Cinema Editor
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The Link Window |
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Linking Multiple Cinemas Linking Between Levels |
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The Main Windows
To get started, bring up the Open GL window (Tip: If you open the GL window full screen, depending on your computer/video card, it could crash. If you restore the window to a smaller window, it will open the window smaller. I set the smaller size of my Turok editor window so the GL comes in the size I want. That way I don't have to resize it every time) Then hit "I" on your keyboard. This sets the proper aspect of the window so it will match your TV (NTSC).
Bring up the Cinema window. Click on the "N" button to make a new cinema. If a cinema is active it will change the open GL window from lighting mode to cinema mode. This disables all the lighting functions since they share hotkeys (to edit lights again, just close the cinema window) When in cinema mode, you'll notice a few things. A time bar appears along the top (which will start out empty) which includes the play button (red square). A frame number (in 30 fps) , and a safe frame with letterboxing defaulting on (see
GL Hotkeys on toggling these)Top
These are the icons on the top left of the cinema window (Not necesarrily in order)
Cinema Tool- The leftmost icon. (it's supposed to be a reel of film.) This is the tool you use to create and move camera paths and keys in the world view
C & P - Cinema & Path Menus- The cinema menu has two modes. Cinema and Path. This switches between them
N - New- Creates a new Cinema/Path, depending on which menu you're in
D - Delete- Deletes the current Cinema/Path (be sure to click on the item you want to delete before deleting, it may be the wrong one otherwise, and there's no undo)
Link (bind) - Second to last icon. Specifies what cinema instance is ascociated with the cinema. This is important mostly with links. To trigger actions, you have to link from a cinema instance to the target object and specify an effect. The linking information is stored with the instance and must be linked to the cinema using this tool. It will also display the cinema name next to the cinema instance in the world view.
Unlink- Last icon. Pretty straightforeward...unlinks the cinema from it's instance. Linking a cinema to another instance will automatically replace the link since it can only have one instance (so it will unlink from it's current instance, and link to the selected one)
Think of the cinemas as a heirarchy, the paths are sub-objects of the cinema. The cinema window lets you create, delete and change properties and assignments of cinemas as a whole.
Type-
The first cinema of a sequence should have a type set, so when programming gets it all hooked up, the it will know what cinemas to play when it needs them. The first cinema of the hive intro in this case, should be assigned as "level intro 5". To set this, right click on the cinema, go to set cinema type, and assign the proper type.Paths- The number of paths in the cinema
Events- The number of links attached to the cinema
Linked?- Tells whether the cinema is bound to a cinema instance in the world
Centering- Centering normally should be "None". Target and Player are the other options.
None- Plays the cinema "as is" wysiwyg
Target- I'd imagine this could be interesting, but I've never found a use for it. You can link the cinema to an animated instance rather than a cinema instance and the cinema will move with the object (I don't know if it rotates)
Player- For deaths mostly. The cinema references the position and rotation of the cinema instance (should be set up pointing right) and will play the cinema based on turok's position
Name- You will want to have reletavely distinguishing names for your cinemas since they will all be merged someday and the number of cinemas will break a hundred (The level 1 opening sequence has 15 separate cinemas. I'll tell you why later) To change the name of the cinema, double click on it, that will bring up this window...
Cinema Settings Window
Name- should be straightforeward enough.
Fog Distance- can be set per cinema, or when set to 0 will use the region fog settings (which are acting odd at the moment)
Letterbox Ratio- There should be no reason to touch this but who knows
Overriding music and ambient sounds
should be checked if you created links to trigger them (see Triggering Music and Sounds)
Fog Color- Sets the fog color per cinema. The default is 255 green which uses the fog color settings from the world which can be unpredictable at times. If you want a color from a certain region in the world, get into the fog color of the region and add it to the custom colors, you can then access it in the cinema settings window
Note: Click in any text box and hit enter to close this window or esc. to cancel. (it will sometimes screw up the centering on random cinemas, so check to make sure they're how you want them)
The path menu and the cinema menu use the same window. In the Cinema window, click on the cinema you want to edit, then click on the "P" icon, this will change it to the path menu.
Path Name-
Paths don't really need names, it's up to you. If you have a lot of paths in one cinema, it may be wise. I would advise against putting too many paths in a cinema, unless it's only camera cuts (very few links, fades and FOV keys) otherwise it will become quite aggrivating.# Nodes- The number of camera keys in the path.
Lock state- Lock state is mildly confusing. When you create a path, it starts out unlocked. This is where the keys automatically space themselves out (in time) to maintain continuity. As soon as you slide any keys or scale the path, it becomes locked, which means the timing will no longer be automatically adjusted. Warning!!! Once the path is locked and you have spaced out your keys, unlocking it will automatically readjust it to the way it was before (re-locking does not revert it back...very bad!)
Camera and Target- All camera and target paths need at least two keys so it won't crash the engine. This would make it difficult to set up and modify a still shot, so you have the potion of setting either/both to "still". Making a path still will tell it to use only the zero keyframe and stay there the duration of the path. The second keyframe can be wherever you want but you do need to have it
Note: Paths have a slight ease out and in
Create a new path in the Path Window (click the "N" icon) then click on the "Cinema Tool" icon (the film reel). Make the world view the active window and double click in it. That should create the first keys of your path...however, there's a pesky bug that makes this not work sometimes. If so, pick the path, then delete it, then start at the top of this paragraph and loop through until it works. When it does, you will have a blue circle and a black square. The blue circle is the camera and the black square is the target. There is no line connecting the camera to the target, but if you play or scrub in the GL you can see the position of them in the world view
Adding Keys- double click (left button) near the last key (but not right on top, that will make it hard to pick and move the new key) this will create a line between the two keys. 3 or more keys will create a spline curve. Double click on the curve to insert a key at that point on the path. (keys can also be added in the GL window)
Deleting Keys- Double right click on a key to delete it. It's not wise to delete the first keyframe, that tends to screw up the path and ut usually will have to be deleted and recreated
Moving Keys- Most of the time, you should be in the top view. Dragging with the left button wil move it on the X and Z axis' using the right button (moving up and down) will move the key in the Y axis (up and down). In the right of front view the left button wil do nothing, but you can adjust height with the right button.
General
When Dragging or scaling keys past the end point, you have two options. You can drag the key off past the end of the window and it will register. Or you can zoom out and do it that way.
Top row: Fades
To create a fade double click on the fade line. A fade requires at leas 2 keys to define the start and end (position, opacity and color)
Position- Use the left button to drag the fade key left/right. Dragging past either end will snap the start/end to always view all the fades
Opacity- Click and hold the right button, drag up and down (up is more opaque which is represented by white)
Color- Double click on the fade to bring up the color menu. It's best to use a standard color (if you make your own be sure to add it to the custom colors in case you need it later)
Deleting- Double right click on the fade key to delete it.
Second row: Camera Path
Camera paths are best created and deleted in the world view. You can, and sometimes must, add/delete keys in the GL view.
Position- Use the left button to drag the key left/right. Dragging past either end will snap the start/end to always view all the keys
Adding- Double left click on the path line to create a new key.
Deleting- Double right click on the key to delete it.
Scaling- Hold both buttons on the last key of the path and drag, this will scale your path. The paths after the scaled path will slide but NOTE: Fades, Links and FOV will not slide with the succeeding paths and must be moved by hand (see linking multiple cinemas)
Scaling the entire cinema- You can scale absolutely everything (all paths, fades, links and FOV) by holding both buttons on the last key of the last path and dragging
Third row: Camera Target Path
Acts the same way as the camera paths with a few exceptions. You cannot slide the last key of the path, that must be done with the camera key. Scaling does not work on the target keys either.
Fourth row: Links
Links are created in the world view using the link tool. (see the Linking section)
Position- Use the left button to drag the key left/right. Dragging past either end will not snap the start/end
Adding- Create links as described above.
Deleting- Although you can double right click to delete links, you don't want to! That will remove the link from the cinema but not delete the link. Delete the Link in the link menu.
Fifth row: FOV
To create a FOV key double click on the FOV line. FOV can be still by having one key set to a specific value, or can be animated by using 2 keys or more to define the start and end (position and value)
Position- Use the left button to drag the FOV key left/right. Dragging past either end will not snap the start/end
Value- Click and hold the right button, drag up and down to change the FOV Note: the wider the FOV, the more geometry it will have to draw and it is exponential, like fog.
Deleting- Double right click on the FOV key to delete it. Deleting all FOV keys will cause it to use the default FOV.
Time Slider
The white rectangle under the FOV line is the time slider. You know how to use one of those.
Play Button
The red square is the play button, (red square being stopped)
Frame Number
The frame number of the current time is in the lower right corner
Link Info
In the lower left corner there are two lines that will come up when needed.
The link triggering line will tell you what links have been triggered when playing or scrubbing.
The name of the link you are dragging will also be displayed in the lower left (this is why you want to name your links, otherwise you're always moving "<new>" and it gets confusing
Cinema
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` S E R F D I + & - |
Toggle control bar Toggle paths Toggle safe frame Toggle letterbox Snapshot, append Snapshot, insert Correct window aspect Zoom time bar in and out |
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Lighting
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W T A S D F R E C V Z |
Release Light Delete Light Ambient Rotate Scale Color Make negative Type (point, box, spot) Effect (normal, water, fire) Center rotation, etc around light Show volume of all lights |
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Snapshot is a handy little feature but should be used only as needed. It is done entirely in the open GL window which makes workflow quite speedy, but doesn't work well for shots that need to be really smooth.
The snapshot technique was used for the handheld shot in the Port of Adia level intro which was a perfect situation. Moving keyframes in the world view could never get you the same effect or accuracy while keeping the motion chaotic.
D - Insert keyframe at current time.
F - Append keyframe after last frame.
Inserting keyframes is the most common use for snapshotting. If you scroll the time to the desired spot, move the camera and hit "D" (all in the GL) it will insert a key for that position at that time.
Snapshotting will set a keyframe for both the camera and camera target. The target is calculated a certain distance in front of the camera which would make it difficult to smoothly track an object. The target keys can be deleted if all you want to key is the camera.
If you are at a time where either the camera or the target have a keyframe, it will replace that key with the new position (even if the camera and target key times are slightly offset). To minimize the number of keys and keep a smoother motion, you can snapshot a key and delete one of the new camera or path keys (whichever you didn't need to move).
Appending keys works in a similar way. Position the camera to your liking and hit the "F" key. This will add a key after your last keyframe. you can then move the camera and apend again to animate the camera in a straight ahead manner.
Top
Get the cinema object here (save target as). Set as a "device-action (switches...)" and in the intelligence window (9 on your keyboard) make sure that "draw during game" and "draw during cinema" are not checked.
Interactive Anim Objects are set up as action devices or enemies in the objects menu but in the intelligence window, you change the intelligence type to interactive anim object, which gives you different intelligence and link options. If an object is already in the world (characters, etc) you should make a variation and change the intelligence on it.
My intelligence settings: Draw during game=off, Draw during cinema=on, Initially invisible=on
Initially invisible: When you have a location where a lot of cinemas tyake place and an object that you only want in one shot, use initially invisible. That way it will be invisible until you send a link to it (any link will make it visible) it's a lot easier than hiding it for all the scenes you don't want it.
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Links are created in the world view using the link tool. The cursor will be a goofy bubble blower or something. First you click on the cinema instance associated with the proper cinema (the "from" or "cause"). This will turn the cursor into a narrow arrow. Then you click on the instance which you want to be effected (the "to" or "effect"). That will bring up this menu
Cause doesn't matter since the link will be triggered by the cinema. Use "Instance Dies"
Effect options differ depending on the intelligence type (see
Setting up Object Types)Action devices- Can be made visible/invisible and you can trigger the go anim (see
Interactive anim objects- Have the visible/invisible option but have the option to trigger any animation in it's list by anim type. "Start Anim" then pick the anim from the drop down menu (see
Interactive Anim Objects for setting these up)Note: When you send any link (other than make invisible obviously) it will unhide the instance if it is set to "initially invisible"
To rename, change color, change the effect, or delete a link, use the links menu. This is optional, but if your scenes get busy, you'll be glad you kept things orderly. Note: Links can be viewed by level, but not by cinema
Name- Since all links are called <new> it can get confusing. Giving links a descriptive name will be helpful since it tells you the name when you drag the slider in the GL view
Color- Color can be helpful as well, I usually pick a different color for each object I'm triggering and have standard colors reserved (red for a "play cinema" link and yellow for any sound related link
Effect- If you click on the yellow arrow, it will bring up the modify link window. This allows you to change the effect (i.e. change the anim triggered for an anim object)
Multi Selecting- If you click on the shaded area to the left of the link, it will select the link. You can use shift and control to select multiple links. Clicking on a selected link will deselect it Note: When changing any properties of a link, be sure either the link you are editing is picked, or nothing is picked. Be very careful about changing the effect whenanything is selected as it will change them all.
Deleting- Select the link(s) right click on it and click delete
Note: You can click on the cause or effect in the link menu (instance, Make visible) and it will center the instance in the world view. Also, clicking on the eye will hide or unhide links in the world (you can multi select for this too)
Links in the world are shown above. The red link is from the blue region to the cinema instance, triggering it to play. The triangle means the link is triggered by a region set and is placed in the center of the regions. The blue link is from the cinema instance to Adon (see the Link Menu pic above). The large blue circle means that the link is from that instance, the small circle is the instance that is being triggered.
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There is no standard way to trigger sounds and music. All you need to do is link from the cinema instance to another instance and select "Play Sound", "Play Music/RAX sample" or "Play Ambient Sound". Then in the pulldown menu select the appropriate sound. You can link to an anim object or any action device, but what I'll do is drop in a cinema instance and scale it smaller so I know it deals with sound and send all my sound links to it. Remember, if you call music or ambient sounds, you need to check the appropriate override box in the Cinema Settings window for every cinema in that sequence or it will cut off when switching cinemas
From Regions
To trigger a cinema for testing purposes, it's easiest to activate it by linking a region to play the cinema when you enter it. First, bring up the regions window (ctrl+0) and pick a region that is in that location (optional I guess, but it could screw up your fog settings otherwise...here's why...) When you link the region, it wil copy the active region and add a trigger to it. So if it is a warp region, it will warp you to another level and the cinema will get screwed up.
Use the link tool. Hold shift and draw a lasso around the points of the region you want to trigger the cinema, then click on one of the highlighted region points. This will give you the arrow cursor. Then you click on the cinema instance for the proper cinema. In the "Create New Link" window, select "player enters" as the cause, and "play cinema" as the effect. That's it. Now when you enter that region, it will play that cinema. Note: Make sure the cinema instance has a cinema assigned to it or it won't know what to play and will have no effect.
As a Cinema Type
As described previously. Pick the cinema, then right click on it and set it's type. This should only be done for the first cinema of the sequence, the rest will be triggerd from inside the cinemas (how'bout that segway)
Why: Multiple paths in a single cinema will work fine if your cinema is just camera shots with no frills. If the cinemas get more complicated, you can run into some problems:
Links, fades and FOV won't slide with paths. If you have two paths in a cinema both of which (or just the second) have enough links, etc. that you wouldn't want to have to move by hand, you're pretty much screwed if you decide to adjust the length of the first path. You can scale the camera and target paths, but the only way to scale links etc. is by globally scaling the whole cinema. If you had originally set this up as two separate cinemas, you could change the length of the first one and have no effect on the second since it is it's own entity.
Fog must keep the same settings throughout the duration of the cinema. In order to have a shot with any fog settings changed, you must create a new cinema and set the Cinema Settings Window to change the fog
Existing paths cannot be moved within a cinema. Changing the order then becomes a big ordeal. Also, a single cinema cannot be split into multiple cinemas (see Duplicating Cinemas for a solution to these)
How: This is similar to both triggering a cinema from a region, and triggering a character to animate or unhide. Using the link tool, click on the instance for the cinema that will be playing first. Then click on the instance for the cinema that you want to trigger to play. When the new link menu comes up, pick instance dies as the cause (since like any link from a cinema, it will be triggered by the link icon in the GL view) and Play Cinema as the effect. You'll then slide that link triangle in the GL to the end of the first cinema (if you butt it up against the end, it may finish the cinema before it triggers the next one, so put it a little left of the last key)
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Linking across levels works the same way as linking within one level. You just have to be sure that the cinema instance is in the same level as the cinema you wish to play. When it hits the link in the first cinema, it will change to the level where the next cinema instance is and will play the cinema in that level.
The downside to this is load time. When a cinema changes levels, it has to unload the current level and load the next level. This can cause a slight pause. If the level is very large, it may appear to be freezing up. Any time you change levels you should fade to or cut to black to disguise the pause.
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Level 1 Linked to level 2 |
Level 2 Linked to from level 1 |
Particles
To trigger Particles in cinemas, you must use a null object action device with an "idle" anim and a "go" anim (which should be at 2-3 frames). I copied the object used for the explosions, since it cannot be seen even if visible and has the correct anims (just delete the existing particle events). Particle events should then be placed on the go anim. Set the intelligence of the object so it's initially playing it's idle anim and is visible during cinemas. To trigger the particle, sent a "Start go anim" link to the object and adjust it's time in the GL. Keep the the particle as close to the 0,0,0 point as you can, that will make the location of the particle more predictable. See Thomas' Particle HTML file for details on particles.
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When making cinemas, there are two ways you can go about it. Creating the cinema in the level used in gameplay, or copying the level and modifying it.
Using the "real" level can introduce new problems, but sometimes is the wisest course of action. It saves cartridge space and minimizes load time but is best used for quick cuts between gameplay. In Turok 2, This was used for talisman areas since there are six rooms and there was no need to duplicate them all for the cinemas. It was also used in Boss encounters because of programming limitations (The player could not exit the boss level without screwing up the status of the boss, etc.) The downside of this method is that the level and the cinema cannot be worked on simultaniously. The designer must hand the level off to the artist for them to create the cinemas. This can become a bottleneck. Also it creates a greater chance of the level being screwed up accidentally by the artist (i was very hesitant to change much in the world).
Duplicating the level is an easier and cleaner way to go about things (If you can afford to do it). The advantage to this method is freedom to change just about anything in the level, including instances, collision and lighting. If you're duplicating existing levels to use as your cinema worlds, there are a few things to keep in mind. since the level is it's own entity, you can delete any instances that are not seen by the camera. This also goes for entire levels. Even more important than deleting unseen instances, is deleting unnecesary collision. Region information is the larger part of the level as far as storage space. Accurate collision is only necesary if things (characters, plants, etc.) are tracking the ground. Remember, the smaller the level, the quicker the load time and the shorter the pause. Be careful when deleting collision or scenery or characters may snap to an elevation of 0 and it becomes dificult to repair. It is a wise decision to save frequently and as different names when doing this.
When creating cinemas, the geometry can become very confusing. Layers make it easy to group and manage your instances.
To bring up the layers menu, Goto the "View" pulldown. In this Menu, you can create new groups, add to / subtract from existing groups, select, show, hide and freeze entire layers.
Selecting in the layers menu is similar to the link menu: Click the gray area to the left of the desired layer. I usually make a layer that includes all the background instances (or you could make layers per scene) this way it's easier to freeze or hide the entire background set.
You can also change the color and check the box next to the color box to color code your objects in the world view.
The number on the right is the number of instances in the layer.
+/-: Adds/subtracts selected instances to/from selected layer
Show/Hide: Hides or unhides all instances on the selected layer.
Select/Deselect: selects or deselects all instances on the selected layer.
Freeze/Thaw: Freezes or Thaws all instances on the selected layer.
Merging cinemas can be necesary at many stages of development. Eventually that cinemas must be merged in the game, or vice versa, but normally the designers will take care of that. It is best to merge the cinemas together into one or more master files before that time for ease of intergration. When you have a number of cinemas merged together, you will see why it's wise to have specific names (i.e. "Level2-totem")
Merging Cinemas will merge the cinemas and their paths. It will not merge links since they're dependant on the level
Merging Cinemas and Levels merges in the cinemas with all their paths, the entire level which includes all the instances and links.
Merging Objects will replace the objects in the world with the objects in the merged file (based on name) so be sure that the file you are merging in has the most current models if you're using this option. Replacing models with old versions can screw up links. For instance if you have a link triggering a run animation and the character merged has no run animation, it wil ignore the link and he will continue with his previous action.
Tips: Close the Cinema Window when merging! Otherwise it can crash when you click in it. Close it when merging anything actually. It's good to save under a new name immediately after merging. This may be an old bug...who knows.
Why:
When making similar cinemas, it is often easier to start from an existing cinema and make the necesary modifications. There are a couple different examples of this.
How:
The six talisman cinemas are nearly identical and were not re-created each time. The first cinema was created completely and saved. Then the same file was modified (links changed, timing adjusted to fit speech length, name of the level changed to reflect the cinema) and saved under a new name. When all were completed, they were all merged together one at a time and this file was later merged into the game.
For the mother, the cinema was duplicated for a different purpose. There was one long cinema for the entire opening sequence, but it needed to be split up into three cinemas because of fog settings of a certain shot (fog is set per cinema). The file was saved, then all the cinemas except for the intro shot were deleted. This was saved under a temporary name. After re-opening the main file, we merged the temporary file into the world (cinemas only) two times. The downside to this is links are not kept since the level wasn't merged in as well. We linked the three cinemas together and slid them in the GL to where we needed the fog to start. Then in the second cinema, did the same thing where the fog ended. For the second and third cinemas deleted the paths beforehand that had already been played. This just shows that having a scene split up into multiple cinemas in the first place can be beneficial.
