Tutorial for RypelCam v3.11, Unreal Tournament 3 Edition

• Introduction
  • What is RypelCam ?
    The objective of RypelCam is to improve and enhance the playback of UT3 demos, while giving special attention to features for movie makers. A virtual camera provides the opportunity to create stunning cinematic sequences on its way along a user-constructed path.
  • Where can i get support ?
    For any questions, bugreports, news and download of the latest RypelCam version pls visit RypeLCam.com or the _Dark_ Clan Forum.
• Installation
  • 1.1 : MyGames/UnrealTournament 3/UTGame/Published/CookedPC : copy RCam311.u into this folder
  • 1.2 : MyGames/UnrealTournament 3/UTGame/Config/UTGame.ini :
    

    Find:	DecalManagerClassPath=UTGame.UTDecalManager
    Replace with:	DecalManagerClassPath=RCam311.RCamDecalManager

  • 1.3 : RypelCam uses some keys on your keyboard by default, a keybind overview is included at the end of this tutorial.
    Normally, userdefined keybinds are not effective during demo playback, therefore they will not conflict with RypelCam. You may remove keybinds that interfere your work if they are executed in addition to the RypelCam keybinds. It is for example reccomended to unbind the arrow keys (input options in the UT3 menu) to avoid camera shakes.
  • 1.4 : For the best recording performance, the game frames per second should be equal to the recording frames per second: set the 'MaxSmoothedFrameRate' to the desired value and 'bSmoothFrameRate=True' in the UTEngine.ini file.
    RypelCam comes with an experimental dumpframes function to make screenshot of the single game frames, but it is not properly working, yet.
    If you want to save demos client sidely, increase the demo recording accuracy: 'NetServerMaxTickRate=60' and 'LanServerMaxTickRate=60' in UTEngine.ini.
• Basics
  • 2.1 : If youve done the steps in Chapter 1 correctly RypelCam should automatically load at demostart.
  • 2.2 : First you should get yourself familiar with the spectatorcam. To view it either hit the right mousebutton or the 'k' key. The difference is that the right mousebutton will teleport the speccam to your current location unlike the 'k' key, which will teleport you to the speccam instead(and 'k' doesent work in some situations). Then you can fly around with it using the 'w,a,s,d,space,c' keys. Note that 'spacebar' is occupied by a keybind from Epic and unpauses the demo. In exchange, 'shift,leftalt' can be used to change the altitude while paused. You can pause the demo with the 'DownArrow' key. '1' to '9' change the camera speed, the 'Numpad1/Numpad2' keys slow down or accelerate the camera smoothly.
  • 2.3 : Basic Democontrols: You can change the demo speed with the 'LeftArrow' and 'RightArrow' keys or the 'Mousescrollwheel'. Hitting the 'UpArrow' restores the normal playback speed. While being in the 3rd person view, the 'L' key locks the viewingdirection of the player your currently watching (only in serverside demos).
  • 2.4 : If you want to make Camerapaths you first need to know what a Campoint is. Campoints are RypelCam's "keypoints" that you place in the map to define the way your Camera should take. The Cam will fly through all the Campoints and will compute a smooth path between them. A Campoint contains the coordinates for its location, the field of view and rotation and finally the Campoint's creation time for fully automatic camera drives. However, the 'timed paths' are optional and you are free to control the camera speed manually. You can read more about timing in chapter 4.
  • 2.5 : To make a Campath you have to create at least 4 Campoints. To create a Campoint fly with the speccam to a point in the map where you want to set a Campoint and then hit 'Numpad5'. This already completes a basic Campath.
  • 2.6 : After you have placed at least 4 Campoints you can make the Cam travel along the camera path by hitting the 'Numpad3' key. '1-9' and 'Numpad1/2' keys can be used to control its speed. You can switch the cam path's visibility with the 'Numpad9' key. It will cycle through 3 different draw modes(everything invisible, everything visible, only Campoints but not the path between them visible). You can create up to 120 Campoints and remove the final Campoint with 'Numpad4'.
  • 2.7 : It can happen that RypelCam doesent allow the creation of a new Campoint, sending a warning message in the console. This happens when you try to create a Campoint that is too close or too far away from the previous Campoint. "Too close" or "too far away" mean that the widest distance between 2 Campoints is greater than 15 times the shortest distance between 2 Campoints in your path.
• Saving & loading
  • 3.1 : You can save a Campath with 'F4'. And you can load a Campath with 'F5'. Campaths are saved in the UTRypelCam.ini, which can only store 1 Campath. If you want to store multiple Campaths or different versions of your Campaths you can make copies of the UTRypelCam.ini.
  • 3.2 : In the UTRypelCam.ini you can also see the saved values of a Campath. If you think you know what youre doing and if you want to make small adjustments you could do that right in the ini.
• Timing
  • 4.1 : To control the speed of the Cam is very important for good results. You have two possibilities to control the Cams movement speed. Both have advantages and disadvantages.
  • 4.2 : Controlling the Speed manually: When you activate the Cam with 'Numpad3' it will automatically put you in the Cam view and begin to travel along the path. The '1-9' and/or 'Numpad1/Numpad2' keys change the Cam's speed. The advantage of this method is the full control over the speed, but speed changes have to be done dynamically and quickly in order to keep up with the gameplay.
  • 4.3 : Controlling the speed automatically: When you place a Campoint, its creation time is saved in order for the Cam to adjust its speed on its own. In order to set up such a 'timed path', you not only have to take care of "where" but also "when" to place a Campoint. When the camera path is created, save it whith 'F4', reload the demo and the path('F5'), than hit 'J' to activate the automatic timing mode. Then the demo should pause at the time you set the first Campoint. As soon as you unpause('ArrowDown') the demo, the camera will start its self-controlled path. Notice that setting multiple Campoints while the demo is paused will break the timed path. If the Campoints are supposed to share the same time(since the demo is paused), the automatic timing won't work. Sometimes it might happen that the Cam starts too soon or too late. In this case, you can pause the demo and synchronize the camera with the 'Numpad+' and 'Numpad-' keys.
• Locking the camera view
  • 5.1 : 'L' locks the third person view of players and vehicles in server side demos. This view mode replicates the original player inputs and contains various enhancements for vehicle turrets, deployables or the roll movement of the scavenger. The vehicles Hellfire SPMA and Eradicator are not fully supported. The accuracy of this view mode relies on the quantity and quality of informations stored in the demo file.
  • 5.2 : 'Numpad 6' locks the camera view onto a projectile. Cycle through the present projectiles with numpad 6. The spectating distance can be adjusted with the 'W' or 'S' keys. The camera movement speed can be changed with the '1-9' or 'numpad1/2' keys.
• Deleting cam points & changing their positions
  • 6.1 : You can delete the last Campoint with 'Numpad4'. This way you also can delete the whole Campath or parts of it.
  • 6.2 : You can correct the position of a Campoint with the 'Z' key. Firstly, select a Campoint with 'Numpad-/+', then switch back to the speccam ('right mouse button'), go to a new location and hit the 'Z' key. The Campoint's time for the 'timed path' mode will not be changed by this.
• Changing Roll and Field-of-View(FOV)
  • 7.1 : If you want to make your Cam a littlebit more unique and dynamic you can assign different roll and field of view values for your Campoints.
  • 7.2 : To do this, first select a Campoint with'Numpad-/+' and then you can use 'Numpad7/8' to change roll or fov. "Roll" means making the Cam lean left or right. By default 'Numpad7/8' will change roll. The 'O' key will cause 'Numpad7/8' to change the fov instead. Note that "Roll" works only while paused at the moment, may be fixed in an update.
• Path edit mode
  • 8.1 : RypelCam will compute a smooth cam path between Campoints. In some situations you might want to change the way the Campoints are connected. For example if you placed the Campoints close to a wall, the resulting Campath might cut through the wall. With Pathedit mode you can change the bending of the path between selected cam points in order to turn sharper or softer.
  • 8.2 : First you have to hit 'F3' to enable the Pathedit mode. Select a Campoint with 'Numpad+' and 'Numpad-'. You can switch back to the free camera to keep track of the changes in the path. Finally, change the path with 'Numpad1' and 'Numpad2'
• Console Commands
  • 9.1 : 'tpstart (opt. speed) (opt. time correction)' consolecommand loads and prepares a timed path scene. The optional speed variable allows to set the fast forward speed until the start time is reached. Time correction adds or subtracts the stated time in seconds to all cam point times in UTRypelcam.ini.
  • 9.2 : 'hit' consolecommand removes the red hit damage. This is useful for client side demos, since this red screen may appear in the 'rcam mode' if the character takes damage. effect.
  • 9.3 : 'beep' consolecommand removes message beeps from the chat function. sounds.
  • 9.4 : 'dumpfps' consolecommand sets the recording fps for dumpframe records.
  • 9.5 : 'dumpres' consolecommand sets the tiledshot value for dumpframe records.
  • 9.6 : 'update' consolecommand toggles the camera path to update only when required. Useful for larger projects with many cam points.
  • 9.7 : 'startpaused' consolecommand pauses the demo right at the beginning ('F4'saves to UTRypelcam.ini).
  • 9.8 : 'mouse X' consolecommand sets the mouse sensitivity to the value 'X' (works different from the ut3 input sensitivity settings). Example: 'mouse 20'
• Screen Recording and Dumpframes
  • 10.1 : For the use of external screen recording software (such as FRAPS) it would be an asset to change 'bSmoothFrameRate=True' in UTEngine.ini and 'MinSmoothedFrameRate' and 'MaxSmoothedFrameRate' to the same value as the screen recording software records at.
  • 10.2 : The dumpframes mode records screenshots in lossless, uncompressed bmp format. The images are stored in the UT3 screenshots folder and can be converted to lossless avi video format for further editing with video converting software like VirtualDub.
    
  • 10.2.1 : It is urgently required to start UT3 with the '-Benchmark' parameter, in order to avoid losing frames in the recording progress. To do so, create a UT3 shortcut and append the parameter '-Benchmark': "PathToUT3Installation\Unreal Tournament 3\Binaries\UT3.exe" -Benchmark
  • 10.2.2 : The desired recording frames per second for the dumpframes mode can be set in UTRypelCam.ini. The default value is 30 fps, 'dumpframes_fps=30'. If this setting is not yet present in UTRypelCam.ini, run UT3, create a short camera path and save it with 'F4'.
  • 10.2.3 : For taking high resolution footage, the dumpframes mode benefits from UT3's 'tiledshot' function. This allows to take highres screenshots while running UT3 at a lower resolution. Setting 'dumpframes_tiledshot_factor=1' in UTRypelCam.ini to 2 will multiply the X and Y resolution values to give 4 times the actual screen resolution, 3 -> 9, 4 -> 16 etc.
    Usage example: At half the 'full HD' resolution (1920x1080 ->960x540), 'dumpframes_tiledshot_factor=2' will take screenshots at full HD resolution:
    
    console command 'setres 960x540'
    console command 'dumpres 2' (a confirmation message pops up, OR you have already set 'dumpframes_tiledshot_factor=2' in UTRypelCam.ini)
    activate the dumpframes mode with 'F2'
  • 10.2.x : Annotations:
    
    - A single full HD screenshot takes up almost 6mb disk space, resulting in 180mb/sec @ 30fps, one minute @ 30 fps goes beyond 10GB.
    
    - The dumpframes mode does not record sound. Replay the demo and use an external software on that account.
    
    - For a better work flow, it is advisable to migrate old screenshots before recording with the dumpframes mode.
• Keybind Overview
  • F1 - Display help elements on the HUD.
  • F2 - Toggle dumpframes mode.
  • F3 - Toggle Pathedit Mode. See Chapter 8.
  • F4 - Saves current Cam
  • F5 - Loads a Campath from the RypelCam.ini
  • Numpad0 - Select and follow a player in relative camera mode. See chapter 5.
  • Numpad0+X - Set target for targetlook.
  • Numpad1/2 - Changes either Speccam speed or Camera speed. Or if you are in Pathedit Mode this keys can change the shape of the Campath. See 2.2, 4.2 and 8.
  • Numpad-/+ - Selects a Campoint so that you can roll it, replace it, or to change the path next to it. See 6.2, 7 and 8.
  • Numpad5 - Creates a new Campoint. See chapter 2.
  • Numpad3 - Puts you into Cam view and manually starts the Camera. See 2.6.
  • Numpad6 - select and follow a projectile in relative camera mode. See chapter 5.
  • Numpad6+X - select and orbit around a projectile.
  • Numpad9 - Makes the Campath invisible. See 2.6.
  • Numpad7/8 - Used to change roll/fov for Campoints. See Chapter 7.
  • Numpad multiply - Toggle targetlook for the 'rcam mode' (camera focus on selected target).
  • O - The 'O' key(not the zero key) is used to switch between rollmode and fovmode. See chapter 7.
  • 1-9 - The Number keys on your keyboard can be used to change the speed of either the speccam(when demo is paused) or your camera quickly. See 2.2.
  • Numpad4 - Deletes the last Campoint. See 6.1.
  • F - Pause the demo.
  • K - Switches to Speccam from the current location. See 2.2.
  • Z - Assigns a Campoint a new location. See 6.2.
  • Scrollwheel Button - Creates a new Campoint. See chapter 2.
  • Scrollwheel Up/Down - change demo playback speed.
  • Scrollwheel Up/Down+X - switch between players.
  • LeftMouseButton - view next player.
  • LeftMouseButton+X - view previous player.
  • RightMouseButton - Switches to Speccam without teleporting the Speccam to your current location. See 2.2.
  • WASD,SPACE,C - speccam movement. See 2.2.
  • Leftshift, Alt - speccam altitude. See 2.2.
  • U - speccam will no longer collide with obstacles.
  • P - If the camera should stop when the demo is paused. See Chapter 4.
  • UpArrow - Sets Demospeed to normal. See 2.3.
  • DownArrow - Pauses the Demo. See 2.3.
  • LeftArrow - Slows the Demospeed down. See 2.3.
  • RighArrow - Speeds the Demospeed up. See 2.3.
  • H - Switches HUD on/off.
  • M - shows RCam related additional info in the HUD.
  • L - Locks third person view. See Chapter 5.
  • J - Enables Timed Path mode. See 4.3.
  • I - Deactivates weapondisplay in 1st person view.
  • RightCtrl - Switches between 1st and 3rdperson mode (behindview command).