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Cinematic Contest #6 - 5 minutes free theme

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Arad MNK

Arad MNK

Arad MNK

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Oh yes, you are right. I'd better watch out more!
I'm using a computer, so my hard drive can't crash (unless I'm a superman and I can actually pick it).
24 variants! Where can I reach them? I need those for my long lost project... =(
Yup, I made another copy as well. Now I have 50mb of unused space used... ;p

Also, can you guys say how much is the current size of your cinematic? Mine is 50 mb so far.
 

APproject

APproject

APproject

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I'm using a computer, so my hard drive can't crash
Click to expand...
It happened to me once that a stationary computer just fell sideways down on ground that was 20 cm lower than computer's platform, but happily hard drive was placed at the bottom of the box and it had the smallest impact.
Where can I reach them?
Click to expand...
JNGP backups folder, mine if empty for some reason, I remember it doing good so far.
Also, can you guys say how much is the current size of your cinematic?
Click to expand...
28.8 MBs at the moment.
 

Cokemonkey11

Cokemonkey11

Cokemonkey11

Code Reviewer
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APproject said:
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? :)
Click to expand...

That isn't how productive people manage their time. When you have a project you make an estimate, plan using deadlines, and iterate the estimate as you progress.

I planned to spend just 16 hours on this, and spent nearly half of that trying to fix up my tooling. I don't see value in producing a project in my remaining 8 hours, so I reevaluated the project completely. Think of it like triage.

I wish I had days and days to spend mapping like I once did, but sadly that is not the case anymore.
 

Arad MNK

Arad MNK

Arad MNK

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I must make this thread active again, Maybe with discussing these WIP's and telling me how to improve and tell me if there are any fails.




Image Description: First talks. I will surely use a center text system + Voice Acts, but later.
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Image Description: The guy doesn't have a sword, don't worry :D! Yet the hand is awkward as a model.
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Image Description: He's just tired... He has to sit a bit.
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Image Description: Yup!! Credits will be in the Middle of Cinematic (It WILL have a quick credits in the end).
attachment.php



 

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  • WIP 7.png
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  • WIP 8.png
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APproject

APproject

APproject

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I wish I had days and days to spend mapping like I once did, but sadly that is not the case anymore.
Click to expand...
Of course, if free time is so tight, not much can be done.
Maybe with discussing these WIP's
Click to expand...
Looks pretty good. Are those voice acted? In WIP 7 it looks like there is no sky, or maybe that's just black glow, if this plays an important role in design - all cool. WIP 8 looks similar, those black glows in the distance at sides of the screenshot looks similar to map's edge, but if it was done on purpose - all cool again, it all depends on what are you trying to achieve I guess. Guessing from the last WIP, are you done with your cinematic? :)
 

NightStalker

NightStalker

NightStalker

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Bribe said:
You may want to increase the camera's Z angle to highlight the horizon more than the sky, or put mountainous terrain in the distance.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips :) So you mean that I have to balance the horizon and sky equally in most cases? And for the background terrain there are tons of stuff to be added. This is just the main character, and some doodads behind him. I'm working a bit slow :D
 

APproject

APproject

APproject

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Just make sure audience can see more further into the distance behind your character, so that everything would not get cut with the sky box, just add more small stuff (or more further) in the distance so that would look much better, more natural. Persoanlly I always keep my Far Z at 10 000 and I try to fill all what can be seen with something, but without lagging the computer. Far distance can be clouded with fog and only big objects needed, because small ones (such as grass) would not be so visible and would most likely contribute for the lagging. Custom animations all the way! :)
 

NightStalker

NightStalker

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APproject said:
Just make sure audience can see more further into the distance behind your character, so that everything would not get cut with the sky box, just add more small stuff (or more further) in the distance so that would look much better, more natural. Persoanlly I always keep my Far Z at 10 000 and I try to fill all what can be seen with something, but without lagging the computer. Far distance can be clouded with fog and only big objects needed, because small ones (such as grass) would not be so visible and would most likely contribute for the lagging. Custom animations all the way! :)
Click to expand...

Nice tips, i will try the 10,000 for the Z value. The background will be mostly mountains as Bribe suggested and ill put some trees and maybe a building (a big one).

And yeap, custom animation power! You are my teacher and helper :D i hope you will like my custom animations when all is done.
 

iNfraNe

iNfraNe

iNfraNe

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Bribe said:
You may want to increase the camera's Z angle to highlight the horizon more than the sky, or put mountainous terrain in the distance.
Click to expand...

I would advice against this actually. The camera's angle is fine, almost eye-height, like in movies. Perhaps the field of view is too wide.

Actually, I would add this as a general tip: play with the field of view! Generally, the field of view of wc3 is pretty fish-eyeish, which is not very cinematic.
 

NightStalker

NightStalker

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iNfraNe said:
I would advice against this actually. The camera's angle is fine, almost eye-height, like in movies. Perhaps the field of view is too wide.

Actually, I would add this as a general tip: play with the field of view! Generally, the field of view of wc3 is pretty fish-eyeish, which is not very cinematic.
Click to expand...

Far z coordinate (not the exact name but you get it) doesn't save me. I set it to 10,000 and while my camera moves backwards it slowly loses sight of what's far behind and creates a non immersive look.

And i played with field of view it is better when higher in some cases. But do you really think it is wide in my wip? I made it higher now that's why i'm asking :D
 

Anitarf

Anitarf

Anitarf

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iNfraNe made a good point about field of view: movies tend to be filmed (and viewed) at much lower field of view angles. Just think for a moment, as you are looking at your screen right now, what angle does it cover in your field of view? Likely less than 30 degrees. This is the kind of angle you want to be using if you want to improve immersion.

Another thing comes to mind about dialogue in WC3 cinematics: the built in unit transmission feature. You know, the thing where you get a unit portrait model in the bottom-left part of the screen playing its talk animation and the text next to it. Yeah, that thing. Don't use it. For a proper cinematic experience, you should have the portrait model up on the big screen.

In the case of background scenery disappearing or appearing as you move the camera backwards/forwards, then only way to avoid it is to adjust the far z at the same time you move the camera so that the cutoff edge remains in roughly the same place, and make sure there are no background objects at exactly that distance that would be visibly clipped.

Loner-Magixxar: I would recommend finding a tree that looks better when viewed from the side, WC3 trees were made with the top-down view in mind.
 

NightStalker

NightStalker

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Anitarf said:
iNfraNe made a good point about field of view: movies tend to be filmed (and viewed) at much lower field of view angles. Just think for a moment, as you are looking at your screen right now, what angle does it cover in your field of view? Likely less than 30 degrees. This is the kind of angle you want to be using if you want to improve immersion.
Click to expand...

Good point actually. I will narrow down the field of view for necessary camera angles.

Another thing comes to mind about dialogue in WC3 cinematics: the built in unit transmission feature. You know, the thing where you get a unit portrait model in the bottom-left part of the screen playing its talk animation and the text next to it. Yeah, that thing. Don't use it. For a proper cinematic experience, you should have the portrait model up on the big screen.
Click to expand...

I get we have to make the unit actually act like it is talking on the game screen but do you recommend us to get rid of the cinematic frame that covers the screen because how can I write down the speech of the unit instead of using floating text which I won't prefer over transmission?

In the case of background scenery disappearing or appearing as you move the camera backwards/forwards, then only way to avoid it is to adjust the far z at the same time you move the camera so that the cutoff edge remains in roughly the same place, and make sure there are no background objects at exactly that distance that would be visibly clipped.
Click to expand...

I have set the camera's far z to 10,000 and it cannot be set higher from the camera settings. Can I make it bigger through triggers?

where can i find non-WC3 trees which are snowy too? In hive resources section there is not much to look at. So where can I access better tree models?
Click to expand...

There are some snowy trees in the UTM which I will use in one of my scenes too. Maybe you should check it out.
 

PublishedShadow

PublishedShadow

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Loner-Magixxar said:
where can i find non-WC3 trees which are snowy too? In hive resources section there is not much to look at. So where can I access better tree models?
Click to expand...

Fingolfin made some nice animated trees that I think you may find useful... I'm not sure if they are in the UTM or not.
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/models.php?search=halo trees&d=list&r=20
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/models.php?u=Fingolfin&r=20&page=3

Alternatively, you can check this for additional resources: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/...e-terraining-hives-terraining-section-184427/
 

Tickles

Tickles

Tickles

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A couple questions for the guys in charge:

1. Could the first place winner split how the prize money is awarded? For example; half of the money is given as a Steam gift card, and the other half is donated to the Hive.

2. Since the cinematic can't exceed 5 minutes, would it still be alright to extend credits past the 5 minute mark?
 

Deleted member 238226

D

Deleted member 238226

the command center pic looks very promising :)
 

Anitarf

Anitarf

Anitarf

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NightStalker06698 said:
I get we have to make the unit actually act like it is talking on the game screen but do you recommend us to get rid of the cinematic frame that covers the screen because how can I write down the speech of the unit instead of using floating text which I won't prefer over transmission?
Click to expand...
I think that the best tool for making subtitles for cinematics are game messages.

I have set the camera's far z to 10,000 and it cannot be set higher from the camera settings. Can I make it bigger through triggers?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure, but you can always make it lower at the start and then increase it to 10000 as you move backwards... unless you move so far that it would have to be too low at the start. There are still ways to work around it, for example, as the camera moves backwards, it goes past some hills and then as it keeps moving it descends slightly so that the hills cover up the background terrain before it disappears.
 

iNfraNe

iNfraNe

iNfraNe

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Tickles said:
A couple questions for the guys in charge:

1. Could the first place winner split how the prize money is awarded? For example; half of the money is given as a Steam gift card, and the other half is donated to the Hive.
Click to expand...
This would seem a bit like donating someone else's money... but I don't know. I should say I'm not one of the guys in charge.
Tickles said:
2. Since the cinematic can't exceed 5 minutes, would it still be alright to extend credits past the 5 minute mark?
Click to expand...
Even though, again, I didn't make the rules here, I will say that I will approve a cinematic to go past the 5 minute mark if everything afterwards is only credits. I will however completely ignore this in any judgements. So don't spend the majority of your time trying to make the credits look nice :) A simple movie-style credits will suffice.

And just a general message:
These WIPs are looking very nice people! I hope I'll be equally impressed by the finished product! Keep it up!
 

NightStalker

NightStalker

NightStalker

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Anitarf said:
I think that the best tool for making subtitles for cinematics are game messages.
Click to expand...

But game messages appear on the bottom left side of the screen. It doesn't look like a real movie subtitle. Transmission loses its point from the unit portrait down below though.


I'm not sure, but you can always make it lower at the start and then increase it to 10000 as you move backwards... unless you move so far that it would have to be too low at the start. There are still ways to work around it, for example, as the camera moves backwards, it goes past some hills and then as it keeps moving it descends slightly so that the hills cover up the background terrain before it disappears.
Click to expand...

My problem here is I show the spectator a wide view of what's happening in the village. As the objects in the far places start appearing with the camera gathers height, they start to disappear right after that moment because the camera is always going backwards. Not so much but enough for object disappearance.
 

Arad MNK

Arad MNK

Arad MNK

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GetCenteredText(string) created a thread crash for me, therefore I created my own.

WIP:

Making a street. It's in REALLY basic production atm. Main fight will take place here.

150680d1448820339-cinematic-contest-6-wip-11.png



EDIT:

Turns into this:

An Ugly, small (and maybe scary? Well, it depends) street, watched by an eyes of a Vampire...
attachment.php
 

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Vladadamm

Vladadamm

Vladadamm

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NightStalker06698 said:
I get we have to make the unit actually act like it is talking on the game screen but do you recommend us to get rid of the cinematic frame that covers the screen because how can I write down the speech of the unit instead of using floating text which I won't prefer over transmission?
Click to expand...
Didn't know about Anitarf's library but a basic way of writing text 'anywhere' on the screen are those functions :
JASS: 
native DisplayTextToPlayer          takes player toPlayer, real x, real y, string message returns nothing
native DisplayTimedTextToPlayer     takes player toPlayer, real x, real y, real duration, string message returns nothing
x=0 means you'll have your text as much left as possible and upper values of x will move the text on the left. Same goes with Y, upper values moving the text up.
Problem is that you're still restricted to a certain area of the screen (you can't put negative values, so you won't be able to move the text more left/bottom than what it already is that way). To make the text appear lower on the screen, you can put some \n at the beginning of your text (several \n might be required).

Hope this will help you for your cinematics.
 

Loner-Magixxar

Loner-Magixxar

Loner-Magixxar

Level 9
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Oct 14, 2013
Messages
238
Can somebody help me plz?
I'm trying to reduce a units scaling value but it causes the walking animation of that unit become super fast.
How can I prevent it?

I tried to play with run and walk speed but it seems that when it is set to 0 the animation slows down dramatically but when I increase it by even 0.01 point, the animation becomes super fast again. what the hell? this WC3 engine sure has lots of irrational bugs.

BTW I've already tried the code for changing the animation speed to a percent value but never worked.
 
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