SLATE (Complete Gameplay Cutscenes & Cinematics Sequencer)

Ok, fixed... need to use the right cam and disable first three Director Camera options. But few things came up with the resulting mp4 file:

• Tenkoku Dynamic Sky does not work (works in play mode)
  
• Playway Water does not work (works in play mode)
  
• Audio is not recorded

 

You are very welcome! I'm very glad I could help and it works for you.
Thank you!

Hey!

Thanks a lot! I am really glad you like Slate
I'd like to suggest that you please use the PNG rendering format option as it provides much better quality results, as well as it renders everything in the scene if rendering is done while in play mode (since it relies on plain screen capture rather than rendering buffers). To render in playmode, simply enter playmode and after that is done, please open the render utility window and hit "Render".

The MP4 and GIF formats are mostly there as a previz option and not as a final rendering solution and due to this reason audio recording for MP4 is also unfortunately not supported. I really think that for rendered sequences to be played outside of Unity though, a preferable approach would be for audio to be added in the video editing software where the final compositing will be done (which of course most -if not all of them- are able to open a PNG image sequence).

Please let me know if that works for you and if using PNG rendering option in playmode does indeed renders your whole scene as indented.
Thanks!

 

Hi,

A couple of questions if you don't mind:

1. I see there is an Adventure Creator plug in, but how does that integrate exactly?
2. If there are scripted animations e.g. Birds flocking, can those run at the same time as a cut scene
3. Does the animator track support masks e.g. Animate humanoid, override arm.
4. Can the start position of movement be dynamic, eg. In game player stops in a specific position, cutscene dictates end point

Thanks
Cas

 

Often the final subtitle remains onscreen after there's no more voice dialog -- how do I make that go away?

 

My mp4 render no longer works, and seems to only take the information from the last camera shot and not at the resolution set. Is there a way to fix this?

If I cancel halfway through the render it only shows the information for that camera.

 

Hey,
Sure, no problem

1) The AC integration comes with an AC action which (of course) plays a cutscene. The action temporary overrides the AC camera system for the duration of the cutscene and gives control back to AC camera system once the cutscene is finished. For the duration of the cutscene you can do anything that Slate supports, but you can't interact with the AC system, even though custom Slate action clips could be created (I could if requested). The action itself by default will wait the cutscene to be finished, before continue with the rest of the actions in the AC action list.

2) Yes. A cutscene will only affect whatever it is told to affect. As such all other things happening in the game already will continue to take effect.

3) Not right now but masks will be supported immediately once Unity decide to expose this feature in the Playables API (they said soon). So this feature is mostly up to the Unity team before it appears in Slate.

4) Can you please provide a bit more information on this one? I partially understand what you mean, but a bit more concrete example would help me answer more precisely

Thanks!

Hey,
Please set the BlendOut parameter of the clip to anything other than 0, so that the subtitles blend out to become invisible/disabled. By leaving the BlendOut parameter to 0, you are basically telling Slate to "hold" the effect of the clip until the next subtitle appears.
Let me know if that works for you.
Thanks!

Hey,
I have replied to your post in the Slate forums about this.
Please let me know there.
Thanks!

 

Hi @nuverian

Still loving Slate and your awesome support.

Could you take AddTrack and DeleteTrack of cutscene group, out of #UNITY_EDITOR tags for the next version, tagging just the bits that really require it? I'm building cutscenes at runtime.

And AddAction as well

 

Hey,
Thanks as well! I am glad to hear that.
Yes, I will make those possible to use in runtime in the next version. No problem

 

Hi. Thanks for the reply.

To clarify, having the start position of a character in a cutscenes pick up from where the gameplay left off could allow for seamless game to cutscene transition. E.g. Gameplay character walks to a point and triggers a cutscenes which involves further movement - the position would be picked up automatically.

On the animator track - since masks are out - mixing it with final in could be used instead?

Thanks
Cas

 

Hey,

You are welcome.
This is actually how Slate works already at least in regards to animation and root motion.
The position/rotation of the character is picked from wherever it actually is when the cutscene starts. All further root motion of the animation played, will begin and be applied from that position/rotation and onward.
You can of course also specify a specific location for the character to be when the cutscene starts if that is required on the other hand.

When the cutscene is finished, it can either be finalized, or be rewinded. If rewinded, all actors (actually everything the cutscene affects), will snap back to the original position/rotation they were just before the cutscene started. If finalized this does not happen, which is what I think you are after here.

Furthermore, in the realm of gameplay seamless transition, the cutscene camera can be blended in from the gameplay main camera on cutscene start and blended back to the gameplay main camera on cutscene finish.

Let me know if that is what you were after
Also what do you mean by saying "mixing it with final in " please?

Thanks.

 

Hi

That sounds perfect.

The other part was auto correct...I meant Final IK...so using that in conjunction with the animator track to, for example, move arms to aim whilst mechanim to walk...

Tnx
Cas

 

Hey!
As a matter of fact, FinalIK can indeed be used with Slate (since there is an official extension available)
This can of course be used for corrections like grabbing/aligning a hand with a sidewalk rail, or various other things of course.


The nice thing about it (which also exists in other parts of Slate), is the fact that animations made in clips, can optionally be set to work in "Actor Space". What this basically means, is that the local actor transform space is used and as such if the actor is moving so does the animation. Here is an example of what I mean:

Just for clarification, in the above gif, the sphere gizmo is not a child gameobject of the character, but rather just a keyframed animation in Actor Space.

Cheers!

 

Wow. That's pretty impressive!

I think I am pretty much sold.

Last question if you don't mind.

Can I trigger events during a cutscenes, kind of like quick time events.

I am not a programmer, though, and rely on Adventure Creator and Playmaker.

Tnx
Cas

 

Hey, Thanks!

Regarding your question, there is an action clip included which allows you to call a function on a script attached on either of the cutscene "affected actors", or attached on the cutscene object itself. This is done by using Unity's SendMessage and as such the function called can have one parameter. Currently boolean, float, integer, string and unity object parameter types are supported, but more can be added on request.

For your information, I'd also like to let you know, that QTE and option-based cutscene branching (like Telltale games style) is already in the roadmap to be integrated right within Slate, but I can't promise of a date yet.

Let me know if that is what you were after.
Thanks again.

 

Hi,

Yea that's great. I think I can work with that.

The long term QTE upgrade sounds cool though.

Tnx
Cas

 

Hi just purchased your asset as i "believe" it can simplify my pipeline. I'd like to build a scripted 360 VR tour for my equirectangular image assets. I have a sphere which has the image mapped to it and I'd like to swap this image for a new one after xx seconds on the time line with a camera fade to white in between..
I've added my sphere game object to the slate cutscene and added two "Set Texture" events with different materials. However when i scrub the time line the texture does not change?

 

You are welcome.
If you have any other questions, just let me know
Thanks.

Hello,
Thanks for getting Slate.
The "Set Material Texture" action clip should change the texture correctly when scrubbing the time in editor.
Depending on the material/shader that the sphere is using, you may need to select the correct "Property Name" in the "Set Material Texture" inspector.

The default is "_MainTex", which most of the times is what you want to change, but once again, depending on the shader that the object has, you might want to change another property.

Please let me know if that was the reason, or if I misunderstood the question.
Thanks.

 

Thanks for the quick response! To be honest i'm not quite sure what I've done but it now works. I have a the texture changing and a fade between the changes, awesome!

Question... is there a way to make sure the texture has changed before the fade finishes? this might not be an issue as I've not tested on mobile but the textures are quite large (30 mb) so may not load in real time.

Thanks for the excellent support.

 

Hey,

You are very welcome and I am glad that it works for you now
Regarding your question, regardless of how big the textures are, and since they are not streamed from somewhere (eg web), it will take one frame (instant) for them to be set as the new material texture. So it's guaranteed that by the time the "Set Material Texture" action clip is triggered, the texture will be shown and as such, you can adjust the Fade accordingly to happen at that same time

Thanks again!

 

Hi @nuverian
I am shopping for a sequencer to handle complex UI effects. Think of Bubble Witch Saga 3 level up effects, with many particle effects, uGUI RectTransforms moving & animating, sprites, texts, sounds, all synchronized in precise ways.

Lacking video tutorials to watch, I have a few questions for you:
1. Can Unity's particle systems be scrubbed in preview?
2. Can Particle Playground's particle systems be scrubbed in preview?
3. Is there integration with TextMeshPro?
4. Can the target of a sequence (actor tracks I believe you call them) be set at runtime? To give context, - the game presents three chests to the player who chooses one, then the sequence is applied to the chosen chest.
5. Can a sequence animate properties relative to their runtime values? There are two ways of doing this:
5a. First way, in the editor I specify the absolute end value of the property, the ease and the duration. Then at runtime the property is animated from whatever its initial value happens to be at the start of the sequence to the absolute end value.
5b. Second way, in the editor I specify the additive end value of the property, the ease and the duration. Then at runtime the property is animated from whatever its initial value happens to be at the start of the sequence to its initial value plus the additive end value.

In both 5a and 5b, the ease (whether a standard one like InQuad or a custom one) is treated as a normalized curve since an absolute value curve makes no sense. Basically 5a and 5b is what all tween engines do easily.

Thank you!

 

Hey!

Thanks for your interest in Slate.
Please let me address your questions:

1) Yes, there is a "Sample Particle System" action clip, which allows scrubbing/preview a particle system reference in editor.

2-3) There is no integrations for Particle Playground nor TextMeshPro at the moment. I can understand Particle Playground integration, but as far as TextMeshPro, I'd be interested to hear what parts of it you would like to see integrated? I can definitely take a look at integrating both.

4) Yes, target actor gameobjects can be set in runtime with a single function "SetGroupActorOfName(string name, GameObject actor)". Please note though, that the "Sample Particle System" I've talked about above does not work with actors system, so the particle system reference can't be set in runtime. Thinking of this over though, I will change this in the next version

5) When keyframing/animating properties, it is done so only with absolute values, but a lot of the action clips have a blend in/out parameter, which optionally makes the clip's internal properties interpolate from their existing values and to the keyframed values and back, over the duration of the action clip's blend parameters.
This blend in/out is just the case of some clips only though, and does not apply to any possible property that can be animated, although this is something I've already been looking for adding in the next version!
There also exists some tween-like action clips for transforms (position/rotation/scale) which will (naturally) tween the current transform values to a final absolute one, over the duration of the action clip.

Please let me know if I left any question hanging for you, or if you have any new ones.
Thanks!

 

Hi

Am I missing something obvious...when I make a path finding action, the event occurs but then it snaps back to the original position when the clip is finished...

Tnx
Cas

 

It may be some sort of glitch. Cameras were not animating either, after some fiddling about I switched off auto key and manually added keys, then switched it back on and it started auto keying, path finding started working as expected as well....

 

Hello,

Thanks for letting me know that there might be some bug. I will investigate further and see what could be the cause of this, but if it happens to you anytime again, please let me know so that I can have a better look! That would be great if you do.
I've also just replied to your email as well by the way.

Thanks!

 

Tnx for the reply. Will let you know if it happens again.

 

Hi, I'm trying to build for VR on both Cardboard and Gear VR. Can you please explain what the correct set up needs to be so that the google camera works correctly and I can use the GVR recticle in my cut-scene.

I've also noticed that the "Fade" fades the Google Cardboard UI elements in and out?

Any help is appreciated...

 

Hi, I just figure out root motion of animator track can't move my actor because my actor is child of another object. animator component must be on parent then root motion works! but I can't do that for a reason.

It's weird that animator component by default works even if animator component be on a child but animator truck on Slate must be on parent object to make root motion work.

I can't put animator component on my parent for a reason and because of that root motion doesn't work from Slate animator track.

 

How do I disable the letterboxing? I've read the notes but can't figure out how to do that.

 

Just set the CineBox fade time to 0 on the Camera Track

 

Thanks, and sorry to be an idiot, but where is the CineBox fade time value on the Camera Track? I don't see it...

 

First select your cutscene in the hierarchy, then select the CameraTrack in the Slate timeline window. In the inspector you'll see the setting.

 

Ah, duh! Got it. Thank you!

 

I take it that Slate doesn't work in Unity 5.6? I'm currently on beta 3 and I'm getting a ton of errors starting with UnityEngine.Experimental.Director... I'm assuming these are conflicts between the new Unity director feature and Slate. Maybe it's just a name-space collision?

 

Hi nuverian,
I’m very impressed by your methodical replies and the quality of their content.

I have questions to the SLATE community and obviously Nuverian.

My purpose is using SLATE to make movies, and as you wrote (28th.12,2016: https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/s...nematics-sequencer.388971/page-6#post-2900079) «You can definitely make a movie inside Unity using Slate ».

So, using Blender too, I’d like to know if there is a way to handle multiple Scenes in SLATE, using them as « a group of shots »: in Blender VSE, several 3D scenes can be imported as strips, and then arrange and blend with transitions to make the STORY-REEL reference for all the movie (2D Rough Sketches => 2D Animatics =>3D Animatics => ... => Final rendering).

The Scene Track of the upcoming UNITY TimeLine tool seems to give that kind of feature :
have a look at the sequence between [30:42-33:25] :

(the current MultiScene editing Unity feature being not appropriate due to the fact that they share the same time interval in TimeLine … ?)

So my question: how could that be done in SLATE, now or soon ?

Many thanks !

 

Hello,
Super sorry for the late reply, but I just missed your post somehow :/
Right now, the Animator component needs to be attached on the same gameobject that the Actor Group is using, but in the next version, it will be possible to use the Animator component found in a child gameobject, since that is already a highly requested feature.
Until then, the way to work around this, would be to simply create another Actor Group, that targets the gameobject with the Animator Component itself (It is totally fine to have two actor groups, one for the root gameobject and another for one of it's children by the way).

Thanks!

Hello,

Right now Unity beta 5.6 is not supported, but the next Slate version (released before Unity 5.6) will support Unity 5.6 without any problems.
Thanks!

Hello,

Thanks a lot for your positive feedback!
I do stand by my statement that «You can definitely make a movie inside Unity using Slate »
To answer your question, yes. Slate does already have the ability to additively load/unload scenes within a cutscene very similar to what is shown in the Unity video, by using the "SubScene" clip.

Furthermore, the options that these "Sub Scene" clips provide, allow you to optionally even place the sub-scene to a specific and different position (by moving it's root gameobjects of that scene accordingly), or even simultaneously update any other cutscenes existing in that sub-scene, in parallel with the master cutscene that uses them and for the duration of the clip.


If you have any other questions, or need any clarification to the above, please let me know.
Thanks again!

 

Hello,

I love the product, but I'm having trouble rendering the videos. They are always at low resolution, and I cannot get them to record sound. Could you possible provide assistance and guidance? Thank you.

 

Hello,

Thanks a lot for your feedback. I am really glad you like Slate.
Unfortunately the .MP4 rendering format will be deprecated in the next version, because it was originally added and intended as a previz only rendering and not for final quality render.
I'd really like to suggest that you please use the PNG or EXR rendering format for production quality renders. It is then very simple to open the image sequence in any video editor application to export the final video.
I really hope that this is a valid solution for you, but let me know if not.
Thank you!

 

Thank you for the answer. I don't mind compiling the images, but it would have been nice to have the sound/video output in one shot. Would it be possible to add a message (unless I missed it) when using this option, so that people know that it is not intended as a final? Very cool plugin, still my favorite for my workflow. All the best.

 

Hey,
Thanks a lot for your positive feedback.
I opted to completely remove the MP4 and GIF rendering formats for the next version as so to avoid possible confusion, but if you, or someone else do need it still, I can bring it back (with a message like you suggested)
Thanks!

 

Hi nuverian,

I want a trial version.

 

youtube tut is really needed!!!!!PLZ
sequence director is a S***!!! but there tut is very comprehensive。
and you don't have any video tut except a korean guy's made.
if you make video tut,i am sure all potential costomes will buy it !

 

Hello,

Please refrain from characterizing other software -even if directly competitive to Slate- in such a way. Every software needs a lot of effort by it's developers to make, and is not polite to characterize it in such a way, regardless of how good, bad, better or worst it is.

About videos, there is an open paid job position available for that, so I foresee that they will appear soon.

Thank you.

 

Thanks but the Root Motion of animator still doesn't work!

 

Hi!

What's the situation regarding Unity 5.6? Are you planning to wait for the Unity 5.6 final release or is there maybe an in-development version available on request?

I noticed that the current Unity 5.6 release candidate breaks the Animator track (looks like a large number of methods are gone from the Animator API - I hope they've just been moved elsewhere). No pressure, though, I simply commented out Slate's Animator track classes in my project and everything else works as usual

 

Oh boy... upgraded to 5.6 and now nothing works.
Is there any course of action so far to get things working?

 

Hey,
Sorry for the late reply.
Just to confirm, have you enabled "Use Root Motion" in the Animator Track inspector?



* @Cygon4 & @Diegoale2000 & Everyone Else *

The new version supporting Unity 5.6 is now submitted. It was postponed partially on purpose to see if Unity decides to change anything else in the last moment within it's animation API which is getting overhauled lately.

If you have already updated to Unity 5.6 on a project using Slate, please send an email to support_AT_paradoxnotion.com along with your order ID and I will send you back the new version supporting 5.6 as soon as possible, so that you don't have to wait for it to appear on the asset store.

Thank you!

(PS: I will post all the goodies in the new version soon as well )

 

Yes, I'm pretty sure It doesn't work when it's a child of another object! even if we use that child directly on Slate.

Root Motion works when animator is placed on parent but I'm using "Puppet Master" asset and because of that my character should be a child.

 

Hey,
Sorry for stating the obvious before.
In the new version (that I've posted about a moment ago), there is now support for what you initially wanted to do, that is that the Animator in a child of the actor can now be used automatically and without directly referencing it as a different actor.
So with this new version, I think that all the stated issues you are facing, animator wise, will be resolved together.
Please PM me with an email you want me to send you the new version at and I will do so ASAP if you so want

Thanks!

 

Also, based on your edit which bring Puppet Master in the front, I think that maybe Puppet Master is taking control of the root motion on a per frame basis and as such does not let Slate playback the root motion of the animation clip. This is just an assumption since I don't own puppet master, but maybe trying to disable puppet master for the duration of the cutscene is something worth trying?

 

Thanks, I figured out Rigidbody on my model caused that problem. Rigidbody shouldn't be on same object that animator component is.