Hey everyone, a question for anyone that might have a better idea on this than myself. I was thinking of making a sort of "cinematic" trailer/video for Empyrion, just for fun and to showcase how cool the game can look and feel, but I realized that there is no easy way to get smooth camera movements in-game. I would prefer to avoid simply using mouse movement as it looks amateur and keeps reminding the viewer that "some guy was controlling this" rather than focusing on the visual content. So the question is, is there a better solution/method of making camera movement look more professional? Especially with Empyrion's limited camera control methods. Currently, there are only a couple ways to get a stable or slightly better looking movement for a scene that I have found. Panning the camera by moving the "player" with WASD (or Space and C) to either track an object that is moving or to slide across and object or scenery. This is very stable but somewhat rigid. Using the arrow keys the rotate the camera. The problem with this method is that the camera speed is not adjustable (or is it?). It is too fast to get any smooth cinematic shots, so if it could be slowed down this method could work. I tried playing with mouse sensitivity both in-game and through my hardware but the arrow key rotational movement isn't altered. Turning the mouse sensitivity way down to nothing and possibly turning my individual mouse sensitivity/dpi to be slower as well. This gives a nice smooth look but is extremely slow and requires the camera-operator to again move their hand and potentially expose the image to wobbles and shakes. The catch-22 is that making it extremely slow is smooth but not fast enough for some scenarios, but making it faster shows all the "amateurness" that I want to avoid. Has anyone else had any experience with something like this that can give me a tip or two? I'm really not expecting much response, just checking if there is something I am overlooking that is quite obvious. I would like to take on this little hobby project with a small level of professionalism to best represent the game.
Keep talking dude, about to try this out myself. going to use a camera stabilize filter on heavy settings, and see how it works tonight.
I don't know how you would go about setting it up in Empyrion, but a USB controller (like an xbox controller) can sometimes be used for smooth camera movements. It usually involves installing some extra software on your PC to get the controller working in your games but it can allow for smooth camera movements in SOME games.
I was actually thinking about this today, but I don't believe Empyrion has controller or joystick support. Otherwise it would be a great solution as I still have a ps2 controller with usb adapter. Who knows if and when they might support this.
Although it doesn't support it natively you do get software that you can link controller buttons to the keyboard or mouse axis
Having tried two videos the "amateurish" way already, I can say both were learning experiences. I don't claim either of these are especially great - I got started with in-game machinima in the old Perfect World MMO (veterans may recognize the avatar), which had an actual cinematic camera mode, and I'd love to see EGS get something similar - maybe another use for the Drone. The only real help I can offer here is to say, experiment and get "creative" with your shots. Just like classical filmmakers, we work with the limitations and technology of our time, which means looking for clever solutions and work-arounds to obtain the footage we want. Have plenty of drive space available for multiple "takes," - if you want a slow pan around a focal point, with the mouse, temporarily drop your sensitivity and try it about a dozen times. With luck (and steady hands), at least one of those will be smooth enough to use in the final video. For zooming shots, I had an old Logitech MX Revolution, which has a "free-spinning" mode to its mousewheel. Makes the zoom in or out very smooth, if a little quick for my liking. Something similar might help you out? I've never cared for the jetpack movements in-game, but if you're in space, the muddiness might work to your benefit. If, say, you wanted a shot of a large CV passing by, set it to cruise at a low speed, turn the autobrake off, hop out and godmode ahead of it, then switch to Jetpack for a smoother pan as it cruises past. Just as one specific example. Action shots would certainly be the hardest - trying to keep smooth mouse motion with one hand, and keyboard controls with the other was a nightmare when doing the Nephilim video - but one trick I used to use in PWI filming was a "CamBot" alt, who served as a 1st-person camera while my other character(s) did the work. Perhaps you could get a friend on local co-op or server to 'act' for you, while you play the role of camera-man? If you have anything more specific in mind, I might be able to offer some thoughts on work-arounds or possible solutions. Otherwise, best of luck with your filming!
Thanks for the tips and the input; to everyone else that has replied as well! You have some good pointers so I'll have to mess around with a couple and see what works for me and what doesn't. Nice videos too. I have specific shots and scenes already in mind for what I want in my own video, but yours help inspire my camera placement and movement.
+1 Huge hard disk, patience, lots of takes and re-takes. Inspired filming there Kieve! I find I cannot use game controllers at all, but I'm going to give this a try in case it helps. 1. THe drone has a overlay - wish we could turn that overlay off / alternately the player cam distance is quite limited to close up shots, can we configure the max cam distance - at the moment it means that even basic Workshop screenshots of anythign large are borked and need manual edits anyway, more cam freedom from the devs? 2. I have asked elsewhere (https://empyriononline.com/threads/brightness-in-space.36226/) - any way to make space playfields less dark? They are really dark in this version, and unlike planets they don't seem to support the lighting settings planets and moons do, am I missing something?
I've been able to zoom my camera out incredibly far in 3rd person view both piloting a ship and just walking around. I agree better camera options would be amazing though.
Would VR/VorpX help? I'm not sure how you record video from that environment, but if you were in a multiplayer game and wearing a headset you might be similar to a "steadycam" operator.
Empyrion does not have VR support. But, I believe that some unity games have Ansel support. I might buy a card if that was proved to be an attractive option.
You can get Empyrion to load into VR using the VorpX library and the 7 Days to Die configuration. I've been in-game using it. You won't have any controller support, so to move about you still need to use the keyboard. But once you get to where you want to be standing, you can stand there and look in any direction with the headset.
Cool, god to know it is possible. Sounds like an expensive way , to still not be able to control camera position smoothly. The looking about with a mouse is smooth enough, not looking to spend cash or loads of time for minor benefit yet.
Any tip for doing nice, smooth interior shots? The camera / player movement is waaaay too fast for filming inside a SV. I only have the mad idea so far to switch from creative to survival mode, spawn my vessel and somehow try to break my character´s leg, LOL. That should do it, doesn´t it?
With a gaming mouse or keyboard you can use lua scripts to repeatedly move the mouse cursor (thus turn the character) by specified amounts every specified interval. Here's an example that will move the mouse right 5 pixels (turn you) and click, and repeat 5 times during a quarter of a second while you're holding the G2 key. Obviously you'd set it up for your own specific needs. I've used these for emptying my inventory, unlocking the tech tree, etc. Code: -- move mouse right a bit, click button, do this twice if (event == "G_PRESSED" and arg == 2) then current_mkey = GetMKeyState() if (current_mkey == 3) then for y=0,5 do MoveMouseRelative(5 , 0) PressAndReleaseMouseButton(1) Sleep(50) end end end
