Animation changes over time
by Dave Young · in Torque Game Engine · 01/24/2006 (1:45 pm) · 3 replies
I was just thinking about the possibility of doing animation changes over time, and wanted to know if anyone has run across a resource or reference which might be useful.
For example, when a person walks, they can range from a slow shuffle all the way to a full out sprint. Implemented in a game, each 'gear' of animation speeds would detract from your available 'stamina', such that you could walk at a slow pace indefinitely, but only sprint for relatively short amouonts of time.
This could be useful in lots of places, from biped walking to animating animals like horses.
We would have to track player speed almost like a driving sim, and set a maximum speed, but it would be much different than the forward/reverse/stop speeds we are used to using in an average FPS. Player movement would be continuous unless they decreased speed manually or ran out of 'stamina' and had to 'downshift'.
I know the bounding box in Torque has something to do with ground transformations, could it be leveraged to provide animation shifting/blending as such?
I can think of 2 different speed states
1) Walk - covers slow shuffle to fast walk
2) Run - covers jog to fast run and top end sprinting
Any technical guidance?
For example, when a person walks, they can range from a slow shuffle all the way to a full out sprint. Implemented in a game, each 'gear' of animation speeds would detract from your available 'stamina', such that you could walk at a slow pace indefinitely, but only sprint for relatively short amouonts of time.
This could be useful in lots of places, from biped walking to animating animals like horses.
We would have to track player speed almost like a driving sim, and set a maximum speed, but it would be much different than the forward/reverse/stop speeds we are used to using in an average FPS. Player movement would be continuous unless they decreased speed manually or ran out of 'stamina' and had to 'downshift'.
I know the bounding box in Torque has something to do with ground transformations, could it be leveraged to provide animation shifting/blending as such?
I can think of 2 different speed states
1) Walk - covers slow shuffle to fast walk
2) Run - covers jog to fast run and top end sprinting
Any technical guidance?
#2
It could be enhanced of course by extending the ActionAnimation table to include the "steps" you mention.
02/09/2006 (8:25 pm)
Actually, the engine does scale the speed of the animation to the speed (actually, velocity, since it's vector based) in the Player::pickActionAnimation. It even blends the sideways movement and front/back depending on the vector compared to your facing.It could be enhanced of course by extending the ActionAnimation table to include the "steps" you mention.
#3
02/10/2006 (4:31 am)
Sorry, I realized this after I posted but forgot to come and change. It does scale based on speed ;) 
Torque 3D Owner Brandon Maness
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