Film viewer wish list

[AKDejaVu]

Now that we have received one of the coolest features to be released in some time... Its time to remind HiTech that his job will never be done.

The ability to watch films from the desktop and generate .AVIs from them is simply awesome.  I know HiTech isn't done with the viewer/editor just yet, so please don't treat this as a "you forgot this.." or "you left this out..." thread.

How about a simple list of features you'd like to see added.

For me:[list=1]

• no beeps when pressing keys to change views
• view changes using joystick
• sounds for recorder's aircraft
• ability to turn icons on and off

AKDejaVu

[mason22]

everything Deja said.

if at all possible, how about some sort of speed control or motion control....ei. slow motion.


is the same smoothing code (?) built into the viewer as in the game engine? When flying everything is very smooth and fluent so to speak. But when you are attached to someone everything is very "hard edged" or riggid in movement....like there is no smoothing of the path at all. I can understand this in the situation of being attached to someone becuase of server this and that (i'm guessing here....). Anyhow, would be nice to watch AH films with the same smooth motion as when we are flying and recording the film. I'm curious about what all goes into that and why the difference is there. Just something i never got around to asking Pyro and HiTech at con.

[CavemanJ]

One thing I'd like is the ability to either set the view positions in the film so they're recorded into the avi file, or be able to pause the encoding (is that possible?) to change the views to avoid awkward panning in the finished avi.

[AKDejaVu]

if at all possible, how about some sort of speed control or motion control....ei. slow motion.

Does the current view speed slide bar not work for you?  I haven't tried using it to see if it causes recordings in slow motion... but it does work for playbacks.

AKDejaVu

[AKDejaVu]

One other feature I'd like to see:

5. Icon for recorder's plane

AKDejaVu

[Fatty]

Yeah forgot that.  If nothing else at least when you've swapped into other planes.

[214thCavalier]

From what i have seen so far the flight info is not displayed for the plane the film was recorded from no matter which plane you are currently viewing the scene from.
It seems the only way to view alt , speed etc of the plane filming is to go into that cockpit and try to read the gauges.
Unless i am missing something obvious ?

[Doberman]

Personally, there's alot that I want to see.  This editor is at the moment lacking quite a few of the features I was expecting.

But at the top of the list, I'd just like it to work correctly in its current state.

For starters, I'd like it to not lose all enemy data when I edit a piece out of a longer film.  Doesn't quite have the same effect when ya watch my plane fighting & pinging an invisible enemy.

D

[Beegerite]

My view is that the primary purpose of the film viewer is as a learning tool.  Utilizing the film viewer with the new feature of being able to get into anyone's plane should leave no doubt in my mind as to why I died such a horrible death.  If HTC had just stopped at this point they would still have the most awesome feature we've seen But Nooooooooooooooo, they've gone on to giving us a truly amazing feature in the capability to turn the data stream of an .ahf film into an .avi file which greatly enhances our capabilities to create truly awesome and entertaining videos to share with friend and foe alike.

I've enjoyed doing digital video for over 7 years and when I started with AH one of the first things I did was to see how could I output a battle to video.  The process is a bit time consuming.  First you hook up your camcorder to the puter.  I use SVHS output to a DV camcorder.  Drawback here is that you can only output at 640x480 resolution and it's dangerous to do this "live" because your monitor is distorted and the viewing screen on the camcorder is too small.   The solution is to make .ahf films, run them and capture to DV at the same time.  Once the battle sequence is in the camcorder I then hook the camcorder back up to the puter but this time utilizing the IEEE1394 (Firewire) and re-capture the video into .avi format for editing.  Editing is done with programs like Adobe Premiere, VideoWave or Pinnacle Studio DV.  They run in price from +$600 down to $99 and have the capability of doing the fanciest post production work you watch on tv right now e.g. black and white, 10 layers one on top of the other, sound track, titles, fades, dissolves, spinning cubes etc. etc. etc.  

The key to the whole thing is the source video.  What HTC has done is to give us a simple way to create this source video and that is absolutely amazing!  

There are ofcourse some missing goodies e.g. a manual, the videos don't record the sound,  the max. resolution is 640x480 and 30fps which in effect results in VHS quality video.

I'm glad that we've got a separate forum to discuss this great add-on and that we have the opportunity to share ideas about it in one place.  

Here's a project to think about but don't let anyone know cause they'll sue you for copyright infringement.  Go get a copy of the movie "Battle of Britain"  or any other war movie of your choice.
Pick a scene or two.  Record the soundtrack of your scenes to a .wav file.  Note the timing and participating aircraft in each scene.  Re-create the scene utilizing AH airplanes as your actor aircraft.  For close-ups of the evil Nazi's film yourself sitting on the hopper.  Put it all together and put it on a DVD for your private enjoyment.

That's what the future brings.

WTG HTC
Beeg

[AKDejaVu]

Here's a project to think about but don't let anyone know cause they'll sue you for copyright infringement. Go get a copy of the movie "Battle of Britain" or any other war movie of your choice.
Pick a scene or two. Record the soundtrack of your scenes to a .wav file. Note the timing and participating aircraft in each scene. Re-create the scene utilizing AH airplanes as your actor aircraft. For close-ups of the evil Nazi's film yourself sitting on the hopper. Put it all together and put it on a DVD for your private enjoyment.

I've been thinking about things like this too.  The ability to hop into different aircraft has already given us a great deal toward getting this done... just a few more babysteps to go.

Right now.. I go through and save one film many times from different angles and perspectives.. then take the films and splice them together using a tool more suited for the job.  Just a few things stand in the way of really great videos... icons being one of them.

AKDejaVu

[steely07]

Deja i was also going to suggest getting past the problem of different angles and smoothness by doing the film the way you suggested,many films then edit together with a more expensive editor ")
(no offence HTC i love the editor)
 Also the ability to use the joystick as we do in the terrain editor and the old film viewer would be great,it seem natural to most of us by now i would imagine
 Big Salutes all around tho on 1.09 HTC,i'll be back in the MA soon.
PS I should mail Yankee about getting my Steely handle reactivated yes?

[Nefarious]

Weapon view for Bombs and torps.

Or Target view where it shows a highlighted aircraft's external view looking at your aircraft.

[Kweassa]

Top Priority

 * ability to pause the avi encoding process.. the most needed function
   as of now. If this is technically impossible, I  wouldn't  mind  a  more
   complicated method of "view scripter".. where the views and  camera
   angles would automatically change in the way the user pre-set it.
   (hmm.. come to think of it.. the "view scripter"'s the more better way..)

* Fixing the problems in clipping out certain sections of the film.. where
   relative data of enemy planes go haywire..

* Fixing problems in appending files

* visible enemy tracers.. don't care about bomb blast, splashes, dust..
   but visible enemy tracers, we really need them.
 
Suggestions

 * more camera angles

 *  "stationary camera" placement..   where  you can  set a  view  point
    within the environment.(Imagine you are in a chute, don't fall  to  the  
    ground, and don't have the chute clogging your view)  This    feature
    comes in cool when doing chase scenes. Turn trail on, pause it, see
    where the planes pass, go there, set "stationary camera point".

    Later on when filming, at the critical moment, jump to  the  SC  point
    and adjust views

 * ability to view in gunner position

 * add in bomber bay view to buffs(so you can see those bombs falling)

[bowser]

How are you guys changing to enemy planes during film?

bowser

[steely07]

Bowser,just double click on the nme name in the data field to the right of the playback screen