Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!news From: "Craig Graham" Newsgroups: scee.yaroze.programming.3d_graphics Subject: Re: Animated 3D Objects!? Date: 20 Jul 1998 08:30:39 GMT Organization: PlayStation Net Yaroze (SCEE) Lines: 102 Message-ID: <01bdb3b8$5d24f760$89e4b8c3@Angela1.intelligent-group.com> References: <6otr4q$4607@chuka.playstation.co.uk> <35B2BEBC.9855BB36@sinclair.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: d2-s34-137-telehouse.mistral.co.uk X-Newsreader: Microsoft Internet News 4.70.1155 Joshua Meeds wrote in article <35B2BEBC.9855BB36@sinclair.net>... > RSDANIM is the only program I know of for this purpose. It does exactly > what you want, though it can be a lot of work. You can see my feeble > attempts at making a guy run with it from my current project, > Bombardment Extreme. Here is the secret you need for animating things > with RSDAnimator: there are some secret hidden buttons at the bottom of > the left window. They only show up if your screen resolution is > 1024X768, or if you move all of the toolbars so that they only take up > the top 2 rows of the screen (at 800X600;I don't think its possible to > see them at 640X480). I tend to forget that not everyone has a 17" monitor, at 1280*1024 (like me & my graphics man use). I'll move the buttons in the next release... > The buttons are New Movement, Add Keyframe, Replace Keyframe, and > Generate Mime. Yes, there are menu functions for them, but only the > buttons work. With those buttons, you can Add a Keyframe, move things ...and I've fixed the menu option versions already (not released it yet, although one or two people have got the newer version direct from me). > around in the model, add another keyframe, etc. It fills in the frames > in between. When you are done, Generate the Mime Data. It makes a file > you can include in your program. There is a demo lib for using the data > that you can download from Craig Grahm's website. Very succinct. I really should write a tutorial, but it's a big job and I've not really got a lot of time. I've sort of started writing a manual though.... > > At this point I have only > > come across one program named RSDANIM v1.3, which I had the impression was > > capable of doing this job (generate MIME, but I am absolutely not certain > > about if this is what I am searching, nor the the meaning of MIME?!) but I Multiple Interpolation data as accepted by the gteMIMefunc() command. > > have not been able to do anything with it. (is there a documentation > > available somewhere? I have given up experimenting with it, as it crashes a > > lot. Btw I find that not even the wrap texture works properly! -Craig > > Graham, hope you'll find the time and motivation to update it!) Texture Wrap isn't as straightforward as you might think you know. You cann't cheat and use negative texture coords on a PSX like 3DS Max does, so join lines and stuff cause problems. Top Tip - use 3DS Max to wrap textures and import the model into RsdAnim (the T.Wrapper still pisses on RsdTool, but Max's is better). The program comes from some comercial work I was doing, and it works fine on my system. Generally problems crop up with WinNT (doesn't work at all), or 3DFX cards (get the Tweek3dFX program and turn off the Direct3D 3DFX support). Other crashes - well, I don't know...I do tend to fix bugs reported to me (like, my email address is in the About box of the program). If you don't report bugs and crashes they don't get fixed. Only two people have sent me bug reports on it (and I think Ian Thompson will back me up when I say I fixed them real quick)..... > > Please explain me how the usual technique for doing animated 3D objects on > > PlayStation, and what programs you use to save your developing (programming) > > time!!! Most 3D animation is done using custom formats tailored to the exact requirments of the game in question. 3DS Max, Lightwave, Alias/Wavefront, N-World & TrueSpace all have support at some level for doing Playstation stuff. The N-World support is provided by the company, Max requires a 3rd party plugin (£800, from Animetix, only available to developers). The lightwave plugin is on the Yaroze WWW site. Forget Alias/Wavefront - it's very expensive (but very good). SoftImage is also used by some. 3DS4 is losing popularity, but still used (bit of a dog to work with). > > Carlos Pieterse. > - Joshua Meeds Craig Graham. - one day someone will put up a post saying "RsdAnim is great - I love it, nice one". Hasn't happened yet though...