From Moviesandbox

Revision as of 02:34, 8 April 2006

What is Moviesandbox

MovieSandbox is a graphical scripting tool that enables users to script their own gameplay elements. The original idea behind Moviesandbox was a graphical Machinima[1] toolkit. Though, Moviesandbox does not use a Timeline, but allows you to link different elements together in a Hypergraph-like fashion.

MovieSandbox is simple to use and makes use of context sensitive Menus to display only the information needed. It works on top of the game, meaning that you have full access to all of the game's resources and Levels and you can use the game's Tools to crete your own environments, or download custom models and Props. Also, Users can extend Moviesandbox with their own actions through using UnrealScript and following the Code Guidelines. Moviesandbox lets you save and load your projects. And all of that, without the need to ever close the game, as it's all running in realtime inside the game environment.

MovieSandbox is its own gametype and works with the latest version of Unreal Tournament 2004[2].It is designed to work for Linux, Mac and PC but has some problems saving projects on the Linux/Mac version.

Though originally intended as a movie creation tool, MovieSandbox can also be used to script interactive sequences using either the Keyboard or data received by its UDP interface.

The Interface

The user interface lets you spawn Actors, Props and Actions with a simple mouse interface. Once placed, you can move, rotate and scale the actors as you see fit. All Actors have their own property menu that you can access by simply clicking on them. You can switch from Mouse-Mode to flying mode through clicking on the "fly" icon or by pressing the "Alt" key. The Icons and the position and shape of the menu can be customised and you can assign hotkeys to every command. Hitting the "Spacebar" Key starts or stops your script.

Special Objects

Pawns

MovieSandbox Pawns come in two flavors - 3D and 2D. While the 3D Pawns is pretty much like the average unreal player Model, the 2D Pawn consists of textures or texture sequences. Both Pawn types have Root-Boxes that enable you to control them by linking specific Actions to them.

Actions

Actions are small Boxes that you can Link with your Pawns or Objects and that make them perform certain tasks, e.g. let them move to a certain point. Actions are executed in a chronological order and can be linked to each other, so that you can draw your own queues and link them to a Pawn. Actions can also be executed independent from Pawns using a ScriptRoot.

Cameras

MovieSandbox has a special Camera that you can place in the Level. The camera has a realtime preview window when moved around, so you have an idea of what your shot compostion would look like. You can assign a path to your camera by placing keypoints in your scene and Link them together. Also, Cameras support Depth of Field. When a focus object is selected, the Camera blurs all objects that are not in focus.

Targets and other Helper Objects

Target Points can be placed in the Level for different purposes. For example, they can be assigned as Movetargets or Looktargets. Other helper objects let you specify paths for Objects to move on or help you organise your scene.