Animating In OFP

[prototype1479 63]

What kind of tools you guys use to make animations for OFP?
 

I heard some use 3ds max and use OFPAnim to confirm the animation details

 

I really don't like do animate in OFPAnim because its unpolished i lost some animations that I worked hard on so I want to switch to something else

 

If you use something other than OFPAnim to animate or know someone else who does please let me know

[Macser 776]

I use Blender. Start to finish. No OFPanim at all. I've done hundreds of self-made animations so far. And the workflow is relatively simple once you get a little experience. Generally it's far more intuitive than OFPanim, which I used for years. It was good for it's time. But it doesn't have the kind of flexibility Blender offers. 

 

The main advantages are :

 

The inclusion of IK.

 

The control over animation via curves. Allowing you to smooth out any glitchy behaviour, or cleanly take out unnecessary key frames.

 

The ability to create a library of sequences within a single Blend file.

 

The ability to also test and modify weighting on a character, in real-time, within the same blend file. If you choose to.

 

Alwarren's arma toolbox makes the export possible with some minor tweaks to an animation. And there's also an rtm import script out there, which works very well. I'm currently using it to convert A2 animations for OFP. All you need is an armature that matches the bone structure contained in the rtms you're importing.

 

I know there are a few people still animating for OFP . They may be using Max or Maya. But I can't compare the process as I haven't used either program in a very long time.

 

Blender doesn't appeal to a lot of people, particularly if they're used to the big names. And the UI seems to bother many people too. There's many reasons for that. But if you concentrate on the areas that interest you and research them, you'll get what you need. If you have any questions I can help with, feel free to ask. 

[prototype1479 63]

Thanks I am going to make Kickboxing in OFP not only that make 3D Aiming which is compatible with vanilla animation (I love vanilla animations not only I have been playing with them for a long time also because it has 5x higher FPS than most of the community made ones)

 

Also how can you change the camera's position (first person mode)

[Macser 776]

If I'm to be honest, I've seen no appreciable difference between something like WW4, for example, and vanilla frame rates. Which doesn't surprise me, as their essentially the same with some tweaks. You might see a small difference with mine and vanilla. But at this point I'm letting myself have some fun. It gets a bit boring being cagey all the time. 

 

Try moving the "pilot" memory point for your characters. I can't promise it'll behave if you move it too far out of position. But there's no harm experimenting.

 

I don't know of any config based method to get it done. The only entry affecting camera position is for position in third person.

[prototype1479 63]

Also I gotta ask these:

 

Why in CFGMoves at class interpolations combatF moves and combatB moves are seperate?

 

And how do I change the position of the bullets come out from weapons I tried moving usti hlava and konec hlava in memory section and no luck (O2)

 

And finally what does the number 0.5 mean here?        crouchF[]={0.5,"Crouch",

[Macser 776]

 There's very little documentation available on what certain entries actually do. Or if their even configurable by a modder.  You could probably spend as much time experimenting and researching as you could modding.

 

I don't honestly know why they have their own entries in class interpolations. Or even why they're necessary. I don't think the developers could give you much more information on it either. From what I've read it seems to create links between different states that use interpolateTo, interpolateFrom etc. Exactly how..I couldn't tell ye.

 

I believe that 0.5 represents blending time between states. I just don't know what the real world value of that number is. I''m guessing there's a relationship between it and interpolationspeed= XX; Interpolationspeed has a direct impact when changed. It can slow down or speed up the blending between states. It's possible that 0.5 interacts with the interpolationspeed value. Perhaps acting like fine control. But like I said, there's almost no good information on that. Cfgmoves is a very confusing and barely understood aspect of a config.

 

Be careful with interpolationspeed though. Too much, or too little and your characters can end up doing a shuffle dance, instead of switching, or stopping.

 

Moving those two memory points will change the position of the bullets leaving the weapon. I don't understand why it's not working in your case.

[prototype1479 63]

Well test this thing for example : https://www.sendspace.com/file/tixyka

 

You will see that bullets land above the crosshair

 

Also that number from what I figured out is just an ID for class Interpolations where it needs to be the same number as the one that you use InterpolateFrom or InterpolateTo or else it might not work

[Macser 776]

Comparing it to the default, there's no visible difference for me. Are you using any custom animations? They will affect aiming. For both the player and the AI.

 

I don't see any correlation between the value in class interpolations and the values in the states themselves. I'm not saying you're wrong. It just doesn't seem consistent to me. What makes you come to that conclusion?

[prototype1479 63]

I am only using a custom animation when I press V (and that enables 3d aiming and no it's not FWATCH it's the same trick that dan mod uses) but other than that its still the vanilla animations here take a look at the video : 

 

 

And about the Interpolation number - I did first think like you that it affected the speed of animation but I really didn't see any differences.

 

And the reason I came to that conclusion is that my CombatToCrouchSIght animation didn't work properly until i put 1 next to CrouchSight like this:

            interpolateTo[]={"CrouchDying",0.1,"CrouchSight",1};

 

And my interpolation number is like this:

 

        crouch[]={1,"Crouch",
                "CrouchSight",
                "CrouchIM",

[ProfTournesol 956]

For me that number is a time of interpolation between two animations.

 

My thought is :

 

Interpolationtime (inverse of interpolationspeed) is the time of interpolation between two identical animations (for exemple, the run forward animation). Default of interpolationspeed is "6", which gives an interpolationtime of 0.11 second, which is very short.

 

Then, for an interpolation of two different animations, the config changes that default time (or any default parent class time) by a specific one, longer or shorter than the default one. For example :

 

class CrouchToCombat: Default
		{
			preload = true;
			actions=CombatActions;
			file=klekdostani.rtm;
			speed=-0.4;
			looped=false;
			soundEnabled=false;
			enableOptics=false;
			connectFrom[]={Crouch,0.5};
			connectTo[]={Combat,0.5};
			interpolateTo[]={CombatDying,0.1,CombatDyingVer2,0.1,CombatDyingVer3,0.1};
		};

 

The interpolation between the crouchtocombat anim and the dying one is very short (almost immediate), while :

 

		class CrouchToCrouchSprintF: Default
		{
			preload = true;
			actions=CrouchRunFActions;
			file=klekbeh.rtm;
			speed=-0.4;
			looped=false;
			soundEnabled=false;
			connectFrom[]={Crouch,0.4};
			enableOptics=false;
			connectTo[]={CrouchSprintF,0.4};
			interpolateTo[]={Crouch,1};
		};

The interpolationtime between crouchtocrouchsprintF and crouch is longer (1 second), which sort of means that it takes 1 second from the crouchtocrouchsprintF animation to come back to the crouch one.

 

About the "class interpolations", i suppose it does fill some missing gaps. For example :

 

crouchF[]=
		{
			0.5,
			CrouchIM,
			CrouchRunF,CrouchRunLF,CrouchRunRF,CrouchRunL,CrouchRunR,
			CrouchSprintF,CrouchSprintLF,CrouchSprintRF
		};

However in the "class states", CrouchRunF is only interpolated to "crouch" (its default state, where it came back when you stop moving), as below :

 

		class CrouchRunF: CombatRunF
		{
			actions=CrouchRunFActions;
			connectAs=CombatRunF;
			interpolateTo[]={Crouch,1};
			enableOptics=false;
		};

 

So when you're running forward (pressing the forward key), the engine must know how to interpolate the CrouchRunF anim with other forward anims, as those interpolations are not defined in the "class states". I guess that's the purpose of the interpolations class.

[Macser 776]

Yeah. What the Prof said, is what I was getting at. A blending value between states. The nebulous part about it all, is how the values interact. You can change some values and see no noticeable effect. But something like interpolationspeed seems to be a global value for a state. Changing that will have a very definite effect. But not always a good one. If it's too long you get a strong feeling of inertia, and foot shuffling. Perhaps the blend values interact with Interpolationspeed as a kind of fine tuning.

 

Class interpolations may cover interpolations globally where no explicit values have been entered. But I can't speak with any certainty about it.

 

About the weapon. I don't know what to tell you. That's not the trajectory I see when firing. The rounds drop as usual at range. It behaves identically to the default for me.

[prototype1479 63]

Thanks so much guys it's good to see that there is still people helping out in OFP community!

 

The only problem I have now is the HK trajectory problem and I guess I have to figure this one out on myself.

 

Again thanks for helping me out it means a lot to me.

[hitman1987 69]

Whad do you mean "a trajectory"? What troubles you? Maybe i can help...

Can you share a such animations?

[prototype1479 63]

Actually i fixed it :

 

 

Seems like the problem was in somewhere in CFGWeapons but I don't know where exactly but it was in CFGWeapons

[Macser 776]

Well. As long as you're happy. Although I didn't see anything worthy of a fix when I tried the model. I was using vanilla settings obviously. 

 

Is that one of your own anims? How is it called in game?

[hitman1987 69]

There is no predicted trajectory, it' ls dynamic. I am experimenting with some ballistics settings, it's adjustable. There also is a zeroing distance in cfgweapons, so the crosshair will be there(it shows where will be the bullet at a distance of zeroing). By the time bullet travels it's trajectory, it climbes and then falls, a good examples are some pistols: they are zeroed by default (300 meters), so they often hits slightly higher than the scope (by "v" key) is, unless the scope picture is edited. Those default scopes by "v" shows a zeroing distance in a center of a screen (again, by default, exept M21 i guess). 

Another case is a such situation, when you need to shoot farer than your zero: the scope may obscure the view so you need an adjustible sights or higher zeroing values or put a weapon models a little bit lower. These cases aren't a problems with a default ballistics, bullets fly too straight, compare to the real trajectories. I am working on a ballistics and have some results... And i want this animation now:)) It should be a new standard.

Anyway, if you are need help with config, i may help.

[hitman1987 69]

Animation is called "combatsight" in the video. Without fwatch, it can be a kinda stance, isn't it? Hands with a gun proxy moves next to point of view, set degree of a free hand moving to zero, lowering a FOV to 0.35 (mRad) to get a default 1x ironsights magnification. BTW field of view is a magnification: divide 0.35 by a two and get the 2x magnification. HK has 1.25 magnification: 0.3 instead of 0.35. Min/max zoom are the magnifications and min/max zoomdistance are a zeroing distances. These settings allows to make some interesting things, but without a realistic ballistics they are obsolete.

[prototype1479 63]

Well the problem was in CFGWeapons in somewhere all I did was replace it with the original CFGWeapons and that fixed it (It's probably some variable that needed to be changed)

 

Also I will release my mod after I make my campaign , polish my AI take cover script and make this 3D aiming function work on every gun (I forgot to show off UZI)

 

So don't worry hitman you will have it soon... probably... If i don't die

[hitman1987 69]

Every single one make his own mod. Okay, if we all will live, then we should mix all of these mods to get a great one.

 

What about RPGs and underbarrel GLs sighting?

[prototype1479 63]

I haven't started RPG's and handguns yet I need to finish this complicated part first and GL's probably will have the original iron sight of the gun because i have no idea how I can detect them or how I can make one for them

[hitman1987 69]

If you can explain to me how those anims works, i'll do something about it.

Maybe you can add modelspecial to a weapon model or a kinda additional scope texture. Also you can add a custom crosshairs 64*64. There may be a minimal zeroing for a 100m for a direct fire or 300-400 for a mortar-like. Can you switch between these and default-style textured sights? How do you catch a key hitting? There should be some script i guess.

[hitman1987 69]

Does zoom works just like in default way? Is there some "free look", or it is always locked on a scope? Are firearms "shake" compared to the hands? What if you will sprint using this anim?

[prototype1479 63]

It's like VANO mod and DANMOD you should try out those mods and you will see how it works.

 

But mine will focus on vanilla stuff

[hitman1987 69]

Why not a replacement?

[prototype1479 63]

What replacement?