[Cinematic] Newbie friendly Cinematic tutorial

[Deleted member 177737]

Cinematic tutorial by a Newbie for a Newbie




Now Before we start, I would like to note that this tutorial only covers some of the BASICS.
We will not get into Animations, Special Effects, Unit Formation, or Battle Scenes
But we will be covering how to make cameras, how to do basic camera
manipulation, how to start cinematic mode, how to make a unit
talk in cinematic mode.
(If I left anything out please PM me so I can fix it.)

---

Step One: Cameras
Step Two: Starting Cinematic mode & moving between Cameras
Step Three: Unit's & Cinematic's

---

Step One: Cameras

Open up the World Editor.
Now after the World Editor has loaded, Press the letter M.


You will see three (3) options;

Create Camera
View Selected Camera
Set Camera To Current View


First let me explain what each of these options do.

Create Camera:
This option allows you to create a new camera.

View Selected Camera:
This option instantly moves your view to the selected camera.

Set Camera To Current View:
This sets your view to that of the camera's, an example of this is below;

Click to see Pictures

Creating the Camera

Now if you still have the window with the three (3) options open, press the Create Camera button.

You should now see a large blue camera object, this "Camera Object" can be manipulated in many many different ways.



Manipulating the Camera

Now we will manipulate the camera (Move it around and stuff,) first off open up the World Editor and press M.
Now that you have opened the Camera Palette, press the button Create Camera. Ok, You have just created
your first camera (Congrats!) now, you will see something below the 3 buttons that says something like
Camera 001. Please right-click it and select Edit Camera Properties, now you should see something like

This

Camera Name = The name of your camera (Name it Camera 001)

Camera Values = The camera's manipulation options

Target X = Ive never used this so im not sure what it does

Target Y = Ive never used this so im not sure what it does

Z Offset = Ive never used this so im not sure what it does

Rotation = Witch direction your camera is facing from (It is counter-clockwise, and it maxes out at 360)

Angle of Attack (AoA) = How close to the ground your camera is ( 300-360 is close to the ground any lower is in the sky)

Distance = How far away from the green circle the camera is

Roll = Basically this is used to make your camera face sideways (Like when your taking a picture with a camera and you turn it on it's side to fit something in)

Field of View (FoV) = Ive never used this so im not sure what it does

Far Clipping (FarZ) = Ive never used this so im not sure what it does




Ok, what we are going to do is select Angle of Attack (AoA), and change it from 304.00 to 330.00 .
You should now notice that the camera look's like it moved backwards a little bit (It's actually moving down.)
Now select Rotation, and change it from 90 to 180. You will notice that it moved half way around the circle.

Now that you have tried out some of the manipulation features, you will see how easy it is to make a camera!

What were going to do now is, press OK and get back into the Camera Palette. Now that your in the Camera Palette
select Camera 001 and press the button that says View Selected Camera, You are now seeing what the camera see's.
Now for the next part we will right-click Camera 001 again and select Edit Camera Properties.

Ok, your in the Camera Properties. Change the Distance from 1650.00 to 1000.00, also change Roll to 30.
Click OK and then get back into the Camera Palette, select Camera 001, and press View Selected Camera.

Looks Weird dosent it?, well that's the basic's on camera manipulation. With the Information I have just taught you,
you can now place and manipulate camera's for your cinematic's.




Step Two: Starting Cinematic mode & moving between Cameras


Congrats you made it this far! From here on out it should be just as easy.



Starting a Cinematic with Triggers


This part is extremly easy, just open up the trigger editor (F4), create a new trigger and make it look like this;

• Events
  • Map initialization
• Conditions
• Actions
  • Cinematic - Turn on letterbox mode (hide interface) for (All players): fade out over 2.00 seconds
  • Cinematic - Clear the screen of text messages for (All players)
  • Cinematic - Turn cinematic mode On for (All players)
  • Cinematic - Disable user control for (All players)

Now, what the above does is When the map starts up it will turn on cinematic mode, Disable unit control (Makes it so you cant select or move units,) and clears the screen of all player typed messages.

Don't worry it's not that confusing, , It just starts cinematic mode.


Ok, you have the triggers to start cinematic mode ready but wheres our camera? (Refer to Step One to create a Camera.)
Now we half to apply the camera (Rember to follow Step One to make it!)

Now we will add another trigger to apply (make your screen move to what the camera sees), the camera;

• Events
  • Map initialization
• Conditions
• Actions
  • Cinematic - Turn on letterbox mode (hide interface) for (All players): fade out over 2.00 seconds
  • Cinematic - Clear the screen of text messages for (All players)
  • Cinematic - Turn cinematic mode On for (All players)
  • Cinematic - Disable user control for (All players)
  • Camera - Apply Camera 001 <gen> for Player 1 (Red) over 0.00 seconds

See the last trigger?, well that makes the cinematic start at where Camera 001 is, and it makes you see through the "Eyes" of Camera 001.

Now that we have that part down, we will cover "how to add a camera transition."

How to add a Camera Transition


Ok now, make another camera and manipulate it anyway you want (use what ever angle of attack, rotation, distance, etc...) that you want.
After you make the new camera, we will add two more trigger's so it looks like this;

• Events
  • Map initialization
• Conditions
• Actions
  • Cinematic - Turn on letterbox mode (hide interface) for (All players): fade out over 2.00 seconds
  • Cinematic - Clear the screen of text messages for (All players)
  • Cinematic - Turn cinematic mode On for (All players)
  • Cinematic - Disable user control for (All players)
  • Camera - Apply Camera 001 <gen> for Player 1 (Red) over 0.00 seconds
  • Camera - Apply Camera 002 <gen> for Player 1 (Red) over 4.00 seconds

Now when it says "Select a Camera" or something like that, just select the new camera that you just made, WOW! You just started your first cinematic! GTZ!?!!!!@111

Just look at that, you just learn t how to create camera's, manipulate them, start a cinematic, and add camera transitions!
Guess what time it is?

That's right

It's

Time

For

Another

Step
YAY

Step Three: Unit's & Cinematic's




Ok, now let's pick up where Step 2 left off.

We just made our first camera, learnt how to manipulate it, start cinematic mode, & apply cameras. Now we will move on to making unit's talk in cinematic mode, by "talk" I don't mean physically talk with a voice, What I mean is to do something like this:

Example

To make a unit "talk", like in the picture above you must make yet another trigger that looks like this:

• Events
  • Map initialization
• Conditions
• Actions
  • Cinematic - Turn on letterbox mode (hide interface) for (All players): fade out over 2.00 seconds
  • Cinematic - Clear the screen of text messages for (All players)
  • Cinematic - Turn cinematic mode On for (All players)
  • Cinematic - Disable user control for (All players)
  • Camera - Apply Camera 001 <gen> for Player 1 (Red) over 0.00 seconds
  • Camera - Apply Camera 002 <gen> for Player 1 (Red) over 4.00 seconds
  • Cinematic - Send transmission to (All players) from Footman 0000 <gen> named Footman: Play No sound and display Hello!, I am a Foot.... Modify duration: Add 0.00 seconds and Wait

Ok, now you probably don't understand what some of the features of the send transmission trigger do so ill explain it now;



You will notice that there are a few spots that you can edit (Blue and Red Text)

Send transmission to (All players) from Unit named Name: Play No sound and display Message. Modify duration: Add 0.00 seconds and Wait


Here's what these "fields" (fields are the blue and red text,);

Send transmission to (All players) = This means that the unit's speech will be seen by all 12 players of the map, you can also change it so only one of them can see it.

from Unit = This is the part where you pick what unit your going to see in the portrait box (the box with the footman's face in it.)

named Name: = What do you want the unit's name to be (Notice near the footman's portrait it says Footman, that's the name.)

Play No sound = Do you want some music or sound effects to be played when this speech appears on screen? (Say if you wanted the thunder clap sound to play when this speech appears, you would select it here.)

and display Message. = This is where you put what the unit will say. (Notice how the footman is telling you "this is how a unit talks," that is where this will appear.)

Modify duration: Add 0.00 seconds and Wait = Now these two fields work together, when you click on Add 0.00 you will be able to choose one of these three (3) options.

1. Add = I usually never use this option because I personally find it useless so we will just leave it be for now.

2. Subtract = Same as Add, I find this option completely useless.

3. Set To = Now this is the option that I always use when making cinematic's. Basically this set's how long the unit's speech will stay on-screen before dispersing. If you pick this option, just press Ok then set the time to say 4 seconds for a short amount of text, and for the longer amounts (The times vary from cinematic to cinematic) use 10 seconds.


Now to explain the last option "Wait", there are two (2) options for this field:

Wait
&
Don't Wait

Basically, your selecting if the trigger will wait for the 10 seconds (see above text) to expire before moving to the next trigger, or if it will just skip the wait and go straight to the next one.

Just set those to what ever you want.

See it ain't that hard




This is the end of the tutorial for now, if there's anything I missed, just PM me about it and ill see what I can fix.

(Note: I didnt cover Fade Filters because Im still learning how to use them properly myself.)



-All Credits to Yayoi (Me)

 

[ModelTester]

http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/general-mapping-tutorials-278/cinematics-7216/
A Better Tutorial....... If newbies want to learn how to do a cinematic, they should just go to this link.

 

[Deleted member 177737]

This thread is about This tutorial not another one.

 

[Pyritie]

We have tutorial forums you know.

 

[TheHunterKiller]

Wrong place, but i guess the tut is fine.

 

[Deleted member 177737]

Theirs a tutorial section?! Guess I haven't seen all the forums then.

 

[Septimus]

• Events
  • Map initialization
• Conditions
• Actions
  • Cinematic - Turn on letterbox mode (hide interface) for (All players): fade out over 2.00 seconds
  • Cinematic - Clear the screen of text messages for (All players)
  • Cinematic - Turn cinematic mode On for (All players)
  • Cinematic - Disable user control for (All players)

Your initilization lack of a few basic setup such as disable ambient sound, clear music list and stop music immediately.

If a cinematic scenario start at place such as inner palace or indoor area, it would be weird to hear ambient sound of daylight and daynight (I am not quite good in explain this part, you should read infrane tutorial about cinematic).

Also, you got to stop music immediately or else it would play warcraft 3 music. It would be pretty annoying if there is a 3-7 seconds of warcraft 3 music and it switch to the other all the sudden.

Basically, your selecting if the trigger will wait for the 10 seconds (see above text) to expire before moving to the next trigger, or if it will just skip the wait and go straight to the next one.

Just set those to what ever you want.

Never ever use wait even for the dialog, wait action are inaccurate. If you use voice act along the dialog, it could cause the character to stop talking before it even finish the dialog since wait action min wait are 0.27 seconds and the duration of how long it last was random depends on the computer performance.

This tutorial was way too simple and lack of main important detail. You did not explain the camera x/y/z factor and barely cover a few basic point.

For your information, it isn't necessary for you to adjust the camera distance by typing the angle of attack, distance and etc etc as you could just press and hold ctrl, right click your mouse and move it to the position you want and then click at create camera to create camera at the position.

This thread is about This tutorial not another one.

Yes, I agree. Then again, hive only need tutorial that are really helpful and does not cover the most simple setup that anybody could figure it out in within few hours.

Infact, this tutorial lack of too many basic detail as well especially the camera section.

I would gives this tutorial a 23 out of 100 for it's values.

 

[Deleted member 177737]

Your initilization lack of a few basic setup such as disable ambient sound, clear music list and stop music immediately.

If a cinematic scenario start at place such as inner palace or indoor area, it would be weird to hear ambient sound of daylight and daynight (I am not quite good in explain this part, you should read infrane tutorial about cinematic).

Also, you got to stop music immediately or else it would play warcraft 3 music. It would be pretty annoying if there is a 3-7 seconds of warcraft 3 music and it switch to the other all the sudden.

I didn't include that because I doubt that many newbies know how to use the sound editor, so they woulden't care if it played or not.

Never ever use wait even for the dialog, wait action are inaccurate.

??? I always use wait in my cinematic's, it was never inaccurate

For your information, it isn't necessary for you to adjust the camera distance by typing the angle of attack, distance and etc etc as you could just press and hold ctrl, right click your mouse and move it to the position you want and then click at create camera to create camera at the position.

Never knew that... thx for the info tho xP, aslo with the X,Y, and Z thing I don't see how they even do anything since rotate makes it circle, aoa makes it go up and down...

 

[Septimus]

I didn't include that because I doubt that many newbies know how to use the sound editor, so they woulden't care if it played or not.

Do you know what I refer to when I say ambient sound?

Stopping the music immediately is to prevent a random warcraft 3 music being play for 1-2 seconds at the beginning of the cinematic before it play the actual music which are set by the author itself.

Importing a music into sound editor to be used is easy to be figure out even by newbie who just started to use world editor.

??? I always use wait in my cinematic's, it was never inaccurate

Spells and cinematic should avoid wait action at all cost especially battle cinematic.

For a cinematic where a character was talking without using any voice act, it was rather difficult to notice it.

However, if you do it with voice act or in a battle cinematic where precise timing was compulsory. You would notice there is a slight off-timing especially if you want it to be done in less than 0.27 seconds such as the sfx.

Never knew that... thx for the info tho xP, aslo with the X,Y, and Z thing I don't see how they even do anything since rotate makes it circle, aoa makes it go up and down...

They are to set the position of the camera at the exact place you want without the need to delete the camera and to set it back at the right position.

 

[Pyritie]

Spells and cinematic should avoid wait action at all cost especially battle cinematic.

For a cinematic where a character was talking without using any voice act, it was rather difficult to notice it.

However, if you do it with voice act or in a battle cinematic where precise timing was compulsory. You would notice there is a slight off-timing especially if you want it to be done in less than 0.27 seconds such as the sfx.

Using waits is fine as it's usually much simpler than messing with times. You only need to use timers for cinematics if you want to use a wait less than 0.27 seconds.

 

[Vosty]

Hmmmmmmm.......
This is nice tut, for that guy on b.net, who says "How to you make maps?".
Starts off at completely noob level.
You'd be better off showing a noob how to use the trigger editor, because anyone would figure this out after they figure out the trigger editor.

 

[Septimus]

Using waits is fine as it's usually much simpler than messing with times. You only need to use timers for cinematics if you want to use a wait less than 0.27 seconds.

If the cinematic plans to have a voice act, certainly not quite a good choice.

And wait action could sometimes cause the duration to be much longer than you expected. If you set it to last 10 seconds, it could sometimes last about 10.50 seconds or longer depends on the computer itself.

Battle cinematic which are consists of poor quality is where you often could seen the off-timing.

For a cinematic where conversation is all the time, then it is fine provided you did not add voice act.

 

[Pyritie]

I only used waits in my campaign and I didn't have a problem

 

[Deleted member 177737]

Well I make my cinematic's exactly the same as I've shown in the tutorial & all of mine end up just how I want them to...

 

[Septimus]

I only used waits in my campaign and I didn't have a problem

Well I make my cinematic's exactly the same as I've shown in the tutorial & all of mine end up just how I want them to...

If the cinematic just consists of dialog only without any voice act or neither battle scene, it won't be a problem as long as there is no action that last less than 0.27 seconds.

If you paid attention to what I wrote at my previous post, you would notice what I try to say.

 

[Deleted member 177737]

Yep, theres no voice acting and no battle scenes.

 

[Pyritie]

If the cinematic just consists of dialog only without any voice act or neither battle scene, it won't be a problem as long as there is no action that last less than 0.27 seconds.

If you paid attention to what I wrote at my previous post, you would notice what I try to say.

I have voice acting 8D

 

[Septimus]

Btw one point you could mention in your tutorial is that waits aren't good mainly because of the reason that as soon you play maps or spell using waits in the internet/bnet the waits are just asynchronous. That means for example for a host the wait is just 5 seconds and for an other player who's not host (since he got delay) have more seconds to wait (Hint: So faster the connection of an user to the host is so better the wait work). The biggest example for this case is the map Uthers Party (I guess everyone who's mapping should know this map). If you play Uthers Party online in the bnet the intro will be pretty much fucked up at least for the players who aren't host. So yeah that's the main reason. And the second reason how you already said in your tutorial is that waits are already pretty unprecise offline (also the fact that TSA/Waits have a min wait time of 0.2 seconds or something).

Well, Hanky explain a partial part of it pretty well. For a multiplayer cinematic, it isn't recommended.