Adjustments to run animation

[Springheel]

Just so this isn't missed, there's an issue with the run animation and combat. AI can run while attacking, but the run animation makes them bend forward too far:

 

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?s=&am...st&p=187521

[squill]

i can adjust the position of the back.

 

if he is just taking a few steps, wouldn't it be better to give him another type of animation? I have yet to see it ingame so i might be wrong here.

[Tels]

i can adjust the position of the back.

 

if he is just taking a few steps, wouldn't it be better to give him another type of animation? I have yet to see it ingame so i might be wrong here.

 

Yeah, it might be that this looks equally "silly" like the issue we had (have) a while back with them:

 

* stopping

* turning on the spot

* running 2 steps forward

* stopping

* turning again

 

and if you moved one step, they'd repeat that.

[Springheel]

if he is just taking a few steps, wouldn't it be better to give him another type of animation?

 

I'm not sure if there is any code to distinguish between charging across the room or taking a few steps. I'd post in that combat thread and let Ishtvan answer that.

[Ishtvan]

I'm not sure if there is any code to distinguish between charging across the room or taking a few steps. I'd post in that combat thread and let Ishtvan answer that.

It's not just combat, it's all AI movement, and no, there is no code to distinguish running a small distance vs. running long distances. There is a walking vs. running distinction, but this is more about their alert state or the urgency of their action.

[SneaksieDave]

I'd guess it would probably look fine if it was more of a moderate jog-run, as opposed to a full-on head-tucked sprint.

[Domarius]

Distingushing a long run from a quick dart by a few feet, is something all games can benefit from and most rarely never address, and I'd love to be involved in a game that did it, but for the first release we can do without it.

[squill]

it's usually done for games in which you play in thirdperson. But you'll have to decide at what speed a character is walking, running and sprinting and even those settings can be split up into more variations. I could animate a slower kind of jogging animation but if it's too much work to add in code i would just edit the position of the back.

 

it would also be nice if the engine supported blending between animations. That would make such transitions look much better instead of seeing an instant state change.

[Tels]

it's usually done for games in which you play in thirdperson. But you'll have to decide at what speed a character is walking, running and sprinting and even those settings can be split up into more variations. I could animate a slower kind of jogging animation but if it's too much work to add in code i would just edit the position of the back.

 

it would also be nice if the engine supported blending between animations. That would make such transitions look much better instead of seeing an instant state change.

 

I thought the engine does support that, but I might be wrong. AFAIR> you can choose how many frames it should blend over, and setting that to 0 means "teleport". However, my memory might be failing me

[Domarius]

Doom 3 does blend anims. But jumping from standing to running without a proper inbetween animation will always look bad no matter how much blending you put.

[Tels]

So maybe you can whip up a quick "run a few steps forward" animation?

[Domarius]

No the main problem here is the code has to detect that situation in order to even make use of such an anim.

[SneaksieDave]

I don't mean so much a smooth blend between different movement states as much as saying, it looks bad that they're in a position of full sprint and sometimes even looking at the ground while fighting the player. I'd take an unsmooth animation change over the sprint-fighting.

 

Thus the suggestion to tone down the run in general, from a track-sprinter, to a guy in armor jogging. It won't be a perfect solution, but better than current.

[Ishtvan]

I'm told even track sprinters don't lean forward in an all-out sprint, it's better form to stay straight up and down.

[SneaksieDave]

Actually that's a good point.

seem to know how to run. Can we just get rid of the lean altogether?

[Dram]

The lean is like in anime where they run (for some weird reason) with their hands behind them like wings, while their whole torso is ridiculously bent forward as if just about to spew.

[squill]

i've adjusted the back position. We are not talking about a sprint and like those sprinters mentioned earlier and those guards wouldn't be able to run like that because of all the heavy armor.

 

You do see more of the leaning in cartoon characters. I have a few videos/books with some references which illustrates some of those extreme poses. The current run was not intented to be combined with combat actions. I would've created a separate combat action for those type of actions because even with a straight back it usually looks kind of odd.

[Dram]

Cool, thanks Squill