Doubt exporting character

#1 Sounds like there is no level of detail data exported. This can happen from a variety of things such as:

- No Detail Markers in the Scene. Ensure that you have at least one detail### node in your scene, these correspond to a LOD marker in the game engine with the number equating to how big the object is on the screen. If you have multiple LOD markers then you will have multiple LOD.

- No Details Registered on Geometry. This is done in one of two ways, either a trailing number after the goemetric nodes name (ie. playerMesh145) or with a multires modifier with settings in the objects property area. Both of these methods are covered in more detail in the DTS exporter docs. Note: You must have LOD data for each detail marker you use in your scene, if there is no data available for a particular marker then the engine will not display anything.

- Bad hierarchy linking. If you dont use a skin modifier to deform your mesh w/ bones then the geometry can just be linked to the DTS hierarchy (anywhere under start01 or equivilent). If you do have a skin modifier the geometric object must be on the scene root and not parented to anything.

If you still have troubles you should upload your file for someone to take a look at, or just ask more questions.

Logan

#2 Thank you Logan for your reply, the problem was that the detail was joint to bip01, when I joint it to bip-pelvis, the problem was fixed.

Greeting and thanks once more.

#3 A neeeeww doubt!!! ok, the character is exporting fine, both mesh and animation are seen in the viewport of showtool, but the character is slightly tilt.

I have posted two images so that you can see what I'm telling.

Greeting and thanks in advance.

#4 Hi all folks!!, here I'm again with a new problem.

When I put the character on bicycle, the node bip01 is placed in the same coordinates of bicycle's mount0 node. Well, this node is over the seat, but when I move the character on the bicycle, the bip01 node is blocked in the coordinates of mount0 node and the arms and legs are displaced. This places the character in the wrong spot, not right on the seat.

Thanks in advance!!!

#5 When you mount any object to another it will mount from the source objects (weapon, character, item, etc.) mountpoint or world position (ie. location of bounds pivot point) if no mountpoint exists, to the target/destination objects mount# node you specify. The transforms (ie. position, rotation and scale) will translate over from the mount# node onto the object being placed onto it.

So essentially the engine is doing what it should be doing, what you need to do is correct your mount node on the bicycle so that it is position properly.

#6 Thanks for your reply L Foster.

This is a problem for me, because how do I make the different animations for the character? I need to move the character up for some animations.

Is there any way to do that? Somebody have any idea?

Greetings and thanks in advance.

#7 Well asuming that you are using Biped one would go forth and use their "planted" "free" and "sliding" key options and animate from there. Remember that everyone on the biped moves around the COM object which conviently is where the person sits on the bike. If you need them moved up move them up. Bounds only defines the world of the DTS it doesn't say that the persons feet have to line up to it.

#8 About the mount problem, you could always create a mount point (linked to the bip01, but NOT inheriting it's motion) and mount that to your bicycle. About the tilt problem, I think I'm seeing something similar to this too in some of my animations. (it's somewhat related to another post I posted here about keys not being set right).

I haven't had time to fully investigate yet, but the problem seem to be that when there's no motion in a bone the exporter culls it out and doesn't export any keys at all for that bone. In my case I didn't have keys in the spline bones which results in a tilted character. The solution is to add a key to each of the spline bones somewhere in the middle of the animation. As I said, I haven't had time to look into it enough yet, but I will have to fix it tonight so I'll post again.

Note also that with biped it may LOOK like a bone have keys when it infact doesn't. Biped is broken up in parts that share keys (all splines share keys, the whole arms, the whole legs, etc). You need keys/motion on ALL bones for them to export properly.

There REALLY should be an "AlwaysAnimate" option in the config files... (there is a "NeverAnimate", but no always for some reason).

--
Magnus Blikstad

#9 Thanks for yours replies L Foster and Magnus. I've tried to fix it the way you said although the tilt of the character only happends when I tilt the pelvis. The rest of the body haven't got problems and "alwaysanimate" option is checked on.

Ok I'm trying to add another mount to the character, I joint it at pelvis, I move the character and I leave the mount in 0,0,0 coordinates, so I can move the character forward and toward.

With this I avoid having severals mounts in the bicycle and I've total freedom to move the character where I like.

In theory this must work, but I still have not tested yet. I will post the result when I try it inside the engine.

Greetings.

#10 Yes, creating a mount node at 0,0,0 should fix that problem.
I've fixed my tilting problems at least, it was as I thought. When there's no motion (apparently not the same thing as "keys") that particular bone will not be exported. I had to go through my animations and make sure all bones were slightly animated.

What happens if you check "force transform animation" in the sequence helper? That fixed my tilting problem, but it have other drawbacks (it creates rotation AND position keys for ALL bones). Since I use the same animations for a number of different skeletons I can't have positional data as that just made a big mess of everything. (see my thread at http://www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=29791).