Calling all combat photographers!

[Hawkins 8]

Heh, rgr. I would at least want to see some 60's cameras made. The correspondants aren't really that important to remake for the certain era. If you don't add any specific modern stuff on them, you can use them on a 60's themed mission too.

Anyways, very good stuff so far! Eagerly waiting for this one.

[Gedis 0]

will these cameras be mp compactible, so we could film all invasion of iraq?

very very good idea to make these

this would be very usefull in mp, maybe not in OFP, but in arma for sure...

[LoTekK 0]

@Hawkins:

That's probably true. If anything, anything distinctly era-specific will probably end up being added as hidden selections or something along those lines. 60's era camera should be fun, as would a WW2 era one.

@Gedis:

I don't see any problems with MP implementation, as far as the screenshot functionality, since that'll essentially be a local thing. Videos? Um, try fraps.

I don't know if there will be any problems with the mission funtionality (ie, go in, take a picture of these scuds) in MP, but again, that bridge will be crossed when I get to it.

And an update. I've fixed up the proportions, fixed the topology of the shoulder/armpit area. Also added hands, but those'll need a lot of work, as they're currently a bit poly heavy (each hand is something like 750 tris ).

Now for the head, would people suggest going with Llauma's heads, or a custom head that uses the default BIS head mapping? Or should I put up a head when I've done one before asking?

edit:

Oh, if anyone's wondering why that photographer vest is so bulky, it's because there's body armor underneath (the top of it is visible, but not very apparent because of the lack of textures currently).

Also, I'll be dealing with asymmetry later, once the mesh is closer to finalized, so don't worry too much about the mirroring currently.

[-HUNTER- 1]

hahah really elite model!

somehow I like the feet and the shoes!

anyways maybee it would be an idea to make a model with a B.P. vest. Like the blue ones CNN uses in iraq, maybee you could add patches that you could change like the SWAT guys have... so you could use different logos from press agencies. Like CNN, or BBC, or AL jazeera for that matter.... You could do one with a vest and also a blue helmet for when they are filming stuff in the heat of battle like in iraq in the beginning...

good idea this addon!!!

The mounted camera I mentioned would be very handy since its mounted it wont shake giving you better shots, because its easier to keep in focus and keep the target in the middle!

[GoOB 0]

Got a question for you photographer folks out there. I've seen pictures of journalists and photographers where their cameras have this large chunky thing attached to the bottom. An extension of sorts. What are those for, and how important are they? If they're important I'll probably have at the least an alternative or hidden selection including them.

Do you mean like this?;

Those are batterygrips, and allows the photographer to hold the camera vertically with more satisfying results. I guess they aren't all that important to a photographer, but they are quite common as they make life alot easier

One thing I'd like to see on the photographer model (which looks excellent BTW) is a camera with a smaller lens hanging from the side/back of the model. Since most photographers I see have their backup camera hanging about for easy access. As stated: Lookin sharp!

[dvargar 0]

The legs are fine in the sideshot, but not in the frontshot.

Try to lower the crotch area, and the feet are still a bit to large, try to fit one of his feet between his wrist and the crook of the arm, when correctly sized it should fit perfectly.

[LoTekK 0]

anyways maybee it would be an idea to make a model with a B.P. vest.

Oh, if anyone's wondering why that photographer vest is so bulky, it's because there's body armor underneath (the top of it is visible, but not very apparent because of the lack of textures currently).

Though I'll probably have an alternative with just vest and no body armoras well.

I'm planning on different types of headgear, don't you worry about that. Also thinking of maybe having a presspass with setobjecttexture. That would require me actually reading up on that, though, to see if it would be at all useful.

Anyways, still hammering away, tweaking here, tweaking there, shaving tris where I can. Really really need to cut down on the tri-count on the hands.

camera with a smaller lens hanging from the side/back of the model. Since most photographers I see have their backup camera hanging about for easy access

Good idea. *adds to list*

*suddenly gets a crazy idea to replace the pistol-draw animation with one for grabbing the backup camera*

And yeah, that's the thingie I was talking about. Thanks for the info. I might just have it as a hidden selection or something.

This is certainly turning into a bigger project that initially envisioned.

try to fit one of his feet between his wrist and the crook of the arm, when correctly sized it should fit perfectly.

Well hell, that's a proportion rule I never knew about. As for the overall proportions, I really should have a template loaded up for reference, but I just never got around to doing that. Thanks for the heads up on the legs, will get that fixed up.

edit:

Quote[/b] ]THE FOLLOWING ERROR(S) WERE FOUND

You have posted a message with more emoticons that this board allows. Please reduce the number of emoticons you've added to the message

[Gedis 0]

when this addon will be out, i think there should be combat photographer competition, who will take the best picture or the film...

well i would try to sneek in 1 battalion who is stepping in combat and i would take best pictures  

this idea is just great! but full potencial of it will be reavieled in arma(better terain, multi gunner possitions, ships, shooting from cargo possition, i mean and shooting camera and more increadible new stuff, making combat more realistic), i think... )

[BraTTy 0]

As far as I am aware a camera could only use OFP built-in realtime "cam", as far as I know there is no way to force a screenshot.If you could that'd be sweet.Make sure the pictures are sequential and it would help any user that wants to take screenshots

[LoTekK 0]

@BraTTy:

See DBR_Onix's posts about his OFPCamera tool, which hooks into Kegetys' FWatch.

@Gedis:

Quote[/b] ]shooting from cargo possition

When I read that, all I could do was imagine a war correspondent hitching a ride on a Slick and taking pictures out the side door. That would be simply awesome.

edit:

Notice that instead of continuing work on the character model, I went off and made a sig.

[BraTTy 0]

Wow how did I miss that topic with fwatch

[hidden_spectre 2]

i was actually thinking of the same thing, a camera in ofp....it wud be a very beautiful addition to ofp. Vietnam era missions wud make gud use of it. Imagine a story of a photographer who went into La Drang valley, shooting with his ultimate weapon - THE CAMERA.

try using the flashpoint's pistol holding anims to somewhat match the person holding a camera, or we cud possible make some new animations which can be called in when required with the SWITCHMOVE command

but the bottom line is:

"i want a camera in ofp"

[DBR_ONIX 0]

Had a few ideas (Well, remebered about them) about the acctual functionality of the camera, which might be of some use ::

[*] For the "Go and take photos of these scuds", make the camera a "working" weapon, then when the "weapon" (camera) is fired, it creates a weak bullet (I had problems with this for a MILES system, it has to be over a certain value before it registers as a hit.

Then, two options, either check when the vehicle has been shot, then check if the ammo == the camera bullet.

One problem with that is you have to accuratly take the photo, with the vehicle centered.. But, if you create a spray of bullets it might be better, but then it'll ignore zoom..

Other way is follow the path of the bullet, checking the distance between the bullet and the target vehicles.. Then, using the current distance from the camera, and the distance from the vehicle, you should be able to work out if it's in the photo..

This way you can atleast work in the zoom, if you can work out how far their zoomed in..

Maybe by options to "swap lenses", so instead of Semi-Auto, Full-Auto etc, you have wide-angle, x1, x2, x8, etc.. Each has a static-zoom level, and each fires a different type of ammo..

[*] A flash! A bit pointless, but, when it fires, the weak bullet will make the ground light up, and you could use the camera-weapons zalesh selection to make the flash on the camera light up (or pop-up too).

Quote[/b] ]since that'll essentially be a local thing. Videos? Um, try fraps.

When we (me/a few friends) were thinking about this idea (About what turned into FWATCH, basicly triggering external programs from inside OFP), an idea was, like the OFPCamera thing, to start/stop recording the screen.

Other ideas were to, after the photos have been taken, to put them back ingame.. OFPCamera creates a file that has the current photo number (so it creates photo001.jpg, the number will be 001)

I managed to get it to setobjecttexture the last photo on a flag, but OFP doesn't like seting images that weren't there when the mission started, as textures, and I got weird results

I never tried with cutRsc though, so you might want to try that

The general idea of that was to have a proper debreifing, that shows the photos you've taken

This idea then morphed into another, odd idea, have each client run a program, that basicly grabs the webcam image, and transmits it to all the other clients, then each client displays that in game.. Or, an even weirder idea, I've seen code (While I was learning Visual BASIC) that did facial emtion recognition... You could use the command (That I can't remeber at this second. Oh, setmimic) to set the players emotion to their current one..

Anyway, getting slightly off-topic.. But all of those were possibly due to FWATCH..

I think (Don't fell obliged to listen, just my opinion ) the biggest thing that needs to be sorted it, apart from the camera models, is the config for them, which allows you to flick between various zoom-levels, and make them fire various ammo types (I know this is possible, as the single-fire and burst-fire options fire different ammo setups). So you can do a basic script for seeing if the player has taken photos of specific things..

Doing that would, 1, make it easy to acctualy take screenshots (By tying the fired eventhandler to triggering OFPCamera), 2, have everything in place for doing more reliable photo-checking, using the current-zoom level, combined with current bullet distance from the target and player-with-camera (fog/view distance could be a problem, but this could be set by the mission editor if needed)

Anyway, appologies for the long post

More appologies {Edit : }:

About the acctual camear addon in general :

I think it's a fecking great idea, the combat photography thread is becomming more and more "Look how shiney my PC makes a OFP sunset", and less combat-oriented.. A "Acctual OFP-Based photography" thread would great.. Instead of the now-kinda-boring OFP Photography competetions, which 99% of the time are setup things using camera.sqs.. Acctualy making the "photographers" run into position, avoid being shot will not only make it far more realistic, but more fun/rewarding..

And finaly, I thank someone for finaly making this addon, since I don't think I would ever have got around to it, good luck with it

There, no more, I promise

- Ben

[LoTekK 0]

[edit]

Before I forget: If you have any camera suggestions, please fire away! I'm not all that familiar with the various cameras (especially for the various time periods), so if there are any particular cameras that you know were in use, let me know. If you have reference pictures, please include those as well.

[/edit]

Earlier I had considered using switchmove for the camera pose, but completely forgot about the inability (at least to my knowledge) to class one of the switchmoves as a combat class anim. That means no optics view, and an inability to fire. If someone can prove me wrong, please do so.

My current plan is to have an entirely new "Photographer" class, with all the pertinent animations completely replaced with ones suitable for camerawork. I may have different classes with different animations replaced, though.

For example, one class could have the primary weapon anims replaced, but retain the standard pistol anims, in order to be able to carry a sidearm into the field. Another one might have the standard primary weapon anims, but replace the pistol anims with ones suitable for a smaller camera (say, for a blackop/spy/espionage mission where you'd need to infiltrate and photograph documents or something along those lines). I may also add a small camera that will be classed as a binocular weapon (thus using the standard binoc anims).

We'll see how this all progresses.

I've made decent progress on the photographer model. Cut down a lot of polies in the hands, and added a custom head. I'll see if I can get in touch with Llauma to see if he's okay with me UV mapping the head to match his facetex.pbo textures. If not I'll just map it to use the default BIS faces. Also started to add accessories. So far I've got a baseball cap, helmet, and Oakleys (the helmet needs work, though).

Without headgear, the photographer currently stands at just shy of 3000 tris (no LoDs yet).

edit:

@DBR_ONIX:

Just saw your (long! post.

For functionality, after a bit of putzing around, I had more or less settled on checking the position of the "bullet" as it was in flight. My preliminary ideas involve having the mission maker set a list of targets, which the camera script would check against. So far it's all primarily in note form, though, so no "real" script has been written yet. Will get around to that once I'm a little further along (artist first, coder second ).

For lenses, I've had a couple of ideas that are fighting for prominence. First one involves simple weapon modes (spacebar), while the other involves magazines. The latter would allow me to visually update the model (the M16 mortar, for example), so it's looking the more attractive option at the moment. I'm not thinking about different ammo for each zoom lens, though, since that wouldn't really make sense from a functionality point of view (I'm not going to swap out my film when I change lenses). The fired eventhandler checks for muzzles, as well, so that should suffice.

Of course, I could also combine both of the above, for purposes of simplifying the checks for distance and zoom.

Flash: Also on the list. Should also be the easiest of all the features to implement.

Some of the stuff you're mentioning might fall outside the scope of this project, but it's still pretty nifty. I was actually thinking about how cool it would be to be able to get pictures back into the game. The debriefing you mentioned would be one cool use, and the other would be in a campaign, for example. One mission might require the player to recon a site and get intel photos. The next mission might have somebody else use those photos to plan a strike, or something to that effect. The possibilities are endless.

About your last comment. It's funny, because running around with setCaptive true while I set up force-on-force battles was one of the things that led me to start this project up. I'd be running around, watching the battles unfold, and thinking of how much fun it would be to be taking pictures.

Dammit, I keep getting that "too many emoticons" error.

[nominesine 0]

Got a question for you photographer folks out there. I've seen pictures of journalists and photographers where their cameras have this large chunky thing attached to the bottom. An extension of sorts. What are those for, and how important are they?

Well I'm not a combat photographer, but if the advice of a writing correspondent is good enough...

If you refer to the box fitted to the lower part of the camera it is either batterys or the motor.

Yes, cameras have motors. Before the digital revolution you sometimes needed a special attachment to the camera to make it take repetetive shots (an automatic fire mode for cameras) because it takes some force to physically move the reel with the film around. That´s the block you see under older cameras.

The digital cameras of today don't need this extra force, but they do consume a lot of battery power when firing away rapid series. On modern cameras it's the batteries you see.

And as a sidenote... I've never seen a photographer who takes a digital camera to the battlefield (and I never bring my laptop either). Digital cameras are too unreliable. Older cameras are as essential to a combat photographer as paper and pencil to a reporter  

About camera size: The first rule of all photographers is "the bigger the better" I like your wip pic's.

About combat photography in OFP: Isn't it possible to make the camera "fire" a bullet that makes no sound (apart from click) and no damage? That way it would be possible to check if a target was "hit" by the photographer (using eventhandlers). The hit represents a photo taken. From a missiondesigner point of view this would make the camera useful. Your objective as a photographer will be to take pictures of the target without getting hit yourself (just as in real life). And if you stick to older cameras each magazine represents one roll of film, each round represents one picture frame. A roll of film is about half the size as a revolver magazine, so two per magazine slot should be okay.

Sorry about my crappy english. My knowledge of proper names for camera components are almost non existent in english.

EDIT: Sorry. I didn't read the last two posts properly. I can see now that the bullet/picture idea is already discussed and I think it's a fabulous idea. I'm looking forward to your release. Let me know if you need a playtester.

[LoTekK 0]

I've actually read numerous accounts of photographers using digital cameras to cover conflicts (at least the recent ones like Iraq and Afghanistan). That said, when I first started up on the Nikon, it was with zero prior research. I definitely have traditional film cameras on the to do list, though.

Quote[/b] ]Yes, cameras have motors. Before the digital revolution you sometimes needed a special attachment to the camera to make it take repetetive shots (an automatic fire mode for cameras) because it takes some force to physically move the reel with the film around. That´s the block you see under older cameras.

Ahh. I recall reading a writeup by the former editor of Soldier of Fortune,and he made multiple references to a motor, but I was never quite sure where that came into play. Thanks for that.

For functionality, the "hit" eventhandler is out, since it doesn't register below a certain damage threshold (I was unable to trick it by using a negative damage value, either). Additionally, I'm reluctant to make it function akin to a sniper rifle of sorts, for the simple reason that if you have a pair of targets (say, a business deal taking place), you would typically aim between the two. I'll likely be going the route of checking the position of the fake projectile against a list of targets defined by the mission maker.

On a side note, I never knew you were a war correspondent. While you're not a photographer, your input is nonetheless very much appreciated.

[finarvas 1]

Excellent =) Btw sorry if I missed this, but will it be a civvie correspondant right?

[LoTekK 0]

The initial idea was just a civvie correspondent, though the more this grows, the more I'm considering adding military correspondents as well. Alternatively I'll have camera variants that will fit the standard OFP anims so that regular units can use them properly.

We'll see.

[nominesine 0]

Quote[/b] ]I've actually read numerous accounts of photographers using digital cameras to cover conflicts

Yes I know. I'm just beeing conservative. Keep up the good work. I will download your camera even if it's a digital camera... or 1920's box camera with phosphorous flashingpowder

Quote[/b] ]I'll likely be going the route of checking the position of the fake projectile against a list of targets defined by the mission maker.

Sounds like a good idea. For me it´s more important to be able to register "hits" from the camera with a trigger/sensor than to actually retrieve jpg-pictures from within the mission.

Quote[/b] ]On a side note, I never knew you were a war correspondent. While you're not a photographer, your input is nonetheless very much appreciated.

Ex-war correspondent. I've been grounded since I came home from Iraq I would like to go to Afghanistan, but my wife doesn't aprove of my plans *sigh*. She think's it's dangerous

[ecstasy122 0]

Can you make the optics white? Professionals use only White lenses.

[blackdog~ 0]

Can you make the optics white? Professionals use only White lenses.

What a major generalization

[nominesine 0]

The initial idea was just a civvie correspondent

I have a small suggestion about the correspondent. When I go to a hot zone I usually tape a small Swedish flag onto my left arm or the back of my jacket, because everybody loves us swedish guys and almost no one shoots at us   It's a safety thing used by many correspondents. Other colleagues (from the US for example) simply makes a flag and writes "PRESS" or "JOURNALIST" or "SA HAFI".

It would be nice if you could:

a) Enable setObjectTexture on the model, via the action menu. Thus letting the player chose if this arm patch is on or off (make an international patch that says "PRESS", it should do the trick).

b) Define a bolean global variable to go with the armpatch. Thus enabling the mission designer to check if the patch is on or off from a script.

It gives more options to the correspondent and makes it even more fun to play one in the game I think.

EDIT: And why not include the option "hide film in pockets". It can be useful if the correspondent is questioned by curious soldiers at a checkpoint

[LoTekK 0]

About the setObjectTexture, I've got a couple of alternatives in mind that the model can cater to at the moment. Armpatch is a good idea, and I'll see about sticking one on. I've also got a press ID on the model (of the worn-around-the-neck variety). Good idea about getting the current status of the patch/ID. The more functional options the better.

Quote[/b] ]my wife doesn't aprove of my plans *sigh*. She think's it's dangerous

Ah yes, the significant others. That's their job.

Quote[/b] ]Professionals use only White lenses.

Must be a whole lot of rank noob amateurs running around the hotzones these days then, if that's the case. For that matter, it seems a whole lot of historically significant war photography was done by rank amateurs, too.

Anyways, project-wise, the model is essentially complete, minus LODs, and currently being UV'd (my least favorite part of the whole process). I've gotten in touch with Llauma, and will be mapping my custom head in accordance with his custom head, so it can use his facestex.pbo. Time allowing, I might throw in some custom faces as well.

Any camera suggestions?

[nominesine 0]

Any camera suggestions?

Only two...

Nikon F1 series (first appeared in 1959 and remained one of the number one system cameras until late 80's)

Canon EOS 1 series (the number one press camera of the 1990's in Europe, also one of the best digital camera series of today - visually the modern digital version looks very similar to the 1980's models)

[4 IN 1 0]

just my $0.2

the lens is a bit too large i think

even those 300mm lens are smaller then that