Section 5 - Cameras

Camera views are essential to good level design. They can be used as "rewards" for specific actions, to preview, or partially reveal events yet-to-come and/or give clues about the "story" being told, to show "action" from a different perspective, to help guide the way, to build suspense and add drama, to lend a cinematic air…the list goes on! By the end of the tutorial you will have a better feel for the scope of their use as well as the knowledge to set up the three different kinds of cameras available in the Level Editor.

Camera Types:

Basic Camera - when you enter the “Dome Room” and Lara climbs onto the central platform, she activates a basic camera. This type of camera always points to Lara unless otherwise specified (see Camera Targets near end of tutorial). By selecting a sequence of squares for the trigger, the camera will hold its position while Lara continues to walk/run on the triggered squares. You may type a number next to Timer in the “Set Trigger Type” window to set the amount of time the camera stays fixed on Lara, but she can break out of the camera view by 1) drawing her weapons, 2) using the “look around” key, or 3) stepping off the trigger
square(s).

Basic Cameras will not activate when Lara has a drawn weapon. Bear this in mind when placing cameras. For example, if you trigger the camera in situations where Lara is sure not to have weapons in hand (finishing a climb, picking up items, etc.) you can be certain players will enjoy the effort you took setting up your camera! The best way to learn about placing cameras is to study the example levels and of course, experiment!

Placing the Dome Room Camera

1. Go back to the “Dome Room”. Under “Effects” on the Drop Down Menu bar, select “Camera” from the list.

2. Check the demo model for the location, and try to position yours in the same place.

3. In the Plan View window, select the 4 squares on top of the platform and click on the pink trigger button to create the trigger for your camera.

4. Now when Lara climbs on top of the platform to pick up the medipak, you will witness some action. (Knowing the AI of BADDY_1 made it possible to set up this scenario.)

5. If you want, you can assign the amount of time the camera will stay on Lara by entering a time in seconds in the “Set Trigger Type” pop up box.

Fixed Cameras

A fixed camera behaves like a basic camera with only a few exceptions:

1) the view cannot be broken until Lara steps off the trigger for the camera

2) the camera will activate even if Lara has her guns drawn. You will set up a fixed camera towards the end of the level, in the “Test Room”.

Using Camera Targets

In order to point the camera at a specific area and not at Lara a camera target is used (it works with either the basic or fixed cameras). You will set up a fixed camera with a target later in the “Mid Room”.

Flyby Camera

You can have a lot of fun using this camera (but don’t overdo it!) And can even set up cinematic looping flyby cams such as the opening title screen. Again, you can learn a lot by checking these cameras in the example levels.

To create a Flyby Camera you place a sequence of flyby cameras in your model. After placing them, select the first camera in the series, press “O” to bring up a menu, then set the options to achieve the desired results. In addition, there are a number of code-bits to give the flyby’s different modes. A chart with all the settings is located in the Reference Section under Special Camera Settings

Setting up the Stacked Room Flyby Camera

There are seven cameras in this Flyby sequence. The first camera in the sequence is in the top room and the last is in the water room in front of the door. To start the flyby only the first camera in the sequence needs to be triggered.

1. First look carefully at the cameras in the demo model. In your “Stack Top X” room place a flyby camera (found under “Effects” in the Drop Down Menu) and point it at Lara.

Aiming the Camera
Once placed, a red cone shows the direction the flyby cam is pointing. To aim the camera in a different direction, hold down the LEFT Alt key, and use the arrow cursor keys to rotate it up, down, left or right by one degree increments. For faster
adjustments of 15 degrees, hold down the shift key together with the LEFT Alt key.

2. Set your trigger by selecting the square under the pedestal and clicking on the pink Trigger button.

3. With the camera selected, press the “O” button on your keyboard to bring up the menu to set the camera properties. Type in the following values making sure you hit “Enter” before closing the window:



Seq: 2 (all cams in this setup will have the seq # of 2)

Num: 0 (the first cam in the sequence is 0, the second is 1, the third is 2, etc)

Timer: 0

Speed: 1

FOV: 80

Number Buttons: Press the 6,9 and 10 number buttons so the camera will know to snap back to Lara at the end of the sequence (6), disable the Look breakout Key (9) and disable “Lara control”(10).

4. Place another camera in the next room (Stack2X). Point it at the door in the water room below.

5. Repeat step 3 but set Num to1 and Speed to 3. You don’t need to set the “Number Buttons” again.

6. In the next room (Stack3X) place two cameras (check demo level for placement) and point them at the door in the water room also.

7. Repeat step 3 but on the higher of the two cameras set Num to 2 and Speed to 3; on the next camera, set Num to 3 and Speed to 2.

8. Go to “Stack Pool X” and place 3 cameras along the bottom as per demo model.

9. Repeat step 3. On the first of the last three cams, set Num to 4 and Speed to 2. Press the 14 “Number Button” to activate a “Heavy Trigger” (more on this in a few minutes). On the second cam, set Num to 5 and Speed to 1. And on the final cam set Num to 6, Timer to 150 and Speed to 1. Press the 8 number button to tell the camera to hold its view. Whew! Now your cameras are set up for the flyby sequence….you only need to set one last trigger (See the next chapter).