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DarkBASIC Discussion / How does the "Play Object" command work?

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Video Boy
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Posted: 5th Jul 2006 23:11 Edited at: 6th Jul 2006 00:57
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Here's what I'm talking about. http://devilmaster.supereva.it/duke.zip

As an experiment, I took an animated model (the Duke Nukem MD3 model from the high resolution pack, that I included in the zip file as 1405_duke.md3) and converted it to the X format (as duke.x).
I made a simple program to see if it was loading correctly, and it was. I tried to animate it by inserting the line: "PLAY OBJECT 1" right before the main loop, but I get an error (the object could not be animated). So I need to know: how do I use the PLAY OBJECT command?
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SimSmall
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Posted: 6th Jul 2006 01:34
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The problem is not to do with the command, but with Dark Basic. Duke Nukem, and Quake 3 Arema are the only games I know to use MD3 files.

MD3 files use an animation system called vertex animation, you must save each frame in advance. This is also the form of animation that Dark Basic wants. However I'm assuming the program you used to convert the file to an x file uses the newer animation system called bone based animation. This is easier to use, you can move joints at any time, they don't have to be saved in advance. The problem is DB Classic is so old that it does not support this style of animation.

You will need to check with your modeller about saving the animations using vertex animation, and a lot of modelling programs do not even support this style any more.
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Video Boy
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Posted: 7th Jul 2006 21:46
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I use Deep Exploration, version 3.5.0.448, March 19 2004. It loads correctly every frame of the MD3 model, but when I export the model to .X, only the current frame is exported. This happens despite the fact I select "Export Animation" in the Animation tab. The program makes no mention of "bone animation" or "vertex animation".
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SimSmall
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Posted: 8th Jul 2006 03:04
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A program which has a build date of March 2004 likely uses bone based animation, as vertex sort of faded out just before the year 2000. Possibly a converter might exist, to convert your X file back into a Direct X 7 file, which I believe can support either type of animation system. I'm not saying there will be one for definite, but there may be such a converter, the other solution is to upgrade to DB Pro, I believe.
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Video Boy
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Posted: 8th Jul 2006 11:31 Edited at: 8th Jul 2006 12:07
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Okay, so... if the MD3 format uses vertex animation, which is the format DBC wants... does anyone know about a suitable converter to keep all frames in the .X file too?
As an alternative, is there an .X model editor that allows me to obtain an animated model from a lot of non-animated models (the single frames, exported one by one by hand)? Or, as a last resort, one that allows me to animate it again from scratch?
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Sven B
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Posted: 8th Jul 2006 13:25
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DBC does not handle .X/.3ds vertex animation. Only limb animation.

It's the programmer's life:
Have a problem, solve the problem, and have a new problem to solve.
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Video Boy
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Posted: 8th Jul 2006 14:39 Edited at: 8th Jul 2006 14:42
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Argh. What is limb animation? I read that term a lot of times on the DBC manual, but I never really understood what it actually is...
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Sven B
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Posted: 8th Jul 2006 15:00 Edited at: 8th Jul 2006 15:00
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limbs are groups/parts of verteces that are not attached. And with that I mean that they are not connected to eachother by one or more vertex. You can offset each limb, link each limb and rotate each limb seperately in DBC.

It's the programmer's life:
Have a problem, solve the problem, and have a new problem to solve.
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