Flying Camera Route Editor - Control Reference

1.   S (Start) Button

Creates a camera position at the current location in the main screen and adds it to the Start of the route. Technically, it doesn’t much matter whether the very first camera added to a route is created by pressing the ‘S’ button or the ‘E’ button, but of course they do affect how the subsequent positions are added to it. ‘S’ puts them at the start of the timeline, ‘E’ puts them at the end.

2.   Timeline

Shows the relative timing between camera positions, a grey bar shows progress through those positions as a route is previewed. Click on it to specify a particular spot as the ‘current’ time and to preview what the camera sees at that point. Click-and-drag to ‘scrub’ back and forth through the camera route.

3.   Camera Position Icons

Represent the camera positions you’ve set along the route. You can click to select one for various operations (e.g. deleting), but there’s no indication that it is selected. One can also click-and-drag to adjust timing from one position to the next.

4.   E (End) Button

Looks like an ‘F’ since the bottom of the letter is cut off. Creates a camera position at the current location in the main screen and adds it to the End of the route.

5.   Route Name

You can name the route you’re working on. These names show up in the Route Selector Drop-down List described below (#24). This name seems to be saved in the .fcr file, since a reloaded route has its name appear in that drop-down list.

6.   Insert Camera Position

Set up a view in the main screen, set the current time on the timeline to the place where you want that camera position to appear, then click the Insert button.

7.   Recalc(ulation) Button

Adjusts the spacing between all camera position icons on the timeline so that the camera will move at a consistent speed throughout the whole route. Often changes the effective scale of the Master Speed Slider (the red one) so you have to readjust it to get back to your route’s original speed.

8.   Control Button

Adjusts the movement direction markers for each camera position to try and smooth out the motion of the camera. Sometimes makes large changes, sometimes seems to have only a limited effect.

9.   Solo Play Button

Provides the most accurate preview of how the movie clip will turn out. Gives a full screen preview with no overlaid interface controls. You can get a much better sense of the speed of your route when previewing it full-screen. When the preview is finished, don’t forget to uncheck the ‘Full Screen Preview’ box (#16) before continuing to work on your route.

10.   Record Button

Starts a slow but high quality frame-by-frame recording of your camera route. When the route is finished, the Editor’s controls reappear but it still keeps recording. Use the CTRL+SHIFT+F11 key combo to stop recording, or to interrupt the process.

11.   Axis Adjustment Widgets Mode Checkboxes

Aligns the widgets' coordinate system in one of three different ways. Please see the ‘Tweaking Camera Markers’ section above for more details.

12.   Set Time Button

OK, I’m still stumped by this one. If you have a route with three camera positions (start, middle, end), click on the timeline to set the current time and then click this button, the difference between the current time and the middle camera position is averaged. Both move and end up in the same spot inbetween. If you have a route with four camera positions, both intermediate positions move but by different amounts. I’m not quite sure what this is trying to accomplish - you’re on your own with this one!

13.   Set Camera to New Position

Set up a view in the main screen, select a camera icon below the timeline, then click the Set Position button. The selected camera is relocated from its old spot to the location in the main screen. This may sometimes be quicker than dragging a camera marker all over the place with the axis adjustment widgets.

14.   Delete Camera Position

Select a camera position icon below the timeline, then click the Delete button to get rid of that camera position. You must click on the button’s drop shadow.

15.   Mini Window Preview Checkbox

When selected, the preview of a route is displayed in the mini window just to the right.

16.   Full Screen Preview Checkbox

When selected, the preview is displayed full-screen. Unlike the Solo Play button, this one keeps the FCR Editor’s interface visible as the preview unfolds. When the route is finished, don’t forget to uncheck this box before trying to continue working on your route.

17.   Pause Button

While previewing a route, use this to pause.

18.   Play Button

Starts a preview of the flying camera route, which may appear in the mini preview window and/or full-screen, depending on the how you’ve set the checkboxes just above.

19.   Mini Preview Window

When adjusting camera and direction markers in the main screen, set the current spot in the timeline to correspond to the camera you are adjusting. Then you’ll be able to immediately see the results of the changes in this window.

20.   Master Speed Slider

Initially set to the slowest possible speed, nudge this up just a tiny bit to increase the overall speed of the route. If you use the Recalculate button, you’ll probably have to change this again to get back to the original speed of the route.

21.   Marker Size Slider

If you are zoomed back from a camera position in the main screen it can be hard to see its markers. Adjust this slider to make them bigger.

22.   New Route Button

Click to begin a new route. You must click on the drop shadow, not the button itself. If you have another route open at the time, it is discarded. However, the previous route is still in memory and can be brought back by using the Route Selector Drop-Down List described below.

23.   Delete Route Button

You guessed it, deletes the current route. Another button that can only be activated by clicking on its drop shadow.

24.   Route Selector Drop-Down List

As you create a route, you can name it in the Route Name box mentioned above. If you start a second route, you can get back to the first one by selecting it from the drop-down list. Note that if you don’t give routes distinctive names, they will all look the same on the list! You’ll see a lot of Temp00’s, the default route name. When re-loading a route from disk, this route name appears in the list, not the filename.

25.   Load Route

Loads a previously-saved route (.fcr file).

26.   Save Route

Saves the current route as a .fcr file in the game’s main installation folder. I tend to use the Route Name as the filename, just to keep things easy to remember.


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