Stock Animations in FPSC are Hard Coded?

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007

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Posted: 8th Dec 2011 20:10 Edited at: 8th Dec 2011 20:13

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Hello folks,

Other question (i think i ask too much

)

I am trying to create some custom animations using the stock FPSC Biped in 3dsmax.

But i noted something:

In example, anim53 is the Weapon Strafe Left animation, in any stock character the keyframe range from this animation is this:

anim53 = 623,642

If you look at the Animated FPSC BIPED in 3dsmax, the animation that begins in frame 623 and ends in 642 is the Weapon Strafe Left animation but for the PISTOLS like weapons.

Because if you want to use a character (enemy) that is holding a bazooka (i.e), in 3dsmax the anim53 (Weapon Strafe Left) is not from frames 623 to 642, the animation range for Weapon Strafe Lef holding a Bazooka like weapon is from frames 2179 to 2198.

But when you look at a stock entity that uses bazooka (ww2\officer_bazooka.fpe), in his fpe the animation range for anim53 is the same for other characters (623,642).

So my question is, are those FPSC Animations hard coded, so the engine recognizes that independent on the entity`s fpe, it will atributte the frame range to the animation according the weapon type the entity is holding?

In example, if i want to create new custom animations, from scracth, everything new, and if in my new animations, the Weapon Strafe Animation for Bazooka like weapon is from frame 3000 to 3150 (and not from 2179 to 2198, like the standardad FPSC BIPED), so how will FPSC recognize this animation range?

Would just if i put in the fpe:

anim53 = 3000,3150

Just this?

And if so, why in the stock officer bazooka character, in anim53 from his fpe is marked this:

anim53 = 623,642

Should not be marked this:

anim53 = 2179,2198

Because this is the real animation range for bazooka holding characters.

Please can someone give me this information?

Thanks

Goldenye 007 N64

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Bootlicker

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Posted: 8th Dec 2011 20:54

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im not sure how, but the gunspec of a weapon relates to the characters anims. look for the line 'weapontype =' in a gunspec. this may help with your investigation

im not sure, i dont think they are hardcoded. try emailing either tgc or EAI, his tf341 characters dont use stock anims so he must have a deeper knowledge.

good luck

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007

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Posted: 8th Dec 2011 22:08

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Bootlicker: Thanks for the info,

However, i am now analizing, i have the Task Force Pack,

I tested one TF341 character with a bazooka, he does not hold rightly the bazooka because they don`t have an animation for holding bazooka like weapons.

I will try to remake my question.

In example, i drag Aiko Pistol in my map, then inside fpsc editor, i right click on Aiko and change the weapon to a machine gun (modern day\uzi).

So when i test the game, aiko is holding the machine gun, and the animations that are playing are the character animations for machine gun like weapon, and not the character animations for pistol gun like weapons.

But in the fpe of Aiko the animations frame range are only for pistol gun like weapon.

So my question is HOW FPSC RECOGNIZES (FINDS) THOSE FRAMES RELATED TO MACHINE GUN LIKE WEAPONS IF IN THE FPE THE ANIMATIONS ARE ONLY RELATED TO PISTOL LIKE WEAPONS?

Goldenye 007 N64

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Errant AI

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Posted: 9th Dec 2011 07:58

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Quote: "I tested one TF341 character with a bazooka, he does not hold rightly the bazooka because they don`t have an animation for holding bazooka like weapons."

That's because I animated them for use with my RPG7 which has a different orientation. They are not animated for compatibility with all stock weapons.

To answer your question, the animations themselves are not hardcoded but the weapontype animations for weapontype 2-5 have a hardcoded offset of 389 frames. This means you specify in the character's .FPE a given animation for pistol animations and it will take that frame range and add 389 to it to find the animation for submachinegun/shotgun and add another 389 frames for rifles, etc.

You can have about any animation you like but it must be repeated in the animation timeline at 389 frame intervals in order to work. There is also a recently added "animation override" feature that allows you to use the same animation across all weapon types but it only works for certain (unarmed) anim slots (anim0-anim49,anim100-149) and must not have a conflicting (weapon) animation listed (anim50-anim99,anim150-199).

I've attached the full animation list frameranges for TF341/MP53 characters. It should help illustrate what I've just explained.

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007

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Posted: 9th Dec 2011 15:32

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Dear Errant AI

Thanks for the repply,

Yes, this is what i thought, framerange offset for finding weapon type animation. I know fpsc is an awesome engine, however those limitations are a bit frustrating if you want to create completely new animations.

I am using motion capture files for creating new character animations. I brought a pack of mocap animations optimized for games. some of them i am editting on Motion Builder to make them "stop in place".

But now i know what i will do, to avoid any error in framerange, i will make those animations in the same lenght of the stock animations. In example, anim2 with is the enemy walking, in the stock FPSC Biped it has 25 frames. My MOCAP walking file has 30 frames, so i just will rescale the animation to fit at the same range, this way staying the same lenght, just changing the animations itself.

But again, thanks for the info.

Best Regards,

007

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Errant AI

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Posted: 9th Dec 2011 16:46

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You don't need to keep to stock frame ranges and you can arrange things any way you like. The only real limitation is that you can't have a single animation longer than 389 frames if you want to use the weapontype system. In other words... You do not need to have all of a weapontype's animations fit in 389 total frames because you can interlace them in 389 frame blocks.

There's also no need to create all animations for all weapontypes if your game doesn't need them. For example, there's no rule that you have to use animate=1 as an idle animation for all weapons and have it reference the offset system. You can instead use the animation override method and use different animation calls in your scripts to match with the weapon used. In fact, the more optimized your animation timeline is, the better because with .x format, the unused anims translate into a larger memory footprint when converted to .DBO. When I made MP53, it wasn't until just prior to finishing that the feature was added to bypass the weapontype system. Had it been there earlier on, I could have optimized things a lot better.

If you want to "go your own way" with animations, there's almost nothing stopping you under the current system unless you intend to use the characters for multiplayer (custom anims can not be specified for MP). The only other caveat is that you should keep the throwback/die anim number assignments the same (although the framecount does not matter.

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007

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Posted: 9th Dec 2011 18:56 Edited at: 9th Dec 2011 19:01

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Thanks Again Dear Errant A.I,

It`s good hear such tips from experienced members here. As i said, i am an eternal student, always i am learning and studying hard.

Indeed, i did not know that unused animations in a X file would result in larger memory footprint, and we know for game design, memory usage is a great matter.

I will try to create my custom mocap animations, and, if i make it work also with the ragdoll (because i will use those animations with the Stock FPSC Biped), i will give it free here for the folks, because i am just a hobbist in game design, i already have my work, so i will give free those new BIPED animations.

But i will try to make animations for all weapon types, just like the Stock Animations, and if everything is ok, maybe i can send to TGC to they use this new BIP animations as the Stock BIPED Animations, so we can have MOCAP in FPSC Stock Animations.

Also thanks for this community always supporting me and answering my questions

Cheers

007

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maho76

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Posted: 10th Dec 2011 11:14

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thanks guys, trying around to animate a modular scifi-gun (swirling around in parts to recreate another weapon and such things), and this thread has profound info you cant find anywhere else as far as i have searched for. so thanks for the interesting conversation about animations, guys.

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spudnick

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Posted: 11th Dec 2011 23:29

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Thanks all for this thread, i now have a better understanding towards anim in fpsc.
Cheers

I'am not GOD but i can make you see again by taking my fingers out of your eyes and i can make you walk again by taking your beer away, but if you take my beer you will not walk again

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Zwarte Piet

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Posted: 12th Dec 2011 00:31

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I was wanting to know about mocap for quadrapeds for FPSC, like dogs, or big cats. Is there an animation list, or is it just trial and error?

"I would rather make a bad model, instead of pirate a great one" MY DAD "Now let's Make some Models" me "If you don't make it don't post it"

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Daniel wright 2311

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Posted: 12th Dec 2011 00:51

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Quote: "I was wanting to know about mocap for quadrapeds for FPSC, like dogs, or big cats. Is there an animation list, or is it just trial and error?"

the animation list is what you want it to be, there is not really anything hardcoded in genral as long as you set your frames at 25 frames per sec. with this being said, if you created your own animations,you will still use the

anim0=0,100
anim1=100,200
anim2=200,300

so on and so forth. its up to you what the animations are for the animation numbers. With that being said if you make a cat,then animate the cat,the animations for that cat will be defined in the fpi script as the same but with your cats animations.

so anim0=0,100 is your cats walk animation

so on and so forth.this is the animation frame number you will used in the script you set up. so like this,

state=1:anim=0,state=0

you just told fpsc to use your cats walk animation for state 1.

my signature keeps being erased by a mod So this is my new signature.

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FPSC Classic Models and Media / Stock Animations in FPSC are Hard Coded?

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