Document Title Real-Time Movie Studio - Tutorial
Author Tuomo 'Tuco' Korva
Web http://www.planetunreal.com/reactor4
E-mail reactor4@planetunreal.com
Version 1.1
Release Date July 9th, 2001
Description

This document tells you how to create a small movie using Real-Time Movie Studio step by step.

 

 

Tutorial Contents

1. Introduction
2. Planning
3. Music & Sounds
4. Starting UnrealTournament
5. In the map

6.

Adding a Camera

7.
Cut to the camera
8. Playing the first time
9. Adding sound effects
10. Moving the camera
11. Saving & Loading
12. Text to the screen
13. Image to the screen
14. Deleting actors
15. Getting ready for the second scene
16. Adding pawns
17. Motion recording
18. New Camera
19. Credits

 

 

1. Introduction

This is a tutorial for building a simple Real-Time Movie Sudio movie. It describes how to make a small action movie using Real-Time Movie Studio. Of course you need to have RTMS installed to your PC or Mac. Completing this tutorial takes less than 60 minutes.

You should have installed RTMS before proceeding with this tutorial. There are instructions in the RTMS_Readme.htm file about the installing procedure.

 

 

2. The planning

First you need to choose a map for the set of this movie. Since this is a small movie we're going to use just one map to keep things simple. The movie length will be about 1-3 minutes. The plot of the movie: There are some bad guys on the ship and one good guy is going to attack the ship. There won't be any dialogue, just pure action. The title of the movie will be "Dying Hard I". Now that's really original, huh?

 

 

 

3. Music & Sounds

Since music is a very important part of the film, we're going to add a soundtrack to our movie as well. There actually are some websites which have legal, free music to download such as www.mp3.com. Of course you need to ask the artist's permission or handle the copyright matters in some other way if you are planning to publish your movie on the web. Sounds are stored inside .UAX packages in the UT\Sounds directory. For this movie we're going to make a completely new sound package. The procedure is the following:

1) Get the sound/music you want to use and convert it to a WAV file (8 or 16 bit, mono) using a sound editing program

2) Start UnrealEd2 (located in UT\System directory).

3) Open the sound browser (View->Sound browser)

4) In soundbrowser go to File->Import. Browse to the WAV sound file created in step 1 and click the open button.

5) A new dialog opens up. To package name put DyingHardI. Leave the group empty and to the sound name type DHmusic1. Press OK.

6. Select the sound from the list and press the play button to make sure the sound works.

7. In the sound browser go to File->Save. The group name used in step 5 should be the File Name. Simply press OK to save your new sound package file.

8. A file DyingHardI.uax should appear in the UT\Sounds directory.

For more info about importing custom sounds and graphics go to unreal.epicgames.com

 

 

 

4. Starting UnrealTournament

Now we have some music and a plot for our movie. The next job is to find a good map as the set for the movie. Start UnrealTournament after making sure that you have installed RTMS to your UT.

If this is the first time you started UT with RTMS installed, you should configure a couple of shortcut keys which make life a lot easier. Go to Options->Preferences->Controls,and scroll the list down until you find the Real-Time movie studio. Keys "Z" and "X" are normally not used, so let's define "Z" as play/stop and "X" as the set moving speed function. Close the configuration window.

Time to start editing the movie by loading a map. Go to Main Menu -> Start Practice Session. To the match page put:
- Category: UnrealTournament
- GameType: Real-Time Movie Studio
- Map: AS-Frigate (a nice map with a ship, perfect for our movie)

The settings on other pages are not important. Just hit the start button.

 

 

 

5. In the map

So the map has been loaded now, RTMS as the gametype and there are no bots running around. Let's make the beginning of the movie first: a basic fly-by scene with a camera approaching from the sea and closing in on the ship. Also the titles are shown in this scene.

Open the RTMS Main Menu by holding down the "V" key (Show Voice Menu key in the key configuration dialog, default value is "V"). Click Action->Ghost and release the "V" key to enter the fly mode. Alternatively you can hit the Tab key, type "ghost" and press enter. Now you should be able to fly. Go to the water area near the dam. To speed up the movement hit the "X" key a couple of times (set moving speed)

 

 

 

6. Adding a camera

It's time to add the first camera which makes the fly-by. In the RTMS Main Menu click Add->Camera. Back up a bit to see that the camera has appeared on the map and position your view so that the camera is on the middle of the screen and quite near you. Then hit the "V" key to bring up the RTMS main menu. Also notice that there's a popup item on the screen also for the camera named Cam0. Click on the Cam0. This should bring up the camera properties window.

Click on the "Set Start Location" button. Now you are viewing from the camera and you can also move it. Move the camera a bit and rotate it so that it points directly towards the bridge of the ship (the crosshair helps you to aim). When you're pleased with the camera's location and rotation, press fire button (left mouse) to set it. The view should return back to the editor player and the camera has moved and rotated to the place you just set.

 

 

 

7. Cut to the camera

Next step is to add a cut to the camera. To do this press "V"->Properties->Active Scene. Go to the shotlist page and click on the add button to add a new cut. Set CameraID to 0 which is the ID of the camera you created in the previous step. The Time from start is 0 which means that the cut-to event will be activated 0 seconds after the start of the scene. Press the close button in the cut-to event's window. Now the shotlist should contain the cut-to node you just added. Press close button to close the window.

 

 

 

8. Playing the first time

It's time for the first test. Press "Z" button or from the RTMS Main menu Play->Active Scene to start play. In play mode the view is from the camera0 and there's also some other info on the screen such as the time passed from the start of the scene. Also the active scene and camera ID are shown. Note that the movie does not end and the view is not changed as we don't have any more cuts. Press "Z" or from RTMS main menu some menu item other than exit to return to the editing mode.

 

 

 

9. Adding sound effects

Now we're going to add a sound effect to the scene. Press "V"->Properties->Active Scene. This should open the active scene window. Go to the scene events page and click on the add button. Select Sound as the type, to the description put "intro sound" and Time from start to 0. On the bottom part of the window set sound name to DyingHardI.DHmusic1 if you created the sound package a couple of steps ago. If you didn't make your own sound package, set sound name to announcer.dominating. Set slot to misc, volume to 255, pitch to 1 and radius to 100000.

Close the scene event window and the active scene window from the close buttons. Play the active scene. The sound event you added is played at the start of the scene. Press "Z" or from RTMS main menu press some menu item other than exit to return to editing mode.

 

 

 

10. Moving the camera

Now go near the bridge of the ship. Press "V"->Add->Locmarker. Go to the locmarker properties window (press "V" when locmarker in the middle of screen->Loc0) and press the SetLoc button. Move the locmarker so that it's near the ship's bridge and there's a clear line of sight between it and the camera0 in the distance. Locmarker is moved the same way as the camera so pressing the fire button sets the position and returns to the editor player. Don't mind the shooting turrets, we'll delete them soon. Now return to the camera0, open its properties window and go to the camera events page. Press add button to add a new camera event. Choose Moveto as the type for the new event. Set lasts to 20 as we want camera to take 20 seconds to reach it's destination which is set to the locmarker id as 0. Set time from start to 0 so movement is started immediately when scene is started.

Close camera event window and the new Moveto event should have appeared on the list of camera events. Close the camera properties window and press "Z" to play active scene. The camera should start moving towards the locmarker you placed and it should take 20 seconds to reach it. Hit "Z" again to stop the playback.

 

 

 

11. Saving & loading

The time has come to save the movie. From the RTMS Main Menu go to File->Save. Set the number of the save slot to 0 and to the description type "Dying Hard I". After that click on the save button.

Let's test if the saving was successful. From the RTMS Main Menu go to File->Load. Set the number of save to load to 0 and press the load button. Now the save is loaded and the playback is started automatically. Note that the info previously shown on the screen isn't shown now as the automatically activated playmode is Play - Movie Final which turns off the debug mode if it happens to be on. Press "Z" to return to the editing mode.

 

 

 

12. Text to the screen

The intro also needs some texts and images so will add them next. Go to RTMS Main Menu->Properties -> Active scene. This opens the active scene properties window. Go to the HUD events page and press the add key. On the upper part of the window, select text as the type, Time from start to 0, Lasts to 10, HorPos to Middle, VerPos to middle, FadeInTime to 3, FadeOutTime to 3, X to 50 (percent) and Y to 50(percent). On the bottom part of the window set font size to huge and value to "Dying Hard I".

Press the close button and notice that the text event has appeared on the HUD events list. Close the active scene window and hit "Z" to play the active scene. The text "Dying Hard I" should appear on the middle of the window fading in in 3 seconds, staying there for 4 seconds and then fading out in 3 seconds. So the total time spent on the screen is 10 seconds which is the lasting time. Press "Z" to stop playing.

 

 

 

13. Image to the screen

Adding an image to the screen is almost as easy as adding the text. Go back to the active scene properties window and to HUD events page. Press Add button to add a new HUD event. On the upper part of the window,select image as the type, Time from start to 10, Lasts to 10, HorPos to middle, VerPos to middle, check the transparent checkbox, FadeInTime to 3, FadeOutTime to 3, X to 50 (percent) and Y to 50 (percent). On the bottom part of the window, set IMG package to "rtms.rtms_logo", sizeX to 256, sizeY to 128, StartDrawX to 0, StartDrawY to 0, drawX to 256 and drawY to128.

Close all windows and play the active scene. Now after the text the RTMS logo should appear 10 seconds after the start ofthe scene and stay on the screen 10 seconds doing the same type of fades as the text.

 

 

 

14. Deleting actors

To delete the turrets on the ship near the bridge, first go near one of the turrets. Then press "V"->Actions->Delete actors. A list of actors near the place where you are at the moment is shown. If you click some button containing the name of some actor, it is deleted from the map. The list should contain miniguncannon, grbase and cannonmuzzle. Delete those actors in that order by clicking their names. Notice that they disappear from the map once they are deleted. Close the window and do the same procedure for the other cannon too.

 

 

 

15. Getting ready for the second scene

The first scene is ready and it's time to start editing the second scene. Press "V"->Properties->Act to open the Act properties window. Check the debug checkbox so that the debug info of the movie is shown when we're playing it. Also check the letterbox so that the letterbox is used when movie is played. Then go to the scenes tabpage and press add. This opens a new window which allows you to add a new scene to the movie. Set the time from start to 20 and close the window. The scene list should now contain two scenes, one starting from 0 and the other we just created starting from 20.

Now comes an important thing, go back to the properties page of the act window. Change the value of active scene to 1. This means that we will be editing the second scene with ID 1 which we just added from now on. Because movie playback can be only started from the start of scenes, it is important to divide that act into multiple scenes, each about 10 - 40 seconds long. Press close button to close the window and return to editing mode.

 

 

 

16. Adding pawns

This scene will be an action scene where bad guys shoot at the good guys. Players or humans are called Pawns in Unreal so that is also the term they are referred as in RTMS. Also the fact that the word "Actor" has a totally different meaning in UT contributed to this decision. Anyways, go to end of the pier near the palm. Press "V"->Add->Pawn. Step back a little and notice that the circle with the word Pawn has appeared in front of you. Look at the pawn so that it is about in the middle of your screen and press & hold "V". The popup with the text "Pawn0" should have appeared on a popup menu item. Click the Pawn0 to open the Pawn properties window. On the window press the "Browse player class" button to open a player class browser which allows you to select the appearance of the pawn. Choose some model and press OK. Then on the pawn properties window go to the pawn events tabpage and press the add button. This opens the pawn event page. Select loaded as the event type and set the time from start to 0. Loaded event is used to equip the pawn with all the weapons of UT.

Close the event window and notice that the event you added has appeared on the event list. Now add a pawn event with type God the same way. God event makes the pawn immortal so that it cannot die during the scene.

 

 

 

17. Motion recording

Keep the pawn properties window still open and go to the motion sequences page. This page is used to control the different motion sequences recorded and you can also start the recording here. Now you're going to do some movement recording for the pawn. Set the starting time of movement recording to 0, lasts to 30 and the recording view to 1st person. Before starting the record you must decide what to do because you don't have time to think about it during recording. In this motion sequence run to the other end of the pier while shooting towards the top deck of the ship. Shoot at the door on the top deck for example.

Now that you have a plan what to do so hit the record button to start the movement recording. You can control the pawn normally during the movement recording. The time is in red to indicate that you are recording. Change the weapon to rocket launcher or minigun and do the movement we just planned. Once you get to the end of the pier, stop all movement and press "Z" to stop the recording.

 

 

 

18. New camera

This scene does not have a camera yet so add a camera to the end of the pier near the pawn start. Bring up the camera properties window and press the set start location button. Aim and move the camera so that the area where you made the movement recording is showing. Press Fire to set the location. You still need to add a cut to the camera from the active scene window's shotlist page. The camera ID is 0 and time from start is 0 since the time is from the start of this scene, NOT from the start of the movie. Note also that each scene has it's own cameras, location markers and pawns so you can't go back to the flyby camera in the first scene anymore. After making the cut to the camera close all windows and press "Z" to start playing the active scene. Now you should see the pawn changing it's weapon and then running on the pier shooting the ship and stopping to the end of the pier, just the way you acted it.

Now that's a wrap :) Now you know the basics how to make movies with RTMS. The RTMS_Manual.htm tells how different events are used in the scenes. Have fun !

 

 

 

19. Credits

RTMS is made by Tuomo 'Tuco' Korva, lead designer of the Reactor 4 mod team.

July 9th, 2001
Copyright Reactor 4, 2000-2001. All Rights Reserved.
E-mail: reactor4@planetunreal.com
Web: www.planetunreal.com/reactor4