Proof of concept for lipsynced speech and enhanced w2scene encoder features

[rmemr]

I guess there is no limit on how long scene can be, I'm not sure. Also there is still much left to do to make custom quests, and I believe it's not even possible. Also I'm looking forward to see any content with Saskia or Iorveth.

Before you hit the technical limit of a scene length you probably run out of ideas (and if not you can split into multiple scenes without a problem). Basic quests *should* already be possible (facts loading/saving, quest board items, journal entries, custom markers have already been done if I'm not mistaken). Combining those for the first time into some kind of quest still takes some work, true. But the real work is giving the quest some background, a story worthwhile to tell. And to tell it convincingly you need more than markers on a map and one pretty scene, you need some interesting characters with depth (just think of HOS and replace all dialogues with oneliners where to go/what to do).

even if it turns out that we can feed the game with very long cutscenes you have to consider that the limit is most likely the time you put into making those. It is basicly making a movie section or a series episode for a game. depending on what you want to show you probably have a few actors, all in need of specific animations, mimics and text lines for each scene element you shot. Adding camera positions and char placements. All this bound together in numerous scene elements. You have to go through those elements time after time.

As I wrote in an earlier post... if you want to use these tools to create content for quests it's (IMHO) far easier to concentrate on creating complex dialogues with a minimalistic approach to animations instead of aiming for high quality visual presentation.

there is no "safe the scene" and "load the scene" button for production. Everything is live and the prostproduction is really a postproduction without additional shots.

The shot definitions are saved once you exit the storyboard. If you save the game afterwards the shot definitions are saved, too. Next time you load this savegame and start the storyboard all your shot definitions are restored.

 

[iCake]

I wonder if this can be used to recreate some of the in-game pre-rendered cut scenes, especially when thinking about the alternative outfit discrepancies that CDPR never bothered to fix officially.

 

[erxv]

I wonder if this can be used to recreate some of the in-game pre-rendered cut scenes, especially when thinking about the alternative outfit discrepancies that CDPR never bothered to fix officially.

those cutscenes and some normal scenes contain embedded animations that arent really accessible to us. we can only use animations that are defined in the .w2anims files.

 

[Medy89]

those cutscenes and some normal scenes contain embedded animations that arent really accessible to us. we can only use animations that are defined in the .w2anims files.

Hey man great tools , is it normal that renaming & filter function dont seem to work yet ? I press r but cant type anything ?
I can totally see myself using this to create a couple uniquie shots ...

 

[erxv]

Hey man great tools , is it normal that renaming & filter function dont seem to work yet ? I press r but cant type anything ?
I can totally see myself using this to create a couple uniquie shots ...

you are most likely just missing the input.settings stuff which are included in the bootstrap mod

read the "How to Install" 3rd step, of the bootstrap mod..

 

[Medy89]

you are most likely just missing the input.settings stuff which are included in the bootstrap mod

read the "How to Install" 3rd step, of the bootstrap mod..

all the buttons / hotkeys work ... its just when I press r ( the rename prompt opens , but I cant type anything after that... nothing happens when I press any key after pressing r ) ... It should be installed properly.... everything works except typing filter & renaming stuff

 

[rmemr]

all the buttons / hotkeys work ... its just when I press r ( the rename prompt opens , but I cant type anything after that... nothing happens when I press any key after pressing r ) ... It should be installed properly.... everything works except typing filter & renaming stuff

erxv is right, this is most probably a problem with missing modBootstrap.input.settings from the bootstrap mod. Please make sure all the content of the provided input.settings from the bootstrap mod package is really contained in your input.settings file.

Entering a string or a numerical value is a standard feature of the list menu which is contained in the bootstrap mod so other mods do not need to reimplement this functionality. The storyboard filter and rename hotkeys just trigger the edit action and delegate the handling to the (bootstrap) list menu. When you confirm or cancel the edit the menu returns back control to the storyboard mod for interpreting the input string.

 

[Medy89]

erxv is right, this is most probably a problem with missing modBootstrap.input.settings from the bootstrap mod. Please make sure all the content of the provided input.settings from the bootstrap mod package is really contained in your input.settings file.

Entering a string or a numerical value is a standard feature of the list menu which is contained in the bootstrap mod so other mods do not need to reimplement this functionality. The storyboard filter and rename hotkeys just trigger the edit action and delegate the handling to the (bootstrap) list menu. When you confirm or cancel the edit the menu returns back control to the storyboard mod for interpreting the input string.

ahh right ... actually really forgot to paste in that part ... working now ...

 

[ayyudee]

Astonishing, you are the modder CD needs but not the one they deserve (considering their mod support )

 

[soulfax444]

rmemr I have a few questions regarding the mod if you dont mid.

For the past few days I tried my hand at making a few short scenes, nothing to complicated, just messing about and trying to get a proper grip on how this mod works but a few things I have been able to pick up on.

Firstly, when I was in the process of downloading and instaling the mod I somehow missed the verry first sentance and I have no idea what "w2scene encoder" is or how to use it but thats besides the point (althought I suspect most of my "issues" could be solved by instaling w2scene).
What I'm not understanding is how do I save and play the "movies" I made using the mod.

I watched both of your showcase videos and I see that you are exiting the game and pulling up a text editor and editing some of the lines in what I presume is the scene you just worked on or the mod it self. So thats a big one.

Secondly, how exactly do I get a moving camera shot?

From the previous response you gave me I gathered that I have to manualy stich the two scenes together somehow?
And again I'm assuming that I have to manualy edit the code of the script?

Sorry for sounding so clueless, I wouldnt ask if I could figure it out my self but I cant so I need a helping hand!

Thanks agan for making such a awesome mod, once I figure it out properly I will use it to make the best bloody Witcher cinematic the world has seens...or just a short funny video.

EDIT : Also, is there a way to change the "rotate asset" key when in placement mode? It's defaulted to "Mouse button X" and I have no such button I think.

 

[rmemr]

rmemr I have a few questions regarding the mod if you dont mid.
Firstly, when I was in the process of downloading and instaling the mod I somehow missed the verry first sentance and I have no idea what "w2scene encoder" is or how to use it but thats besides the point (althought I suspect most of my "issues" could be solved by instaling w2scene).
What I'm not understanding is how do I save and play the "movies" I made using the mod.

I watched both of your showcase videos and I see that you are exiting the game and pulling up a text editor and editing some of the lines in what I presume is the scene you just worked on or the mod it self. So thats a big one.

The storyboard UI enables only to select and preview elements in-game and to "dump" these selection as a scene description. I called that a *rough* scene draft. This description doesn't do anything on its own and must be encoded as a w2scene. For this you have to use the w2scene encoder (an external commandline tool). I updated it now to version 0.4.0 which is the first version to support the dumped scene description of the SBUI. The previous encoder version lacked many features the SBUI mod allows to use (like for example more than 2 actors and complete free placement).

So: download the latest version of the w2scene encoder and make sure you read the tutorials (either the slightly outdated tutorials forum post or the up to date tutorial within the encoder package). The tutorial contains many background infos, setup instructions, example and test scene definitions which cover even more features than the storyboard UI, for example camera interpolations.

Secondly, how exactly do I get a moving camera shot?

In short: define two shots with different camera setup in the storyboard ui, link them in the dumped scene description prior to encoding as w2scene (see above mentioned test example from the encoder package for details), encode to w2scene and playback in game to see the camera move/interpolate from the first defined cam to the second defined cam.

From the previous response you gave me I gathered that I have to manualy stich the two scenes together somehow?

You don't need to stitch multiple scenes together but you can if you want. The encoder takes one scene description and generates one w2scene from it. If you have a gigantic scene planned it makes sense to split it into multiple, shorter SBUI "projects" as it gets cumbersome to work with more than 20 shots. The downside is you have to combine those "projects" into one scene description manually. Not terribly difficult if you have some practice but I'd leave that as an advanced project until you get familiar with the complete workflow.

And again I'm assuming that I have to manualy edit the code of the script?

The witcher script part is only relevant for triggering the playback. That's covered in the tutorials.

However what you most probably start doing sooner than later is adjusting the parameters from the dumped SBUI scene description to tune the result (probably timings, blend in/out, animation stretching/weighting, ...). Later on you can advance to changing more than parameters in the scene description as it is much more flexible to edit free hand if you know what you do.

Sorry for sounding so clueless, I wouldnt ask if I could figure it out my self but I cant so I need a helping hand!

The tutorials should give you a solid base for understanding and editing the files. They don't cover the most interesting stuff from the storyboard UI results (although some unstructured info is included in the encoder) but it's basically the same it just focuses on presentation of the scene.

EDIT : Also, is there a way to change the "rotate asset" key when in placement mode? It's defaulted to "Mouse button X" and I have no such button I think.

The key is defined as right ctrl for toggling between rotation and movement. The actual rotation is mouse *movement* in the X direction. I don't know what you mean with button X.

Thanks agan for making such a awesome mod, once I figure it out properly I will use it to make the best bloody Witcher cinematic the world has seens...or just a short funny video.

Thank you, but above all have fun in creating scenes!

 

[rmemr]

Here's a demo for the lipsync gen and a quick how-to vid:

[video=youtube;oI6PvgqE-wM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI6PvgqE-wM[/video]

Took me longer than I hoped but with the w3speech tools and lipsync generator finally published all the tools are now available on nexusmods:

• storyboard UI mod
• updated w2scene encoder
• w3speech tools and lipsync generator

Have fun.