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Work in Progress / TC_Animation DLL

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TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 17:16 Edited at: 6th Jul 2007 17:54
Hey all!

I've recently got into C++/C# and have started to make some DBP plugins. Here is my first so far. I've started converting my animation system into a dll and it seems to be going well. Have a vid!

Click the image:


I'm mostly making this to help me in my own projects but if enough people are interested then I'll neaten it up (add help files etc.) and release it for free.

It basically handles everything object animation wise including allowing for smooth animation blending as shown in the vid. I'm going to add the ability to extract animations from .x files and to make groups of limbs so that you can tell the 'torso', for example to play one animation and the 'legs' to do another.

Let me know whether it is worth releasing and if so any comments or suggestions will be very welcome.

Thanks!

---------------------------------------------------------------


COMMANDS SO FAR

TCAnim_Start
TCAnim_UpdateAnimation
TCAnim_SetupAnimatingObject
TCAnim_SetObjectKeyFrame
TCAnim_SetObjectLastKeyFrame
TCAnim_SaveObjectAnimation
TCAnim_LoadObjectAnimation
TCAnim_SetObjectFrame
TCAnim_PlayObject
TCAnim_LoopObject
TCAnim_StopObject
TCAnim_PauseObject
TCAnim_BlendObject
TCAnim_GetState
TCAnim_GetAnimation
TCAnim_GetState
TCAnim_ResumeObject

PLANNED

TCAnim_ExtractFromXOF
TCAnim_MakeGroup
TCAnim_AddLimbToGroup
TCAnim_PlayGroup
TCAnim_LoopGroup
TCAnim_PauseGroup
TCAnim_ResumeGroup
TCAnim_StopGroup
TCAnim_BlendGroup
TCAnim_GetGroupState
TCAnim_GetGroupAnimation
TCAnim_GetGroupState


TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 7th Jul 2007 15:46
Hmm...well I'm quite stumped when it comes to extracting the animation from a .x object. Any ideas anyone?

Master Xilo
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Posted: 7th Jul 2007 15:58
seems cool. I'm interested.
Now I could ask me why I bought EnAn
TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 7th Jul 2007 16:18
Thanks! Well I doubt this will be a patch on that but I hope someone will find it useful!

Aaron Miller
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Posted: 9th Jul 2007 07:01
@TEH_CODERER
You can parse in the X file, and use the animation details.

Cheers,

-naota

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 9th Jul 2007 17:45
I understand!...Well...sort of!...Maybe?
Lol!
I'm not quite following you I'm afraid. Could you explain a little more?
Thanks.

Xenocythe
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Posted: 10th Jul 2007 21:01
Sweet! This is awesome?

So wait, are you telling me this DLL has the abilities to blend animations from a certain bone in one object to another object?

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 11th Jul 2007 17:06
Thanks. It allows you to have, for example, a walk animation and an idle animation. When you press an arrowkey it can blend smoothly from the place where it was in the idle animation to the start of the walk animation then loop the walk animation and when you release the arrowkey it would blend from where it is in the walk animation back to the idle animation. It also means you can share animations between objects as long as their bone structure is the same. The grouping, once implemented will mean the same control as above but splitting up the object so that you could tell his legs to run whilst his arms attack or whatever. At the moment though it can only use the animation files exported from my own personal animating program and not the ones stored in a.x/.dbo file so until that is fixed or someone can help me with it then I don't think anyone will find this very useful.

Xenocythe
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Posted: 11th Jul 2007 19:07
Oh sweet, thats even better!

Will this be free?

This would make the animations in my MMO so much more smoother! You dont understand- this is a godsend

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 12th Jul 2007 16:02
Lol! Well yes, if I can suss the importing of .x animations it will be released for free. I'm sort of hoping that DB user 2006+ will check back here soon and expand on what he was suggesting!

Aaron Miller
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Posted: 15th Jul 2007 03:00
@TEH_CODERER
Yes, of course I will.

The X file is simply a text file which gives information about an object.. If you want to get at the animation details, have a look at the X file, build a parser to read in the X file, and you can use the animation data.


Cheers,

-naota

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 16th Jul 2007 14:57
Thanks. That was what I suspected. Only problem is that .x files come in different formats but I'll look into it.

Ron Erickson
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Posted: 16th Jul 2007 19:46
Hello TEH_CODERER,

Since I am the person that wrote Enhanced Animations, I can't really help you with this to much. I'd only be shooting myself in the foot
Anyway, FYI, .x files can be saved in different ways. You could make a simple parser for them if they are saved in ascii form. Unfortunately, they are normally saved in binary form, so that complicates things for you.

Have you made any progress with the "grouping" of limbs. Controling individual limbs is one of the most difficult parts of this! Good luck with it

By the way, have you checked out Enhanced Animations at all? If you ever want to try a demo version of it for free, send me an e-mail.

-Ron

Xenocythe
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Posted: 16th Jul 2007 20:45
Hey Andrew, In my spare time, I might look into how I can parse X files and the animation data and what not. If I find anything useful, I'll e-mail you about it.

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 17th Jul 2007 11:14
@WOLF - Lol! I understand. Your dll was partially what inspired me. As much as it would have been easier to just buy that, I always like to learn stuff for myself and as I already had most of the animation system in DBP it was mostly a case of converting to C++. I've recently learnt C++ and downloaded the Dev C++ DBP Plugin pack from Aaron Miller. I've made a couple of small plugins such as a set of button functions and I'd already made my own animation system in DBP and realised I could neaten it up and stick it in a dll. I haven't got around to the grouping thing yet as I barely get access to a computer at the moment but I've worked it all out on paper so it should be fairly problem-free! ASCII .x files are easy but as you say, most .x files aren't saved in that format. I'll look into understanding the binary format then. Thanks, and your plugin looks awesome from the demo!

@Xenocythe - Thanks! Much appreciated!

Math89
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Posted: 21st Jul 2007 14:23
I'm really interested by this plugin . Does it supports bones, or just limbs ?

Anyway, if can't manage to parse a binary file, I think it should be good enough to provide a simple animator.

Good luck .
TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 21st Jul 2007 19:35
Thanks. It supports bones too. Thats the plan at the moment; a simple animation editor but people may well prefer to use the tools they are already using so if I can get the parser working then that would be preferable. I have a simple animator made already but I want to make one with an improved interface and hopefully with built in IK (inverse kinematics).

Xenocythe
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Posted: 21st Jul 2007 22:28
Sorry Andrew, couldn't find anything useful yet... I'm going to continue trying to figure it out though

Aaron Miller
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Posted: 22nd Jul 2007 02:10
@TEH_CODERER
I'm liking the looks of this plugin, and hope you get everything all sorted out. How are you liking the Dev-C++ DBP Plugin SDK, btw?

Also, when might we be able to see a demo?

Cheers,

-naota

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 22nd Jul 2007 09:54
@Xenocythe - Not a problem; thanks so much for trying!

Quote: "I'm liking the looks of this plugin, and hope you get everything all sorted out. "

Thanks! So do I!

Quote: "How are you liking the Dev-C++ DBP Plugin SDK, btw? "

It is invaluable! So very useful; thanks!

Quote: "Also, when might we be able to see a demo?"

Hmm...well once I get the new animator done then, other than .x/.dbo parsing, that will be finished in my eyes so I'll release it then for you lot to find the infinite bugs that there are sure to be and to make suggestions for extra functionality. It may be a while though because, without my own PC at the moment, programming time is low and the time I do have I'm using to make casual games to earn cash for a new one!

Aaron Miller
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Posted: 22nd Jul 2007 11:53
I'm glad it is working well for ya. Looking forward to the demo.


Cheers,

-naota

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 29th Jul 2007 12:10
Well I've made a reasonable start to the animation tool now. I've got 1244 lines so far and there is the start of the main GUI and some background code as well as, yet another, custom made file browser that only shows .x and .dbo! Have a screen!

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TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 29th Jul 2007 18:28
Added limb and frame selection. All that is left now is the actual animation!

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Xenocythe
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Posted: 29th Jul 2007 19:19
Nice!

Lookin really sweet!

I cant wait to use this.

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 30th Jul 2007 17:38
Well I have now added limb control. Have a screen!

This is going to take a back seat as I have a dead line for one of my casual games but I'll be back to this soon.

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Aaron Miller
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Posted: 5th Aug 2007 22:55 Edited at: 5th Aug 2007 23:10
Very awsome! Keep up the good work.



Cheers,

-naota

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 6th Aug 2007 16:45
Thanks! When I get back to this I'll finish off the animation stuff then try and add an IK system because it would make the animating job so much easier!

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 20th Aug 2007 22:11
Yay! I got a PC! Back to work soon!

Windsept
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Posted: 21st Aug 2007 01:41
This is looking really cool! And I believe it will be a must have for anyone that uses 3D!!

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 21st Aug 2007 12:08
Thanks!

Windsept
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Posted: 2nd Sep 2007 04:31
Is there a release date or estimated time of completion? Because I am really looking forward to this dll!!

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 2nd Sep 2007 14:50
I'd love to be able to say yes but I'm off to Romania for about 9 days now so there will definitely be no chance to work on this for a while. I'm really busy at the moment with job hunting and other projects but the other projects will all use the dll so I'll need to get it done for myself as well as the community so hopefully I'll get some time when I get back from Romania.

Image All
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Posted: 3rd Sep 2007 00:57
Neat. If this hasn't been asked already, can this plugin take the legs' animations and the upper body's animation and play those two separate animations on their corresponding parts of the object at the same time?

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 3rd Sep 2007 01:28
Yep!

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 3rd Sep 2007 14:36
UPDATE!!!
Seeing as I'm off to Romania tomorrow this is probably the last update for a while. The animation program now can do everything a basic animator program would. I still need to incorporate the formation of groups and a few other features to make animation as easy as possible but it is now at a usable stage. Yay!

Have a video:
http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n304/andrewneale2004/?action=view¤t=TC_Animator.flv

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 3rd Sep 2007 17:08
Woah! Something strange happened to the vid! Sorry guys! I'll get another one up soon. I've fixed a couple of bugs now and I will start the saving/loading functions.

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 3rd Sep 2007 18:00
Sorry for triple post but this will probably be my last for 9 days. I've finished the saving/loading as well now so the editor is fully usable. The only things to add are the limb grouping system and then just a bit of polish so after I get back from Romania it shouldn't be long before this is done!

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 4th Sep 2007 11:26
Here you go; a better video. I'm leaving in a couple of hours so this really will be my last post!
http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n304/andrewneale2004/?action=view¤t=TC_Animator.flv

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 14th Sep 2007 10:34
Anyone watched it? Oh well! Back from Romania now so I'll start work again very soon.

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 14th Sep 2007 16:32
Added a couple of things now. You can delete frames now and the preview mode now exits correctly back into editing mode. Other than the adding/saving/loading of limb groups I think I'm pretty much done. Once this is done I'll unveil my new game in progress in a new WIP thread. I can't wait!

Roxas
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Posted: 14th Sep 2007 20:22
Well the video stopped at few seconds watching :S

[center]
TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 14th Sep 2007 20:57
Really? Odd! Works fine here. Anyone else having that problem? Here is the link again though this vid is now slightly outdated.



Roxas
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Posted: 14th Sep 2007 21:18
Hey i just removed my fastemp files and it worked fine (My connection maybe had lost when i watched video )

[center]
Windsept
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Posted: 15th Sep 2007 17:46
Looking good!! Keep up the good work!

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 15th Sep 2007 19:00
Thanks! I certainly plan to!

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 20th Sep 2007 21:56
I've added enough to this now that I think the first demo will be realeased as soon as possible. The only thing is my internet is very temperamental at the moment so I don't know when I'll get a chance to upload!

Xenocythe
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Posted: 21st Sep 2007 01:13
sweet! cant wait man

Meh. Signatures. Lame :p
TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 21st Sep 2007 11:09
I think I've fixed my internet! Yay! I'll have it up soon-ish.

TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2007 20:34
What the...? Does anyone have any idea why my thread in Code Snippets keeps disappearing? I've posted a snippet twice now because it keeps disappearing!

Windsept
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Posted: 6th Oct 2007 19:51
I have been looking in the WIP board everyday for a while hoping to see this DLL released. Is it dead or what? I certainly hope not! It really looks promising.

Windsept

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