Camera boxes

"The doorway does the directing now. I mostly stand here." — Holorecordist Ban Sethi
Verified

A camera box is an invisible volume in the world that takes over a player's view the moment they step into it.

Like every /camera command, boxes need the director's chair first, whatever your admin rank.

What it does

You draw a box, bind it to a waypoint or a whole track, then arm it. Anyone who walks in either sees a fixed shot for as long as they stand there, or gets flown down the track once. It is how you put a camera on a doorway or a corridor and stop directing by hand.

There are 10 boxes, shared by everyone on the server.

Drawing a box

The usual way is to walk the corners. Stand at one corner of the space, run /camera drawbox, walk to the opposite corner and run it again.

/camera drawbox 1 and /camera drawbox 2 set one specific corner, which is what the boxes panel sends. Run /trace cameras to see boxes drawn in the world.

Because both corners are captured at your feet, the box is padded to be worth standing in. It reaches 8 units below the captured height and 80 units above it. Any horizontal side narrower than 16 units is widened to 16 units around its centre. So a box drawn twice on the same spot still catches someone walking through.

For precise work, give all 6 coordinates instead:

The 6-coordinate form gets no padding, and it refuses a box that is flat on any axis:

Binding a box to a shot

A new box does nothing until you bind it. box always names its track. It is never optional.

Holding on one waypoint

The player sees that shot for as long as they stay inside, and drops back into their own body when they leave.

Flying the whole track

Add play instead of a waypoint number and entering the box flies the whole track once.

With no secs the box uses the track's stored duration at the moment it fires, so changing the track duration later changes the box too. Give a number to pin the box to its own length instead:

A flight needs at least 2 waypoints on the track:

Arming and disarming

Boxes only fire while they are armed.

Run it with no argument to be told the current state without changing it. Disarming also resets spent flight boxes, so re-arming lets them fire again for someone who already triggered them.

Boxes appear at the end of /camera list, below the track blocks:

Box 1 there was walked from 128 64 72 to 200 150 80, which is why its Z runs from 64 to 160. Box 2 was given all six coordinates, so it kept them exactly.

Removing boxes

all takes no confirmation word and asks nothing. It wipes all 10 slots and releases anyone currently held.

Things to note

  • /camera removebox all has no confirmation prompt. There is no undo either.
  • 10 boxes on the whole server, not 10 per director. A full set is refused with "All 10 camera boxes are in use".
  • The lowest-numbered box wins an overlap. Where 2 boxes cover the same spot, the one with the lower id takes the player.
  • A box bound across a closed door renders as void. A shot in an area the player's own body cannot see, through a closed areaportal, shows empty space instead of the room. Keep the box and its shot in the same visible area, or open the door first.
  • Removing or clearing a waypoint makes its box dormant. The box stays drawn and stays armed but fires nothing until the waypoint comes back.
  • A flight box fires once per visit. Walking out and back in fires it again.
  • /camera stop does not disarm anything. Anyone still standing in a box is picked up again on the next frame.
  • /camera test shields you from boxes, so rehearse with test rather than walking the set.
  • Boxes are saved into a scene. A scene load replaces every box you have.

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