Cinematic Contest #6 - 5 minutes free theme

[APproject]

Thread has been quiet for few days. So I will post an update of mine. Already cinematic is 1+ minute in. A screenshot from cinematic below, it is the very first sight viewer will see, on this sight name of cinematic will appear, time and place. Landscape is slightly lighter due to the lightning which will appear for a moment and also making landscape brighter for a moment. One actual scene is complete, but I do not wish to spoil it.

I will be putting special effort into sounds, such as realistic and well timed footsteps, random crying, thunder and so on. I will try to focus more on the feel itself rather than a fighting scene. Also experimenting with custom animations, so far so good.

First View

Unfortunately, I will almost definitely not be able to submit an entry for the contest due to a bug in the Wurst suite.

This should not stop you. Find a way around, or change scenario, it really shouldn't stop you, unless of course you are not feeling like making it. How are we going to reach 20 entries like that?

 

[NightStalker]

Thread has been quiet for few days. So I will post an update of mine. Already cinematic is 1+ minute in. A screenshot from cinematic below, it is the very first sight viewer will see, on this sight name of cinematic will appear, time and place. Landscape is slightly lighter due to the lightning which will appear for a moment and also making landscape brighter for a moment. One actual scene is complete, but I do not wish to spoil it.

I will be putting special effort into sounds, such as realistic and well timed footsteps, random crying, thunder and so on. I will try to focus more on the feel itself rather than a fighting scene. Also experimenting with custom animations, so far so good.

First View

This should not stop you. Find a way around, or change scenario, it really shouldn't stop you, unless of course you are not feeling like making it. How are we going to reach 20 entries like that?

You've shut the topic AProject That is awesome!

 

[Radicool]

Already cinematic is 1+ minute in. A screenshot from cinematic below, it is the very first sight viewer will see, on this sight name of cinematic will appear, time and place. Landscape is slightly lighter due to the lightning which will appear for a moment and also making landscape brighter for a moment. One actual scene is complete, but I do not wish to spoil it.

This looks fantastic. Are you making all these models and animations yourself? I think I should throw in the towel! I can't model, so I use existing resources. That really limits what I can do.

Good luck with your cinematic. I'm looking forward to watching it!

 

[Bribe]

I am still going to participate despite the amazing WIP's that I am seeing on here, and I recommend you guys do the same. Do it for the honor. If you give up you are worse than a loser.

 

[APproject]

Thanks, guys. Well, I am not making animations and models from scratch, I but edit those to achieve certain result, so it doesn't require lots of knowledge at all, it just takes time. It should really never stop people from competing, anyone can do what I do, those are not miracles after all, turn it into motivation instead. I would like to quote Keiji (cinematic contest applies same as terraining one):

When you see something that amazes you, you should turn that amazement
into inspiration: If someone else can do it, why can't you? Entering a contest
like this is only about winning if you know you're good at terraining, but for
everyone else it's a matter of practice and a matter of doing something new
and challenging. Don't loose hope, go read some tutorials, try a new angle.

 

[Gilles]

I am still going to participate despite the amazing WIP's that I am seeing on here, and I recommend you guys do the same. Do it for the honor. If you give up you are worse than a loser.

What if you gave up before it started? Am I still a loser? : (

 

[Bribe]

Just make a lousy cinematic, then watch it and add more lousy stuff. Rinse and repeat. You'll get good ideas out because you're brainstorming. Eventually, you have a mess which you can refine into a beautiful sculpture. You're not doing it to win, you're doing it because you can win.

 

[Deleted member 238226]

i am really looking forward what the contesttant can make in this contest.

 

[Arad MNK]

WIP #3.

Has a VERY bad contrast but In-game it will be OK as I will use SetDayNightModels("", ""). That's exactly why (SetDayNightModels("", "")) I can't use B2M torches, the flame doesn't show up.

WIP #3

EDIT: Ahhh... Nevermind. Fixed it in the editor. Flame problem persists.

WIP #4

 

[APproject]

Looking good, Arad. Yeah, emitters seem to shut down when that function is used. Maybe it uses Wc3 MPQ material for emitters? Because I fixed it for Arechon's Affliction by importing the fire skin separately into import manager and not taking it from MPQ.

 

[Loner-Magixxar]

Why is it that I import a model into my map and the model works fine in the editor but when I start testing the map it turns into a green cube?
I place the mdx and its blps in the correct path, but still the green cube appears.
Any help is appreciated.

 

[Gilles]

Which model are you using?

 

[Loner-Magixxar]

models that i downloaded from hive and some wow models

EDIT: Never mind, I can make do with original warcraft models.

 

[Ebisux]

Hope you guys dont focus on salvaging HQ models and creating scenery, and ignore the majority of what really makes a cinematic.
Arguably, the most successful warcraft 3 cinematic uses mostly warcraft 3 models, and cliffs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr3lrxg-2mA

 

[Gilles]

Hope you guys dont focus on salvaging HQ models and creating scenery, and ignore the majority of what really makes a cinematic.
Arguably, the most successful warcraft 3 cinematic uses mostly warcraft 3 models, and cliffs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr3lrxg-2mA

And it looks like ass. Honestly, I'd sooner watch a mediocre story that looked as good as one can in wc3, than a great story that looks like that. I know everyone loves a good'ol fashion "graphics aren't everything" circlejerk, but they still count for a lot in my books.

Also I <3 terrain so I'm biased.

 

[NightStalker]

A good cinematic should have both decent story and decent graphics. But we're talking about war3 here, some people can't find/don't have time to find hq models. And if you put a few hq models in then you'll have to reconsider the rest of the models you'll be putting in. It needs time, and some of us don't have that much. But ofc this is what separates the good and the bad too. Since this is a 5 minutes cinematic contest, I dont think graphics will disturb you much.

 

[Gilles]

Look, Ebisux post just rubbed me the wrong way. Unfortunately I've become sensitive about graphics. I've heard too many people talk about how graphics don't matter or that they don't make a game (hint: they matter to me) and his post just triggered me.

Also he might just be trying to be helpful, but I don't see why he has any reason to think that anyone is sacrificing story or whatever he thinks is "the majority of what really makes a cinematic."

Consider the difference rephrasing his post makes. "Those WIPs look good. If the other aspects of your cinematic live up to those standards, you'll have one amazing entry!"

You make the same point, but I don't get pissy.

I dont think graphics will disturb you much.

They will. I wouldn't bother watching something that looks awful.

 

[Ebisux]

I was just showing my example because it seemed like the conversation on here became focused on models, where people were get discouraged by terrain pictures:
"I think I should throw in the towel! I can't model, so I use existing resources."
"I am still going to participate despite the amazing WIP's that I am seeing on here."
So I just gave an example of a successful cinematic where a single screenshot of a scene wouldnt mean much.

 

[The World Is Flat]

Look, Ebisux post just rubbed me the wrong way. Unfortunately I've become sensitive about graphics. I've heard too many people talk about how graphics don't matter or that they don't make a game (hint: they matter to me) and his post just triggered me.

Also he might just be trying to be helpful, but I don't see why he has any reason to think that anyone is sacrificing story or whatever he thinks is "the majority of what really makes a cinematic."

Consider the difference rephrasing his post makes. "Those WIPs look good. If the other aspects of your cinematic live up to those standards, you'll have one amazing entry!"

You make the same point, but I don't get pissy.



They will. I wouldn't bother watching something that looks awful.

I don't want to derail the thread too much, but just on the theory here I'm 100% with you. A cinematic relies heavily on imagery to convey meaning and information. Models that are poor in quality heavily impact the ability of the viewer to become either immersed or even understand whatever narrative you are on.

That being said, I'm actually a fan of the original models. They are mostly composed with clean meshes and well wrapped textures that minimize visual noise. A lot of "HQ" textures and meshes are poorly composed relative to the textures of the game that they are presented within and they have a lot of very contrasted, noisy textures.

The most important thing to understand is that every part of the composition of your cinematic needs to be on the same level or else you're gonna find a bottleneck. You can be pretty and have a decent narrative, but if your audio is horrible, the experience isn't going to be that great. Same with graphics: if you have a good narrative and sound, but your visual experience doesn't hit the mark, the entire composition is not going to be good.

 

[APproject]

That's true, graphics, sound and nerrative must be the same level, and what I do is not portraying a whole cinematic in my WIPs. In WIPs I just give visual information, that's how I imagine a WIP, because why would I post unit transmissions, voice acting, footsetps in the puddle sounds, spoil important scenery and so on. Terrain and Models are the least spoiling material, that's why I post that and not texts about nerratives or sounds. Demotivation is the least what I want to achieve, if those WIPs demotivate people, I can stop posting it, no problem with me.

Ebisux's posted video contains lots of video editing that is impossible in this contest, I would like to see those visual effects such as blurs and colors or screen size adjustments directly played from Warcraft 3, instead of youtube.

 

[Loner-Magixxar]

In my opinion we should at least try to stay true to some of the WC3 models. After all it's a WC3 modding contest. What's the point inserting lots of effects and models that does not convey a WC3 atmosphere? But still I'm not against using external models. I'm just saying that we should leave some aspects of WC3 intact.

By the way I tried to make the camera face towards the sky but to no avail. Because if you try to do that the camera goes under the ground and points to the bottom of everything. So how are we supposed to avoid using camera angles that point to the ground as Anitarf pointed out?

 

[Chaosy]

Err, that's like saying "We should not upgrade the graphics for our games because that remove the feeling of our old games."
Because 8 bit graphics surely were superior in every way, it was so dramatic to see the pixelated effects that you barely understood the message they tried to convey.

I am not saying it's wrong to have Warcraft-like models, I just think the Wc3 models are completely shit and should not be encouraged in a cinematic where visuals are actually important. (Obviously due their age, not saying Blizzard can't model properly lol)

 

[APproject]

Of course, there is no such rule that promotes HQ models, people can use whatever they wish as long as license is proper. Those who want more HQ material on screen should choose accordingly, and those who sticks to original feel - no problem with that too.

Just increase Z Offset for your camera, this will make your camera emerge from beneath the texture of gound.

 

[NightStalker]

I have a question about music. Way back when i took guitar lessons my teacher was playing some little things and i really liked them so i learnt them. I do not know if these are a part of a song or he just made these up but i have plans to play them arranged by me for the end part of my cinematic. But is this against rules?

I already made a little sample of the music I hope it is not against the rules.

And can anyone help me with this, I could find no solution pls help.
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/world-editor-help-zone-98/import-custom-object-272440/

 

[Kino]

Never made a cinematic before.
Still, Ima leap into this.

 

[Arad MNK]

Looking good, Arad. Yeah, emitters seem to shut down when that function is used. Maybe it uses Wc3 MPQ material for emitters? Because I fixed it for Arechon's Affliction by importing the fire skin separately into import manager and not taking it from MPQ.

Thank you

I have no idea whether it uses in-game textures or it's custom (looks like custom but not sure). Thanks for the Help

 

[APproject]

I wonder if Tickles is willing to participate, I know you are lurking here somewhere!

I already made a little sample of the music I hope it is not against the rules.

Of course it is not, it is encouraged I must say. Would be really different experience knowing that creator did some IRL music for this.

 

[NightStalker]

I wonder if Tickles is willing to participate, I know you are lurking here somewhere!

Of course it is not, it is encouraged I must say. Would be really different experience knowing that creator did some IRL music for this.

But as I said I don't know if any music is existing like mine, i told you the story. But as you've just said i did work on it

EDIT: I couldn't stop myself and finished the outro music for my cinematic

 

[Tickles]

I wonder if Tickles is willing to participate, I know you are lurking here somewhere!

I heard that crazy fool is working on a cinematic about polar bears. He seems to think he's Coca Cola or something.

 

[Shar Dundred]

I heard that crazy fool is working on a cinematic about polar bears. He seems to think he's Coca Cola or something.

That insane fella!

 

[WhiteFang]

I heard that crazy fool is working on a cinematic about polar bears. He seems to think he's Coca Cola or something.

Now I want Coca Cola

 

[NightStalker]

if u can count this as wip too i uploaded the composition on souncloud: https://soundcloud.com/okan-sen-2/f...5764757404&fb_action_types=soundcloud:publish

If you feel it will spoil anything for you don't listen but it's just outro song

and I really need help with the previous thread I've sent u guys I can't keep progressing unless I find a solution...

 

[Arad MNK]

if u can count this as wip too i uploaded the composition on souncloud: https://soundcloud.com/okan-sen-2/f...5764757404&fb_action_types=soundcloud:publish

If you feel it will spoil anything for you don't listen but it's just outro song

and I really need help with the previous thread I've sent u guys I can't keep progressing unless I find a solution...

Sounds nice

Tried to answer

 

[jonhysone]

I am having the music made by me too. I am very aware about licensing.

Also guys, even if the cinematic's overall looking is perfect, focus also on the story, it seems y'all started so quickly without thinking of a good story ?

Good luck anyone. Any WIP of mine will not be shown 'til December.

 

[NightStalker]

Sounds nice

Tried to answer

ahahaha thanks mate!

Also guys, even if the cinematic's overall looking is perfect, focus also on the story, it seems y'all started so quickly without thinking of a good story ?

I even wrote some kind of a short story for the story. I hope I can express it well through the cinematic but I'm sure my story would make a great hollywood movie

 

[Anitarf]

Activity has been low for a couple of days so I stopped checking the thread for a bit and suddenly there's a bunch of posts again.

I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to comment on the actual WIPs. Since I'll be judging the entries in the end, I don't want to get too involved in the actual making of them, in order to remain as impartial as I can. Still, if you're going through all the trouble of posting the WIPs, you deserve to get some comments in return, and besides, these comments might be useful to others as well, not just those on whose WIPs I'm commenting.

So, a couple quick tips/ideas I came up with when seeing the WIP from Arad MNK a few pages back:
- The stairway is nicely shaded but it casts no shadow on the floor, I know WC3's light engine can't really do that but perhaps you could fake it with a shadow texture or model? Alternatively, you can make sure the camera never shows that part of the floor that should be shadowed but isn't.
- The room seems really big for the characters that are in it, I know that WC3's camera is really big so you can't really fit it in smaller places without clipping but you can instead scale up the characters to make the room seem smaller.
- I can't know yet what exactly will be going on in this scene since I've only seen one screenshot, but the impression I get so far is that the two characters are just talking. In this case, it might seem odd for one of them to be constantly holding a sword, and this is a good example of a situation where a simple model edit can really help a lot.

By the way I tried to make the camera face towards the sky but to no avail. Because if you try to do that the camera goes under the ground and points to the bottom of everything.

There are two camera properties that are important here: "z offset" and "distance to target". The WC3 camera always rotates around its target point, but this is not the same as the position of the camera - rather, it is a point that the camera is looking at from the defined distance. So, when you rotate a camera, it also simultaneously moves to remain a fixed distance away from its target in the direction opposite of the camera's angle. As a result, if you turn the camera to look up, it will go below the ground in order to still look at its target point. The solution to this problem is to move the camera target up to compensate, therefore increase its z offset value. However, it can be a pain to compensate correctly and you might still get errors during the transition between two cameras - in such situations, reducing the distance to target might be better than using large z offsets.

 

[APproject]

Great tips, Anitarf. Shadows are really problematic in WC3 engine indeed, especially if the ground is not linear, but curvy. It would be easy to cast a show on a plain and even ground just by creating the same model, rotating its pitch angle, making it black and setting Z value to almost zero. But curvy ground looks almost impossible to come up with proper method I think, maybe other peeps got something to offer. Oh and I noticed you guys seem to note that clipping is a problem not once or twice, but it is actually very easy to fix. If someone needs I can make a short tutorial about it, showing an easy-fix for it, of course if it was not done by someone else yet, not sure.

 

[Arad MNK]

So, a couple quick tips/ideas I came up with when seeing the WIP from Arad MNK a few pages back:
- The stairway is nicely shaded but it casts no shadow on the floor, I know WC3's light engine can't really do that but perhaps you could fake it with a shadow texture or model? Alternatively, you can make sure the camera never shows that part of the floor that should be shadowed but isn't.
- The room seems really big for the characters that are in it, I know that WC3's camera is really big so you can't really fit it in smaller places without clipping but you can instead scale up the characters to make the room seem smaller.
- I can't know yet what exactly will be going on in this scene since I've only seen one screenshot, but the impression I get so far is that the two characters are just talking. In this case, it might seem odd for one of them to be constantly holding a sword, and this is a good example of a situation where a simple model edit can really help a lot.

Hey Anitarf
You don't know how good it feels to talk with the Pro's!

The Back part won't be shown, it just the Background (Camera Angle [it's a 10 second scene] ).
Hmm.... Well, I'll try and see how it works out (that means some recalculations as well ).
The Guy with the Blade is our own Blademasta reskinned, and I will play his portrait animation (more stable, with blinks and without sword , no need for a model edit).


I currently have some problems with my jumps, it jumps wayyyy more than intended

 

[WhiteFang]

If someone needs I can make a short tutorial about it, showing an easy-fix for it, of course if it was not done by someone else yet, not sure

I personally would greatly appreciate this

 

[Sverkerman]

Hey! Nice to see this going! Very nice WIPs I'm looking at
Even tho I'm not entering the contest you should all have a look at what I made my graduation project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGWIjCh1h8I

Happy mapping!
PS: got an A grade, fuck yes.

 

[Bribe]

What kind of class was that for? Film production?

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

Hey! Nice to see this going! Very nice WIPs I'm looking at
Even tho I'm not entering the contest you should all have a look at what I made my graduation project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGWIjCh1h8I

Happy mapping!
PS: got an A grade, fuck yes.

I finished watching the whole thing. I was entertained

I'm interested in what Bribe is asking. What class and what exactly was the assignment?

 

[WhiteFang]

Hey! Nice to see this going! Very nice WIPs I'm looking at
Even tho I'm not entering the contest you should all have a look at what I made my graduation project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGWIjCh1h8I

Happy mapping!
PS: got an A grade, fuck yes.

Bloody awesome project there.Wish we could do computer related stuff at my school

 

[APproject]

Even tho I'm not entering the contest you should all have a look at what I made my graduation project:

Hehe, hilarious, especially the indian voice, that one was good.

I personally would greatly appreciate this

I will take a look if anyone did anything similar already, if not, perhaps I could give it a shot, it would be a short tutorial anyway.

On the side note, most of you probably have already seen my prievous cibematic contest entry, but I decided to upload it on youtube, so it could be watched immediately without downloading a map. I am planning to do the same with this contest entry, so no need to download that big map for few minutes of video.

 

[Sverkerman]

@Bribe @Stopcampingn00b @APproject @WhiteFang
Heh, thanks for the kind words.
We were free to choose whatever we wanted for our exam project - I decided to make a WC3 cinematic

 

[BeeszBuzz]

Wow

Wow gee wizz willickers! This looks swell!

 

[APproject]

1:45 minutes in and only voice acting is missing, 1/3 cinematic in content is complete. Innocent screenshot form the cinematic below, Plague Doctor passing the dead body. It also has a neat fly swarm sound around the body, as well as some flies flying over it.

Doctor passing the dead

 

[Arad MNK]

1:45 minutes in and only voice acting is missing, 1/3 cinematic in content is complete. Innocent screenshot form the cinematic below, Plague Doctor passing the dead body. It also has a neat fly swarm sound around the body, as well as some flies flying over it.

Doctor passing the dead

Looks pretty good

EDIT: I almost had a Heart-Attack today.

I was wrapping a Waterfall Texture into a button Model and I thought it was going to be fine and I'll have a Waterfall Reflection texture (Terrain cannot be Reflected, I had to use images).
I saved and Re-opened.
World edit died when loading a Doodad (the Button it looked like).
I didn't have any Backup.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

==============

Hopefully, the thread "That Awkward World editor moment when..." saved me, and I used an MPQ Editor and deleted both the Texture and the Button Model.
I opened my map.
It started without any problems.
"YASSSSS "

 

[WhiteFang]

1:45 minutes in and only voice acting is missing, 1/3 cinematic in content is complete. Innocent screenshot form the cinematic below, Plague Doctor passing the dead body. It also has a neat fly swarm sound around the body, as well as some flies flying over it.

Doctor passing the dead

Teach me master..

 

[APproject]

I almost had a Heart-Attack today.

You did a mistake when saved and re-openned, you should not do this. When you import MDX and BLP files into import manager, put proper paths and immediately and always push Save Map button, ONLY then open Object Editor or Triggers and only then look at your model, this way it saves without closing Editor. If you import and look at the model, Editor can not load therefore it gives green box. So if you import and save, then you can look at your model, there is no need to re-open. In this case if model is bugged, your Editor will crash every time Editor tries to load the model and display it, but if model is already placed in the map and it loads when map is being opened, it will crash and it will lead to your problem. Huh, I really could use less words for this.

If you are constantly using Test Map function in Editor, JNGP gives up to 24 copies of each map tested variant, this becomes handy in those situations when computer or Editor crashes and map gets corrupted. Personally every few days I make a random copy of the file in case of similar troubles, I also put map in a dropbox every time I am going to move or travel with my laptop (in case it accidently falls and destroys hard drive, no who knows what can happen).