Dayelyte's Unnatural Animations

[regrius]

Did a couple spoonfulls of digging into the export issue, just wanted to make sure this is still what's actually going on today:

1. Scene in Max with some sort of bone-armature scheme defining one or more animations.

2. Max script/plugin-whatever spits out a .kf file(s) with the animations. <-Garbage in here.

3. .kf file converted back to .hkx binary(possibly via xml intermediary version). ->Garbage out here.

 

Real problem with all that is Max uses that nototious undocumented proprietary file format, same brick wall Ryzom ran into. Wondering if there's a way to export the animations inside Max to an intermediary format that is documented. Assuming that can be done without corrupting the data, shouldn't be too impossible to write a program that reads the correctly exported file Max came up with, and turn it directly into a binary .hkx for skyrim to use.

That I might be able to do, but I don't have the bankroll for a working version of Max, or the hardware to make it run for that matter.

[Cyndi]

Did a couple spoonfulls of digging into the export issue, just wanted to make sure this is still what's actually going on today:

1. Scene in Max with some sort of bone-armature scheme defining one or more animations.

2. Max script/plugin-whatever spits out a .kf file(s) with the animations. <-Garbage in here.

3. .kf file converted back to .hkx binary(possibly via xml intermediary version). ->Garbage out here.

 

Real problem with all that is Max uses that nototious undocumented proprietary file format, same brick wall Ryzom ran into. Wondering if there's a way to export the animations inside Max to an intermediary format that is documented. Assuming that can be done without corrupting the data, shouldn't be too impossible to write a program that reads the correctly exported file Max came up with, and turn it directly into a binary .hkx for skyrim to use.

That I might be able to do, but I don't have the bankroll for a working version of Max, or the hardware to make it run for that matter.

 

You should be able to get a free version of max from auto-desk. It's the same as any other version, it's just a student license. You just can't sell what you make for profit I guess.

http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/3ds-max

And...  2012 (x64) runs on my mediocre laptop fine.  

Probably a bit more info on it in this video:

 

 

 

 

 

I have no idea which version of max animators prefer though.

 

[Suludi]

I was advised to use 2012 cause the newer versions apparently don't support Skyrim/nif/kf/whatever. Don't know if that's still valid though.

[Dayelyte]

It is. 2012 is currently the last version the .nif / kf plugin works with. Is why I'm using 2012 vs the latest and greatest

As for IK solvers, I also ran into this issue until Panic gave me a tip on it.

You basically have to bake the movement data into the bones as Max is only tracking the movement data of the IK chain unless you tell it otherwise. This information is NOT found in any of the tutorials available probably because they weren't using any IK setups. How we do it is as follows:

Once your animation is done, select the actor in question and choose " export selected ", export is as an FBX file, making sure to enable the animation baking option.

In a second instance of Max, import the FBX file and play it to ensure it's animating how you expect it to. You'll notice that every frame is now a keyframe in the timeline. If all is well, select the actor and go Animation -> Save animation.

Give it a name, toggle segment and ensure the from and to represent your animation timeline ( eg you have a 300 frame animation, from = 0 and to = 300 ). Toggle key per frame and hit save motion.

At this point, you can import your skeleton in a new session of Max and export it using the tutorial guides.

Maybe I'll get motivated and do my own tutorial

 

 

*edit*

 

In love with the tethering option via the smartphone now.  Hate typing on that small ass keyboard. 

 

I tried to bounce the output of the .hkx file ( once it has been converted ) against the skeleton.hkx file that is used to do the conversion, but I forgot the track files are less than useful when it comes to determing what bone it actually is.  They all look like this:

    <hkobject>
                    <hkparam name="trackName">␀</hkparam>
                    <hkparam name="annotations" numelements="0"></hkparam>
     </hkobject>

 

whereas the bone listing in the skeleton.hkx file looks like this:

 

    <hkobject>
                    <hkparam name="name">FireAtronach_Spine1 [spn1]</hkparam>
                    <hkparam name="lockTranslation">true</hkparam>
    </hkobject>

 

It's easy enough to match them like for like as the first listing in the animation.hkx file must be the first bone in the skeleton.hkx file ( I think ), where it becomes pointless is the actual bone data since it looks like this:

 

    69 0 0 0 69 7 14 0 69 0 240 0 69 4 0 0
    69 4 0 0 69 4 240 0 69 6 7 0 69 4 146 0
    69 7 165 0 69 7 165 0 69 4 240 0 69 4 240 0
    69 4 9 0 69 4 9 0 69 7 240 0 69 7 240 0

 

    ... insert a few hundred lines here depending on animation length . . .

 

    13 13 17 64 217 19 207 61 16 244 139 192 2 171 138 64
    5 244 139 192 16 171 138 64 0 83 60 65 130 200 85 192
    52 26 167 61 85 209 30 193 163 185 111 65 214 43 128 11
    56 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

 

 

I'm going to venture a guess and say the format is BoneLabel X Y Z, though since the atronach only HAS 44 bones in the skeleton, I can't guarantee this is a correct statement considering the pattern ( 69 0 0 0 )

 

Dunno lol.  Makes my head hurt just looking at it now

 

[Suludi]

Thanks for the tip! I'll try that. Maybe then I can finally get my Werewolf and mermaid animations into the game.

[regrius]

Just wanted to let you know that the fbx file that you're exporting looks like it does have documentation, at least in C++ headers, as does the binary/text hkx format. If the final product just needs keyframes every frame, a lerp would fix that, so it should be fixable. Will be a little while before I can make myself dig into it though, having a LOM(Lazy Old Man) attack right now.

[Dayelyte]

The skyrim engine does require every frame to be a keyframe unfortunately. I fully understand Lom syndrome. I spent the entire day yesterday crawling through my attic running a pair of cat-5 cables and a new power outlet. Lots of fun that was :/

 

Means today I am in full LOM mode myself. lol

 

Take your time. Certainly no hurry on it.

[zanith86]

I was wondering if the animations were compatible with sexlab 1.50+, more specifically 1.57?

[4love10]

I was wondering if the animations were compatible with sexlab 1.50+, more specifically 1.57?

 they are not my friend

[Night~Sky]

 

I was wondering if the animations were compatible with sexlab 1.50+, more specifically 1.57?

 they are not my friend

 

 

Just to clarify, the ANIMATIONS, are compatible with Sexlab 1.57. The downloadable script to actually USE them in the game, is not compatible with Sexlab 1.57.

[( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

 

 

Just to clarify, the ANIMATIONS, are compatible with Sexlab 1.57. The downloadable script to actually USE them in the game, is not compatible with Sexlab 1.57.

 

 

Praise be to the almighty code monkeys, who can divine such mysteries and make them real.

[undeadvr]

 

 

I was wondering if the animations were compatible with sexlab 1.50+, more specifically 1.57?

 they are not my friend

 

 

Just to clarify, the ANIMATIONS, are compatible with Sexlab 1.57. The downloadable script to actually USE them in the game, is not compatible with Sexlab 1.57.

 

 

why did ashal not include these in 1.5+? did they arrive too late?

[nutluck]

The skyrim engine does require every frame to be a keyframe unfortunately. I fully understand Lom syndrome. I spent the entire day yesterday crawling through my attic running a pair of cat-5 cables and a new power outlet. Lots of fun that was :/

 

Means today I am in full LOM mode myself. lol

 

Take your time. Certainly no hurry on it.

 

Shouldn't a mouse be running mouse cables and not cat cables?

[Dayelyte]

 

The skyrim engine does require every frame to be a keyframe unfortunately. I fully understand Lom syndrome. I spent the entire day yesterday crawling through my attic running a pair of cat-5 cables and a new power outlet. Lots of fun that was :/

 

Means today I am in full LOM mode myself. lol

 

Take your time. Certainly no hurry on it.

 

Shouldn't a mouse be running mouse cables and not cat cables?

 

 

Chuckle.  Yes, he should

 

But crawling around in the attic with a six inch gap between the roofline and your crawlspace when it's 100+ degrees in there doth not make for a  fun day.  lol

 

Long story short version:  I moved my wireless access point and alarm brain to a central point of the house for better signal quality and coverage.  What I thought would only take about two hours ended up taking six :|

 

Needless to say, I was beat for the day after I finished. 

[zanith86]

Sad face. I wish that it was compatible with 1.50+

[Dayelyte]

 

 

 

I was wondering if the animations were compatible with sexlab 1.50+, more specifically 1.57?

 they are not my friend

 

 

Just to clarify, the ANIMATIONS, are compatible with Sexlab 1.57. The downloadable script to actually USE them in the game, is not compatible with Sexlab 1.57.

 

 

why did ashal not include these in 1.5+? did they arrive too late?

 

 

Why Ashal elected not to include them is not something I have an answer for unfortunately.  Perhaps he was busy dealing with the bug reports that needed to be dealt with before possibly introducing more by adding new material.  Dunno.

 

 

As I'm currently not animating anything after the Atronach debacle, I'll try and build another testfile that's compatible with SL v1.57.  The werewolves shouldn't be too tough, but the chicken may introduce some issues.  ( Yeah, yeah I know. You all miss the chicken sex . . . lol )

[zanith86]

<3 you good sir.

[Dayelyte]

See if I can have a working version tonight.

 

Some unknowns are present in that I don't know if the setstagetimer function is still working in v1.57 ( important for two werewolf animations ) and how difficult it will be to get the chickens in. ( not terribly I think since the atronach went in without a hitch )

 

The modified script file is done. The Fnis lists are almost ready. I just need to finish those off, build the behavior files for v5+ Fnis and include the animations in the new testfile. Worried about the aforementioned timer script though. See how it goes lol

[lindazana]

I will admit, the flame atronach animation looks delicious (And is perfectly fine and feasible with enough fire resistance). Is this a scrapped animation, or just set off to the side until the issues with it are found out? 

[Dayelyte]

I will admit, the flame atronach animation looks delicious (And is perfectly fine and feasible with enough fire resistance). Is this a scrapped animation, or just set off to the side until the issues with it are found out? 

 

On the back burner for the time being.  I need to see if I can build a bone map so I can try and export it via the Havok Tools exporter vs the .nif plugin.  We've found that some creatures don't play nice with the .nif plugin for some reason.  Dunno why.

[Dayelyte]

Good news and bad news.

 

 

Bad news first.  It seems the Gods of all things Sex hate my damn chickens. :|    I am able to get the chicken animations into SexLab v1.57 and while the player gets after things as expected, the damn chicken never moves off the ground.  Not sure what the hell is up with that.  As a result, I have pulled the chicken animations for now.

 

More bad news.  The setstagetimer function appears to be gone from the new versions of SexLab.  The problem that will arise from this is a few of my finishing animations for the werewolves required that function in order to finish the final stage of the animation before SexLab cut the scene.  The workaround for this is simply manual scene switching vs the automated / timed one that SexLab does by default.  I have no other way around this problem at this time.

 

 

Finally, the good news.

 

I have successfully built the new testfile for the werewolf animations for SexLab v1.57.  It is available in the downloads section.  Same rules as the previous ones apply.  Make sure to go through the readme file to understand what it will do.  Simply drag and drop from the archive file into your main Skyrim directory.  It should merge the Data folder contents.  Run FNIS for users prior to starting Skyrim.  Once inside, reset the SexLab animation registry.  Once that completes, you should see the Werewolf animations.  Have fun. 

 

Let me know if any issues come up.  I've tested on my laptop, but that's it.

[Kbyf]

Good Job

 

BIGGEST POINT: the good news.
 

[( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

90's reference in 3... 2... 1...

*prostates self and begins bowing*

WE'RE NOT WORTHY

WE'RE NOT WORTHY

[jeffdraco]

In Animation folder the file FNIS_SexLabCreature_werewolfbeast_List.txt has the animations listed as Test_A1_S1 and it should be Test_A2_S1. just a heads up on a easy fix.

[Night~Sky]

For what it's worth, I believe Ashal was too busy getting all the actual improvements and fixes that come with 1.57 to work, to have much time left to include newer animations as well. Panic's newest horse animation set was finished and released (as a resource) before 1.57 went live and was not included either.

 

It's worth remembering that adding new animations to Sexlab is not quite the exact science it would seem (though it is designed to be as friendly as possible); a simple example being that Dayelyte's testfile (at least, the one before this) added Panic's previous new horse animation set, but also somehow caused the existing horse animation to have the player rotated the wrong way. Anomalies that come up like this require going back, rechecking the script, problem solving what caused the oddity, finding a way to fix it, etc...put simply, it takes a bit more time than just tapping out a few lines of script and just going "bam, done".

 

Ultimately I think we're better off (as a community) creating the files to add new animations to Sexlab ourselves, rather than relying on Sexlab updates to include them. We, generally, have all the time in the world (comparatively) to knock up the file and then troubleshoot it, if it produces an anomaly. Ashal, on the other hand, spends so much time working on the code of Sexlab itself that expecting every new animation that pops up to be added as well is just unreasonable in the end.

 

On a related note, this is another reason I appreciate your work Dayelyte - the fact you actually take the time to make these testfiles and troubleshoot them when you can. Considering how much time and work goes into making the animations themselves (especially when they start throwing problems and oddities in your face), you could rightfully and reasonably not bother, like Panic does (this is not saying anything against Panic mind, he's a great guy, great animator, and great member of this community).

 

Ah, but this has all come off like a mini-rant, so I apologize. I look forward to seeing to see what you come up with next, as ever, Dayelyte.