Trigger function to allow us to show Animations/Movies/Gifs like we can Photo's

[Devil 505]

Is there any way to get the ability to add inserting GIFs into our missions through the mission editor?  Similar to the way we can insert photos? I feel like this would be a great function added so we can have more realistic briefs.  I literally just wrote a novel on this topic and copied the GIFs below, when I hit submit, it erased the entire post and just put the GIF's up.  I will rewrite it at a later date, a bit irritated it erased a 30 minute explanation.  Hoping we can get this added to the ME.

 

Edited February 6 by Devil 505

[Devil 505]

So originally, I had posted a longer article about this before it was incidentally erased. My buddies and I are going further in depth with our briefings and for a while I was seeing if there was a way to add Mpegs, similar to the way we insert photos from a trigger.  Reflected commented and made a good point that missions would be way to large with MP4's, in the gigs. I did not think of this, which was a solid point.

I got to thinking this week, GIFs are only between 20 and 60 MBs for the sizes above.  Ultimately, we would like to incorporate GIFs from our flight into the next missions brief.  Our talented mission creator is doing some really neat stuff with AI voice, story background, and images.  But to get everyone fired up for the mission, we would love to use actual video shot in game for briefings.  The in-game MB-339 Gun camera works great for this effect. A quick GIF of a recon flight over a target area, or the F-15 with the radar images, or even FLIR similar to what we see above would provide excellent intel for everyone to see, especially if shot in game. With the F-14 TARPS pod coming and the IndiaFoxTecho G-91 and its reported ability for recon video in DCS would make this function great for mission editors. 

I miss the old school days of flight sims with proper in game briefings and until we get the ready room and maybe a FARP tent for Helos, we have to improvise.  I will post a few in game GIFs we have been testing here soon. 

ED team, how hard would it be to add a function to the Mission Editor to allow us to insert a GIF file like we already do an image? I feel this would bring added value to all mission creators and those who want to incorporate it into their missions.  Our mission creator has already created an F-10 function to bypass the briefing if it gets old.  We plan on shooting a video soon demonstrating what we have already done in game with images and AI text.  I feel this would really get everyone fired up for the mission and give them a better sense of what the target area is.  It also opens up the option for missions specifically gathered around intel photo and videos specifically for future use in upcoming missions.

I would love to hear thoughts and opinions. Hopefully have something up soon to somewhat demonstrate what's on our minds.

[Devil 505]

8 minutes ago, Devil 505 said:

So originally, I had posted a longer article about this before it was incidentally erased. My buddies and I are going further in depth with our briefings and for a while I was seeing if there was a way to add Mpegs, similar to the way we insert photos from a trigger.  Reflected commented and made a good point that missions would be way to large with MP4's, in the gigs. I did not think of this, which was a solid point.

I got to thinking this week, GIFs are only between 20 and 60 MBs for the sizes above.  Ultimately, we would like to incorporate GIFs from our flight into the next missions brief.  Our talented mission creator is doing some really neat stuff with AI voice, story background, and images.  But to get everyone fired up for the mission, we would love to use actual video shot in game for briefings.  The in-game MB-339 Gun camera works great for this effect. A quick GIF of a recon flight over a target area, or the F-15 with the radar images, or even FLIR similar to what we see above would provide excellent intel for everyone to see, especially if shot in game. With the F-14 TARPS pod coming and the IndiaFoxTecho G-91 and its reported ability for recon video in DCS would make this function great for mission editors. 

I miss the old school days of flight sims with proper in game briefings and until we get the ready room and maybe a FARP tent for Helos, we have to improvise.  I will post a few in game GIFs we have been testing here soon. 

ED team, how hard would it be to add a function to the Mission Editor to allow us to insert a GIF file like we already do an image? I feel this would bring added value to all mission creators and those who want to incorporate it into their missions.  Our mission creator has already created an F-10 function to bypass the briefing if it gets old.  We plan on shooting a video soon demonstrating what we have already done in game with images and AI text.  I feel this would really get everyone fired up for the mission and give them a better sense of what the target area is.  It also opens up the option for missions specifically gathered around intel photo and videos specifically for future use in upcoming missions.

I would love to hear thoughts and opinions. Hopefully have something up soon to somewhat demonstrate what's on our minds.

Below are 2 of the first GIFs I was messing around with just to see how they would turn out.  Recorded in VR with OBS and then converted to a GIF using Filmora.  Looking forward to adding a few Recon flight GIFs and some FLIR inspired ones from in-game.

[Devil 505]

So here would be an idea for a few missions.  The GIFs where a test run on a quick mission to see how this would work out.  If I was to put a real brief together off the footage, I would zoom in completely on the FLIR or Recon camera to have it fill the screen for the actual purpose of a briefing. 

A quick scenario would be an MB-339 on loan to the USAF to gather reconnaissance intel from the South End of Guam. QRF has moved in around the lake an is planning on pushing North into town. MB-339 crew launches for one mission to go do several high speed/low altitude passes over AO. Returns to base.  A mission or two later would be a Hornet strike with JDAMS on the QRF.  FLIR images could show confirmation of strike. The two briefs could be given in detail to provide details. In game satellite imagery of the area using the F10 map for the MB-339 mission along with a few photos of any other story line info could be included in the first mission.  Second mission could include the MB-339 Recon video pass of the target area (demonstrated below).  Then a follow on mission to the Hornet strike could show video from the FLIR and even JDAM drop in the briefing. Being able to record action while on a mission and use it for briefing material in the form of photos or GIFs would really emphasize the mission in my opinion.  

After trying to insert my GIFs, I found out they where to big for the forums. Average was about 40 to 60 MBs. I also increased the size from above (400x224) to the below (800x448).  I will probably scale it back down because this is probably a little to big for VR. That will decrease the size as well. I really hope someone from ED can comment on the possibility of being able to add these as trigger GIFs.

Edited February 7 by Devil 505

[cfrag]

I'm not here to nitpick - I like the idea. I think you may want to change the title to 'Include animations/movies like photos'

It's the animation part that you (and I) are interested in, not support for the GIF lempel/ziv lossless compression format that GIF pioneered and later became infamous for when Unisy tried to collect on their patent.

So yeah, I'd like to see support for a "Movie to XXX" style  action, erven though I'm loath to see what that will do to mission download time due to bloated mission size (not to mention the licensing headaches that could create for files hosted at ED's User Files)

[Devil 505]

13 hours ago, cfrag said:

I'm not here to nitpick - I like the idea. I think you may want to change the title to 'Include animations/movies like photos'

Great idea and Done! Hopefully it brings a little more attention to the thread.  Like to hear your ideas.

[Elphaba]

On 2/6/2024 at 2:13 AM, Devil 505 said:

Is there any way to get the ability to add inserting GIFs into our missions through the mission editor?  Similar to the way we can insert photos? I feel like this would be a great function added so we can have more realistic briefs.  I literally just wrote a novel on this topic and copied the GIFs below, when I hit submit, it erased the entire post and just put the GIF's up.  I will rewrite it at a later date, a bit irritated it erased a 30 minute explanation.  Hoping we can get this added to the ME.

 

 

Have you tried reducing the frame count on the gif and then using the PICTURE TO scripting command with a 1sec time between them all? I know it's not perfect but it could still get the job done. 

Edited February 11 by Elphaba

[Devil 505]

11 hours ago, Elphaba said:

Have you tried reducing the frame count on the gif and then using the PICTURE TO scripting command with a 1sec time between them all? I know it's not perfect but it could still get the job done. 

Thought about it, which led me to creating this thread.  Do 1 frame at a time was not really worth the effort in the end. I was hoping this could be a future function ED could incorporate in to the ME for us.

[sirrah]

Although one could argue about its realism for briefings, I think animated gifs (or short movies) would indeed be a nice addition. Although maybe a bit of a high "Ace Combat" degree, it would still be a nice addition to give the player some more background story in the briefing screen (e.g.: some CNN-like news coverage to explain the situation).

Ingame animated gifs/movies could also open up for some new creative ideas.

 

I've been testing with this quite some time ago:

 

I also used this for several of my missions. I'll link them here:

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3328249/

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3311394/

 

Obviously, this method is very labor intensive and cumbersome though... would be nice to just be able to load a gif.

Edited February 12 by sirrah