ET:QW filming abilitys

[Sir_Eden]

I’m one of the admins of The Sir. Community were filming community for those who don’t know (currently in BF2) ET:QW is our next move once its out (for obvious resons), so basically im trying to find out about ET:QW filming abilitys. TQW had the opertunity to interview Activision and did ask about it.

14. Will there be demo recording? If so, how will it differ from Q4/D3 demo recording (netdemo and non-netdemo)? And will multi-view demo recording be possible?

I got distracted on this one so didn’t get the whole answer fully. What he did say is that the game play videos we saw were all recorded with some sort of demo tool. Nothing else on that, sorry

He deserves a slap on the head for getting “distracted”.

So you already know my question, does anyone know any information about what filming capability’s ET:QW may have?

[JamieL]

I think Carmack said something about demo recording in his talk. What he had implemented for Doom 3 was scrapped midway because it wasn’t going too well, and you basically got what you did for Doom 3. Quake 4 demo recording wasn’t any more better, and it looks like Quake Wars is probably going to go the same route, unless Spash Damage is working on replacing demo recording system ( they haven’t said they’re were working on it, so who knows yet. I’m willing to bet that if they were, it would be the last thing they’d work on in the devleopment cycle).

I’m hoping that they do have something sophisticated planned. With the rise of machinema (I mean, look at the popularity of BF2 movies, and that has a pretty rudimentary demo recording system), as well as video services like youTube and Google Video, the community WILL make some great videos and share it if some decent tools are available. And hell, it’s free promotion of their game which obviously results in sales.

[Rhoades]

I think Carmack said something about demo recording in his talk. What he had implemented for Doom 3 was scrapped midway because it wasn’t going too well, and you basically got what you did for Doom 3. Quake 4 demo recording wasn’t any more better, and it looks like Quake Wars is probably going to go the same route, unless Spash Damage is working on replacing demo recording system ( they haven’t said they’re were working on it, so who knows yet. I’m willing to bet that if they were, it would be the last thing they’d work on in the devleopment cycle).

I’m hoping that they do have something sophisticated planned. With the rise of machinema (I mean, look at the popularity of BF2 movies, and that has a pretty rudimentary demo recording system), as well as video services like youTube and Google Video, the community WILL make some great videos and share it if some decent tools are available. And hell, it’s free promotion of their game which obviously results in sales.

Indeed. It would be in SD’s interests to include some decent tools for demo recording.

[DarkangelUK]

I’ve seen many various comments on SD’s IRC chan to suggest that there will be a decent demo system in there and a sweet camming tool. And yes the trailers were made using said tools so it looks promising so far. It will def be getting thurough testing when released

[Sauron_EFG]

JC also said “There’s a chance… You won’t wanna hear this…
There’s a very good chance that the direction things are going is just direct video capture”

That would be the end of frag movies as we know it (though it doesn’t apply to ETQW).

[Sir_Eden]

I do hope your right DarkangelUK, demo recording is prity standard in games these days and I would be quite surprised if there wasn’t some basic form at least for demo recording but I do hope that they have something that at least better than BF2’s implementation which only has 4 degrees of movement.

I would also love to see the ability to make tools AA for example has some very nice tools for camera tracking made by the community.

I guess we will probably just have to wait and see.

[Sauron_EFG]

Oooh, and no evil FPS cap in demo replay please.

[Hakuryu]

The covert ops apparently has some sort of flying drone that you can fly around and explode near people… if there isn’t a great camera option within the game, it seems to me that this flying orb would be perfect for a little mod to make it into a workable camera.

[carnage]

wasnt there something mationed eariler about ETQW demos being recorded at the server so when you have a demo you can watch the whole match and not just what one individual recorded

also in early interviwer wasnt there a lot of hype about moving towards making a more spectator sportor easier to watch from just an observer POV

however JC talks about just about any change to the game requires the demo recording to be changed. i can pretty much see why they would happen and it probably would add a lot to development. i would expect that if the game was finished but the demo part wasnt working full it would be considered too insignificant to delay they realse. but QWpro might provide some better demos

[kamikazee]

wasnt there something mationed eariler about ETQW demos being recorded at the server so when you have a demo you can watch the whole match and not just what one individual recorded

Sounds like what ETTV does, so it’s not new.

[carnage]

i would not be surprised if it does what ETTV does but i got the impresion that perhaps lots of things like camera entites were being placed all around the map. and posibly some system to pick out cameras with the most interesting action on at the time

if watching games as if they are sporting event were to truly take off then i think your going to need something like this since it can be very hard to keep up with a game as fast paced as ET. and if we are brining the wishlist out then lithium would be great for after match reviews of attacks and strats and good way to keep a good idea of what is happening accross the whole game while trying to spectate

[Sir_Eden]

Thing is demo recording points the direction of Sir.'s next game and I just hope ET:QW has if nothing else demo recording/playback on a par to BF2’s because id rather not go to BF2142. I would be brave enough to say that Sir. is probably one of the most recognisable filming/modding/stunting community’s in BF2 with over 90 members we have a crap load of talent at our hands and ET:QW looks to be the perfect filming platform for 2007 but there’s just no info on its filming capabilitys.

For example BF2 right now has a very basic setup the server records the demo file and you can load it up you then have two camera choices the player cam (3rd person) and freecam. With that the camera its self has only 2 degrees of rotation and 3 axis of movement its ok but it doesnt let you do and special camera movements like the ability to twist the camera all that has to bee done during editing.

I did see a tool made by the AA (Americas Army) community for there demo files which allowed camera tracking (you set up a path and the camera follows that path) which is an amazing tool that could never be implemented to BF2.

One thing I love would be the ability to make tools like that for filming in ET:QW but again there’s absolutely no information on it.

[Rhoades]

hopefully one of the Devs will post in here and answer your question.

[nUllSkillZ]

You’ve mentioned a tool for AA.
There’s also an external tool for W:ET-Pro:
Camtrace 3D

[Gabrobot]

In an Edge magazine preview of Quake Wars from the beginning of the year, there was this side bit:

One of the earliest entries on the Splash Damage CV is turning deathmatch into a televised sport for clients such as Activision and BT. “We made something called FPS Studio,” reveals Wedgwood, “where instead of recording the game from the player’s perspective, you record it on the server and then go back and look at anything you fancy. We put in a lot of spline-path cameras and produced a Windows editor that let you set rules for following the most useful things that were happening.”

I would guess that this is what they used for the E3 2006 trailer. So it’s looking pretty promising for you guys.

[Rhoades]

In an Edge magazine preview of Quake Wars from the beginning of the year, there was this side bit:

[quote=Edge]One of the earliest entries on the Splash Damage CV is turning deathmatch into a televised sport for clients such as Activision and BT. “We made something called FPS Studio,” reveals Wedgwood, “where instead of recording the game from the player’s perspective, you record it on the server and then go back and look at anything you fancy. We put in a lot of spline-path cameras and produced a Windows editor that let you set rules for following the most useful things that were happening.”

I would guess that this is what they used for the E3 2006 trailer. So it’s looking pretty promising for you guys. :)[/quote]
that does sound schweet.

[RosOne]

In an Edge magazine preview of Quake Wars from the beginning of the year, there was this side bit:

[quote=Edge]One of the earliest entries on the Splash Damage CV is turning deathmatch into a televised sport for clients such as Activision and BT. “We made something called FPS Studio,” reveals Wedgwood, “where instead of recording the game from the player’s perspective, you record it on the server and then go back and look at anything you fancy. We put in a lot of spline-path cameras and produced a Windows editor that let you set rules for following the most useful things that were happening.”

I would guess that this is what they used for the E3 2006 trailer. So it’s looking pretty promising for you guys. :)[/quote]

Damn, that sure does sound sweet. I just hope it will work out and find it’s way to the retail version.

[JamieL]

For example BF2 right now has a very basic setup the server records the demo file and you can load it up you then have two camera choices the player cam (3rd person) and freecam.

The funny thing about BF2 demo recording is that I’m sure Dice have something miles better that they use for recording their own promotional videos. Have you seen the early trailer for 2142? Or even the FMV intro for BF2? They have a really cool camera shake to give it the hand-held feel, a camera track, and lots of other neat things. I’m betting they don’t want to release it and provide community support for it. And I do very much feel for the clans that make BF2 movies. The great ones have been made by kinda covering up and masking the limitations of the poor tools.

But yeh, like I said earlier, fan-made movies are the NEW MODS in the fps genre. No one has the time to do a full fledge mod anymore, and since making movies from games is so much easier, quicker, and yet as rewarding to make as a mod, I can only see them growing incredibly in popularity. It comes at a great time right now as well, as the popularity of sharing videos via youTube, GoogleVideo, and the many other video services is exploding.

So, guys. Demo recording, top priority stuff, ok!

[Sir_Eden]

The funny thing about BF2 demo recording is that I’m sure Dice have something miles better that they use for recording their own promotional videos. Have you seen the early trailer for 2142? Or even the FMV intro for BF2? They have a really cool camera shake to give it the hand-held feel, a camera track, and lots of other neat things. I’m betting they don’t want to release it and provide community support for it. And I do very much feel for the clans that make BF2 movies. The great ones have been made by kinda covering up and masking the limitations of the poor tools.

Recreating the hand held feel is a fairly simple process basically you move your mouse in a semi-circle movement along with the right speed and hight it give it a fairly realistic hand held camera feel. Its not perfect though if you have a good eye you can pick up how its done quite easily.

We used this in burning sands which was a joint production between Sir. and =TOL= Clan if you watch it, watch it for the editing.