Re: MagiCam Plugin - v1.43 BETA(Updated 12/10)

It's finally here, the successor to the Advanced Camera plugin: MagiCam!

MagiCam Plugin - v1.43b

Download Now(with examples) - 156KB

Main features -

• Create an unlimited amount of cameras which you can switch between on the fly, either instantaneously or in a smooth motion.
• Create camera transitions between different points, angles, and zoom levels.
• Follow an unlimited number of objects -- each with their own offset options -- using a weighted average to determine which objects have more influence over the camera.
• Easily create customized camera shakes using a single action.
• Setup grid scrolling in the same vein as games such as MegaMan and Metroid.
• Optional zoom to fit system keeps followed objects in the view at all times, great for fighting games.
• Lock cameras to integer positions to ensure that retro-style games stay crisp.
• Uses cosine interpolation to ensure smooth camera transitions.

Differences from Advanced Camera -

• The biggest change is that using Construct's "Quicksave/Quickload" actions now allows the cameras to be saved and loaded as well. This could still potentially have some problems, but I'm feeling pretty confident about it.
• Grid scrolling is now much more advanced and customizable. The camera can now pause before and after switching to a new grid area. It will also align to fit within the area that is being switched to before switching, instead of moving diagonally into it. Area masks can also be applied to grid areas to create different shaped areas, however, this is still a work in progress and has to have some kinks worked out.
• Debugging projects is no longer messed up with the plugin present. I can't for the life of me what was wrong before, but it's working no, so I'm not to torn up about it.
• Due to the ability to follow an unlimited number of objects, there are no longer separate actions for following one or two actions. Instead, objects are added to a list of objects to follow using the "Add object" action. The "Setup following" action is then used to enable and setup object following.
• "Bind to layout" and "Use integer position" are no longer object properties. The former is instead specified on camera creation and the latter can be activated through an action. This allows the two to not only be editable at runtime, but also to be applied on a per camera basis.

So overall, it's a much more capable and, hopefully, stable product. I completely scrapped what I had and reprogrammed the whole thing in a much more modular fashion. This makes it far easier to add features and fix bugs, not to mention fixed most of the little quirks that existed in the old plugin.

Speaking of which, if you run across any bugs, tell me! And please, be as specific as possible when you report the bug and provide a CAP file if possible. For an example of how specific you should be, If you quicksave, quickload, then quicksave again and the game crashes, the order of those actions is incredibly important and could mean the difference between a fixed bug and an unfixed bug.

Anyways, try it out and be sure to let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Thank you, great work

definitely gonna have to try this, i was always hesitant in trying to use the old camera plugin because i knew you were relatively inexperienced when you made it and didn't want to have to rely on a potentially buggy plugin for all my camera stuff, but now all thats changed and this sounds really awesome.

This sounds great! Going to try it now .

Best plugin ever. EVER. Thanks man!

As good as Advanced Cam was, this sure sounds a hell lot better. Will be trying it soon. Thx for all your hard work linkman!

Hey, Linkman. Is there an equivalent to "force grid area?" That was a very useful feature.

Thanks for all the comments, guys. I'm glad you're liking it!

Hey, Linkman. Is there an equivalent to "force grid area?" That was a very useful feature.

Not by name, but using the "Toggle grid scrolling" action to enable grid scrolling achieves the same effect.

I haven't used it yet and I don't know if I will (now programming with pygame and starting C++) but it's great to hear that you eradicated the bugs which plagued the predecessor. It was near-perfect for me, except for that one bug.

Great job!

There seems to be a problem with the Motion-Zoom or Motion-Rotate. When ever I try one it stops following the object and doesn't zoom/rotate.

I have when tab pressed Zoom to 50/50 and the camera stays where it is and doesn't zoom.

holy shit man! this is awesome!

Approved by The Drunken Seagull

<img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/904641/Uusi%20kansio/approved.PNG">

Thanks again for the comments, guys! I'm glad you're enjoying it.

There seems to be a problem with the Motion-Zoom or Motion-Rotate. When ever I try one it stops following the object and doesn't zoom/rotate.

I have when tab pressed Zoom to 50/50 and the camera stays where it is and doesn't zoom.

Blah, this was due to silliness on my part. Here's a new version to rectify the issue:

MagiCam Plugin - v1.0.1b

Download Now(with example) - 143KB

Additions/Fixes/Changes:

[FIX] - Using a camera transition while following was enabled would result in following stopping and the transition not playing.

[CHANGE] - When grid scrolling, the zoom level of the camera will clamp to a point where space outside of the current grid area is never visible. Same goes for "Bind to layout".

As usual, let me know if you find any bugs.

[CHANGE] - When grid scrolling, the zoom level of the camera will clamp to a point where space outside of the current grid area is never visible. Same goes for "Bind to layout".

Beyond awesome!

Wuv u !

I'm very impressed by your work, nicely done!

A feature that would be awesome would be if I could retrieve the X/Y SPEED of a camera.

I know I could event it out but it would streamline it alot!