Base Animation Dissected

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Yuizaki
Posts: 2
Joined: 19 Aug 2021, 22:25

Base Animation Dissected

Post by Yuizaki »

Hello there! I'm new to the forums.

I work on a little standalone thing and I decided to write a short (9 page) doc on the structure of the original Morrowind base_anim, focusing on the armature, geometry and the nodes, as well as the findings from my own experiments with OpenMW that use more of the engine features. I'm using some of the Example Suite data (some textures, icon and UI textures) with custom animations and meshes. I'm sure that this 1st draft is not perfect and that it could be improved in different ways, so I'm waiting for your feedback!

I couldn't upload the file as an attachment of this post due to an http error, so I'm including a link to my Google docs instead:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LBa ... sp=sharing
unelsson
Posts: 227
Joined: 17 Mar 2018, 14:57

Re: Base Animation Dissected

Post by unelsson »

Hi and welcome! That's really cool.

The example suite and template data still needs some work though. For example, we are still missing a proper first player character model.

There may also be missing pieces in the animation framework, and some changes are still possible. I recommend documenting exactly which version of OpenMW you are using.
Yuizaki
Posts: 2
Joined: 19 Aug 2021, 22:25

Re: Base Animation Dissected

Post by Yuizaki »

I'm using a release build of v. 0.47, I might update to a newer nightly and switch to debug, but it works pretty well right now. I'll make sure to include that information in the document.

The first person rig can be pretty much derived from the third person one, the main differences are the finger and toe bones. It also requires additional nodes parented to the head bone to get the first person camera working. Bethesda rig has a Camera node parented to the head bone, and an Object node parented to the Camera. They parented the actual NiCamera node to the Object. I used Nifskope to add NiCamera and it works.

I can contribute assets to the example suite/template, however, I use IK constraints in my armature, bake the animation and extract the keyframes to use the external anim sources feature, so I'm not sure how that would tie in to your asset base.
unelsson
Posts: 227
Joined: 17 Mar 2018, 14:57

Re: Base Animation Dissected

Post by unelsson »

Looks like Lamoot already made a working 1st person camera for the template, so that part is already done. I understood that next in line is to get the 3rd person model (OpenMWDude) and creature model (bird) finished with all of the details, such as deforming parts, animation keys etc.
Lamoot
Posts: 176
Joined: 22 Apr 2016, 12:03

Re: Base Animation Dissected

Post by Lamoot »

Yuizaki wrote: 19 Aug 2021, 22:37 Hello there! I'm new to the forums.

I work on a little standalone thing and I decided to write a short (9 page) doc on the structure of the original Morrowind base_anim, focusing on the armature, geometry and the nodes, as well as the findings from my own experiments with OpenMW that use more of the engine features. I'm using some of the Example Suite data (some textures, icon and UI textures) with custom animations and meshes. I'm sure that this 1st draft is not perfect and that it could be improved in different ways, so I'm waiting for your feedback!

I couldn't upload the file as an attachment of this post due to an http error, so I'm including a link to my Google docs instead:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LBa ... sp=sharing
Heya, welcome to the forums!

Exploring and documenting the animation pipeline is needed and very welcome. I'm currently putting together a tutorial on how to create an animated creature. Some things overlap with how Characters (NPC and player model) are done, but characters have a whole set of other requirements. I plan to eventually tackle that as well, but I'm happy if someone else goes for it.

Here's a collection of currently available knowledge and assets that can help you with your task.
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