Hello Experts,
I want to do the following:
- Import .MAX/.3DS file along with all its animation details
- To play certain frames on some keyboard/mouse event. For eg. if I press 'J' the 3D model should play jump animation which can be from frame 25-50!
- I am using OpenGL
I don't know if it is done in similar way while creating event based game animations?
Please Guide me!
Best Regards,
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Unless you use any 3rd pary library, what you want to do will require some coding. Your first step should be to try to make a small program that simply reads a file that you have exported from 3D studio or similar, constructs some mesh object out of it, and renders it with OpenGL.
When you have that working, you could try adding key-framing. Each key-frame is basically just a snapshot of an objects position and orientation at that time. If you program in C++ you could write a class called Mesh to create objects that store the polygon data as well as key frames.
Then insert that into a loop like I described above. You could have a list storing all Mesh object you have loaded and some fields telling what frame the object is in, and if it is currently animated. When you get input you can change that list -- for example, when 'J' is pressed you could update the entry for the player object in the list so that it is animated and set its frame to 25.
I'm not sure how much OpenGL programming you have done (or programming in general for that matter), but what you're trying to do is not exactly trivial. If you haven't done anything with OpenGL before, I recommend that you try something simpler to begin with, then move on with this.
OK, I understand now!
File Format - Can I use XML, but what is logic behind converting/exporting MAX files to some simpler format. I know 3DS format (nicely documented by discreet!)
Adding Keyframes - Can these be added from the modeling tool itself? After that we can call from our application from their label namespace.
I am doing my research in Image Processing, so Mathematics and graphics programming should not be a problem. Yes I have done very less in OpenGL, but written Modifier Plug-in for 3D Studio Max. I hope I can learn this and CREATE!
PS: I have increased the points to its max within my reach :)
If you know the 3DS/MAX format you could stick to it. Use whatever file format you find satisfactory. There are file formats that are easier to learn and parse if you're writing a file loader, but if you already know the format there is probably no reason to use something else.
Key-frames can be added in every decent modelling tool that supports animation -- it is more or less the standard way to animate things. They are stored when you export your scene and can be loaded as you load the actual models. One thing to keep in mind though is that if you don't make every frame a key-frame you'll need to interpolate the positions and orientations of the objects, when you animate them in you application. If this isn't done in the same way as the modeller does it, it may look a bit different when you run it in your app.
Or you can go here
http://www.gametutorials.c
http://www.gametutorials.c
and see tutorials that load in .3ds/.md2/.md3 files into OpenGL.
Notice that to get the tutorial that loads .3ds animation you need to buy the CD. However there are many tools out there that will convert .3ds into .md2 or .md3 and then you can use the .md* animation loader found on that site above.
The .3ds file format is nasty.
-Lyle
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by: AlephPosted on 2003-04-03 at 12:36:06ID: 8264361
First of all, I would use some other file format. Especially .max is messy. Either export to something else, possibly ascii, or write your own plugin to 3D Studio and export to some format you define yourself.
Secondly, OpenGL is, as you may be aware of, rather low-level. You need to write some simple (or complicated if you like) framework to run the animations. The most simple way is probably to run a small rendering loop like this:
animationClock = cpuTimer + tickLength
do
render
if gotInput
select things to animate
end
if cpuTimer > animationClock
animationClock += tickLength
go to next frame for all animated things
end
while not done
Then your animation will run at a steady rate even if the frame rate changes.