Alien Tank designs ideas and proposals

[Crystan]

Unfortunately, it does not work. Not with our current implementation. I don't thikn we can spawn a particle effect on death (explosion).

Well isnt that the same as spawning a pool of blood on the ground?

[H-Hour]

Well isnt that the same as spawning a pool of blood on the ground?

Could be. I know our team definitions include a hit_particle parameter, but I think that handles the blood splatter on a hit, not just death. I could be wrong, though.

[TrashMan]

Ideally, you should place a tag_weapon and animate it's position for the relevant firing animations, so it looks like it is recoiling. (The actual weapon barrel could be a second model attached at the tag_weapon position, but the weapon will not be animated -- just the tag position.)

So the basic UGV chasis with a tag for the turret (which rotates independently, that tag is not animated)
On the turret itself a animated tag for recoil (for guns that have recoil), and the barrel is attached to that?

 

Unfortunately, it does not work. Not with our current implementation. I don't thikn we can spawn a particle effect on death (explosion). And we don't remove the model. We use dying animations and a final dead frame, so that the death animation should end in a destroyed state. Then you can specify this destroyed state set of frames in the .anm file.

Hm..no way to make it look good if you can't switch to a destroyed model.
For the UGV to just stop...won't look good.
It needs to blow up, have scorch marks and the like.

There may be a way to muck about by combining both into one model, but it's unwieldy.

[headdie]

could a grenade explosion effect be tied in to the sequence, like the blood effect when someone gets shot?

[Crystan]

could a grenade explosion effect be tied in to the sequence, like the blood effect when someone gets shot?

So everytime someone hit it, it explodes?

[H-Hour]

So the basic UGV chasis with a tag for the turret (which rotates independently, that tag is not animated)
On the turret itself a animated tag for recoil (for guns that have recoil), and the barrel is attached to that?

No. Our character models include a body model, with optional tags to attach secondary models. We use that for the head and left/right hand weapon. I was suggesting that you make the barrel the secondary model which attaches to the weapon tag. Then you can animate the position of the tag in the body model to simulate recoil. We don't support animations in the secondary models, so you couldn't attach the whole turret and then animate just the barrel. Please look at the wiki.

[TrashMan]

I'm cunfused....

There are 3 models involved - chasis, turret and barrel.
Or 2, in which case turret+barrel are one (and thus no recoil animation).

How is turret attached to chasis? With a tag, or trough the definition file for the UGV itself (type in the coordinates)..

Or is chasis + turret one model and the barrel is a separate one?

[H-Hour]

I'm cunfused....

There are 3 models involved - chasis, turret and barrel.
Or 2, in which case turret+barrel are one (and thus no recoil animation).

How is turret attached to chasis? With a tag, or trough the definition file for the UGV itself (type in the coordinates)..

Or is chasis + turret one model and the barrel is a separate one?

Right, we don't support the three model setup you are talking about. We have a base model that things can be attached to.

I think our current setup supports your last method best: chassis + turrent = body. Barrel = weapon. That's the only way to get the firing animation effect unless we design a new model handling system for our UGVs. I don't think it's likely to happen soon, so if UGVs are going to finally make it into 2.5 I'd suggest pursuing a simpler implementation.

[TrashMan]

If turret+chasis are one model, how can the turret turn? UGV's would have to have forward fixed weapons.

[H-Hour]

Yes.

[Jon_dArc]

I'd suggest that a non-swiveling turret is a bigger issue than a non-recoiling barrel, and advise the chassis=body/turret+barrel=weapon approach, but my powers of visualization can be suspect at times.

~J

[headdie]

I am with Jon_dArc on how to structure the turret.

1. From an animation point of view the only 1 short animation that is needed the recoil/firing cycle as i presume the model axis rotate with the model
2. The mounting for a rocket launcher will probably be different turret from a gat gun
3. It standardizes the look for a weapon so that no matter that UGV it is attached to there is no scaling or visual inconsistency
4. We dont have several versions of each weapon for each UGV so if one gets removed or replaced it only needs to happen once.
5. Easier to make the turret look directly at the target rather than being something close such as animating using an 8 point compass

[H-Hour]

I've just been trying to describe what is possible now. Of course it would be best to have a chassis, with a swivelling turret, with a recoiling barrel, but we can't support that without reworking our movement system. What, for instance, should a right-click mean to a UGV? Should it turn the chassis or just the turret? If it turns just the turret, how will the chassis be turned? Should turning cost TU or not?

All of this requires new mechanisms on the backed, in the UI, and with the code that runs animations. If you want to increase the chances that your work will be useful, I recommend building it to work with the current system.

[TrashMan]

And it requires all weapons to use the EXACT SAME turret regardless of how bad it would look.. Either that of you have to have different models of the same UGV, but with different turrets.

Seriously, how many weapons on a tank would even HAVE recoil? missiles? no. Lasers? No.
Is recoil really that important to have?

[H-Hour]

Is recoil really that important to have?

Your choice.