Dolly

Dolly

A camera rig for filming Minecraft. Dolly flies the camera along a path written in a JSON file: straight moves, curves through waypoints, arcs around a point. Where it looks is set separately: a fixed point, a moving point, an entity or the direction of travel. Shots play live or render to PNG frames.

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Shots

• A shot is a JSON file in config/dolly/shots, named after the shot. Files are read when played: nothing to reload.
• Each segment has a path (hold, line, curve, orbit), an aim (lookAt, angles, along, track), one of 15 easing curves and optional field of view and roll ramps.
• Positions can be relative: ~ from where you stand, ^ from where you stand and face. A shot can also set the time and the weather.
• 32 preset- shots and 3 example- files are included. Presets are rewritten on every launch: copy one before editing it.

Commands

• /dolly play <shot> plays at true speed, /dolly record <shot> [fps] renders, /dolly stop cuts.
• /dolly list, /dolly info <shot> and /dolly here, which prints the camera position ready to paste into a shot file.
• /dolly orbit <center> <radius> <seconds> and /dolly line <from> <to> <seconds> [lookAt] fly a move without a file.
• K (rebindable) or Escape cuts a rolling shot. Screens are closed while a shot rolls, so /dolly stop cannot be typed.

Recording

• A recording advances the shot by exactly 1/fps per saved frame, so the footage is even at any real frame rate. 60 fps by default; the game runs slowly.
• Frames are PNG files the size of the game window in dolly_out/<shot>-<timestamp> in the game folder, with the ffmpeg command to join them in stitch.txt.
• Only the camera is frame-locked: mobs, particles and weather run in real time.
• The JVM arguments -Ddolly.shot=<name> and -Ddolly.exit=true render a shot unattended and quit.

Requirements

Minecraft 1.21.1, Java 21, NeoForge 21.1. Client only. By default a shot puts the player in spectator and carries it along so chunks stay loaded, and leaves it where the camera stops. That, and setting time and weather, needs a singleplayer world.

This mod has been abandoned. It works fine, but it will not receive updates.

NeoForge 1.21.1, client side. Free to use in modpacks.