Static Camera Orientation

UPDATE: Patch 1.07 and MotB changed the way you interact with the camera. Now you just hold down the right mouse button and you can control both turn the camera and control the pitch. 

Kephisto posted a great set of instructions in the Toolset forum concerning the camera:

Holding down the control and shift keys then right dragging should roll the camera while holding down alt and shift with right clicking will pitch the static camera up and down.

You can rotate it towards the left and right like other objects as well. To raise and lower it hold down the alt button while moving them. All together you can put it in just about any position and angle you want.

If there are any problems it could be, just guessing, that your keyboard shift and alt and control keys may have a different configuration, but in general play around with those three keys when the static camera is selected and you'll discover a feel for it.

In case you may be wondering, I've already placed many static cameras behind NPCs, across treetops and roofs, angled upwards from the ground, and even upside down viewing a monster.

When you're ready to have even more fun, Inder, right click on the static camera and select properties in new window - which, believe it or not, will bring up another properties window of which you can select view and actually see exactly what the camera does, in real time.

From there it is a matter of selecting a line of a conversation and selecting that static camera. Overall, I hope you enjoy using them.

And further down:

Each line in a conversation, whether spoken by the player or the NPC, has its own properties. For example, please highlight any line in a conversation and look at the bottom left, which should have the four tabs : Conditions, Actions, Node, Animations.

While you have a line in your conversation highlighted (selected) please click on the bottom tab named Node. In the Node panel that comes up in the bottom left should be a wondrous amount of options, divided into three main categories : Behavior, Camera Settings, and Line. Click the left (plus) sign of the Camera Settings category.

Now you should see many options for the Camera Settings, for that one specific line of conversation alone. You are now able to set if you want the camera settings to be random or want the Movement Type to be None, Pan, or Track, or even if you want that line of conversation to use any of your Static Cameras or even if you want the visual shot to be a Close Up, Walk-by, Medium, Over the Shoulder, or even more.

Even without using a static camera, just about all the above options (and more) are still available. So if you want to have a specific part of a conversation have a certain look to it, you can merely select a specific option and leave it at that.

When using Static Cameras all that is needed is to place the desired static camera’s tag in the Static Camera field, which is listed in the Camera Settings of the Node panel. There is probably a better way to say all this but I hope at least this information helps.

And a follow-up by LysanderReturns:

Perfect summation Kephisto. Just to add one last step, you need to set the mode field on the node to "static camera" if you want to use a static cam or "user defined" if you want to choose one of the preset cams (like worms eye or walk by or whatnot).

Check it out: http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=514512&forum=1...

The invisible cameraman

You can use an invisible cameraman to control where the camera is facing and make the static cameras pan and track to follow the action.

Creating your cameraman

First create your invisible cameraman. Go to blueprints > creatures > special to find the "Attach Spell Node" creature. Place him in the area and give him the following attributes:

1. First create your invisible cameraman. Go to blueprints > creatures > special to find the "Attach Spell Node" creature. Right click and choose "Copy Blueprint" > "Module" to create a module level blueprint.
2. Change the new creature blueprint's identification fields to "c_cameraman." The full list would be:
   • Comment: {c_cameraman}
   • Template Resref: c_cameraman
   • Resource Name: c_cameraman
   • Localized Description: leave blank
   • Tag: c_cameraman
   • First Name: {c_cameraman}
3. Make the creature a plot element by changing "Plot" to "True." This is just in case he gets stuck in a fireball or something, so that he won't start attacking the party.
4. Place the creature in the area. (You can also spawn him in later via a script using CreateObject(). This would also allow you to change his tag.)
5. Give the placed creature object a unique tag. If you are following campaign naming conventions, this might be in the form of "c_" + area_id + "_cameraman". If you have serveral cameramen in one place, consider using and "A," "B," or "C" at the end.
6. Consider giving the placed creature object a name in brackets so you can easily find him in the toolset. You may want to use the tag as the localize name so it is easy to locate him in the creature list.

Using your cameraman in a conversation

Now you can select the cameraman via GetObjectByTag() in a conversation switch. This will allow you to move him around using AssignCommand() calls.

Place a static camera in the area and give it a unique tag. To get the camera to follow him we will use the Node tab on the conversation nodes. To do this open your conversation and go to the node you want perform a moving camera effect on. Follow these steps:

1. Under the camera settings expandable field, click in the "StaticCamera" field to get a dropdown. Use this to find your camera and choose it. You can also just paste in the tag for your camera.
2. Set the "Mode" field to "Static Camera"
3. Go down under the "Line" section and set the speaker to be the tag of your cameraman. Note that this is the tag of your placed creature object, not your blueprint.
4. Finally, go back up under the "StaticCamera" section and we will set the "MovementType." There are three types to choose from.
   • None - The camera will not focus on the speaker for the duration of the conversation node, but will alsi not move. Good to use if you want an establishing shot that doesn't focus on the speaker.
   • Pan - The camera will swivel left or right to follow the speaker. It will also pitch up and down. This is a nice way to follow the action from a static point. You should note, however, that the camera will level out to the horizon when you choose this, meaning that any custom orientation you gave the camera when you placed it (such as having the camera on an angle) will be lost.
   • Track - The camera will change position to follow the creature. Custom orientations seem to be kept with this option, but I have not played with this one as much. I'll follow up once I have more information.

References

Thanks to Deist who suggested the use of the Attach Spell Node creature. Originally I was trying to use the ScriptHidden flag, but found that the camera does not follow the creature if this is on.

Check out the full thread:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=535548&forum=1...