The new home for the IMVU Community is help.imvu.com. For more information, check out this article.

UGH! More animation issues...

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    IMVU Forum Index -> 3D Developing
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Jennifur68

Jennifur68's page


Joined: 04 Apr 2007
Posts: 1016
Location: USA - TX

PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:14 pm    Post subject: UGH! More animation issues... Reply with quote

I'm making a room with one built in animated furniture piece. The way its supposed to work:
The avatar hops to the animation handle node, strikes the pose and flys around the room on a glider and returns for a gentle landing at the starting point.

I havn't even gotten far enough to see if the animations play. Sad

Here's what actually happens in the previewer:
I load my .xsf

I load the room shell (sky, ground, water) .xmf

I load building mesh

I load the glider mesh and the previewer screen locks up as soon as I click Apply Changes. I can however still browse for files in the previewer...the viewport is just locked. Sad


Now here's the weird part - I can load the room shell and the building and texture them just fine without the glider. The glider with any other mesh locks up the viewport.

My skeleton:
skeleton.room
furniture nodes
standing nodes
glider.animation root
custom pose nodes


My best guess is that there's a problem with the skeleton for the glider.

The glider mesh is skinned to the glider.animation root

The sitting node, catcher, pitcher and handle are linked to the glider.animation root

The glider.animation root is linked to the skeleton.room


Only the glider.animation root was animated using the keyframes, as exspected the sitting nodes and mesh followed through the animation while I was animating it.

At export time:
Export .xsf
Export .xaf for custom pose
Export .xaf for the glider animation
Export the room shell.xmf
Export the building.xmf
Export the glider.xmf
Export a crapload of .xrf files


I'm at a loss for what I've done wrong since I did the same thing two nights ago to make an animated fish tank (minus the pose).
Previewer version: 372.9

_________________


Its not a bug...its a "feature".
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail  
nerseus 18+ Age Verified

nerseus <a href='/age_verify/index/'><img src='/common/img/icons/age_verified_35x18.gif' width='35' height='18' alt='18+ Age Verified'/></a> 's page


Joined: 27 Mar 2007
Posts: 2008
Location: USA - AZ

PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 10:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hmm... offhand it sounds good. I know it sounds silly, but try exporting everything in order again (skeleton first, animation, mesh, etc.). What you describe sounds fine. I've done something similar on a recent room.

Here's the basic skeleton (I hid a good chunk of this - about 700 "things" in the final max file):


Those are all dummy objects with linking. The meshes are all linked to different dummies - some don't animate, some do. Some animate AND had to have see through nodes so the mesh wouldn't get in the way while rotating. All of that seemed to work perfectly. And, as you can see from above, I had seat nodes and see through nodes at various "levels" in the hierarchy. I'm not sure I had to have "node.Room", but it was there and I went with it. I also didn't play around with linking furniture or cameras to anything but the room. The lights in the sample room were attached to node.Room and so I left them there.

From what I've experienced on furniture and accessory items, you don't have to have a root node named "skeleton.root" with a linked node called "node.room" - I haven't experimented yet to see if those names are code-dependent, such as "seatNNN" and "handleNNN".

My only issue came in with rotations on things that were linked to other nodes that were moving. (It wasn't, but) imagine modelling the solar system with planets going around the sun and the moon going around the Earth. I had to add some extra dummy objects. But... I don't recall anything locking up the previewer.

Awhile back I *did* come across an issue where it seemed like the Geometry tab was locked up. I found a workaround by switching to the Material tab and back, and that "fixed" it. This was more than a couple of months ago so I don't recall what the problem was. How's that for vague? Smile

Good luck! And sorry for the lack of a clear answer...

-ner
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message  
Jennifur68

Jennifur68's page


Joined: 04 Apr 2007
Posts: 1016
Location: USA - TX

PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 2:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've been over everything a hundred times and I still can't figure it out. I've checked that the glider is properly skinned to the glider.animation root, that the glider.animation root is linked to the skeleton.room. I went back to an earlier version and rebuilt the glider portion of the skeleton from scratch again, re-exported everything multiple times. Nothing changes. Sad

I can get the room and building to work in the previewer just fine.

I can get the glider to work in the previewer by itself just fine, minus animation since I still haven't figured out the mesh issue I havn't tested them yet.

I just can't get all three in the previewer together...very frustrating and I've never had an issue like this before. Neutral

If anyone can see a problem with how I have this linked please feel free to slap me upside the head and tell me whats wrong. Wink


Here's my skeleton at export...the red line indicated where I spliced two images to condense out a lot of furniture and standing nodes:


I'm beginning to think it may be some conflict between the glider mesh and the room shell and building but then I'm grasping at straws here.
_________________


Its not a bug...its a "feature".
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail  
Jaleman31 18+ Age Verified

Jaleman31 <a href='/age_verify/index/'><img src='/common/img/icons/age_verified_35x18.gif' width='35' height='18' alt='18+ Age Verified'/></a> 's page


Joined: 03 Jul 2006
Posts: 11655
Location: USA - WA

PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

some times the previewer is weird like that..
try to upload your room one mesh and the glider / animation as another mesh and see if they work separately ( no need to upload the room to know it will work ) and add them on the previewer the glider / animation like an extra mesh to the room.
if the work separately but no together it may be some parts of the mesh using the same name
Ps.. ck the name of your animation in the previewer
ck the names on the mesh parts.

from IMVU tutorial

Node Naming

A seat node has to be named a certain way or the IMVU system will not recognize it as a seat. The naming convention is pretty simple:

seat##.AnimationName.

1. The prefix is the seat number. An individual product may have up to 99 seats. So, your seat prefixes can range from 01 to 99.

2. The prefix and the suffix are seperated by a period in the middle.

3. The suffix is the Action name. The Action name can be anything you want.

NOTE: the first letter of the Action name must be CAPITALIZED.
_________________


Last edited by Jaleman31 18+ Age Verified on Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:17 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail  
yokoed 18+ Age Verified

yokoed <a href='/age_verify/index/'><img src='/common/img/icons/age_verified_35x18.gif' width='35' height='18' alt='18+ Age Verified'/></a> 's page


Joined: 22 Mar 2006
Posts: 5110
Location: USA - PA

PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 4:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I looked over you stuff here and would like to help but all I can do is encourage you to not give up as what I see seems fine to me that you have listed.

I did two animations one just happened to be a glider (for Zadora) and it just rocked back and forth a simple animation.

http://www.imvu.com/shop/product.php?products_id=2656044

Also I did a flying ghost animation.

http://www.imvu.com/shop/product.php?products_id=2674492

I use version 372 previewer too, I had no troubles with either animation.


Now my latest animation (in the other thread here), had me very frustrated and ready to quit. I must have look at what Keef wrote a hundred times and if it had teeth it would of bitten me everytime. Turns out the problem was so simple I could smack myself senseless.

One tiny overlooked item can bring tears to your eyes.

I don't do rooms so I can't comment to much about your problem except say keep trying don't give up.

My new mesh I exported it put in previewer and it failed, I deleted it and did it over, Sencond time I had 10 planes all the same size and when I put it in previewer 9 showed up as the original size but 1 was like only a 1/4 size it should of been, was a damn glitch in previewer because I closed it out and reloaded and it worked fine.

I didn't understand why just a royal PITA.

Anyways is your animation made using the keys or do you have it as following a constraint?
The flying ghost above was made following a constraint.

Anyway I just want to wish you luck and hope you find the problem as I know how frustrating it can be,

Think i'm bald from pulling my hair out.
_________________

Back to top
View user's profile Send private message  
Aquetas

Aquetas's page


Joined: 22 Nov 2006
Posts: 269
Location: USA - MO

PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jaleman31 wrote:


NOTE: the first letter of the Action name must be CAPITALIZED.


thats the first place I would look and then go from there, I just never had it freeze me because of it, but then I dont remember the last time I didnt capitalize that letter either.
_________________


It puts the lotion on its skin!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message  
Jaleman31 18+ Age Verified

Jaleman31 <a href='/age_verify/index/'><img src='/common/img/icons/age_verified_35x18.gif' width='35' height='18' alt='18+ Age Verified'/></a> 's page


Joined: 03 Jul 2006
Posts: 11655
Location: USA - WA

PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

one of her problem is the name of the animation and if the meshes , room / glider. on any part of these meshes have the same name, numbers; will not work properly together.
_________________


Last edited by Jaleman31 18+ Age Verified on Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:28 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail  
SecondHarvest

SecondHarvest's page


Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1607
Location: United Kingdom

PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sounds like you are doing it right, the only thing that worries me is you state that you are exporting the .xsf, then the pose then the animation for the glider right?
It's not something simple like the fact that you should be using the femaleweightmaster.XSF for the pose, then skipping back to the Room.XSF

I know this is noobish, but it would explain how some things are working ok independantly
_________________
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message  
Jennifur68

Jennifur68's page


Joined: 04 Apr 2007
Posts: 1016
Location: USA - TX

PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SecondHarvest wrote:
sounds like you are doing it right, the only thing that worries me is you state that you are exporting the .xsf, then the pose then the animation for the glider right?
It's not something simple like the fact that you should be using the femaleweightmaster.XSF for the pose, then skipping back to the Room.XSF

I know this is noobish, but it would explain how some things are working ok independantly


The custom pose using the femaleweightmaster was done in the room and exported first, sorry for not being clear on that. I exported the pose using the femaleweightmaster.xsf and everything else using the room skeleton that I exported after exporting the custom pose.

At this point in my frustration I downloaded the latest previewer and tried that...all my meshes load fine in the new one version 43236, but still lock up the old one version 372.9. Go figure. Confused

One more question...do room animation play in the previewer when you click Play Action? If they do maybe I exported my .xaf for the glider animation wrong...any tips on exporting it would be greatly appreciated. So far I've exporting the skeleton.room minus everything but the glider.Animation as it says to do in the Developers Center.

Yokoed the animation was created using Key Frames.

Export of the animation:
Selected the skeleton.Room to export as .xaf

When prompted for the skeleton it defaults to my room skeleton previously exported.

On the Select the Nodes you Want to Export screen I unchecked everything but my glider.Animation node

I didn't mess with the Key frames information and clicked Finish.

_________________


Its not a bug...its a "feature".
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail  
nerseus 18+ Age Verified

nerseus <a href='/age_verify/index/'><img src='/common/img/icons/age_verified_35x18.gif' width='35' height='18' alt='18+ Age Verified'/></a> 's page


Joined: 27 Mar 2007
Posts: 2008
Location: USA - AZ

PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yay!! If I read that right, it's all working now? Just the question about room animation?

I've seen room actions work if they're idle - stance.Idle animations that is. Here's a breakdown of what I've seen work/not work. This is all from memory, but I think it's mostly right Razz

* Rooms/Furniture - stance.Idle will play (every time you press Apply Changes, for example)
* Rooms/Furniture - keyword triggers DO NOT play
* Rooms/Furniture with avatar poses at special seats - avatar pose works
* Rooms/Furniture with furniture poses that trigger on special seats (prop actions) - works in previewer
* Avatar poses with trigger words - work in previewer

-ner
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message  
Jennifur68

Jennifur68's page


Joined: 04 Apr 2007
Posts: 1016
Location: USA - TX

PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ner wrote:
Yay!! If I read that right, it's all working now? Just the question about room animation?

I've seen room actions work if they're idle - stance.Idle animations that is. Here's a breakdown of what I've seen work/not work. This is all from memory, but I think it's mostly right Razz

* Rooms/Furniture - stance.Idle will play (every time you press Apply Changes, for example)
* Rooms/Furniture - keyword triggers DO NOT play
* Rooms/Furniture with avatar poses at special seats - avatar pose works
* Rooms/Furniture with furniture poses that trigger on special seats (prop actions) - works in previewer
* Avatar poses with trigger words - work in previewer

-ner


Woot thankies Ner...I changed the trigger to stance.Idle in the previewer and it played perfectly. Smile Now everythings working like it should. Smile
_________________


Its not a bug...its a "feature".
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail  
EternaSky 18+ Age Verified

EternaSky <a href='/age_verify/index/'><img src='/common/img/icons/age_verified_35x18.gif' width='35' height='18' alt='18+ Age Verified'/></a> 's page


Joined: 03 Dec 2006
Posts: 4600
Location: Singapore

PostPosted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

pops in to kaypoh...

awww solved... just when i was about to say keywords don't work. use idle to debug... LOL
_________________
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message  
Jennifur68

Jennifur68's page


Joined: 04 Apr 2007
Posts: 1016
Location: USA - TX

PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

EternaSky wrote:
pops in to kaypoh...

awww solved... just when i was about to say keywords don't work. use idle to debug... LOL


It wasn't a keyword issue in the end since its started by using the glider pose...I did still have an issue after submitting it but I fixed that. When I submitted it and it didn't work I realised I'd named the trigger stance.Glider instead of stance.Glider-seat09. DOH! lol

Its all good and fixed now...works great and I'd like to thank everyone for all the help! I couldn't have done this without ya'll. Wink

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUUkpsEqjBk
_________________


Its not a bug...its a "feature".
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail  
yokoed 18+ Age Verified

yokoed <a href='/age_verify/index/'><img src='/common/img/icons/age_verified_35x18.gif' width='35' height='18' alt='18+ Age Verified'/></a> 's page


Joined: 22 Mar 2006
Posts: 5110
Location: USA - PA

PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looking good, glad you got it worked out.

Embarassed Oh that kind of glider Embarassed

smiles.
_________________

Back to top
View user's profile Send private message  
Display posts from previous:   
Don't want to see these ads? Join the VIP Program!

Don't want to see these ads? Join the VIP Program!

Hide ads? Get VIP!
Post new topic   Reply to topic    IMVU Forum Index -> 3D Developing All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


 FAQFAQ   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister  ProfileProfile   Log in for private messagesLog in for private messages 

Search the forums:


Powered by phpBB