Lightwave made players?
by Matt Radunz · in Torque Game Engine · 08/02/2002 (9:47 am) · 11 replies
Does anyone know of any tutorials of how to make player characters in Lightwave? I have a skinned and boned character, and the .dts exporter, so what do I do now? Any help would be much appreciated.
#2
08/02/2002 (4:20 pm)
Dave, I went to gnometech.com and downloaded your Tin Man but there was no .lws included so I can't see how he was created. I'm looking for how to make the eye, cam, and mount nodes, as well as include at least a root and a run animation. I tried using boxes as nodes, but the eye and cam ended up at my characters feet. And instead of using the run animation I did, he was just in a T stance facing bacwards. One more thing, my model isn't segmented. Is this why the animations don't work?
#3
My wife hates spiders, she FREAKED :)
Sorry, I return this thread to it's original intent :)
08/02/2002 (5:10 pm)
Holy crap that's cool :)My wife hates spiders, she FREAKED :)
Sorry, I return this thread to it's original intent :)
#4
Matt:
Oh, you're correct. The Tin Man and Spider Bot objects and scene are in the documentation archive at www.gnometech.com. The separate archives were more meant for those that don't have LW but want to take a look. I had forgotten that that's how I had set it up, so sorry for not pointing that out. If you haven't downloaded the documentation yet, I'd suggest that you do.
To create the eye and cam nodes, you'll want to have a Null for each in your scene with the appropriate name. Then set them to export as nodes. That should be it. If you have a box, and it is set to export as a mesh (rather than node only) then it will go into the mesh table and not the node table within the DTS file.
As for why your animation didn't work, I'm not sure. It doesn't matter if you use a segmented or boned mesh, so that shouldn't be the problem. As for it facing backwards, you need to model your player facing down the positive z-axis. Hopefully once you look at both the Tin Man and Spider Bot scenes from the documentation it'll become clear. If not, continue to ask :o)
Ed:
Glad you like it! And scaring spouses is what it's all about :o)
- LightWave Dave
08/02/2002 (9:30 pm)
Greetings!Matt:
Oh, you're correct. The Tin Man and Spider Bot objects and scene are in the documentation archive at www.gnometech.com. The separate archives were more meant for those that don't have LW but want to take a look. I had forgotten that that's how I had set it up, so sorry for not pointing that out. If you haven't downloaded the documentation yet, I'd suggest that you do.
To create the eye and cam nodes, you'll want to have a Null for each in your scene with the appropriate name. Then set them to export as nodes. That should be it. If you have a box, and it is set to export as a mesh (rather than node only) then it will go into the mesh table and not the node table within the DTS file.
As for why your animation didn't work, I'm not sure. It doesn't matter if you use a segmented or boned mesh, so that shouldn't be the problem. As for it facing backwards, you need to model your player facing down the positive z-axis. Hopefully once you look at both the Tin Man and Spider Bot scenes from the documentation it'll become clear. If not, continue to ask :o)
Ed:
Glad you like it! And scaring spouses is what it's all about :o)
- LightWave Dave
#5
08/03/2002 (1:09 am)
Ok, the nodes work, and he's facing forward, but I still can't get the animations to work. Do I have to create nodes for every bone or does the exporter do that on its own? My player is only one object, unlike Tin Man so there is only one node for that mesh right? I'm stumped.
#6
All bones should automatically export as nodes. The Spider Bot uses bones and seems to work fine.
I guess I'm down to two last questions:
1. Do you have the 'Export animation sequences' checkbox on the Animation tab checked?
2. Are you using weight maps for your bones? LW allows you to animate using bones in a number of ways, but the only method that is exported is through weight maps, as explained in the documentation.
If the answer to both of these questions is yes, then feel free to send me your scene and objects and I can take a look at it. It's always possible you've found a bug as people like yourselves are only just beginning to use the LW exporter.
- LightWave Dave
08/03/2002 (8:03 am)
Greetings!All bones should automatically export as nodes. The Spider Bot uses bones and seems to work fine.
I guess I'm down to two last questions:
1. Do you have the 'Export animation sequences' checkbox on the Animation tab checked?
2. Are you using weight maps for your bones? LW allows you to animate using bones in a number of ways, but the only method that is exported is through weight maps, as explained in the documentation.
If the answer to both of these questions is yes, then feel free to send me your scene and objects and I can take a look at it. It's always possible you've found a bug as people like yourselves are only just beginning to use the LW exporter.
- LightWave Dave
#7
08/03/2002 (9:41 am)
Hi Dave. The answers to your questions are... yes, and....yes. I will send you the object and scene. I really hope that im just missing a step. I really enjoy working in Lightwave and I DONT want to have to switch to 3dsmax >:P, Thanks again for your help. 
#8
Im a Lightwave user, and i wanna to know, how its possible to exporting game data directly from lightwave into the engine. Ofcource im not a programmer, the direct method is for coders only, im courious about how its possible to skip the way of 3dsmax. As i told, im totally new, so sorry, if there in the deep of this forum is there a massive thread about.
Is there any usable converter, exporter to use with LW for the torque ?
Where can i pick up one ?
ps :
i mean about simple uv textured environmental models, animated vehicles, and of course boned PC and NPC characters, and their animations too.
08/08/2002 (10:03 am)
Hi people...im totally new here.Im a Lightwave user, and i wanna to know, how its possible to exporting game data directly from lightwave into the engine. Ofcource im not a programmer, the direct method is for coders only, im courious about how its possible to skip the way of 3dsmax. As i told, im totally new, so sorry, if there in the deep of this forum is there a massive thread about.
Is there any usable converter, exporter to use with LW for the torque ?
Where can i pick up one ?
ps :
i mean about simple uv textured environmental models, animated vehicles, and of course boned PC and NPC characters, and their animations too.
#9
Nexus
The thread with the latest LightWave information is currently:
www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=forums&page=result.thread&qt=5769
I tend to create a new thread for each new release. That gives people a change to discuss it if they need to.
The official site for the LightWave DTS exporter is www.gnometech.com. A very cool site by a very cool guy :o) There you'll find the exporter, some documentation, and some example objects (most are included in the docs).
If you have any other questions, let me know.
Everyone Else
Just to update you on Matt's original message: There was indeed a bug in the LW exporter that was causing problems when you animate a rotation on all three axis (which you usually do in single-mesh character animation). This, as far as I know, has now been fixed and Matt is on his way again.
Once the Mac version of the plug-in has been compiled, I'll release the bug fix for everyone. If you desperately need it, email me and I can send the PC version to you.
- LightWave Dave
08/08/2002 (1:33 pm)
Greetings!Nexus
The thread with the latest LightWave information is currently:
www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=forums&page=result.thread&qt=5769
I tend to create a new thread for each new release. That gives people a change to discuss it if they need to.
The official site for the LightWave DTS exporter is www.gnometech.com. A very cool site by a very cool guy :o) There you'll find the exporter, some documentation, and some example objects (most are included in the docs).
If you have any other questions, let me know.
Everyone Else
Just to update you on Matt's original message: There was indeed a bug in the LW exporter that was causing problems when you animate a rotation on all three axis (which you usually do in single-mesh character animation). This, as far as I know, has now been fixed and Matt is on his way again.
Once the Mac version of the plug-in has been compiled, I'll release the bug fix for everyone. If you desperately need it, email me and I can send the PC version to you.
- LightWave Dave
#10
Here is how to put your lighwave made player model into the engine.
1. Complete the export using Dave's cool exporter.
2. Create a script file "name.cs".
3. Open "example\fps\data\shapes\player\player.cs".
4. Copy the content of the player.cs to your "name.cs".
5. In your script file, change the player.dts to your dts file.
6. Open "example\fps\server\scripts\player.cs".
7. In that file, change the reference to the player.cs with your script file. Also there are player.dts and debris_player.dts somewhere in there. Remove them and replace it with your dts file.
Good Luck.
08/08/2002 (2:23 pm)
Matt,Here is how to put your lighwave made player model into the engine.
1. Complete the export using Dave's cool exporter.
2. Create a script file "name.cs".
3. Open "example\fps\data\shapes\player\player.cs".
4. Copy the content of the player.cs to your "name.cs".
5. In your script file, change the player.dts to your dts file.
6. Open "example\fps\server\scripts\player.cs".
7. In that file, change the reference to the player.cs with your script file. Also there are player.dts and debris_player.dts somewhere in there. Remove them and replace it with your dts file.
Good Luck.
#11
Its really a faaast solution.
Thanks a lot. Im really impressed... 8:O
08/08/2002 (3:24 pm)
DavidIts really a faaast solution.
Thanks a lot. Im really impressed... 8:O
Associate David Wyand
Gnometech Inc.
Matt, what were you specifically looking for?
Over on my site (www.gnometech.com) in the Products section, there are two examples that may be of use to you.
The first is my Tin Man. He is a segmented model, and has the following animations: root, run, back, and celwave. The scene also contains the nodes that are required for a player (eye, cam, and a mount0 for a weapon).
The second example is the Spider Bot. It is a skinned and boned model that is more intended as a bot, but it is also setup as a player. In this case, only the root and run animations have been included.
Hopefully those two examples are enough to get you started. If not, please speak up.
Once you've made your player DTS file, you can get it into the game in the same way as any other DTS file, such as that produced by MilkShape. In fact, if I remember correctly, I included some simple instructions on getting your player into Torque in the Tin Man and Spider Bot DTS file archives on my site. It's not the optimal method, but it works, and is great for trying things out.
The main thing to keep in mind is that once you have your DTS file, everything else here at GarageGames will apply, so you can use the numerous resources here.
- LightWave Dave