I wanted to see The Addams Family from the ball’s perspective, but still see the ball. I ended up with a camera following it around the table.
The clip is 30 seconds of gameplay at half speed, with matching game audio.
Watch the finished video — one minute, half speed, with game audio (MP4, 65 MB)
The early versions let me see through objects. If the ball goes under a ramp, the camera should be under it too. I wanted those obstructions.
VPX and Blender
I wanted actual Visual Pinball X (VPX) physics. After problems getting the camera working in VPX, I suggested moving the table’s geometry and textures into Blender. I used AI to help build it.
VPX runs the game and records the ball positions, flipper movements, and lamp changes. Blender renders that recording. It is not a view you can play in real time.
The controls are automated, not me playing. I pushed for better flipper timing instead of flipping whenever the ball got near the bottom.
Materials and lighting
The rubber had textures from other parts of the table. It should have been a solid color. I asked for corrections to that and the posts, then ray-traced reflections on the ball and other chrome.
I wanted the machine’s own lights instead of overhead lighting. The inserts needed to look like colored plastic with light coming through. A little jewel-like, with darker markings and edges.
They were too bright, then too dark. The final treatment keeps the lettering opaque and lets light through the colored areas. The lamp changes come from the game.
I chose a simple, dark arcade room with LEDs around the edges. Most of it only appears in the ball’s reflection. I added 2 vertical lights, one on each side of the ball, but excluded them from its reflections.
The video
I chose quality over render time and used my 2 RTX 3090s. I forgot to limit their power and the machine crashed. The saved frames survived, so the render could resume.
I used RIFE interpolation to add intermediate frames without rendering again. At 30 fps, that gives me a minute at half speed. The video is 1280 × 720.
The audio is from the same game, slowed to match with the pitch preserved.
I want this to work with other VPX tables eventually. First I want to get this one right.