Vote on your favorite in-game pinball camera!

[crackervizzo]

Dear Pinball Players!

In an attempt to improve the cameras in our pinball games, we would like to hear your voice regarding your camera usage.
Which camera is your favorite? Which do you prefer the least? What would you improve on those currently in the game?

Give us all your thoughts about the in-game cameras!

Sincerely,

ZEN Studios

[heathenSauce]

I use 3 for most tables, as it gives me the best view for my shots. If I had a bigger TV, and if the marvel tables weren't zoomed out so much, I would prefer 6.

[baseballprodigy16]

On every single table except for Fantastic Four, I use 6 since I can usually see the entire table. However, view 6 seemed to turn into view 4 on Fantastic Four, so I use that.

[Nekro Neko]

I mainly choose 4 followed by 3. 4 is not my first choice on F4 though.

What I wouldn't mind it a 75% zoom out of the table (somewhere between 3 and 6 lets say) and it has a soft scrolling action.

I hate camera's that rapidly go from the bottom of the table to the top like Buccaneer for example. I prefer a smooth transition between the upper and lower player fields rather than a jarring action, makes it easy to lose the ball.

I would like to see a higher Camera 1, maybe because I'm 6ft tall I'm used to looking down on the playfield rather than from a kids perspective of looking up the table.

That's all I can think of for now.

[Cloda]

Thanks ZEN for looking at this very important matter...

Each and every camera is a compromise for me... between seeing the bottom flipper properly and seeing what is going on, on the rest of the table.

In the end I mostly use 5 or 4 - 5 because it seems like I can aim better and the way the camera smoothly closes in as the balls comes down, help me to focus on the flippers. With 5 though it is quite a bit of a compromise with the top flipper - cross table shots as your margin for error is very small due to not being able to see the flipper properly. Fantastic 4 and Ironman also illustrates a deficit with this camera in that you can't see the lanes above the bumpers. In the end it is more important for me to see the bottom flippers well and that is why I use 5 (or 4 occasionally).

For short periods I can use 2 but I get severe motion sickness so after a while it doesn't make me feel so good any more. 3 is even worse in that respect, except on Secrets of the Deep where it works very well for the table layout.

1,1w feels too far and too flat and 6 feels too far away from me. You have all this amazing detail on your tables and with 6 you can't really see much of it.

I agree with all Nekro Neko suggested in his post especially: "What I wouldn't mind it a 75% zoom out of the table (somewhere between 3 and 6 lets say) and it has a soft scrolling action.

I hate camera's that rapidly go from the bottom of the table to the top like Buccaneer for example. I prefer a smooth transition between the upper and lower player fields rather than a jarring action, makes it easy to lose the ball.
".

Three additional camera related points to consider please:

- If it is at all possible cameras that can be adjusted manually would be the best - position, height, amount of zoom and speed of camera scrolling action.
- It would be great if we can select only the views we want e.g. in Forza 3 (I think) you can change the settings so that it only scroll through the few views you want when you change view. If that is possible I would sometimes quickly change view between say 5 for normal play and 2 (when I need to see the bumper lanes or have to get an important cross table shot e.g. torch ramp with manual invisible flipper mode.
- I would really appreciate it if I could manually set the action camera to what I want it to focus on e.g. the bumper lanes. If that was possible most of my camera issues would be solved.

[KGSoloman8000]

I use 3 for most tables, as it gives me the best view for my shots. If I had a bigger TV, and if the marvel tables weren't zoomed out so much, I would prefer 6.

I'm the same way... I prefer 3 on most tables, but have been using a lot of 6 on F4 and MARS. Luckily my TV is huge (57") so view 6 doesn't make anything too too small.

The cameras on the classic tables need a little more work. They seem quite a bit different then the cameras on the newer tables.

Three additional camera related points to consider please:

- If it is at all possible cameras that can be adjusted manually would be the best - position, height, amount of zoom and speed of camera scrolling action.
- It would be great if we can select only the views we want e.g. in Forza 3 (I think) you can change the settings so that it only scroll through the few views you want when you change view. If that is possible I would sometimes quickly change view between say 5 for normal play and 2 (when I need to see the bumper lanes or have to get an important cross table shot e.g. torch ramp with manual invisible flipper mode.
- I would really appreciate it if I could manually set the action camera to what I want it to focus on e.g. the bumper lanes. If that was possible most of my camera issues would be solved.

Great ideas Cloda... I also like Nekro's idea of a 75% table view. Although a custom camera option would solve most if not all of our camera gripes.

[UranusIsBroken]

I'm the same way... I prefer 3 on most tables, but have been using a lot of 6 on F4 and MARS. Luckily my TV is huge (57") so view 6 doesn't make anything too too small.

The cameras on the classic tables need a little more work. They seem quite a bit different then the cameras on the newer tables.



Great ideas Cloda... I also like Nekro's idea of a 75% table view. Although a custom camera option would solve most if not all of our camera gripes.

I agree. I'd actually like something that's pretty much a top-down view. I don't want obstructions. I may lose some of the 3-D perspective, but I can't stand not being able to see stuff, especially when it's vital to the game play.

[satch]

I use 3 though find it doesn't quite get to the inlane/outlane lights quick enough to see whats lit.

[Womble]

I mostly use 1w.

But I have different angles for different games.

I would normally use 6, but it is now far too distant from the table to use.

[Longi_land]

a (oldschool) Top-Down-View would be nice, like the Tablepreviews on the ZenPinball-Website! :-)

[lettuce]

View 7, fullscreen landscape mode, oh wait you never included such a view!!

[Lepruk86]

5 and 6 pretty much exclusively.

Annoying thing with these is that they block a lot of lights / shots on the table so either a better camera or more consideration of what the player can see needs to go into table design.

[Phiveball]

I really prefer the top down view of view 6 most of the time. As I have stated countless times before, my ideal camera angle would be a zoomed in top down view turned vertically to fill my entire screen. i know I'm in the minority, but I play on a 23" monitor that I purchased a rotating base, meaning my widescreen monitor flips from horizontal to vertical. I use the vertical setup for all of the shmups I import from Japan. Anyway, as of now, view six all the way, but a slightly closer look would be preferable.

As an alternative, couldn't the camera be set up on a free zoom/angle view since the tables are 3d models. I'm no expert on the matter, so I could be way off, but instead of 6 fixed views, why not allow us to fine tune our angle and zoom with a zoom/tit feature. I think I've seen a similar feature in other games, but can't exactly recall where.

[Shady]

Camera 6 all the way.

Is there a POSSIBILITY that you guys might be able to add screen rotation (screen tilt mode) to the game?

Quite a few TFT-Displays (when they are wall-mounted) allow to be rotated by 90°. The XBLA title Ikaruga for example looks awesome when the build-in option to rotate the screen is enabled.

Camera 6 would suit this just perfect!

Any chance to make this happen?

[Scotty Canuck]

View 6 for me, as it makes hitting ramp shots easier. The other views do look alot more pretty, but can be harder to use.

Like someone else said, it might be better if we can control the height & zoom of the camera.