Knight7770
Hippopotomonstrosesquiped aliophobia
- Reaction score
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A Compiled Collection of Cinematic Tutorials or Otherwise
Compiled by Knight7770. All credit for the actual information does not go to Knight7770, but the creators of said information. Only credit Knight7770 for the compilation, but not the actual work.
Compiler’s Notification: I do not read all of this. This means that some information might appear more than once. I am sorry if this irritates you.
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Table of Contents
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Part 1: Cameras
Part 2: Unit Transmissions
Part 3: Beginning a Cinematic
Part 4: Filters
Part 5: Terrain and Atmosphere
Part 6: Animations and Battle Cinematics
Part 7: Sounds and Music
Part 8: Special Effects
Part 9: ‘Faking’ Things
Part 10: Miscellaneous
Sub-Part: World Editor Hotkey-List
Sub-Part: Skipping Cinematics
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Part 1: Cameras
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By DaemonKillar of WC3 Campaigns:
Basic - Moving a camera around
Before beginning, you need to know that cameras will move from one to another, so you will not create the cameras using triggers. In order to move from a camera to another, use
Camera - Apply Camera Object (Timed)
Let's say you want to apply a camera automatically, and then move it to another's position, here's how to display it in the trigger editor:
Camera - Apply "Name of your starting camera" over 0 seconds
Camera - Apply "Name of your second camera" over x seconds
wait x seconds
The "wait x seconds" is there to make sure the camera isn't interrupted by anything else.
Quote:
Example:
Camera - Apply "Name of your starting camera" over 0 seconds
Camera - Apply "Name of your second camera" over x seconds
Camera - Apply "Name of your third camera" over y seconds
in this situation, the second camera movement would be ignored because the third camera is instanly issued a command. You would have to display it like this:
Quote:
Example:
Camera - Apply "Name of your starting camera" over 0 seconds
Camera - Apply "Name of your second camera" over x seconds
wait x seconds
Camera - Apply "Name of your third camera" over y seconds
wait y seconds
Giving cameras good locations
If you've ever noticed, you can move the World editor's camera around by holding the CTRL button, clicking the right mouse button and move around. This will be very helpful when placing your cameras more precisely. You can also move around with a simple right click/move.
Lock the Camera Orientation
This one isn't really complicated. Let's say you want to lock the camera's orientation to a unit:
Quote:
Camera - Apply "Name of the default camera" over 0 seconds
Camera - Lock Camera orientation to "Name of unit"
The first camera command is to give the location of your camera. Then you will issue it to fix a certain unit. so this way, your camera will not move, but will always be looking at the designated unit.
By Insaniteus of WC3 Campaigns:
CAMERA FIELD SETTING
This is something that I have litterally been asked over 20 times, so I figued that I'd put it here.
Ever want to adjust a setting of a camera in game without having to create a new camera object? Use the following action:
Camera - Set Camera field ___ to #.
This trigger allows you to set distance, Far Z clipping, rotation, roll, and more all to any number you wish. This can be very usefull when using moving cameras.
You can never have enough Camera Objects
To make an extreme closeup, place the unit on the map and line up the view in WE to what you want, then make a camera there.
The very top and bottom of your cameras will be invisible in-game (letterbox), so it's best to put your target area away from the edges. Test using "X" in WE.
Never get TOO close, or you'll be inside the unit and that looks stupid.
There is a limit to how close you can get to a unit. If you want to focus on a person's eyeball it won't work...unless you do this lol: Create a custom unit of the same model, and set size to 10. Focus on the new unit's face, and then just delete or hide him when you're done.
To make the world shake, use the Camera - Sway Camera Target trigger. Sway Camera Souce does a similar effect and you should see both to figure out which is better for you.
By SD_Ryoko of The Helper:
Introduction to Cameras
Cameras are created using the camera palet. These are used to change the players' perspective, or point of view. Most often, cameras are used in cinematic scenes. Other simple camera functions are used for panning and rotating the camera. If you made a cinematic scene, and you needed the players to be looking at a specific area that you created , you would also create a camera object there. Or if you revived a hero, and you would like to pan the current camera to the heroes' new location, you would use a trigger to move the camera to a new location.
Camera Fields
Cameras are not that difficult to use, but they require a lot of testing to get everything just perfect. Remember, the view in World Editor does not always look exactly what it will look like in the game. The easiest way to create a camera is to manipulate your view inside the World Editor, until the view looks correct. Then click 'Create Camera'. World Editor will automatically create a camera in your current view. After creating a camera, you can edit it by double clicking it, or by selecting 'Rename Camera' on the tool pallette. Below is an overview of the camera fields.
Name: The camera name is irrelevant; it is merely a familiar name for you to use.
Target X: The X location of the camera's target, on the Cartesian plane.
Target Y: The Y location of the camera's target, on the Cartesian plane.
Rotation: Rotation of the camera around the target. 0° is facing east, and 180° is facing west.
Angle of Attack: The angle that the camera is pointing towards the target.
Distance: The distance between the camera and the camera target.
Roll: Roll is the angle that the camera is turned. This can turn it upside down, or on its side.
Field of View: The width that the camera can see. Changing this value 'zooms' the camera in and out.
Far Clipping: Total distance that the camera can see. Anything past is shown as sky, or a horizon line.
Apendix of Camera Triggers
Camera - Apply Camera Object (Timed)
Moves the players' current view to target camera. All of those cameras' values are applied. If you want to switch the view to a camera that you created, you would apply that camera. If you set a time limit, the player can see the camera view changing in position and height.
Camera - Pan Camera (Timed)
This pans the current view to a target location. All of the camera values remain the same. You do not need a second camera to pan the current view. You can pan the camera instantly, or set a time and it will scroll.
Camera - Pan Camera with Interpolated Height (Timed)
This also pans the camera, but it ensures that the view does not go below or through the terrain. Again, you do not need a second camera to pan the current view.
Camera - Pan Camera as Necessary (Timed)
This will pan the camera if necessary. If a player scrolls to the correct location by them self, this trigger will not interrupt. If a player scrolls to far, or not close enough, this trigger will correct it.
Camera - Set Camera Field (Timed)
This will set any camera field for the current view. It does not involve a second camera. Most any camera property can be changed with this trigger.
Camera - Rotate Camera Around Point
This rotates the current view around a target point. Note that, when you rotate around a point, it will always rotate at a Z offset of zero. Therefore, it will always rotate pointing at the ground. When creating your camera, if you plan to rotate the view, keep this in mind.
Camera - Lock Camera to Target Unit
The current view, or camera, will always follow target unit. The entire camera will pan as the unit moves. The player cannot change the view or scroll somewhere else. It will stay locked until you reset it.
Camera - Lock Camera Orientation to Target Unit
This locks the current view to a unit also, but does not move with the unit. The camera target moves with the unit, watching it wherever it goes, but your perspective stays in place.
Camera - Play Cinematic Camera
This trigger is more advanced. It runs the players current view through a predetermined path, saved in a cinematic.mdl file.
Camera - Stop Camera
Stops the current camera from moving. Does not stop swaying or shaking.
Camera - Reset Game Camera
This will reset the current camera to standard in game view. This is the same view you see when the game begins. Often this is used after manipulating cameras and scenes, and you would like to return to the game.
Camera - Change Camera Smoothing Factor
Changes the smoothing factor of how a camera scrolls.
Camera - Rest Camera Smoothing Factor
Resets the smoothing factor to default values.
Camera - Sway Camera Source
Sways the camera back and forth around the target. The target does not move, but your perspective does. Magnitude determines how far the camera will sway. Velocity determines how fast it will sway.
Camera - Sway Camera Target
Sways the camera target back and forth, keeping the origin of the source. The target moves, but your perspective does not. Magnitude determines how far the camera will sway. Velocity determines how fast it will sway.
Camera - Shake Camera
Shakes the entire current camera in all directions. If you wanted to simulate an earthquake, this is the trigger you would use. Magnitude determines how much the camera is going to shake.
Camera - Stop Shaking/Swaying Camera
The camera is going to sway or shake until you tell it to stop, using this trigger.
Camera - Extend/Shrink Camera Bounds
The camera bounds limit the players' ability to scroll around the map. You can increase or decrease the camera bounds with this trigger.
Camera - Set Camera Bounds
The camera bounds limit the players' ability to scroll around the map. With this trigger, you can limit the camera view to a region or area. The player would only be able to pan inside this region
Camera - Set Spacebar Point
When a player presses the space bar, the camera will snap to the center of the defined region.
By Bob27 of The Hive Workshop:
Cameras
Cameras are used in Warcraft III Cinematics to change what the viewer is looking at in the cinematic. Placing Cameras is very simple, go to the Camera Pallete and click the Create Camera button. Now we have a camera placed in our map, although it has the normel game view. Well lets change that now. You can select the camera and press enter. Now you can change all the different Camera Values.
First start off by editing the Target X and Y fields. These fields will change where the camera is on the map. However there is a much easier way to change the X and Y axis. Go back into the map and hold down the mouse button on the camera, you can now drag the cameras around the map. Another way you can do this is to select the camera and press Ctrl+X, and paste the map where you want it or just create the camera in the place you want it in the first place, because when you create a camera it is created in the centre of your view. Ok now that we've got it placed in the right location on our map we can edit the Z Offset. This is the height of the camera. You can make the camera high up or make it really low. The next field is rotation, well this one is pretty simple. This field changes which way the Camera is facing. The Angle of Attack (AoA) changes the angle of the camera, so you could change it so the camera is looking down on something or the camera is looking up at something. The Distance changes how much the camera is zoomed in. The lower the value you will be closer to the object, the higher the further away. Now for the Roll. The Roll changes the angle of which the camera is turned, so for example you could change the roll of a camera so that it is on its side, upside, on a 45 degree angle or any angle you want. The Field of View (FoV) changes how much the camera can see. The lower the number the the less you will be able to see of an object, the higher the more you will be able to see. And the final field you need to edit is the Far Clipping (FarZ), this field changes how far the camera can see.
Editing a Camera
Tip #2
When editing Camera Values check the "Preview Values in Main Window". This will now make it so that if you edit a value it will move the camera in the World Editor so you can see what it will look like.
Well now you know how to edit a cameras fields, i'll tell you and easier way to do all these. The way I place cameras is rather then editing each of these fields is when I create a camera I hold down the Ctrl button. This then lets you change the camera in the World Editor. When holding down the Ctrl button just hold down the right mouse button and drag the mouse around until you have the camera angle you want. You can also use the Mouse Wheel to change the zoom of the camera when doing this. Now you have the camera angle and zoom you want just click the Create Camera button, and the camera will be created at whatever angle you are at that time in the World Editor. Try that now.
Now that we've placed a few cameras we need to use a trigger to use them during the game. This function can be used to use cameras.
Camera - Apply Camera> for Player 1 (Red) over 0.00 seconds
Well now we have a function that will apply that camera when the trigger is run. However the camera won't move like that. So we just add another function to that trigger after it.
Camera - Apply 2nd Camera> for Player 1 (Red) over 5.00 seconds
This time we set it to it will apply over 5 seconds, so this means as soon as this trigger is run it will apply the 1st camera instantly, and then from there move to the 2nd camera over 5 seconds. Now we want to try and add another camera to that, so it will move to a 3rd camera after it reachs the 2nd one, well we just add these two functions to the trigger.
Wait 5.00 seconds
Camera - Apply 3rd Camera <gen> for Player 1 (Red) over 5.00 seconds
The Camera will now apply the 1st camera instantly, move to the 2nd camera over 5 seconds and when it has gotten to the 2nd camera it will move to the 3rd camera again over 5 seconds. So by now this is the trigger you should have.
Action
Camera - Apply Camera> for Player 1 (Red) over 0.00 seconds
Camera - Apply 2nd Camera> for Player 1 (Red) over 5.00 seconds
Wait 5.00 seconds
Camera - Apply 3rd Camera <gen> for Player 1 (Red) over 5.00 seconds
By Shooter02 (and Insaniteus) of WC3 Campaigns:
Target X: Thats the distance horizantle across the screen. To get a good Idea of how far the distance is look at the range of units' attacks
Target Y: Same as X but lengthwise or up and down the screen. (Note those are from the game viewing angle, not nessicarily the camera's)
Z Offset: I think its the distance from the ground...
Rotation: The way the camera is facing in a 360 degree field. Say you have a unit facing the camera when its at 90, at 0 and 180 its at the unit's sides and at 270 its at the unit's back.
AoA: i have no Idea what this one does or how it works. I think its used for the First person view.
Distance: Put simply its the distance from the base of the camera (is that the source or target?
Roll: Way underused, but its the axis of the camera on its side. Sadly the camera will only turn clockwise.
Field of View: How much of the terrain you can see. I think it just changes the x and y axis porportionitly.
Farz: How far into the distance you can see. The further you can see the better it looks, but the more it lags. Wasn't it Insaniteus that said DK was notorious for this?
EDIT BY INSANITEUS: Angle of Attack is the angle of the camera to the ground. At 360 you've got a 1st person-like look, and at 270 you're looking strait down on them. It's basically what you adjust with the mouse wheel in-game.
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Part 2: Unit Transmissions
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By Bob27 of The Hive Workshop:
Unit Transmissions
Unit Transmissions are used for when characters are talking to eachother, narrators and basicly anything that involves talking. This is the basic function to do that.
Cinematic - Send transmission to (All players) from (Footman) named A Footman: Play No sound and display This is a Message. Modify duration: Set to 5.00 seconds and Don't wait
This function will show the message "This is a Message", from a Footman which is named "A Footman". There will be no sound played with the transmission and it will show for 5 seconds. You can set these fields to whatever you want, and adda sound to it and show it for a different time if you want.
Cinematic - Send transmission to (All players) from a Player 1 (Red) Footman named A Footman at (Center of (Playable map area)): Play No sound and display A Message! Amazing!. Modify duration: Set to 5.00 seconds and Don't wait
This trigger does the same thing, except for one difference. Using the above trigger, a green circle will flash around the unit that you have selected, useing this trigger you can do that same thing except that green circle won't appear.
By Insaniteus of WC3 Campaigns:
Adding or setting the dialouge duration does squat, since after 5 seconds it automatically goes to the next action, and if that action is more dialouge it goes away.
THE FIX: In all of your dialouges, set it to "Don't wait" and then under each one, make a new action "Wait ___ seconds. This will prevent the dialouge from being overwritten.
By CHickenFight of WC3 Campaigns:
*TIP* I've noticed that some people make their unit transmissions way too long(except DaemonKillar and Insanteus, they do it perfectly), so this is how I time it:
On WE when you typ in what the unit is going to say you should always take the length of the message (depending on the lines) and times it by about 2.5 and convert it in to seconds.*EXAMPLE* unit says: hello, what's up. This takes up about 1/3 of a line so I would make the waiting time about 1 second long (it's OK to round off, but it's better to round off upwards, remember that if you are a fast reader that not all people read as fast as you).
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Part 3: Beginning a Cinematic
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By XXconanXXX of The Helper:
<b>Introduction</b>
Welcome to the world of cinematography! In this tutorial, you will learn how to manipulate various aspects of the vast
cinematic world, including the manipulation of cameras, units, and doodads.
<b>The beginnings of a cinematic</b>
First, we need to start off on setting the cinematic. The cinematic can have multiple events, depending on your needs, such
as applying a cinematic when a unit enters a specific area of the map, or at the beginning and/or the ending of the map.
To get into cinematic mode, we first need to add a few actions that will allow us to display messages, disabling in-game
fogs, and so on.
We first need to use the action "Cinematic - Turn cinematic mode On for (Your and/or All Players)". This will disable Fog
of War and The Black Mask, and also will disable the user control.
We also want to use an action "Cinematic - Turn on letterbox mode (hide interface) for (Your and/or All Players): fade out over 2.00 seconds".
We also want to use the action, "Cinematic - Disable user control for (Your and/or All Players)" removes all units from
the selection of the player, removing the normal circle under the units when you select them. This will also ensure that
when the cinematic is over, they won't have their previously selected units selected.
(Place 'Letterbox Mode.jpg' here)
This is what letterbox looks like.
You might also want to use the action "Cinematic - Clear the screen of text messages for (Your and/or All Players)",
this will clear the screen of all text messages that have been displayed by the action
"Game - Display to (All players) the text: Text" and by players alike. We might also want to use the action
"Cinematic - Turn subtitle display override On", this will forcefully turn subtitles on for all players even if they have
it turned off.
(Display the picture 'Cinematic beginnings' picture here)
These are some of the actions we'd use in the beginning of the cinematic trigger(s)(put this in small text under the picture)
By Bob27 of The Hive Workshop:
Basics of a Cinematic
A Cinematic needs several triggers for it to start up propely.
Actions
Cinematic - Turn cinematic mode On for (All players)
Sound - Clear the music list
Sound - Stop music Immediately
Sound - Set Ambient Sounds to 0.00%
Sound - Set Animation and Spell Sounds to 0.00%
Sound - Set Combat Sounds to 0.00%
Sound - Set Fire Sounds to 0.00%
Environment - Set sky to Sky
Trigger - Run FirstScene <gen> (ignoring conditions)
Tip #1
A good way to start of a cinematic is to add this function to the Intilization Trigger.
Cinematic - Fade out over 0.00 seconds using texture Black Mask and color (100.00%, 100.00%, 100.00%) with 0.00% transparency
This will make it so that the screen is black when you start the cinematic. Then in the first scene wait a few seconds and then fade back in over 2 seconds into the first camera.
Black Borders are also a very useful thing in cinematics. Adding Black Borders is very simple. Just go to Advanced - Game Interface and check the box "Use Custom Game Interface". Then scroll down and find these three fields:
Image - Cinematic Border
Image - Console Background
Image - Game Menu Background
Now replace the path of these fields with UI\Widgets\EscMenu\Human\blank-background.blp. Your cinematic should now have black borders.
Now we might want to turn cinematic mode off. Thats simple. Just use this trigger.
Cinematic - Turn cinematic mode Off for (All players)
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Part 4: Filters
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By Insaniteus of WC3 Campaigns:
FADE FILTHERS:
Fade Filthers are quite simple actually. They simply mask the camera with 1 of their designs.
Basics: Color can be changed using the color values. If you change the color of Black Mask, however, it will be really dark. White mask is used for normal colors. White mask is only actually white when the color is set to 100,100,100 .
You can also set the transparency of a fade filther. So many times I see scenes meant to be night that are as bright as day. TIP: Black Mask at 50% transparency = Instant Nighttime! There are many other options with them. Few people know what all of the Fade Filthers look like, so I reccomend looking at them all. Some of my favorites are Snipe (sniper scope) and Slash (FPS pain effect). They also have a Panderan pictre, but it's the dumb one from their site and is pointless in Map making.
TIP: Some nice flashing effects can be done with periodic triggers and these too.
Fade Filthers own! You can use them for pratically anything. Some examples that I've used are normal fading out, 50% transparency to look like the lights are out, flashing yellow to look DBZ-esque, sniper scope, pain, 1st person veiw, reality warping and more.
By Bob27 of The Hive Workshop:
Fade Filters
Fade Filters are used to Fade the screen in and out using an image. Blizzard has included several images which are already included in Warcraft III. This includes the basic ones you will probably use most often, especialy the Black Image, which is definatly the most used one. This is the trigger for fade filters.
Cinematic - Fade in or out and Image in over 2.00 seconds using texture White Mask and color (100.00%, 100.00%, 100.00%) with 0.00% transparency
Here are a few things to remember with fade filters though:
• It is important to Make sure the colour is set so all fields are 100%, not the default 0%. However this is not important when you are fading to black, because 0% will make it black, 100% will make it black. However it is important to do this with any image apart from the black image.
• The Transperancy should probably be left, although it can be useful. Setting it to 100% will make the image completly transperant, which is basicly useless. However setting it to say 20% or 50% will let you still see the image, although you will be able to just see the map in the background.
Filters
Filters can be made so that the screen will be one image, with a certain transerancy and that it will go into another colour with transperancy over a certain amount of time. You can then show and hide the filter as well, if needed.
Cinematic - Apply a filter over 2.00 seconds using Normal blending on texture White Mask, starting with color (100.00%, 100.00%, 100.00%) and 50.00% transparency and ending with color (0.00%, 0.00%, 0.00%) and 0.00% transparency
By XXconanXXX of The Helper:
Fade filters and Advanced Fade Filters
Fade filters and advanced fade filters are pictures that pop up on the screen, usually used to separate different sections in cinematics. We can use Standard Fade filters by using the action "Cinematic - Fade filter". You can set how long it is in effect, and how much of the map you can see (settings it's transparency anything above 0% will allow the player to see "behind" the filter and see the game). You can use custom fade filters or the already created ones, black and white being the most common in cinematics. Using advanced filters will give you more options, and consider looking into it if you don't find what you want with the normal filters.
By DaemonKillar of WC3 Campaigns:
Create your own fade filter is very simple as long as you know the basics of skinning.
Size of your image:
The warcraft3 screen properties are 2:1, so for a 800x600 resolution, you would get a 800x400 screen. So in order to have a proportioned picture, build your original in a 2:1 resolution.
Once it is done, resize it to wether 512x512 or 256x256 px, if you're using Photoshop, you'll have to uncheck "Constrain proportions" in order to resize your image properly.
Save your file into a TGA 32 bits pic and convert it to a .blp file using the image extractor.
Include the screen in your map:
This is just like normal skinning. What you'll have to do is to replace an original fade filter screen with your own.
path of fade filters:
ReplaceableTextures\Cameramasks\file.blp
Example: if I replace "Panda-n-Cub.blp", I'll type it like this:
ReplaceableTextures\Cameramasks\panda-n-cub.blp
In the world editor, I'll use the Panda-n-cub fade screen and here it is! The screen is summoned!
By divinesage of WC3 Campaigns:
Fade Filter will not filter out cinematic Doodads
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Part 5: Terrain and Atmosphere
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By Bob27 of The Hive Workshop:
Terraining a Cinematic
Terraining a Cinematic can be quite easy, because the terrain itself does not actualy have to be playable. Because of this you are able to take away the pathing of doodads and place them more easily and closely together. Heres a few things to remember though when terraining cinematics.
Things to Remember while Terraining Cinematics
• Make sure that you can't see past the end of the terrain, otherwise it looks like there is nothing behind thet terrain. Do this by changing the FarZ or the Camera Position.
• Make sure that none of the trees are placed where the camera could go through it, because it can look really bad if a moving camera goes through a tree.
• Although you don't have to make the map completly playable it is important to make sure that any units moving don't go through any rocks or anything solid which they shouldn't be able to go through.
• If you need to hide a doodad for one scene, but if in another scene in the same area you want that doodad to show you can use a unit for that doodad. Although you can hide and unhide destrucotables units can be placed alot easier then Destrucotables.
Enviroment and Atmosphere
It is important to have Enviroment settings which suit the setting and scene. Make sure at the end of each scene you change the settings, if nessecary.
Environment - Set sky to Sky
This trigger will change the sky. So you can change the sky each scene to what suits the setting the most. You can do the same thing except for with fog with this trigger.
Environment - Set fog to style Linear, z-start 1000.00, z-end 8000.00, density 0.00 and color (100.00%, 100.00%, 100.00%)
You can also create and destroy weather and change the time of day. This is very usful for using the same terrain except at a different time of day. Creating and destroying weather uses these two triggers.
Environment - Create at (Region) the weather effect Weather
Environment - Turn (Last created weather effect) On
Environment - Remove (Weather Effect)
However changing the time of day is not in the Enviroment catergory of the World Editor. Go to the Game catergory and use this trigger to change the time of day.
Game - Set the time of day to 12.00
You can also use this trigger to stop the cycle so it won't change suddenly half way through your cinematic when you don't want it to.
Game - Turn the day/night cycle Off