Development > Artwork
Redo of Soldier Body model
Destructavator:
--- Quote from: Migel on October 14, 2009, 09:52:38 am ---...Only problem is that making new camo will take more than just change of background layer... Folds and muscles drawn right on camo (meaning it will take more time than ctrl-c/ctrl-v).
--- End quote ---
I figured it out!
Thankfully you left the original Blender-created image inside the .PSD as a non-visible layer, and I've found that by combining that old image with the layer that has the folds and specular highlights on the camo, I was able to blend them in a special way that just gave me the difference between the two, in other words, just the fabric folds and the highlights and such all by themselves against an alpha background.
I then found I can apply this newly created layer to new Blender-generated textures with different camo colors, and make it very easy to make different versions of the completed texture with different camouflage while preserving all the details and all of your hard work.
I just need to tweak some stuff, but when I'm done I'll upload some new files, and making new camo patterns with the completed texture should be easy (as long as anyone who wants to add camo patterns grabs both the PSD and the .Blend file together).
Thanks again, Migel.
Destructavator:
I'm done (at least for now) re-working the skeleton, so if vedrit is prepared to start animating, here's the updated .blend file:
http://destructavator.com/92dl/Soldier_Armor_v6_31.zip
I'm still working on putting more camo colors in Migel's texture for alternate skins, but that shouldn't affect the animation process, more skins can always be applied after/during animation.
For backup, could someone please put this file in the data source with a note that it is in a pre-animation but animation-ready state?
vedrit:
Sweet. I'll get on that. Just to make sure, every animation cycle has to start with the default pose?
Destructavator:
--- Quote from: vedrit on October 15, 2009, 09:57:56 pm ---Sweet. I'll get on that. Just to make sure, every animation cycle has to start with the default pose?
--- End quote ---
If I remember right, every animation intended to loop should start and end with the same pose, other "play-once" animations obviously start in one pose and end in another (such as standing up from crouching, for example).
A few notes regarding animations with Blender, using the skeleton (forgive me for the parts you already know):
- The blender file I provided is set to 30 FPS. Blender uses a keyframe system and fills in the in-between frames automatically, and the game engine IIRC goes even further by automatically animating the mesh smoothly between frames. If memory serves, with the MD2 format you can have different animations at different speeds in the same file, the text file that goes with the MD2 - also read by the game - lists in an index the starting, stopping, and animation speeds of each animation the game's code calls, along with names for the animations (I think the wiki has an example).
- The file I provided also has a snap-to with the grid and rotation of everything, I think rotation snaps to increments of 5 degrees. You can override this when dragging by holding down CTRL while dragging.
- You can specify rotating a specific axis only by left-clicking an axis arrow-head in pose mode. You can also use the keyboard, press "R" for rotate then the letter of the axis, X, Y, or Z. You can then type the number of degrees you want to rotate, and use a minus sign or decimal point if needed.
- I'd recommend selecting the axis with the keyboard so you can choose between rotating on a *global* or *local* axis. When you first press "R" and then the key for the axis, it defaults to global rotation, pressing the key for the axis a second time switches to local axis of rotation, which is cool because it then rotates related to how the parent bone is, giving you more control and making proper rotation much easier.
- I've found in quick tests that if you plan to twist a limb and hand/foot, it helps to split up the rotation among the different bones (part of the rotation in the shoulder/hip, part in the mid-joint, part in the end, for example). I've also found this works better for the head and neck as well.
- Before final export the head will be replaced by an empty to become a TAG, and TAGs will also be placed in the hands, don't worry about that for now, you should be able to animate without them for now. (The TAGs tell the game where to add the head and carried in-hand objects/weapons.)
- If you accidentally add a keyframe in the wrong place with "I" you can delete it with "CTRL-I" if I remember right. There are also buttons in the upper bar right below the model view for copying, pasting, and mirroring poses, which helps sometimes.
- You can also tweak things in the Action Editor panel for each bone if you know how (If not, don't worry about it).
- Pressing "W" then "clear user transform" will reset all the bones.
- Remember that individual bones can have independent keyframes, you can set them for the whole mesh by selecting all the bones at once and then adding a keyframe.
- The arrow keys navigate between keyframes. Changing frames resets the bones to the last pose, so after making one keyframe, *first* advance to a new keyframe and *then* work on a new pose, otherwise you can lose all your changes for the next pose (I've suffered this mistake myself... :P ).
Have fun!
Edit: If I'm wrong on any of these points, anyone is free to correct me.
Edit(2): If the skeleton needs work or should be re-done, please let me know...
vedrit:
Im going to add to your list, though I believe that deleting key frames is alt + i, though my fingers know it better than my mind, heh.
For cycle animations, such as walking, the IPO Curve window in the Animation mode helps. ctrl+r. click to add a sort of key frame (have yet to figure out how to delete it though....)
Edit: After completing a very fast (visually and work-wise, under an hour to do, and 6 steps in 3 seconds) walk cycle, I started to play more in the IPO window. I find that adding a point by ctrl+r. click was not the right way to do it, rather, i works better. hitting tab allows me to adjust the IPO curve controllers, giving me finer graphical control over the animation.
Within this mode of adjusting the controls, is where the ctrl+ r. click comes in. I can add a point, move it, and adjust how it curves the line
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