Cinematics/In-Game Movies

[Chrome]

Hi...
I've recently started to play around WE, and am enjoying it...although still an extreme WE n00b.

My main reason why i started to use WE was because I was wondering if it was possible to make an entire Cinematic/In-game movie on my own...using WE.

*Clearify: I'm referring to the short cinematics players watch when they play the missions(Intro to mission), not the actual "Movies" that we get to watch at the end of each campaign.

Is this possible? Like make a multi-event cinematic, one that last prolly for 3-4 mins?

Then another question, issit possible to make it such that the "mission's/map's" purpose is just to show the cinematic? Like in WE, create the 'map', and simply just play the movie/cinematic once the player loads the 'map'?

Hehe...you lost? Forgeddit then, just tell me, or show me, where I can get help/tutorials on the Cameras and Triggers that will be used in making a cinematic

 

[Unregistered]

Working with cameras

Hi. I don't know if we are trying do make same thing, but you can find what my problem is in my earlier posts named "Working with cameras". Reply me if you know something about it?

 

[Darg]

You want to make cinematic only maps? Sure, of course you can!


If you want to see the best war3 movie made so far, go to this website:

http://www.wc3campaigns.com/cotn/

It's impressive, believe me.....

 

[Chrome]

Gee thnx amillion darg...

Been looking around the forum here, and it seems like ur the only guy around that's actually helping, like giving us really good advice and stuff, unlike some others who just post jokes...hehe

Well, those few cinematics sure helped me as a WE xtreme-n00b, no seriously, it really did, now i have more ideas as to what WE is capable of! And of course, i now have a reference 'map' to guide me...
Thnx again darg, great help!

One more question, is there anywhere where i can actually get a grasp onto some sorta 'Help' document/tutorial that actually covers how to go about making a really really basic cinematic? or something close to this...? ^_^hee...it would really be great to have one at hand

Thnx again darg...many more thnx to come! hee...
~WExtremen00b~

 

[Darg]

Thank you very much for your compliments, it makes this whole 'helping out' thing worthwhile....

If you are after a tutorial on making cinematics, unfortunately the only one I can find is here:

http://war3.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=119

But I don't really think its a 'simple' one at all.

Remember, the stuff you do in cinematics is no different to the stuff you would do normally. For example, moving a unit via a trigger in cinematics is done the same way as in the normal game.

cinematic - turn cinematic mode on <= turns cinematic mode ON, and removes the blackness/fog of war on the map

cinematic - turn letterbox mode on <= turns cinematic mode ON, and keeps the blackness/fog of war on the map

for fading use 'cinematic - use fade filter'. All you have to specify is how long you want to fade out for.

There really isn't too much else to it from the technical point of view. I would say, in my opinion, the hardest part to making cinematics comes from the CREATIVE point of view e.g. what camera angles to use, what ways to pan cameras, how to make a scene flow smoothly etc.

 

[Chrome]

<Greatful>

Gee thnx yet again darg...(heee)

Well nice of u to have told me about the triggers and wat they do...thiing is, i've alreadi done like 2 30-secs cinemtatics, hehe.

Been 'learning'/quoting from the COTN production, the one u showed me too(greatful4eva!)...

So ya, i do agree with ya, aint hard making the cinemats, it's the creative part...hahaha!

I have alotta ideas, just that i need to spend a whole lotta time more organizing these ideas...heee

I'm really greatful for all the help u've given me...thnx again!

(Maybe i'll post up my 1st/2nd n00b-created cinemat soon... )

 

[Darg]

If you really need it, I could see also about sticking the first ever cinematic I made into a map and emailing it to you. It's a cinematic that sets up a storyline for a tower defense map that I will soon release.

COTN should give you all the ideas you need, but if you need more ideas from my cinematic or something, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

 

[Chrome]

Weeheehee...
Sure, thnx for offering...anything would be great at this point of time!

Ok, i'm kinda more comfortable with WE now, as well as with the cinematics-making.
Made a couple more cinematics, just to see wat different triggers do and so on...

Well, question time...

1) Issit possible to like, make an entire group of units move together at the same time? Will i
have to create individuals actions/triggers for each of the 20+ units i'm moving or so? Or is there like a
'grp action/trigger' i could use?
2)I've tried to add my own music in, and successful with it. Since i have: "Action- Play Music" as the very 1st action
in the trigger editor, somehow, when ever i add more actions beneath it, the music doesnt play back/work anymore.
I have to delete that "Action - Play Music" action, and then re-add the action for it to work again. Is this just the
way the program is? or issit i'm doing something wrong?
3) Many more questions, but just help me with these 1st...!

Thnx thnx thnx again...!

 

[Darg]

1) Do 'unit - pick every unit in unit group and do .........'

It's just a matter of figuring out what the 'unit group' is.

2) Hmm I haven't encountered this problem before. What do you mean it doesn't play anymore? Is there NO music playing or is the DEFAULT war3 music playing? Try putting a 'stop music' action before the 'play music'.

Alternatively, what if you put the play music action into its own trigger?

3) Many more answers here........

 

[Chrome]

WaHaHa...

Thnx again! Hmm, wat ya mean, i gotta figure out wat 'unit group' is?

Ok...i have 10 footman...just placed em as usual on the map...just like dat. That a 'unit group'? just like dat? or do i have to make it/configure it to be a group?

Hmm, and the music problem...past couple of times i went back into it to work, no prob...well, great idea that i put it into a seperate trigger, neva wulda thought of that...haha

Question time...:
1) Can i rotate a BUILDING to face a direction i want? like for doodads u can rotate em if u like...
2) Where can i get more 'houses'...like, if i wanna build a whole village. I looked at COTN, and they have buildings i cant seem to find under anything, neutral player, doodads, cinematics, props, etc. Like in COTN, they have several 'houses'/'buildings' which they used to make their town...did they use another program to make/get it? or do i just have to play around with the different 'base-tile sets'...?(Eg.: Lodaeron Fall, Cityscape, Barrens, etc.)
3) How many more questions u willing to answer to?
4) Is there anything on the website where I can nominate 'most helpful' ?
5) Where ya from?

Booya! Great to have u(darg) around to help...really. Sometimes, i tried other forums, i cant get the answers i wanna hear...or even worse, no response...THNX AGAIN!!!!!

 

[Darg]

If those 10 footmen are the only footmen on the map then you would do this:

pick every unit in (units of type footman) and do.........

the unit group there is obtained through the "units of type" selection

if those footmen are in a particular region of the map, make a region where they are located and do:

pick every unit in (units in <some region> matching (matching unit is of type footman) and do........

the unit group there is obtained through the "units in region matching condition" selection

1) You cannot rotate a building AFTER it has been placed on the map. You can however, create a building via triggers, and this way you can specify the angle that the building is going to face.

e.g.
[unit - create unit facing angle]
unit - create 1 <some building> at <some point> facing 225 degrees

2) The houses are mostly doodads. You can find them in the cityscape/dalaran/village doodads section under the 'structures' category.

There are some elven houses as well which are units. Find those in the human units section under the 'special' category.

If you can't find what you're looking for in the above sections, then chances are COTN is using some imported model or something for it (I haven't yet seen all of COTN so I can't say).

3) lol At this stage, you are my only 'regular' customer, so you can keep the questions coming. If, however, these forums get really busy, I may not have as much time to help you. But that day has not arrived yet...

4) lol again. No I don't think there is anywhere to do that

5) I live in Australia. How about you?

My motto is: "I am always here, and always at your service!"

 

[Chrome]

Weeehaha...

Sweeet response again. Actually, i already found out about the doodads, just overlooked em, but thnx anyway...

Hmm, unitgrouping seems tedious/complicated, but dun worry, i'll be able to handle it...thnxthnxthnxthnxthnx...thnx!

So hehe, ur an Aussie...I'm in in LA, California right now, but only here for studies...i'm from Singapore... Glad 2 meet ya!

My cinematic(an actual one, not experiment) is coming along fine...and i'll post it up here when the time comes. See what the almighty darg has helped the n00b accomplish...haha

Question time:
1)

You can however, create a building via triggers, and this way you can specify the angle that the building is going to face.

Hmm....so this way, i dun get to see the buildings wen i'm in the editor rite? and instead, wen the map/movie starts, it'll like 'spawn' wen the trigger's activated?? If so, it's ok then, i've found my way around that, at least so far...thnxthnx!
2) You know of any other site/person who have made cinematics too? Like COTN...? Just curious...

I guess that's about it darg, u've helped alot already!!

 

[Darg]

Hehe what is it with me always meeting ppl from Singapore? I met another guy from Singapore a while back, and we sometimes play war3 together. He's still at school though, and he doesn't seem to have much time to play the game.

I guess you are SARS free if you are in LA then.........

Unit grouping is not too hard to manage - the major problem is that, even though all the triggers code is written in english, it can be difficult to navigate through all the choices/options provided by various actions, and ppl tend to get lost as a result.

1) Yes you are correct in what you say - you will not be able to see the buildings in the editor.

2) The only other guy who made a cinematic was a dude name Insaniteus. His cinematic was made with a humourous theme, and thus is meant to make you laugh, as opposed to COTN which is a fairly serious cinematic.

Get it here:

http://www.filesource.net/war3maps/insaniteuscinematics.w3m


And if you are after any extra cinematic-related help, the following link may be of some use:

http://www.wc3campaigns.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14273

In fact, that link is from the wc3campaigns cinematics forum, which you can post questions in if you have any really hard cinematics questions.


Sry I still haven't gotten around to packaging my cinematic for you. However, if you are really keen, you can help me through the beta testing of my tower defense map. That way, you can see for yourself pretty much EVERYTHING I've been doing for the last few months, and that means cinematics, triggers, new spells etc.

If you have a hotmail account, it would be very easy for us to communicate through MSN Messenger. AIM is the other alternative.

 

[Chrome]

W00t!!!

Ok! I'lll make sure i check those sites out...! Thnx!
Hmm...great answers, really appreciate it!

Lol....singaporeans...i dunno wat's up with WC3 and singaporeans...i expected more americans to be grooved into WC3 than singaporeans, since blizzards american company...(rite?)

I like yr character...ur a cool person

Yes! I do have hotmail, and i do use messenger, but lately, since i moved to LA, i'm using more of AIM, i find that 'simpler', and i like their chat system better in a way, dun really have a strong reason why i prefer AIM...but my screenname for AIM is Seed505...wun mind talkin with ya LIVE! for abit...hee

I aint much of a melee-game person, like 1v1/2v2/etc. ... i play more ums maps...hee.
Sure! I'd luv to beta-test yr map...

Question Time:
1) Ok, been really really curious ever since i watched the COTN productions...how do u make 'slow-motion'? like, if u watched the COTN Part2 Interlude cinematic(or issit Part1 Interlude? hehe), they had 2 dreadlords running in like 'slow-motion'. I checked through the map in WE, and looked through their triggers, couldnt find anything that explicit...maybe u may have an idea as to how to do it?
Like, i know for sure, there's a way to configure such that the units slow down, like lets say in the UMS maps, 'poison/ice' slows down the unit that's hit...get wat i'm hitting at?
Ok, simply, how you make units slow/"slow-motion"?

One long question is enuff for ya i tink...hehe. Dun wanna bother ya too much and so often...

More questions coming!! Wahaha! Thnx for helping again!!!!!

 

[Darg]

Weird - my AIM mysteriously opened up about 2 minutes ago, and then I read in this post how you prefer AIM, and I got scared..... :O

1) Simple!

Find the action:

'Animation - change unit animation speed'

This will allow you to slow down the animation of units, and maybe speed them up too (haven't tried speeding up yet).

It will NOT slow unit movement down, ONLY their actual animation.
You have to use 'unit - set movement speed' to slow the unit movement speed down.

Hehe, that wasn't a long question.....

I don't know why everyone calls custom maps 'UMS' maps - I guess it's simply because most maps are made using the UMS editor, and so they get called UMS maps. *shrugs* go figure.....

 

[Chrome]

Eeeehehe...
Why UMS? Use-Map-Settings...rite? and it's true about these maps...but ye, custom-maps also can be used to refer to these kind of maps.

Lol...mysterious huh...spooky-wookie

Hmm, i'll be sure to try that action(s) out...i'm kinda like asking ahead of time actually...

Question time:
1) Wat's yr AIM screnname? If ya dun give it to me, i cant add you to my budlist...and if ur not on my budlist, u wun be able to see me online even if you've added me correctly to yr own budlist...so wat's yr screenname?

2) Can we copy-n-paste items/buildings/doodads from another map in WE, and paste it into our own map that we're working on? Like, u know how we can select different triggers, copy-n-paste them into our own maps...rite? can we do that for doodads? Eg. There's a Castle/building on one map that's made by someone else...can we copy-n-paste that Castle/building into another map that we're working on?

Long-winded? Heehe, sry, just tryin' to make sure ya get wat i'm trying to hit at as clear as possible...

W00ho0! I'm kinda done with my 2nd scene of my 1st cinematic, i'm gonna send/post it to you soon! I wan yr view on it! weeheehee!

Send me/Post up yr tower defense map here for me? I'd be glad to give ya my views on it, or beta test it...
See wat the almighty Darg has accomplished...wahaha

 

[Darg]

lol just goes to show how much I know, I didn't even know what 'UMS' meant hehe

My AIM name is 'dargid80'.

Oh btw, I may have been wrong about that thing I wrote in the last post regarding the animation - set unit speed action. You may not need to use this at all, you may just have to set a unit's speed to something really low and you will be able to achieve that COTN effect.

I haven't tested it, so I can't say for sure....

2) If the castle/buildiing isn't something that you have seen in war3, then chances are its an imported skin or model, in which case you will have to open up the map in WinMPQ and find the skin/model. WinMPQ should hopefully be easy to find with google, but if you can't find it, then I will hunt down the link for you.

When you have your map open with WinMPQ, you need to look for either a .blp file or a .mdx file (blp for skin, mdx for model)

How do you get this into your own map? Simple!

For a blp file: (skin)

Just extract that file from the map you got it from, and import it into your own map! It should be as simple as that! The building that is using that new skin should show up with the new skin in the game, if not the editor too. The only issue is just checking that the path is correct when importing. By this I mean, you may notice that the graphic is stored in some path like 'units\humans\ ......' so make sure you import the graphic into your own map using that same path.

For an mdx file: (model)

2 step process:

1) You need to make it possible to load up the model in the editor. To do this:

- create a folder in your war3\ directory called 'Units' and stick the mdx file in there.
- Close down and restart the editor.
- make a new custom unit, and give it the model name 'units\[whatever the model name is]'
- you will now be able to use that model in your map

- to get the model to show in the game, you need to import the mdx file into your own map. The process for doing this is the same as I described above for the blp file.

WARNING!!!

If you are using someone else's model or graphic in your map, then make sure you give them some credit!!!


Regarding my map, I have it uploaded somewhere on the net, but I don't want to publish where to get it on public forums, so if you give me ur email address, I will email you the details.

 

[Chrome]

Geez thnx again...how many more thnx am i gonna have to give ya?

Oh and about that WINmq topic/question...its ok, thnx ALOT though!! I kinda figured it out by myself already before i read yr post...and figured out that the models/buildings were in fact, in the game already...i just didnt look hard enuff.
Sry to have made ya type all that just to help me...but it WILL come in handy for me in time...THNXTHNX!!!

Yep, i guess all i gotta do is edit the units speed in the Unit/Object editor...just as the same goes for building/unit scaling...hee

Ok, i dun have any more question for now, give ya a well-deserved break...hehe. Jeepers! Didnt notice how this small thread has become 2pages alreadi...lol.

I agree, and i understand, about the forum-posting thingy...i myself dun even like the idea of posting up my own email-add in forums...like i would do to others, whoever posts their email-adds up, !!booya!!, JUNKMAIL Tsunami!!!!! Weehee...so i dun normally post my email into forums like these...well, i guess i'll talk to ya on AIM, then u send me da details...hee

Thnx a trillion times now...!!! More coming!

 

[Darg]

What times are you at your comp or what times do you have AIM open?

The problem is, since we live in very different time zones, the times we are around won't exactly coincide.

Ultimately, I may be only able to meet up with you on a saturday or a sunday.

Anyway, during the weekdays, I am on from about 1100 - 1400 GMT (I am in a GMT + 1000 time zone).

 

[Rapmaster]

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