Vehicle Skeletons - Developers

So umm basically I have been converting cars over to CS:S. Problem is I only have two vehicle skeletons -- the HL2 dune buggy and the Shelby GT500 from Fueled Mod. What this means is I can only make cars with the same wheel base as either the GT500 or the dune buggy. This has let me make a couple sports cars, a sedan, and a truck, but anything else gets scaled wrong like the Jeep I did. So umm, I need some more vehicle skeletons. Anyone wanna help me out in this respect? I can't seem to decompile like 99% of GMod cars so I'm really stuck here for getting new skeletons and their animations. Like you don't gotta give me the car's model or textures, just all the animation .smd's and a .smd with the vehicle's vertices and stuff deleted. And if you're interested in what the fuck exactly I am doing... [img]http://www.aura-forums.com/cstrike/urmomlol.png[/img] Flat Out 2 car re-done with 8 skins. [img]http://www.aura-forums.com/cstrike/tacoma_3.jpg[/img] ILL's Toyota Tacoma re-done to drive with 8 skins. [img]http://www.aura-forums.com/cstrike/Lada_0.JPG[/img] 1980's Soviet Lada

What's stopping you from making your own skeletons? It's better to learn to make stuff yourself instead of just getting others to do it all for you. I'm planning to make a video tutorial on vehicle rigging when my machinima film is finished so that could be of use to you. In the meantime I would recommend examining the HL2 Buggy in the model viewer, also take a look at the included .qc files in the SDK content folder. Both of those should tell you pretty much everything you need to know to get a functioning vehicle model working in source, that's how I learned.

I have no problem with compiling or anything, I just don't know anything about making the animations for a custom skeleton. So sorry if I'm asking y'all to "do it all for me" but this is really the only part of the whole process I can't do on my own. Unless maybe you want me to instead make a thread "why can't I decompile GMod vehicles but I can decompile ones from CS:S and maybe like a couple GMod ones?"

[QUOTE=Natalya;20230735]I have no problem with compiling or anything, I just don't know anything about making the animations for a custom skeleton. [/QUOTE] You just need three animations for a vehicle: [b]1.[/b] A sequence with the steering of the wheels. This can be only 3 frames (left, center, right) if you’d like. Be sure to note the exact angle that the wheels turn and make it consistent. You’ll need to put that angle into the vehicle’s script file so that the physics will match the animation. [b]2.[/b] A sequence with the suspension animated. This can be only 2 frames (fully compressed, fully extended). This sequence determines the amount of travel each wheel has. So if you want to have a car be angled/jacked up, you’ll need to make the back wheels extend further than the front wheels. [b]3.[/b] A sequence with all of the wheels spinning one 360 degree revolution. This was taken from: [url]http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Vehicles_(modeling)#Vehicle_Animations[/url] There's more information there.

One 360 degree revolution? nvm

@ Master Chris: A couple things... A: These sequences are in .smd format and whatnot, I understand that much. What I'm wondering is like if I use the animation from one car, let's say for front left wheel rotation... Like if I take this animation from another car with a different skeleton, but like the joint names are the same will it work properly even though the animation .smd's skeleton did not match the reference .smd's skeleton? B: The car in your avatar, did you make it? (That's the Fueled Mod Shelby right?)

[QUOTE=Natalya;20237380]@ Master Chris: A couple things... A: These sequences are in .smd format and whatnot, I understand that much. What I'm wondering is like if I use the animation from one car, let's say for front left wheel rotation... Like if I take this animation from another car with a different skeleton, but like the joint names are the same will it work properly even though the animation .smd's skeleton did not match the reference .smd's skeleton? B: The car in your avatar, did you make it? (That's the Fueled Mod Shelby right?)[/QUOTE] A) No. I mean they may 'work', the model may compile but since the animation decides the starting position of the bones as well as their movements it could lead to stretching and deformation of the skeleton when the animations are played. Here's an example of what I mean: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9KudmRQHCA&feature=related[/media] Depending on the way you isolate the bones using $weightlist you may be able to avoid this issue but personally I would recommend that you don't mix the animations from two completely separate models. Besides the animations for a vehicle are easy and they really should be made for a specific vehicle to suit the handling: more suspension travel for an off road vehicle for example. Even if the animations work correctly they may look unrealistic when used on the vehicle, if you have too little suspension travel then the wheels will start to disappear into the ground when you go round a corner or land after a jump. If the steering angle is too little then the front wheels will appear to slide across the ground when doing a tight turn. B) Yes it is the Fueled Mod Shelby but I didn't make the model, it was made for fueled mod years ago. I just took it from the mod after it was long dead and re-released it for Garrys mod with some new sounds and lua functionality. I am however making a [url=http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=641106]1969 Dodge Charger[/url] that is fully animated and drivable. I am also rigging vehicles for the [url=http://www.moddb.com/mods/shift]SHIFT[/url] mod team and I will also be rigging all the vehicles in the [url=http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=884172]Vigilante 8[/url] pack.

Rofl to spy as soldier.

Okay so I'm trying this make your own skeleton thing, but I'm having problems. The steering animation doesn't stack properly onto the front wheel spin animations. Observe: [img]http://www.Aura-Forums.com/cstrike/wheel_problem0.PNG[/img] Looks normal right now with the wheels turned. [img]http://www.Aura-Forums.com/cstrike/wheel_problem1.PNG[/img] But now with the wheel rotated forwards, it ends up flopping all over the place!! Halp? Also, yea I know Sgt. Sgt. is porting this same truck model and probably already has it done or whatever, but I'm trying to learn how to rig a vehicle here so just go with it.

[QUOTE=Natalya;20313215]Okay so I'm trying this make your own skeleton thing, but I'm having problems. The steering animation doesn't stack properly onto the front wheel spin animations. Observe: [img_thumb]http://www.Aura-Forums.com/cstrike/wheel_problem0.PNG[/img_thumb] Looks normal right now with the wheels turned. [img_thumb]http://www.Aura-Forums.com/cstrike/wheel_problem1.PNG[/img_thumb] But now with the wheel rotated forwards, it ends up flopping all over the place!! Halp?[/QUOTE] That reminds me of the Land Rover Defender from one of the old gmod car packs, it had a problem pretty much exactly the same as that. I think that it might be to do with the rig, how many bones are you using for the the front wheels? There should be 3 each, one bone for each of the animations: suspension, steering and rotation. They should also stack in that order in the rig: root/frame-suspension-steering-rotation If you build them up in a different order then this error will occur.

I got it fixed -- problem that you described. I assigned the steering to the wheel bone not the axle bone so that's why it got messed up. Didn't think to do a suspension bone though, but there are no adverse affects that I've seen. Thx for the help though. Umm is there a way to do support for multiple passengers?

[QUOTE=Natalya;20354241]Umm is there a way to do support for multiple passengers?[/QUOTE] [url=http://www.garrysmod.org/downloads/?a=view&id=37419]VU-Mod[/url]

Err I mean do I have to add any extra attachment points or bones or whatever for their seats?

[QUOTE=Natalya;20367281]Err I mean do I have to add any extra attachment points or bones or whatever for their seats?[/QUOTE] No, you just enter in the co-ordinates of where you want the seats to go and they will spawn there, you may want to get those positions using your 3D software instead of randomly guessing but it doesn't require any new attachments in the model itself.

Awesomeness Thx a lot 4 ur help dude.

[QUOTE=Natalya;20313215] [img]http://www.Aura-Forums.com/cstrike/wheel_problem0.PNG[/img] Looks normal right now with the wheels turned. [/QUOTE] I was wondering which program you are using

That's HLMV (Half-Life Model Viewer) -- It doesn't let you edit the models or anything, just lets you look at them and see how they work without loading the game up and stuff. It's useful because you can refresh it if you're constantly making changes to it. If you put it in game to see changes then you must restart the game each time you re-compile the model or change the .vmt files. Changes to the .vtf can be seen though w/o restarting GMod or whatever you're playing.

Do you have to prepare the bones before animating? Because I was used to animating with objects, i.e. you set a pivot in the middle of a wheel and then rotate the wheel itself for animation, and then the bones are created on export.