[Proclone]

Gmax bones are recognized, though "bones" can be anything to w3d. EAP seems to have used little blue boxes as their bones for example. But standard bones work too.. including any IK acting on them. The only issue is that normal skinning doesn't hold in the game engine, there's a specific modifier called WW SKIN that effectively lets you parent Vertices directly to bones.

[Flyby]

Originally Posted by Proclone

The only issue is that normal skinning doesn't hold in the game engine, there's a specific modifier called WW SKIN that effectively lets you parent Vertices directly to bones.

I suppose that modifier is GMAX only and that it comes with the Reneagade GMAX pack? :/

[mad ivan]

Well,the Generals/Renegade bones are different then the GmaX bones.
I think that adding different bones to a Renegade model will corrupt it`s functunality...However there is something i saw on the Renegade Mod Community,posted by Greg Hjelstrom about bones in vehicels and Visceroid/Mech bones (the Visceriods were unmovable models and the mobing animation was added seperately and the mech is done in the same way) .

Now Generals "bones" are different (from my experiments with the W3D->GmaX converter) and they function a bit different...to be honest-while observing a model (the AISeal.w3d,that i used to make the Horror above) I didnt see any models so i think that the animations/movements are contained in seperate files that simply show the soldier moving,fireing,etc.

On the other side Renegade Models are *based* on seperate w3d files that contain all bone data (cant be edited even with the w3d->Gmax Converter).In Renegade`s case those were: s_a_human.w3d-Male Animations s_b_human.w3d-Female animations s_c_human.w3d-Mutant Animations and s_z_human.w3d-Kane (green) Hologram aka Big Kane Animation.

I hope this was usefull

[Flyby]

Originally Posted by mad ivan

Now Generals "bones" are different (from my experiments with the W3D->GmaX converter) and they function a bit different...to be honest-while observing a model (the AISeal.w3d,that i used to make the Horror above) I didnt see any models so i think that the animations/movements are contained in seperate files that simply show the soldier moving,fireing,etc.

I wonder if that isn't just a simple vertices animation??

You can collapse any animation done with bones into 1 animation file.
A process called "baking an animation" : you actually record the positional changes of the individual vertices for the length of the animation... :dizzy:

[Proclone]

Well I might aswell explain how things are organized since you're spending time figuring it out anyway, no point forcing you to do all the fooling around when I can tell you how things awork just as easily :P


In order to animate something in Generals there are 2 different ways of doing it.

1) The standard method that you'll notice used on tanks and other vehicles. They just have a basic animation recorded directly on their file, you can play those in the w3d viewer by opening nothing but the unit.

2) Using bones; in order to use bones a model in Generals needs at LEAST 3 w3d files. They're the Skelton file, the Mesh file and then at least one Animation file.

The Mesh file contains the 3D object and the binding (how it's attached to the bones, IE direct parenting, or Using wwskin) information.

The Skeleton file; This contains all the bone information, ie their locations and orientations. This also defines the bind pose and the Mesh file MUST be in the same position as the skeleton file.

Note that in the case of a Mesh file bound with WWSKIN, the Skeleton file and Mesh file NEED to be together because the Mesh file calls information from the Skeleton file.

The Animation Files; These files contain the transform data for the bones. They are entirely useless without the Mesh/Skeleton files. Animation files can be shared by any unit that has the same Skeleton as the one used to create the Animation file itself.


In order to play the aniamtions in teh game the INI file calls the MESH FILE and then adds the filename of the animation file as a suffix.

So the ini would read something like
---
ConditionState = MOVING
Animation = MyModel.MyModel_WalkCYCLE 30
AnimationMode = LOOP
Flags = RANDOMSTART
TransitionKey = Trans_StopWalk
End

TransitionState = Trans_StopWalk
Animation = MyModel.MyModel_StopWalk
AnimationMode = ONCE
End
---
MyModel <- Thats the Mesh file
Mymodel.Mymodel_WalkCYCLE <- That's the Mesh file suffixed by the Walk Cycle animation. The 30 at the end indicates the framerate.

Mymodel.MyModel_StopWalk is another animation file that's defining the animation that plays when the unit changes from the Moving Conditionstate to anything else. I wouldn't use a Transition state on the EXIT of a walkcycle like this for an actual unit, but it's an example of how it's done.

[Godwin]

i learn new things everyday, enlightening stuff

[mad ivan]

[Godwin]

u think it's sacarsm? it's not....

[mad ivan]

sorry.Its just that you always say that Generals Sucks in Modding Aspects (that aint true).It`s kinda strange for you to post something positive related to GenModding after saying that Gen Aint good for modding...Sorry again

[Oldfaq]

hey,
Mad Ivan where did you get all the models from Generals? thnx
oldfaq