Synopses & Reviews
Today's game audiences expect Hollywood-quality cinematography. But to produce this quality in games, programmers need to understand the traditional film principles of lighting, camera positioning, and motion. Unlike movies, games provide non-linear, interactive storytelling, so to use film and T.V. techniques effectively, the techniques need to be modified for games. Real-Time Cinematography for Games provides this translation by teaching programmers and artists how to incorporate tried-and-true filmmaking techniques into their games. Beginning with an overview of filmmaking and cinematography basics, the book teaches how to tell a compelling story using camera placement based on character and environment. It explains how to handle a camera for panning, zooming, and cradle movement, and it details how to program these techniques into your games through code examples. From there, camera lenses and methods for achieving a variety of effects with software cameras are explored. Hands-on examples illustrate the importance of good lighting and how to handle transitions to new lighting arrangements. The next part of the book covers the essential areas of filters, sound effects, interactive music, movement, and dialog, including coverage of current voice recognition technology. The book wraps up with coverage of directing essentials. Programmers will find the entire book extremely useful, and designers and artists will find the large amount of creative uses of filmmaking techniques invaluable. Every chapter is written with two major parts: creative and technical. The creative section looks into the techniques and practices of the film industry and teaches how artists and designers can use these techniques in games. The technical sections then explain how to implement these techniques into games through practical code and equations. The technical sections require knowledge of basic programming and computer graphics concepts. This is the one resource programm
Synopsis
Today 's television and movie productions are produced using the highest quality computer graphics available, and computer game audiences have come to expect the same quality.To achieve this cinematographic quality, programmers need to understand the principles of lighting, camera positioning, and motion. Real-Time Cinematography for Interactive Entertainment teaches programmers and artists how to incorporate tried-and-true filmmaking techniques into their games. The book begins with an overview filmmaking and cinematography basics and explains how to apply them to games. It details how to place cameras based on the character and environment, explains how to handle a camera for panning, zooming, and cradle movement, and details how to program these techniques into the their games using C++examples. The book then explores the camera lens and how to achieve a variety of effects with software cameras. Hands-on examples illustrate the importance of good lighting and how to handle transitions to new lightingarrangements.The last part of the book covers the essential areas of filters, sound effects, interactive music, movement, and dialog, including coverage of current voice recognition technology. This is the one resource programmers and artists need to ensure that they are producing the quality effects and graphics that will keep their players coming back for more!
Synopsis
This book teaches programmers and artists how to incorporate tried-and-true filmmaking techniques into their games. Topics covered include the essential areas of camera movement, programming techniques using C++, filters, lighting, sound effects, interactive music, movement, and dialog, and voice recognition technology.
About the Author
Brian Hawkins (Los Angeles, CA) began his career doing research at JustSystem Pittsburgh Research Center where he focused on scripted character animation using natural language. He worked at Activision as the game core lead on Star Trek: Armada and contributed to Civilization: Call to Power and Call to Power 2. He also worked for Seven Studios as lead programmer on Defender and now operates his own development company, Soma Inc. He holds a BS in mathematics and computer science from Carnegie Mellon University and is the author of Preventative Programming Techniques.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Introduction x 1 Cinematography: Position 2 Cinematography: Motion 3 Acting: Hitting the Mark 4 Cinematography: Lenses 5 Lighting: Reality versus Hollywood 6 Editing: Filters and Effects 7 Editing: Transition 8 Editing: Selection 9 Acting: Dialogue 10 Foley Artist: Sound Effects 11 Composing: Making Music 12 Directing: Bringing It All Together 13 Coming Soon Appendix A: About the Companion Web Site Appendix B: References Index