Playthread, setaction, setarm
by Sean H. · in Torque Game Engine · 08/08/2005 (8:16 am) · 4 replies
Ok anyone want to tell me why theres 3 different functions for playing an animation? can they be used interchangeably to call an arbitrary animation? do they involve using some kind of custom rig? someone let me in on the secret.
#2
:)
08/09/2005 (6:31 am)
I too need this information :) I have searhced hte docs and asked on irc and mucked with it on my own and tried sorting it out by reading the source.... but I am still lost. :)
#3
Playthread - this is a generic method and clan plany any sort of animation...but has no special "meaning" beyond that.
setAction - this is where the main "action" therad is set. A player can do one action at a time. He can be walking forward, but not backward at same time, nor side to side. He can be falling, but not walking. Set Action has the ability to "transition" between threads to minimize jerky changes.
setArm - the "arm" of the player controls where the gun is pointing and also where the player is "looking". The arm and action are independant. You can be walking and looking up... you can be walking and looking down. The "arm" animation is meant to blend in this range of motion of the arm to control your "aim" in the "up and down" ("side to side" being controlled by your players rotation)
To make an animation thread able to be played at the SAME time as other animations it must be marked as a "Blend" animation. I do not know the details on that as I am a programmer not a Max artists...ie...i dont konw Max or the exporter well enough to say HOW to make a thread a "blend" thread.
The action animations do not have to be blends.
The "arm" animations have to be blends.
You can run other blend animations on top of both action and arm using the .playthread() script method. there are up to, i think, FOUR slots that can run any blend animations you want on top of the standard ones.
08/09/2005 (6:40 am)
Ok here is the quick answer.Playthread - this is a generic method and clan plany any sort of animation...but has no special "meaning" beyond that.
setAction - this is where the main "action" therad is set. A player can do one action at a time. He can be walking forward, but not backward at same time, nor side to side. He can be falling, but not walking. Set Action has the ability to "transition" between threads to minimize jerky changes.
setArm - the "arm" of the player controls where the gun is pointing and also where the player is "looking". The arm and action are independant. You can be walking and looking up... you can be walking and looking down. The "arm" animation is meant to blend in this range of motion of the arm to control your "aim" in the "up and down" ("side to side" being controlled by your players rotation)
To make an animation thread able to be played at the SAME time as other animations it must be marked as a "Blend" animation. I do not know the details on that as I am a programmer not a Max artists...ie...i dont konw Max or the exporter well enough to say HOW to make a thread a "blend" thread.
The action animations do not have to be blends.
The "arm" animations have to be blends.
You can run other blend animations on top of both action and arm using the .playthread() script method. there are up to, i think, FOUR slots that can run any blend animations you want on top of the standard ones.
Torque 3D Owner Sean H.