Difficulty of Creating New Animals?

[dinoboy123 1]

I'm currently working on a large island based off a similar one in Maine (U.S.) and I realized how interesting/realistic it would be to have deer/moose. I began working on a moose model today and had some decent models created of the front legs. However, I realized that there are noskeleton models for animals released by bohemia. I assume this would make creating custom animations very difficult. Also, I havent found any custom animals online, so this has led me to believe that it is more difficult than i have anticipated.

If anyone has any knowledge on this subject, or has created their own custom animals and would like to share some wisdom it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

-Andrew

[PuFu 4600]

I'm currently working on a large island based off a similar one in Maine (U.S.) and I realized how interesting/realistic it would be to have deer/moose. I began working on a moose model today and had some decent models created of the front legs. However, I realized that there are noskeleton models for animals released by bohemia. I assume this would make creating custom animations very difficult. Also, I havent found any custom animals online, so this has led me to believe that it is more difficult than i have anticipated.

If anyone has any knowledge on this subject, or has created their own custom animals and would like to share some wisdom it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

-Andrew

There is no knowledge or very little on this subject i am afraid. I for one, have contacted BIS before asking for a cow sample file or another large animal, so i can check the way the bones its structure is set, even if that meant i was gonna create a new set of animations from ground up. You could try the same thing, i know when i did that, it was just before OA was released, so i had a a "we are planning to released a better sample pack not far off in the future" sort of reply.

That said, what you would be expecting is exactly this: a few new anims for your custom animal, which, if you are not familiar with 3rd party software, might be a drag to do in O2, but not impossible.

[dinoboy123 1]

would it be possible to use the existing rtm files for goat, or any other animal, and then define what objects from my model represent a bone.?

Or use the human skeleton and have it animate in a way similar to an animal?

Sorry if these questions dont make sense, I am still trying to better understand how animations/skeletons/models all interact with one another

[Synide 0]

Hi,

Detailing a new skeleton and joints through a model.cfg would be easy for your new animal.

If your developing your model in another 3D application like Maya, 3DSMax, Lightwave, modo etc. and then animating it you need to get those animations over to the Tools Suite.

This is a bit difficult to do but not to bad if you know what your up too.

At this point you may think that's all... but, then you've still got to do the config.cpp which usually aren't to bad, but since you're doing .rtm's you'll need to properly define & setup all the CfgMoves for the animal. Which essentially describes how all the .rtm's interpolate 'tween each other in certain game situations. This isn't a trivial task.

On top of that you've got to do 'geom' .p3d's for the CfgMoves 'states'... Then at that point you might be getting close to having a working animal.

But, you'd also probably want to do 1 or more .fsm's to provide arbitrary behaviour during simulation... Never really got into .fsm's tbh, not pretty things to get running properly imo.

would it be possible to use the existing rtm files for goat, or any other animal, and then define what objects from my model represent a bone.?

Maybe, but a bit on the ichy side... Do you know what the skeleton/joint structure that those .rtms for the goat were made with? I suspect not. You'd have to acquire that information through use of community tools. Then, depending on how good you are you may have a few niggle issues with weighting your moose to the expection of the .rtm's. Also, the .rtm's are sized specific so when you moose moved it's leg forward using the goat .rtm it would only move the distance that a goat's leg would move... So, all up I'd say this isn't a feasible idea.

Or use the human skeleton and have it animate in a way similar to an animal?

The only reason you'd want to do that is because you weren't confident in creating a new model.cfg skeleton/joints definition file. This would be one of the less difficult things to do for your moose.

Unless you're well versed in all this stuff I'd suggest you've got a great deal of heavy work in front of you.

-Sy

Edited February 18, 2013 by Synide

[dinoboy123 1]

Thanks for the indepth advice guys! I think i may put this project on the backburner if i run into too much difficulty animating my model.

[smokedog3para 365]

Wasn't their a tiger and wolf and donkey model from ofp days also crocodiles for arma2 not sure if they were animated or not might be worth asking the authors for some advice

[Sealife 22]

Creating animals is particularly easy the problem is deciding if you want ambient thick animals or intelligent animals

Basically the all in one config will give you all you need , simply decide if you want a fly or bird that is simply two bones and two animations or a cow / dog that is FSM driven and still particularly thick or create a human based animal which can be waypoint driven .

Then you create your own cfgmoves , this will ensure that all the commands you give can be carried out , be it from a simple walk or eat drink etc .

As you will see in the configs as long as you define everything from a-z and don't rely on default animations , you can have as many or little animations and call them what you want

It's same for all things even a man .