Skeletal Animation Idea?

[cyberkilla]

In case you did not notice, I have basically finished it!

I have the javaDoc API URL, and the link to the source jar itself.

Opinions are appreciated!;)
http://www.jpct.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4395#4395

[EgonOlsen]

I hope to be able to give it a try next week...i'm still busy working on something else but after that, i'll have a look at it for sure.
How about adding it to the download page? Should i host a stable version myself or do you want to keep it in your hands and i'm just linking to it?

[cyberkilla]

You can host it if you want: ).

It seems pretty stable to me.
The javaDoc should be included in the source jar too.

Should I upload a binary version too?

[EgonOlsen]

Binary would be cool. What is its target VM? 1.5?

[raft]

May I just ask... Is anyone interested in skeletal animations for their projects here?

sure, i'm quite interested with your skeletal api and willing to use it in karga in the future but only after you began to use it in your project (which means it's effectively tested) and also after i'm convinced it's suitable for close camera positions

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[cyberkilla]

Binary would be cool. What is its target VM? 1.5?

I do tend to target for this, but I am certain I can knock the support down a lot.
There is very little used that restricts it to 1.5.

I will endevour to increase the vm support, so it can be more useful to others.

[cyberkilla]

May I just ask... Is anyone interested in skeletal animations for their projects here?

sure, i'm quite interested with your skeletal api and willing to use it in karga in the future but only after you began to use it in your project (which means it's effectively tested) and also after i'm convinced it's suitable for close camera positions

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Very wise. I will be implementing it in a day or so, and it must be able to support close camera angles for my own project, so I hope I can accommodate you;)

[EgonOlsen]

I've zipped the sources, the docs, a jar with the binary (compiled for 1.4) and  the example models and uploaded the whole thing. I'm linking to it from the download page. Please let me know if it's ok or if you would like me to change something.

[cyberkilla]

That is great:).

I will be sorting the animation out for my own project tomorrow morning,
so I will have some better models to test.

The two that I linked to work fine, but perhaps a more detailed animation would prove the point a little better.


I appreciate you linking to it.
Some screenshots of my FutureRP project will be available soon also - it would be great to get some opinions on the interface i've been working on;)

[cyberkilla]

I forgot I did this

I will try to get the bone weight ratios working and upload a new version in the next week or so.

My php based game is taking even longer than I thought

[halcor]

This is because of the Hofstadter's Law

[cyberkilla]

How right you are:)

[ToddMcF2002]

Just a general question about skeletal animation "in game": 

What is the logic of ingame skeletal animation vs. keyframe meshes?  I'm guessing less memory/resources for skeletal animation?  Flexibility to add animations without redeploying the mesh?  I'm a 3DMax Biped user and I've made the comical attempt to export from Max to Ogre3D's format using oFusion.  That was certainly not a pleasant experience.  If I recall it was complaining about vertexes having multiple bone weights and it was removing them during export!  I have NO confidence in a plugin that makes vertex weighting decisions after I carefully assigned them.

I've been a bit suspicious about ingame support for skeletal animation because I'm worried about "when things go wrong".  I can fix issues in max with skin envelopes and vertex weighting - but unless the tool is developed in the game engine itself how can you be certain the mesh translation will work as expected?  Meshes seem "safe".  The Unreal franchise uses meshes only if I recall.

On the other hand clearly skeletal animation "in game" is popular.  Ogre3D does it.  Torque does it.  Not sure how many others but clearly its popular.  Just curious why?  Resources?  Too many model formats to support? 

[Remo]

Well one of the advantages would be parametric animation.

[ToddMcF2002]

Sorry not so familiar with that term.  Do you mean like mixing and matching animations such as having the legs running, walking or standing combined with various separate upper body animations like waving or arms folded?