Sectorgame

*****If you do not want to have your ears bleed, then stay away from this post. Also, if you prefer to keep your posts civil and read civil posts then you may want to stay away as well.*****

***Also note that this post could well go in the rants sector. If you wish to note this then you may wish to note that I have requested multiple times to join the rants usergroup but all attempts have ended, due to the mysterious immediate cancellation of my subscriptions***

How the hell do you make cutscenes?

What in hell do you need to make them?

Where the hell do I get them?

How the hell do I get them?

Why the hell has no-one said how on any modding guide?

What kind of cutscenes do you want to make? In-game (i.e homeworld style using the engine) or proper 3D ones like the retail ones?

In Game ones you use FRED and are fairly easy to make with the cutscene sexps - they're all nicel laid out in the Sexp editor under their own heading.

Non In game ones, like those from FS1 and FS2 are an entirely different kettle of fish. They require the use of 3D software like 3DS Max or Lightwave, which are difficult programs to learn and, unless you get them through BT or something, very expensive.

The actual process of making cutscenes isn't exactly hard persay, if all you want to do is show ships moving through space (in which case you'd be better off using FRED), but if you want anything more complex (Battles, interior shots, people whatever) it's a lot, lot harder.

Best advice I can give is to either use FRED to do ship based Machinima cutscenes, or get yourself a copy of 3DS Max and start doing the rendering tutorials.

I am talking about the retail versions. I was under the impression that it had something to do with creating frames in something like photoshop and stringing them together in an animator. So, to be clear, what do you do? and could you tell me how to do both please?

Er, no, the retail .MVE files are compressed movie files that were rendered, like hunter said, in a 3D animation program. That means they were .AVI files, not an animated image. I mean technically a video IS a bunch of images put together, but you don't do that with a 3D video, you directly export an AVI file.

Noted.
By the way, isn't that a little bit more... insanley ridiculously complicated?

Than making a cutscene by painting each individual frame of it?

Uh, no.

Hey hey! I said it was more complicated! not more super tedious, boring, requiring of precision...

*Sobs*

I hate my life...
I mean, yes! ah ha! I will buy some 3DS max thingies and learn to do it! and I will be the cutscene making person of my campaign I will!

You could also do something called "Asking for help," it helps a lot

Well - you could always use MS PAINT and make a really simple cutscene

Yes.. I will use this practise of...
'Asking for help'





To TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!!!!!! MWAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!
Cutscenes! to MAKE cutscenes!

I will master both 3DS MAX AND MS paint! and no cutscene concepts will stand in my way (or someone elses) they wont!

You have to master MS paint?

Hey! It isn't exactly the tool of ULTIMATE DOOM that everyone notices the first time they load up their system!

It is. It is far better than Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro for that matter.

Obviously!