KEYFRAME Editing! =D

[SHAUNIE]

Hi guys!

I don't need to get so deep as to create my own punches and kicks, but is there a way to er... take some animations from another keyframe and add them to another keyframe... not overwriting keyframes... but maybe borrowing some animations or even combining them. ??? Thanks guys.

[detourne_me]

Yup there sure is.  You can do it in NifSkope but that's really tiome consuming.  also you should search for m25's Keyframe editor.  it's the best!

[SHAUNIE]

I appreciate the lead, my man. I'm on it now.

[SHAUNIE]

Is there a way to make keyframes compatable with meshes they aren't with? Like... there is this old Captain America mesh with a few good animinations I want to send over to the new Captain America. However, I don't think they are compatable because when I used the program and opened up the game after doing the work... nothing changed except the renames I made to some of the animations already working. The new ones hadn't shown up at all. lol.

[detourne_me]

yes, it is possible.. time consuming, but possible.
You should really check out some of the great tutorials found in the hex editing section for doing this.

Off the top of my head though, you would have to add all of the 'special' bones and nodes from Grenadier's Cap mesh into Ren's Cap mesh.  That would include the different nodes for his shield etc.

I'm not a very technical person so i think about it like this:
The keyframe file is the recipe and the mesh has the ingredients.
Even if the recipe says "mix two eggs", but you don't have two eggs to mix, you can't do it.

[SHAUNIE]

How'd you know exactly what two Caps I was using???

[GogglesPizanno]

We're all smart like that. 

[style]

He's amazing aint he!? That's why heee's a Champion!!!

[style]

Hey De Me when u say 'special' bones can u give an example?

[SHAUNIE]

So, then... I will need Ctool (whatever that is) or NifSkope?

[area34]

CTool is just a handy viewer so you don't have to get into the game to see your work. Nifskope is for editing of OBJ's and Nif's.

[SHAUNIE]

I think my brain is melting...

I don't know what Nifs are but I have an idea... I've never heard of OBJs...?

But it sounds like this NifSkope is what I need to make keyframes of one mesh compatible to another then? Also, you have stressed the issue of time-consuming... does the process on an average take hours or days... for this matter? Making about 3 to 5 animations from one mesh compatible with another mesh?

I am also looking through the Hex Editing Section but I'm not finding much that relates to this situation... but the thing about giving meshes guns were informative.

[detourne_me]

hmmm, ok. I haven't opened up Nifskope in a long while but here is the process i usually do.

1. Open the "donor" nif file in nifskope (the mesh I'm taking stuff from.) in one window, and the recipient mesh in another window.
2. Click on an "extra" mesh piece (by extra i mean something that is not part of the basic mesh.
3. Look at its position in the scene root tree - go "up" the tree to find the nodes it uses.
4. Copy the block starting at the first node that is different from a male_base mesh.  For example a gun may be listed as R Hand -> gun_right-> gun-> editable_mesh  - right click on "gun_right" and copy branch.
5. Paste it into the other mesh in the exact same position you found it.
6. Repeat this until ALL of the "extra" pieces have been moved over. This includes nodes that may look invisible to you, but you see them in the parent tree.
7. in the new mesh I usually hide all of the parts I don't want to see by flagging them as hidden.  I usually don't start removing branches until I'm sure they aren't essential to the new keyframes.
   For example, a number of male_heavy keyframes call upon a ponytail node on the head, if the mesh doesn't have the ponytail node, those keyframes wont work.

8. Using M25's keyframe transfer tool I add the keyframes together. DO NOT use Nifskope to transfer keyframes because that is utterly time consuming. (think 1 hour for 1 keyframe)
The whole process though should only take about 1 hour... for example I think I whipped up that Psylocke Skope for Prev in about 45 minutes.

9. Open up Ctool and see if it works.

Caveats - This is just a basic method, maybe a little clumsy because the nif file will contain information from both meshes... this will increase the size, but don't worry, most nif files are about 500kb anyways - its the keyframe files that take up the most space.

This method is basic so don't be disappointed if sometimes the animations don't work out the way you want.
For example, in my Daredevil skope I mixed the keyframes from Gren's Daredevil and JM_Demon. However, because I didn't want DD to be carrying 2 billyclubs in his right hand, I had to hide the native DD mesh billy club. This means that I couldn't use the ranged animations from the DD mesh.  Well, I could, but when he threw the billyclub, it didn't leave his hand, because that billyclub was JM_Demon's...if you know what I mean.

I hope this isn't too convoluted.  But if you port over Gren's Cap animations into Ren's cap,  I don't think that Gren's shield throws will work the way you want them too.

[SHAUNIE]

THANKS! ! !

[area34]

A long while? *Sigh* Here I was hoping your Bats and Aquaman might be almost done. With me skinning now I abandoned my Aquaman..

[detourne_me]

...oh they've been done for a few months *he says sheepishly*  I guess I should release them with some others too.

[SHAUNIE]

I'm going to stick to making music and just enjoying Freedom Force as it is! My brain will explode if I take in anymore.

But thanks again! You guys are super smart or just super good at what you do... maybe both. I'm not on your level, lol, that all I know. You the man, you the man.