Animated "static" object format

[Roja]

Just another eye-candy project for someone to do.

 

I'd really like it if we can have an animated object format in the game, to compliment the static .e3d format. This would be for objects such as windmills turning, flags & trees blowing in the breeze, etc.. Objects that are stationary, but animate in some way.

 

I'm sure we can use cal3d for this, but we'd need to have a new placeable format for these objects, so we can place them in the map editor. We'd also need some .xml defines I'm guessing(similar to the actor xml files), which tell the objects which skeleton to use, which animation to use when, etc..

 

Ideally there would be more than 1 animation, examples are:

-static, no wind

-breezey

-very windy

 

uh oh..looks like this is getting too complicated now If we have different wind states then the server would need to tell the client that..so all objects would be on the same track...oh well, i'm just throwing out ideas here. Feel free to add more ideas and/or ways this can work.

Taking examples on how other games do it is a good idea too.

[KarenRei]

I like it. Not something I'll be working on, but it's a nice idea. One issue: would wind be unidirectional? Otherwise, you'd need either an adaptive animation or multiple animations, since not all objects of the same type are oriented along the same axis. You'd also need animated textures -- not only animated models. For example, tree leaves fluttering.

 

Ooh, but you did give me an idea for a special effect that I'll put on my todo list as an optional thing to do: blowing leaves and/or flower petals. I can do those with animated point sprites so they'd be fast (they're small and fluttering, so you'd never notice that they're not made of polys). It'd be fun, too, as I'd get to use my digital camera and a bluescreen to make the leaf and petal images from different angles.

 

Wind wouldn't need server hooks; wind direction and velocity could be a deterministic function of time and a fixed value for the given region.

Edited November 29, 2006 by KarenRei

[Roja]

i don't think wind direction would be a good idea..because then the objects would have to be going all the same way, unless we got into great complexities that I don't think we need.

it's enough just to make the leaves or grass "shake" a bit, to simulate movement.

[Aislinn]

How about flags? On the ships, the mapsigns...

[Entropy]

The direction of the wind doesn't matter that much unless the speed is over a certain treshold. Otherwise, the trees will just move randomly, because the wind will not push them too hard, and the structure of the tree would dictate the direction it moves, not the wind itself.