custom fixed cockpit camera position during replays

thoraxe

thoraxe

Registered
For driver training / coaching purposes, mapping the replay cockpit camera position to what one would normally find in the "real world" would be helpful. most folks have an action camera mounted to their car's rollbar.

After mapping camera settings, it's possible to move the camera in free look mode to the "right" location to get the video. But as soon as free look is disabled, the camera goes back to the original position. I'm not sure how to disable the free look mouse controls to be able to get to the replay controls after adjusting the camera in free-look mode. Using the camera move controls when not in free look mode results in the camera being nudged while the button is pressed (up, for example), and immediately returning to the exact position of the seat/cockpit when the replay was captured.

Is there a way to create a "custom" camera position that I can simply select, where the camera is in the center of the car to the side of the driver? A reusable position, I guess.

Thanks!
 
thoraxe said:
For driver training / coaching purposes, mapping the replay cockpit camera position to what one would normally find in the "real world" would be helpful. most folks have an action camera mounted to their car's rollbar.

After mapping camera settings, it's possible to move the camera in free look mode to the "right" location to get the video. But as soon as free look is disabled, the camera goes back to the original position. I'm not sure how to disable the free look mouse controls to be able to get to the replay controls after adjusting the camera in free-look mode. Using the camera move controls when not in free look mode results in the camera being nudged while the button is pressed (up, for example), and immediately returning to the exact position of the seat/cockpit when the replay was captured.

Is there a way to create a "custom" camera position that I can simply select, where the camera is in the center of the car to the side of the driver? A reusable position, I guess.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Have a play with this and see if it's potentially useful. I can look at separating the different cameras as it's probably not ideal the way it is. https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/headtilt-plugin.48176/
 
D'oh! Replays!

Realised half an hour after posting. I can look at activating during replays though. I'll keep you posted.
 
@thoraxe Bad and good news. Actually kind of intermediate news. This might be completely useless, or not.

I can make HeadTilt active during at-monitor replays, and it should be able to read the vehicle config for whatever car is viewed (I've got it to this point, though I haven't really done any testing to check it works properly for changing cars).

Loading replays from the main menu is a different story - the game isn't providing anything useful to the plugin. It can't tell what car is being used/viewed. It doesn't get any of the normal cues (telemetry, which I knew, or scoring) that would facilitate it getting its bearings. I guess it would be possible to try and work out a replay is active and brute force the camera controls, based probably on the last car viewed, but that's a bit ugly and potentially troublesome.

So, if viewing replays at the monitor is useful, I can bring it to that point and give you something to try. If instead you really want to load and view replays, I could do a 'last car settings' option that you'd press a key to activate - and the plugin will duly try and do those settings until you say otherwise.

Would either of those be useful?
 
thoraxe said:
Is there a way to create a "custom" camera position that I can simply select, where the camera is in the center of the car to the side of the driver? A reusable position, I guess.
Click to expand...

AFAIK this is not possible, however what I would do is scroll through the onboard camera (for me it is the Home key) then when you find one that is similar to what you want (there is usually a roll cage camera), hit free move and use the move keys to move the camera to where you want it. Then, use keys and not the mouse to control the replay (eg, fast forward, stop, slow motion etc). I can't remember what they are by default but you can assign them to whatever you like, they are in the 'Other' tab in Assign controls.

This might not be ideal but it is quite fast to scroll through the onboard cams and then make a quick adjustment with freemove. No need to use the mouse to control the replay once you map the controls.

It also helps to use camera slow move key.
 
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Lazza said:
So, if viewing replays at the monitor is useful, I can bring it to that point and give you something to try. If instead you really want to load and view replays, I could do a 'last car settings' option that you'd press a key to activate - and the plugin will duly try and do those settings until you say otherwise.

Would either of those be useful?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean by "at the monitor" - what other option is there? I think it sounds useful. As long as I have a repeatable process for getting to the desired camera view, I'm good. If it's "load replay, press button" that's spectacular. If I have to move a camera around once to get things in the right place, and then "save" this somehow, that's also fine.

This is for driver coaching so a little bit of pain is probably OK. As long as it's not constant pain

green serpent said:
AFAIK this is not possible, however what I would do is scroll through the onboard camera (for me it is the Home key) then when you find one that is similar to what you want (there is usually a roll cage camera), hit free move and use the move keys to move the camera to where you want it. Then, use keys and not the mouse to control the replay (eg, fast forward, stop, slow motion etc). I can't remember what they are by default but you can assign them to whatever you like, they are in the 'Other' tab in Assign controls.
Click to expand...

I had started farting around with free look and modifying the move camera controls and I was able to get a camera position that I liked, but then I couldn't figure out how to manipulate the controls.

I could do this, but having to do it _every time_ I want to record an in-car replay is going to get old. But, if this is the way then, so be it. Thanks.
 
thoraxe said:
I'm not sure what you mean by "at the monitor" - what other option is there?
Click to expand...

At the monitor means during the "race weekend" - so you've just driven, pressed Esc, and then viewing the replay of what you just did.

The alternative is loading up the game, or leaving the track, going to Replays and loading the replay you want to view. That's the one that's not so friendly to plugins.

But it sounds like the instant replay might suit you, so I'll do a little testing and send you something to try.

I will say that currently the plugin expects you to always want the customised view, so I might make that optional (I expect to update the plugin with this version, so its original use will remain default) and have a separate control for switching to the alternate view.

All of this will happen on only the "Cockpit" cam - no other views will be affected, and there will be no need to change views other than activating the plugin. It'll all make sense, I promise ;)
 
thoraxe said:
I had started farting around with free look and modifying the move camera controls and I was able to get a camera position that I liked, but then I couldn't figure out how to manipulate the controls.

I could do this, but having to do it _every time_ I want to record an in-car replay is going to get old. But, if this is the way then, so be it. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Controlling the replay cameras can be a bit off with the movement even at the best of times. What I do is I map all the movement controls to the WASD keys and various other keys around those keys. It can be a pain, but even just from the standard driving camera it can be as simple as hitting freemove, then a quick tap to the right and back and you're done. Definitely not ideal but it becomes a hell of a lot less of a pain in the butt once you get a grasp on the keys for all the camera controls and replay controls.
 
@thoraxe sorry this took a while (I've actually had the week off work, but strangely for me I've had less time at my PC than I do in a work week... chores finally caught up with me).

I've attached a test version of the HeadTilt plugin, it has a couple of differences to the current release:
  • Operates only in Cockpit view
  • Operates both inside the car, AND when at the monitor/garage screen
  • Ctrl + <headtiltkey> enables/disables the plugin / custom camera position
  • Alt + <headtiltkey> enters HeadTilt configuration - but ONLY when inside the car
I've cleaned up the Freelook detection as well, that was a bit buggy. Also it appends <aa>, <ab>, etc to the messages when setting up camera positions, so the game doesn't stop showing the updates when they're repeated.

I wasn't sure how you're using it, so this setup allows you to turn the custom position off when driving (if you wish) then easily switch it back on for replays. At this stage you're limited to setting an actual key for the control, so I've had to link the functions to Ctrl and Alt to avoid being picked up when typing. I would recommend changing the default Y control if you use this in devmode (conflicts with a function in there).

Give that a go and let me know if it's useful.

Cheers!
 

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@Lazza I had abandoned this as I got busy with other things. Now I have a use for it, but it's 100% in replay mode (watching VCRs) and not "at the monitor."

:(
 
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