Advanced camera control
Update 18/12/2024:
Updated the zip file for some bug fixing.
This is more of a tech demo than an actual release, well, like most of my releases. I was worried that the editing tool could be too complicated to be useful, with the camera control I'm now sure of that.
Anyway, if you want to give it a try, here's a short explanation of the basic concepts. I won't write any detailed documentation unless specifically requested.
For every segment in the editing tool you can now set an "advanced camera". The camera position is determined by two point: the "position" and the "look at", on top of that there is a "distance" slider to set how far back from the position point the camera will actually be. Each of the two points can be fixed to the track, fixed to a car or rotating with a car. You can select a different car for each one and you move the points with the two icons on the map, the crossed circle and the creepy eye.
For each segment you can add a second camera position, the actual camera position will be interpolated between the two depending on the current position in the timeline, you can set how the interpolation will take place by selecting one of the different graph.
If you create an overtake highlight for a timeline with an active advanced camera, VS will set the camera position over the car that is passing and the look at position over the car that is being passed. This way both of them will always be visible during the overtake. Here is a link of a replay generated by the overtakes highlight without any additional editing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p81ElbU-TrQ
Pro-tip: you can use the editing tool in conjunction with the server feature so that, if you have a large enough screen or two monitors, you can watch the results in real time. Keep in mind that I'm not controlling a camera but a car. While using the server feature this means AC will run the physic engine so the car could snap to the ground or interact with walls and barriers. This won't happen in the saved replay because I set all values but position and rotation to zero and for AC it'll be like a disconnected car. It also means that you can cycle trough the default cameras with the F1-F5 keys, some of the cameras will work others will not.
PS: there still is no save feature for the editing tool.
Comments (5)
is there a way to disable penalties?
You can rename the "fast_lane.ai" file in the AI folder of the track or you can add these lines to the config file I send to CSP: [EXTRA_RULES] ALLOW_WRONG_WAY = 1 LIMIT_LOCK_CONTROLS_TIME = 0 LIMIT_LOCK_CONTROLS_TOTAL_TIME = 0 To do that you need to add a "track folder name.ini" file in the "CSP Settings" folder in your Virtual Steward folder. In the traffic tab of the latest version you can generate the file by clicking the "..." button after selecting the track in the tracks list.
lovely app dude thx :)
is there a tutorial for using this tool please ??
My idea was to make mini-tutorials on request. Like "How can I move the camera like this?" and, if it's possible, I'll make a short video with the VS part and the result. If it's not possible, I'll take note and see if it's worth implementing. Keep in mind that, the way it is now, I don't think is very usable but for very basic editing, I plan on adding ways to link segments together and copy& paste camera settings to make it more powerful but it'll take time.