Keynote Reference Guide

[airflamesred]

'Breaking news' ‎  ‎  ‎  ''AIRFLAMESRED IN LOW POLY MESH SHOCKER''!!!


I'm working towards a game prop with this. Two bones seems to be enough for the moment though I am looking into the C6 bone which I suspect would be ideal for this.

EDIT see download below

[airflamesred]

Here's a funny thing
Metasequoia is supposed to be a low poly modelor. most places you look, and that is indeed the case. And yet I try it, and think its harder than using sub-d. Bevel gives up when it reaches an 'N' pole and round creates loads more geometry than I need.

Anyway - some shackles - Poseable.

I forgot all about the C6 bone so I'll have a look into that tomorrow.

[HwitVlf]

I'd seen that mirror tag with the square brackets but I don't really see any advantages to it beyond saving you a mat in the material panel.

If you mouse over a bone theres some info in the keynote panel. The id seems to be the 'first born', 'second born' etc. It also shows the Left and Right if the brackets are used.

Your constraints are good HwitVlf. Can I just ask why the bones are not joined?

The semicolon, you mentioned earlier is needed if for example C(........); H(.....); in the same mat. I guess its sort of end of command.

Thank you for that extra info- You're good at figuring this stuff out! ;) My interest was mainly curiosity, but I do find the tag helpful if you build a skeleton using the "mirrored" patch. It just saves having to make a new material, apply it to the bone, and reverse the constraint values after you 'freeze' the skeletons other half.

I didn't join the bones for a couple reasons- if you join the bones, the constraint values don't really work because a constrained bone just rotates its parent bone when it reaches the constraint boundary. Also, if the bones are separated, you can move them independently form their parent (Ctrl+E). Good for "falling apart" on death etc. I don't think joined bones can do that.

Your chain is quite neat! That extra little middle-bone almost makes an 'artificial physics' effect when you move the bottom link. SoM recognizes which direction the player approaches a model from- so you could make several bouncing-chain animations that change depending on which side the player examines it from. ‎ 

[airflamesred]

I see what you mean now with the falling apart thing. I was thinking more from a pose point of veiw.

Can't get the C6 bone to do anything though did have some success with the C4. Abstract would about sum it up

instructions in mat panel

[Verdite]

Really nice

Downloaded the earlier file, this new one is lahvley.

[airflamesred]

Thanks Ben - any requests for items?

Anyone got an idea on the move, rotate, element catmull ? I can't envisage how it may work, if it does

[Verdite]

Well i have a request for a custom "npc" - being a bovine.

You're cow looked fab. I'd like to put a cow in my game. ‎ 

[HwitVlf]

The shackles are very neat. I had downloaded the earlier chain segment, but somehow missed the finished product. I used to live near the historical 'Yuma' prison in Arizona (the prison referenced in the movie "3:10 to Yuma") and they used shackles very similar to these. They also kept the prisoners' ankle tied to iron balls which they had to carry around in their hands all the time. The prison was right on the river so needless to say, not many prisoners tried to "swim for it". I'm thinking they would be best as an 'Item' type?

If you're looking for model ideas Mark, I've thought that the SoM model set is mainly lacking in miscellaneous decor knick-knacks like wall pictures, table top clutter etc. Such accessories could really flesh out a scene and help break up the 'solid wall of color' effect. SoM has a limit on the number of Objects you can place on a map though, so it's best to combine multiple Objects in one model- like a set of 3 wall paintings etc. I think something like a group of wall tapestries that each display a single 256x256 texture picture would be great. People could swap out the texture with whatever they like. ‎ 

Anyone got an idea on the move, rotate, element catmull ? I can't envisage how it may work, if it does

‎  I say a little about these in the "Menu Information" document I put together. They affect the path bones/morph-elements take when keynote interpolates between keyframes. "Move" controls bone XYZ path interpolation, 'rotate' is for HPB, and 'element' controls the morph sliders mix ratio. Catmull uses a curved motion.

In the attached picture with Catmull 'Move" on, the selected bone actually moves between keyframes even though both keyframe have it in the same location. With 'Direct' it would stay motionless.

[airflamesred]

Thanks John
I shall have another look. So the curve would be based on bone position in keyframes both before and after, I guess? If I move a bone from A to B it takes a straight path so where would the curve come from?

Cows and tapestrys! What sort of crazy game is this?!!!!!!! Leave it with me. I had thought about a dead tre where things can hide ,or be hidden.

[HwitVlf]

I had thought about a dead tree where things can hide ,or be hidden.

That sounds neat. There's a couple different ways SoM handles such things- a non animated 'box class' object, or an 'open/close animated' treasure chest type object.

So the curve would be based on bone position in keyframes both before and after, I guess?

I haven't experimented much, but the 'curve' seems to be based on the motion between the two preceding keyframes- kind of a 'soft stop' effect. Attached a picture and model example.

Keynote only saves keyframes to the output Animated-X file (no interpolation), so this doesn't really effect anything we're doing for SoM. Although, you could set it to Catmull, then move the slider to each frame and push 'add' if you wanted to preserve the effect in the x file. It does make human movements etc more natural looking. ‎