Cancers (Machinima) file - Unreal Tournament 2004

CANCERS

An Unreal Tournament 2004 Machinima Film

by Eric 'StarFury' Bakutis

ebakutis@legionslayer.com

==============================================================
Special MSUC Judges Phase 4 Note:
==============================================================

- Although 'Cancers' consists of three separate acts, I am
only submitting Act II to the MSUC. I feel this is the most
polished (and powerful) scene in the movie. I'd really like
it if you watched all three Acts in order (you may be a bit
lost otherwise) but if you're pressed for time, just take
time to watch Act II and let me know how it goes.

==============================================================
Requirements:
==============================================================

- The Matinee game type by Lars 'TopAce' Lausan. This gametype
*is* included in the Cancers zip file and should be installed
automatically when you install 'Cancers' to UT2K4.

- Patch 3270. Movie behavior is not guaranteed with a previous
version of UT2K4. You can find the UT2K4 patch at a number
of places, including fileplanet.com and planetunreal.com.

==============================================================
Installation and Playback:
==============================================================

If you're reading this file, you've probably already done this,
but here goes anyway...

1. Open the zip file 'Cancers_v90.zip' using Winzip.

2. Extract all files to your /UT2004 directory. Make sure the
'Use folder names' checkbox is checked before extracting.

3. Open Unreal Tournament 2004.

4. Select 'Instant Action'.

5. Select the new game type 'Matinee', an excellent addition
to the menu by Lars 'TopAce' Lausan.

6. Select Cancers Act I, Act II, or Act III, and hit Play.

7. Watch the movie. I suggest eating popcorn.

==============================================================
Run Time
==============================================================

Cancers - A UT2004 Machinima Movie

Act I - 7 minutes, 55 seconds.
Act II - 14 minutes, 55 seconds.
Act III - 6 minutes, 55 seconds (includes closing credits)

Total - 29 minutes, 45 seconds

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Complete File Hierarchy (for troubleshooting and uninstall)
==============================================================

Just in case something goes apesh*t during your unzip, here's
where all the files SHOULD be after you unzip the file to
/ut2004 WITH the 'Use folders option' checked. If there's a
file missing, the movie may not play.

MSUC Note - The zip DOES have all subdirectories where they
should be as long as you install to /ut2004. Yee hah! :)

Cancers consists of the following files (you can also use this
list to uninstall the movie if you don't like it very much).

/ut2004/System/Cancers.u
/ut2004/System/matinee.u
/ut2004/System/matinee.ucl
/ut2004/Sounds/CinSounds1.usx
/ut2004/Sounds/CinSounds2.usx
/ut2004/Sounds/CinSounds3.usx
/ut2004/Sounds/CinSounds4.usx
/ut2004/Sounds/CinSounds5.usx
/ut2004/Animations/CancersAnims.ukx
/ut2004/Animations/Charlie.ukx
/ut2004/Animations/CancerBodies.ukx
/ut2004/Textures/CinTextures.utx
/ut2004/StaticMeshes/CancersMeshes.ut2
/ut2004/StaticMeshes/CancersMeshes2.ut2
/ut2004/Maps/MAT-CancersAct1.ut2
/ut2004/Maps/MAT-CancersAct2.ut2
/ut2004/Maps/MAT-CancersAct3.ut2

==============================================================
Movie Updates
==============================================================

Cancers version 0.90 was released in order to make Phase 4 of
the Make Something Unreal Contest. There's still some tweaking
I want to do on the movie (mainly improving animations and
adding some additional code) so one or two new versions may
be released sometime down the road. For the latest updates,
you can visit the Cancers website at

Legionslayer.com

Or visit Machinima.com (our excellent host!) at

Machinima.com

==============================================================
Want to Get Involved?
==============================================================

With the exception of my superb voice actors and the base
levels I took from UT2K4, creating Cancers was basically a
one man operation. I did the writing, coding, editing, animating,
and all the level modifications, not because I wanted to, but
simply because it's just impossible to get people excited
about a project that's not their own. However, I'm always
open to collaboration and if you are a modeler, level designer,
coder, or modder of UT2K4 in any way and want to learn more
about movie making (or help out StarFury Productions), please,
drop me a line and say hi! (contact info is at the top of this
readme). Ah hell, here it is again... ebakutis@legionslayer.com.

==============================================================
Complete List of Credits
==============================================================

Cast
Allison Wright as Sarah James
Allen Ivers as Charlie Parker

Written and Directed By
Eric �StarFury� Bakutis

Bot Pathing and AIScripting
StarFury Productions

Coding and Development
StarFury Productions

Matinee Game Type By
Lars �TopAce� Lausen

Level Design
DM-Junkyard (original) By
Digital Extremes / Epic Games

DM-Rankin (original) By
Sjoerd De Jong

Level Redesign
StarFury Productions

Additional Static Meshes
John �Angelheart� Falgate

Character Animation
Digital Extremes / Epic Games
Eric �StarFury� Bakutis

Character Animation Program
�Milkshape� by Mete Ciragan

Sound Editing and Design
StarFury Productions

Composers and Score
Kevin Riepl
Will Nevins

Hosting and Support
Machinima.com

Invaluable Resources
Everyone on the Atari UT2K3/4 Forums
The UDN
Unreal Wiki

Special Thanks
Everyone at Machinima.com
Ben Grussi
Bill Benners
The Ill Clan
Fiezi
SupaShaD (varIant)
Shared State Productions
John Falgate
Rachel Cordone

==============================================================
Development Notes (only if you have time :p)
==============================================================

If you have any questions about how I did anything or just
want to randomly flame, feel free to drop me an e-mail. I'm
going to try to release all my source files (animations, code,
etc) as soon as I get out from under this damn MSUC deadline. :p

'Cancers' is as 'real' a real-time cinematic as I could make it.
About 95% of what you see in the movie happens in real-time,
using default UT2K4 engine physics and AI bot scripting code. I
did use canned emotes and some basic animations as a base, but
for the most part the entire movie plays out through scripting
and engine physics... this is a departure from movies created
mainly by importing complete animations from Maya or Max.

In my opinion, using the UT2K4 engine purely as a replacement
renderer for Max or Maya kind of defeats the purpose of
developing in a real-time engine, where so many existing features
and scripts are available. The reason I took the scripted
approach as opposed to the all canned animation approach seen
in the UT2K3 Intro movie and most other movies out there is to
prove that it could be done. That, and I have a masochistic
streak. Regardless, I think scripting is the wave of the future.
I hope one day to see a movie-making engine where doing a scene
is as simple as telling your actor to walk to a refrigerator,
open the door, and take out a beer... all of this will be
accomplished in real-time via engine scripting and code
manipulated bone systems, rendering the need for external
animation programs in real-time moviemaking obsolete.

The lipsyncing in Cancers is my own creation, texture instead of
model based. Why texture based, you ask? Several reasons--first,
it's simpler. The skills required to model and rig a character
to use Impersonator are somewhat beyond the realm of the average
guy in his garage, and texture-based lipsyncing is the first
step toward making lipsyncing easier for everyone. Basically, if
you can edit a texture in a Paint program, you can use lipsyncing
in UT2K4. The version of the code in Cancers is incomplete in that
it uses hardcoded textures instead of dynamically generating the
texture file names, as the final code will do (eliminating the
need for any custom coding at all). Also, the code parses a string
passed from a scripted action that tells it what phonemes to play
in what order... so lipsyncing each line is as simple as isolating
the predominant sounds in each .2 seconds of the line and entering
the phoneme. The string 'face', for example, plays the F phoneme,
the A phoneme, the C phoneme, and the E phoneme, before reverting
to the default head skin. Though creating my own lipsyncing method
in UT2K4 was a challenge, I hope it will eventually be a cinch
for everyone else. Keep your eyes peeled for a new version of that
code if you are at all interested in doing a movie in the engine.

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