How do I create animations?

[RedHouse]

Does any one know any good tutorials for createing animations, because I've looked and cant find any.

[remcen]

if by animation you mean doors, goggles, etc , hence moving parts of 3d models, then brsseb's tutorials are the best point to start from: click

if by animation you mean the way an entire soldier model moves and you are therefore looking for a tutorial on how to use OFPAnim by Dschulle then i only know this french tutorial which will also be available in english and german soon.
the only english tutorial i remember atm  is this in the official forums.
hope that helps.

[RedHouse]

thanks thats helpfull, but someone still somewhere needs to write a proper tutorial. People know how to make animations but they just dont share their knoledge. There's enough information scatterd around different web sites just someone needs to put it all together to make it easyier for other people to learn.

[General Barron]

someone still somewhere needs to write a proper tutorial

I totally agree. When I first started trying to make anims, I couldn't find anything out there either, except the tutorial by Tracy_t that has been linked to.

I should point out that there are two parts to making an animation:

1) creating the .rtm file in OFPanim (or maya or other animation program)
  This is usually the easiest part, although it can be pretty time consuming. Tracy_t's tut was good enough to get me started on this part, although a better tut would be nice.

2) configging the anim to work in OFP
  This is the hard part. I had to figure this stuff out entirely on my own, because I couldn't find any tuts or info ANYWHERE. I've also discovered that many of the other animators out there don't know much about this aspect either, so I get the impression that NO ONE has entirely figured this part out yet. I've managed to understand a pretty decent amount of it, but there are still many problems that I run into and have no idea why it is happening.


I had planned to write tutorials for both of these subjects, but I think #2 is more important, because using OFPanim is actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Maybe if I get a tut out there, then other people will start sharing whatever they know that I don't know, and we can actually get this stuff figured out, as a community. So if anyone has any links to info on how to configure anims, or knows of someone who knows something about anim configs, please let me know.


It sux having to learn things yourself via trial and error, especially when others have already done the same before you.

[remcen]

well, that french tut covers both making the actual anim and coding it in the cpp.
and it's not too difficult to understand with rudimentary knowledge of french.
but as i said: it will be available in english and german soon (because i helped translating it )

edit @General Barron: wait until the english version of the french tut is out. then you could see if you have something to add. just contact the makers: link to the tut again

[RedHouse]

thanks for your help general baron, ive basically figured out how to make the anims now but i have no idea for the cpp codeing at the moment, but im sure ill be able to figure some stuff out once i look at BIS's anims. Its not to difficult to grasp but im sure the codeing will be.

[DEAD RABBIT]

Just a question to save forum space and since it is related to animations,

Is it possible to create different animations for different types of weapons? Cuz that would look a lot better!

Like:
Handgun => HandgunAnim
Assault Rifle with stock => RifleStockAnim
Rifle => RifleAnim
Sub MG => SubMgAnim
Assault MG => AssaultMgAnim
Machine Gun => MgAnim
Law Launcher => LawLauncherAnim

Different kind of classes, so that addon makers don't have to tweak their models to fit the hands. That should improve gameplay aswell.

But I think the problem issue is more related to cpp coding than to making the anims work, still a plausible awnser would make me satified

[General Barron]

I think the problem issue is more related to cpp coding than to making the anims work

The cpp coding IS the trick to making anims work. But in reply to your question: as far as I can tell, OFP only makes certain distinctions between weapons. Meaning, all weapons are catagorized as either a rifle/main weapon, a pistol, or a AT slot weapon. There are also grenades of course, but that is kinda aside the point.

So OFP can only determine what animations to use based on one of those three catagories. I don't think there is any way to 'add more catagories', because I would bet that is hard-coded into the game engine.

well, that french tut covers both making the actual anim and coding it in the cpp.
and it's not too difficult to understand with rudimentary knowledge of french.
but as i said: it will be available in english and german soon (because i helped translating it )

Sounds good! Thanks for your help in the translation. Any idea when it will be available?

[remcen]

all i know is that the makers are extremely busy, so unfortunately  i can't say more than it will be out "soon".  just keep checking the homepage: http://ofp.gamezone.cz/_hosted/animcenter

[DEAD RABBIT]

I am just wondering, if you would just play OFP with normal animations and change the animation phase of a AI or player via a script, would it still be possible to aim, moving up and down, left and right with your rifle?

Another wondering thought, is it possible to recognize keystrokes (of AI (not that AI uses keystrokes, just finding out what animation they are using) and player) either via a script or sqf file?

Might sound stupid, but if both questions are 'yes', you pretty much have everything you need to create an 'overlapping animation system'. Might lag very hard, but still... see it like the FDF mod, lags but kicks ass
Imagine what restrictions would fade away for the OFP community
You could use new animations that add more tactical elements and uses to OFP (leaning against a wall and looking around the corner).