Animating a mount point?
by Kjell Iversen · in Artist Corner · 07/12/2005 (10:46 am) · 6 replies
I'm trying to animate a melee attack for a rifle.
the problem im running into is that the characters hand moves off the grip of the rifle and onto the upper portion in order to convey a vicious "jab" with the butt of the rifle. the problem with that of course, is that the mount node stays with the characters hand, so the gun does not move with the hands as it should.
so i tryed to animate the mount node right in the rifle melee animation, however after exporting it stays with the right hand. i'm assuming this is due to the fact that the game is getting its node information from the DTS itself and disregarding any mount nodes in the DSQ. Is this the case? If so what are my options here?
I'd rather avoid switching the mount point to the left hand.
So is there a way I could animate the mount node right inside the DSQ itself for only the melee animation? Perhaps i could add a second mount node to the left hand? Could my programmer then somehow switch mount nodes for that particular animation and then back again once it has played?
In all honesty i'd like to be able to simply resolve this with animation instead of having to add and orient a completely new mount node.
anyone have any ideas?
the problem im running into is that the characters hand moves off the grip of the rifle and onto the upper portion in order to convey a vicious "jab" with the butt of the rifle. the problem with that of course, is that the mount node stays with the characters hand, so the gun does not move with the hands as it should.
so i tryed to animate the mount node right in the rifle melee animation, however after exporting it stays with the right hand. i'm assuming this is due to the fact that the game is getting its node information from the DTS itself and disregarding any mount nodes in the DSQ. Is this the case? If so what are my options here?
I'd rather avoid switching the mount point to the left hand.
So is there a way I could animate the mount node right inside the DSQ itself for only the melee animation? Perhaps i could add a second mount node to the left hand? Could my programmer then somehow switch mount nodes for that particular animation and then back again once it has played?
In all honesty i'd like to be able to simply resolve this with animation instead of having to add and orient a completely new mount node.
anyone have any ideas?
#2
I'm basicly trying to animate mount0 (located on my characters hand) along with the dummy rifle i have in my maya file. the problem is that the mount node animates in maya, but not in the showtool. it stays fixed to the hand at all times.
07/12/2005 (4:42 pm)
Im not sure if i could clrarify any more.I'm basicly trying to animate mount0 (located on my characters hand) along with the dummy rifle i have in my maya file. the problem is that the mount node animates in maya, but not in the showtool. it stays fixed to the hand at all times.
#3
07/12/2005 (4:49 pm)
It may just be that the animation is not exporting... check the dump file to see the mount0 node got culled or "collapsed". You may have to specify in your .cfg file to AlwaysExport the mount0 node.
#4
The mount point seems to be stuck to the mangled hand, even though in maya it leaves the hand and follows the rifle at frame 1 (and is constrained to the hand in the proper root pose at frame 0)
Its almost as if the showtool is somehow adding the transform information of the mount node from both the DTS and the DSQ, and keeping the hand stuck to the resultant transform at all times.
07/13/2005 (10:24 am)
I've done this. the mount node is infact exporting. The problem is that when i load it up in the showtool, the hand with the mount point is completely mangled. yet it looks fine in maya. The mount point seems to be stuck to the mangled hand, even though in maya it leaves the hand and follows the rifle at frame 1 (and is constrained to the hand in the proper root pose at frame 0)
Its almost as if the showtool is somehow adding the transform information of the mount node from both the DTS and the DSQ, and keeping the hand stuck to the resultant transform at all times.
#5
also: If i delete the mount node, the animation looks fine. Like i said previously, its almost like the showtool is adding the transforms of the mount node from both the DTS AND the dsq and telling the hand to follow that at all times
07/13/2005 (10:32 am)
I should also note that the mount point is constrained to both the left hand and the right hand. The right hand constraint has its weight keyed at 0 for frame 1, and 1 for frame 0 (thus effectively constraining it to the right hand as in the original root pose). the left hand constraint is keyed in the opposite fashion. This is to keep the mount node congruant with the root pose of the dts, yet allow it to animate away from the hand for frames 1 through 60.also: If i delete the mount node, the animation looks fine. Like i said previously, its almost like the showtool is adding the transforms of the mount node from both the DTS AND the dsq and telling the hand to follow that at all times
#6
07/13/2005 (1:30 pm)
AHA! Turns out it was as simple as moving the mount point in the hypergraph from the left to the right hand.
Torque Owner Magnus Blikstad