Create a Security Camera Tutorial

From AAManual

Created by Norbac

The purpose of this tutorial is to explain how you can add a Security Camera to your map similar to the one that features in the map Water Treatment. This is very useful for example in environments such as prisons, museums, etc.

First, you need a screen to show the image from the camera, therefore add a static mesh, it can be a computer monitor or a TV screen.

Next add a camera support static mesh where the camera is going to be located and add a camera static mesh as a mover over the camera support.

In the TOP Viewport rotate the camera by 45° and select Key 1. Then rotate the camera by 90° to the other side, select Key 0 and verify that the camera return to its original position. This is going to be the range of rotation that the camera will go through.

Open the mover properties and make the following changes: In the Events field, change the Tag properties, in my case I put “Camera”.

In the MoveTime Field I put 8 seconds for the complete movement.

In the Object field change the InitialState property to “ConstantLoop”.

All these properties are necessary to move the camera in a loop sequence.

Now create a cube with these properties:

Right click on the Brush and convert it to a Static Mesh.

For Package write “MyLevel” and for Name put “Cube” and press OK.

Now select the Static Mesh Browser and select ‘MyLevel” :

Select the cube you just made and add it as a mover. Using the viewports put the cube in front of the Camera with the same angle. Rotate the cube until the arrow points in the same direction as the camera. Align the cube in front of the camera in case it is mis-aligned.

Change the following properties on the cube mover:

In the Events field, in Tag Property type “CAM1”

In the Movement field, in AttachTag put the same name as the Camera’s Tag, in my case “Camera”.

Change the property bOneWayMover to "True" in the MoverTwoWay field, in order to see the red arrow with an A at the end.

Finally set the bHidden property to True on the Advanced field to hide the cube at gameplay.

That’s all for the camera part. Now go back to the monitor where the image is going to be displayed. From the Actor Browser expand the “*AGP_UseTrigger” Section and select “*CamTrigger”

Right click over the monitor and click on “Add CamTrigger Here”. It will appear as a switch with “CAM” inside it.

Double click over the switch in order to open its properties. On the CamTrigger field select the “ViewActorTag” property and type the Tag name of the cube mover, in my case “CAM1”

In the “Display” field select the “HUD Text” Property and type the message you want to display when the player is in front of the monitor, I wrote “VIEW CAMERA”.

Don’t forget to Add an “AGP Player Start” and rebuild everything.