Hey guys, duder here...

So I'm going to be running production and camera for LAN this weekend... after last night I realized I'm super rusty at camera and catching what's going on. I feel like I got some stuff, but I know we missed a few big plays (the sticky trap det, for example). Granted, we'll have boots on the ground at LAN so we'll get advance notice of the big plays - but I have a question to ask...

What do you guys want to see on the camera? What do you like to see when teams are setting up? Do you prefer first person? Third? Free cam? When both ubers pop and teams are fighting teach other do you like the pull-back free cam shot?

Also, what did you guys think of the video and production quality last night? Sans the camerawork, of course, which I already know was sub-par.

What do you guys want to see between matches? We'll be casting on ESEA's channel, once again, so we'll have some set roll that we'll need to go through between matches - but other than that what do you want to see?

The stream this weekend is 100% for you guys, so help me make it the best possible. Any (constructive) input is much appreciated.

For camera views, personally I like to watch it from free cam. But during stalemates, 1st and 3rd person are good so we can see what's going on.
Interviews or skyping people who are at the lan is always fun to listen to between matches. Just having some experienced players talking about the match/keypoints is always helpful too.

gl with the stream, and thanks :]

IMO 1st person cam is the right choice for almost all situations. 3rd person is nice when you expect a flank and want to watch the guy get murked, but you could also just use a 1st person cam on the guy doing the flanking. Free is good when the caster is really detailing something about the map or a flank route or something that can't be easily seen from a player-locked camera.

EDIT: 3rd is best when you want to watch someone's fancy footwork. If a medic is at 90% and being bombed by 2 soldiers and a scout, go 3rd person so you can see his dodging better.

Check out sigma's huge_status_monitor. It is great for catching action in live ESEA games. You can add him for help with python (I found it to be confusing).

As far as camera goes when you watch more games you'll have better game sense. For example put the camera on the combo when they have über because you know that they will push or defend with it. Spies are usually fun to watch. Etc. Dont worry too much. The huge status monitor will help you to catch frags in 1st person.

Sigma's status monitor could help with showing who's about to get multiple frags. http://tf2pug.heroku.com/topics/4921?page=1#p101826

We'll be watching the best players in the game, and with that the best DM. I wanna see the meat and airshots. The cam should be POV for at least 90% of the time. Some people will argue that you see more with Free cam, which is true in the sense of area, but all you see is player positioning, projectiles flying across the map, and then some people die. In POV you can see the pocket focusing a target with his team, checking his surroundings, and making plays with his team. You see more of how the game is actually played at that level. Free cam just catches a before and after of the fight. You dont see the details that made the fight play out the way it did. And at that level of play its all about details.

Uber pushes should definitely be on the pocket or whoever is taking the uber. You can watch the Medic a lot as they are going to be healing whoever is putting out the most damage. If you lose track of a good fight, switch to the medic as he will usually be where the fight is at. During stalemates you can go to free cam for a few moments to check team positioning and where the next push might come from. Keep your eye on the roamers during stalemates as they will likely be the ones who want to make a play. Always watch the pick off class, sniper or spy.

At mid fights always watch a demo rollout and his initial damage. If the demo got a good stick or two on the scouts, watch for his scouts to try and finish them off. Gunboat soldiers are always nice to watch as they will likely be in the skybox falling towards the demo and med.

Just remember this is TF2 and you will miss a lot of plays. Thanks for bringing us the action and best of luck!

Just try to understand what is happening in the game. Is it a uber stalemate? Take a glance at the roamers and see if either of them are about to bomb to initiate a push. Is one team at a significant uber disadvantage? Then see if a scout or soldier on that team is about to try to make a play on the med. If you think about what will probably happen next it puts you in a better position to catch it

please first person almost all the time

if you want to catch an overall sense of what's going on just watch the medics

first person is generally the way to go, although I agree that sometimes a free look perspective is nice for showing a part of the map or giving some detail about it.

personally, i like watching demos/scouts on mid fights because you can pretty much see everything that's going on through their POVs.

first person is dabes

1st person 80% of the time, if not more.

ok heres how you do it

speccing lg? watch banny
speccing mix? > is plat ubered? watch plat otherwise watch enigma
speccing bro? watch yz50 or blaze depending on whos alive
speccing flow? watch ruwin/pure in person to make sure we get the meltdowns/shakes on tape

Will it be possible to have a constant webcam on the players and set the delay on that to 2 minutes?

Pot, I don't believe so but it's something worth asking about when I get there.

pot wrote:

Will it be possible to have a constant webcam on the players and set the delay on that to 2 minutes?

It's my understanding that ESEA/Sterling will *NOT* be providing any internet access to non-players. That said, if they do, I can walk Sal or Mikal through setting a delay server in Xsplit to delay a webcam stream - highly doubt we'll be able to do that.

That said, ESEA has said there will be a "Skype booth" for player interviews - so hopefully we can provide better quality interviews this season, as compared to last.

lansky wrote:

first person is generally the way to go, although I agree that sometimes a free look perspective is nice for showing a part of the map or giving some detail about it.

personally, i like watching demos/scouts on mid fights because you can pretty much see everything that's going on through their POVs.

So you don't think dropping to free cam during uber exchanges is better than 1st person? Wouldn't the stream be missing a lot of the back and forth that goes on during the uber exchange if I stick first person on, say, the soldier that's ubered?

Poach internet from skype booth/use skype booth web cam on players. The ESEA CS casters won't need that booth, will they? They have their desk.

duder wrote:

lansky wrote:

first person is generally the way to go, although I agree that sometimes a free look perspective is nice for showing a part of the map or giving some detail about it.

personally, i like watching demos/scouts on mid fights because you can pretty much see everything that's going on through their POVs.

So you don't think dropping to free cam during uber exchanges is better than 1st person? Wouldn't the stream be missing a lot of the back and forth that goes on during the uber exchange if I stick first person on, say, the soldier that's ubered?

If its uber into uber on a point, then the flank is likely where the next frag will be. If its uber into non uber or the ubers are not near each other stick to the pocket.

short wrote:

duder wrote:

lansky wrote:

first person is generally the way to go, although I agree that sometimes a free look perspective is nice for showing a part of the map or giving some detail about it.

personally, i like watching demos/scouts on mid fights because you can pretty much see everything that's going on through their POVs.

So you don't think dropping to free cam during uber exchanges is better than 1st person? Wouldn't the stream be missing a lot of the back and forth that goes on during the uber exchange if I stick first person on, say, the soldier that's ubered?

If its uber into uber on a point, then the flank is likely where the next frag will be. If its uber into non uber or the ubers are not near each other stick to the pocket.

Roger that.

And @Oafmeal: It's my understanding that the booth will be "available." What that actually means is anyone's guess. We won't know the actual logistics of it until we've got our boys down there Friday.

Techdude will be at the lan, and he had regular internet access somehow last time (may have just been through his phone, but im pretty sure it wasnt).

Maybe he could figure out a webcam streaming thing.

B4nnys butt.

In Starcraft there's a ton of things going on at once. You may be watching some fight but something happens off to the side that you're not seeing. Same thing happens in LoL or Dota.

It's just something that the viewers deal with. As a caster you're just trying to capture the bulk of the action.

You should also prefer to spec players likely to make a play. For example, roamers or offclass during a hold, or somebody who carries their team(no names) during every other times.

So I had a few beers when I got home, and I've decided I'm going to broadcast LAN exclusively in the new Pyro Vision (c) mode. I hope you guys don't mind.

duder wrote:

So I had a few beers when I got home, and I've decided I'm going to broadcast LAN exclusively in the new Pyro Vision (c) mode. I hope you guys don't mind.

Run two separate streams, then hire some quirky young asian girls who know nothing about TF2 to do commentary on the Pyrovision stream.

cbear, cbear, and more cbear

duder wrote:

So I had a few beers when I got home, and I've decided I'm going to broadcast LAN exclusively in the new Pyro Vision (c) mode. I hope you guys don't mind.

B-but they are banned!

pyrovision for only TF2 graphics mode 2012

You could always set binds up for players this LAN.

I know its a little bit of work to set up each game and its a little hard to get used to.

i've seen a couple of highlander games casted with player binds and it worked really well.

example: SHIFT + 1-6, CRTL + 1-6 for each team

Shift key doesn't work when using XSplit. Numpad is hard-coded to trigger scenes in XSplit. Sucks.

Use some other key as the modifier then..

eg

alias +blu "bind 1 spec_player LG clckwrk; bind 2 spec_player LG enoryt"

alias -blu "bind 1 slo1; bind 2 slot2;"

bind z +blu