Unreal Matinee Ch. 13

1
Unreal MatineeCh. 13

• CIS 488/588
• Nick Martineau
• Matthew Sable
• UM-Dearborn

2
What is Matinee?

• UnrealEd tool to enable the creation of in-game
  cinematic sequences
• Consists of
• Scene Manager Manage a series of actions
• Actions Moving, pausing cameras or actors
• Subactions

3
A Basic Matinee Sequence

• On your map, click on the Matinee button in the
  toolbox to open the Matinee interface
• In the Scenes tab, click the Add New Scene icon
  to add a Scene Manager Actor to your Scene
• Select your SceneManager and click on the actions
  tab

4
A Basic Matinee Sequence - 2

• In the Actions tab you will be able to see all of
  the different actions you have in your scene
  (starting out there should be none)
• There are now two things you can do
• In the actions tab you can add new actions
  (camera positions ActionMoveCamera) and later
  on add an interpolation point and associate it
  with that action under the MatAction property
  OR, under the Tools tab of the Matinee control
  panel you can move the camera to where you want
  it and click on Add Interpolation Point Action

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A Basic Matinee Sequence - 3

• After you have added all of the points you want,
  go back into the Actions tab
• Under each action in the Time property there is
  a duration field
• The duration refers to the time it takes to move
  from the previous point to this point
• Each action must have a duration or else UnrealED
  will crash
• Caused by the fact that Unreal will read this as
  the camera location being in the same place at
  the same time, which is of course impossible

6
A Basic Matinee Sequence - 4

• Once all of the durations are set and you have
  all of your points in order save your progress
• Click on the preview button and watch your
  amazing Matinee sequence

7
Camera Cuts

• Assume we have to camera segments consisting of
  2 actions apiece and we want a smooth transition
  from segment A to segment B
• The beginning of the second segment should have a
  duration of 0 so the end of the first segment
  instantly snaps to the second segment.

8
Matinee Sequence - Trigger

• To add a trigger to the Matinee sequence you just
  created
• Go back into the Matinee Scene Manager and expand
  the Events tab
• Under Tag type in StartMovie
• Now open up the Actor Class Browser
• Navigate to Triggers and expand it
• Click on Trigger add one to the scene

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Matinee Sequence Trigger 2

• Double click on the trigger you just created to
  access its properties
• Expand the Events tab
• Where it says Event type in StartMovie
• What this essentially does it that when a person
  comes close to the trigger, the sequence itself
  will broadcast StartMovie the trigger will
  intercept that message and start the sequence

10
Testing the Trigger

• So you know its working correctly
• Under the trigger properties expand the
  Advanced tab
• There is a property called bHidden and its
  default value is set to True, set it to False
• This will allow you to see the trigger in game so
  you know it is placed in the right location
• If you did everything correctly, when you run the
  game and approach the trigger your Matinee
  sequence will play

11
Automatically Launching a Matinee Sequence

• Start off by deleting the old trigger you placed
  in your map
• Go to the Actor Class browser and then expand
  Actor-gt Keypoint -gt AIScript -gt ScriptedSequence
  -gt and click ScriptedTrigger
• Add the ScriptedTrigger to anywhere in the level

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Automatically Launching - 2

• Open the properties tab for the trigger and
  expand AIScript
• Select the Actions property and click on add
• Select from the dropdown list ACTION_TriggerEvent
  click on the New button to add that event to
  the AIScript
• Under the Event Property set it to StartMovie
• Launch the game and watch your sequence

13
Non-Linear Pathing

• By default, a matinee travels in a straight line.
• Make sure your scene is selected then select
  your last action. In Path-gtPathStyle-gtPATHSTYLE_B
  ezier.
• You should now see the path connecting your
  actions. Right-click it choose Straighten
  Bezier Curves. You can now hold Ctrl drag the
  handles to adjust the camera movement.

14
Sub-Actions

• Add dynamic effects to your actions such as
  fading, changing camera orientation, shaking and
  subtitles.
• Select the first action in a sequence.
  Sub-Actions tab-gtAddActionOrientation. By
  default, the camera will follow the path straight
  on. Go to Orientation-gtCamOrientation-gtCamOrienta
  tion-gtCamOrient_Interpolate this adds
  interpolation to this sub-action.
• The effect is more apparent when the camera is
  oriented in a different direction. Click Lock
  to Selected Actor, click the camera reorient
  it.

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Sub-Actions 2

• Add SubActionCameraShake change Shake-gtShake
  minimums maximums to adjust the shake amount.
• Time-gtDuration should be the among the duration
  of the action its attached to.
• Add SubActionFade adjust Time-gtDuration to
  among the duration of the action its attached to.

16
Text Sub-Actions

• Create a picture of text in your favorite graphic
  arts software with the background stripped out.
  The dimentions of the picture must be of powers
  of 2.
• In Paint.Net, you can use the Magic Wand tool
  to select the background, delete it to show a
  checkerboard pattern, then save as .tga.
• In the Texture browser, go to File-gtImport-gt(your
  file) and MAKE SURE ALPHA IS CHECKED!

17
Text Sub-Actions (2)

• Again, select the first action in a sequence
  add a SubActionCameraEffect.
• StartAlpha EndAlpha control the fade in of the
  text.
• Delay Duration work the same as other effects.
• DisableAfterDuration must be set to true or the
  text will never disappear!

18
Text Sub-Actions (3)

• In the same window, expand CameraEffect make
  a new CameraOverlay.
• OverlayMaterial is where we use the texture.

19
Look Targets

• The camera will focus on this one object
  throughout its movement.
• Tools-gtAdd Look Target.
• We will now change our interpolation sub-action.
  Orientation-gtCamOrientation-CamOrient_LookAtActor.
  
• Also go to Orientation-gtLookAt with the target
  selected, click Use.

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Move Actors

• Create a new scene change its tag to
  StartTarget
• Expand SceneManager in the Scene tab change
  Affect to AFFECT_Actor.
• Choose an actor to affect in your map and with it
  selected, click Use where AffectedActor is.
• Create a series of interpolation points as usual
  and trigger!