Milkshape animation sequence question continued...
by Stefan Beffy Moises · in Artist Corner · 05/17/2002 (1:18 am) · 17 replies
As nobody was able to help me in the private section, maybe there's someone around here that could help me with an animation problem...
The problem is, we got a MilkShape character with different animations - all of them play fine, *except* for the "side" animation (it plays fine in the "show" tool, though, but not in-game - the engine only plays the default "root" animation instead...)
It actually *works* in-game if we replace for example the "run" animation with our "side" animation, the engine plays "side" while the character is moving forward... but it won't play the "side" animation for the side movements...
We are using the Material List in MS as "animation channels", the first entries look like this:
seq: root=1-4, fps=1, cyclic
seq: run=40-57, fps=24, cyclic
seq: back=20-38, fps=18, cyclic
seq: side=60-72, fps=18, cyclic
seq: jump=...
...
etc.
The whole character (and therefore ALL the joints) are moving a step sidewards during the "side" animation... in fact that's the only difference to the run animation (which runs completely at the same location - that is, the model doesn't "move" at all) - may that be the problem? Does the character have to stay at the same location during the side animation, too?
EDIT: well, we tried keeping the character at the same location while stepping sidewards, with no success, of course... :-( Still doesn't play the darn "side" animation...
Is there anything specific to the "side" animation? Any difference to all the other anims?
We changed the fps a couple of times, we changed the order of the sequences, everything... no success...
Maybe I can send our file to somebody familiar with Torque and Milkshape and has a working MS character in his game? Would be really great! :-)
Thanks for any help!
The problem is, we got a MilkShape character with different animations - all of them play fine, *except* for the "side" animation (it plays fine in the "show" tool, though, but not in-game - the engine only plays the default "root" animation instead...)
It actually *works* in-game if we replace for example the "run" animation with our "side" animation, the engine plays "side" while the character is moving forward... but it won't play the "side" animation for the side movements...
We are using the Material List in MS as "animation channels", the first entries look like this:
seq: root=1-4, fps=1, cyclic
seq: run=40-57, fps=24, cyclic
seq: back=20-38, fps=18, cyclic
seq: side=60-72, fps=18, cyclic
seq: jump=...
...
etc.
The whole character (and therefore ALL the joints) are moving a step sidewards during the "side" animation... in fact that's the only difference to the run animation (which runs completely at the same location - that is, the model doesn't "move" at all) - may that be the problem? Does the character have to stay at the same location during the side animation, too?
EDIT: well, we tried keeping the character at the same location while stepping sidewards, with no success, of course... :-( Still doesn't play the darn "side" animation...
Is there anything specific to the "side" animation? Any difference to all the other anims?
We changed the fps a couple of times, we changed the order of the sequences, everything... no success...
Maybe I can send our file to somebody familiar with Torque and Milkshape and has a working MS character in his game? Would be really great! :-)
Thanks for any help!
About the author
#2
05/22/2002 (2:36 am)
I agree, of course... ;-) Yes, there *is* this "model" in the "shapes/ms" folder, but that doesn't really help for real character animations.... a simple "human-like" animated character would be a major help for a lot of people struggling with MilkShape here... any takers?
#3
05/23/2002 (10:38 am)
Anyone? :-(
#4
One thing I came across is that the charatcter doesn't have the Biped02 node... but that souldn't be a problem, should it?
Thanks!
05/25/2002 (2:54 am)
Nobody using MS?One thing I came across is that the charatcter doesn't have the Biped02 node... but that souldn't be a problem, should it?
Thanks!
#5
05/26/2002 (10:12 pm)
.
#6
{ "side", }, // SideLeftAnim,
to:
{ "side", { -1,0,0} }, // SideLeftAnim,
Let me know if that works. If it doesn't, send me the DTS shape and I'll see if I can get it going...
05/28/2002 (12:30 pm)
It's probably not playing correctly because the milkshape exporter does not include the offset information. Try changing line 130 in player.cc from:{ "side", }, // SideLeftAnim,
to:
{ "side", { -1,0,0} }, // SideLeftAnim,
Let me know if that works. If it doesn't, send me the DTS shape and I'll see if I can get it going...
#7
Tim, you're a genius!!!
Thank you so much, that really does the trick!!
So does that mean if I would use an 3DSMax player now, I'd have to undo these changes? Or does the MAX player work with this, too?
I thought I'm going nuts with this side animation stuff... 8-0
Thanks again!! :-))
05/28/2002 (12:45 pm)
:-)Tim, you're a genius!!!
Thank you so much, that really does the trick!!
So does that mean if I would use an 3DSMax player now, I'd have to undo these changes? Or does the MAX player work with this, too?
I thought I'm going nuts with this side animation stuff... 8-0
Thanks again!! :-))
#8
05/28/2002 (2:35 pm)
Glad that worked :) It should still work fine for Max shapes... in fact I'll make that change in CVS since it should work for both. 
#9
However, a bigger mystery is: who put it there ? I don't recall doing it...
05/29/2002 (5:16 am)
hmmm, I found that I already have the fix suggested by Tim in my player.cc - except it's 1,0,0 not -1,0,0 ! This may explain some of the weirdness I see when the avatar moves.However, a bigger mystery is: who put it there ? I don't recall doing it...
#10
03/24/2003 (6:38 pm)
...glad I finally found this post, it would seem to explain what's occuring with my run(Milkshape) sequence...very similar. I searched, but could not find any file extension .cc anywhere? Where can this file be located and would the above edit help me too? Thanks a lot...I feel closer now.
#12
Thanks a lot...
03/31/2003 (6:33 am)
Well, everything is fine now with my running sequence...I believe I had frame #'s repeated for separate declared sequences...and the engine was in fact running a small portion of the loop endlessly....oh well, doesn't matter now, I have a Milkshape3d built character functioning in the world of Torque. Only snag now is how he holds the weapon in 3rd person as opposed to 1st person, which is normal, but 3rd has him holding the weapon 90 degrees out of orientation in 2 axises...should be fixable in code?Thanks a lot...
#13
03/31/2003 (8:54 am)
You can specifiy an offset and rotation in the ShapeBaseImage, this will offset it or rotate it relative to the mountpoint. Something like this:datablock ShapeBaseImageData(CrossbowImage)
{
offset = "0 0 0";
rotatation = "0 0 90 1";
...
}
#14
Sorry, but; I'll be asking such newbie questions until I get a decent handle on the needed data for providing acceptable content towards our project's goals...
...but thanks so far, I've managed a lot in a relatively short time...just wish I could edit these .cs files myself to include my content from within the builtin Tools(I've been moving/renaming existing content to allow game viewing of them)...otherwise it's a wait until it's properly built from coders...oh well.
Thanks
Rex
04/01/2003 (6:59 am)
Super Cool, I'll keep that for later...next question: Where can I find the framecount#'s of the various default DTS player-character sequences. From the Show_tool, I've noticed that some sequences appear to be simply single frame reference poses. Since Ms3d has a framecount maximum, it will make fitting all needed sequences within the Material List(total=128, I believe...)and Keyframer an easier process. To make it simpier: which sequences need movement and which are poses?Sorry, but; I'll be asking such newbie questions until I get a decent handle on the needed data for providing acceptable content towards our project's goals...
...but thanks so far, I've managed a lot in a relatively short time...just wish I could edit these .cs files myself to include my content from within the builtin Tools(I've been moving/renaming existing content to allow game viewing of them)...otherwise it's a wait until it's properly built from coders...oh well.
Thanks
Rex
#15
this looks great, except for the spelling of [rotation]....???? an extra "ta" in there...is this why the default weapon(crossbow) ends up strangely oriented in his hands...? I ask because the snippet seemed to be a copy/paste...or quote. Trying to avoid any further confusion...
04/01/2003 (9:57 am)
datablock ShapeBaseImageData(CrossbowImage){ offset = "0 0 0"; rotatation = "0 0 90 1"; ...}this looks great, except for the spelling of [rotation]....???? an extra "ta" in there...is this why the default weapon(crossbow) ends up strangely oriented in his hands...? I ask because the snippet seemed to be a copy/paste...or quote. Trying to avoid any further confusion...
#16
04/01/2003 (10:39 am)
oop, looks like I did mespell it in the post. Should be "rotation"
#17
I know that there is a list in the 3DS dts exporter docs, but they do not work; it says "forward" when I have to use "run" instead (because of MS, I guess). And it talks about blends. Can I or do I need to do the blends with Milkshape?
Thanx!
Chad
11/13/2003 (3:54 pm)
The first post in this thread has a partial list of the default animations required when using Milkshape. I cannot seem to find a complete list, however. Could someone post them or a link to them?I know that there is a list in the 3DS dts exporter docs, but they do not work; it says "forward" when I have to use "run" instead (because of MS, I guess). And it talks about blends. Can I or do I need to do the blends with Milkshape?
Thanx!
Chad
Torque Owner Edward Smith
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