Bitman's Shared Camera System
Bitman's Shared Camera System allows you to share camera positions between avatars. You can use this as a club HUD, as a security tool, Education tool, or as a builder tool. It has first been used and developed as a photo shooting tool.
The camera system comes with a camera server that stores the camera positions, as well as control HUDs to store or recall the camera positions. Client HUDs can be given away (only if you change the next owner rights to no-transfer). Access control is done for user (i.e. owner), or group. Channel selectors can be rezzed in-world, clicked and the HUD auotmatically switches to the selected channel.
It additionally features a remote notification. A provided camera implements a sensor that automatically updates the channel's camera positions and notifies the HUD user when someone enters the camera fokus (sensor area).
A focus board updates a HUD position to the position where it is clicked on (requires release candidate viewer 1.21 or above), so you can point people's views on specific parts of e.g. a presentation.
Warning: this is not really a ready-to-use item! It is intended for builders with special requirements to play around with. If you have any questions, suggestions, or doubts, please ask me before buying this product!
Not all use cases have been fully specified, so I like to hear new ideas about it!
Thanks to Rogue Foden for the idea for this tool and thanks to him and his crew for lots of testing!
With the Camera Range Extender you can expand the reach of the camera server to a whole region!
See also these related products:
Bitman's Conference Camera - a shared camera to give presentations or hold conferences
Bitman's Shopping Camera - a shop builder version
Bitman's personal "ClubCamera HUD" - a simple attachment without need for a server
Bitman Voom
Bitman's Custom Scripting Shop, Neptune (81,220,27)
Use Cases:
Use case: Security
Put the camera server into the area that is controlled, set the camera channels to positions such that they cover the area. When you come to the area, the HUD automaticlly loads the positions from the camera and you can "loop" through the positions to control the area. Position additional sensors where needed to notify you via the HUD - a single click then switches to the channel so you can control what happens
You can also give client HUDs to your security personel. Group based access control lets them use the channels only, not modify them.
Use case: Builder
Put the camera server into areas where you build stuff. Set the channels to positions where you see the details of your build. Share the positions with your clients so you can show them what you mean while discussing the build.
Use case: Education
For an educational session prepare different camera positions e.g. for different slides or object setup you want to discuss. Share the camera positions with your audience. For this use case I have now created a specific product with additional gadgets, the Conference Camera. It features automatic presentations (switching through the camera positions) for example. Please see my shop or XStreet for it.
Use case: Club camera
In a club prepare some camera channels for the contest board, the club manager, or the stage. Give the client HUD to your guests. Even open up some channels for your guests to change so they can interact among each other.
Use case: Shop camera
You can setup cameras to show your products in your shop, and allow customers to loop through the camera positions, to browse your shop without having to walk around. For this I have now made an own product, the Shopping Camera. It features teleport to the camera position, and automated guided shop tours. Please see my shop or XStreet for it.
Basic Usage Instructions
First do some planning. The system provides a set of "channels". Each channel stores a single camera position and can be selected on the HUD with the numbered buttons. Two types of channels exist, "club" and "open" channels.
Determine who should control and who should use the camera server. "Control" access can use and control all (club+open) channels. "Open" access can use all channels, but only modify the "open" channels. Both types of access can be restricted to the owner (you), the same group as the server, a fixed list of persons, or opened up to everyone. This allows you to have some channels being controlled by club staff, while other channels can be used freely by your guests.
Once you have this planning done, start setting up the server. To use the Camera System, you must first place the camera server by rezzing it into an appropriate place in-world. After that, open the server and check the configuration notecard "CONFIGURATION". It is by default set such that the "club" channel can be used and changed by the owner of the server, and the rest of the channels can be used and changed by anyone within the same
See item in Second Life
From JBDC Productions (Graphic Novels)
Bitman Voom developed this with Rogue Foden for our use in shooting the Graphic Novels we produce. The scenes shot there would not have been possible without this HUD. Special thanks to Rogue Foden for the concept and Bitman Voom for the development of this HUD.
Works great.
Useful tool for machinima
This tool has served us wonderfully across a variety of projects in Machinima. It's a perfect tool to help a director communicate with the camera operators, and for someone working alone (directing and shooting), it takes a lot of the guesswork out of the project.
I recommend it strongly.
