The way maxis do most of their animation that interact with a object in the game is to use inverse kinematics, so I would think the one for flushing down the toilet does to. If this is the case you should be able to change the position of the button by editing the cres file rather than creating a new animation.

The part about inverse kinematics is what is going to make it harder to make new animations at first, I haven`t gotten to looking at how they are defined in the animation files, so the converter/editor will not support them at first.
So any new animations are going to have to be hard coded as it were.

A example of what I mean is...when the sims pick a plate up off a table, the position that the plate should be in on the table is defined in the cres file. So the animation file uses inverse kinematics to move the sims arm to this point. If you edit the cres file (so that the plates are different location on the table) but don`t change the animation file, the animation will still move the sim's arm to the new position. This is how tables/surfaces can be different heights, they can use the same animation but have the position set differently in the cres file.

How at first new animations are going to have to be made is that the position of a plate (or anyother object) is set and can`t change without changing the animation.

Negative
if they use iK that cool..
but this isn't the case
button and bone are up, but the animation is the same

i've exported the mesh and bones as MilkShape txt file
then i've changed the mesh, and moved up the join of flush-button

let's check it :howdy:

Last edited by Max3D : 9th Aug 2005 at 11:59 AM.

Err I think you are having slightly too high expectations there

I don`t know what state the editor will end up in, I hope for something that is easy to use. But I`m not aiming to compete with such programs as Milkshape. Also it will be animation only, so you won`t be able to make meshes in it.

A good free 3d program is SoftImage`s XSI Mod Tool , this supports smd file (via a free plugin). While I`m not very good at making meshes or animations, the main reason I picked the smd format when I was making the mesh tool was because The mod tool supports it and is free.

Last edited by Miche : 9th Aug 2005 at 11:56 AM.

:idea:
if they use iK the best way to manage the boens could be have BVH / CSM file

those are file with Motion Capture information, they are used from many appz to setup and seve the "bones animation"

Yeah I have thought about adding support for BVH files, but didn`t realise that these can have IK animations in them? I can`t find any details of them supporting IK movements in them.

Still whatever format I support the biggest problem at the moment is working out how the game`s animation file encodes them. (once I have got support for the full skeleton conversion from smd files, I`ll start looking at them.)

The other big breakthrough I made this morning was working out the ID numbers of the bones, which was something I had needed to do if the editor/converter is to support multiboned objects.

Last edited by Miche : 9th Aug 2005 at 3:51 PM.

Oh, Miche!!! I'm living in a homeless shelter at the moment and I can't have my game or my computer (with programs) so I can't participate in the testing of your wonderful work. But when I get out of here... LOOK OUT!!! Go MICHE!!!

Thank you so much for this, I will test it and post here my findings, this is the big step in mod the sims 2.

Keep up the good work Miche!!!

I'm SO impressed! Sims 2 history is changing for the better. The reason I think that this is such great news to Sims 2 lovers is because we will finally be able to have our game the way we want it. Like Miche said, if you don't like the idea of new animations then simply don't download them. I am just really looking forward to the progress of this tool and to see all the new blossoms that spawn from this new tool creation when it's finally out there.

I, for one, am so impressed all together, not only with the tool itself but the fact that someone who is making the tool actually thougth about all of us while making it... the fact that the tools that we will need to mod with this animation tool are free, speaks volumes of its creator. Thanks so much, Miche, for all your hard work and dedication!!!

How do you use the export utility for anims from SimPE? Every time I try to save an export as milkshape ascii, I get the following:

Warning: No Parent was Found in the search Path.

I've looked at the directories in the Options. It has all the default Sims2 directories as I believe it should (I've left this as it was for installation of SimPE .46c.

the problem SimPE is haveing is that it is not finding the files it needs to export the animation the one fix i have found is to make a standalone package of just a mesh (basiclly you need the gmdc ,gmnd,cres,shpe) then add the animation files to it

then you can use export animation funtion and it willl use the mesh file as a base

but not all bones are suported and alot of animations are based on ik
so it doesn't always look right

there are the l_foot_ikpole and l_foot_ikctr and l_hand_ikpole and l_hand _ikctr
ik poles i belive are used for translation
ikctr are used for roation mostlly but you may find some animations that have rotaion and translation keys for each so its not set in stone but they are not exorted as of right now so the animations don't lookright the sim never lifts there legs when walking just moves there hips

hope this helps some

Lookz awesome!

hey nice work miche! can any1 tell me how you could make an animation on milkshape?

Can you tell me the steps how to make my mirror reflective I don't know what to do I feel lost. How do I use the animation or do I have to make my own animation

Making objects reflective doesn't require animation, it's to do with how the object is created. You can get help with that in the object creation forum.

Okay sorry for bothering, I found an animation painting which (finally) has the walks in them.

Last edited by Totorochi : 8th Sep 2009 at 12:05 AM. Reason: Solution Found

i know im late, but I just want to tell you. since i downloaded it there's a bug when my sim take out the trash, my sim raised his hands when carrying the garbage. lol

Here's the picture :




http://i.imgur.com/c0Bxa.jpg

not being mean, but it fixed since i delete it. so, yea, more practice please ^_^
sorry im kinda bad in english.