Bored, Scuff Boot

[Domarius]

http://208.49.149.118/TheDarkMod/movies/Bored_scuffBoot.avi

 

Ran out of time, not sure if I was as rigorous on detail this time, but I did use reference footage of myself doing the action.

[greebo]

Cool! Looks smooth and natural to me.

[PinkDot]

I like it!

[Springheel]

Yep, very nice.

 

I can't wait to get a system for playing these--I think it will add tremendously to the believability of our AI.

[Domarius]

Ok from now on i'm using refernce footage of myself for every anim I do

 

If you look closely and notice the little bend in his toe as the foot hits the ground - thank Motion Builder's "floor contacts" feature for that - all I did was move the foot close to the ground, the physics did the rest

[Springheel]

Was this animation ever uploaded?

[Domarius]

Nope, that's one of the ones I need to export. If you can use this right now then I will try and do it after work sometime this week.

[Springheel]

Any idle ones can be used by the code right away, so the more the better.

[Domarius]

Okay, this is uploaded now, in the citywatch as idle_scuff. Don't know how you make the idle state use it though.

[Springheel]

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php/Idle_Animations

[greebo]

I can add the animation to the citywatch, no problem. I just need a little time.

[squill]

I can add the animation to the citywatch, no problem. I just need a little time.

 

this is just adding a line to the citywatch def file and adding that same name in tdm_ai_base.def.. right or is there more that needs to be added?

[greebo]

this is just adding a line to the citywatch def file and adding that same name in tdm_ai_base.def.. right or is there more that needs to be added?

Yes, adding the animation state scripts Torso_blah() and Legs_blah() in the ai_darkmod_base.script file. But that's not too hard either.

[greebo]

I tried to add the animation, but I get this when trying to load a map with the citywatch. The anim is somehow buggy, it works if I comment the idle_scuff.md5anim entry out.

 

Joint 'Head' not found for 'head_joint' on 'atdm_ai_citywatch_1'

[Domarius]

Uhh... I guess it has something to do with the anim being based off an old rig. Not exactly sure how it works, I thought if it gets applied to the maya rig and sucessfully shows up in game, it should be fine. I will try importing it into the latest AnimRef_idle.fbx

[Domarius]

The anim itself should be fixed now - I just re-created the animation using the new rig. I tried importing the old anim over the new rig in MotionBuilder but the pauldrons kept screwing up and I couldn't modify them.

 

I'd update that script file or whatever but I'm just about to go to bed and don't feel I could sucessfully learn anything new right now

[greebo]

Thanks, I'll look into that when I get home.

[greebo]

Yup, everything works, idle_scuff is in-game and among the list of random idle animations now. Thanks!

[Domarius]

Whew, that was relatively painless... onto the next thing then.

[Springheel]

Most of the animation looks good, but the right hand is pretty buggered up. The fingers actually look like they detach and rotate in a circle.

 

[Domarius]

I KNOW The exact same thing happened to my last animation, and I'm not touching the fingers at all. I haven't worked out what it is yet. Why always that hand, why always rotating in a circle, I don't know. I don't even know how to fix it yet - they don't have any keyframes on them, therefore they shouldn't even be moving!

[squill]

I KNOW The exact same thing happened to my last animation, and I'm not touching the fingers at all. I haven't worked out what it is yet. Why always that hand, why always rotating in a circle, I don't know. I don't even know how to fix it yet - they don't have any keyframes on them, therefore they shouldn't even be moving!

 

In maya you can simply select the finger joints -> delete all the baked keyframes and set the rotations to 0.

I did some quick tests using AnimRef_idle.fbx -> import into maya using fbx_import.mb and this seemed to work well. Did you import the animation from an older fbx rig into MB? ..because i also see the screwed up hand in your Motionbuilder file.

[Domarius]

WOW I fixed it. FYI - there were no keyframes on the fingers in Maya either, this is a really weird one. Also I noticed the fingers in the latest AnimRef_idle.fbx are slightly crumpled too, even though they aren't moving. But I found the solution with some tips specifically for fixing finger effectors, but this should work to reset any body part to the binding position.

 

In Character Panel, click Edit, Input, and click the name with the checkbox already next to it.

The character goes back to its original position. Now just select the controls you want to reset, and set a keyframe for them. Naturally, when you now play the animation, anything you didn't set a keyframe for, returns to the way it was in the animation. I've added this to my notes for my ultimate animation tutorial.

 

So I've fixed the fingers in this idle_scuff anim, and also reset the fingers in the AnimRef_idle.fbx too, and uploaded them both.