A vcam tutorial?

[MrBibz]

I've been looking through the ng forums and on google for a good vcam site. So far I've found some stuff about the vcam, but have yet to find a tutorial. It seems like this would be a really useful for novice animators like myself. I've noticed that a lot of people keep posting individual issues they're having... Woops, looks like I'm one of them now.

Anyway, I don't know if this has been brought up already, but here's myproblem with the reanimator vcam:
The perspective still is shown through the traditional stage and the vcam is treated like any other symbol. Whenever I go to test a scene I get this message...

**Error** Symbol=new Camera, layer=script, frame=1:Line 6: The class or interface 'flash.geom.Transform' could not be loaded.
var reanimator = new Transform(this);

**Error** Symbol=new Camera, layer=script, frame=1:Line 7: The class or interface 'flash.geom.Transform' could not be loaded.
var camera = new Transform(this._parent);

**Error** Symbol=new Camera, layer=script, frame=1:Line 13: The class or interface 'flash.geom.Matrix' could not be loaded.
var stageMatrix:Matrix = reanimator.matrix;

Any answers, or tutorials?

[S-S-X]

Heres a nice tut if thats what you are looking for...

http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic.php?id=40 8210

plus it has a .fla with it.

[MrBibz]

Thanks, but that isn't really what I was looking for. I already have the reanimator vcam up and running in flash 8 and it worked perfectly the first time I tried it. However, now it just brings up the error message I mentioned before. Maybe I'll try Sham's vcam instead and see if it works any better.

What I really was looking for was a tutorial on how to use the vcam to its full potential. In Sham Bhangal's article,
he writes about the different experiments he and Adam Phillips have done. Take this for example.
It looks like there are some different features to the vcam that seem very useful. I think an official tutorial or a thread dedicated specificly to the vcam would be helpful.

[MrBibz]

Anyone?

[Luis]

At 2/19/07 11:50 AM, MrBibz wrote: It looks like there are some different features to the vcam that seem very useful. I think an official tutorial or a thread dedicated specificly to the vcam would be helpful.

Theres different features but i definately would not recommend them if you are a novice because the code in the v-cam is pretty hairy even for someone seasoned.

The example you showed isnt really anything unreasonably hard the camera just takes the movie stage and moves it to wherever the cams boundaries cover meaning you can squish and bend the camera to give different looks. I noticed that Adam used to do that in his earlier movies, where by simply squishing the cam the landscape seemed to change as if the camera was literally tilting but its just an illusion.

-L

[MrBibz]

OK. I guess I'll just stick with trying to get the vcam to work (I'm still getting that error) and then I'll experiment with the dimensions of the camera. I really need to figure out why I'm getting the error I posted at the top of the thread.

Thanks for the response.

[SirSeraphdeFallen]

i got the same error and i have looked high and low on how to fix it. i went to the sham site and got the original vcam form there tested and it didnt work either. the vcam worked in flash mx and i did a new one for flash 8 but still it is a no go. every post on newgrounds points to the waterfall fla and it is of course no good either, it works in that damn fla but not in mine.

[Matt-Porter]

i've been searching alot too and this is what i found, it works perfect for me and its in flash MX (not 2004) hope it helps.

function camControl() {
parentColor.setTransform(camColor.getTransfor m());
var scaleX = sX/this._width;
var scaleY = sY/this._height;
_parent._x = cX-(this._x*scaleX);
_parent._y = cY-(this._y*scaleY);
_parent._xscale = 100*scaleX;
_parent._yscale = 100*scaleY;
}
function resetStage() {
var resetTrans = {ra:100, rb:0, ga:100, gb:0, ba:100, bb:0, aa:100, ab:0};
parentColor.setTransform(resetTrans);
_parent._xscale = 100;
_parent._yscale = 100;
_parent._x = 0;
_parent._y = 0;
}
// make frame invisible
this._visible = false;
// Capture stage parameters
var oldMode = Stage.scaleMode;
Stage.scaleMode = "exactFit";
var cX = Stage.width/2;
var cY = Stage.height/2;
var sX = Stage.width;
var sY = Stage.height;
Stage.scaleMode = oldMode;
// create color instances for color
// transforms (if any).
var camColor = new Color(this);
var parentColor = new Color(_parent);
// Make the stage move so that the
// v-cam is centered on the
// viewport every frame
this.onEnterFrame = camControl;
// Make an explicit call to the camControl
// function to make sure it also runs on the
// first frame.
camControl();
// If the v-cam is ever removed (unloaded)
// the stage, return the stage to the default
// settings.
this.onUnload = resetStage;

[MrBibz]

At 2/23/07 02:05 AM, SirSeraphdeFallen wrote: i got the same error and i have looked high and low on how to fix it. i went to the sham site and got the original vcam form there tested and it didnt work either. the vcam worked in flash mx and i did a new one for flash 8 but still it is a no go.

Looks like we're in the same boat then. I have flash 8 pro. and I definately prefer it over mx. However, I've never tested the vcam in mx. Do you think saving a file made in flash 8 as an mx file would work?

I'll just keep trying any other suggestions I find.

[MrBibz]

I hope I'm not speaking too soon, but I think I got it to work. I decided just to download the .fla of the river demo and moved Sham's camera into my project. It's been working great! Lets just hope it stays that way.

[SirSeraphdeFallen]

i am still having the vcam problem. even though i got the camera from the link everyone insists on saying works. i get the same error every time. i even constructed a new vcam with the instructions from a tutorial i had. i tested it in a new flash document just panning it across and jpeg and what not with no problem. i then copied it to my flash i am making now and i again got the same damn error. BTW i am doing all of this in flash 8 pro. i dont know what is going on but i have not been able to use the vcam in my new project yet. i have been tweening everything to make the zoom effect so far but it just doesnt seem to look the same.

if anyone can help me fix it, whithout telling me to go get the vcam from that site that has the woods with the waterfall in it i would love the help. i have tried that vcam as well and it does not work in my flash document either.

i would hate to have to start a restructure in a new flash document now either, my current ton is 24 scenes and i dont think i would be able to transfer all that to a new document with out screwing it all up.