Verve - updated for - Torque3D 3.5 MIT

#1 Thanks alot! :)

#2 Wow, the dead rise. Haven't heard from you in a long time. Glad your finally updating the software and sounds like it will be free to use. Will the docs be updated too and will this be available in our accounts or just through the MIT branch system? Thx and glad to see your updating it. Alot of us have been waiting for this.

Will

#3 am not the Developer of Verve - sry
am just the guy that got the guts to ask him to open source it and he did it.

So i took it for a spin and fixed some issues here and there and got it to compile/run but it isnt stable yet - theer are still some issues left to fix.

you can read more about it in the Open Sourcing of Verve Blog
www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/22548

#4 nice work J0linar...

#5 Very cool J0linar.... Excellent work.

Thanks

Ron

#6 Thx J0linar :D

#7 your welcome ;)

if any of you gets a bug or 2^^ fixed
be that kind to provide the fix so that we can get this thing working
properly.

I will try to keep it updated as long as possible.

#8 anybody have the tutorial videos they can share?

#9 I get it to compile fine, but when I'm in-game and call the Verve editor, I get this:

tools/VerveEditor/Scripts/Plugin.cs (49): Unable to find object: 'VerveEditorWindow' attempting to call function 'onWindowClose'

Any thoughts?

#10 i would guess you missed a step - do a clean install of t3d 3.5 mit
just throw the whole zip package of Verve in there and create a new project.

Am sure you just forgot to throw in all files, report back if you have still issues.

#11 @jolinar:

Third attempt with a clean build, still no editor...

There seem to be a few directory issues, example the game/gui should be game/art/gui, etc...

#12 Doh!

I figured out that calling the Verve editor from the World Editor doesn't work in the original ;/

Dropped this in:

//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Verve
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------

function openVerve(%val)
{
   if(%val)
      VerveEditor::LaunchEditor();
}

moveMap.bind(keyboard, "alt v", openVerve);

...and it worked ;)

May not have to do my machinima project in UDK afterall...

...Still tough to figure it out without any docs, though...

#13 ooh boy, dont you have the editor icon in the upper taskbar of t3d?
seriously you should have it there :S

see

#14

Quote:Still tough to figure it out without any docs, though

Still unsure how this was supposed to work, but when I get into the path editor and try to add a node, should it behave the same as the object editor in that the node goes where I click? I seem to have to click multiple times to get a node added, and when I do it's never where the cursor is...

#15 This is fantastic, thanks!

Rolled in without much trouble at all, and I'm able to create sequences and animate AI characters and such. Have triggers working that start the sequences and switch to 3rd person then return control after, etc.

Had to adjust a bit for AFX, since it uses a different camera, but it's playing nice now.

So, all good.

My only question is, I would also love to do a fly-by scene and cannot for the life of me figure out how... In the video I saw he flies through the Burg level and it looks amazing.

I know I can drop a ShapeBase object in the scene and then refernece it in Verve as a camera, but then I don't know how to have the camera fly through the scene. There is code there for motion, to move platforms or objects, I'm guessing we have to tie the two together somehow, but it's not clear how.

Anybody have any ideas?

Still, really cool that this was open sourced, many thanks all around!

P

#16 any updates on this???

#17 Curious if anyone's had any luck actually using this. I still get the editor errors Jolinar described, but I don't think they affect usability. I've been trying to setup a simple fly-through of a level but can't seem to figure out how it works without documentation...

#18 I have this working great in our custom 3.0 build...

Usage is pretty simple - as mentioned, there are two new icons in the toolbar, one launches the timeline editor and the other launches the path editor.

All you do is place an object in the scene like a character model, then use the timeline editor to add a Scene Object Group that references the object you want to animate. Then you can create an animation track and choose an animation, then play with adding events to speed up or slow down what is shown.

Save that file, and then it can be executed in script wherever you like or you can place a VerveCinematicTrigger with a variable called sequenceFile that points to the file you saved. Then a player entering that trigger will queue the cutscene.

Can also create a fly-by by creating a new Verve path using the new Path editor icon - this was a bit clunky to figure out but now it makes sense... You have to create a new path, then use the toolbar on the left to add nodes by clicking on the point you want to add on to. So to add a first node you click on the Add Node icon in the left toolbar and then click the 0 (origin) node of the path that is visible on-screen when in the Path editor. This will create a new point 1 that you can then move to where you want it, and so on for all Nodes.

You would then add a camera object to the scene (we have a simple invisible model we use). This will be what is flown along the path, and its view will be the cutscene view.

Then create a Camera Group in the Verve editor that references the new camera object above.

Then create a Director Group and track, and then add an event to the Director Track that references the Camera Object you created.

Save this scene, and then when you execute it the view should change to the camera object flying along the path you created. Pretty neat.

NOTE: You have to have a little routine in place that will switch to third-person view before playing the cinematic. Otherwise things may not work since T3D doesn't like camera switching from first person it seems.

Now, the only issue I am having is trying to play the fly-by animation more than once. First time works great - I spawn into the level, take a step forward, hit the trigger, then it switches to 3rd person and shows the fly-by. Wheeeeee. Very cool. But the second time I hit the trigger, it goes to third person and does not play the cinematic again. I get errors in the console that my camera object is no longer attached to my path. Still working at it, hopefully it is something simple.

Anyhow, thought all of this may be useful to others fussing with Verve. It's a pretty neat addition to T3D, but is a bit kludgy at times and I found it tricky to figure it out. But now that we know how to use it, there are a lot of possibilities.