crane in SP_rocket

(damocles) #21

Here’s a thought - why use brushes at all? Why not use an md3 (model) for the cable? Then you simply figure out how long the cable needs to be at the start, model it (how hard is it to model a cylinder) and then set the keyframes of animation so that it shrinks up to the short version over the necessary amount of time.

I haven’t looked into controlling animation of models before, but I seem to recall seeing a play animation script command in the docs.

Although this idea would mean looking up some info such as game unit->3d editor unit conversion, and timing calculations, it has to be a lot easier than scripting a ton of small cable sections.

(kat) #22

I do do a bit of modelling and doing a complete crane model was the 1st thing I actually thought of, but beleave me sripting brushes is a lot easier to work with then having to constantly fiddle around with a model - I’ve modeled some static objects for this SP map and even they were a pig to get right never mind animate…!!!

For instance suppose you find that you’ve done the model and it works (it goes up and down) but the speed is wrong you’d have to recalculate all your animation frames adding / removing some etc… etc… that’s a lot of work just to change the speed. With scripting individual brushes you don’t even need to touch the brushes, all you need do infact is change a single number

original
‘gotomarker point1 16 wait’

new
‘gotomarker point1 24 wait’

crane cable now moves a bit faster, simple as that without re-editing the brushwork)…!

A model might work better over a short distance where errors in the timing might not be that apparent (say less than 500 game units), this crane covers nearly 2000 game units which is big enough for timing / animation errors to occur, my skillz ain’t l337 enough to compensate for that.

What you could do though is use a modeled cable section as part of the script_mover. Brushwork always looks ‘boxy’ so you could just replace each brush section with a model… mmmmm good thinking batman… thnx for the idea might go and try that…!! :wink:

(damocles) #23

Well, I don’t know what program you use to model in, but I use 3ds Max. All you would have to do in Max is click the rescale time button and hey presto, it moves all the keyframes as necessary. And you don’t have ot build the whole crane, just the cable you want to retract.

I know anims run at 20fps, but I don’t know the distance unit conversions, so I can’t give you the exact size and times needed off the top of my head. Shouldn’t be too hard to look up though.

If you’re using something basic like milkshape though, then it probably would be easier to use brush models.

(kat) #24

…If you’re using something basic like milkshape though, then it probably would be easier to use brush models.

hehe… I am using Milkshape…!! (do have GMax but don’t know enough about it yet)…

In principle it does seems quite straight forward but iirc there are some timing discrepencies between animation frames and ingame timing, not too sure about this though

(sock) #25

On 2002-08-17 01:21, kat wrote:
[Homer]woohoooooo…! me crane works…!!![/Homer]

just a bit of tweeking and it’s there :grin: big thnx for the help guys</font>

Sooooo are we going to see any screenshots of this uber crane system ? :wink:

Sock
3D BrushMonkey

(kat) #26

yes…!! here you go
they may be a bit dark as the map’s set at night…

lower crane area

upper crane area

looking down from the upper area

(sock) #27

On 2002-08-18 23:39, kat wrote:
yes…!! here you go they may be a bit dark as the map’s set at night…

Yeah its a bit dark but light enough to see what is going on. Looks nice, I assume the crane is transporting crates of something to the lower section. Keep us posted on screenies :grin: I’m always curious to see the progress of Wolf SP stuff.

Sock
3D Brush Monkey

(DACROW) #28

hello im a mapper i made mp_weir and im helping out on another map at the moment also…http://www.geocities.com/pazurmapping/shots.htm…

oke Love that crane cool nice work m8
id like more info on how the mapper from RTCW mapped? there ways etc any info would be cool u can Email me… killerdude80@hotmail.com any help would be gratefull…

(sock) #29

DACROW, welcome to the forums. If you need any help or have questions about RTCW mapping then you need to post a new topic here.

Sock
3D Brush Monkey

(DACROW) #30

ok thank u sock =) , im really impressed that cacabunny (from greymatter) reads the Forums! its nice too see that people from the makers of the game, take time out too look on thease forums… NICE keep it up !