Observercam bind input to mouse

[Nibor]

hello,

is it possible to bind the inputs for the Ovbservercam to the mouse? .... so that it works similar to the 3ds max Walk Through.

for example that the cam looks down/up when i move the mouse /forward/backwards?

[Micael Belin]

Hi Nibor,

Unfortunately we have no support for mouse as input device. This is not because of technical issues, it's rather a UI aspect. If we bind the mouse as input device, you will not be able to use it to operate the UI, for example adjusting spinners, changing views, or just stop recording.

Of course there are solutions for this as well, but we decided early not to support mouse input with CDS.

[Nibor]

Hi Micael,

sorry to hear that, since I personally really don't like the a joypad as input device because it has that consolegame "look and feel". in my opinion a mouse as input is many times more accurate and there is no delay (acceleration) between movement of the device and the camera.
since it is ages ago that i have used a gamepad i'd like to ask if you know of another imput device which is supported by CDS, and that has 100% realtime input translation.... sorry, if i dont use the correct term but what i mean is this > if i use an analog gamepad and push the stick forward as much as i can and as fast as i can, there is always a delay where the camera still moves while the stick is already at the endposition.... or was this just a feature of some old games which i remember and it's not actually a typical behaviour ??? ; ) anyhow.... i am looking for a input device which allows full 360º freedom in realtime - comparable to a mouse as controller when used in a fps.

I still think it would be worth thinking about the possibility to support the mouse as input device - the only problem i can see with it right now is not being able to press the stop button while recording - as you mentioned. but there are several other programs which have the same "problem" and they just display a "press esc. to stop recording". if there is some "workaround" which can enable the mouse as input, please let me know.

btw: i had a very tough time with the videotutorials and the manual. here is why:
i specifically watched the spline speed controller tutorial....
please let me mention before i begin that i do not want to sound like complaining, eventhough it might sound so ; )
- the tutorial is 20 minutes long. this is an extremely long amount of time compared to the information which is delivered.
- the tutorial assumes a certain amount of knowledge about CDS. although i understand that it might be boring for you to repeat the basics over and over again for each tutorial i guess that most people that find the movies on the net want to try a specific "module" of the plugin and do not want to watch all the other 40 or so tutorials where they maybe will fetch some of the other required info which seems to be assumed as common knowledge when you record a new tutorial.
- i repeadtedly got confused by the jumping from one topic to another and then back again...
- the tutorial seemed to be "upside down".... for example some details were explained quite at the beginning whereas the creation of waypoints (one of the first things to do for someone who wants to start with the plugin) is mentioned the first time about 90% into the tutorial - almost at the end.
to be honest i also was kinda confused by the manual and the input parameters were quite unintuitive. especially the values where i did not know what would be the max and the min value since in the beginning it is a guessing game.
is there a "basics" tutorial which i might have missed?
if not, it might be a good idea to record one for each specific software... like max, maya etc.
for the tutorials itself, i think it would be a great idea to use a few scenes of your demoreel and provide a before/after scene for download and a movie which shows as fast and tight as possible how EVERYTHING was done - if i dont get a point i will always rewind but if something is repeated or stretched too long i cannot forward since i am afraid to miss something - . anyhow. i noticed that the tutorials all seem to be recorde in one take. maybe editing them or using a prog like camtasia would make it easier.
anyhow.... after crunching through the whole thing and spending a few hours with guessing and searching i have to say that spline speed controller is quite simple ; ) and i thiink that a straight to the point 7-10 minute tutorial would have been enough to show the complete creation of the scene which was used in the tutorial, but instead of startign right in the middle showing the whole creation of the scene from scratch. this way the viewer can follow alot easier and know what is actually going on.
sorry if this sounded just like alot of complainig.... but as i mentioned earlier it's not meant this way - it took me quite some time to write this and i did it just in hope that these line might be some help to see everything from the perspective of a first time viewer.

thank you for reading ; )

[Micael Belin]

Hi Nibor,

Thank you so much for your feedback. It's a really thorough report you've written and i really appreciate your effort.

To begin with the mouse issue; The closest thing we have support for similar to the mouse is the support for wacom tablets. With the tablet you can get a very similar movement as with the mouse.
I quite agree your proposed solution with the mouse would be the most easiest one. However, even though the mouse gives you a great control (yes, i really don't like console gamepads either =) it does not produce a very good recording. For scouting your scene it's great, but for recording cameras and such, it's better with smooth movements.

Of course, i'm really not the one to tell how our customer wishes to use our tools, but we decided early on it was not worth the effort. However if we receive further requests for mouse support, of course we will listen.


Regarding the tutorials; Yes the SSC tutorial is quite advanced. We have such a vast collection of tools today it's simply too hard to make tutorials for each and every one of them. So we have tried to compensate with making some tutorials easy and generic, while other tutorials are very advanced. the SSC itself is very complex and therefore we used it as a base for one of the more advanced tutorials. If you check the other products i hope you will be able to understand the foundation of Craft Director Studio, and can then move on to the more advanced tutorials.

If you think the tutorials are too hard to follow and is poor following "the red line", it's quite a good measurement we have failed trying to deliver our message, and we will keep your feedback in mind on future tutorials. Again, i really appreciate your feedback and we will definately listen to it.

[Nibor]

once again.... thank you for the answer.

I guess will have no choice but going out and get a gamepad then ; )

[Patrik Martin]

once again.... thank you for the answer.

I guess will have no choice but going out and get a gamepad then ; )

I like the use the 3d Connexion mouse for my ObserverCam animations. It is a bit tricky at first but after a while you will get the hang of it.