First Lap at Gateway



Download in Windows Media Video format:    Regular   High-Def 720p   Small  
YouTube Link


Description

The first lap of the 944-Spec main race on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at Gateway International Raceway with NASA Midwest. This video showcases many of the advanced capabilities that RaceRender has been designed with from the very beginning. See further below for details on how this video was made.


Details
Created with:RaceRender Deluxe 1.0
(originally created with 0.71, remastered with 1.0)
Media sources used:4 Videos in Windows Media format at 720x480 (2 high-quality, 2 medium-quality)
1 Traqmate datalogger, displaying: track map, G-force plot, and speed (MPH)
1 Leaderboard
8 Bitmap (24-bit RGB) images:
      4 driver video titles
      1 leaderboard background
      2 banners
      1 green flag image

How It Was Made With RaceRender

Video Displays & Camera Switching
There are two distinct video display areas in this project: the main video display, and the lower right corner display. Both of those areas are actually made up of three user-created display positions: one for the video itself, one for the driver title, and one for the datalogger overlay (only used by the #67 car in this case). The driver title is just a simple bitmap image file that is assigned to a display position at the top center over the video image. An example and template is provided in the graphics package on the Download page.

To switch cameras or views, a timeline event is used to change the display positions of each involved video, driver title, and datalogger overlay (if used). There is one action within that timeline event for each of these. The currently displayed set is either be changed to the "# Disabled" display position to hide them, or to their corresponding positions in the alternate display area. If they are moved to the alternate display area, the set that was being displayed there is either moved as well, or set to "# Disabled" to hide it.


Instant Driver Rankings
The driver rankings on the left make use of the Leaderboard feature, overlayed on top of a solid black bitmap drawn with a 75% transparency to create the shadow effect. Both are shown in user-created display positions, and the leaderboard has a 20% transparency to better blend in.

When a driver advances in position, a timeline event is used to change the leaderboard's settings to move that driver's name to his new position, and briefly display a flashing up arrow next to his car number.


Flashing Green Flag
This is a simple bitmap image of a green flag with a grey background. This and other flag graphics are provided in the graphics package on the Download page. The grey background is made invisible by using the chroma key feature, and it is drawn with a 25% transparency. It is initially set to the "# Disabled" display position so that it is not shown. A timeline event is used to make it appear in a user-created display position at the moment that the race starts, then a "Flash Off" action is used during the same timeline event to make it flash a couple of times and disappear.


Banners
These are simply two bitmap images displayed in two user-created display positions.