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Mr. Oliver Lenz

Create short video sequences in the sky view window

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Hello,

 

is there a possibility to create short video sequences in the sky view window?

If so, what are the steps i have to note?

I' am using the latest version of Caeses.

 

Thank's for your help.

Oliver

 

 

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Hello Oliver,

 

It is possible to export a series of screenshots which can then be joined afterwards in a video editing program to produce a video file (there are a couple of free and easy to use programs that can make a video from a series of images).

 

To create a series of screenshots you will need an FTimer, which is a simple object that contains a command list that is executed repeatedly at certain settable intervals.

 

The most basic setup would be the following:

Create a parameter and name it "screenshotCount". In the paramter's object editor set "value" to "0" and activate "Design Variable".

Create an FTimer ("Visualization->Timer") and insert the following as "commands":

 

[screenshotCount += 1, IF(screenshotCount < 101, [skyView.screenshot("c:/tmp/shot" + asString(screenshotCount, 5) + ".png")])]

 

(if necessary change the word "skyView" to the name of your skybox, but it should be "skyView" by default.)

 

Now, if you click on the timer it should write 100 screenshots to "c:/tmp/" (this may take a while).

 

I will attach a project file that contains three features that encapsulate this basic principle and also add some other stuff.

 

The most simple feature is called "screenshotsOnly". It executes the above setup and adds two attributes to let you specify the duration of the "video" and the number of screenshots that will be taken per second of the video.

It contains a button "Take Screenshots" which will start the timer and write screenshots to the specified destination.

 

The second feature  ("camOnly") does the same but adds the ability to move the camera along a specified path. This path can be set using the attribute "Position Curve" of the feature.

The attribute "Viewpoint Curve" allows you to set a second curve to specify the camera's viewing direction during the animation.

If you deactivate the toggle "Use Curve for Viewpoint", a fixed position for the camera to look at can be specified instead.

The button "Toggle Timer" starts the movement of the camera along the path. The camera can be reset to the start of the curve by pressing the "Reset" button.

If you want to take screenshots you need to activate "Screenshots->Take Screenshots" before you press "Toggle Timer".

 

The third feature ("camAndShip") sets up the timer to also move the ship. You can specify how far the ship should travel during the animation period.

 

If you test the features and the buttons do not seem to work, make sure the attribute "Sky Window" of the feature contains the name

of the sky view loaded with the project in quotation marks (it should be "skyView" by default but might be "skyView01" or something similar if you already have a sky view in your user config).

If it still does not work, right-click the feature and select "Run" from the context menu - after that the buttons should work.

 

Another very important thing I just noticed: due to a bug the sky view in the project might not be loaded correctly. To prevent that from happening, just open the 3DView before loading the project.

 

I hope this helps, if you have further questions please don't hesitate to ask.

 

Erik

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ftimer.fdb

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