Perhaps all I need to do is change the direction of the model in blender
I suppose you want to keep the model to its default facing. The best method is to re-import and start a new Blender file. Try not to click the LMB or Left Mouse Button anywhere on the screen because doing so will set a new offset away from the model which makes it hard to rotate or animate. Use the mouse scroll to change the direction of your view or to zoom in or out. And click the RMB or Right Mouse Button to select the mesh in object mode or the bones in pose mode.
In any case, if you wish to rotate the model in Blender, right-click on it, press R then either Z (Z-axis), or Y (Y-axis), or X(X-axis) then specify the degrees of rotation in order to change the facing of the model.
To select the model in the cutscene editor, simply left-click the model that you have added. To view its model properties, right click on the model, then choose Model Data to view its bones, materials, animations etc. However, having said that, did you happen to delete parts of the model because otherwise, the materials and textures of the model will show, and not just a 'blackish' model or how should I put it as shown in your post as of the above.
Then which Blender m3addon plugin did you use? Is it the Flo plugin? Just curious by the way. There are a few m3addon plugin version for Blender and the one which works for both importing and exporting .m3 models is currently the Flo's version.
One more thing you need to know is you need to set the Frame Rate to 30 fps under Render or else, the animations won't work.
The animations might still be there. When you have imported back the modified model with animations back to the SC2 Editor, you need to open up the Cutscene Editor under Modules.
Then, locate the file which you have imported under Cutscene (usually under Files -> Assets), then Add the .m3 file to preview the model.
Next, you will notice the blue bar on the bottom on the Cutscene. This is the model animation timeline, usually Stand animation. Right click on this blue bar, and you will notice there is a change animation option. Click on that, and you will see the list of animations for your model.
If this still doesn't work, perhaps it is an export error. Do check if there is any error messages upon exporting the .m3 model from Blender.
Both the StarFighter and the Arbiter can now morph even while moving or attacking bug-free. For anyone curious about how I did it, I have updated the attachment in my first post above.
It is quite simple actually. Firstly, I created an Effect-Instant ability on top of the morph ability, then add the Effect-Instant ability to the Unit's abilities.
I then used Triggers with the Unit Uses Ability Event (hereby the Effect-Instant Ability) to issue order for the morph ability with wait times in between. The wait time before the issue order for the morph is crucial or important because the units as mentioned doesn't immediately stop when a stop order is issued thereby causes the bug. The said units will drag a little forward and to avoid this from tampering with the morph duration, this is where a second ability (Effect-Instant) comes in, and by using triggers, order the unit to stop first, then wait for say 1.5 seconds, then issue the unit to morph.
Another method can be done by data alone, but it requires behaviours, apply behaviour effect, remove behaviour effect, issue order effect, and so on, and it might be a little complicated if you have not master the data side of the editor.
[Edit] The latest update now includes an If-Then-Else condition for morph triggers (Effect-Instant ability) which checks the condition if the unit movement speed equals zero, then morph, or else, wait a further 1.5 seconds before morphing. This, I feel, makes the morph smoother in transition when the unit is not moving while morphing.
Updated the attachment above. The Judicator is now complete and ready at your disposal.
Feel free to comment or give suggestions on the morph, abilities, weapons, unit choice, etc. I don't mind any critics so long as it is constructive and provide insightful thoughts or ideas on what could be done better.
This will be my final post as I have not received any feedback except from WingedArchon. In addition, I'm running out of ideas.
Finally, not sure if this is the right forum for this topic, as animation is more art-related rather than data, but I guess it should be better off in the Artist Tavern or Art Assets forum.
The StarFighter is now complete. Kite the Overlords with the StarFighter's cluster missiles weapon or destroy the tanks with the StarFighter's Strafe Mode. At the same time, compare the StarFighter with the Liberator head on.
As a side note: Do note that the StarFighter cannot morph while it is moving or initiating an attack.
Finally found out that the animation issue was due to both the aircraft mesh and engine mesh being assigned to the same vertex group or bone, thereby limiting the chances of creating separate animation for separate meshes.
I have fixed that issue. Meanwhile, have a look at my updated attachment as in the above. The morphing animation now works smoothly in both the aircraft tilting and engine tilting animations. It was not a Blender issue. My mistake.
In reply to williamjay2: Some points of attention perhaps. - The engine bay doesn't move along with the tilting animation and "jumps" in a new position when the morph is complete - The model seems to have a slight offset between its strafe mode and normal mode, where it jumps slightly forward and backwards.
Hi,
Firstly, thanks for the detailed insight about the morph animation. And yes, the above two points that you mentioned are intended. To give you a picture, the engine compartment will 'open up' after the tilting animation to strafe ground units with burst lasers (from its center core).
But however, due to a little constraint with Blender (i.e. though it can rotate multiple meshes together, I somehow only managed to animate one mesh (with smooth rotation which left the other mesh, i.e. the engine a fixed rotation (without any animation). As mentioned, due to my intention to animate both the meshes, where the engine compartment will 'open up' to allow for ground strafing, I came across a slight constraint with Blender. But having mentioned that, I was able to animate the whole object (consisting of both the aircraft and the engine) without any issues. The issue only arises when I intend to animate both meshes separately.
Therefore, to animate the other part i.e. the engine, I had to come up with a permanent model (.m3) whereby the engine will rotate/offset from the said model automatically through a default blend time of 150ms. Therefore, it appears that the Engine 'jumps' 60 degrees when the morph is complete.
There is another possibility that is by animating existing model .m3 animations, and I intend to give it a try. The constraint above occured when I tried to animate a 'static' .m3 model.
Many thanks for your feedback and suggestion. I haven't tried gif recording before but perhaps I can learn how to use it.
Anyway, I have updated the attachment above to include triggers to fix the selection radius bug which apparently got stuck at some point of the morph. I have also fixed the button hotkey as well.
So when you test run the map as attached above, you can morph the StarFighter unit in between Strafe Mode to StarFighter Mode.
I have just created a unit with custom morphing animation as attached and would like to share it with the community.
I have explored the possibilities of creating simple unit animations via Blender and would appreciate feedback from other users/members in regard to using the Blender tool. I intend to write a step-by-step tutorial on how to animate the StarFighter (as attached) via Blender in the near future.
Do check out the morphing animation of the StarFighter as well as the Arbiter in the attachment.
0.93801107887101
In reply to sc2ggamer:
0
Then which Blender m3addon plugin did you use? Is it the Flo plugin? Just curious by the way. There are a few m3addon plugin version for Blender and the one which works for both importing and exporting .m3 models is currently the Flo's version.
One more thing you need to know is you need to set the Frame Rate to 30 fps under Render or else, the animations won't work.
0
Hi, sc2ggamer,
The animations might still be there. When you have imported back the modified model with animations back to the SC2 Editor, you need to open up the Cutscene Editor under Modules.
Then, locate the file which you have imported under Cutscene (usually under Files -> Assets), then Add the .m3 file to preview the model.
Next, you will notice the blue bar on the bottom on the Cutscene. This is the model animation timeline, usually Stand animation. Right click on this blue bar, and you will notice there is a change animation option. Click on that, and you will see the list of animations for your model.
If this still doesn't work, perhaps it is an export error. Do check if there is any error messages upon exporting the .m3 model from Blender.
Thanks.
0
[Update]
Both the StarFighter and the Arbiter can now morph even while moving or attacking bug-free. For anyone curious about how I did it, I have updated the attachment in my first post above.
It is quite simple actually. Firstly, I created an Effect-Instant ability on top of the morph ability, then add the Effect-Instant ability to the Unit's abilities.
I then used Triggers with the Unit Uses Ability Event (hereby the Effect-Instant Ability) to issue order for the morph ability with wait times in between. The wait time before the issue order for the morph is crucial or important because the units as mentioned doesn't immediately stop when a stop order is issued thereby causes the bug. The said units will drag a little forward and to avoid this from tampering with the morph duration, this is where a second ability (Effect-Instant) comes in, and by using triggers, order the unit to stop first, then wait for say 1.5 seconds, then issue the unit to morph.
Another method can be done by data alone, but it requires behaviours, apply behaviour effect, remove behaviour effect, issue order effect, and so on, and it might be a little complicated if you have not master the data side of the editor.
[Edit] The latest update now includes an If-Then-Else condition for morph triggers (Effect-Instant ability) which checks the condition if the unit movement speed equals zero, then morph, or else, wait a further 1.5 seconds before morphing. This, I feel, makes the morph smoother in transition when the unit is not moving while morphing.
0
Updated the attachment above. The Judicator is now complete and ready at your disposal.
Feel free to comment or give suggestions on the morph, abilities, weapons, unit choice, etc. I don't mind any critics so long as it is constructive and provide insightful thoughts or ideas on what could be done better.
This will be my final post as I have not received any feedback except from WingedArchon. In addition, I'm running out of ideas.
Finally, not sure if this is the right forum for this topic, as animation is more art-related rather than data, but I guess it should be better off in the Artist Tavern or Art Assets forum.
Thanks.
0
Arbiter morph. Anyone?
Gosh. This one is hard to animate, but I have done it. Do check the attachment in my first post for this morph ability.
0
Updated the attachment.
The StarFighter is now complete. Kite the Overlords with the StarFighter's cluster missiles weapon or destroy the tanks with the StarFighter's Strafe Mode. At the same time, compare the StarFighter with the Liberator head on.
As a side note: Do note that the StarFighter cannot morph while it is moving or initiating an attack.
Thanks and have fun.
0
In reply to WingedArchon:
0
In reply to WingedArchon:
0
0
In reply to WingedArchon:
0
Hi, guys,
I have just created a unit with custom morphing animation as attached and would like to share it with the community.
I have explored the possibilities of creating simple unit animations via Blender and would appreciate feedback from other users/members in regard to using the Blender tool. I intend to write a step-by-step tutorial on how to animate the StarFighter (as attached) via Blender in the near future.
Do check out the morphing animation of the StarFighter as well as the Arbiter in the attachment.
Thanks.