Cutscene Lighting

[Corylea.723]

Cutscene Lighting

I've started making a cutscene, and although it's nowhere finished yet, I thought I'd better look at it in game to make sure it worked.*sigh*There's no light in the cutscene except for that thrown by the burning building. I thought the problem was that I had the scene taking place at night, so I switched "time of day" to noon, and it's still dark. One can hear swords clashing, and there's the occasional glint off of a sword, so I know that my people are there and are doing their thing, but I can't actually SEE them. The action takes place outdoors. I've given the area a skybox, but that doesn't seem to make any difference. I looked at both of the Djinni tutorials on cutscenes, but neither of them mentioned anything about lighting; both just seemed to assume that there would be some.What am I doing wrong? Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[username_2075278]

I've started making a cutscene, and although it's nowhere finished yet, I thought I'd better look at it in game to make sure it worked.*sigh*There's no light in the cutscene except for that thrown by the burning building. I thought the problem was that I had the scene taking place at night, so I switched "time of day" to noon, and it's still dark. One can hear swords clashing, and there's the occasional glint off of a sword, so I know that my people are there and are doing their thing, but I can't actually SEE them. The action takes place outdoors. I've given the area a skybox, but that doesn't seem to make any difference. I looked at both of the Djinni tutorials on cutscenes, but neither of them mentioned anything about lighting; both just seemed to assume that there would be some.What am I doing wrong? Thanks for any suggestions!

Lighting in cutscenes is usually just the lighting the area the cutscene happens in would have at that time of day, and I haven't had any problems with it except the time of day being wrong. Is your cutscene happening in an area the player goes into during the game, or in a special area of it's own? If the latter, consider moving it into a game area. If the former, what light does Geralt see when he's in the area normally?If the worst comes to the worst, start again from a new cutscene. I've had to do this with at least three of my cutscenes, one of them several times. The cutscene editor is mildly wonderful, in that it enables us to make very impressive cutscenes - but it's frustratingly baulky at times and once one has made a mess it's very hard to get out of that mess!

 

[Gamewidow]

Also, it seems to me that there must be some sort of "virtual spotlight" that can be used ... in the game proper, people are "lit up" for conversations -- much more so than simon has achieved in our cutscenes (our lighting is NOT to my satisfaction either -- though evidently simon thinks otherwise!)Ailinon? are you there ?? what are we missing ?

 

[Corylea.723]

Thanks, guys; I appreciate the help.

Lighting in cutscenes is usually just the lighting the area the cutscene happens in would have at that time of day, and I haven't had any problems with it except the time of day being wrong. Is your cutscene happening in an area the player goes into during the game, or in a special area of it's own? If the latter, consider moving it into a game area. If the former, what light does Geralt see when he's in the area normally?

Geralt never goes there for anything; it is, as you suspected, in a special area of its own or rather, in several special areas of their own. I was trying to summarize a lot of stuff quickly, with a 3-second flash of this and a 4-second flash of that. I put them in the module with the other areas, though, and I gave 'em the usual area properties and even a period.

If the worst comes to the worst, start again from a new cutscene.

I had just about decided to do this -- after several other frustrating experiments that didn't work -- when I saw your and GW's responses.

I've had to do this with at least three of my cutscenes, one of them several times.

Oh, ick. Sympathy!

The cutscene editor is mildly wonderful, in that it enables us to make very impressive cutscenes -

I look forward to seeing what the Dream Team has come up with. I'm not trying to make an impressive cutscene; I'm just trying to make a piddly little cutscene to go with my piddly little mod (that seems to keep growing as I get more ideas, but that's another topic ).

but it's frustratingly baulky at times and once one has made a mess it's very hard to get out of that mess!

I've had this happen with other aspects of Djinni, too. There was a quest that just would NOT work, and I looked at it a zillion times and swore the damned thing was right. Eventually I started a new quest, made it exactly like the old one, and it worked. I think Djinni is for either the very stubborn or the very confident, ideally both.

Also, it seems to me that there must be some sort of "virtual spotlight" that can be used ... in the game proper, people are "lit up" for conversations -- much more so than simon has achieved in our cutscenes (our lighting is NOT to my satisfaction either -- though evidently simon thinks otherwise!)

There certainly is a virtual spotlight, as I discovered when I was trying a million and one things. It did indeed light things up enough that one could see what was going on, but given that the setting was outside during the day, it still wasn't right -- a bright scene with pure blackness overhead looks decidedly weird. It's as if the skybox didn't take or something, but I've checked it a dozen times, deleted it and added it again, all that Djinni stuff.Anyway, if you want the spotlight, it's in your FX folder, which I assume you've unbiffed; it's camera_light.wfx. There are some other things in there that look as if they might be lights, including one called dialog_light.wfx, but I haven't tried those out. None of them seemed as if they'd be simulating a daylit sky, so while they didn't work for me, they may well suit your purposes.

 

[Gamewidow]

dialog_light sounds promising thanks Corylea (that's actually juice for you)

 

[username_17]

That all screams for my wfx-effects-list, didn't you find it.... It's in german yet and not translated, but could be also useful for all effects you want to add to such a cutscene.You really should have a look at it. 8)@Corylea:You can also place your own light in the scene where you want to run your cutscene with, as a normal placeable you can set a few lights to make the area a bit "enlightned" (spelling?, sorry)

 

[Gamewidow]

I promise to check that Raven!

 

[username_2075278]

Also, it seems to me that there must be some sort of "virtual spotlight" that can be used ... in the game proper, people are "lit up" for conversations -- much more so than simon has achieved in our cutscenes (our lighting is NOT to my satisfaction either -- though evidently simon thinks otherwise!)

Simon does NOT think otherwise.Our cutscenes are as good as I can make them, NOT as good as I want them to be!

 

[Gamewidow]

OK ok! it's too dark dammit!

 

[username_17]

Don't shout too loud at Simon, Widow.... after all he should have brought your sexcard scene to run now.... well, if he hasn't done something wrong and understood all, what I've told him.

 

[Corylea.723]

Don't shout too loud at Simon, Widow....

If they're only a few days from the deadline and haven't killed each other yet, they're doing well; I'm proud of them both.

You can also place your own light in the scene where you want to run your cutscene with, as a normal placeable you can set a few lights to make the area a bit "enlightned"

Yes, as I said a few posts further down, I've done that, but it doesn't produce the effect I need.As far as I can tell, my problem is something to do with skyboxes. In the cutscene I was trying to use before, it looked as if there simply was no skybox, even though I'd certainly given the area one, and it looked fine in the editor.I'm now testing a new cutscene -- or rather, a new frame or two, since I learned from the last one not to do much before testing it -- and now my characters appear to be fighting INSIDE the skybox. It's very bright, the buildings are all gone, and there's a cloud or two. WTF?When I made a fresh area, then opened it in the cutscene editor, I was INSIDE the skybox. I could rotate and look at various sections of it, but I couldn't go down, to leave it; I was stuck inside the skybox. I went back to the area, deleted the skybox, added a couple of characters and a basic animation, re-added the skybox, and now they're inside the damned thing.Clearly, there's something essential about skyboxes that I have failed to grasp. I even made a Kaer Morhen area, added the skybox that's in m1 and set it to the coordinates of the skybox in m1 ... and it doesn't look right -- there's a bright ring around the horizon, but the area overhead is dark. WTF? If I'm using their skybox, set to their coordinates, shouldn't it looks like, um, theirs?Narrowing down the problem is progress, right? It's something to do with skyboxes.I'm regretting my words to Whisperwind, a week or two ago. She was having trouble getting downloads for The Sims to work with her game and said that sometimes they worked and sometimes they didn't, it was just a matter of luck. I told her that it wasn't luck, computers followed rules, and I would tell her all the rules she needed to know for Sims downloads, and then hers would work.*repeats to self* "Computers follow rules." Could Djinni be an exception?

 

[Michael_DarkAngel]

*repeats to self* "Computers follow rules." Could Djinni be an exception?

No. D'jinni just follows different rules. :evil:Keep at it and you will figure them out.I apologize for not offering anything more than simple encouragement.

 

[Corylea.723]

*repeats to self* "Computers follow rules." Could Djinni be an exception?

No. D'jinni just follows different rules. :evil:Keep at it and you will figure them out.I apologize for not offering anything more than simple encouragement.

At this point, encouragement is quite welcome! Thank you.

 

[username_2075278]

OK ok! it's too dark dammit!

Ah, well, there we disagree. We're telling a dark story.some of the time it's too dark, but some of the time it's not dark enough!

 

[username_2075278]

*repeats to self* "Computers follow rules." Could Djinni be an exception?

No. D'jinni just follows different rules. :evil:Keep at it and you will figure them out.I apologize for not offering anything more than simple encouragement.

At this point, encouragement is quite welcome! Thank you.

Seriously, even for test purposes, make it possible for Geralt to go into these areas in the game. Then you will know whether it''s a cutscene-specific problem (I doubt this) or an area problem (this is what I suspect).And skyboxes would be HIGH on my list of suspicions!

 

[username_17]

Corylea, maybe you can add a few pictures from your problem? Maybe we can see something and tell you more then

If I'm using their skybox, set to their coordinates, shouldn't it looks like, um, theirs?

Don't worry about such things, I have the same problem with my "Ghost", I done it the same way the m0-ghost is, set the same fighting abilities, attacks, weapons and all other stuff exactly the same, well, the m0-one is fighting fine and my not. I really don't wonder about these things anymore... ;D

 

[Corylea.723]

Corylea, maybe you can add a few pictures from your problem? Maybe we can see something and tell you more then

If I'm using their skybox, set to their coordinates, shouldn't it looks like, um, theirs?

Don't worry about such things, I have the same problem with my "Ghost", I done it the same way the m0-ghost is, set the same fighting abilities, attacks, weapons and all other stuff exactly the same, well, the m0-one is fighting fine and my not. I really don't wonder about these things anymore... ;D

Thanks, Raven. I'm fully occupied with someone else's mod at the moment, but when I get back to mine, this will help!

 

[Corylea.723]

Just in case someone else should happen to be having the same problem I was, I thought I'd mention what the problem turned out to be.It turns out that my cutscene runs just fine IF it is set in the same location as the player's start point. Trying to run a cutscene set in another area results in the all-black look.So much for a cutscene set in burning Vizima and a player start point in an inn! (There's probably some sort of work-around that would permit this, but I don't want to take the time to look for it; my colleague and I want to get on to The Next Game. )