Animations

[vedrit]

With new character models on the way, and a new animator, me, here, a new list of animations for the characters needs to be made. Any good suggestion, maybe even some silly ones, will be reviewed and, if approved, put on the list.

ANIMATION LIST (Standard humanoid):
Standing walk
Crouched walk
Prone crawl
Shooting from the shoulder (Standing)(One-Handed)
Shooting from the waist(Standing)(One-Handed)
Shooting from the shoulder (Crouched)(One-Handed)
Shooting from the waist (Crouched)(One-Handed)
Shooting from the shoulder (Prone)(One-Handed)
Shooting from the shoulder (Standing)(Two-Handed)
Shooting from the waist(Standing)(Two-handed)
Shooting from the shoulder (Crouched)(Two-Handed)
Shooting from the waist (Crouched) (Two-handed)
Shooting from the shoulder (Prone)(Two-Handed)
Shooting from the shoulder (Standing)(Dual-Wield)
Shooting from the waist(Standing)(Dual-Wield)
Shooting from the shoulder (Crouched)(Dual-Wield)
Shooting from the waist (Crouched)(Dual-Wield)
Shooting from the shoulder (Prone)(Dual-Wield)
Crouching
Standing
Laying down
Climbing ladders
Climbing stairs
Melee combat (Standing)(One-handed)
Melee combat (Crouched)(One-handed)
Melee combat (Standing)(Two-handed)
Melee combat (Crouched)(Two-handed)
Melee combat (Standing)(Dual-Wield)
Melee combat (Crouched)(Dual-Wield)
Heal (Crouched)
Heal (Standing)
Throw object (Crouched)
Throw object (Standing)
Throw object (Prone)
Die 1 (Standing)**NEEDS ELABORATION
Die 2 (Standing)**NEEDS ELABORATION
Die 3 (Standing)**NEEDS ELABORATION
Die 1 (Crouched)**NEEDS ELABORATION
Die 2 (Crouched)**NEEDS ELABORATION
Die 3 (Crouched)**NEEDS ELABORATION
Die 1 (Prone)**NEEDS ELABORATION


Animation list(Bloodspider and similar characters, if any):


Animation list(Alien Hoverbot):



Animation list(Alien Heavy Weapon Platform):



Animation List(UGV):



Animation List(Jumpsuit):



Animation List(Alein Wormhole Device):



LATER ANIMATIONS
Specific angle firing (If it can be supported by the game) for all positions
Idle (Prone)
Idle (Standing)
Idle (Crouching)
Idle (For two-handed, one-handed, dual wield in positions standing, crouching, prone)
Reaction fire stance

[Kaz]

Some thoughts on the list of animations:

1. There is standing walk and crouched walk, but no prone walk. Soldiers in the battlefield will crawl to avoid fire while moving, so I think it should be added. From a game mechanics perspective, this motion should be very costly in TU.

2. Do the standing, crouching and lying down animations are what the characters looks while not moving in that stance, or how the character moves into that stance? If the former, then you are missing the animations to transition from one stance to another. If the later, I think the animations should be defined in terms of start stance and end stance, since the motion to stand up from crouch is not just the reverse of crouching from stand, etc.

3. Melee combat should depend not only on the stance of the atacker, but also on the stance and/or height of the victim. The motion to stab if you are standing is completely different if your victim is standing, crouched or prone in the ground. Heal is affected by pretty much the same thing.

4. Climbing ladders and stairs should also have different animations when climbing up and when climbing down.

Cheers!

[vedrit]

1: Completely forgot about movement animations. BUt there should be an animation for movement while in the prone position

2: I guess there should be an idle animation (The ones on the list are transitory), and depending on how I animate it, they could work quite well as the same animation, but in reverse.

3: Now sure how the game mechanics work, but I dont think I can get too specific on the animations unless we can specify certain animation frames for specific firing angles. If we can, then yeah, being specific will be a nice effect

4: Watch someone climb up and down a ladder, the movements really are very similar, and would work very well for the same animation, but in reverse. Stairs, however, will require animation for up and down

[BTAxis]

There is currently no support at all for number 3. It sounds like something fairly simple to introduce, though... But I think it's not that important compared to other animations.

[vedrit]

Specific angle shooting and various idle animations have been added to the "later" list
Prone movement, climbing down stairs have been added to the main list

[BTAxis]

Pasted from other thread:

As for non-standard animations, I can think of: the alien hoverbot, the Breeder, the Bloodspider (has animations, but maybe needs additional/redone ones?), the alien heavy weapons platform we want to add (no firm design there at all yet, though, just some raw ideas), the UGVs, the jumpsuit (flying animations that aren't needed for any other humanoid model) and possibly a death animation for the alien wormhole device.

Just to be clear, this is NOT stuff that should go on the list.

[BTAxis]

The list looks fairly complete to me, without going overboard on animations for turning, being hit, etc.

[vedrit]

Alright. Well, without further ado, I shall begin animating, but I will still watch this thread and update the list (Even the list of later animations), and start a list for the other characters that cant use the current one.

For non-walking characters (hoverbot, jumpsuit, UGV), should I just do slanting motions of accelerating and stopping? Not really sure what the idea is for these. For the UGV and jumpsuit, Im thinking X-COM, but better animated, and as much compensation for lack of physics as possible.

[BTAxis]

Sounds about right.

[Winter]

Hmm, I don't think there should be the possibility of attacking in melee from a prone position. It doesn't really make sense under battlefield conditions and would complicate code unnecessarily.

Regards,
Winter

[Destructavator]

Hmm, I don't think there should be the possibility of attacking in melee from a prone position. It doesn't really make sense under battlefield conditions and would complicate code unnecessarily.

Regards,
Winter

I've actually seen Akido and other martial arts instructors do it (amazing to watch), although, to be fair, those are specialized experts with many years of experience (beyond what a soldier has) who aren't wearing heavy combat armor and reeaaallllyy know what they are doing.  From a practical and realistic standpoint though, Winter is right, it wouldn't fit into the game very well, I agree with him.

[BTAxis]

I don't see how it would complicate the code. Attacking in melee is nothing more than attacking with a range of 1. I agree, though, that it wouldn't make much sense.

[bayo]

* I remember someone on the forum talk about the "bad" sniper animation, the weapon should be on the head, or something like that.
* At the moment, idle animation with rocket launcher dont work very well (check 2.3 GUI). Maybe we should have a custom idle for this weapon.

[vedrit]

Yeah, I was having a hard time imagining attacking with melee in a prone position. It will be removed.

Bayo: As I recall, there havent been any changes to charactes firing from the shoulder, as the sniper would be. Im sure it will look much better once its been incorperated (The animation frames have been found, and appear to be at the same time for all humanoid character)

We could put idling for one- and two-handed weapons, aswell as dual-wielding, but I think those would kinda be on the back burner. I think, as it stands, most of the characters just stand, with no animation for idle. It could remain so until after the important stuff gets taken care of.

Any complaints? Sorry, but as BTAxis said in another thread, its not a good idea to get bogged down, trying to get animations that make the game look nice in before or while working on animations that are mainly needed.

[TrashMan]

How about adding an animation for fireing a large two-handed weapon...from the hip.
Like a massive plasma cannon or a minigun. Might not be needed, but it will be useful for modders in the future.