LUA Scripting in Scenarios

[ozinoz]

Now that Matt has finally tempted us with the keys to the cookie jar, I couldn't wait for the next rainy day, but chose the next 100F day instead :) I have tried a sample scenerio just to test out the cinematic camera but I am having trouble in getting the frame transitions to work. No matter what time I enter in the frame windows, it always reverts to 0.00 therefore there is no transition between positions.

I must have watched the video a dozen times and I can see nothing different between what Matt was doing and what I have tried. Anybody else experimented with the camera and did you have any trouble?

I am glad we are finally getting somewhere with the guts of TS, which surely means the new superseeded version is just round the corner.

(I am excited (doesn't take much) about weather and destination triggers too)

[RSMattP]

Can you take a screenshot of what each frame looks like in the fly-out in the top right?

Matt.

[mrennie]

I must have watched the video a dozen times and I can see nothing different between what Matt was doing and what I have tried. Anybody else experimented with the camera and did you have any trouble?

I used the cinematic camera to do a video of the FEF-3, some time ago, and it worked fine. I had the camera flying around all over the engine - it's much easier than trying to move the '8' camera smoothly with the mouse

[ozinoz]

For some strange reason, I now have 10 secs each in the first 3 control frames of my camera intro, which I was battling with without success before I made my post. I have tried for more than an hour this morning to add times to the next 3 frames without any success. I am sure it is something simple, but it beats me....
screen 1

cam screen1.jpg

Screen 2 now shows a 10 sec transition (which is the generic number I was experimenting with

cam screen2.jpg

the basis of the cinematic intro was a general walk through by the driver from the yard masters office and up into the cab of the loco where it would switch to the cab cam - a simple practical test of the basics from Matt's tutorial (or so I thought...)
Screen 3

cam screen3.jpg

The whole premiss may not work satisfactorily, but it was something I thought worth trying

[RSMattP]

One thing worth noting is that when you enter a time, you must make sure you press ENTER after it - don't just click away or something else. Press enter, that will ensure it gets saved.

The time on a frame is the amount of time it will take to get from this frame to the next one, so if frame 1 (the first frame) says 00:10 then it will take 10 seconds to go from frame 1 to frame 2.

The final entry timing is for how long to hover on the final placement until the camera sequence is completed.

If all else fails - package it up and drop it over to me and I will take a look for you - I can't see anything immediately wrong with the screenshots but it might be more clear if I can have a look right at it.

Matt.

[RSMattP]

Blog Article #10 - Dynamic Weather - now online, that was huge, longest blog post so far but it's great fun to play with!

Matt.

[RSMattP]

Part 12 is now up, talking about how to get videos playing as part of your scenarios - some really exciting possibilities here!

Matt.

[ozinoz]

Thanks Matt for the latest update, even if I am a couple of weeks behind the times.

I really want to start using some of this, particularly the camera... I am a sucker for a nice external shot

for the effort in bringing this to us...

[ShadowSteel18]

Quick question: How hard is scripting a scenarios?

[ozinoz]

Hi and welcome...
There are several good video tutorials on how to create a simple scenerio. Start simple and move up to some of the more technical stuff as covered here in Matt's thread as you get more experience. There are also some good "hard copy" tutorials if you prefer to read.

In answer, really as easy or as difficult as you choose to make it. Simple scenerio, easy; more complex with more elements obviously a bit harder. Hardest part for me is the testing to make sure the timings are ok, you can end up running the scenerio lots of times till you get what you want...

[RudolfJan]

Quick question: How hard is scripting a scenarios?

Depends on what you want. You need a basic understanding on programming in general and in LUA specifically. For me the major problem is recovering from stupid mistakes. I am working on a tool to make it easier, but that will still need a lot of time. In between, you may want to read my Scenario Authors Guide Part III, which explains almost everything I know about scenario scripting. You can download it from RWA or from my Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5xmS3GoYKV1UjBJeHhIOFlOSzQ

[jalsina]

Rudolf,
That part III includes all the previous release?

[RudolfJan]

Rudolf,
That part III includes all the previous release?

Yes, but improved of course. I decided to rename it and include it in a series of manuals. A lot more interesting things will happen, so keep watching ...

[jalsina]

Thanks. Great job you are doing.