Well, ok lets see ...
I´ve never done that before myself, im more into the art stuff ... but lets try!
First I would make some little storyboard, some scribble which describes the "hotspots", the main features of your cutscene.
Its important to commit yourself on the story, the look ect.
before, so you dont say "Well but it would be much better this way ..." half the way into your work and have to do everything again.
It doesnt have to be a great Hollywood storyboard, only some scribbles for yourself to orientate on.
This first thing is valid for both ways, the engine cutscene and the one with your favorite renderer (uhm ... i guess
![[Wink]](images/icons/wink.gif)
).
Next you have to build up your scene, props, costumes ... everything that is important for your little cutscene story ...
rephrased: Build up your level (the stage, with lights ect), the modells (characters, buildings, trees, whatever needed) and the textures.
By the way: If your cutscene plays at the same location with the same characters as your level does, you dont have to build this whole stuff again if youre using the engine of course
That may be an advantage over the rendered cutscene.
After this its time to bring your actors to live:
Make the animation frames for your charakters as needed.
Now you have to write the actions for the actors. Like I said, Ive never done that before, but I guess it will need alot of work on timing.
Some little example:
You did some walking and opening-a-door animation in med. For the little cutscene "Actor walks to a door and opens it" you have to write some action which lets your model move (with walking animation on) towards the door, then stop in front of it (walking animation off) and open the door (opening-a-door animation on, trigger the door opening or simply let it wait the time the actor needs to get to it and then open) ...
Of course you will not go straight through this list as you work on your cutscene, there will be alot "hopping" around, making some little adjusments, kicking some modell into your trash can and place another one for it ect ect ...
play around! Thats the best way of learning for the most people.
I know everything is very abstract, but I hope I was able to inspire you. If you need more exact information it would be a pleasure for me to dig deeper into this topic (new and interesting for me too)
I welcome any opinions, suggestions and/or approvements from you crack guys up there for my little cutscene tutor
Greetings from Germany
Heiko