Skeleton Pack Blog 1
by Andy Hawkins · 06/27/2006 (1:51 pm) · 14 comments
I just thought I start a blog on the Skeleton Pack now it's been released. YAY! 6 months of development - phew! Well that's how long it takes when I can only spend 2 hours a nite on it.
I've re-introduced myself to my family, and other responsibilities, like the garden - oh how I love gardening!! No really I do. I was out there on the weekend of the launch, digging earth, pulling out weeds and thinking, if only game dev could be like this. You have a problem like, that mound of dirt is too high, well dig it out, and dump it in the barrow. Or the grass along that fenceline is just too ugly - just pull it all out.
Game dev on the other hand is not trivial at all! For example I got my head around the IK requirements for Torque so my TODO list that particular evening was ... finish weight maps, convert skelegons, add goal nulls, animation run sequence, export to torque, script cs file to load dsq, play!
How it actually went was... finished weight maps, tested simple arm move by looking at it ShowTool Pro - and URK!!!! Wait a minute - that looks nothing like the animation I just did in Lightwave - what the?!!!! Lots of swearing, frustration, tweak a little, test, tweak some more, test and 6 hours later I hadn't got past the first step - was this pack ever going to get finished?
So now it's out I will be looking at improvements - and first order of the day (or month) is get the animations running in Max. Then next month, Milkshape.
Thanks to everyone who helped, showed interest, and a special thanks to those who have purchased the pack so far. Bye for now.
I've re-introduced myself to my family, and other responsibilities, like the garden - oh how I love gardening!! No really I do. I was out there on the weekend of the launch, digging earth, pulling out weeds and thinking, if only game dev could be like this. You have a problem like, that mound of dirt is too high, well dig it out, and dump it in the barrow. Or the grass along that fenceline is just too ugly - just pull it all out.
Game dev on the other hand is not trivial at all! For example I got my head around the IK requirements for Torque so my TODO list that particular evening was ... finish weight maps, convert skelegons, add goal nulls, animation run sequence, export to torque, script cs file to load dsq, play!
How it actually went was... finished weight maps, tested simple arm move by looking at it ShowTool Pro - and URK!!!! Wait a minute - that looks nothing like the animation I just did in Lightwave - what the?!!!! Lots of swearing, frustration, tweak a little, test, tweak some more, test and 6 hours later I hadn't got past the first step - was this pack ever going to get finished?
So now it's out I will be looking at improvements - and first order of the day (or month) is get the animations running in Max. Then next month, Milkshape.
Thanks to everyone who helped, showed interest, and a special thanks to those who have purchased the pack so far. Bye for now.
#3
I 'think' one config may be to realign your mountNodes Pivots a little...for mounting Objects/Images... that may be all that's needed; well, and a good .CFG file to get rid of some of the extra Nodes/IK solvers/controllers...etc..they don't do much in Ms3d, unless they're chained correctly.
Let me know if you need any advice about the Milkfarm.
06/27/2006 (3:13 pm)
@ Andy: You 'should' be able to convert your Max scenes over to Milkshape3d fairly easily enough. There are two Max exporters[v5:6:7? and v8] to Ms3d format out there that do a decent job of exporting bone/Biped structures and the keyframes. If oriented as the Biped in Max, a small edit is perhaps necessary to get the mountings correct.I 'think' one config may be to realign your mountNodes Pivots a little...for mounting Objects/Images... that may be all that's needed; well, and a good .CFG file to get rid of some of the extra Nodes/IK solvers/controllers...etc..they don't do much in Ms3d, unless they're chained correctly.
Let me know if you need any advice about the Milkfarm.
#4
06/27/2006 (3:38 pm)
Real good luck with milkshape. Of all the modeling programs I have tried, Milkshape has got to be the easiest ive ever tried. 
#5
It's obvious you put a lot of work into this. With the scripts added and the melee and most importantly Lightwave support that we have so soarly needed. Can't wait til Dave's new exporter.
06/27/2006 (3:57 pm)
Congrts Andy. I will definately be buying this in a few weeks. I'm short on cash waiting for a damn reimbursment from my insurance company and had to trasfer from my savings to float us.It's obvious you put a lot of work into this. With the scripts added and the melee and most importantly Lightwave support that we have so soarly needed. Can't wait til Dave's new exporter.
#6
06/27/2006 (4:22 pm)
Congrats! Andy, Best of luck with the pack. 
#7
06/27/2006 (9:54 pm)
@Rex. [EDIT] opps never mind
#8
@Everyone - thanks for your kind and constructive comments - I was thinking I might get flamed - but everyone here has a responsible and supportive nature which is awesome. Glad to be here :)
@Michael - let me know what you think when you purchase it. I would be interested to see how GG have deployed the videos as well so let me know.
06/27/2006 (11:03 pm)
@Rex : thanks for the extra info. This will save me a lot of time. Once I have a decent rigg in Max and Milkshape, subsequence content packs - oh yes there will be more!! - will be some much faster to create.@Everyone - thanks for your kind and constructive comments - I was thinking I might get flamed - but everyone here has a responsible and supportive nature which is awesome. Glad to be here :)
@Michael - let me know what you think when you purchase it. I would be interested to see how GG have deployed the videos as well so let me know.
#9
...but ya know, I never tried to Import a LW file into Ms3d, so that may be a straight cross over...? Hm....I have never used or evaulated LightWave, while I have been animating with fragMOTION recently and found I quite like it, :). I was animating quickly with FK and the IK system that works fairly well. As long as you can get a file into DTSPlus! range...everything is good.
06/28/2006 (1:46 am)
This I take no responsibility; or this for anything listed here...it is a link posted in public view at Milkshape site, one of those hard to find buried items from a bit ago...I think one of the downloads is the Source for the exporters. I've been handed files exported to ms3d format and inspected them for usability and noticed that the latest ones I got had the Pivot's needed a reorientation to keep mounting 'normal'[I 'think' affect pivot or rotate helper so MaxY{of mountNode} is Up and MaXZ is Forward], while I don't feel it necessary to do the rest of the rig[if even possible...!] since the shape and sequences should be oriented correctly for the ms3d environment and correct processing into a DTS/DSQ data. Of course, probably anything coming out of the Milkfarm will probably have to stay together...dts & dsq wise, at least you may save reanimating it; while having to do some little cleanup of the Nodes with the .cfg....but ya know, I never tried to Import a LW file into Ms3d, so that may be a straight cross over...? Hm....I have never used or evaulated LightWave, while I have been animating with fragMOTION recently and found I quite like it, :). I was animating quickly with FK and the IK system that works fairly well. As long as you can get a file into DTSPlus! range...everything is good.
#10
06/28/2006 (2:07 am)
Ahh so maybe I should animation in fragMOTION first then export to Milkshape from there???
#11
I have another for you if you are up to it! I was thinking on how to use NaturalMotion Endorphin, with Lightwave....just kidding.. not your task... it is something that I am trying to do for all the death ragdoll animations.! :D We have it done in our game www.theelixir.com.ar but.. we used 3dMax.. now we switch over to LW, and we are working on learning how to use LW for Torque etc.
Do you think that what I want to do is possible?
06/28/2006 (3:41 am)
Andy you have done a really good job!...I have another for you if you are up to it! I was thinking on how to use NaturalMotion Endorphin, with Lightwave....just kidding.. not your task... it is something that I am trying to do for all the death ragdoll animations.! :D We have it done in our game www.theelixir.com.ar but.. we used 3dMax.. now we switch over to LW, and we are working on learning how to use LW for Torque etc.
Do you think that what I want to do is possible?
#12
Thanks for your thanks :)
06/28/2006 (4:31 am)
I think I'd need to hear more about it. How about email me off this thread and explain how it works. Thanks for your thanks :)
#13
06/28/2006 (8:24 am)
Andy, i just sent you an email, hopefully that can make your life a bit easier
#14
06/28/2006 (9:16 am)
Thanks Evi that will really help me out. It will ultimately speed up the develop cycle to release to Max upgrade for everyone - nice work :)
Torque Owner Canon
I'm totally agree with you, making a content pack is not so easy, especially for the first one.
Christophe