Using Splendid Camera position as intro-camera?

[mcnools 62]

Hello, I'm making a mission for my group that is supposed to have a simple intro, more exactly,  I want a static camera on the ground show our helicopter landing from the ground for a few seconds. I've set up and exported the camera parameters from splendid cam:

Quote

["Paste",["fata",[6868.35,6964.27,1.80142],59.3982,0.47,[11.9879,0],0,0,408.146,0.173823,0,1,0,1]] call bis_fnc_camera;

or

Quote

["fata",[6868.35,6964.27,1.80142],59.3982,0.47,[11.9879,0],0,0,408.146,0.173823,0,1,0,1]

(fata is the terrain).

 

However, I can't seem to find any info on how to proceed from here to use that in the mission. All tutorials I can find on cinematics are pre-splendid camera and I honestly can't understand any of it.

 

Is it even possible to use this for a cinematic or does it have to be done in some other way?

[Harzach 2505]

Is the old camCreate method not sufficient?

 

 

[AZCoder 921]

From testing I did about 3 years ago, splendid was only for screen shots, so I just use "0 = this call BIS_fnc_cameraOld;" to invoke the old camera at startup and use an xbox controller to move around and get my positions and whatnot. If splendid can be used or not for intros, I doubt it, but not 100% sure.

[mcnools 62]

I will take a look att that AZcoder!

[MKD3 27]

["fata",[6868.35,6964.27,1.80142],59.3982,0.47,[11.9879,0],0,0,408.146,0.173823,0,1,0,1]

Bold text is the position.

 

_c = "camera" camcreate [0,0,0];
_c cameraeffect ["internal", "back"];	

_c camPrepareTarget [3780.09,2385.09,1.36698];
_c camPreparePos [3812,2384.91,0.326341];
_c camPrepareFOV 0.700;
_c camCommitPrepared 0;

sleep 5;

player cameraEffect ["terminate","back"];
camDestroy _c;

This is a very simple example.

For static shots in intros, I use 10cm spheres in 3DEN, make them invisible, and call them eg. I_POS_1, I_TAR_1.

Then use 
 

_c camPrepareTarget getpos I_TAR_1;
_c camPreparePos I_POS_1;
_c camPrepareFOV 0.300;
_c camCommitPrepared 0;

Is there better ways than this? Probably. 

[AZCoder 921]

4 hours ago, MKD3-FHI said:

 

Is there better ways than this? Probably. 

 

Well yes, BIS_fnc_cameraOld. It literally provides output like this:

_camera camPrepareTarget [3780.09,2385.09,1.36698];

_camera camPreparePos [3812,2384.91,0.326341];

_camera camPrepareFOV 0.700;

_camera camCommitPrepared 0;

Then typically you want to add this line, especially if doing sequential camera shots:

waitUntil {camCommitted _camera };

If you're just doing a static shot then sleep is fine.

 

[zagor64bz 1225]

15 minutes ago, AZCoder said:

 

Well yes, BIS_fnc_cameraOld. It literally provides output like this:

 

_camera camPrepareTarget [3780.09,2385.09,1.36698];

_camera camPreparePos [3812,2384.91,0.326341];

_camera camPrepareFOV 0.700;

_camera camCommitPrepared 0;

 

Then typically you want to add this line, especially if doing sequential camera shots:

 

waitUntil {camCommitted _camera };

 

If you're just doing a static shot then sleep is fine.

 

[MKD3 27]

Haven't done it in a long time due to just using an in house debug camera but there you go.

[mcnools 62]

With your help and some help from a more coding-savvy friend I got things to work, thank you very much!

this is the relevant code I believe (for anyone searching around about this later)

Quote

_camera = "camera" camcreate [0,0,0];
_camera cameraeffect ["internal", "back"];
_camera camPrepareTarget [85893.75,54512.32,38777.33];
_camera camPreparePos [6869.15,6965.38,0.40];
_camera camPrepareFOV 0.857;
_camera camCommitPrepared 0;

 

[Tova 122]

I guess this is a bit late to answer your question, but your issue is still relevant, as camera.sqs is still clunky...

 

So for those who still need a solution in the future, I ended up making a script to output data from Splendid Camera in the Old camera.sqs format :

while {true} do {
	waitUntil {
		uiSleep 1;
		not isNull findDisplay 314;
	};

	findDisplay 314 displayAddEventHandler ["KeyUp", {
		params ["_displayorcontrol", "_key", "_shift", "_ctrl", "_alt"];
		
		if (_key isEqualTo 46 && _ctrl) exitWith {
			_camParameters=call compile copyFromClipboard;
			_targetPos=screenToWorld [0.5, 0.5];

			_camOutput = Format ["
%1 camPrepareTarget %2;
%1 camPreparePos %3;
%1 camPrepareFOV %4;
//setAperture %5;
//%1 setDir %8;
//[%1, %6, %7] call BIS_fnc_setPitchBank;
%1 camCommitPrepared 0;
//waitUntil {camCommitted %1};
",
"_camera",_targetPos,_camParameters select 1,_camParameters select 3,_camParameters select 6,_camParameters select 4 select 0,_camParameters select 4 select 1,_camParameters select 2
			];

			copyToClipboard _camOutput;
		};
	}];

	waitUntil {
		uiSleep 1;
		isNull findDisplay 314;
	};

}

 

You just have to run the script from the debug console, and each time you'll press Ctrl+C it will copy in your clipboard the camera data in the format of the old camera.sqs (with a couple bonus features, commented by default).

The output will be in the format :

 

_camera camPrepareTarget [13143.1,8857.96,0];
_camera camPreparePos [13140,8859.02,1.75517];
_camera camPrepareFOV 0.75;
//setAperture 0;
//_camera setDir 109.302;
//[_camera, -28.6765, 28.2684] call BIS_fnc_setPitchBank;
_camera camCommitPrepared 0;
//waitUntil {camCommitted _camera};

 

EDIT/NOTE : if you use "camPrepareTarget", you won't be able to setPitchBank anymore...

So to achieve your desired effect, comment camPrepareTarget and uncomment the combination of setDir/setPitchBank.

(Note that you'll have to delete and recreate a camera if you used camPrepareTarget earlier).

 

It's a dirty and imperfect workaround unfortunately 😕

 

The script pre-edit for reference :

Spoiler

 

findDisplay 314 displayAddEventHandler ["KeyUp", {
	params ["_displayorcontrol", "_key", "_shift", "_ctrl", "_alt"];
    
    if (_key isEqualTo 46 && _ctrl) exitWith {
		_camParameters=call compile copyFromClipboard;
		_targetPos=screenToWorld [0.5, 0.5];

		_camOutput = Format ["
		%1 camPrepareTarget %2;
		%1 camPreparePos %3;
		%1 camPrepareFOV %4;
		//setAperture %5;
		//[%1, %6, %7] call BIS_fnc_setPitchBank;
		%1 camCommitPrepared 0;
		//waitUntil {camCommitted %1};
		",
		"_camera",_targetPos,_camParameters select 1,_camParameters select 3,_camParameters select 6,_camParameters select 4 select 0,_camParameters select 4 select 1
		];

		copyToClipboard _camOutput;
    };
}];

 

Edited December 18, 2019 by Tova

[johnnyboy 3741]

That is really useful. Thanks!

[Alert23 215]

First of all thank you for this script,

but there is a problem if you use

"camPrepareTarget" then BIS_fnc_setPitchBank wont work.

Do you know a solution for this issue?

[Tova 122]

Hi @Alert23 !

 

I tried to find a solution to use setPitch & Bank together with camPrepareTarget, but I couldn't find a way to... 😢

As a dirty workaround, I added a setDir parameter, if you need to set the bank of the camera, just comment the camPrepareTarget line, and use the combination of setDir and BIS_fnc_setPitchBank instead.

 

Now, let's hope that some SQF guru will find a more elegant solution !