Advanced Character Placement

 Spot Placement Overview

 Helpful Videos

 

Spot placement allows the director to determine the exact position and size (scale) of a character on-screen. A helpful feature, aptly named the “Spot Helper,” lets us to drag a character to a spot, resize him accordingly and see the exact coordinates and scale to enter into Donacode.

IMPORTANT

Given their depth and perspective, some backgrounds do not make sense to have people standing in the background of, so you will need to play through your game and make sure this looks okay.

 

Helpful note: a character’s “default scale” is 1.280%

 

Spot Placement Syntax:

@CHARACTER spot % X Y in zone #

 Example:

@ANGIE spot .5 50 -250 in zone 3

 

SCALE: is a decimal number from 0 to 2 (e.g. 1.5 or 0.4) that determines how much larger or smaller your character should be. The default scale of our characters, when they are in basic screen positions, is 1.280.

 X: is the number of pixels from the left that a character stands. As we learned in Section 1.5, backgrounds are broken down into zones. When spot directing, any number between 0 and 360 will place a character on screen, but any number is valid. For example, you could spot direct a character at an X value of 450 in zone 1, but that would just mean that the character is over in zone 2.

Y: is the number that indicates how high up on the screen a character will be placed. The default Y axis of our characters, when they are in basic screen positions, is 0. However, as you can place them as high up as you’d like. However, note that the Y and scale are linked, so that if you place a character higher up on screen (a higher Y value), you’ll like need to reduce your scale to a smaller value, to create appropriate depth and perspective. As you can see from the image in Section 1.5, a character can technically be placed at a Y value of between 0 and 568, but you’ll notice that as you move characters higher up on screen, they will start to get cut off, especially depending on their scale.

 

The Spot Helper

 

Helpful Video

 The Spot Helper works just like the Zoom Helper to generate the X, Y and % values of your character position. The toggle button “Switch tool: Move/Scale” lets you adjust the X,Y coordinates and size (scale) of character, respectively.

 

In the example above, the spot direction syntax in Donacode would be this:

@JOHN spot 1.280 200 0 in zone 2

 

Layers

 As we place characters at different depths on screen, it’s important to make sure that people in the background aren’t walking “on top of” people in the foreground. Layers are assigned to characters with very simple Donacode. There are two ways of directing a character to a certain layer.

 

Layer Syntax:

@CHARACTER spot % X Y in zone # at layer X

OR

@CHARACTER moves to layer X

 

Layer 0 is closest to the background. The higher the layer number, the closer a character is to the foreground. So a character in layer 0 will be BEHIND a character in layer 1 (or 2, or 3, etc.).

 Compare the 2 examples below…

 Open the story “Advanced Directing Guide”

 

Then tap the button “Layers”

 

 

To follow along in the script, open:

http://episodeinteractive.com/write/story/Advanced_Directing_Examples/1

Then jump to “label twotwo” using CTRL + F or CMD + F after tapping into the script editor. You can view the examples by tapping at the line you want to view, and pressing “Preview” button in the upper right hand corner to view the differences.

Example A: In this shot, Marie is at layer 1 and John is at layer 0, so Marie stands in front of John.

Example B: In this shot, Marie is at layer 0 and John is at layer 1, so Marie stands behind John.

 

 

Entering, Exiting and Spot Placement

Helpful Videos

 

When placing a character at a size smaller than default (1.280%), the commands @CHARACTER enters and @CHARACTER exits create an undesirable visual effect. This is because the commands @CHARACTER exits / enters expand characters to 1.280% scale and move them down the Y-axis to the default of 0 as they walk on- and off-screen.

 

To make a character exit at the same scale and along the same Y-axis as their spot position, they must walk to to a position off-screen with the same scale and Y-axis value.

 

Walking to a Spot Syntax:

@CHARACTER spot % X Y in zone # at layer X

@CHARACTER walks to spot % X Y in S

 

Note: CHARACTER’s % and Y values stay the same

 Let’s contextualize this difference with a few examples…

 Open the story “Advanced Directing Guide” and click button “Walking and Spot Placement” to see the 2 examples below staged in the app.

 

 

To follow along in the script, open:

http://episodeinteractive.com/write/story/Advanced_Directing_Examples/1

Then jump to “label twothree” using CTRL + F or CMD + F after tapping into the script editor. You can view the examples by tapping at the line you want to view, and pressing “Preview” button in the upper right hand corner to view the differences.

 

Example A: John is at a scale smaller than 1.280% and walks off-screen using an @CHARACTER exits right command. John’s scale expands to 1.280% and John moves down-screen to the Y axis coordinate of 0 as he exits.

 

Example B: John is at a smaller scale than 1.280% and walks off-screen to a spot position at the same scale and Y-axis using a @JOHN walks to spot .8 360 200 in 2.5 command.

 

IMPORTANT

To have a character start off-screen and exit left/right (walk across the screen from one side and exit to the other), you have to set the X-value at -100 or more or 420 or more. This is because of the X coordinates of a single zone being between 0 and 320 (refer back to Zooms: Movement and Composition, under Shots Composition). If you don’t want the character to show, 100 pixels is the necessary amount of space to place the character off-screen. However, you’ll notice that this also depends on the size of your character. If the character is at 1.5% in scale, he’ll have to be placed further off screen. If the character is at 0.8%, he may need to be placed as far off screen. This will be something you just have to play around with.

 

Also, the speed at which a character walks to a spot to enter/exit may need to be adjusted. The S-value (seconds) determines the speed at which a character walks between two points. Setting a correct S-value is crucial to creative natural-looking walks. Each spot/scale calls for a unique S-value, so experiment with different speeds until you find one that looks right.

 

Finally, it’s not inherently bad to use the @CHARACTER exits command (rather than walking to a specific spot to keep them at the same scale and Y-axis). Sometimes you’ll find that it provides nice depth to have a character expand to that 1.280% scale and move down-screen to the Y axis of 0 as the character exits.

 

 

 

Walking to a Rear Spot

 To make characters walk_rear to a certain spot and then face the correct way once they get to the spot, the ordering of commands is important (this command is particularly finicky). The direction that the character faces must be the 2nd command in the sequence of 3 to face the right way while walking in walk_rear. Also, “does it while walk_rear” (as opposed to “is walk_rear”) allows the character to face the right way once they get to the spot. Finally, you’ll likely have to indicate the time in seconds that it should take for the character to walk to the spot; otherwise, the character may walk unnaturally quickly to the spot.

 

Walking to a Rear Spot Syntax:

@CHARACTER spot % X Y in zone #

@CHARACTER walks to spot % X Y in S AND CHARACTER faces left / right AND CHARACTER does it while walk_rear

 

Let’s look at 2 examples, one being how this should be done, and the other being what happens when the commands are in the wrong order...

 Open the story “Advanced Directing Guide” and click button “Walking to a Rear Spot” to see the 2 examples below staged in the app.

 

 To follow along in the script, open:

http://episodeinteractive.com/write/story/Advanced_Directing_Examples/1

Then jump to “label twofour” using CTRL + F or CMD + F after tapping into the script editor. You can view the examples by tapping at the line you want to view, and pressing “Preview” button in the upper right hand corner to view the differences.

 

Example A: This is the right way to do a walk_rear command. John walks rear to the spot and, upon getting there, immediately turns the correct way and goes into idle.

 Example B: This is the wrong way to do a walk_rear command. John walks rear to the spot but is facing the wrong way as he does so. Also, if the command is ordered incorrectly, upon getting to the spot, a character may flip the wrong way first before facing the right way, which appears as a quick “skip” or glitch in the app.