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Work in Progress / Virtual Movie Studio

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Colonel_Klink
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Posted: 21st Aug 2009 15:36 Edited at: 27th Aug 2009 02:05
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I'm new at DarkBasic programming but have programmed since the STOS days on an Atari computer and since the mid 1990's with Visual Basic and it's successive versions.

Anyway one of the things I enjoy doing is screenplay writing, and I purchased Antics3D to create previz (previsualization) of my scripts. However Antics3D support has since gone the way of the dodo bird and other extinct animals and software.

While I can still use Antics there was a lot of features I wished it had. Hence the concept of Virtual Movie Studio.

With this in mind I recently purchased Dark Game Studio

What is VMS (Virtual movie Studio?
VMS will be a standalone 3D environment for the creation of Previz movies created in 3D.
VMS will use traditional point and click methods to place actors, props and vehicles within a 3D world.

VMS Main Features:
Character - full 3D using standard BVH animations
Speech - All characters will have speech (lipsync) capability
Props - Import OBJ, X file types (both static and animated)
Interactive props - e.g. doors and windows
Vehicles - land, sea and air
Scenery - Import terrain meshes (characters will follow terrain)
Lighting - dynamic and realtime
Shadows - either baked or realtime
Skybox with cloud and weather effects
Way Point movement
Physics - Solid body and soft body physics, ragdoll character, vehicle suspension (PhysX capable)
Particles - generate full 3D particle effects
Billboards - animated and for distance opbjects
Camera - Set FOV etc
Timeline with keyframe
Realtime preview
Export to industry standard video format
Shaders
Paths - line of sight and bezier

As you can see from the list above most of the components from Dark Game Studio fits the bill.

While the thought of using DarkBasic Pro (or any other language for that matter) was entering my comfort zone, I have found that it is not much different from my early programing experience. Anyway the pic below is of the interface which is about 30% underway. It is designed in Visual Basic and a screen shot used as the bacground. The green 3D area is a camera set to the cutout in the interface png file.
At the moment I'm creating the various screen and control (buttons etc) zones using types and functions to speed things along.
Progress towards completion: About 3%



Oh my gosh! He's wearing Full Metal Pyjamas!
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Virtual Movie Studio forum: http://www.metalplateproductions.com/vms/
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Zeus
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Posted: 21st Aug 2009 17:46
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Looks great!
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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 21st Aug 2009 17:56
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I was just thinking about movie designers 10 minutes ago. I like them, especially if you can add your own models.

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Garion
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 12:39 Edited at: 22nd Aug 2009 12:43
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Interesting idea, I wonder how it will be easier than making the movie just in eg 3d max (except price, but you have to have the models anyway)

btw the UI looks very professional and intuitive
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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 12:59
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One thing of note; the UI layout would be more efficient if the text buttons in the upper right were to be twice as wide and half as high. They'd take up the same amount of space but there wouldn't be space above and below the text and the text wouldn't be horizontally squashed.

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Colonel_Klink
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 14:10
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@Garion
I thought long and hard about using Max. What I'm aiming for is an easy to use drag'n'drop app that people with limited computer skills could learn without the learning curve that Max has. I'm also considering the indie film makers who'd like to previsualize their project before approaching the money lenders.


@ NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
True, the buttons make the text squashed. Eventually they will all be icons. Just haven't decided if I'll go the Standard Windows icons for the cut, paste etc or design some new ones.
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Garion
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2009 18:45
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Quote: "I thought long and hard about using Max. What I'm aiming for is an easy to use drag'n'drop app that people with limited computer skills could learn without the learning curve that Max has. I'm also considering the indie film makers who'd like to previsualize their project before approaching the money lenders."

Cool. Being a student of movie directory, I'm waiting forward to this project.
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Colonel_Klink
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2009 13:39
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Here's the latest update with VMS. Most of the last few days has been spent on the interface, in particular the buttons. Each of these has several properties that can be called from within the program and by the mouse. Having been such a long time from raw coding interfaces, it has been quite refreshing from the usual drag and drop buttons and things in Visual Basic.
* Basic video format HUD added.
* On screen information.
* Updated the buttons with text.
* Added the camera buttons. Blue highlight button is for the application camera. The others when added to the scene will be highlighted red to see which camera is active.
* All buttons have 3 states: up, hover over, and pressed

Still a long way to go so I'd estimate progress is about 4%.




Oh my gosh! He's wearing Full Metal Pyjamas!
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Virtual Movie Studio forum: http://www.metalplateproductions.com/vms/
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Mazz426
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Posted: 26th Aug 2009 14:38 Edited at: 26th Aug 2009 14:38
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wow thats progress at 4% thats impressive im liking it, but from what i see there it looks like it has realtime lighting... oh sorry just read what it had more carefully and it looks amazing

some have greatness thrust upon them - W. Shakespeare
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MaRo
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Posted: 26th Aug 2009 15:10
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Wow, looks very professional. Would like to see a movie created with use of it

What for are sliders by the screen?
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Colonel_Klink
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Posted: 27th Aug 2009 01:45 Edited at: 27th Aug 2009 02:00
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@ Mazz426
Each object will have its own properties control, so that shadows can be switch off for objects in the distance. I'm adding the dark clouds module soon so that the sky will be realtime as well. I'm also considering some shaders that will give a 'wet' look to objects, but that's a little way off yet.

@ MaRo
The large sliders you mean?. They are to quickly move the camera in x,y,z direction. Mainly for initial placement. In birdseye view (top) the slider on the right is used for z movement while in other views the slider is for y. This may change if the feature doesn't work as planned. Each camera will have its own properties control, as above, for fine tuning; Position, direction, angle, FOV, aspect (all things in DBPro so this makes my life easier ), whether static or moving, connected to path, set to follow an actor or object, etc. Atm they are on the 'TODO' list.


Progress:
Took a break from the main program today and decided to spend some time on the scripting. Some person on the DarkBasic forum had created the routines for saving to an ini file. With a bit of work I can now save and load the positions of models in 3D space. There is still a lot more work, like adding lights and cameras, but that will progress as the program develops.

Yesterday I created a basic helicopter model in Sketchup. Several hours later I had the thing animated and flying along a path, well actually to hidden waypoints. It still needs quite a bit of work to smooth out the turning, but the basic waypoint idea is work, so should be ok for actor movement.
I had the camera following the flightpath at a slight distance and with a grid for the basic terrain it added the feel that the thing was actually moving.

Oh my gosh! He's wearing Full Metal Pyjamas!
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Virtual Movie Studio forum: http://www.metalplateproductions.com/vms/
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Colonel_Klink
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Posted: 27th Aug 2009 01:58 Edited at: 27th Aug 2009 02:02
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BTW that 'some person on the DarkBasic forum' who created the routines for saving to an ini file is Sasuke and I have given thanks on that particular thread. Full credit for any routines gleaned from this forum and used in the development of VMS will be given within the credits of VMS. As such I will also share any code snippets that might be useful to others that I develop myself.

Grr.. just discovered the Edit button. Ah well.

Oh my gosh! He's wearing Full Metal Pyjamas!
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Virtual Movie Studio forum: http://www.metalplateproductions.com/vms/
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MaRo
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Posted: 27th Aug 2009 09:57
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Yup, that's exactly what I've ment

I would be awesome to see a video of this helicopter flying
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Colonel_Klink
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Posted: 27th Aug 2009 12:25
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Will do soon. VMS internal video capture is still on WIP list, but I can possibly use FRAPS or something like that.

Oh my gosh! He's wearing Full Metal Pyjamas!
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Virtual Movie Studio forum: http://www.metalplateproductions.com/vms/
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Garion
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Posted: 28th Aug 2009 10:34
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saturation/contrast/brightness filters would be great, too
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Colonel_Klink
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Posted: 1st Sep 2009 01:12 Edited at: 2nd Sep 2009 15:15
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Update:
Tuesday 1st September 2009
********************
Spent most of the past few days experimenting with bits and pieces of 3D code. Mainly inner workings to handle object placement and movement as I wasn't too happy with the way the program used the mouse to move objects, paricularly on the Z plane.

Did some work on the interface using VB to create the various buttons, then using code in VB to create the code for VMS. Sounds like double handling, but its not really. A few lines of code in VB produces all the button placement coordinates I need for VMS, which can take hours direct coding in Darkbasic.

Oh my gosh! He's wearing Full Metal Pyjamas!
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Virtual Movie Studio forum: http://www.metalplateproductions.com/vms/
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MaRo
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Posted: 1st Sep 2009 10:29
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Quote: "A few lines of code in VB produces all the button placement coordinates I need for VMS, which can take hours direct coding in Darkbasic."


Same here I'm using DarkGDK but for my editor I'm mixing it with WinApi, which I belive mixing this or VB with DB for handling whole interface is very good method and saves a lot of time.
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KISTech
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Posted: 1st Sep 2009 20:12
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Given the volume of data that you could be working with in a single movie scene, you might consider getting DarkData and using it to store the object data, camera data, path data, etc..

It looks awesome. Can't wait to get my hands on it.

My first thought is this will be awesome for creating cut-scenes..

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Colonel_Klink
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Posted: 2nd Sep 2009 15:22
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@ KISTech
Yes, I have been considering Dark Data, or some other database.

Quote: "My first thought is this will be awesome for creating cut-scenes.. "

Funny you should say that as my friend said exactly the same thing.

Since I started this project I have been thinking of the many uses an application like this could have. But, its a long way from completion.

Oh my gosh! He's wearing Full Metal Pyjamas!
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Virtual Movie Studio forum: http://www.metalplateproductions.com/vms/
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KISTech
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Posted: 4th Sep 2009 03:14
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Quote: "its a long way from completion"


They always are...

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Colonel_Klink
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Posted: 4th Sep 2009 04:22
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A thing I learnt when making mods for Operation Flashpoint many moons ago. Don't ever make a release date, cos Murphys Law will kick in: "Your actual release date will generally be later thann sooner than the date you actually stated." Well if Murphy make that law, I'm sure he probably would have.

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Colonel_Klink
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Posted: 10th Oct 2009 00:41
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This application is now being ported to C#.net using the XNA framework.

Oh my gosh! He's wearing Full Metal Pyjamas!
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Yodaman Jer
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Posted: 10th Oct 2009 03:36
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Quote: "This application is now being ported to C#.net using the XNA framework."


Cool! C# is a nice looking language, I was considering learning it in the future. Good luck with it!

-Yodaman Jer.

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