Exporting visibility or scale
by Andrew Edmonds · in Artist Corner · 01/12/2010 (5:35 am) · 13 replies
Hi all,
I am trying to get image-based muzzle flash onto my weapon (rather than using particles) and am having no joy whatsoever exporting said weapon.
I'm currently using the xm8 from the modmaker weapon pack as my base. If I re-export the standard file it works fine with the fire animation. I have added a mesh to the end of the weapon which has my muzzle flash textures applied to it. This exports fine and I now have a permanent muzzle flash attached to the end of my gun :o)
Now - presumably the best way to go about this is to animate the visibility of the muzzleflash mesh. I have added the visibility track in the dope sheet and animated it. All looks fine in max. However, it appears that it is not being exported.
I tried a second (slightly hack-ish) method of animating the scale instead from *tiny* to big and back to tiny again. This also looks fine in max but does not export.
I'm wondering if I need something in my cfg file so that visibility is exported... Does that sound like it might be the problem?
Any useful tips would be hugely appreciated!
I am trying to get image-based muzzle flash onto my weapon (rather than using particles) and am having no joy whatsoever exporting said weapon.
I'm currently using the xm8 from the modmaker weapon pack as my base. If I re-export the standard file it works fine with the fire animation. I have added a mesh to the end of the weapon which has my muzzle flash textures applied to it. This exports fine and I now have a permanent muzzle flash attached to the end of my gun :o)
Now - presumably the best way to go about this is to animate the visibility of the muzzleflash mesh. I have added the visibility track in the dope sheet and animated it. All looks fine in max. However, it appears that it is not being exported.
I tried a second (slightly hack-ish) method of animating the scale instead from *tiny* to big and back to tiny again. This also looks fine in max but does not export.
I'm wondering if I need something in my cfg file so that visibility is exported... Does that sound like it might be the problem?
Any useful tips would be hugely appreciated!
About the author
Formed in 2005, EiKON Games is an indie games development project based in the UK working on the tactical first person shooter "Epoch: Incursion". See the Join Us or Contact Us pages at http://www.eikon-games.com/
#2
2. morph animations are no longer supported post-TGE afaik, ..so every animation besides 'transform movements and rotations' needs to be done via bones.
What about IFL animations ? ..are those in T3D ?
01/13/2010 (12:42 pm)
1. did you try 'forcing visibility export' found under the sequence||'s properties? 2. morph animations are no longer supported post-TGE afaik, ..so every animation besides 'transform movements and rotations' needs to be done via bones.
What about IFL animations ? ..are those in T3D ?
#3
@eb - good call on IFL's - I'll look into that now.
01/13/2010 (12:47 pm)
Thanks for the suggestions guys. Ivan - that's what I was trying to do but with no joy (excellent shader pack by the way - bought it yesterday!).@eb - good call on IFL's - I'll look into that now.
#4
01/13/2010 (1:06 pm)
If "push-comes-to-shove" and you can't get visibility working -- you could always try setmeshhidden, hiding the flash mesh on activation and unhiding it in the onFire() function, then rehiding it on reload.
#5
Not having any joy with IFL's either... How do 'other' people do their muzzle flashes???
01/13/2010 (1:16 pm)
I thought of that first thing this morning and rushed to the computer to test it, but the excitement didn't last long as setMeshHidden() doesn't work on ShapeBaseImageData :o(Not having any joy with IFL's either... How do 'other' people do their muzzle flashes???
#6
Thanks all!
01/13/2010 (1:43 pm)
Gah! I just discovered the 'Export Control' rollout in the sequence's modify tab. It's now working as it should with the visibility track.Thanks all!
#7
1. did you try 'forcing visibility export' found under the sequence||'s properties?
:P
01/13/2010 (11:13 pm)
*ahem*1. did you try 'forcing visibility export' found under the sequence||'s properties?
:P
#8
01/14/2010 (6:33 am)
eb, may be you haven't given it a try yet, but several weeks ago I discovered that morph animations are now available in T3D. :)
#9
- I just tried a few exports of a model with 'transform, vis and morph' animations from 3dsMax with the regular exporter and each attempt failed to export the morph portion.
thx
01/14/2010 (8:01 am)
Ivan, can you explain how you achieved this and in what app ?- I just tried a few exports of a model with 'transform, vis and morph' animations from 3dsMax with the regular exporter and each attempt failed to export the morph portion.
thx
#10
01/14/2010 (9:19 am)
eb - I know! Sorry!! I have *never* seen that panel before in my life. I think it's been hiding somewhere... Probably down the back of the sofa.
#11
@Ivan, I did not try morphs on DAE. Is this the 'key' ?
01/14/2010 (11:00 am)
@Eikon, hehe...no worries anyways, I wasn't very clear where to find those properties.@Ivan, I did not try morphs on DAE. Is this the 'key' ?
#12
just to avoid any misunderstandings by morph I mean animation for transform, rotation and scale (not animating the the 3ds max's morph modifier). I have tried it in both *.dts and *.DAE. It works in both ways.
The items in my game are DTS and are animated with no skins and bones.
01/14/2010 (11:40 am)
@eb just to avoid any misunderstandings by morph I mean animation for transform, rotation and scale (not animating the the 3ds max's morph modifier). I have tried it in both *.dts and *.DAE. It works in both ways.
The items in my game are DTS and are animated with no skins and bones.
#13
I miss morphs(by modifier or vertex manipulation).
01/15/2010 (3:47 am)
ah k, those are 'transform' animations.I miss morphs(by modifier or vertex manipulation).
Torque Owner Ivan Mandzhukov
Liman3D
I would do the muzzle flash this way:
You know the state machine supports weapon animations. Do the muzzle flash with a plane with scale animation. You can also setup that plane to be a billboard so that when you fire it will always face to camera.
If you can't export the scale animation this is surely an exporting issue. How did you make it? Via skin and bones or just animated the mesh?
I would do it without a skin.