Creating a Matinee Sequence - Tutorial

Started by arramus, March 20, 2007, 11:51:57 PM

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arramus

Here's a short tut on creating a simple matinee sequence.

1. Open your map and move to an area you want a matinee to sequence in.
2. Click the Matinee button in the tool box top open the Matinee interface.
3. In the Scenes tab, click Add New Scene icon. The Scene Manager appears in the Scene Window and there'll be a Scene Icon added to your map.
4. At this moment in time the Scene Manager has a total time of 0.0 seconds because it has no Actions. Select the new Scene Manager in the Scene Window and click the Actions tab. In the Actions tab area click Add New Action button and select ActionMoveCamera. Repeat this so you have 2 Actions in the list.

The Action tells the camera or Actor the time it will be at its associated interpolation point. This time is set through the Duration Property and tells the camera how long it takes to move from one Actor to the next.

5. Highlight the second Action in the list. In the Properties section expand the Time category and set Duration to 10.

This tells the Scene Manager it takes 10 seconds to go from the first Action to the second. At the moment we don't have anything to define where each Action starts and finishes. We shall do this with interpolation points.

6. In the Perspective viewport, move to exactly where you want the camera to start. The position and direction of the camera are important as they are used for the interpolation points.
7. In the Matinee interface window click the Tools tab, and click Add Interpolation Point. You'll see red crosshairs within a white box. Move around the white box and you'll see the crosshairs are actually an arrow pointing in the direction the camera is looking.
8. Now we have the interpolation point we need to associate it with the first Action in the list. Go to the Actions tab and highlight the first Action in the list. In the Properties section expand MatAction category. Select the interpolation point in the viewport (if it isn't already). Click the word none in the IntPoint property and then click Use. This has set the interpolation point as the first camera Action.
9. Now we need to set up another interpolation point for the second Action. This is where the camera movement will stop. Do the same as you did for the first interpolation point but in the location you'd like it to be. In any viewport you'll see that a line now connects the two interpolation points. The viewport camera will follow this path.
10. Preview the sequence in the Preview window. In the Matinee interface click the Preview window icon and you'll watch your viewport camera move from A to B (first Action to the second Action).


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Now we're going to make the sequence more complex by controlling the camera path. A straight line is limiting and you may like a more curvy path. To add more complex movement we can link our interpolation points to a Bezier path. The Bezier path has weight handles that allow us to adjust their shape.

1. In the Action tab select the second Action in the list. Expand the Path category and set the PathStyle to PATHSTYLE_Bezier. In the viewpoint you'll see the line has changed to an arching S shape.
2. To adjust the curve, drag one of the white Bezier handles in any viewport. Practice moving the Bezier handles around and Previewing the result in the Preview window.
3. Now try adding another Action to the list. If you select the first Action before you add the new one your new Action will slot into second place. If you select your last Action then the new one will be placed last. It's your choice.
4. Now set the Time for movements or B and C (second and third Action in the list).
5. Currently, the interpolation points are set to either PATHSYTLE_Bezier or PATHSTYLE_Linear. If yoy move from a Bezier to Linear point you'll notice a hiccup. Convert the Action's to PATHSTYLE_Bezier  and you'll see a smoother transition.
6. As you select each Action yousee the segment of its path is highlighted yellow. If they are set to a Bezier pathstyle you'll see two Bezier handles. What happens when two segments are joined by Bezier pathstyles?

To better understand how multiple Beziers affect the path try the following:

a) Select the last two interpolation points in the sequence in the viewport and move the handle where they are joining. You'll see it affects both of them together. It keeps them smooth.
b) Change the Properties in each Action for Path to bSmoothCorner = False. Now the Bezier handles have more independent control allowing for finer positioning. Be careful as this isn't always beneficial and can cause sharp direction changes.

To get everything smooth again set back to bSmoothCorner = True and move the handles again and they'll restore.

7. Set your Bezier as you like and test in the Preview window.

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To start the seuqence at a particular location in game you can add a Trigger. I want the Trigger to start the sequence at the exact point the first Action begins. It'll be like a drifting out of your player experience.

1. Add a Trigger and in the Properties > Events area name Event as StartMovie. In the Object area set InitialState to NormalTrigger.
2. In your Scene Manager Actor name under Properties > Events add StartMovie in the Tag.

This will send a message from the Trigger to the Scene Manager to start the sequence when the Player enters the Trigger Collision area.

Here's a short Youtube vid of how it all looks when you put it together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnZ6UQA0kmw

Credit to the 3D Buzz Team for help on this.