Battle Recording Attempt

[simon211]

I've been trying to do some experiments with battle recording.  Let me know i you guys have any better ideas.  Ideally, I'm looking for better ways to center the image.  

 

[simon211]

Ideally, I could use a fixed central camera with one button push and these would be a lot easier.  Currently, I have to align with a map feature and zoom out exactly four mouse wheels from view '7'.  I can't fix x or y.  Just z if the map is flat.   

[sburke]

It might help first if you explain the concept you are going for.  Most players want to see more of the low level action rather than something that looks like an RTS board game view.  All depends on what your objective is with the recording.

[simon211]

My objective is to record a full battle from the top.  I had a few ideas that might help with this.  The best idea, obviously, would be a single button push or console command that positions the camera at a standard x,y,z position.  I don't know why this doesn't exist.

I also had an idea for an alignment box.  Basically, an overlay, so I could align the edges of the map with it.  My friend built one that works in many games, but it doesn't work with CM due to OpenGL.  What I want it something like this so I can align the edges perfectly each time.   

http://imgur.com/a/mts7Z

The video I posted shows my best attempt at recording a battle from the top down.  You will notice a lot of movement.  I did my best to align properly every time and I did some post processing.  It's very hard to get a proper alignment.  Hopefully, people can help me with something I haven't thought of or we can get such a hotkey added.

Until a 'movie' function is added to the game this is really the best idea to look back at your past turns or show big maneuvers.   

Edited May 18, 2017 by simon211

[Combatintman]

While still fiddly because it is not perfect, find a unit that is facing due North at the end of the turn. Lock the camera to it and then zoom out to the extreme overhead view using the 9 key. Once you've done that you can zoom in and nudge up or down using the W and S keys and left to right using the A and D keys. Once you've got the position right, rewind the turn and record. The problem here is that you can never going to guarantee that you will have exactly the same camera position each turn but at least it will be aligned due North.

I suppose a way to guarantee the same position would be to place a unit which has no influence on the battle (such as a destroyed vehicle) in the editor at your desired camera spot and face it due North but it might look a bit odd on some maps.

[simon211]

That's kind of ideas I'm looking for.