Multimedia artist and British educator Angrybeth Shortbread just created a very useful system that simulates a multi-camera setup, similar to the kind used for covering live TV events. It comes with a set of movable target and camera points that you can position as desired. When you're ready, you sit on the camera object, and then toggle between the other camera angles with your keyboard arrows. "Simply build your set design or interview stage," she writes, "and drop this tool over the top of it." It's a powerful utility for a single person to record machinima of an event from multiple angles. Read more about it on Ms. Shortbread's blog; to get a first-hand demo in-world, here's a direct SLURL teleport link.
Update, 4:40pm: Angrybeth just IMed to tell me the version above is only a prototype, but she's creating a final version with eight camera points she'll sell soon.
Not quite 'just' Hamlet! - As far as I am aware Angrybeth created this nearly 3 years ago and it was installed at the Port back in late 05?! Quite a few of us started to use it for simple studio setups back in early 2006 (now it is relatively easy to custom script cam views of course) - but she was/is way ahead of the curve :) Angrybeth will know more detail...
Posted by: Gary Hayes | Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 04:55 PM
It's an upgrade of her old system, Gary.
Posted by: Hamlet Au | Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 05:34 PM
Mmmmmm. Yum! I want it.
Posted by: Bettina Tizzy | Friday, September 26, 2008 at 11:41 AM
well i am very glad you "just" blogged about it! the tool i use, Filming Path got dinked with server updates and is currently not usable (although the guys that made it are working on it)
so thanks for putting up this post just at the same time i needed to find it :)
btw, i am loving your book! =)
Posted by: Ener Hax | Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 09:31 PM