Auto-Cam Pro Manual
Auto-Cam Pro - As easy as A-C-P!
Thank you for purchasing Auto-Cam Pro from Random Labs!
*** New to v2 - ACP can now track other avatars and objects, letting you concentrate on settings while your actor / alt walks the scene!
ACP is an essential time saving tool designed to aid you in creating machinima, filming events in SL or just for adding a cinematic feel to your role play and exploration. It can automatically find unobstructed camera positions as you move through a scene, keeping your avatar in shot at all times with no scene-specific setup needed at all! It also runs in no-script areas and is very low lag, averaging only 0.03ms when active, so you can use it anywhere in SL with minimum impact on the region.
As you move around in Second Life, the ACP HUD checks 16 camera positions surrounding your avatar, selecting those that have a clear, unobstructed view. As soon as your avatar moves out of one shot, it will select a new unobstructed view automatically. This will work even if you move inside a building, where the HUD will find a clear shoot from within the walls. The results look like carefully planned and edited shots as you move around, but gives you the freedom to improvise where you go and get a lot achieved in a single take with minimal editing required! It's especially useful when filming events or exhibitions at locations where you might not have the freedom or time for elaborate scene setups.
Getting Started
First of all... If you want the really quick start... click the help button top right of the HUD, it should provide a lot of info to get you started. If you want to know everything else I couldn't fit on the help images, please read on :)
To get straight into it, find the HUD in your inventory (under a folder called "Auto Cam Pro"), right click it, and select "Wear". In the same folder you will also find 6 gestures. These gestures must be activated for full functionality and will allow you to use 1 to 6 on your keyboard to change camera groups and HUD modes. To activate the gestures, select them in your inventory, right click, and select "Activate". Please note, the gestures only work when your HUD is active.
You're now ready to go and can click the help button on the HUD to learn a lot of what follows in these instructions :)
Using the HUD
From the 16 available angles you can assign primary, secondary, tertiary and backup angles. If a primary angle is not available the HUD will choose a secondary angle; If a secondary angle is also not available, the HUD will chose a tertiary angle and so on. In the highly unlikely event that there are no available camera angles the HUD will clear the camera for a normal, behind the avatar view. You can also manually switch between primary, secondary tertiary and backup angles at any time by pressing 1, 2, 3 or 4 respectively (you must activate the provided gestures for this functionality).
To change individual camera angle groups, simply click on the dots on the HUD. As you click they will change from green (primary) to amber (secondary) to red (tertiary) to grey (backup). There are also shortcut bars top, bottom, left and right on the HUD that allow you set set all forward, back, left or right camera groups simultaneously.
*** New to v2 - Targeting
ACP can now be used to target other avatars and even objects. Bottom left of the hud is the Target button. Clicking it once will prompt you to enter mouselook, aim at the target you want to track, then click 'Page Down' or 'C'. The hud should read out the name of the target you were aiming at and ask you to confirm by pressing 'Page Up' or 'E'. Once you confirm your target, the button will turn green. If you are in a build enabled area a swirly green ring should appear around your avatar, this is the ACP Follower, and you're supposed to sit on it :) Once you activate the HUD your avatar will become invisible and the follower will begin tracking your target, just as it would normally track your own av. You will actually be floating just above the target, meaning no matter where they go they will always be in your draw distance. Now you can concentrate on selecting camera groups as your actor / alt walks around the scene.
* NOTE * - In the event you are using ACP in a non-build area it will use a backup method to track the target. You will follow the target floating just behind them, meaning sometimes the focus will be a little off-center. In most cases it works very well, but your avatar is still physical and so there is a chance you could get caught on objects in the scene or even bump into the target if they change direction rapidly. This is why the Sit follower device is better if available, but a backup was included so you can still use ACP anywhere in SL!
* NOTE 2 * - I've allowed the targeting system to also target objects. This could have varying results depending on the shape / size of the object, but anything of a reasonable size should work fine. Keep in mind, if tracking a vehicle for example, it's forward axis may not be the same as an avatar, so your forward camera group might actually point from another direction. If tracking large objects also be sure to increase the min range under settings to fit the whole thing in frame.
*** New to v2 - ACP Follower
Once sat on the follower you will find it is also a fully functional NPV (Non-Physical Vehicle - The same one I use in my Dark Force HUD). It allows you to move around SL as you normally would; You can walk, run, jump fall and fly with the added bonus that you are protected from physical attacks and can walk through objects (walking forward will react to objects as normal, but side step or walk backwards and you'll go straight through them). To fly, hold 'Page Up' / 'E' a few moments as usual, or double tap 'Page Up' / 'E'. To stop flying, double tap 'Page Down' / 'C' or just fly down and land on a surface as usual.
Phantom Check
Top left of the HUD are 2 round buttons; The one that looks like a little ghost is the 'Phantom Check' button. When enabled, "Phantom Check" will consider phantom objects as objects that obscure the view of your avatar. In some locations there may be phantom objects (such as long grass) that trigger unwanted camera changes and in those cases you may want to disable phantom check. On the other hand, you could also set up invisible phantom objects throughout a scene in order to trigger camera changes when you reach certain positions. You can toggle this button during filming by pressing '6' (you must activate the included gestures for this functionality).
Panning and Fixed Focus
Also top left is the 'Panning' button. With panning enabled, the camera focus will follow your avatar at all times. The camera will change when you move behind an object or out of the defined "Dist Change" range (see 'HUD Settings' below). With panning disabled, the camera focus will be fixed and the camera will also change when you move out of shot past the edges of the screen. You can toggle this button during filming by pressing '5' (you must activate the included gestures for this functionality).
HUD Settings
In the top right of the HUD is a settings button. Clicking this will pop-up a settings menu with 5 options...
Min range - This controls the minimum distance you want the camera to be positioned from your avatar.
Max Range - Controls the maximum distance for the camera position from your avatar.
Dist Change - When your avatar exceeds this distance from the camera position while still in shot, a new angle will be selected.
Height Offset - Change the camera positions to be above or below your avatar.
Focus Lag - Controls the speed the camera will pan to keep up with your moving avatar when panning is enabled.
If the text for each option is misaligned, 2 arrows on the right side of the settings window can adjust it.
Help Button
Also top right of the HUD you will find a help button. This will display information for all the buttons and extended info for individual button as you press them.
Minimise
Bottom left of the HUD is a minimise button allowing you to get the majority of the HUD out of the way. If you want to completely hide the HUD during recording you can use the alt-shift-h shortcut to hide all huds from your screen.
I hope you enjoy the HUD and find it useful! Any problems or questions, please contact Tryptofaa Sands.