Simple Camera View

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Logic
298 Posts
Posted Mar 20, 2013
I'm trying to create a fixed camera view so that when a player presses a button the view changes to the cameras perspective and then resets 5 seconds later. No effects, no nothing. Think Counter-Strike 1.6 and cs_assault.

I'm going crazy over this. I've tried too many combinations now and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'm guessing you're supposed to use point_camera. I'm doing this in the HL2:EP2 engine if that matters.

Any suggestions. It's probably not that hard, I'm just stupid...

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Mar 20, 2013
Replied 49 minutes later
Hey man, welcome back(?) :biggrin:

Yeah, indeed you need a point_camera and a func_monitor. The monitor is a brush entity with all facaes textured no draw except the one you want to show the images the camera is taking, which you need to texture with the dev/dev_tvmonitor1a texture.

In order to switch amongst different cameras (this is how you would get "different perspectives" in a given place) bare in mind that only one of them must be active at a time. Set as the first camera (name it for example "camera1") the one you need to be shown in the beginning into "Camera name" in the func_monitor properties... Now these would be the outputs you need:

  • SetCamera = this establish what camera your func_monitor will show
  • SetOn / SetOff = use them to switch between cameras always using some miliseconds in the delay of the outputs...

The sequesnce obviously will be:

  1. Camera1 > SetOff
  2. [func_monitor] > SetCamera > camera2
  3. Camera2 > SetOn

And then for reseting the system:
1. Camera2 > SetOff
2. [func_monitor] > SetCamera > camera1
3. Camera1 > SetOn

I gues you get the picture, right?

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TopHATTwaffle
113 Posts
Posted Mar 20, 2013
Replied 9 minutes later
I believe in CS 1.6 it just took your view over completely. It did not just project on a monitor. Also kinda like the security screens in Duke Nuke 'Em 3D.

You'll just use a point_viewcontrol. That's all.

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Logic
298 Posts
Posted Mar 20, 2013
Replied 13 minutes later

josepezdj wrote:
Hey man, welcome back(?) :biggrin:

Thanks, yeah it's been a while :biggrin: Your solution wasn't really what I was looking for, but thanks either way :smile:

TopHATTwaffle wrote:
I believe in CS 1.6 it just took your view over completely. It did not just project on a monitor. Also kinda like the security screens in Duke Nuke 'Em 3D.

You'll just use a point_viewcontrol. That's all.

Yeah, that worked. Thanks! I knew it was ridiculously easy x) I just had to uncheck Start at player and Follow player :smile:

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Naulziator
104 Posts
Posted Mar 20, 2013
Replied 3 hours later
Ah, it may 'work' like Duke 3D, but this really reminds me of those Puzzle POV's on the classic Tomb Raider series. Pull a ridiculously oversized lever, and you're given a camera shot of a door being opened, or something to that effect.

Sometimes, you need a view like that in custom Portal 2 maps, so you can figure out what each switch does.

Word of caution, I'd put a 1.0 second delay for when you activate the switch. That's how those POV effects work so well for Lara Croft fans.

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Logic
298 Posts
Posted Mar 20, 2013
Replied 10 minutes later

Naulziator wrote:
Ah, it may 'work' like Duke 3D, but this really reminds me of those Puzzle POV's on the classic Tomb Raider series. Pull a ridiculously oversized lever, and you're given a camera shot of a door being opened, or something to that effect.

Sometimes, you need a view like that in custom Portal 2 maps, so you can figure out what each switch does.

Word of caution, I'd put a 1.0 second delay for when you activate the switch. That's how those POV effects work so well for Lara Croft fans.

It's not for the actual gameplay mate. I'm just using it as a static camera shot, so that if you take a screenshot after pressing the button they will all be in the exact same location. I think you can get a nice effect with transitions from when the map was only a couple of brushes up until the point of release :smile:

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Naulziator
104 Posts
Posted Mar 20, 2013
Replied 19 minutes later
Oh, time lapse does sound nifty. It does give me an idea of using this technique for that Tomb Raider POV stuff, though...
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Brainstone
401 Posts
Posted Mar 23, 2013
Replied 3 days later
You are looking for a point_viewcontrol. Check the flag "start at player's view" only if you want the camera to be at the player's position. It can also be elsewhere. Also, I'd check "freeze player".
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FelixGriffin
2,680 Posts
Posted Mar 24, 2013
Replied 22 hours later

Logic wrote:
Naulziator wrote:

Ah, it may 'work' like Duke 3D, but this really reminds me of those Puzzle POV's on the classic Tomb Raider series. Pull a ridiculously oversized lever, and you're given a camera shot of a door being opened, or something to that effect.

Sometimes, you need a view like that in custom Portal 2 maps, so you can figure out what each switch does.

Word of caution, I'd put a 1.0 second delay for when you activate the switch. That's how those POV effects work so well for Lara Croft fans.

It's not for the actual gameplay mate. I'm just using it as a static camera shot, so that if you take a screenshot after pressing the button they will all be in the exact same location. I think you can get a nice effect with transitions from when the map was only a couple of brushes up until the point of release :smile:

That's brilliant, you need to show us the video when you're done.

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Logic
298 Posts
Posted Mar 25, 2013
Replied 11 hours later

FelixGriffin wrote:
That's brilliant, you need to show us the video when you're done.

Will do! :smile:

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TopHATTwaffle
113 Posts
Posted Mar 25, 2013
Replied 5 hours later
I did not realize that's what you wanted... There is an entity for this EXACT purpose... You can use a point_devshot_camera. https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Point_devshot_camera for this.

Place a point_devshot_camera entity in your map and give it a name, the name of the area it looks at is a good name. If you want you can make sure the angle and location are good by using spectate ingame and using getpos in the console to find your co-ordinates and angle. Adjust the FOV to match what you're using ingame if you wish and that's all the entity itself needs.

Next, open up your compile options and either in the input bar at the bottom of the normal mode add -makedevshots or in the $game_exe section of the expert mode add the same thing. Make sure you remove options such as -dev so that your screenshots don't have the console in them!

Once you have compiled your map the mod will load up and just let it be, it will load the map and take the screenshots automatically. The screenshots will be saved to <mod>/screenshots/<mapname>/<cameraname> as .tga files. the previous from quoted from the VDC

Example of what can be done with this entity. http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2754

Avatar
Logic
298 Posts
Posted Mar 27, 2013
Replied 2 days later

TopHATTwaffle wrote:
I did not realize that's what you wanted... There is an entity for this EXACT purpose... You can use a point_devshot_camera. https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Point_devshot_camera for this.

Place a point_devshot_camera entity in your map and give it a name, the name of the area it looks at is a good name. If you want you can make sure the angle and location are good by using spectate ingame and using getpos in the console to find your co-ordinates and angle. Adjust the FOV to match what you're using ingame if you wish and that's all the entity itself needs.

Next, open up your compile options and either in the input bar at the bottom of the normal mode add -makedevshots or in the $game_exe section of the expert mode add the same thing. Make sure you remove options such as -dev so that your screenshots don't have the console in them!

Once you have compiled your map the mod will load up and just let it be, it will load the map and take the screenshots automatically. The screenshots will be saved to /screenshots// as .tga files. the previous from quoted from the VDC

Example of what can be done with this entity. http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2754

Ahh, so that's what it does. Thanks. I'll use the old thing for now but I'll check this one out on my next map :smile:

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freego
1 Posts
Posted Apr 04, 2013
Replied 8 days later

TopHATTwaffle wrote:
I believe in CS 1.6 it just took your view over completely. It did not just project on a monitor. Also kinda like the security screens in Duke Nuke 'Em 3D.

You'll just use a point_viewcontrol. That's all.

I agree with you sir, CS 1.6 tooks a nice camera view,
Differs with Duke Nuke 'Em 3D,


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