'skoping animations, advanced topics?

[stumpy]

There are a couple things I would like to try with NifSkope, but I don't know how to go about it. I was hoping some more experienced 'skoper might know.

First, is it possible to shorten or lengthen the whole time for an animation? For example, I can change the start time or time of the contacts (or leave_hand) of an animation, but it seems like the total time often remains unchanged. I was looking to shorten the ranged_6 animation for the Dark_Magik mesh (using the the Raven keyframes that came with ink's mesh). Changing the time of the end text key isn't enough. I also tried changing the end times in all of the NiTextKeyExtraData text keys of the other NiControllerSequence nodes in the animation, but that was just a stab in the dark, and it didn't work.

Second, the NifSkope tutorial page on keyframe hexing notes that it's possible to add extra animation blows (the actual motion the mesh is using during a contact) when adding extra contacts, but that it's a more advanced procedure. Has anyone done this? I would love to see the process outlined and give it a try. (Plus, I think it may be related to the first question above...)

[Conduit]

I've done some work with animation in Nifkope, including a few modifications of character keyframes.  I'm actually considering putting together a tutorial or two on how to create animated objects and fx.  Regarding your questions, yes, they're both possible, but they'd be very complicated and take a very long time to do.

For the first one, you'd have to change the ending time for the keyframe controller for every single bone, then go into the keyframe data and change the time value for every single key.

The second one is even more complicated.  That requires adding new keys.  Unfortunately, with nifskope, you can't just copy a few keys and paste them into the middle.  You can only add empty keys onto the end.  In order to get new keys into the middle, you have to copy all of the data from every key after the sequence you're going to change and manually enter it into the ones at the end.  Take it from me, this is a very tedious process.  And given that most melee animations involve all sorts of weight shifts and such, you'd probably have to do this for every single keyframe controller.

Most meshes have dozens of bones, and even the simplest of melee animations tend to have at least ten keys, so you'd be looking at modifying hundreds of keys to do either of those.

I'm sorry to say it, but Nifskope just doesn't work very well for changing character animations.

[stumpy]

I've had the same impression about NifSkope with animations. You can do plenty, but it can be very tedious because the automation tools aren't quite there when so many tasks require "change the value of X at every instance in the tree"-type operations. It's still quite nice to be able to copy animations, though.

Too bad on that business with adding new keys for contact motions. It does sound like that might be fairly painful.  :wacko:

I might try tackling the timing one at some point, though. Tweaking animation timing is a constant temptation to me, especially with some powers, where it looks like the power goes off and then the character stands around for a second or so doing nothing whilst the animation completes. In the middle of combat, that's a long time and can seem very odd.

Both of those tutorials would be very cool! I've never even played with FX using NifSkope, but I bet it opens up some great possibilities.  :thumbup:

[Mystik]

I've done some work with animaton things in Nifkope, including a few modifications of character keyframes.  I'm actually considering putting together a tutorial or two on how to create animated objects and fx. 

very interested in this

[yell0w_lantern]

Sounds like it might be easier to do the work in Max. Can you get me the Max file?

[stumpy]

I'm sure it would be easier in Max. Unfortunately, I only have NIFs and KFs.

And, this is mostly just for my own character tweaking, not for general release or anything. I'd feel bad asking for custom Max work just for myself. But, thanks.

[GGiant]

I don't know if this is any help but a found this site months ago and it has some keyframe hexing techniques but it uses a normal hex editor rather than Nifskope.

[stumpy]

Ha! Yup, that's our very own DrMike2000's site, from back in the day, I think before he opened fundamentzero, before the original (and awesome) Strangers mod was done.

He also had those tips up here on FR, before the hacks of earlier this year resulted in quarantining the older threads. There are lots of cool hexing tips there, but they don't address the things I was hoping to do above.

[GGiant]

Sorry! :(
I have a question too!

80 8f 42 3f # time at which this key occurs (0.76)

Would it be possible to change this by using hex buddy to hex a value and then replace this with it?
Sorry again if I thread jacked, but this was a mystery to me a very long time ago.

[stumpy]

Yes. You can change the contact or leave_hand times via that simple hex or via NifSkope. This can be very handy for any number of purposes, not the least of which is changing the cost of using a particular animation, since the shorter the time to the first contact, the more expensive the power is. I have also found that certain multi-contact or multi-leave_hand animations have timing that looks a little odd with the particular power (like with a projectile that moves to slowly or quickly for the time spacing between leave_hands). That is an area where using NifSkope's ability to copy and rename an animation is very handy, since that way you still have the original animation whose timings might work well with other powers.

You can even change the end time, sometimes. Well, you can always change it, but it doesn't always lengthen or shorten the overall animation time. It looks like doing that requires more. I hope to get a chance to try out what Conduit mentioned above and see how that works.

[Symon]

Second, the NifSkope tutorial page on keyframe hexing notes that it's possible to add extra animation blows (the actual motion the mesh is using during a contact) when adding extra contacts, but that it's a more advanced procedure.

As Conduit points out, it isn't fun! Hence I haven't had any time. Off course, the structure of FF3R keyframes makes them a little easier to deal with.
I built the Shadow Cruiser keyframes (which are simple) up from scratch in NifSkope. You'll appreciate, that if you can do that, you can do pretty much anything. When (I won't say if)  I do the advanced tutorial, it will mostly be a blow by blow explanation of every known node in the keyframe.

[stumpy]

I know tutorials like this can be quite a bit of work. But, they are a huge boon in terms of letting the most people leverage the great tools available to the community, like Nifskope. I've read your other Nifskope write-ups and they are very helpful. I'm sure this will be as greatly appreciated as those are.   :)