Cinematic

Every camera move is a shot: a start pose, an end pose, a duration and an easing curve. Cuts between places always hide behind a fade. Black bars slide in while a sequence plays and stay thin at rest.

What players see

Moment	Shot	Config
Join	Black, then a fade in on a high establishing shot. A 6 to 8 s descent onto the lineup while the title card shows. Enter or Escape skips.	`intro`, `title`
Hover	A 650 ms glide to the character, at chest height.	`focus`
Select	The character waves while the camera pushes in. Bars to full, fade out.	`select`
Create	A glide to a full-body shot of the new character.	`create`
Spawn picker	A cut to each hovered place, slowly orbiting overhead.	`flyover`
Spawn	A dive from the orbit toward the destination, a fade, then a shot behind the player that eases into the game camera.	`dive`, `arrival`
Back to the selection	A short pull back onto the lineup.	`reopen`

The default scene is the terrace of the Galileo Observatory at dusk, the city behind the characters. The camera, fades, bars, timecycle and HUD are always restored when the scene closes, also after an error or when the resource stops.

Tuning each moment

Every moment is a table in cinematic. Set only the keys you change: tables merge per key.

config.lua

cinematic = {
    focus = { fov = 34.0 },                -- a tighter hover
    select = { animation = false },        -- no wave
    flyover = { radius = 80.0, speed = 3.0 },
    arrival = { hold = 800 },
},

Key	Fields	Default
`focus`	`duration`, `distance`, `height`, `fov`, `ease`	650 ms, 2.4 m, 0.75 m, 38, `'inOut'`
`select`	`duration`, `distance`, `fov`, `ease`, `animation`	1600 ms, 1.45 m, 32, `'out'`, a wave
`create`	`duration`, `distance`, `height`, `fov`, `ease`	900 ms, 3.6 m, 0.15 m, 42, `'inOut'`
`flyover`	`radius`, `height`, `speed` (degrees per second), `fov`, `fade` (ms between places)	55 m, 38 m, 6, 50, 250
`dive`	`duration`, `distance` (behind the destination), `height`, `fov`, `ease`	2400 ms, 7 m, 2.5 m, 45, `'in'`
`arrival`	`distance`, `height`, `fov`, `hold` (ms on the shot), `handover` (ms to the game camera)	3.2 m, 1.3 m, 50, 1400, 1500

distance is in front of the character for focus, select and create, behind the player for dive and arrival. height is above the feet. select.animation is { dict, name } or false. The title card waits titleDelay ms after the intro starts, then stays titleDuration ms.

Your own intro

cinematic.intro takes a list of shots instead of true. cinematic.reopen works the same for the short shot played when a player comes back to the selection: true builds it, a list replaces it, false fades straight onto the lineup.

config.lua

cinematic = {
    intro = {
        {
            from = { coords = vector3(-430.0, 1180.0, 420.0), rotation = vector3(-20.0, 0.0, 175.0), fov = 60.0 },
            to = { coords = vector3(-434.0, 1130.0, 385.0), rotation = vector3(-16.0, 0.0, 178.0), fov = 55.0 },
            duration = 4000,
            ease = 'out',
            fadeIn = true,
            letterbox = true,
        },
        {
            from = { coords = vector3(-437.0, 1100.0, 362.0), rotation = vector3(-10.0, 0.0, 179.0), fov = 50.0 },
            to = { coords = vector3(-438.8, 1081.2, 353.3), rotation = vector3(-5.0, 0.0, 180.0), fov = 45.0 },
            duration = 3000,
            ease = 'inOut',
            letterbox = false,
        },
    },
},

Field	Purpose
`from`, `to`	Poses: `coords`, `rotation` as `vector3(pitch, roll, heading)` in degrees, `fov` 10 to 120.
`duration`	Ms, 100 to 60000.
`ease`	`'linear'`, `'in'`, `'out'` or `'inOut'` (default).
`fadeIn`	Fade in from black as the shot starts. Use it on the first shot.
`fadeOut`	Fade to black as the shot ends.
`letterbox`	`true` slides the bars to full for this shot, `false` back to thin.

Two shots in a row whose poses do not meet are a cut. End the last shot on your scene.camera, so the selection starts where the intro stops.

To find a pose, fly a free camera (for example with a noclip resource) to the spot, then read its position and rotation.

Letterbox and look

cinematic.letterbox = false removes the bars.
cinematic.timecycle applies a timecycle modifier, for a color grade, while the scene is open. Test it on your server: names differ in what they do at night or in rain.

Getting started

Server owners

What players see

Tuning each moment

Your own intro

Letterbox and look

​What players see

​Tuning each moment

​Your own intro

​Letterbox and look

What players see

Tuning each moment

Your own intro

Letterbox and look