squill

Do you have access to the weapons_viewmodels folder in model_src and i assume you know how to animate using Maya? If so you can open up sword_idle_pose.mb which is the default weapon pose to start any new animation.

this shouldn't be to much work to setup. But I'll have to see how i can put this between the rest of my animation work. I'm currently the only one doing the animation because Dom is still gone and we haven't got anyone else to do this quickly.

i've added a generic idle, walk and run on the proguard. only one issue, I can't get his pelvis to move correctly. I guess it has something to do with setting the proper torso and legs channels in the def file but i already tried a few settings. It's clearly visible on the run cycle like he's floating because there's no up and down movement on the hips. to show you what i mean i removed the movement from the origin (so he's running in place) and placed a testmodel next to it with the same animation. The one on the left is the testmodel. You can clearly see the difference when his hips are also moving on the left model. Running

jep, im working on the run and idles.

the new hands are on the rig. I'm pretty much finished with the rig so you can do whatever editing needs to be done on the model Springheel. I removed the sword joint and slightly adjusted the skin weightings on the elbows.

depends on your personal demands. I'm working a few years now on lcd's and i don't want to go back working on a crt. One of the reasons (besides crt's being expensive and big) lcd's are easier on the eyes which eliminated the headaches i got after working a few hours behind a crt and it's not that i used a low refreshrate because i'm usually the one who tell others their monitors are flickering. If you consider buying an lcd look for the ones that have a MVA/IPS or PVA panel. They have better colors (true 8-bit) and better viewing angles although they are more expensive. Cheaper monitors use a TN panel which usually means faster response times but less colors ( 6-bit colour depth) and limited viewing angles. I have 2 samsung TN-panels at home which are pretty good for me although i'm not that demanding. The viewangles are not that great, you really have to sit right in front of the screen to see it clear but the colors on my 22' widescreen are decent enough to work with.

i already tried that. I'm using a custom def file to export the models/animations. But once i start a testmap i keep getting the msg: joint "" not found for attaching 'CMeleeWeapon' on ... yes thats what i needed to know. I changed "ik_waist" from "hips" to "pelvis" which fixed the stretching. thanks

first of all, happy new year You can mail the lwo file to me. Just before i left for the holidays I had setup a quick walkcycle to test the model. I noticed the upperbody stretches when he steps on higher surfaces. The pelvis lifts up while the hips stay on the right height. Walk also when i remove the sword joint i'm unable to test the model ingame because it still searches for this joint. I don't know what to comment out to make it work without the sword joint.

it might be that the rotation axis of the joints on the head are different then on the body. For example you use Y-rotation on the body mesh to rotate the head but on the head mesh it might be Z. We'll have to see what happens when you apply an idle on the meshes with this new skeleton. concerning your adjustments. i haven't checked the model closely yet, i first wanted to get the rig working ingame. I could help you with the hands and shadow mesh, i guess you still import the md5mesh into Lightwave? I'd rather see the mesh changes being done on the rig file so the animators are always working with the latest mesh in case any (uv/clipping) problems may rise. But if there's no alternative right now we'll have to work this way (unless your willing to learn maya). I'll remove the sword bone and i'm going to setup some test anims soon to check if any other issues might show up.

I've got the model working ingame..whooo!! just in time for Christmas the main problem was the shadow mesh, so i cleaned it up making both sides symmetrical and i made sure it was triangulated. I removed a few animation lines from the proguard def file so i can start from scratch with some basic animations. only the material of the hands are full bright as you can see and the shadow is headless, like Springheel mentioned before. Also the sword joint is still there clipping thru his leg, but i can remove it if needed. Well now i'm off for a few days to celebrate Christmas so i'll speak to you guys next year. Happy holidays!!

nope, none of the def files are synched just local adjustments. I have the same messages, also the warning above "unknown command no_random_headturning" causes some problems to start up any map with ai characters. So i had to comment out no_random_headturning to skip this error. yeah its still named head, also the meshfile contains this joint. Atleast what i understand each joint binded to the skin should be exported and i didn't change the names of the joints. The hierachy is slightly changed with an extra joint on the hips to seperate the lower and upper body but i don't know of this could cause these errors.

the md5mesh is on svn. When i exclude the attachments in humanoid_base i got another message: Joint "Head" not found on head_joint"...

i'll upload this version today together with the rig file. I don't see those spawnargs present in the def file, or do i need to adjust them elsewhere?

Last week i finished the animation rig. although the exporting doesn't go smoothly yet. When i want to test the model ingame i get the following message in the console: joint "RightHand" not found for attachment position "hand_r".... the older version of the mesh file works without this problem, it might be the hierarchy of the skeleton which is slightly different. Maybe some of the def files is pointing towards this joint, i haven't figured it out.

Maya's component editor displays the weight values for each vertex. although the engine outputs the verts lines in the md5mesh file which don't correspond with the verts numbers in maya. But I'll make it work

the skeleton on svn can be used for rigging but i must say a fully complete version hasn't been tested yet. I'm still getting a message once i export that some vertices are still missing weights although i can work around it by editing the md5mesh file manually.

small update: i haven't checked the last version in. Still need to adjust the weightings before it will let me export to the engine I changed the positions of 2 shoulder joints which makes the bending of the arms look better which isn't in the skeleton on svn. Today i have some freetime to work on this and make some more progress. Will Dram use Max or Maya to rig any characters? Because i believe he was using Max but i don't know how the skeleton will translate to max smoothly.

i've added 3 parry animations: left2right right2left thrust i haven't looked deep into some reference so i simply created these poses for you to work with.

some vertices on the model are not binded which causes an error when i try to export. After this is fixed i'd be able to tell you more.

i'll setup some for you when i'm home.

i've connected the arms with IK/FK controls, in the same way the citywatch was setup. I only haven't added some finger controls and a hip rotation ctrl. next up will be some exporting tests.

the skeleton is in place and binded to the meshes, i only need to connect and setup the anim controls for the arms which i'll finish tomorrow. Then we should be able to test it in-game. this model is headless, which is fine for exporting a md5mesh, but for animating you'll want a head mesh so that's something i also have to add before starting any new animations. if your curious how it looks/works you can take a peak in the proguard model_src folder. i've uploaded the latest version.

from my own experience i would say that we could get most animations in place before the summer. I don't think you need roughly 8 months to convert the existing animations If it goes well it could be finished in 1 or 2 months also keeping in mind that we have more characters which need to be adjusted to the new skeleton. What i usually do is going back to older animations to improve them and that's something that will probably go on until the release.

probably till the end. Some animations need to be tweaked others re-created. I'll have a better overview once we have a complete rig up and running which i intend to finish this week.

yes it has been a bit quiet around here I haven't spend that much time on the mod/rig lately. Most of my time and energy went into work and just daily life. Domarius and I are getting close to test the rig ingame and setup a bunch of new animations. The last thing i did after Domarius finished the weighting was adding an extra joint to separate the upper from the lower body like id has done. It also allows for independent hip rotations. next task would be to adjust the weighting around the waste and apply the remaining animation controls. then we can test the model ingame with old and new animations.