Can someone explaint the movement link ratio and it's relation to speed? Start and end offsets? My guys are skating around like they're wearing jet-propelled booties on ice. Especially irritating is when you get the speed close to correct, but they stop walking and skate the rest of the way.... I'm clearly doing something odd, because it can't be this hard.
Arghhh! Walking....
Débuté par
errant_knight
, juin 27 2010 06:33
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#2
Posté 27 juin 2010 - 09:54
DahliaLynn
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Start and end offsets are like this: Say you have an actor with an animation of walking 5 paces. If you look at the animation bar on the timeline, it has a size. When you add an end offset, (numerical) it is like you cut off the end of the animation making him walk say instead of 5 paces, stopping the animation short to walking 4 paces, then having it cut off.
The same goes for start offset. Instead of the animation beginning from his first pace, he would begin from his second or third pace depending upon how large the number you enter.
Your guys might be skating around because you (I think) are keying them to new positions without letting the animation take it's natural course.
If you have an animation that causes an actor to move, then you have to key his start position, (set GAD to true) allow him to move according to the animation to its end point, making his movement natural to its animation. You can't make them move farther than the animation allows unless you double or loop the animation itself until they arrive to your desired destination.
Regarding speed, As far as I know, you may stretch certain animations to create a slow motion effect along the timeline. 1 in the object inspector would indicate original animation speed. Anything less than 1 would be considered slowing the animation down, therefore extending the size of the animation bar on the timeline.
I hope this helps
The same goes for start offset. Instead of the animation beginning from his first pace, he would begin from his second or third pace depending upon how large the number you enter.
Your guys might be skating around because you (I think) are keying them to new positions without letting the animation take it's natural course.
If you have an animation that causes an actor to move, then you have to key his start position, (set GAD to true) allow him to move according to the animation to its end point, making his movement natural to its animation. You can't make them move farther than the animation allows unless you double or loop the animation itself until they arrive to your desired destination.
Regarding speed, As far as I know, you may stretch certain animations to create a slow motion effect along the timeline. 1 in the object inspector would indicate original animation speed. Anything less than 1 would be considered slowing the animation down, therefore extending the size of the animation bar on the timeline.
I hope this helps
Modifié par DahliaLynn, 27 juin 2010 - 11:09 .
#3
Posté 27 juin 2010 - 03:23
errant_knight
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DahliaLynn wrote...
Start and end offsets are like this: Say you have an actor with an animation of walking 5 paces. If you look at the animation bar on the timeline, it has a size. When you add an end offset, (numerical) it is like you cut off the end of the animation making him walk say instead of 5 paces, stopping the animation short to walking 4 paces, then having it cut off.
The same goes for start offset. Instead of the animation beginning from his first pace, he would begin from his second or third pace depending upon how large the number you enter.
Your guys might be skating around because you (I think) are keying them to new positions without letting the animation take it's natural course.
If you have an animation that causes an actor to move, then you have to key his start position, (set GAD to true) allow him to move according to the animation to its end point, making his movement natural to its animation. You can't make them move farther than the animation allows unless you double or loop the animation itself until they arrive to your desired destination.
Regarding speed, As far as I know, you may stretch certain animations to create a slow motion effect along the timeline. 1 in the object inspector would indicate original animation speed. Anything less than 1 would be considered slowing the animation down, therefore extending the size of the animation bar on the timeline.
I hope this helps
That does help, a lot! And it makes sense. I'm used to creating animation to fit, not the other way around. Is it possible to edit the animation files, or create our own?
#4
Posté 27 juin 2010 - 03:39
DahliaLynn
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errant_knight wrote...
That does help, a lot! And it makes sense. I'm used to creating animation to fit, not the other way around. Is it possible to edit the animation files, or create our own?
Well, creating your own is an entirely different ballgame. Yes I believe it is possible as I have considered it myself when I began to work with the toolset. I began to do some research, and I had found that you can create animation in gmax or something , use a DAO exporter tool (not sure I have a link) and export your anims to the toolset. But I really haven't gone into that since it meant I would have to go through yet another grueling process of learning a new interface.
What I do to manipulate in-game animation is basically play with start and end offsets, speeds and connect many anims together on separate tracks to get the desired effect. That means having to preview all relevant anims and imagine them mesh together at different points. (not every animation can be manipulated by weight by the way)
Modifié par DahliaLynn, 27 juin 2010 - 03:49 .
#5
Posté 27 juin 2010 - 04:08
errant_knight
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DahliaLynn wrote...
errant_knight wrote...
That does help, a lot! And it makes sense. I'm used to creating animation to fit, not the other way around. Is it possible to edit the animation files, or create our own?
Well, creating your own is an entirely different ballgame. Yes I believe it is possible as I have considered it myself when I began to work with the toolset. I began to do some research, and I had found that you can create animation in gmax or something , use a DAO exporter tool (not sure I have a link) and export your anims to the toolset. But I really haven't gone into that since it meant I would have to go through yet another grueling process of learning a new interface.
What I do to manipulate in-game animation is basically play with start and end offsets, speeds and connect many anims together on separate tracks to get the desired effect. That means having to preview all relevant anims and imagine them mesh together at different points. (not every animation can be manipulated by weight by the way)
I don't think I'd want to animate the whole thing myself. Not without a salary--it would take a long time.
On the other hand, I can already see some small things I'd like to have. ie where the figure does an action in one direction, but you'd like it to be facing the other way. Then there's clipping issues. It's good to know that's possible.
#6
Posté 27 juin 2010 - 04:30
tmp7704
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Do you mean doing an action with the body aligned in one direction by the head being pointed somewhere else?errant_knight wrote...
On the other hand, I can already see some small things I'd like to have. ie where the figure does an action in one direction, but you'd like it to be facing the other way.
This can be done by using the Headtrack action and making the character track something in the scene -- e.g. another character, but it can also be something invisible like a camera, or sound object, or even a "blank" prop item. By moving that thing around you can control exactly where they're facing, overriding the default behaviour from the animation.
Modifié par tmp7704, 27 juin 2010 - 04:32 .
#7
Posté 27 juin 2010 - 05:08
DahliaLynn
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errant_knight wrote...
ie where the figure does an action in one direction, but you'd like it to be facing the other way.
just in case you meant having an action reversed, I don't believe that can be done unfortunately, which made me have to decide on directions based on the animations available to me. (like right handed movements or left -or- going up as opposed to going down with the same animation)
Modifié par DahliaLynn, 27 juin 2010 - 05:10 .
#8
Posté 27 juin 2010 - 11:52
errant_knight
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Thanks, guys! Oh, and that headtrack info gets a huge cheer! They still walk funny, but it's a different kind of funny than it was yesterday.
