General Questions
What is Machinimation 2?
Machinimation 2 is a program created by Fountainhead Entertainment that allows you to create real-time 3D movies called Machinima.
What is Machinima?
During the mid 1990's a group of game and film enthusiasts turned the original Quake game into a set, filled it with their personalities and characters, and told us stories that made us laugh, cry and sometimes cringe. As game engines evolved, so did this form of animated film making that became known as Machinima. Machinima is a revolutionary new medium for computer animation that has been widely embraced by the gaming community. Once used primarily for the creation of small sketches to be viewed by specific game communities, it has become a viable option as an alternative form of animation.
How do I reset my window positions?
To restore your windows to the default states, click on "Reset Window Positions" under the "Window" menu.
When I press the preview button (or select Scene->Preview Scene), I can't hear the sound in the preview.
In order to hear the sound during scene preview, you need to establish focus back to Doom 3. Press F1 right after selecting to preview your scene.
I just created an overlay but I can't see it.
Overlays can only be seen through a camera view. If you aren't seeing an overlay you just created, make sure you're viewing your scene through an existing camera. If one doesn't exist, you'll need to create one first, then view through it to see the overlay.
I created a recording, camera, light or other component in the scene but I don't see it when I play back.
Components are placed in a scene at whatever scene time is current when the component is created. If you don't see something you just created, it may be because you created it somewhere in time other than where you're currently viewing. A common mistake is to be something like 10 seconds into a scene's time, create a recording or other component, then press preview. Preview will take you back to the beginning of scene time, so you will not see your newly created component until playback reaches 10 seconds. Make sure to specify your desired scene time before creating a component.
How do I convert rendered TGA frames into a movie file?
This Demo version of Machinimation 2 will create image sequences that represent the visual aspect of your production when you render a scene. If you wish to view your renders as video files, you will need to convert them first. There are many programs that can convert image sequences to video files. VirtualDub is a free program that can perform this task for you if you do not already have a program to do it. You can download VirtualDub if from Virtualdub.sourceforge.net.
The basic process for converting your rendered image sequences into video files in VirtualDub is as follows:
1. After starting VirtualDub, go to the "File" pull-down menu and choose "Open video file."
2. In the "Files of type." selector, you may either leave the setting at "All types" or choose "Image sequence."
3. Browse to the folder where Machinimation 2 has saved your rendered files, select the first image in the sequence and press the "Open" button.
4. Go to the "Video" pull-down menu and select "Compression." Select a CODEC from the list that you wish to use to compress your video. The default is uncompressed, but that will produce video files that can be huge. You may need to experiment with the various CODECs on your system to find one that suits your needs.
5. Go to the "Audio" pull-down menu and choose "WAV Audio..." Browse to the folder where Machinimation 2 has saved your rendered files, select the file with the wav extension and press the "Open" button.
6. Go to the "Video" pull-down menu and choose "Frame-Rate..." Under the section Source rate adjustment, make sure the "Change so video and audio durations match" setting is selected.
7. Go to the "File" pull-down menu and choose "Save as AVI." Choose a location and name for your AVI file and press "Save."
Please see VirtualDub's help files and web site for further information and help with more advanced features.
If you are using another program to convert your image sequences into video files, please see the help files associated with that program for instructions on how to make the conversion.
How do I set up a network project where other people can join in as actors?
Every project started essentially works as a server. Other people can join your project by running the "mach2_actor.exe" application included with Machinimation 2. From this program they can specify the IP address of the project server they wish to join and launch Machinimation 2.
I have multiple Cameras in my scene. How do I specify which Camera to use when rendering my movie?
You can disable Camera view by setting the Visible property to False in the Camera Component. Because this Property is keyframable, you can enable and disable a Camera at different points in the scene. You can change the camera visiblilty property in by using the Path Editor. Simply select the camera you would like to edit, then select the Keyframe you would like to change, then alter the Visible property. Set your Scene up so that your Cameras are set to Visible=False except when you want to have a camera be the "active" camera during Scene playback and rendering. If you have more than one camera in your scene that has "Visible" set to "True" at any one time, the camera that is highest in the hierarchy will have priority.
Doors aren't opening in my recordings, or some elements of the map aren't being drawn correctly when I play back my recordings.
By default, Machinimation's recordings only save the information of the player and other characters around him. If you wish to record things like doors opening and interaction with other map elements, or if you have a problem with certain parts of a map not showing up properly, you may need to perform your recordings with the "Actors and World" setting in the Type of Entities to Record selection. Additionally, you may be able to solve more world appearance problems by choosing the "All entities in the entire map" option in the Scope of Entities to Record selection. But beware, recording all the world's entities can be a big burden on your system, and will result in large recording trace files and probably slow scene playback (though rendering should come out fine). Use these two options only if you are having specific problems with the world elements not recording the way you wish them to.
If I'm using a Doom 3 single player map as a set, how can I get rid of all the monsters if I don't want to deal with them?
Under the Game pulldown menu, toggle "Disable Monsters/NPCs." Keep in mind that this will disable all monsters AND Non Player Characters such as other humans in the Mars base. This setting will not affect monsters and NPCs that you have already recorded.
Troubleshooting
Machinimation isn't starting up for me.
Make sure you have both Microsoft .NET 1.1 installed (available for download here) and .NET service pack 1 installed (available for download here).
Installing Doom 3 v1.2/Resurrection of Evil expansion pack causes Machinimation 2 not to function properly.
Machinimation 2 only works with Doom3.exe version 1.1 but you can have multiple versions of this file so you can run the expansion pack and Machinimation 2 from the same installation. Before installing the expansion please make a backup of your Doom 3 v1.1 executable (rename it something like "doom3v11.exe"), then set your Doom 3 executable reference to match the backup's new name. This reference is called "doom3_cmd" and is located in the Game Properties window under Game Startup settings. Set "doom3_cmd" to "doom3v11.exe" (or to whatever name you used when backing up the old the file) and then Machinimation 2 should work fine.
I have a software firewall (such as ZoneAlarm) installed on my computer and I'm having a hard time getting Machinimation 2 to run properly.
Machinimation 2 communicates with Doom 3 via TCP/IP on your computer. Machinimation uses TCP port 10891 to interact with the Doom 3 application. Some software firewall configurations may block inter-application IP communication on your computer and this would cause Machinimation 2 not to function properly. You can remedy this problem by reconfiguring the firewall to allow Machinimation 2 and Doom 3 to send receive traffic on that port.
I'm using a non-English version of Windows and I'm having trouble seeing Lights, Cameras, and Audio after I create them.
This is caused by a language number formatting issue that occurs if a user is running any language other than English (US) on their computer and they are running Machinimation 2 Demo version 1.00.01 or earlier. To fix this with your current version you should uninstall Machinimation 2, change the regional language number formatting on your computer to English(US), delete the install directory (/mach2), and reinstall Machinimation 2 Demo. Any previous projects will not load up correctly after the reinstall, so it would be a good idea to delete those as well.
Sometimes I can't seem to navigate in the Doom 3 set properly.
If you seem to have focus in the Doom 3 window but can't move around in it like you normally should, press F1 to bring focus back to Machinimation, then right click in the Doom 3 window and choose "Navigate Set." This will usually solve this focus problem.
My Game Renderer window has turned all black, how do I restore the output?
Set the "Render World" property of your current Scene to true.
I am unable to connect to a project server as an actor. I get an error stating "Data not in sync with server data". How do I fix this?
Doom 3 is very particular about the files that exist in your "Doom 3/base/" and "Doom 3/mach2/" folders. The contents of your folders must have the exact same PK4 files as the server in order to connect.
I get an error when the Doom 3 Renderer starts in Machinimation 2 saying it can't find the default config. How do I fix this?
The likely cause of this problem is that your Doom 3 installation needs to be upgraded to version 1.1 (available here). Install the latest version of Doom 3 and restart Machinimation.
I get an error when I start Machinimation 2 that says "The application failed to initialize properly". How do I fix this?
Machinimation 2 requires Microsoft's .NET Framework Version 1.1 in order to run. Download and install the framework then run Machinimation 2 again.
