com.threed.jpct
Class Animation

java.lang.Object
  com.threed.jpct.Animation

All Implemented Interfaces:

java.io.Serializable

public final class Animation

extends java.lang.Object

implements java.io.Serializable

Animation provides a keyframe animation implementation. An animation sequence can be defined and added to an object. Several interpolation methods for keyframe interpolation are supported. Remember that other kinds of animation like rotations and translations (moving objects around) usually isn't done using keyframe animation but by rotating and translating the objects directly. Both types of animation can be combined.

See Also:

Serialized Form

Field Summary

static int	BICUBIC Use bicubic interpolation between keyframes.
static int	COSINE Use cosine interpolation between keyframes.
static int	HERMITE Use hermite interpolation between keyframes.
static int	KEYFRAMESONLY Use no interpolation between keyframes.
static int	LINEAR Use linear interpolation between keyframes.
static int	USE_CLAMPING Use clamping when the interpolation reaches the end of a sub-sequence.
static int	USE_WRAPPING Use wrapping when the interpolation reaches the end of a sub-sequence.

Constructor Summary

Animation(int keyframeCount)
Creates a new animation sequence that consist of keyframeCount keyframes.

Method Summary

void	addKeyFrame(Mesh keyFrame) Add a keyframe to a animation sequence.
int	createSubSequence(java.lang.String name) Creates a new sub-sequence.
Mesh[]	getKeyFrames() Returns the key frames of an animation as an array of Mesh.
java.lang.String	getName(int seq) Returns the name of a sequence.
int	getSequence(java.lang.String name) Returns a sequence index for a given name.
int[]	getSequenceBorders(int seq) Gets the position of the start and the end frame of a sequence.
int	getSequenceCount() Returns the number of sequences used.
void	remove(int seq) Removes data of a sequence from an animation.
void	setClampingMode(int mode) Sets the clamping mode for animations.
void	setHermiteParameter(float bias, float tension) Changes the bias and tension parameters used for hermite interpolation.
void	setInterpolationMethod(int method) Sets the method that should be used to interpolate vertices between keyframes.
void	strip() Removes triangle information from this animation's meshes.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

equals, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

LINEAR

public static final int LINEAR

Use linear interpolation between keyframes. This kind of interpolation is the fastest.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

COSINE

public static final int COSINE

Use cosine interpolation between keyframes. This interpolation method is a little bit slower than linear interpolation but still very fast. cosine interpolation tends to "pronounce" the keyframes more than the interpolated frames between them, so that the animation looks a little bit "robotic".

See Also:

Constant Field Values

BICUBIC

public static final int BICUBIC

Use bicubic interpolation between keyframes. This provides a kind of "smooth" interpolation but it's slower than linear and cosine interpolation. It may look better in some cases but it doesn't have to.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

HERMITE

public static final int HERMITE

Use hermite interpolation between keyframes. This provides a kind of "smooth" interpolation but it's slower than any other interpolation offered. It may look better in some cases but it doesn't have to. In addition, some parameters may be modified to influence interpolation outcome.

See Also:

setHermiteParameter(float, float), Constant Field Values

KEYFRAMESONLY

public static final int KEYFRAMESONLY

Use no interpolation between keyframes. This is the fastest possibility for displaying Animations but it looks very ugly. It should only be used for special effects or debugging of animations.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

USE_WRAPPING

public static final int USE_WRAPPING

Use wrapping when the interpolation reaches the end of a sub-sequence. Using this mode, going from position 1 (last frame) to position 0 (first frame) in a sub-sequence should look seamless. This is default.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

USE_CLAMPING

public static final int USE_CLAMPING

Use clamping when the interpolation reaches the end of a sub-sequence. Using this mode, the interpolation won't start off at the beginning of a sub-sequence if the end is reached (and vice versa).

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Constructor Detail

Animation

public Animation(int keyframeCount)

Creates a new animation sequence that consist of keyframeCount keyframes. Albeit it isn't absolutly needed that every keyframe reserved here is used, it is advised to do so. In other words: Don't reserve more frames than you need!

Parameters:

keyframeCount - the number of keyframes for this animation

Method Detail

strip

public void strip()

Removes triangle information from this animation's meshes. This is useful to save some memory for meshes that are used for keyframing only (triangle information are not needed in that case). For any other meshes: Don't call this method. It will break your mesh!

remove

public void remove(int seq)

Removes data of a sequence from an animation. The actual sequence is still there, just without any data. Accessing it will cause a crash. This is useful to save memory on animations that doesn't use all sequences.

Parameters:

seq - the sequence

getName

public java.lang.String getName(int seq)

Returns the name of a sequence.

Parameters:

seq - a sequence

Returns:

the name

getSequenceBorders

public int[] getSequenceBorders(int seq)

Gets the position of the start and the end frame of a sequence.

Parameters:

seq - the sequence

Returns:

an int[2]-array with the positions

getSequence

public int getSequence(java.lang.String name)

Returns a sequence index for a given name. If non is found, -1 will be returned.

Parameters:

name - the sequence's name

Returns:

the index or -1

getKeyFrames

public Mesh[] getKeyFrames()

Returns the key frames of an animation as an array of Mesh.

Returns:

the key frames

createSubSequence

public int createSubSequence(java.lang.String name)

Creates a new sub-sequence. A sub-sequence is a part of the complete animation that can be played stand-alone (like running, jumping etc.). Using the sub-sequence concept, it is possible to store all sub-animations for an object into one animation, so that switching (and maybe interaction) between them is fast and comfortable. Before adding the first keyframe you have to create a sub-sequence. The sub-sequence will be numbered starting from 1. 0 is a special case as is represents the animation as a whole.

Parameters:

name - the name of this sequence

Returns:

the number of this sequence

getSequenceCount

public int getSequenceCount()

Returns the number of sequences used. Sequence 0 is implicit as it stands for the animation as a whole. So a return value of 2 means, that you may play sub-sequence 1 or 2...or the whole animation using 0.

Returns:

the number of sequences

setClampingMode

public void setClampingMode(int mode)

Sets the clamping mode for animations.

Parameters:

mode - the clamping mode

See Also:

USE_WRAPPING, USE_CLAMPING

addKeyFrame

public void addKeyFrame(Mesh keyFrame)

Add a keyframe to a animation sequence. A keyframe is simply a mesh. A mesh can be obtained from an object by calling its getMesh()-method. Don't add a mesh as a keyframe that is already bound to an object that should use this animation, because this will result in the object to animate it's own mesh instead of the keyframes. If you want to use a mesh from such an object, don't add the mesh from getMesh() directly but make a copy of it using cloneMesh(). It's a good way to generate meshes by getting them from temporary objects. Don't forget to calc the bounding box and the normals for these meshes (for example by calling build() for the temporary object). All the meshes of an animation have to have the same mesh-size (as well as the object that should use this animation).

Parameters:

keyFrame - the mesh of this keyframe

See Also:

Object3D.calcBoundingBox(), Object3D.getMesh(), Object3D.calcNormals(), Mesh.cloneMesh(boolean)

setInterpolationMethod

public void setInterpolationMethod(int method)

Sets the method that should be used to interpolate vertices between keyframes.

Parameters:

method - the method

See Also:

LINEAR, COSINE, BICUBIC, HERMITE

setHermiteParameter

public void setHermiteParameter(float bias,
                                float tension)

Changes the bias and tension parameters used for hermite interpolation. Other interpolation methods are not affected by these settings.

Parameters:

bias - the value for bias (0 is default)

tension - the value for tension (0 is default)