Hi! I'm using Blender with m3addon to edit custom animations.
I'm trying to make new motions for Marine Unit. but His Combat Shield appears without Upgrade, ActorEvents and Triggers when he walk or attack or etc(if he is not move, and stand on his position, the shield disappeared normally. scale down to zero exactly.).
this problem is only happened when I used re-exported models(.m3) even has no modified model.(import .m3 to Blender, And export without modification.)
I think it is a bug, m3addon has.
So, Is there Plan B? or something like alternative way?
from the animations of the marine, it looks like the shield mechanic is realized with a concurrent animation called Shield.
When the Shield animation plays the shield disapears, because it gets scaled to zero. So While the shield animation loops the shield is hidden. When the animation stops the shield appears. The conncurrent asspect of an animation can be configured in the M3 Anmiation STCs tab. If you select first the aninmation "Cover" and then look at that panel then you should see two "STC"s: "Shield" and "full". For both the check box "Runs Concurrent" is checked.
The fcurves of an animation can be assigned exactly to one STC. you can use the buttons "Select FCurves" to find out which animation curves belong to an STC
The big question now is: What is the difference between the Stand and Walk/Attack animation. If we can find out why it works for one but not the other then you know how to work around it and I might be able to fix it in the m3addon.
Things to try:
If you remove all animation curves from the Walk animation, is then the bug gone for that animation? If yes which animation curves have to be removed?
If you remove all animation curves from both the Stand animation, is then the shield unexpectedly visible too? If yes which animation curves have to be added?
If none of the above show us the core of the issue: Try to create your own actor code which allows you to play and cancel animations when you press a button (e.g. when you use an ability). That way you can test if you can show and hide the shield by starting/cancling the Cover animation while other animations are playing. Maybe you can also find out, why only concurrent animations have named STCs(Usually animations only have only the STC "full").
What exactly STC means I don't know yet. I can only guess. Each data structure in the m3 file format has a 3-4 letter name. For example animations are called internally SEQS which could stand for Sequences.
Basically the animation structure is like this:
An Animation (SEQS) has 1 or more STCs. STCs are used in the m3 file format as containers for the animation curves(curves whcih describe how a property of something changes over time).
For example could an animation Stand have a animation group called X which contains all the curves which describe how a certain part is animated. Another animation group called Y could contain curves whcih describe how another part of hte model is animated.
I am not sure why it has been made possible to split the curves of of multiple components into different STCs. Maybe there is a way to play not the complete animation but only one STC. e.g. to play Stand_X instead of Stand
A model which contains an aniamtion with multiple STCs is the Archon. Maybe by having a closer look at the model and it's actor we might be albe to find out what it means.
Btw. have you found my m3a tutorial about animating an marine? (I didn't know about the the auto IK option when I made that video tutorial). If you just want to add animations to a model then m3a files are a nice way to do it.
Hi! I'm using Blender with m3addon to edit custom animations.
I'm trying to make new motions for Marine Unit. but His Combat Shield appears without Upgrade, ActorEvents and Triggers when he walk or attack or etc(if he is not move, and stand on his position, the shield disappeared normally. scale down to zero exactly.).
this problem is only happened when I used re-exported models(.m3) even has no modified model.(import .m3 to Blender, And export without modification.)
I think it is a bug, m3addon has.
So, Is there Plan B? or something like alternative way?
Hello Selshas,
from the animations of the marine, it looks like the shield mechanic is realized with a concurrent animation called Shield.
When the Shield animation plays the shield disapears, because it gets scaled to zero. So While the shield animation loops the shield is hidden. When the animation stops the shield appears. The conncurrent asspect of an animation can be configured in the M3 Anmiation STCs tab. If you select first the aninmation "Cover" and then look at that panel then you should see two "STC"s: "Shield" and "full". For both the check box "Runs Concurrent" is checked. The fcurves of an animation can be assigned exactly to one STC. you can use the buttons "Select FCurves" to find out which animation curves belong to an STC
The big question now is: What is the difference between the Stand and Walk/Attack animation. If we can find out why it works for one but not the other then you know how to work around it and I might be able to fix it in the m3addon.
Things to try:
@println: Go
What is STC exactly?
what is doing to do?
@Selshas: Go
What exactly STC means I don't know yet. I can only guess. Each data structure in the m3 file format has a 3-4 letter name. For example animations are called internally SEQS which could stand for Sequences.
Basically the animation structure is like this:
An Animation (SEQS) has 1 or more STCs. STCs are used in the m3 file format as containers for the animation curves(curves whcih describe how a property of something changes over time).
For example could an animation Stand have a animation group called X which contains all the curves which describe how a certain part is animated. Another animation group called Y could contain curves whcih describe how another part of hte model is animated.
I am not sure why it has been made possible to split the curves of of multiple components into different STCs. Maybe there is a way to play not the complete animation but only one STC. e.g. to play Stand_X instead of Stand
A model which contains an aniamtion with multiple STCs is the Archon. Maybe by having a closer look at the model and it's actor we might be albe to find out what it means.
Btw. have you found my m3a tutorial about animating an marine? (I didn't know about the the auto IK option when I made that video tutorial). If you just want to add animations to a model then m3a files are a nice way to do it.
@Selshas: Go
Try adding in the actor events an "actor creation" one with the action "play animation" "Cover" and "play forever"
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