Test Cinematic -- text box animations

Here is the map for my cinematic. In intend for the camera to anmiate and look at the text box. The text box will appear and then dissappear to simulate a conversation.

Here is the set up in Kismet. Each node has a different function.

When the player triggers the scene they are stopped and the camera is activated. The text is hidden at first.

Then the text box appears, this simualtes a line of dialogue.

Varli - model

Here is a 3D model I created. It's Varli, one of the lead characters of my story. I plan to Rig this model and try out some animations.

Character Design -- Varli

Here are some costume designs. I've experimented with elements of science fiction. They range from the feminine to a tomboyish look. Some look more innocent and others look more assertive.

 Here are some head designs. Some look more fantasy based while some look more realistic. Some of the cartoony designs look a little over the top. The more Sci-Fi looking designs also look too conspicuous to work within the story.

Importing Skeletal meshes with Animations into UDK (Test)

To create cutscenes in UDK im going to need Skeletal meshes and animatrions. These meshes will be animated and act out the scenes. This is how the narrative could be told.

First I created a basic block and then skinnd it to two bones. Using the bones and the animation feature of max I created a basic animation of the box turning. Here it is at frame 0.

Here is the box at frame 30. This is a basic animation I created to see if I can import it to UDK successfully.

I used a max plugin called Ator X (which was downloaded from the udn website) to export the skeletal mesh as a PSK file and the animation as a PSA file. The PSK file could be easliy imported into UDK as a skeletal mesh. The PSA file couldn't be imported the same way. I had to create an AnimeSet in UDK first and then import the PSA file into that.

Here is the skeletal mesh in the Animeset editor. Animation sequences can be viewed in this editor. here is the mesh at the beginning of the animation sequence.

Here is the mesh at the end of the animation sequence. The protoype worked, the skeletal mesh and the animation sequence was imported into UDK successfully.

Arcane Designs

In preperation for my prototype I have created a few designs for Arcane the wizard.

Head Designs, The top design is too cartoony while the bottom design is alot more respectable and has a stern quality. The eyes in the lower design are stern but sympathetic.

These designs have short hair and beards. It makes him look middle-aged rather than elderly. The lower design looks too cartoony.

  

The top design has a salt and pepper hair style. It gets across old age with just a little amount of grey hair. The lower design is too bland and generic.

The top design looks noble and respectable with a touch of approachability. The lower design looks too fragile. 

The top right design has an exaggerated hat, its too over the top. The lower right design has a unique cartoon style. It looks unique and the hard edges suit Arcane's personality.

The top right designlooks serious and respectable. The costume looks well made.

The top right and lower right designs look too cartoony. The top left and lower left designs have hoods instead of the traditional wizard hats, this gives them a hermit like qualitty. This may suit Arcane a lot more.

In these designs I have tried a more official approach. This doesn't suit Arcanes personality, he's more of a worn character.

The top designs are far too cartoony. The lower left design has a costume made up of furs and bones. It to show his connection to the low-tech and old world. The character is also a hermit who lives in the forest, so this would suit the setting.

The top right design gets across a worn and aged feel although this design makes him look like a tramp. The lower left design was inspired by Victorian magicians but it doesn't suit the character.  

Skit Example (research)

Here's a screen grab of an LP. It's of Tales of the Abyss. This game uses small cinematics called "skits" to tell extra portions of the story. These are told via still images and text boxes. These are basic but they are an efficient way of getting across narrative scenes. They were put in as optional scenes and are used to support the story rather than tell it by themselves. These skits provided inspiration for my UI scenes in UDK.

http://www.youtube.com/user/PrinceBoo21#p/c/FBCB2DE0A8502611/2/jT41k6q6Aqk

UI scene Prototype (for text conversations)

The UI scene feature of UDK can be used to present an interactive event for the player. For this project I can use it to create text boxes. These text boxes can be used to construct text conversations between characters. In the screen grab above I have used the editor to write one line of dialoue.

The image above illustrates the kismet structure of a text based conversation. The player activates the scene by touching an invisible trigger volume. The trigger then opens one UI scene (first line of dialogue) and after a few seconds delay, it closes. The next UI scene (second line of dialogue) then opens and after a delay it closes. The delays are addded to give the user time to read the lines and also simulate the pacing of a conversation.

I used a sequence like this in my initial protype (previous assignment) but the UI scenes didnt close by themselves. The player had to press esc' to end them, which would be awkard for the player. The UI scenes here open and close by themselves and have a better flow to them.

The player activates the the UI scene and the first line of dialogue is displayed.

The second line of dialogue is then displayed. This a little rough around the edges but it is easy to render.

The benefits of using UI scens in UDK:

I can get across alot of text (story) fairly easlily.

The problems with using UI scenes in UDK:

current versions of UDK dont have the UI scene feature.
The UI scene tends to crash UDK (for reasons unknown).
I Have to have a UI scene for every single line of dialogue but maybe there's a feature of the UI editor which can help.