Animation Questions

[Akahi 25]

Two questions I have about this is how difficult is it to make new animations? Also, is it possible to transfer some of the npc animations to our characters? (sitting and  leaning specifically).

 

I have seen some videos of some gaming companies that use a body suit with sensors attached to do animations. Is there more to it than just that?

I'm not trying to petition that the developers start a project like this but was just curious about the process.

[vsb 6132]

2 minutes ago, Akahi said:

I have seen some videos of some gaming companies that use a body suit with sensors attached to do animations. Is there more to it than just that?

this is how either all or a majority of the original apb animations were made iirc

[Hexerin 1109]

Gamersfirst/Reloaded at one point had a modeling dev. The dev added multiple new weapon-related animations, as they were adding weapons that needed new animations for our characters to use them correctly. Unfortunately, the dev was let go and future weapons were forced to use inferior options. Probably the perfect example of this is the PDW-57, which uses the bullpup underside reload animation despite the gun's magazine being on the top.

[NotZombieBiscuit 3145]

1 hour ago, Akahi said:

Two questions I have about this is how difficult is it to make new animations? Also, is it possible to transfer some of the npc animations to our characters? (sitting and  leaning specifically).

 

I have seen some videos of some gaming companies that use a body suit with sensors attached to do animations. Is there more to it than just that?

I'm not trying to petition that the developers start a project like this but was just curious about the process.

There is a lot of work that goes in to it, more than just putting on a suit and recording the animations. There is the pre-process before any of that begans. Knowing what needs recording, drafting, etc. Even the act of recording animations is a lot of work that requires a large process and people. Arguably most of the work is done after where that animation data still needs to be fixed up frame by frame and adjusted; these animations need to be perfected and will change over the course of development as like any other kind of animation. The motion capture is just a foundation for the animation.

1 hour ago, BXNNXD said:

this is how either all or a majority of the original apb animations were made iirc

Na. A lot were done free hand or from video reference rather than strictly mocap.

[MoeEveryWeek 34]

On 10/25/2018 at 1:08 PM, BXNNXD said:

this is how either all or a majority of the original apb animations were made iirc

Isnt that how RWBY is made? Except they make slight alterations when needed

[Revoluzzer 269]

On 10/25/2018 at 7:14 AM, Hexerin said:

Probably the perfect example of this is the PDW-57, which uses the bullpup underside reload animation despite the gun's magazine being on the top.

It's a spitting image of the P90, which has a magazine on top. But the PDW-57 does have it's mag on the bottom, behind the thumb-hole. Presumably because they only have the appropriate animation for this scenario. Or perhaps to avoid licensing issues.

You can even see the mag protruding from the body in the ARMAS pic.

Edited October 26, 2018 by Revoluzzer

[Hexerin 1109]

13 hours ago, Revoluzzer said:

But the PDW-57 does have it's mag on the bottom, behind the thumb-hole. You can even see the mag protruding from the body in the ARMAS pic.

That isn't a magazine, it's a shell catch. It's an actual thing that P90s can optionally use, it captures spent casings for easy disposal.

 

13 hours ago, Revoluzzer said:

Presumably because they only have the appropriate animation for this scenario.

That is why they're treating it as the magazine, yes. To the average person it'll look perfectly natural, but to people who know better it's frustrating to see.

[yood 345]

I think he's talking about  :  

[Akahi 25]

iirc I think something was mentioned in the old g1 forums that they also have to adjust the animations for each body type and sex. Something like for every animation they had to make 8 variants of it to fit all the body meshes and account for clipping issues with clothing as well. But I could have that all wrong for all I know .