Really crap ofpanim tutorial here

[tracy_t 0]

Shit OfpAnim tutorial by tracy_t

OfpAnim isn't hard to use. I was up and running with it in a day. It can be frustrating to use at times (e.g. there's no copy and paste functionality) so if you're not patient, you're screwed.

What I recommend you do first is UNPBO anim.pbo (OFP) and o.pbo (OFP:R) and inspect the .rtm animation files. Just search the forums for unpbo and you'll get a link (or go to avonlady's site.)

CAVEAT: Make sure you download the ENGLISH translation file trans_c2e.tsl for OFPAnim too, so that all of the model body parts have english names (ie: ribs, chest, right thigh etc) instead of czech!!! PM me if you want a copy of this file.

Select "load P3D" function from File menu and load "mc tankistae.p3d" from OFPAnim's demo data directory. This loads a tank crew model. You will notice that in the "components" pane, all of the limbs of the tank crew model are displayed in a tree view.

The tree view shows what components are "attached" to each other. For example, we can see that the neck is attached to the head, the elbows are attached to the biceps and so on.

Now select "load anim", and from your UNPBO'd DTA directory, load in the chuzebez0l.rtm file.

Click the play button at the bottom of the OFPAnim screen. You will now see the tank crewman move in the bottom right hand "preview" pane - the left and right mouse buttons allow you to pan round the animation.

When you load an rtm file you will find that each animation is comprised of a sequence of "frames". The sequence of frames has to complete in <PLAY TIME> seconds (PLAY TIME is a real (ie: floating point) number)

You should derive your new animations from existing .rtm files because if you don't, you will notice your animations begin "under ground" !!! I can't think of a way to fix that.

Click "edit frame" in the bottom left to (surprise!) edit a frame. Select the components (limbs!) from the tree view on the left that you wish to work with and use the x,y,z sliders to rotate/move the selected components in the relevant 3D axis. (You toggle "move/rotate" mode by pressing the ||| button directly beneath the "cancel changes" button.)

Use the "restore" button if you screw up - but remember it undoes all changes made since the last time you "applied changes". Use cancel changes if you want to cancel your current changes and return to the main screen.

Click Apply Changes when you are happy with your animation frame change.

Unlike sprite animations for 2D games where each animation frame had to be pre-defined by the graphic artist, you do not need to create a massive amount of frames in order to get smooth animations!! Operation Flashpoint will interpolate animations when required!!

Say for example you have a 2 frame animation where the first frame is of your right hand up in the air, and the second is of your hand on your ass.  OFP will calculate the "intermediate" frames for the animation to lower your hand. This is called "tweening" - see:

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/T/tweening.html

for a definition.

When you have finished your animation, use File | Save Anim to ... well you guessed.

Now, getting the animation INTO OFP.. that's a whole different story. PM me when you're ready to do that

[AntonVonE 0]

You should derive your new animations from existing .rtm files because if you don't, you will notice your animations begin "under ground" !!! I can't think of a way to fix that.

The solution to that is to select all components, click absolute move, raise the model to just above the yellow line, and then rotate it 90 degrees to the right. This will have your animation playing from the proper direction, otherwise it will end up turning left immediately, or ending up underground.

Does anyone know what will happen if you change the pivot points?

Anton

[KamikazyWar 0]

Well I played around a little, and it seems to change the pivot area. (e.g. insteat of the ankle it could but right above it)

[silent_64 0]

Can I move a proxy in OFPAnim is so how?

[tracy_t 0]

Make the proxy visible (click on the crossed "eye" icon next to the required proxy) then select the proxy via left mouse button.

Use rotate etc as you would normally.

[silent_64 0]

Nope, I want to move the ak proxy and I've selcted it but I can't move it.

[gunterlund 0]

To move the rifle proxy you need to select the last item in the list called weapons/arms. You can move the rifle around with this.

Also I tried to edit that rtm listed above. Now my anm has a pause int is walking sequence in game even though it looks ok in ofpanim. I lengthened his stride a little. Any ideas on how to correct?