Re: 3do editing idea and question


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Jed Messages ]

Posted by 3DOXprt on January 27, 1998 at 09:41:50:

In Reply to: Re: 3do editing idea and question posted by theXpresident on January 26, 1998 at 21:43:11:

> okay i looked at the hierarchy... i understand most, but not all.
> does the type parameter mean the number of polys?
> could you put an anti grav flag on a mesh, or transparency?
> how do you figure out what is the parent, child, etc... does that figure out
> how somthing moves when something else does?
> the x,y,z is the center point, the pivot/roll/etc. is what point it pivot/rolls around right?

From the Specs:
=============
flags Hexadecimal Integer
type Hexadecimal 32-bit Integer
mesh Reference to Mesh
parent Parent Node
child First Child Node
sibling Sibling Node
numChildren Number of Child Nodes
x y z Offset of this node from Parent node
pitch Starting Rotation
yaw Starting Rotation
roll Starting Rotation
pivotx Amount to offset node after rotation
pivoty Amount to offset node after rotation
pivotz Amount to offset node after rotation
hnodename Name of node referenced by animations


You cannot put a flag onto a 3DO that was not meant for 3DO Useage. Flag 0x0004 may mean antigrav for level geometry but means something totally different for object geometry.

X,Y,Z are the amount to offset the node from its parent node. You see, all meshes (in a complex 3DO, are centered at the origin, through the hierarchy they get offsetted (arms move out to the side, etc.).

As for "figuring it out", this is all your choice. You can make the entire model have a single parent and all subsequent nodes would be siblings. This is fine but will make your animation files MUCH more complicated.

If you take the time to develop your hierarchy, then writing animations are much easier. For instance, if you told a characters torso to rotate, his head and arms would also rotate because they are children of the the torso (directly or indirectly).

The proper order for animating a model would be (correct me if I'm wrong): offset the mesh by its pivot values, rotate byt its pitch roll yaw (rotate if however much KEY file needs here also), then combine the offsetting ( xy z) of all its parents and offset it by that much.

Hope this helps.


Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:
Subject:
Comments:

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Jed Messages ]