How do I associate an object or player to a Motion path?

#1 The Player class sucks! There I said it!

Have you had a quick look at how pathing works? In case you haven't, basically an object is "mounted" to the target Path and it moves itself by requesting its transform. The reason why I couldn't have the Path itself move the objects was because of interpolation. Most objects have different interpolation methods and none of them were accessable by external objects. The really good thing about this method though is that each object is able to take that information and tweak it for its own sake. For objects like StaticShapes, Cameras, Lights, etc, this task was pretty simple - I just take the transform and apply it. The Player class is just way to bloated to do this.

I could go through and try to get the Player class pathing, but I honestly think that it would be fighting so much of the Player code its no funny. Systems like animation and physics rely on variables which are determined by input and simulating this would be virtually impossible.

In many other games that use in-game cinematics, they substitute their Player with a simple dummy and hide the unused meshes. I have started working on an Actor class which will be a simple representation of a Player - and it will path. This class will be available before the first release to ensure that it is working a.o.k.

On another note, how do you like Animation? Is there anything that needs tweaking in your opinion?

#2 Ah crap, sorry, I missed the bit where you wanted *any* object pathed!

I actually wrote up some docs for this a while back, but the system has changed so much since then that it is pointless to display it. One of the hazards of writing docs for an unfinished product ;)

Before you go and create your Motion Track, I suggest that you create a VPath in the Editor first. That way, when you create your Motion Track in Verve, it can reference it nice and easily from the dropdown that pops up. If you have already created your Motion Track, then you will need to refrence the DataTable to fetch the object. Have you seen the Video on how to do this? Check it here.

So, hopefully by this stage you should have a VPath and a Motion Track which refrences that path!

When you create an Event on that track, it will create a Node on the associated Path using the transform of the underlying object. Make sense? So, move the object to the position that you want it to start at then create your first Event. Then move the Time Cue to the time that you want the next Event to be and then move the Object in the world to the position. Rince and repeat!

If you then go into the Path Editor, you can tweak the nodes as you like, but moving them will not affect the timing of Events on your track. You can drag Events around your track to adjust the speed in which the object will move from point to point if you wish.

This is probably one of the most difficult aspects to get correct, don't worry if you don't get it the first time around. Let me know if you have any dramas.

Cheers!

#3 Thanks Phillip. I will give it a go.. I've used Flash path motion before, and dabbled with the PathShape resource with my monorail (you may have seen it). But couldn't grasp Verve, as it was more GUI orientated when I'm used to code :)

Animation is good, I've yet to see if you can do seamless animation. Probably down to timings. I have my eyes on another product (not mentioning here to take away Verve's limelight, but more interested in Player Cinematics and Animation for that, with physics.

Anyway, keep up the good work.. looking forward to seeing more with Verve! I've got a demo in mind for it with Survival Strike.. you'll see what I mean when I have finished :)

#4 Hi Phillip. Still having problems trying to get the motion working.. is there a demo example or video you can post up to help me understand this better. As the Animation one doesn't help on the Motion. I'm sure it's something I'm not doing right, but have done everything you have said and the TStatic Object just does not want to move :)

#5 I think that the GMK is a good stepping stone for Verve. GMK's methods are pretty crude, but they will get the job done unless you're trying to do something "outside the box". When you hit this point using the GMK, you'll probably look to something like Verve - a dedicated Cinematic Tool.

Yuri has done a great job though, don't get me wrong. Torque wasn't really built for this kind of thing, so it take a lot of effort to get it setup nicely.

How do you do seemless animations from script? That was always one thing I found confusing.

#6 TSStatic can't move because it really is static! You will need to use a StaticShape (crazy Torque Objects!).

Sorry, I should have mentioned that.

#7 Sorry, my fault.. being dumb today. I've been out of coding on Torque for a while now, concentrating on the art pipeline. So I really need to get back into the basics again. Dig out the books and read up on the forums. GMK is good, have that also, I was refering to what BrokeAss have been involved in. I like Verve though, purely because of the networking aspects of the cinematics.. I have a dropship that I am going to use to fly under a bridge, then deploying out the drop pods, music in the background and adding a few particle effects. Let's see what results we can get! :) I get the odd crash on Verve when in the editor, but not all the time. Apart from that, it's fine. When do you expect the v1 release? At the same time as Torque 3D ?

#8 Before I used to create seamless animations outside of Torque using 3rd party cinematics and rendering and animation tools, then play them in Torque via the playThread from what I remember. Export them to DSQ.

#9 Ecstasy? There is no doubt whatsoever that Ecstasy can add a lot to a Cinematic. I've not picked it up myself, as I have no artistic ability (or fashion sense as my girlfriend would lead you to believe), but I think that Verve would work really well with it.

Fast action camera work, graphic and sound effects and super sweet animations? Sounds like a winning formula to me!

#10 That's the one. I was looking at Mocap, this is something that I'll get into at some point and share a studio with other game developers to achieve it. Once the funds permit. Had a quote the other day for cameras/clothing gear but worked out 42,000 euros! I'm sure there are cheaper alternatives out there for about $6k, but don't want to run before I can crawl.

Dropship/drop pods have some sweet animations, landing gear, engine rotations, wings and doors that open and close. So I should be able to come up with something good, especially with Verve, once I have mastered the Motion. It's almost 1am in the Uk, so I'm going to try again tomorrow. Cheers for the replies.

J

#11 How have you gotten on Julian?

#12 Hi Phillip... I've been quite busy over the past few days, but this weekend I will crack on with it.. are you on Instant messenger by any chance if I get stuck :) lol.