XSI Importer?

[MrTwosheds]

4 floating point values in a row? Quaternion.

Its not obvious...

[Nielk1]

Quaternions, however the heck you use them, are a way to represent rotation in 3 dimensions via 4 variables.

[DarkCobra262]

I haven't figured it out, it seems a bit complicated though.

[MrTwosheds]

It is a bit, frankly I would not recommend manual editing of the actual values, animating programs are better for that. You can however move entire columns of values around to change which axis it rotates about.

[Red Devil]

yes, most people have focused on an exporter, but the real need was/is an importer.

[DarkCobra262]

It is a bit, frankly I would not recommend manual editing of the actual values, animating programs are better for that. You can however move entire columns of values around to change which axis it rotates about.

But is it necessary for replicating the bz1 razor movement in bz2, or if I added it as part of the forward/reverse animations, would the game know when to play them?

[General BlackDragon]

Maybe you didn't read my above.

BZ1 has SEPARATE engine driven animations based on piece names.

BZ2 does 1 shot animations via separate files.


In BZ1, strafe is a separate animation from turn animation.


In BZ2, they are one in the same.


To my knowledge, there is no way to separate strafe from turn in BZ2, animation wise.

[Nielk1]

The game uses 3 animations each with 3 frames for unit movement. It could have been 9 files and the results would be the same. One file is for stationary right left and center, one for forward right left and center, and one for backward right left and center. The engine applies the transformations between a given state when changing state, so when changing from stationary to forward, the game animates a transition from the second frame of the stationary XSI to the second frame of the forward moving XSI.

Basically, make it look how you want going forward in the file for forward, and the engine will make it shift into that shape when you move forward.

I am actually a smidge surprised that animations are used at all for the turning and not just 3 files. I wonder if the turning animations can be more complex than just 1 frame per direction.

[MrTwosheds]

Been a while since I played bz1, what effect are you trying to create?

[General BlackDragon]

In BZ1, strafing sideways made a "ror" piece on the back tilt left or right. and turning left/right made fins tilt forward/backward, but these two actions were independent from each other.

[MrTwosheds]

Bz2 uses forward back and neutral in combination, the trick is to set the neutral animation so its middle frame is the neutral position and either side of it is left and right. This animation then combines with forward or backwards when they are activated to create 8 different positions.

yes, most people have focused on an exporter, but the real need was/is an importer.

3dex can convert an xsi to 3ds for importing, animations don't survive though. 3dex is really useful for viewing/notepad editing animations.

I wonder if the turning animations can be more complex than just 1 frame per direction.

They can, but due to the way they are used quickly in bz2 there is not much point. They tend to get interpolated away. The best way to make them complex it to animate multiple frame objects or combine with skin animations.

[Nielk1]

In BZ1, strafing sideways made a "ror" piece on the back tilt left or right. and turning left/right made fins tilt forward/backward, but these two actions were independent from each other.

This means you could effectively create a set of animation XSIs that any BZ1 based model could use in BZ2 and work perfectly. When the MSH is made the animations (and just the animation portion) is taken out of the models listed in the ODF and merged with the static mesh also listed in creating the MSH.

[General BlackDragon]

Of all the people to mis understand, its you?

In BZ1, Strafe animation is different from Turn animation.

In BZ2, they're combined.

[Zax]

Of all the people to mis understand, its you?

In BZ1, Strafe animation is different from Turn animation.

In BZ2, they're combined.

A little more broken down:

BZ1 had a nifty feature that saved the designers some time: it would take a piece type (not necessarily the name ror or fn#, etc, but the type number assigned to it which is unimportant for this discussion) and apply a fixed animation to it, which was the same for any piece of any ship of that type. You bring up the ROR piece or rotor. Examples: back of razor, back of grizzly, and the entire outer hull of the thunderbolt (bomber). The engine would see the piece, notice it was ROR, and apply that animation to it, causing it to rotate the way it does by a fixed amount. FN# pieces were fins and would rotate forward or backwards depending on the direction you were moving. Turning right would aim the left fin forward and the right fin back (or whichever direction turned it) to create turning animations.

Strafing ONLY triggered the rotor's animation. Strafe right = rotor part rotating clockwise. Left = rotate counterclockwise. If you turn while strafing, the fins will engage with the rotor, but they are being animated as separate systems. Again, fins only engage while turning, and rotor only engages through strafing. If you see them working together it means you are strafing and turning.

While this was nice for banging out many rudimentary and similar vehicles, it had a key limitation of being locked down and hard coded. Your forward animation would point the fins back in every case, the same amount, interpolated in the same amount of frames. If your fins were large, they would swing just as fast as small fins creating a silly looking swinging motion when starting and stopping the vehicle, with no way to adjust the values.

BZ2 does its animation COMPLETELY differently and is much, much more flexible than BZ1 at the expense of more labor required by the animator instead of the engine doing everything for you. The drawback here is you are unable to create a separate strafe animation than the turn, simply because the vehicles didn't need those animations due to design (see thunderbolt scout). The main key is that fins are gone in all ship designs with a unibody construction being prevalent. Say you make the forward animation. You include the left turn animation and the right turn animation, as well as the forward unturning animation. What you did for the left and the right turns ARE the strafe animations as well. They are shared. If you are moving forward in that ship you just made and turn left, the left animation for that forward file will play. If you are moving forward in that ship and strafe left, the same animation will play.

In essence, no, you cannot get the razor effect you want. The only way you can do it is to have the part that was the rotor in bz1 tilt on turns as well, or else it won't move at all. Pick your poison.

[Apollo]

BattleZone uses a naming format, so a part with a suffix of nrr = nacelle rear right and when processed nrr will set a class ID (in the geo) for that nrr which the game uses hard coded animation for that object/Class_ID.
The animation for said piece can be adjusted in a limited way by odf settings.