Mounted objects inheriting parent animations?
by Walter Yoon · in Torque Game Engine · 12/31/2004 (6:19 pm) · 5 replies
I apologize in advance if this is an obvious question, but I've been quietly searching for the past few days and haven't been able to find a clear answer on my own.
Is it possible for mounted objects to inherit skeletal animations? Essentially, can a mounted object "mimic" the object it is mounted on?
Is it possible for mounted objects to inherit skeletal animations? Essentially, can a mounted object "mimic" the object it is mounted on?
#2
Let me try a completely theoretical example. Take the orc player object that is included in the starter.fps demo. Now, mount another orc object onto some random bone or node of the first one. Yes, I know it will look very silly, but this is just theoretical.
Now, is there any way for the second orc object to mimic whatever animations the first orc object does? Basically, whatever skeletal animations are played on the first orc will also be played on the second orc. If the first orc walks, the second orc will also walk. You'll end up with a second orc attached to the first orc, copying any action that the first orc does.
I know this sounds utterly ridiculous, but I really need to know this.
12/31/2004 (8:15 pm)
Erm, that's not what I meant. Perhaps I should rephrase the question a bit more clearly.Let me try a completely theoretical example. Take the orc player object that is included in the starter.fps demo. Now, mount another orc object onto some random bone or node of the first one. Yes, I know it will look very silly, but this is just theoretical.
Now, is there any way for the second orc object to mimic whatever animations the first orc object does? Basically, whatever skeletal animations are played on the first orc will also be played on the second orc. If the first orc walks, the second orc will also walk. You'll end up with a second orc attached to the first orc, copying any action that the first orc does.
I know this sounds utterly ridiculous, but I really need to know this.
#3
Imagine you're trying to make a giant robot game, where the robots directly mimic the movements of their pilots. The robots' heads are clear glass domes, which their respective pilots stands inside. Players can swap different robots with different pilots.
So, you make the robots and the pilots as separate DTS objects. Both have an identical skeletal structure, so both can use the same animations.
The pilot DTS object is mounted to the robot's head bone, so that the pilot is "inside" the robot, yet visible through the glass dome. Now, is there any way to ensure that any actions done by the robot object are also mimicked by the pilot object?
12/31/2004 (8:35 pm)
Here's another example, which may be clearer. For the record, I'm not making a giant robot game; this is just a easier example to understand.Imagine you're trying to make a giant robot game, where the robots directly mimic the movements of their pilots. The robots' heads are clear glass domes, which their respective pilots stands inside. Players can swap different robots with different pilots.
So, you make the robots and the pilots as separate DTS objects. Both have an identical skeletal structure, so both can use the same animations.
The pilot DTS object is mounted to the robot's head bone, so that the pilot is "inside" the robot, yet visible through the glass dome. Now, is there any way to ensure that any actions done by the robot object are also mimicked by the pilot object?
#4
12/31/2004 (8:56 pm)
Well... you could do something in script for whenever an object is animated, it also calls the animation on its mountedobjects...
#5
01/01/2005 (2:31 pm)
Easy - extend ShapeBase (or whatever class is doing this) to pass all animation state to its "mimic object." Easy in theory, anyway - I imagine implementing it would take a few days. 
Torque Owner Mike Kuklinski