50 réponses à ce sujet

[aidanodr]

Hi Guys,

I just need a little Guidance. I specifically want to do Machinima with Dragons Age. I do not particularly wish to do Modding or new set creation ( Yet ).

I have looked through the WIKI and at the Tutorials:

http://social.biowar...x.php/Tutorials

They  "go through all the steps needed to create a basic adventure" - does all this apply to creating Machinima OR just some of it? Like CUT SCENES?

As an aside and having come from Half Life SDK, I found some of the tutes a little vague and VERY ASSUMING. Steps missing and the like.

Any help in what I need to use and NOT need to use would be appreciated.

The sets in Dragons Age suit the ideas that I have far more than Half Life.

Cheers
Aidan 

[Beerfish]

Well your 1st step would be to find the section on the wiki to do with 'Cinematography' that will include cutscenes. Have a look at the tutorial and anything else to do with cutscenes in the wiki.



Then just start trying to make something with the cutscene editor. Another very valuable thing for you to do would be to skim through the pages in this forum looking for topics that interest you. You will find a lot of information just in previous pages of these forums. And of course as you go along if you have any problems or have questions feel free to ask in this forum.

[aidanodr]

Hi Beerfish,



Thank you - yes I have gone through the CutScene Tute just their. What I am asking is - for Machinima - what areas in the tute terms can I disgard?



So if one was about to undergo a machinima movie would one start with the cut scene editor? What else IF ANYTHING ELSE is required after this.



From others experience I just want to know the specific areas to concentrate on and learn.



Aidan

[aidanodr]

OK,

I have my cutscene ( very simple ) as a test. Now I want to preview it in game. I use the shortcut method:

"D:\\\\\\\\Steam\\\\\\\\steamapps\\\\\\\\common\\\\\\\\dragon age origins\\\\\\\\bin_ship\\\\\\\\DAOrigins.exe" -disablegui -runcutscene=cutscene2.cut -autologin=single player

( the extra \\'s above are added by the forum, its not me )

All works well except - as stated elsewhere - when the cutscene ends the "game" hangs. CTRL-ALT-DEL / Task manager / End task is the only way out.

Any other way of sorting this?

Cheers
Aidan

Modifié par aidanodr, 24 août 2010 - 12:06 .

[Beerfish]

I've never previewed a cutscene that way so I can't help you really.



As for what you will need. Well you need an area to base a cutscene on. You need a level to base an area on. You will need to create your actors (creatures).



You will want to be aware of available aniamtions and fx's you can put into cutscenes. See my project below to get some animation and fx lists.



http://social.biowar...oject/30/#files

[aidanodr]

Thanks again BF,

"I've never previewed a cutscene that way so I can't help you really."

Is their another way to do this? If so how? I saw mention of a "cutscene from a trigger" script but am unsure of how to implement this.

http://social.biowar.../Useful_Scripts

Is this the way you preview cutscenes OR is there another way? How and where does one introduce this script?

IN General - does the whole overall process go like this. Top down - New Module, add an area, add actors, placeables? Then use Cutscenes to animate your scene? 

When one adds a new module there seems to be no access to existing areas, cutscenes and actors. The only way I had access to these was either by using the Single Player module as a basis OR having created a new module I open HIERARCHY settings and select "Single Player".

You mention - " You need a level to base an area on". Are you referring to AREA LAYOUT here?

Again, I am getting my head around the inner workings so any help IN THE ORDER OF THINGS relevant to MACHINIMA ( as opposed to level creation / modding ) is appreciated to speed up this process

Ultimately I want to use the existing "sets" to film a machinima rather than rolling ones own from scratch!

Aidan

Modifié par aidanodr, 24 août 2010 - 11:11 .

[Beerfish]

"I've never previewed a cutscene that way so I can't help you really."

Is their another way to do this? If so how? I saw mention of a "cutscene from a trigger" script but am unsure of how to implement this.

http://social.biowar.../Useful_Scripts

I do it from a trigger, that doesn't mean it is the best way to do it.  I have a trigger script that was provided for me that I could post for you.  (I think thre might be threads on this further down the forums.

Is this the way you preview cutscenes OR is there another way? How and where does one introduce this script?

IN General - does the whole overall process go like this. Top down - New Module, add an area, add actors, placeables? Then use Cutscenes to animate your scene? 

It all depends on what your cutscene needs.  You could use one of the preexisting areas from the game to base a cutscene on.  If you want something unique then you will have to make a 'level' with the level editor.  Then you add the level to an 'area'  (these terms are a bit different than how they are used elsewhere).  So it would be New module, make a level, add level to an area, add things to the area, base the cutscene on the area.  You can either add creatures/actors to the area and then 'activate' them in your cutscene or directly add them to the cutscene.

When one adds a new module there seems to be no access to existing areas, cutscenes and actors. The only way I had access to these was either by using the Single Player module as a basis OR having created a new module I open HIERARCHY settings and select "Single Player".

The single player area has 'levels'  which are individual files.  You can make a new module, make anew area and then use one of the single player levels in youir area.

You mention - " You need a level to base an area on". Are you referring to AREA LAYOUT here?

The level is the art part of an area.  You create a level with the level editor, (raising or lowering terrain, adding trees, or water, or indoor stuff etc.  A level is saved as a file.  An 'Area' is part of the database, so you add your level to an area and then you can populate your area with other things.  You will get a better idea of this by going throw the wiki for level/area building.


Again, I am getting my head around the inner workings so any help IN THE ORDER OF THINGS relevant to MACHINIMA ( as opposed to level creation / modding ) is appreciated to speed up this process

The main thing in this regard is you need something to base your machinima on.  Is it going to be outdoors?  Indoors?  Does the area have to be unique?  All of that is up to you.  You may find that you can use exisiting levels from the game to base your area on and have no real need to make a level your self.

Ultimately I want to use the existing "sets" to film a machinima rather than rolling ones own from scratch!

Ah, there you have it then.  You will still want to create areas but you can base the areas on exisiting 'levels' thus you won't have to build anything for your sets.  (You will probably want to add 'placeables' and 'props' to your area to suit your 'sets'

[aidanodr]

Beerfish wrote... "I've never previewed a cutscene that way so I can't help you really."

Is their another way to do this? If so how? I saw mention of a "cutscene from a trigger" script but am unsure of how to implement this.

http://social.biowar.../Useful_Scripts

I do it from a trigger, that doesn't mean it is the best way to do it.  I have a trigger script that was provided for me that I could post for you.  (I think thre might be threads on this further down the forums.

Hiya,

Is it the same script in that link above under Useful Scripts?

One more thing I would like to know about a script like this. How / where / when do you enable / use it? You say "I do it from a trigger" - ??? 

The method I describes works fine BUT when it plays through and ends the cutscene the game hangs each time. I think its a known fault. A method that doesnt do this would be preferable!

The wiki again falls down here - it talks of making scripts but gets vague on how to run them OR where to run them.

Aidan 

Modifié par aidanodr, 24 août 2010 - 03:01 .

[Beerfish]

Well you would have to make an area, place a trigger, start up the game, walk on the trigger to start the cutscene. The cutscene plays and you are still in game. By the sounds of it it is just as easy if not easier for you to do it the way you have done it even if it does hang.

[aidanodr]

k. So I added a new module called Machinima1. Then I added a new area Mach_area1. In the object Inspector for this new area I selected an Area Layout to use. I then setup a new Cutscene called Mach_cut1. In the object Inspector for this new Cutscene I set the AREA parameter to Mach_area1 .. the new cutscene displays the new area layout. From there I can add characters, cameras and the like.

I have noticed when one sets up a complete new module YOU DO NOT have access to the characters and the creatures one would have access to if one just used the SINGLE PLAYER MODULE. This is correct?

If that is the case and to get full access to more characters like Elves and so on is it best to use the SINGLE PLAYER module, select a preset area and then add a new cutscene?

OR use the Hierarchy option to "add" SINGLE PLAYER to ones new module??

A pertinent question would be SINGLE PLAYER MODULE v ONES OWN NEW MODULE. What are the differences in usage???

I noticed by using the SINGLE PLAYER Module I have all the "Actors" in place already. The Area IS NOT editable. In my own module I might have teh same Area Layout but this time NO "Actors".

Aidan

Modifié par aidanodr, 24 août 2010 - 08:33 .

[Yara C.]

Sharing your interest in machinima I would like to tell where I started some time ago or - to be more exact- what my advice is. It is a good lesson to create your own module - following the instructions of the wiki tut or SilentCids vid tutorials - and use a unique ID for the module etc. Otherwise you will risk breaking the game. All resources are available in your module.

Create new creatures, choose a head morph...and place the creatures in your area. The creatures will stand around rather stiff without the usual subtle movements (weight shift, breathing etc.) You can assign these neutral poses by animation patterns, the conversation editor or the cutscene editor.
All creatures which are placed in the area could be activitated in the cutscene. (If not activitated they will be visible in the cutscene but only doing what is determined by animation patterns).
It is not necessary to place your actors in the area, they can be placed directly in the cutscene editor. But it is highly recommended to place them first in the area and then activitate them in the cutscene editor, if the animations having sound effects (not all anis have sound) shall work.

Apropos resources - here you will find the single player and resources core files (additionally) for download:
http://social.biowar...ect/1331/#files

And Beerfish´s utilities are great (thanks, thanks!)
I can only underline Beerfish´s response.

If you want to create something unique it is worthwile to invest a bit time in the basics. To get an idea how the toolset works, which creative possibilities you have and where you will be confronted by restrictions or bugs. Yes, not all necessary information can be found in the wiki. Valuable information is rather disperse. One excellent source is this forum - thanks to contributors like Beerfish. I have learned here a lot.

BTW- for machinima the shortcut/login-method is sufficient.
And coming back to the hang problem - have you set a new value for the cutscene length in the object editor? The default length seems to be 60 secs.

Modifié par Yara Cousland, 25 août 2010 - 09:05 .

[aidanodr]

Hi Yara,

PLEASE NOTE - I AM USING FORWARD SLASHES in the computer path names ( should be backslash ) to prevent this backslash duplication thing at this forum. 

The login method works fine when one actually sets it to output the frames as TGA files:

Either setup a SHORTCUT with your version of whats below OR Copy / Paste your version of whats below to START / RUN ( in Windows PC's )

" YOUR PATH TO .... /dragon age origins/bin_ship/DAOrigins.exe" -disablegui -forcehighres -fpsoverride=30 -capturemovie=YOUR MOVIE NAME - runcutscene=YOUR CUTSCENE NAME -autologin=YOUR MODULE NAME

The  -capturemovie= parameter will output each frame as a .tga file to your:

C:/Documents and Settings/aidan/My Documents/BioWare/Dragon Age/Logs

It will create a folder named after "your movie name" above and store these TGA files there, inside the Logs folder of that path. 

As per - http://social.biowar...utscene_capture

The above is for anyone else coming this way ... the main point to you Yara and all is that by using the  -capturemovie parameter in the command line commands the game / cutscene CLOSES properly AFTER it outputs the TGA's. If you left this out - the game / cutscene just stops and hangs.

Thanks for your advice. I caught up quiet a bit last night on what you said here. I am using my own module. 

A question though - in the workflow FOR MACHINIMA - is the use of CUTSCENEs the main tool to produce a movie? As in one can do EVERYTHING there? Like fight scenes and all that?

Once a MODULE is setup, then an AREA with selected Area Layout. A new CUTSCENE is added. All the Characters / props needed for your film are added to the Area, then will be in your cutscene. From here you assign animation behaviours at the timeline to each character. Would this be the jist of things? Please correct if I am wrong OR have left stuff out ...

Aidan

Modifié par aidanodr, 25 août 2010 - 10:58 .

[aidanodr]

And so - some progress:

www.netactivesolutions.net/machinima/

Theirs only one file there at the moment - da_movie1a.avi - Its 2.8mb or so, Divx. Using my own Module, Area, Cutscene and a Character with two actions.

Nothing spectacular, its a start!
Aidan

Modifié par aidanodr, 25 août 2010 - 11:11 .

[BloodsongVengeance]

heyas aidan!



i'm in the same boat. making cutscenes actually isn't all THAT hard, i'm finding... getting them to all work RIGHT and do everything you want them to do, however... !!! grr!



you can get any creature (ie: companions!) out of the single player module and into your module with this handy trick i picked up: duplicate!

go to the SP module, find the creature/person you want, right click and duplicate.

give it a unique tag (i've been using the same tag it has, but with cs_ on the front, for my cutscene module), and tell it which module (yours) owns it.

then it will be in YOUR module resources! yay!



the bad news is, it won't have it's conversation files and VO. also, you can't use the same trick to duplicate the conversation files, because doing that changes all the conversation line reference numbers and borks it all to heck.

this is only relevant if you want to use lines/VO from the original game. (which is what i want to do; this may not affect you.)



i'm not using the 'cutscene preview' command line options, i'm using a script to trigger the cutscene. i'm happy with just capturing it with fraps, not putting out a hundred tga files to assemble later also, using the scripting, the game quits out of the cutscene just fine.



http://social.biowar...tscene_tutorial



this is the tutorial i used and what i learned from. right now, i'm working on a SIMPLE intro-scene for my da vids... it's just the character select screen, with my characters in it, posing and talking. fortunately, for this one, i just want to use soundset files, which are available in a new module.

let me see if i can remember the steps i took...



1: new module "CutScenes"

you're going to need a module start script -- since i wanted to use one of my characters from the SP game, i needed the line to pick a character from one of the save games. (i can get details later.)



2: new area "bzTitleStage" -- i went through the areas list and found which one was the character stage -- one of the misc ones. note that if you don't like the lighting on an area, you have to make a new layout from scratch and deal with the lightmapper, which is a nightmare :X



3: new cutscene "bzTitle"

and then basically, you go through the same steps as the wiki tutorial. set up the workpanes, set up your camera, add your actors, animate them, blah blah blah.

make sure you find beerfish's xls file of animation lists so you can search for animations that you might want to use. good idea to peruse the list at least once, then you'll have an idea of what you could use for your desired action.





4: export to Override -- this is a pain in the butt, but though the game can see your module, it apparently cant see anything IN the module. so, export the area files and the cutscene files to override before trying to do anything with it. :/ (and remember to re-export every time you update something!)





at about this point, i'm sorta stuck, as several various things are going wrong and not working, and i just dont know why.





ps: when you 'work on' the SP campaign in the toolset, you'll notice everything is read-only. yeah, big help there. (well, we wouldnt want to DESTROY the whole game now, would we?) if you right click and open a 'local' copy, you can work on it. however, as i understand it, you can't save your local copy -- all changes will be lost when you close the SP module again. (though i guess you can export it before you close it? not sure.)

i'm still trying to work out all the ins and outs of this. at any rate, if all you need are the creatures, you can get them out with the method i described above.



pps: check out beerfish's cutscene creators guild

http://social.biowar...28/#discussions

[aidanodr]

Hi BSV,

You say:

"i'm not using the 'cutscene preview' command line options, i'm using a script to trigger the cutscene. i'm happy with just capturing it with fraps, not putting out a hundred tga files to assemble later also, using the scripting, the game quits out of the cutscene just fine."

 Im still trying to figure out how to do this whole scripts thing. Could you add a quick tute / how to here - the way you do this maybe? I saw a script here:

 social.bioware.com/wiki/datoolset/index.php/Useful_Scripts

Is that what you are using?

So I have my scene ( as per above video clip ) ready to go in the cutscene, where do I add this script to trigger? Do you add it IN THE Cutscene itself?

Cheers
Aidan

Modifié par aidanodr, 26 août 2010 - 01:27 .

[Beerfish]

What you do is the following:



- Open up the 'area' that the cutscene is located in.

- Put down a starting waypoint in that area.

- Just in front of the waypoint put down a trigger.

- In the triggers properties you will put the script to trigger the cutscene.

- In your module properties you will enter the starting area and the starting waypoint.

- Export your module (as described by Bloodsongvengance above)

- Start the game, select 'other campaigns' and choose your module.



The game will start up, you will be located at your waypoint, you just walk forward a few steps and you will trigger the cutscene,

[aidanodr]

Double - deleted!

Modifié par aidanodr, 26 août 2010 - 03:32 .

[aidanodr]

Hi Beerfish,

Thank you again. That now works as you describe. Three things for others who may come this way:

1. When Bloodsongvengance says "so, export the area files and the cutscene files to override" he means to right click on the AREA and the CUTSCENE Tab or item, go to export, Select EXPORT OPTIONS and enable "Override campaign export settings"? Do you then set the Starting Area and Starting Waypoint there? ( I did )

2. You say "Export your Module". By that you mean export the AREA, the CUTSCENE? This did not work for me, but when I also exported the SCRIPT and the WAYPOINT mentioned , then things worked. Is this correct?

3. The script at - social.bioware.com/wiki/datoolset/index.php/Useful_Scripts ( first one called "Run a cutscene from a trigger" - Is this the correct script to use in the trigger?

Cheers
Aidan

Modifié par aidanodr, 26 août 2010 - 03:33 .

[Beerfish]

1) you can put the starting point in the export options for testing purposes if you wish, that works just fine and is probably the preferred way to go when working with an actual module you are building. You should also be able to set the starting area and waypoint in the module properties.



2) I mean go up to the top of the screen and click 'tools'....'export'...and then choose one of the export options. Read the wiki to decide which of these exports to use.



http://social.biowar...orting_a_module



3) I don't know if that script has been updated from what it was when it first was put on the wiki as that one never worked for me. It should be the proper script if it says run a script from a trigger. Only one way to find out, try it.

[Yara C.]

Hi Aidan,

many ways leading to Rome...
I use fraps too, not the -capturemovie parameter. To save time I choose actually this way for a quick start:
Provided that there are only changes within the cutscene:
- rightclick on the cutscene
- export it without dependant resources
- start the cutscene by a short cut with the known path using only the parameters -autologin=modulename -runcutscene=cutscenename.cut (-disablegui superfluous)

If you want to use the VO of the original game - there is a tool to extract the fsbs which I have used for my trials: Aezay´s fsbExtractor
http://social.biowar.../9/index/295486
Worked well for me although it is necessary to convert the wavs to 16 bit. (used Audacity as batch converter)

Modifié par Yara Cousland, 26 août 2010 - 07:11 .

[aidanodr]

Thanks again all,

YARA - earlier you said  "It is not necessary to place your actors in the area, they can be placed directly in the cutscene editor. But it is highly recommended to place them first in the area and then activitate them in the cutscene editor,"

I have been doing that actually - Actor into AREA then refresh the cutscene, up the actor comes, activate the actor.

After all this however - If you move the actor in - for example - in the Area, this movement is not reflected in the cutscene or vica versa. So, having done all the above, I assume all the movement is done in the Cutscene, it doesnt matter whats done in the area?

I ask this just in case their are any gotchas in the relationship between the AREA and the CUTSCENE?

So - in DA regardless of what frame capture procedure you use, one will always get superflous frames at either end of the movie?

BEERFISH - When I asked:

"When Bloodsongvengance says "so, export the area files and the cutscene files to override" he means to right click on the AREA and the CUTSCENE Tab or item, go to export, Select EXPORT OPTIONS and enable "Override campaign export settings"? Do you then set the Starting Area and Starting Waypoint there? ( I did )"

I was asking was this the correct procedure to export files to override?

You also said "I mean go up to the top of the screen and click 'tools'....'export'...and then choose one of the export options."

So this will export whatever you have open in one go? If you have an AREA Tab open and a CUTSCENE Tab open - going to TOOLS / EXPORT will do both at once as opposed to me right clicking each tab and then Export?

With respect to THAT SCRIPT - It worked for me. Are their better ones somewhere?

YARA - Yes I use FRAPS also. The TGA route while nice is slow!

Aidan

Modifié par aidanodr, 26 août 2010 - 11:43 .

[Beerfish]

If your script is working use that. If you are able to export and have a successful in game cutscene use what ever procedure works for you and don't worry about anything else.

[aidanodr]

OK BF,

Just trying to limit - if possible - those typical gotchas that happen in software - asking such questions in case one of you guys go EUREKA, yes now I remember ... dont do this or do it this way.

Thanks for all the help so far. Hope ye dont mind if I keep asking and being annoying
Aidan

Modifié par aidanodr, 27 août 2010 - 12:12 .

[DahliaLynn]

Yara Cousland wrote...

It is not necessary to place your actors in the area, they can be placed directly in the cutscene editor. But it is highly recommended to place them first in the area and then activitate them in the cutscene editor, if the animations having sound effects (not all anis have sound) shall work.

Any particular reason for placing actors in the area then activate as opposed to the cutscene editor itself?

[Beerfish]

DahliaLynn wrote...

Yara Cousland wrote...

It is not necessary to place your actors in the area, they can be placed directly in the cutscene editor. But it is highly recommended to place them first in the area and then activitate them in the cutscene editor, if the animations having sound effects (not all anis have sound) shall work.

Any particular reason for placing actors in the area then activate as opposed to the cutscene editor itself?

There may be something more to this but in my brief experience, if you use the creatures in the area as opposed to placing in the cutscene you can get the sounds associated with some of the animations whereas you don't seem to get them if the creatures are just placed..  I haven't done enough testing or research to totally confirm but some others on this forum probably can.