I need some help regarding animation compression possibilities.
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blues_zodiakos

I'm planning on doing a sort of remake to my game Forever Midnight Text Adventure, and I'd like it to be more of a Myst style game this time (instead of a text adventure). I have envisioned a 180 degree panorama interface like Shivers 2 or the new Myst Exile(although the latter is almost a full 360).

Here's the problem. I would LIKE for each 'area' (individual room) to have a looping animation, making it seem more like a movie than a static room. Possibly on top of this layer would be further possible animations, such as people doing things, walking into other rooms, lights flickering, and such (I'm planning to do everything in XSI and Maya).

Here's the problem: Verge movies can only be played in the foreground(i.e. not concurrently with other processes). So that knocks out one possibility for handling the animations. So what does that leave? I'm not sure if V3 is fast enough to write a movie decoder in VC, and I'm not sure anyone, even myself, is bonkers enough to try. The animations I'd LIKE to have would probably be too big or at least too impractical to store in JPEG frames. I imagine it would balloon up to unimaginable size quickly.

Does anybody have any ideas of alternative solutions to this problem? Or will I just have to start making compromises?

Posted on 2004-08-28 16:21:54

vecna

Hmm.
Well, actually thats not true. When the vergec.txt says [advanced movie api undocumented for now], thats what we've got in there.

Uh. I'm too lazy to write up docs tho for it right now. So heres the vc interface code (the vc function name will not have vc_ prefixing it)


void vc_PlayMovie()
{
string s = vc->ResolveString();
vc->vcreturn = win_movie_playSimple(s.c_str());
}

void vc_MovieLoad()
{
string s = vc->ResolveString();
int mute = vc->ResolveOperand();

vc->vcreturn = win_movie_load(s.c_str(), ((bool) mute));
}

void vc_MoviePlay()
{
int m = vc->ResolveOperand();
int loop = vc->ResolveOperand();
win_movie_play(m,loop);
}

void vc_MovieGetImage()
{
int m = vc->ResolveOperand();
vc->vcreturn = win_movie_getImage(m);
}

void vc_MovieRender()
{
int m = vc->ResolveOperand();
win_movie_render(m);
}

void vc_MovieClose()
{
int m = vc->ResolveOperand();
win_movie_close(m);
}

void vc_MovieGetCurrFrame()
{
int m = vc->ResolveOperand();
vc->vcreturn = win_movie_getCurrFrame(m);
}

void vc_MovieGetFramerate()
{
int m = vc->ResolveOperand();
vc->vcreturn = win_movie_getFramerate(m);
}

void vc_MovieNextFrame()
{
int m = vc->ResolveOperand();
win_movie_nextFrame(m);
}

void vc_MovieSetFrame()
{
int m = vc->ResolveOperand();
int f = vc->ResolveOperand();
win_movie_setFrame(m,f);
}


Feel free to play around with em. If you have problems let me know and I will insult zero's manliness.

Posted on 2004-08-28 18:41:09

blues_zodiakos

You've got to be kidding... those are awesome! I can't wait to try them out!

Also, what are the problems with playing movies encoded in something other than the 'normal 3'? Will they just not work, or will they just not work well?

Posted on 2004-08-28 20:07:29 (last edited on 2004-08-28 20:11:18)

vecna

They'll only work if the users computer has the right codec.
At least, I assume thats what you're talking about.

Posted on 2004-08-28 20:18:24 (last edited on 2004-08-28 20:18:25)

blues_zodiakos

That's all? O.o If that's the only problem, then DivX here I come. :D

Posted on 2004-08-28 20:46:05

vecna

yeah but if they dont have the right codec it'll just crash horrible or give terrible video or something and they'll blame verge for being buggy and shit! :( but erm yeah.

Posted on 2004-08-28 21:24:17

Gayo

Well, if you include a FAQ in the documentation that contains a link to a reliable source for the codec, that's all most people will need. Of course, it might be good to have a video-test option at the beginning in case they're not sure.

Posted on 2004-08-28 22:06:33

Interference22

Yes, although I'd suggest that VERGE itself should come with a warning message on exit, stating the user needs a specific codec. I mean, that would make sense, wouldn't it?

Posted on 2004-08-29 01:27:23

Toen

Quote:Originally posted by vecna

yeah but if they dont have the right codec it'll just crash horrible or give terrible video or something and they'll blame verge for being buggy and shit! :( but erm yeah.
If they don't have the codec they just don't see the video, in my experience

Posted on 2004-08-30 05:47:21

Mythril

Quote:Originally posted by Gayo

Well, if you include a FAQ in the documentation that contains a link to a reliable source for the codec, that's all most people will need.

Yes, because most people read the documentation.

Posted on 2004-08-30 09:56:44

mcgrue

I concur with Mythril's cynicism entirely.

I would suggest making an installer for any verge game that requires codec installation. If you're going to be balls-out enough to need a codec, using a 3rd party installer program will not be difficult.

Posted on 2004-08-30 10:37:00


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