Object Request, or Help? (General Discussion)

Object Request, or Help? // General Discussion

1  |  

anduin

Jul 31, 2002, 4:37am
Hi all,

I'm wondering how I can make special animated Masks.
Any of you that have played Soldier of Fortune 2 in Jungle missions
and seen the long grass, that is the type of objects I'm trying to get
made. I wish for animated grass like that in the game, looks like it's
moving very slightly with the wind. The 3d trees they use are 3d
objects but the leaves are masks and are animated also to look as if
they were moving around slightly.

Anyone know how it can be done? Or anyone have those kinds of cool
objects already?

Thanks

,,,,,
(o o)
/--------------ooO--(_)--Ooo--------------\
| Anduin (317281) |
| o The Gorean Scribe |
| o http://www.anduin-lothario.com |
| o World: GorSJ (18+ Only) |
\--------------ooO-------Ooo--------------/

goober king

Jul 31, 2002, 9:44am
As far as I know, you make animated masks the same way you make animated
textures. In fact, if you already have the filmstrip JPG for the
texture, you can simply use something like Photoshop to make the
black-and-white mask for it.

For making filmstrips, you can visit:
http://members.tripod.com/dthknight1/filmstrips.html

[View Quote] > Hi all,
>
> I'm wondering how I can make special animated Masks.
> Any of you that have played Soldier of Fortune 2 in Jungle missions
> and seen the long grass, that is the type of objects I'm trying to get
> made. I wish for animated grass like that in the game, looks like it's
> moving very slightly with the wind. The 3d trees they use are 3d
> objects but the leaves are masks and are animated also to look as if
> they were moving around slightly.
>
> Anyone know how it can be done? Or anyone have those kinds of cool
> objects already?
>
> Thanks
>
> ,,,,,
> (o o)
> /--------------ooO--(_)--Ooo--------------\
> | Anduin (317281) |
> | o The Gorean Scribe |
> | o http://www.anduin-lothario.com |
> | o World: GorSJ (18+ Only) |
> \--------------ooO-------Ooo--------------/
>


--
Goober King
Proof that Goobers ARE as dumb as they look
robrod at prism.net

alphabit phalpha

Jul 31, 2002, 11:11am
If you need a free program that is excellent for small tasks Irfanview is
the way to go:)
To make a 2 bit mask all you do is,
1. Open your graphic.
2. Click on "Image" and drop to "Decrease color depth".
3. Click on "2 color (black/white).
4. Save as jpg.
It also does a whole lot more, plus you can download plugins for it that do
some nice things to existing graphics.
http://www.irfanview.com/
I've been using it for over 5 years now :)
Hope this helps!

ananas

Jul 31, 2002, 7:58pm
http://oct31.de/aw/infos/HowToSprite.txt

[View Quote]

ananas

Jul 31, 2002, 8:16pm
If you don't have the new version yet, download it !
It has a new feature to create image strips from
single images now :)

[View Quote]

eep

Jul 31, 2002, 8:27pm
They're not animated masks; they're simply rotating to simulate being blown in the wind. I've done this a lot in old Hole (only running when I'm in AW).

[View Quote] > I'm wondering how I can make special animated Masks.
> Any of you that have played Soldier of Fortune 2 in Jungle missions
> and seen the long grass, that is the type of objects I'm trying to get
> made. I wish for animated grass like that in the game, looks like it's
> moving very slightly with the wind. The 3d trees they use are 3d
> objects but the leaves are masks and are animated also to look as if
> they were moving around slightly.
>
> Anyone know how it can be done? Or anyone have those kinds of cool
> objects already?

anduin

Jul 31, 2002, 10:38pm
In a galaxy far far away, known as general.discussion, an identity
claiming to be known as "eep" <eepNOSPAM at tnlc.com> scribed the
following:
>They're not animated masks; they're simply rotating to simulate being blown in the wind. I've done this a lot in old Hole (only running when I'm in AW).

I meant sprites, had forgotten their true name. You can't rotate
sprites as they face you all the time. These ones in the game are
animated. So I'm guessing, as has been said already, that I must
create a filmstrip of both the texture and the black and white
masking... This will be lots of work... I've made a simple mask:
http://www.anduin-lothario.com/object_path/models/grass1.zip
http://www.anduin-lothario.com/object_path/textures/grass1.jpg
http://www.anduin-lothario.com/object_path/textures/grass1m.zip

It's grass, but to get that to animate 'smoothly' it would take a big
filmstrip, some of the blades would need to be moves slightly for
every strip... Would look good though... I'll try and make one, will
take time to get perfect though :-/

Thanks anyway all :o)

,,,,,
(o o)
/--------------ooO--(_)--Ooo--------------\
| Anduin (317281) |
| o The Gorean Scribe |
| o http://www.anduin-lothario.com |
| o World: GorSJ (18+ Only) |
\--------------ooO-------Ooo--------------/

anduin

Aug 1, 2002, 1:00am
In a galaxy far far away, known as general.discussion, an identity
claiming to be known as "eep" <eepNOSPAM at tnlc.com> scribed the
following:
>They're not animated masks; they're simply rotating to simulate being blown in the wind. I've done this a lot in old Hole (only running when I'm in AW).

Hmm, my bad. After looking carefully at the game, they are sprites,
but they are rotating. Sprites in AW face you, like in the game, but
there's no way of flipping and rotating them at all... Is there some
kind of object that can do this? Like a sprite, but can be rotated?
Animate panels I looked at, but they don't keep facing you, so it
wouldn't look at good if turning around and looking at it from a
different angle. Unless 2 of the animate panels were crossed together
to form an 'X' and then rotate them slightly. Wouldn't look anywhere
near as good though :-/

Ideas?

,,,,,
(o o)
/--------------ooO--(_)--Ooo--------------\
| Anduin (317281) |
| o The Gorean Scribe |
| o http://www.anduin-lothario.com |
| o World: GorSJ (18+ Only) |
\--------------ooO-------Ooo--------------/

ananas

Aug 1, 2002, 3:26am
Without AxisAlignment in the RWX code any sprite will just
be a masked object that you can rotate.

[View Quote]

eep

Aug 1, 2002, 5:00am
So don't make them sprites. Roland screwed up sprites when he implemented axis-aligned polygons in AW3--he didn't allow them to be rotated like they were in AW 2.2 and they no longer oriented to ALL axes. I, of course, immediately bitched to him about this but he just didn't care, as usual...and no one else seemed to care either, unfortunately.

Perhaps more people WILL care--and learn to care IMMEDIATELY when there's more likely something will be changed than wait years later and HOPE it changes. That's why I'm making such a big deal about AW 3.4's field of view (FOV) being so extreme in 1st-person view. It's something like 120 degrees, which is WAY to distorted! Supposedly in the latest beta build it dynamically adjusts relative to the 3D pane width, but I have yet to try it. I'd still like an option to set it to a specific setting, however. 3rd-person view is an odd 68 degrees or something. Most 3D games have the FOV at 90 degrees--and it works. Why AW has to be different is beyond me.

Anyway, you have to bitch as much as possible during the beta or things most likely won't be changed for years later, if ever. Unfortunately, I've been the one doing most of the bitching over the years so Roland and AWC/AWI have gotten sick of me. It's not easy being the sole fighter for AW citizen "rights" but I guess someone's gotta do it. Surely more people care enough about AW to be a part of keeping it from getting even more annoying and frustrating to use...

[View Quote] > In a galaxy far far away, known as general.discussion, an identity
> claiming to be known as "eep" <eepNOSPAM at tnlc.com> scribed the
> following:

>
> I meant sprites, had forgotten their true name. You can't rotate
> sprites as they face you all the time. These ones in the game are
> animated. So I'm guessing, as has been said already, that I must
> create a filmstrip of both the texture and the black and white
> masking... This will be lots of work... I've made a simple mask:
> http://www.anduin-lothario.com/object_path/models/grass1.zip
> http://www.anduin-lothario.com/object_path/textures/grass1.jpg
> http://www.anduin-lothario.com/object_path/textures/grass1m.zip
>
> It's grass, but to get that to animate 'smoothly' it would take a big
> filmstrip, some of the blades would need to be moves slightly for
> every strip... Would look good though... I'll try and make one, will
> take time to get perfect though :-/
>
> Thanks anyway all :o)

eep

Aug 1, 2002, 5:08am
Why do they have to be sprites anyway? Sprites aren't realistic. Just make a more detailed plant/bush/weed and rotate that.

[View Quote] > In a galaxy far far away, known as general.discussion, an identity
> claiming to be known as "eep" <eepNOSPAM at tnlc.com> scribed the
> following:

>
> Hmm, my bad. After looking carefully at the game, they are sprites,
> but they are rotating. Sprites in AW face you, like in the game, but
> there's no way of flipping and rotating them at all... Is there some
> kind of object that can do this? Like a sprite, but can be rotated?
> Animate panels I looked at, but they don't keep facing you, so it
> wouldn't look at good if turning around and looking at it from a
> different angle. Unless 2 of the animate panels were crossed together
> to form an 'X' and then rotate them slightly. Wouldn't look anywhere
> near as good though :-/
>
> Ideas?

goober king

Aug 1, 2002, 9:42am
Perhaps it would help if more people were on the beta rather than the
same 10 people every time. :P

And, in a purely Eep moment, don't cross-post to beta, as most of us
aren't allowed to post there. :P

[View Quote] > So don't make them sprites. Roland screwed up sprites when he implemented axis-aligned polygons in AW3--he didn't allow them to be rotated like they were in AW 2.2 and they no longer oriented to ALL axes. I, of course, immediately bitched to him about this but he just didn't care, as usual...and no one else seemed to care either, unfortunately.
>
> Perhaps more people WILL care--and learn to care IMMEDIATELY when there's more likely something will be changed than wait years later and HOPE it changes. That's why I'm making such a big deal about AW 3.4's field of view (FOV) being so extreme in 1st-person view. It's something like 120 degrees, which is WAY to distorted! Supposedly in the latest beta build it dynamically adjusts relative to the 3D pane width, but I have yet to try it. I'd still like an option to set it to a specific setting, however. 3rd-person view is an odd 68 degrees or something. Most 3D games have the FOV at 90 degrees--and it works. Why AW has to be different is beyond me.
>
> Anyway, you have to bitch as much as possible during the beta or things most likely won't be changed for years later, if ever. Unfortunately, I've been the one doing most of the bitching over the years so Roland and AWC/AWI have gotten sick of me. It's not easy being the sole fighter for AW citizen "rights" but I guess someone's gotta do it. Surely more people care enough about AW to be a part of keeping it from getting even more annoying and frustrating to use...
>
[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Not exactly representative of the whole...
robrod at prism.net

bowen

Aug 1, 2002, 1:59pm
> Perhaps it would help if more people were on the beta rather than the
> same 10 people every time. :P

I'm new to the beta team, only by accident it seems.

--Bowen--

dion

Aug 1, 2002, 2:28pm
I constantly notice more and more people in the beta NG that never post but
once or twice and even then the bug report is lacking big time. The people
doing beta really need to understand how programming works. They give the
stupidest things. Like they'll have a graphical error and to help you in
figuring it out they might give you their network card model number. LOL :-P
No offense to those people but they're just not worthy of beta testing :-P

[View Quote]

sw chris

Aug 1, 2002, 4:01pm
It has been my experience in hardware troubleshooting that sometimes the
most annoying conflicts are caused by the most unusual things. Your example
is a bit over-the-top, but could the same relationship theoretically happen
with code?

Chris

[View Quote]

eep

Aug 1, 2002, 4:56pm
[View Quote] > Perhaps it would help if more people were on the beta rather than the
> same 10 people every time. :P

Well, that doesn't really matter; the point is, beta testers need to take testing more seriously. Too many seem to be just along for ride...

> And, in a purely Eep moment, don't cross-post to beta, as most of us
> aren't allowed to post there. :P

So remove the newsgroup when you reply. <shrug>

[View Quote]

anduin

Aug 2, 2002, 12:00am
In a galaxy far far away, known as general.discussion, an identity
claiming to be known as "ananas" <vha at oct31.de> scribed the following:
>Without AxisAlignment in the RWX code any sprite will just
>be a masked object that you can rotate.

I've done that, but then when you face them from another direction
they aren't facing you anymore.
In games, the object always faces you (except when looking straight
down at it of course) and it can still rotate and look like wind is
blowing through it.


,,,,,
(o o)
/--------------ooO--(_)--Ooo--------------\
| Anduin (317281) |
| o The Gorean Scribe |
| o http://www.anduin-lothario.com |
| o World: GorSJ (18+ Only) |
\--------------ooO-------Ooo--------------/

ananas

Aug 2, 2002, 3:25am
This feature went away after 2.2 :(

[View Quote]

anduin

Aug 2, 2002, 11:14am
In a galaxy far far away, known as general.discussion, an identity
claiming to be known as "ananas" <vha at oct31.de> scribed the following:
>This feature went away after 2.2 :(

Then it SHOULD be replaced...

,,,,,
(o o)
/--------------ooO--(_)--Ooo--------------\
| Anduin (317281) |
| o The Gorean Scribe |
| o http://www.anduin-lothario.com |
| o World: GorSJ (18+ Only) |
\--------------ooO-------Ooo--------------/

young shamus

Aug 5, 2002, 6:35pm
> Perhaps more people WILL care--and learn to care IMMEDIATELY when there's
> more likely something will be changed than wait years later and HOPE it
changes. That's why I'm making such a big deal about AW 3.4's field of view
(FOV) being so extreme in 1st-person view. It's something like 120 degrees,
which is WAY to distorted! Supposedly in the latest beta build it
dynamically adjusts relative to the 3D pane width, but I have yet to try it.
I'd still like an option to set it to a specific setting, however.
3rd-person view is an odd 68 degrees or something. Most 3D games have the
FOV at 90 degrees--and it works. Why AW has to be different is beyond me.

Because, AW has a floating, rectangular viewport size, while games fill the
whole screen. This makes the entire excersize far more complex. I believe
that games that use "cinemascope" (the movie-screen 16:9 aspect ratio) have
vertical aspects right around 120, and I think it can work if done properly.

> Anyway, you have to bitch as much as possible during the beta or things
most likely won't be changed for years later, if ever.

No. No. No. Bitching will not get you anywhere you can't get with
diplomacy. Saying "This doesn't work right" is far, far better than saying
"THIS SUCKS IT ALL SUCKS!". Both will draw attention to the problem, while
the latter tends to wear on people's nerves. Keep this in mind when
reporting bugs and it makes everything in the NG much nicer.

--
Shamus Young
Email: shamus at activeworlds.com
Home Page: www.shamusyoung.com

>
[View Quote]

eep

Aug 5, 2002, 6:55pm
[View Quote] > more likely something will be changed than wait years later and HOPE it
> changes. That's why I'm making such a big deal about AW 3.4's field of view
> (FOV) being so extreme in 1st-person view. It's something like 120 degrees,
> which is WAY to distorted! Supposedly in the latest beta build it
> dynamically adjusts relative to the 3D pane width, but I have yet to try it.
> I'd still like an option to set it to a specific setting, however.
> 3rd-person view is an odd 68 degrees or something. Most 3D games have the
> FOV at 90 degrees--and it works. Why AW has to be different is beyond me.
> Because, AW has a floating, rectangular viewport size, while games fill the
> whole screen. This makes the entire excersize far more complex. I believe
> that games that use "cinemascope" (the movie-screen 16:9 aspect ratio) have
> vertical aspects right around 120, and I think it can work if done properly.

But most of the time AW's viewport is NOT at 16:9 aspect ratio but standard 1.33:1 (4:3) ratio. No matter HOW square (or vertically taller) I make the 3D pane, the FOV is still too distorted--it's even worse when the pane is very thin horizontally; it is just very distracting. Why not allow for a default 90 degrees which IS standard? At least an aworld.ini option so it shouldn't be TOO much work to implement...

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