Animator

[Noisycricket]

Ok, i'll start a thread here i guess. Just waiting for the latest guard model file. Also in case nobody saw my other post, i'd like the standing-idle animation as well, reason being is that the model sways left to right and the engine doesn't seem to wait till the idle animations are finished to go to the next one so there is a noticable jump when switching from standing-idle to standing-idle-streching for example, if that makes sense. So i'd like to start my idle animations in the middle of the sway to avoid large jumps and i'll need the idle animation to do that.

 

My email: tory40 comcast net

 

@Domarius, Squill and Springheel: what idle animations have you finalized so i don't re-invent a wheel?

 

@Board guru: The board currently doesn't remember me for longer than what seems like 10 minutes, even if im using the board. I have to log back in. Is that normal?

 

Anyone have trouble getting tired at night due to computer use?

[greebo]

@squill or Domarius: can you provide him with a working set to create a simple animation?

 

Anyone have trouble getting tired at night due to computer use?

You can get hardened against that, believe me.

[Noisycricket]

I just recently found out that under accessibility options, you can enable a high-contrast setting which turns all the backgrounds black, very helpful to me so far, seemingly at least. Its togglable via hot key atl-shift-print screen, but you must check mark it on first.

[Noisycricket]

*Jeapordy theme song*

 

 

When O when will that model arrive....

 

No, im kidding, it doesn't matter really, im still trying to hash out the details of a good stretching animation.

[Domarius]

It's not normal to have the board keep logging you out.

 

If you give me your email address I can at least email you the latest model file rig.

[Noisycricket]

Thanks Domarius, my email address is: tory40@comcast.net

[Springheel]

If you give me your email address I can at least email you the latest model file rig.

 

Thanks for taking care of that.

[Noisycricket]

Will someone else send the proguard.mb file, this is day 4 of waiting for the model.

[Noisycricket]

Got it, thanks Squill.

[Domarius]

Sorry - I wish "View new threads" worked properly, I think they drop off the list after 12am unless a post is made after that. I didn't think it was a problem but I guess I can't rely on it any more.

[Noisycricket]

No problem here Domarius, just eager to get working. I've got a generic "sneeze" animation almost done, just need to get the arms a weighty feeling at the end.

 

@ animators: I noticed selecting a curve in the curve editor that was "synchronized Euler" and changing its rotation interpretation to Quaternion doesn't work. You just have to delete/most/some of the keys for that manipulator and start over, is that your experience? Is it ok to use Quaternion?

[Domarius]

Ah, squill put effort into setting the rotation type up to be quaternion. He was telling me about it on chat when we were making the new rig, but I can't remember the outcome of this. I honestly haven't had to worry about it yet - I've been making my keyframes very simple and focusing on the curves and timing and it's been great. He'll be able to answer your question when he replies though.

[Noisycricket]

Unperfect, "satisfactory" guard sneezing.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tzznoh2m1ed

 

Hows that then?

[Springheel]

I'll let our animators comment, but I think that's quite decent. Good enough to sign up for SVN.

 

In the meantime, if you'd like to keep going, here are some other idle animations we have on our list:

 

Idle, cough (1/1)

Idle, sniff self (1/1)

Idle, minor movement (2/5) (shifting weight, turning slightly, tapping foot etc)

Idle, stretching (1/3) (stretching arms, arching back, yawning, etc)

Idle, scratch (1/3) (scratching chin, etc)

Idle, drink/eat (0/1)

Idle, spit (0/1) (turn head and spit on the floor)

[squill]

i like the timing although a bit stiff on the hip area but good enough. I always have to play your clips in quicktime because mediaplayer classic/standard won't play, are u using special codec? (i see MS video 1 in QT) Also noticed the video was playing at 30 fps, don't know if you have set this intentionally but we animate at 24 fps.

 

@ animators: I noticed selecting a curve in the curve editor that was "synchronized Euler" and changing its rotation interpretation to Quaternion doesn't work. You just have to delete/most/some of the keys for that manipulator and start over, is that your experience? Is it ok to use Quaternion?

 

i've never worked with quaternions, but from what i understand it gives troubles editing the curves. Also when i set Rotation interp to quat. the keyframes lose their tangents. I would leave it to the standard, i never had any big issues animating with euler. Only a gimbal lock is something to be aware of but that can be avoided.

[Noisycricket]

Not sure about the playback problem Squill, Im using the playblast function at .4 scale with otherwise default settings.

 

I set the sneezing animation to 24fps and scaled it down. Yikes, quite a difference, especially in the fast movements. Will it have the same effect with the game rendering at 30+ fps?

 

I had tentatively planned to release high quality animation pack somewhere down the road as part of a "virtual reality" package. Will I be able to do that with 30fps animations?

 

 

Are the fingers individually manipulatable other than the channel box settings?

[Noisycricket]

i like the timing although a bit stiff on the hip area but good enough.

 

Good call, i fixed that as well as some other things.

 

Edit: Oops, should have just included this in the previous post.

[greebo]

@Noisycricket: I'll set you up as Animation Contributor in a minute. There is a startup post describing how to get ready for direct contribution here: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?showtopic=6694

 

Now I've got 2 requests for you:

 

- Please take your time to read through that post, it contains a lot of info for starters.

- Please stick around for more than just one or two animations. The team is "marked" by literally dozens of people showing up, putting efforts in their application, only to disappear right after they got SVN access. Please don't be one of them, it's so disheartening for the team to invest time on a newcomer, help him getting ready only to see after three weeks that time is wasted for nothing. That said, we're happy to help in case you're hitting a wall or something.

[Noisycricket]

@Noisycricket: I'll set you up as Animation Contributor in a minute. There is a startup post describing how to get ready for direct contribution here: http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?showtopic=6694

 

Now I've got 2 requests for you:

 

- Please take your time to read through that post, it contains a lot of info for starters.

- Please stick around for more than just one or two animations. The team is "marked" by literally dozens of people showing up, putting efforts in their application, only to disappear right after they got SVN access. Please don't be one of them, it's so disheartening for the team to invest time on a newcomer, help him getting ready only to see after three weeks that time is wasted for nothing. That said, we're happy to help in case you're hitting a wall or something.

 

Done and done.

 

 

Edit: edited

[Domarius]

The avi played fine in Windows Media Player for me.

 

We can't be too picky, but right away it looks a bit robotic at the start, I think it's the way his arm smoothly travels up to his face. Try lifting his arm quickly and leaning back in one movement, a little bit of anticipation as he keeps leaning backwards slightly, then let the rest play out. All very quickly of course. Did you act this out in the mirror first?

[Noisycricket]

The avi played fine in Windows Media Player for me.

 

We can't be too picky, but right away it looks a bit robotic at the start, I think it's the way his arm smoothly travels up to his face. Try lifting his arm quickly and leaning back in one movement, a little bit of anticipation as he keeps leaning backwards slightly, then let the rest play out. All very quickly of course. Did you act this out in the mirror first?

 

 

There is a little hesitation in the hands as hes determining whether or not hes going to actually sneeze, but its very slight, but I agree, ill add a little more.

 

A bigger problem i thought was the arm movement just after he sneezed, i'll adjust that too.

 

Edit: Yup, used a camera, but i couldn't get my whole body.

[SneaksieDave]

A bigger problem i thought was the arm movement just after he sneezed, i'll adjust that too.

That was what stood out as a (very minor) issue to me. After the sneeze, it looked like his arm fell with gravity, instead of being set down by living muscle.

[New Horizon]

Perhaps wipe the sneeze off his hand onto his clothes. lol

[squill]

Perhaps wipe the sneeze off his hand onto his clothes. lol

 

and then licks his finger... we need more creative things like this on the list

[Noisycricket]

That was what stood out as a (very minor) issue to me. After the sneeze, it looked like his arm fell with gravity, instead of being set down by living muscle.

 

Yes, that was intentional. For me, bringing the feeling of gravity into the game enhances immersion. I think it looks nice as long as its only done on a couple of the animations and its subtle. To me it says, "Im dead tired, is it break time yet?". I have since changed it so that it doesn't swing quite as far.

 

 

I had thought of wiping the hand off, but i took account the length of Thief 1 -3 animations and thought i should keep it shorter. I'd rather have them twice as long. (and if i can do that, let me know!)