FOnline Development > 3D Development
Character Animations
xammurapi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqeIOrqJA-M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTfuUYjAumI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WadywtHQDjs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j7enJsUMYo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrFSVB-G9J8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2YGuxgVD8U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezX7aB0XSCg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kREijs_UVMI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXizyoyVN6k
Luther Blissett:
A lot to look at! :)
I'll look in chronological order...
Firstly, in my opinion, yes please! More animators are definitely needed. For the style elements, it's certainly true that the Fallout animations are heavily stylised (especially the "run" one), but I would consider any animation to be better than none at all, especially if they can be produced simply and quickly - and as Horatio said, these can be adjusted later.
It's notable for example that the Van Buren ones "breathed" or "swayed" a little, compared to the completely static poses of the Fallout ones. However, the process of applying this simplicity and style to an existing animation is likely much easier than creating these from scratch. I'd assume these animations are keyframed throughout, but we can likely adapt these stylistically by importing the standard idle pose as the start and finish point, then picking 3 or 4 keyframes from the animation and deleting all other keyframes and letting it tween between those points, making it far less fluid and realistic. Once down to a smaller number of keyframes, they can be tweaked into a more Fallout-like exaggerated position (see the punch or run animations for good examples of exaggerated action).
The currently possible "animation slots" are in \Client\data\art\critters\_FOHuman.fo3d - you can run additional animations with a debug code, but otherwise they do need linking up in the main scripts. This is entirely possible, but I don't know how to do it personally. It should be fairly easy to understand for anyone with the slightest bit of scripting experience. It was previously suggested that we should add a lot of "flavour animations" for drinking, smoking, using things etc - predominantly replacements for the "milking an invisible cow" use animation - specifically those for doctor/first aid/failed steal (successful steal probably being invisible).
Regarding project coordination, I'd probably consider Karpov/Graf/Grey as the main coordinators of the 3D stuff, though the 2238 Devs themselves would be responsible for what was to be used in 2238 - though I do have a reasonable involvement in the 3D stuff I think. In the absence of a reply from any of those, I would personally say "yes, go for it". I can't see any reason why this work would cause any problem, and am fairly confident that they would also see the benefits of this - as mentioned before, things can be tweaked and refined in future.
Technically, Karpov's animation was based on a Max biped - I think I may have a source file for this if it's useful to you. Otherwise, the current skeleton is mapped out in one of the 3D tutorials, if you want to look at bone names etc. As said, it's mittens for hands and a single head bone, which I think is perfectly sufficient when you consider the in-game size of the models. For file formats, I've personally used .x through Fragmotion (it can import the native .x files seamlessly) - but pick whatever seems most cross-compatible - especially with Blender, as we've got a few good animators using this. The model orientation is flipped L-R when editing, but is then flipped or rotated in the game engine it seems - whatever you export must match this. The model may appear "face down" in some programs, due to the difference in Y/Z axis for up that some formats or programs use. Any "no_name" bones which appear can be safely deleted. You should have everything linked to the main skeleton, and an additional two hand bones, again there's a diagram in the tutorial section which should help.
[edit]
Looking through the little videos you've put up, it's all looking good. The bits that would need tweaking for "Falloutness" are likely the movement of hips, rotation of torso etc. If these animations had existed in the Fallout world, they'd likely have a completely static body, with just the movement of the arms. I'm pretty confident that it's doable, simply by positioning the body to the normal "idle pose", then using some of the keyframes from the arm movements, but deleting all the lower body movements. I'm almost certain I could do this with Fragmotion myself, but I'm a little short of time right now. I'll try and have a go at a couple quite soon, and see if it's as easy as I think it will be :)
Jotisz:
Xammurapi these animations are looking good. Especially since motion capture animations are easy to tweak and edit. A bit less of a work then creating an animation. I'm sure they will be useful.
xammurapi:
It would be nice to see a list of desired animation: text or video or links to animated models.
To create the current animation, so I did: downloaded the wow client and wow_model_viewer. In it, I looked at some of the characters and lists of animations that they use. I did own list, and then tried to reproduce what I saw (with amendments). This is a very good help.
I do not quite understand your reasoning about style. In the video test using 3D models in the game engine http://youtu.be/wpzC0lctAGE, everything looks great in my opinion.
My knowledge of 3D modeling are insufficient to handle the animation in the editor, but see the biped would be interested. Which modifier is used to snap the character?
In general, I am most interested in creating animations for the super mutant. Frankly, by coincidence, that I think about it for 15 years, starting with a Fallout1, when I saw the in-game-movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfyqlMBeQFU&feature=player_detailpage#t=60s Maybe it's a bit strange, but many times I imagined that it was me - super mutant, new warrior of the Master's army, who before diving into a vat of the virus was VaultDweller. And I imagined how I go through the corridors of the Vault13, shooting yesterday genetic cousins ...
It would be nice to implement impersonation in the actual animation, I'm glad that I now have the opportunity.
Haraldx:
--- Quote from: xammurapi on August 03, 2012, 08:57:16 pm ---I do not quite understand your reasoning about style. In the video test using 3D models in the game engine http://youtu.be/wpzC0lctAGE, everything looks great in my opinion.
--- End quote ---
Those are Van Buren animations. What we are aiming for are almost (if not exactly) perfect copies of Fallout 1/2 sprite animations. The main problem is that the original Fallout animations aren't very realistic (take a look at the running cycle, it's ridiculous how at one point the legs make an almost perfect 180 degree angle) and rather choppy. Van Buren animations (which I actually have a feeling were motion capped too) are the exact opposite, but hey, I'm getting side tracked a bit here.
--- Quote from: xammurapi on August 03, 2012, 08:57:16 pm ---In general, I am most interested in creating animations for the super mutant. Frankly, by coincidence, that I think about it for 15 years, starting with a Fallout1, when I saw the in-game-movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfyqlMBeQFU&feature=player_detailpage#t=60s Maybe it's a bit strange, but many times I imagined that it was me - super mutant, new warrior of the Master's army, who before diving into a vat of the virus was VaultDweller. And I imagined how I go through the corridors of the Vault13, shooting yesterday genetic cousins ...
It would be nice to implement impersonation in the actual animation, I'm glad that I now have the opportunity.
--- End quote ---
Sounds nice. As far as I know, we need the whole set for muttie animations (that is - everything).
I do not know if this is the whole list of animations a character uses, but hey:
* Taking hit front
* Taking hit back
* Fall forward
* Fall backward
* Idle
* "dodge" attack
* Walk
* Run
* Critical deaths (impossible with motion cap only, will require post processing)
* Punch
* (?)Kick
* Use (aka, tickle the air)
* Death front
* Death back
* Change weapons (essentially, each type of weapon requires it's own animations = might be pain in the ass)
* Minigun set (Fire, reload, walk and whatnot)
* Rocket launcher set (same as above with shittons of animations)
* Flamer/plasma rifle set (same as both above)
* (?)Rifle set(Unknown if muties actually would use this kind of weapon)
* (?)Pistol set(Same as rifle)
* Throw (grenade etc)
* Get up front
* Get up back
* (?)Sledgehammer set
* (?)Club set
* (?)Spear set
* (?)Knife set
* Pick up/put down animation
* --------Leaving extra space here incase I remember something to add-------
* ---
* ---
* ---
* ---All the question marks show animations that I don't know if are really needed/going to be used.
I have a feeling I forgot some animations tho, not even talking about the optional ones we might need for more random diversity. May the light be with animators...
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