I want to make a gargantuan unit that leaves footsteps in the ground as it walks. This appears to be the purpose of the Event: Event - Footprint + array in the Actor data, but I can't find any pre-made example of how to use the field and I have not had any success with it. Does anyone know how to do this, or if it is even really possible?
Note that there is an unused ThorFootprint actor in Liberty.SC2Mod and a sound Brutalisk_Footsteps in Liberty.SC2Campaign. I'm basically trying to use these assets together.
@TrenchaunT: Go You got it wrong. ThorFootprint was probably used when the thor was built by an SCV. Footprints are used by structures and doodads to determine some effects on the terrain they occupy. Like blocking path of ground units, check if there's creep and so on. Not actually related to footsteps.
Thanks for your help. You may be right that ThorFootprint has to do with the Thor being built by an SCV, but it does not make sense that the ThorFootprint Actor determines effects on the terrain occupied by the Thor. It is a simple Model actor that references a Splat model (a flat model molded to the terrain), which looks like either a kind of footstep or a shadow. Look at it in the previewer. I think you are thinking about a Footprint data object, which can block terrain and check for creep, etc. That is something different altogether. A footprint Actor cannot block terrain nor check for creep. Check out the "Unit Footprint" and "Event Footprint" actors in Core.SC2Mod.
@TrenchaunT: Go In this case it may be a lot more complicated. Chek the Brutalisk model data. Its necessary to inform the right moment to play the footstep sounds. I don't know how it would be for the footprint splat, but it would be necessary to inform moment and position. Keep in mind it may be something the engine was supposed to do during development and never got completed. But who knows, if you think it's really worth the time you may discover it.
You may be right. Specifying sounds would be easy enough in the model animation data, so I'll at least do that, but if there is no built in system for leaving footstep splats, it will require complicated positioning using site operations. Hopefully it won't come to that. I wonder if DrSuperEvil knows anything about Event Footprints?
I got it to work. In the Model data, I already knew that sounds could be added (like in the Brutalisk model, for example). In Events+ you add an animation, a time during that animation, set name to FootstepSound or something or other, and then for Payload the name of the Sound that you want to play, and finally you set Type to Sound.
Well, I learned that in the Types there's also Footprint Left and Footprint Right. I specified when in the animation the feet hit the ground, and I set the Name for these events to FootprintLeft and FootprintRight. I left payload blank. Then in the Actor data under Event Footprints+ I set the actor to Unit Footprint, the model to ThorFootprint, and the name to FootprintLeft, and in another entry FootprintRight. Now when the unit moves it not only makes a thump sound, but it also leaves behind a small print in the dirt that fades away after a little while.
Of course the catch is that the footprint is attached to origin, which means it isn't left exactly where the foot falls, although it is left WHEN the foot falls. I could probably move the prints using site operations. I might do this, if I decide to care enough, but the other issue is that the footprint is very slight and hard to see. It makes so little an impression that you have to look closely to see it, and you only really notice it when it fades out. This is not something that can be changed without modifying the splat model. So there's a good chance that I will just abandon the footprints, since they make so little an impact and it would take a lot of work to make them fall right where the feet hit the dirt.
Of course the thump sounds work wonderfully. And another option I could do is to make it kick up dust when the foot hits the ground, instead of just leaving a mark.
UPDATE: It was far easier to position the footprints than I expected. Since in the model I used the feet fell roughly in line with the origin, I only had to use a local offset site op to move the left foot in the +x direction, and the right foot in the -x direction. They were roughly +1 and -1. I made an actor for each based on Unit Footprint, and put the site ops in the appropriate array in each footprint actor. Then I referenced the footprint actors in the unit under Event Footprints+, as I explained above. Also, to make the footprints last longer I decreased their animation speed in the Model data. They work quite well. My next goal (which it seems doubtful that it is possible) is to see if I can make the camera shake for nearby players when the unit moves. Of course the actor data is partly asynchronous so it's highly unlikely that it can be done, but I'll look into it anyway.
Hey all.
I want to make a gargantuan unit that leaves footsteps in the ground as it walks. This appears to be the purpose of the Event: Event - Footprint + array in the Actor data, but I can't find any pre-made example of how to use the field and I have not had any success with it. Does anyone know how to do this, or if it is even really possible?
Note that there is an unused ThorFootprint actor in Liberty.SC2Mod and a sound Brutalisk_Footsteps in Liberty.SC2Campaign. I'm basically trying to use these assets together.
@TrenchaunT: Go You got it wrong. ThorFootprint was probably used when the thor was built by an SCV. Footprints are used by structures and doodads to determine some effects on the terrain they occupy. Like blocking path of ground units, check if there's creep and so on. Not actually related to footsteps.
@SoulFilcher: Go
SoulFilcher,
Thanks for your help. You may be right that ThorFootprint has to do with the Thor being built by an SCV, but it does not make sense that the ThorFootprint Actor determines effects on the terrain occupied by the Thor. It is a simple Model actor that references a Splat model (a flat model molded to the terrain), which looks like either a kind of footstep or a shadow. Look at it in the previewer. I think you are thinking about a Footprint data object, which can block terrain and check for creep, etc. That is something different altogether. A footprint Actor cannot block terrain nor check for creep. Check out the "Unit Footprint" and "Event Footprint" actors in Core.SC2Mod.
@TrenchaunT: Go In this case it may be a lot more complicated. Chek the Brutalisk model data. Its necessary to inform the right moment to play the footstep sounds. I don't know how it would be for the footprint splat, but it would be necessary to inform moment and position. Keep in mind it may be something the engine was supposed to do during development and never got completed. But who knows, if you think it's really worth the time you may discover it.
@SoulFilcher: Go
You may be right. Specifying sounds would be easy enough in the model animation data, so I'll at least do that, but if there is no built in system for leaving footstep splats, it will require complicated positioning using site operations. Hopefully it won't come to that. I wonder if DrSuperEvil knows anything about Event Footprints?
I got it to work. In the Model data, I already knew that sounds could be added (like in the Brutalisk model, for example). In Events+ you add an animation, a time during that animation, set name to FootstepSound or something or other, and then for Payload the name of the Sound that you want to play, and finally you set Type to Sound.
Well, I learned that in the Types there's also Footprint Left and Footprint Right. I specified when in the animation the feet hit the ground, and I set the Name for these events to FootprintLeft and FootprintRight. I left payload blank. Then in the Actor data under Event Footprints+ I set the actor to Unit Footprint, the model to ThorFootprint, and the name to FootprintLeft, and in another entry FootprintRight. Now when the unit moves it not only makes a thump sound, but it also leaves behind a small print in the dirt that fades away after a little while.
Of course the catch is that the footprint is attached to origin, which means it isn't left exactly where the foot falls, although it is left WHEN the foot falls. I could probably move the prints using site operations. I might do this, if I decide to care enough, but the other issue is that the footprint is very slight and hard to see. It makes so little an impression that you have to look closely to see it, and you only really notice it when it fades out. This is not something that can be changed without modifying the splat model. So there's a good chance that I will just abandon the footprints, since they make so little an impact and it would take a lot of work to make them fall right where the feet hit the dirt.
Of course the thump sounds work wonderfully. And another option I could do is to make it kick up dust when the foot hits the ground, instead of just leaving a mark.
UPDATE: It was far easier to position the footprints than I expected. Since in the model I used the feet fell roughly in line with the origin, I only had to use a local offset site op to move the left foot in the +x direction, and the right foot in the -x direction. They were roughly +1 and -1. I made an actor for each based on Unit Footprint, and put the site ops in the appropriate array in each footprint actor. Then I referenced the footprint actors in the unit under Event Footprints+, as I explained above. Also, to make the footprints last longer I decreased their animation speed in the Model data. They work quite well. My next goal (which it seems doubtful that it is possible) is to see if I can make the camera shake for nearby players when the unit moves. Of course the actor data is partly asynchronous so it's highly unlikely that it can be done, but I'll look into it anyway.