Paratrooper animation + scripts

[penguinman]

Hello,

this is my first addon(well its really an animation)
it is is a paratrooper landing animation.


What it does is adds an animation for landing paratroopers,
Made after the basic parachute landing technique used by the army known as the PLF(Parachute Landing Fall)



It includes a script to play the animation automaticly when parachutes hit the ground.

I recieved an enormous amount of help with the script from UNN.

It includes a demo mission

Enjoy it.

[Blip]

Nice work.

One of the units kept falling to his death, and an empty parachute would come floating down.

Not sure if it was the script or a glitch.  Overall, it looked good though.  The animation is solid and pretty smooth.  

Blip :joystick:

[Blanco]

I've checked the demo in slowmotion and the animaton is really good

Only... the animation starts in the air. Not your fault, when a unit touches the ground, he jumps out of his parachute and is setposed in the air. That's the way BIS did it.
Animation is very good, but the total picture looks odd imo.
The only thing that could solve this is a complete new animation with parachute.

But still a great anim

[UNN]

The animation works well, but some of the guys would get killed or tangled and drop out of thier chutes.

I increased the delay between drops to 1 second and set the velocity of the chute equal to the plane, rather than setting the mans velocity. Seemed to do the job.

I took the liberty of changing the GetOut.sqs script to:

Code: [Select]

_Driver=Driver (_This Select 2)

_Pos=GetPos _Driver
_Driver SetVelocity [0,0,0]
_Driver SetPos [_Pos Select 0,_Pos Select 1]

_Driver SwitchMove "paraland"

UnassignVehicle _Driver
~2.1
_driver switchmove"standtocombat"
_driver setdir getdir _driver - 180
exit
This helps minimize the jumping effect when they disembark, it does look a little better, I think?

Would it be possible (in theory) to create a single animation, that simulates a man preparing for a para drop? Standing from a sitting position, turning to his left (or right) and attaching something above his head?

Cheers

[penguinman]

first off, thanks to everybody who tried it,

One of the units kept falling to his death, and an empty parachute would come floating down.

ya thats just the script i used to eject them, i found it somwhere a while ago, its a good script but if you do what UNN said it should fix it.

@UNN: ok il try changing the get out script and the velocity thing and post an update.

Would it be possible (in theory) to create a single animation, that simulates a man preparing for a para drop?

yes it its, I know you can play an animation while in the driver position of a parachute, so why not in a C-47 over Normandy.  
that is a good idea, il make an animation where the unit gets out of his seat, takes a step sideways to the center of the aircraft, reaches up and hooks somthing to the top of the plane, and then starts walking forward with his hand still up holding the ripcord like in Band of brothers. but i will have to make 2, one for side of the aircraft.

Sound good?

 but il need sombody to make a script that will eject him right when he gets near the front(or was it back) of the plane, il just make him keep walking( so that without the eject script he would walk right through the front of the aircraft). because i have no idea how to script that.

 Is it a ww2 C-47 you want the animation made for?  

thanks

[penguinman]

I tried your new getout script but the thing is, the beginging of the animation was suposed to start in the air, as you can see in the chart in my first post that the first 2 parts of the procedure the man is standing on a wall, indicating he would still be in the air at that time, and it looks a little odd to me, so i decided not to use it, :-\ sorry,  but maby there a way to have the paratrooper be taken out of his shoot in mid air and setposed under it, and then have him play the animation when he is like 1.5 m off the ground and also to keep the empty parachute from being deleted so it falls next to him?

i did do the other fix with the setvelocity so the men dont fall and die.



thanks

[penguinman]

hmm, odd it wouldnt attach in my last post

[UNN]

but i will have to make 2, one for side of the aircraft.

Yeah, and perhaps a version with the guy stepping forward to take the place of the one in front? Care would have to be taken to make sure the distance moved was the same as the difference in cargo positions. But done correctly, it would appear to be one complete motion?

I don't know much about making animations, how much time and effort is involved?

but il need sombody to make a script that will eject him right when he gets near the front(or was it back) of the plane

I did this a while back for CSJ's Caribou, but without the appropriate animations it was a nightmare to get working right. So much scripting can be removed with a properly timed animation.

I tried your new getout script but the thing is, the beginging of the animation was suposed to start in the air, as you can see in the chart in my first post that the first 2 parts of the procedure the man is standing on a wall, indicating he would still be in the air at that time, and it looks a little odd to me, so i decided not to use it

It did not solve the problem completely, it just reduced how high they popped back in to the air. Before playing the anim.

there a way to have the paratrooper be taken out of his shoot in mid air and setposed under it

I had problems using anything other then the GetOut and Eject actions. Would have to go back an check, which gives the best results.

Ideally I guess you would split the anim, the first is played when the chute is a few meters above ground. Get him from the parachute position to the braced position, before impact. Then play the second as he exits the chute, to simulate the rolling. Trouble is, I think the default BIS chute, applys some velocity when a unit exits.

[penguinman]

I would like to know if anybody else thinks this is an improvement over BIS's. i dont want to work on it and perfect it if everybody thinks it looks worse.

so, please test it and tell me if its an improvement.

thanks

[UNN]

From certain ranges it looked very convincing. I joined in on the drop, that worked well. Apart from the very end. Where the viewpoint does not appear to change with the animation, you kind of double back on yourself?

I think there is a lot of mileage for Coops and such.

[penguinman]

I joined in on the drop, that worked well. Apart from the very end. Where the viewpoint does not appear to change with the animation, you kind of double back on yourself?

ya, i have no idea how to fix that.

[UNN]

Yeah, you probably cant. Given cameras in OFP have limited movment.

Was trying to think of ways to avoid it. Blacking out the screen at that point is probably not a good idea, but what about using an external camera to view the landing, if it's a player?

[penguinman]

ok; i will try that i cant do anything for a few weeks cause im typing this from a library in belgium, 2000 miles from my home comp,
but i will try external views and blackouts as soon as i get back

thanks

[General Barron]

I would like to know if anybody else thinks this is an improvement over BIS's. i dont want to work on it and perfect it if everybody thinks it looks worse.

so, please test it and tell me if its an improvement.

thanks

Wow. I just tried this out. When I play as one of the units doing the jump, it looks positively amazing when I hit the ground. VAST improvement over the BIS stuff. However, when I look at the other guys hitting the ground, the little hop/delay between when they touch the ground, and when the chute disappears makes things a little awkward.

I like the idea of starting the anim just before the chute hits the ground. Another suggestion I have is to edit the animation so that you just move the entire unit down below the level that he starts on. It would be the equivalent of making an anim where the unit is partly underground; however, in this case, lowering the unit would make him appear to touch the ground when in fact he just got out of his parachute about 2 meters up in the air. It would take a while to get it just right, but I think it would be the best way of doing it, and wouldn't require any scripting.

I would also try to configure the animation so that it automatically transitions into the "standtocombat" animation, without any need for scripting. Of course, I'm not fully sure how that is done. One day I'll figure these darn anim configs out...

Anyway, if you could get the landing anim to work entirely without scripting, then it would be easy to plop into OFP via an anim replacement pack, or a mod such as the ECP.

[penguinman]

well, it cant be configed to automaticly go into combat stand becauseof the type of animation it is, if I do set it to go to standcombat or somthing, it will do it, but it will frezze there and you wont be able to move. i also tried your sugjestion about starting before it lands, it was a good idea but it only makes it look like he gets tangled in his shoot strings or somthing, i dont think it can get any better unless there is a parachute addon that dosent disapeer but just colapses on the ground. i think i will submit it as a finished addon. anybody object?

[marcus3]

what "tool" did u use to do this?
by the way it is nice

[penguinman]

ofp anim

i dont remember where though. have a look on gamzone cz or maby google it.

[marcus3]

thanks alot man!

[guziczek101]

Hi
It's me again sorry for diging up (yeah i'm know this is archeology) but someone have this pack i'm working on WW2 mission and I would like to use this pack.
sorry again and thanks in advance

[Walter_E_Kurtz]

I'm not sure about the whole package with scripts and demo missions. However, the pbo containing the animations is included with the mission Radio Tower.