Editor View Panels & Custom Character Model

[billy.rennekamp]

hi everyone,
first post
apologize in advance for lack of dim 3 knowledge

i've been having a lot of trouble with the editor
seems like the views are all pretty weird
there's no rotate view or anything?

well anyways
my real problems have been with importing my .obj maps
everytime i load them, my player just falls straight through as soon as i run
this happens when i add single polygon mesh too
but pass-through is not checked on
if i import the same mesh twice, sometimes the player can stand on one of them
but sometimes it just falls through both
any suggestions?

the other big problem i am having is the actual player character
i've built a new character mesh, made a new file in the animator, added bones, created poses and made animatinos out of them
now how do i change it so hat this new character is the player?
right now when i run a demo in editor, joe foe is my player
do i have to go back to the player in the animator, delete it and redo all of my bones, poses and animations?
the proportions are way different than the given player

sorry to bother all with inquiries that may be elementary
but i havent found answers in the tutorials

thanks very much,
billy

[Jerion]

Hi there!

There are a number of Views in the Editor. There are two primary views: Textured Panels, and Wireframe panels.

Textured Panels give you top-down view, left-right view, and front-back view with the ability to move your viewpoint anywhere on the map. Preview: http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t191/Zeoman1001/Screenshot2010-02-08at61311PM.png

Wireframe panels give you all this in wireframe mode, along with a rotatable textured view in the bottom right viewport. To rotate your view in that panel, hold down Command, click and drag the mouse. Preview: http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t191/Zeoman1001/Screenshot2010-02-08at61318PM.png

There are other views, such as Top Only & Forward Only, which fill up the entire window with a top-down and rotatable perspective, respectively.

-----

The player character is all controlled through the Player.js script. In order to re-assign the player model from JoeFoe to the one you created, you'll need to alter that in the script.

If you want your project to have multiple player models, then you want the model name assignment line in Player.js to look like this:

Code: [Select]

obj.model.name=obj.setting.characterModel;

If you only want the player to use one model that can't be chosen by the user, then you want it to look like this:

Code: [Select]

obj.model.name=Your-model's-name-here;

This is pretty much how you bring models from an .obj file to use within a Dim3 project:



Hope this helps!

[jesseoffy]

Can you upload some pictures? Press command-shit-3 to take a screenshot, and upload it to imageshack.us
This could help - did you make sure your character object is above the mesh?

As for your second problem... I haven't touched editor in ages, so I forgot. I think you have to assign a script, like a spawn/object preset script. The one that is the main player is the player.js, but I don't know what you're character is...

Edit: posted this as another reply was made... nevermind this - his is better

[`teh1]

Please be sure to name your topics accordingly. It's very important for the forum that they are named in a useful manor. Why? When searching the forum to see if a topic has been covered the search function uses the topic names and posts to find your search query. I have renamed it for you.

[DomReardon]

Hi Billy.
I think I know why you're falling through the ground.
In the editor, click on 'map' (at the top between 'view' and 'mesh'). Then click on 'Settings'. You will see a box labeled 'Editor link always goes to start spot'. Check this box and make sure your start spot is above ground level.
Hope this helps.
Welcome to the board!

[billy.rennekamp]

Mr. K -

thank you so much!

i guess i just have to get used to moving in a 3d environment that you can't really move up or down in. :\

i see that the wireframe mode has middle, up & down views, but i guess i was imagining an level with a a few areas stacked verticlly with a lot of space between them.
you think i should just make them seperate levels, then combine them later?
if i were to combine them, would it be with animations between them and loading the other levels, or could i import each of them one at a time into the same level, then just lower map over and over again?

Code: [Select]

obj.model.name=obj.setting.characterModel; was already set that way.
does that mean i shouldalready  be able to choose my character at the beginning?

flow chart helps, thank you. but do i need to bring all objects into the animator first? what if they don't move? or if it is the actual map itself?

again thank you so much for your response!

-------------

jesseoffy -

thanks for the response!

-------------

teh1ghool -

really sorry!
thanks for changing it,
i'll try to be more descriptive from now on.

--------------

DomReardon -

YES!
thank you so much
that took care of the falling thing
so frustrating!

----------------

thank you so much for responding and helping
this is my first post to any board of this type
i had no idea people could be so helpful
it makes me want to help others too
 

bestbestb,
bbbb

[Jerion]

Oh, you can move up and down too- just hold down space in any textured panel, click and drag. For the top-down view, scrolling forwards and backwards does the same job.

[billy.rennekamp]

ahaaaaaaa

....

so i've been searching through the forum, wiki, and scripts
but somehting just doesn't make sense

in the player.js there is the code where you setup your player model

Code: [Select]

obj.model.name=obj.setting.characterModel;makes it so that you can chose multiple players at the beginning
(whichi is awesome)
but the only characters that show up are joe foe and player

when i went into animation editor of player and replaced th mesh with my own, the game wouldnt run because it had an error at line 273 where the player.js says:

Code: [Select]

obj.model.mesh.showOnlyMesh('Default');it said it couldn't find "Default"

so i replaced the mesh back to the orignal player model,
and altered the

Code: [Select]

obj.model.name=obj.setting.characterModel;so it said

Code: [Select]

obj.model.name=RED_PLAYER;(RED_PLAYER) is the name of the model i want to use as my character
and then it said it coulnd't find RED_PLAYER

how does a model (mad eup of mesh, bones, poses and animations) become an optional player?
where in the scripts or in the model of Player and the model of JoeFoe does it specify that they are both suitable models as players?
do they have to have all of the right type of poses and animations?
i feel like i'm missing some sort of a file for models that allows these things to happen.

anyone used a new model as a character that wasn't JoeFoe or Player?

[Jerion]

Ah! This ties into the "multiple character" selection screen, where the player can choose between the JoeFoe and Player models.

To edit the list of characters that can be selected, fiddle with this part of Interface.xml:

Code: [Select]

<Characters>
<Character name="Spec Ops" model="Paintballer" parameter="normal" />
<Character name="Predator" model="Paintballer Red" parameter="grey" />
<Character name="Juggernaut" model="Paintballer Blue" parameter="red" />
</Characters>
The name field specifies the name of the character in the engine's selection screen, the model name tells the engine what model to use when that character is selected, and the parameter is something you can use in scripts to tweak settings on a per-character basis.

[c^5]

What Mr. K said is correct, however the reason putting RED_PLAYER in doesn't work is you need quotes. Try:

Code: [Select]

obj.model.name="RED_PLAYER";

[EDIT]You don't need to make a new line for every sentence, it makes it hard to read your posts. Just wanted to let you know.

[billy.rennekamp]

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