Difference between revisions of "Cutscene action"

Revision as of 18:13, 9 October 2009

Cutscene actions are applied to objects by adding them to generic tracks on the timeline.

Not all actions are applicable to all types of objects in a cutscene. The following table shows which actions are available with which objects:

Action	MASTER	Camera	Creature	Placeable	Sound	Light	VFX	Proxy
Active Camera	✓
Adjust For Player Height		✓
Animate Face			✓
Change Visibility			✓	✓		✓	✓	✓
Draw Weapon			✓
Headtracking			✓					✓
Jump to Stage Place			✓	✓				✓
Jump to Stage Camera		✓
Link to Actor		✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Orientation Follows Curve		✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Play Animation		✓	✓	✓			✓	✓
Play Bink Movie	✓
Set Fog	✓
Set Gore			✓
Shake (Orientation)		✓	✓	✓				✓
Shake (Position)		✓	✓	✓				✓
Skip Marker	✓
Snap to Walkmesh		✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Speak Line	✓		✓	✓				✓
Toggle Physics			✓	✓				✓

The camera target object () does not support any actions.

Active Camera

While a cutscene can have many cameras, obviously only one camera can be active at any one time.

The MASTER object has an "Active Camera" track. To switch to a specific camera first move the timeline marker to the point where the camera cut is to take place. Then add a “Switch Camera” action to the track.

The next step is to set which camera the scene is supposed to cut to. In the Object Inspector there is a Camera field. This lists all of the placed cameras. Simply select the desired camera.

Adjust For Player Height

This action is applicable to cameras only, and is only available when a stage is set for the cutscene.

!!Confirm that this action simply move the camera up or down along the vertical axis depending on character height!!

Animate Face

Applies a FaceFX facial performance to an actor's face. The FaceFX performance is in an FXA file. This action is useful mainly if you want control over a character's facial expression but don't have dialogue for them to say with a "Speak Line" action while doing it.

Change Visibility

Allows actors to be set visible or invisible as the cutscene progresses.

Draw Weapon

Sets whether the actor has its equipped weapons drawn. The main hand and off hand can be set independently.

Headtracking

This action causes the actor to turn its head toward a target. If you want the actor to look at an arbitrary point in space you'll need to add an invisible actor there to serve as the target. All objects are valid headtracking targets, including creatures, placeables, and even cameras. When the target is another creature, the actor will attempt to look at the target's head. If the target is another object (placeable, camera) the actor will look at its base position.

For the duration of the headtracking action the actor will keep its head "locked on" to the target, turning it if either of them moves. Once the head tracking action ends the actor will continue pointing its head in the direction it was pointing at the time. If you want the actor to return its head to its neutral position, add another head tracking action with a target of "(none)".

The default speed is 1. Larger values turn the head faster. To turn the head at twice the normal speed, set the speed to 2. To turn the head at half speed, set the speed to 0.5. To immediately snap the head towards its target, set the speed to any large number, like 100.

Head angle is constrained, so this action won't be able to twist an actor's head around to unnatural angles. The headtracking system must take into account the characters “natural” head position from his pose/animations. This is not an easy thing to do - for example, the system needs to tell the difference between an animation that is permanently moving the head or just a brief head bob. Some manual fixing will be required from time to time.

How it works

The headtracking system takes snapshots of where the characters head orientation is at certain points during a line:

• At the start of the line, but only if the change is more than 20 degrees
• During a pose transition, but only if the change is more than 20 degrees
• At the end of a pose transition, always
• At the start of a headtracking action, IF the “Realign Source Head” is true (it is false by default)

At these times the system looks where the characters head is pointed (relative to their body) and remembers it, and uses that orientation from that point onward.

For this reason it is very important where the character's head is during those points in time, especially the first frame and at the end of the pose transition.

The look targets and speeds of all those in the conversation/cutscene are explicitly controlled by the conversation/cutscene. While a headtracking action is playing the source is constantly tracking the target exactly (there are no movement thresholds, or ease in periods). The exception is the angle of the source’s head, due to his pose/animation

How to fix glitches

You should be able to fix many headtracking glitches by:

• Adding blend in times for head-affecting animations that play on the first frame
• Making head-affecting animations start after the first frame
• Avoiding pose transitions at the same time as head-affecting animations

For other glitches you will need to create a custom cutscene. When you have a custom cutscene you will see that headtracking actions have two properties:

• Realign Source Head At Start - This will force head realignment as the headtracking action begins. This is useful if you are starting a headtracking action after a major change animation
• Realign Source Head Continuously - This is useful during an animation which changes the head constantly and you want headtracking to always compensate. You don’t want this on all the time since it will make headtracking “fight” with small head bobs, but if you are doing something major it can be useful.

At the end of a pose transition, or when using “Realign Source Head At Start” the update is forced. This means that even if the head has just moved a tiny bit the system will notice the difference. The other updates only pay attention if there is a significant change. This prevents a sudden, noticeable change between lines or at the beginning of a continuous update.

During a continuous update the head won’t update until there has been a noticeable change. However, from that point on it will update every frame for the rest of the action, regardless of how big the change is.

Jump to Stage Place

Only available if the cutscene has its stage property set.

Jump to Stage Camera

Only available if the cutscene has its stage property set.

Link to Actor

Orientation Follows Curve

While this action is enabled, the orientation of the object is overridden so that it faces "forward" along the object's position curve. For example, a moving arrow will automatically point in the direction of its flight, and a walking man will face in the direction he's moving.

Play Animation

See play animation for full details.

Playing single animations on objects is very simple — all that needs to be done is a Play Animation action is assigned, and an animation is chosen. There are also more complex options that allow the user to blend two or more animations together.

Play Bink Movie

Set Fog

Set Gore

Shake (Orientation)

The Shake (Orientation) action has three curves that can be edited with the curve editor; YawStrength, PitchStrength, and RollStrength.

Shake (Position)

The Shake (Position) action has three curves that can be edited with the curve editor; XStrength, YStrength, and ZStrength.

Skip Marker

Snap to Walkmesh

Forces the object's vertical position to the walkmesh. Useful for moving an object so that it follows the terrain automatically.

Speak Line

Causes a line of dialogue to be spoken. The line of dialogue is taken from an existing conversation resource and includes text, voice-over, and FaceFX facial performance.

Narration without an in-scene source can be assigned to the MASTER object.

If all of the lines in a cutscene come from a single conversation resource (a common approach to organizing cutscene conversation), you might find it efficient to copy and paste an existing speak line action when adding new lines. This allows you to avoid having to select the same conversation manually for each new line.

Toggle Physics