Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 6:27 pm Post subject:
Help with SHP's and Integration
Subject description: new units and vehicles with SHP's?
Okay so I have every possible utility program for modding Tiberian Sun, and I know how to make vehicles using voxels pretty well. What I don't really know how to do is make Infantry/walkers with the SHP or buildings, and then integrate them into the game. I read something Lin Kuei Ominae wrote about making models in 3D max and then converting it to an SHP?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated. QUICK_EDIT
Well it is just that: create a 3d model, render the animation of it into single frames/images and then convert the image sequence into a SHP(TS) using XCC Mixer.
I have the trial version of the 3Ds Max, and my knowledge of how to use it is below par. Is there any other moderately easy way to make SHP units w/o having to go frame by frame by frame? Last edited by DB Nemesis on Sun May 09, 2010 3:15 am; edited 1 time in total QUICK_EDIT
No not really, well you could just have a single frame shp, but thats all you'll have. Buildings require lots and lots of work to be done correctly, and most buildings have several parts that make it a whole, such as the shp itself, buildups, working doors, production anims, active anims, bib shapes, damage state, and so forth. They are not something you can do easily. It just takes time, patience, and dedication and also rogaine, high blood pressure pills, from the stress your gonna aquire. Rogaine for when you get mad and pull your hair out Joking. _________________
The enemy shall be injected with toxic poison - Venom QUICK_EDIT
Thanks, where can I find some SHP's I could edit? I looked through a lot of mix files and haven't found any... I thought that instead of starting totally from scratch I could take a look at a few that are already used. Btw Lin Kuei Ominae, I downloaded your Triton walker, gave it place in art.ini, and rules.ini, (used the art example you posted) and it only stays in one animation loop, and doesn't change directions. Last edited by DB Nemesis on Sun May 09, 2010 3:15 am; edited 1 time in total QUICK_EDIT
there are shps in almost every mix file in the game, how could you not find any? _________________
The enemy shall be injected with toxic poison - Venom QUICK_EDIT
Nevermind, you're right I wasn't looking in the right spots. I have another question, how does the game know which animations to use for movement and death ect.. in a big compilation of animations in the shp? QUICK_EDIT
If you mean infantry, it's all in the Sequence. _________________ Because Banshee saw fit to ban my other account for no reason, this is my new one. QUICK_EDIT
yes, units that are shps, particularly infantry which by the way are massive 300,400, frames long also rely on thier sequences. other shp units basically just have walking frames, firing frames, facings, idle frames, etc that can be put on the unit itself, pretty much just a different form of a sequence.
I would suggest you leave this area alone for now and practice doing some simpler things. _________________
The enemy shall be injected with toxic poison - Venom QUICK_EDIT
I have the trial version of the 3Ds Max, and my knowledge of how to use it is below par. Is there any other moderately easy way to make SHP units w/o having to go frame by fram by frame?
Well that's the point of using a 3d model as you can animate it using the framebar and keyframes in 3dsmax so it performs an animation like a full walking loop. Then you just have to press render and 3dsmax gives you in one step all the images you need. (e.g. i just have to press render and 3dsmax gives me all 580 frames of a new infantry in one step; then i just have to click on the first image in XCC Mixer and convert all the images into an SHP(TS); the whole thing takes not more than 1 minute while the most time consuming part is the rendering process where i don't have to do anything)
Make yourself familiar with 3dsmax by following some tutorials and you'll see that it's actually quite easy.
DB Nemesis wrote:
Btw Lin Kuei Ominae, I downloaded your Triton walker, gave it place in art.ini, and rules.ini, (used the art example you posted) and it only stays in one animation loop, and doesn't change directions.
Post your art.ini and rules.ini code here, so we can have a look at it. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
(even though I haven't tried to use the animation rendering for 3ds max yet because I'm still learning how to use it) I had a question on how and why the animation sequences work for the infantry/mechs ect. How does the game know how to use the animations/frames? And how does the frame order work? Or are these questions just irrelevant. QUICK_EDIT
Look at hmec.vxl in local.mix. That is the mammoth mkII and it animates via it's hva file. And infantry can only shp, honestly imagine what a voxel infantry would look like. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
How does the game know how to use the animations/frames? And how does the frame order work?
Open the SHP in SHP builder.
Open art.ini.
Compare the unit entry in art.ini with the SHP and you'll instantly see how it works.
btw, reading the comments for the keys in art.ini helps too.
art.ini wrote:
; *** Infantry Sequences ***
; Infantry animations are grouped within a single art file.
; Unlike units, infantry animation layout is completely
; arbitrary and must be explicitly specified. Each
; infantry format file will be identified with one of these
; animation sequences.
;
; The first number is the starting frame number. The second
; number is the number of frames of the animation. If this
; number is zero then the anim sequence is not present.
; The third number is the multiplier by the infantry facing
; to reach the facing specific animation start. If this
; last number is zero, then there is no facing specific
; version.
Ah I see, that's why the Triton walker you made did not work, I didn't set all the frames in the art.ini file, only one, and that's why the direction of the unit did not change. So how is a mech made w/ voxels? I looked at the MmkII and it doesn't show a complete 3d image of it walking or anything. QUICK_EDIT
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Help with SHP's and Integration
Joking.
