IFL Animation - I can't get it working.

#1 What happens (and doesn't happen) when you are in the Show Tool? Do the texture show up but not play? Do no textures show up? Is the IFL and all of the texture maps in the same directory as the DTS file?

Have you tried loading the model into the engine itself? Some features work in the engine but are turned off in the Showtool. Also please submit more information when you are asking for help, it will allow people to answer your questions quicker and more accurately.

Logan

#2 Make sure it has a sequence helper (with begin/end keys) and in the Export Control rollout make sure IFL animation is enabled.

#3 Yes, I have a sequence dummy in there, and the IFL animation export is turned on.

What I have done is this...

Made an object that can export /w the proper .cfg file and everything...
it is a simple 2 poly square to simulate a tv screen (for testing purposes)
I made 5 smaple texture files 01.png - 05.png I made an IFL of these useing the IFL manager called tex.ifl the file if read in notepad reads...

01.png
02.png
03.png
04.png
05.png

I made the texture useing the IFL for the diffuse bitmap, and applyed it to the object.
I then made a sequence object, made it start and end at 0 and 4, and turned on the IFL animation switch.
I then try to export again, and all that appear in the -show tool, is the box, untextured.
The 5 texture files and the ifl are in the shape folder with the exported DTS file.

I must be missing something.

#4 Based on your description of what you did, it should have worked.

I just tried to make my own and it did not work for me either. Very strange. The method is correct, but it is not working.

I have no idea why.

#5 In the DTS sequence rool out under "Export Control" theres a tick box to enable "IFL animation" did you use that?

// Clocks out

EDIT: Never mind I just read you post better :)

#6 Don't have the codebase available to me right now but if you look in the c++ files for resourcemanager, there is something like IFL_Prefix defined, dont' remember exact var name. When I looked at it ages ago, I believe it was set to prepend "skins/" to ifl resource names. Anyway, check the code or drop your ifls into a skins directory - can't remember exact details.

#7 Thanks John.

This makes total sense. This is another thing that must have been broken when the GarageGames guys switched the directory structure organization.

#8 I tryed the skins directory. No go.

But I am having my coders look at the codebase tomorrow to see what is up.

BTW, I had my project leader Justin Mette submit the first two posts for me, I am the one doing the test. I am but a lowly artist. I wish I could make heads or tails from the code, but i don't even have it. (that might be a good thing)

Jay Young
Lead Artist - 21-6 Productions

#9 hey,

i'm having similar difficulties with getting IFL animation to work - i was just wondering if anyone has discovered any magic fix since this thread was last used. i've followed all the steps above from Justins post and get a shape with no texture at all in the show tool.

any ideas much appreciated,

mel

#10 bumpo

#11 I manage to use it fine.
Here are the step to follow :
- Create some png files that will be your animation (blade01.png, blade02.png,...)
- Create a simple text file with that shape :
blade01.png 1
blade02.png 1
blade03.png 15

and name it foo.ifl
(The number are the number of frame the .png will be shown)
- In your model create a material with the foo.ifl file as diffusion map
- Place a Torque sequence helper with the good duration, and check the "enable IFL"
- Export the model, and TADAAAAA.

Hope it helps

#12 It worked for me too. The missing thing for me was the 'IFL animation' checkbox. Also - I am using 1.1.2, and I did not have to use a skins prefix.

#13 ahh, sadly my max licence isn't working at the moment so I cant try out your suggestion - last time i didnt have the framerate info in the .ifl file so I'll try it out as soon as I can...
Thanks for the info!
mel

#14 I managed to get ifls working in showtool, but inside the Torque engine, they arn't played.
but anyway, im on the way to figure it out, but what i wanted to add to this thread is:

for all who are curious HOW to add the start / end key,
go to trackview in 3dsmax (also called curve editor in toolbar) and there you ll find the track, where u can add simply keys by click.

i was searchin around a little bit for this, so perhaps it helps someone..
greetings
ka

#15 I've had the same problem that Philipp has. My IFL animations play in the ShowTool but not in- game. I checked our engines vehicle.class and the sequence should be named brakelight, which I've been naming it. I've followed the above steps and I'm stumped. Help pleease!

#16 Be sure your test.ifl, test.dts and image sequence is in ~/data/.......

1) create test.cs

datablock StaticShapeData(test)
{
category = "Misc";
shapeFile = "~/data/shapes/test.dts";
};
function test::onAdd(%this,%obj)
{
//name of the torque sequence helper (in this case "sequence01")
%obj.playThread(0,"Sequence01");
}
function StaticShapeData::create(%block)
{

%obj = new StaticShape()
{
dataBlock = %block;
};
return(%obj);
}

then exec the test.cs in game.cs

your new IFL will be in shapes/misc in the World editor creator

place it, press F8 F7 to get back into view, thats it

it took me some time to figure it out, so anyway,

hope it helps someone

#17 Thanks for the tip. However, I'm trying to get brakelight animations working on a Wheeled Vehicle Datablock so that when you hit the brake in game, the animation for the vehicle plays.The script format that you're describing doesn't appear to work in the way I'm describing.

#18 Yes, the script charisti wrote down is (at least i think) to start the animation, whenever the object ist drawn in scene.

the thing is curios about is, why i have to go first to mission editor (f11), then close it, then change camera (f8) and change it back to rts cam (f7) to play animations. its the same with oder fx stuff, like particle systems, etc..

its a little strange, perhaps because of performance in editor, perhaps because of other things, but if someone has an explaination, i would be grateful.

thx
ka

#19 Okay, now I have a new problem with these brakelights. The brakelights work on my vehicle when I'm using a Windows machine but they don't work when I drive my vehicle on a Linux machine. Has anyone encountered a problem like this?

#20 My material shows up in both Showtool and TGE, but it won't play the .ifl animation and for some reason it says no for animation seq. Any ideas? Thanks