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-   -   THE Ultimate Animation of Crew Thread (https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=176928)

Madox58 04-05-11 05:04 PM

One thing I did notice about the MeshAnimationData2?
There are 2 Frames numbered as Frame 0!
:hmmm:

I'd delete the second one and see what happens.
It may be a transitional frame?

Another reason to bring this thread up?
Hans is mistaken thinking SH3 uses bones.
It's all mesh animimations based on keyframes.

It's quite simple if you follow the basics layed out.
To make it more that it is?
You are just confuseing yourselves.

urfisch 04-06-11 02:42 AM

great to see this is further investigated!...i wish i would have more time to help. sad one, i know. but i would love to try your finds!

thanks a lot for the work so far!

:salute:

DivingDuck 04-06-11 06:55 AM

Moin,
Quote:

Originally Posted by privateer (Post 1636606)
Quite by accident I have found a way to do this.
I've started useing a new Hex Editor that allows Custom Templates and Custom Scripts.

So one could create the needed Templates and/or Scripts to extract the information from a file, then add it to an SH3 .dat file.

It's roughly $50 U.S. paperbacks to buy for non-commercial work.
Not bad for a Tool that has unlimited uses in many areas.
I've seen several Games being Modded with this Editor already!

Laying out a bait? Give us a name to put to that holy hex editor!

Regards,
DD

Madox58 04-06-11 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DivingDuck (Post 1636991)
Moin,


Laying out a bait? Give us a name to put to that holy hex editor!

Regards,
DD

:03:
http://www.sweetscape.com/010editor/

I've already started templates and scripts to extract 3D models from 'PT Boat' files.
The goal being to create an extraction/importation Tool.

DivingDuck 04-06-11 07:24 AM

Thanks for the quick reply, mate.
Check your gmx account. You have mail. RING! RING!

Regards,
DD

Madox58 04-06-11 07:35 PM

Looking at the files?
I kind of see what is going on with Data2.
:hmmm:
It will take a few more days probably to have the answer as to what is actually going on.

Then it may require more then S3D to work with.

Hans Witteman 04-07-11 04:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by privateer (Post 1636619)
One thing I did notice about the MeshAnimationData2?
There are 2 Frames numbered as Frame 0!
:hmmm:

I'd delete the second one and see what happens.
It may be a transitional frame?

Another reason to bring this thread up?
Hans is mistaken thinking SH3 uses bones.
It's all mesh animimations based on keyframes.

It's quite simple if you follow the basics layed out.
To make it more that it is?
You are just confuseing yourselves.

Hi mate,

Nice to see you are still on this because i did a lot of reading in the past week and what i mean by bones is that the based mesh is always animated with bones system and if we can export the whole rig in the 3d application we can then modify the based mesh at will this mean brand new character crew and animations.

It is done frequently on many others game they just write an import/export script for the proper 3d application.

I have characters already rig with bone system and morph target for lipsynch they are rig the same ways that current studios are making them.

Just wish we will be able to put them in SH3 they are waiting for this moment:up:

Best regards Hans

urfisch 04-07-11 05:57 AM

...seems as something great is beeing done here...

once again...

a really great community here. really...

:yeah:

Madox58 04-07-11 07:27 AM

MeshAnimationData2 successfully exported, modified, and re-imported with NO distortions.
:up:

I'll do a few more to verify the process then we should be off and running!
:rock:

Now, there are NO bones to export nor import for SH3!
How you animate the characters does not matter.
But you must export each frame as a seperate .obj file.
Those frames are then imported with S3D or whatever Tool you happen to use.

Hans Witteman 04-07-11 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by privateer (Post 1637694)
MeshAnimationData2 successfully exported, modified, and re-imported with NO distortions.
:up:

I'll do a few more to verify the process then we should be off and running!
:rock:

Now, there are NO bones to export nor import for SH3!
How you animate the characters does not matter.
But you must export each frame as a seperate .obj file.
Those frames are then imported with S3D or whatever Tool you happen to use.

Hi mate,

Ok now i get it s3d just take the keyframe generated by the bones animation:up:

But so far we still cannot modify the based mesh?

Also when exporting animation frame in s3d what your workflow to make it work in game?

So if i do some morph animation then i just export it as keyframe or do i need to used the morph controller?

Best regards Hans

reaper7 04-07-11 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by privateer (Post 1637694)
MeshAnimationData2 successfully exported, modified, and re-imported with NO distortions.
:up:

I'll do a few more to verify the process then we should be off and running!
:rock:

Now, there are NO bones to export nor import for SH3!
How you animate the characters does not matter.
But you must export each frame as a seperate .obj file.
Those frames are then imported with S3D or whatever Tool you happen to use.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hans Witteman (Post 1637755)
Hi mate,

Ok now i get it s3d just take the keyframe generated by the bones animation:up:

But so far we still cannot modify the based mesh?

Also when exporting animation frame in s3d what your workflow to make it work in game?

So if i do some morph animation then i just export it as keyframe or do i need to used the morph controller?

Best regards Hans

Great news Privater, hope this method will allow Hans and (everyone else working on animations) to get his new characters into SH3. What a day that will be :yeah:

DivingDuck 04-07-11 12:50 PM

Moin Hans,
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hans Witteman (Post 1637755)
Hi mate,

Ok now i get it s3d just take the keyframe generated by the bones animation:up:

But so far we still cannot modify the based mesh?

Also when exporting animation frame in s3d what your workflow to make it work in game?

So if i do some morph animation then i just export it as keyframe or do i need to used the morph controller?

Best regards Hans

It does not matter how you create your animation. Use a bone system if you like. The SH engine will not care. All you need is a set/sequence of sequentially named *.obj files, e.g. Part_001.obj, Part_002.obj, ....

As your animation will consist of a sequence of frames, all you have to do is to export each of these frames to *.obj file format using sequential numbers. The very first *.obj file however must come with a corresponding *.mtl file. All other *.mtl files are obsolete and will be ignored by S3D.

The *.datīs 3d_model node will hold the base frame/3d object while the rest of the animation will be put into the corresponding sub node holding all needed information about the deviation of each vertex during the animation, but no 3d model data at all. Thatīs why it is vital that the number of vertices is exactly the same for all *.obj files.

So, you can alter the based mesh, as you name it. But you canīt alter this one alone. As a result the animation will not work. There is one exception though. When you extract the base mesh and alter it without changing the number of vertices and without changing the triangles regarding their vertex dependencies (donīt know if thatīs the right term) it will work. But to what use? This approach would be useful only if you want to change the texture mapping coords for the base texture or for the lightmap.

Regards,
DD

Hans Witteman 04-07-11 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DivingDuck (Post 1637885)
Moin Hans,


It does not matter how you create your animation. Use a bone system if you like. The SH engine will not care. All you need is a set/sequence of sequentially named *.obj files, e.g. Part_001.obj, Part_002.obj, ....

As your animation will consist of a sequence of frames, all you have to do is to export each of these frames to *.obj file format using sequential numbers. The very first *.obj file however must come with a corresponding *.mtl file. All other *.mtl files are obsolete and will be ignored by S3D.

The *.datīs 3d_model node will hold the base frame/3d object while the rest of the animation will be put into the corresponding sub node holding all needed information about the deviation of each vertex during the animation, but no 3d model data at all. Thatīs why it is vital that the number of vertices is exactly the same for all *.obj files.

So, you can alter the based mesh, as you name it. But you canīt alter this one alone. As a result the animation will not work. There is one exception though. When you extract the base mesh and alter it without changing the number of vertices and without changing the triangles regarding their vertex dependencies (donīt know if thatīs the right term) it will work. But to what use? This approach would be useful only if you want to change the texture mapping coords for the base texture or for the lightmap.

Regards,
DD

Hi DivingDuck,

Thank for replying, what i mean by modifying the base mesh ex; Body01 i was just trying to move the vertices around without modifying their count and the purpose was to reshape the base mesh to make ex; pant straight instead of pant in boots and to reshape the waist area to get a proper mesh to apply a reefer jacket on officers.

Even if i don't modify the vertices amount just moving them slightly screwed the mesh in game!

And i would be satisfy even without modifying the animation, simply put i want to add a better 3D crew model in game.

So far now no one was capable of modifying those crews 3D models:nope:

Best regards Hans

DivingDuck 04-07-11 01:26 PM

Make sure your 3d proggy does not optimize while exporting. They usually do and weld close vertices together. Thus youīll end up with a lower poly count.

Btw, Iīve puzzled together the animation of one crew in a single *.dat more than a year ago. Thus I could check a particular crew animation in S3D. Therefore Iīm sure it is possible to alter. The major problem, the bodies stored in the respective *.dat file(s) serve as a base for all crew animations used ingame. And there are many!

Regards,
DD

Hans Witteman 04-07-11 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DivingDuck (Post 1637903)
Make sure your 3d proggy does not optimize while exporting. They usually do and weld close vertices together. Thus youīll end up with a lower poly count.

Btw, Iīve puzzled together the animation of one crew in a single *.dat more than a year ago. Thus I could check a particular crew animation in S3D. Therefore Iīm sure it is possible to alter. The major problem, the bodies stored in the respective *.dat file(s) serve as a base for all crew animations used ingame. And there are many!

Regards,
DD

Hi mate,

Maybe you point me in the right direction because if i am not mistaking i think S3D editor do optimization automatically by reducing vertices count?

I also remember i did try to change the Unwrap UVW layout on those body01 because ubi put the pant and sleeve overlapping so we cannot texture the pant part independently, so i just separated the pant and sleeve in independent UVW chunk but again only changing this screwed the mesh in game.

Will try to see where i can disabled the vertices optimization in S3D editor and will try again to move those vertices on mesh.

Only by moving the vertices i can achieve a lot better crew models.

Best regards Hans


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