CGTalk - Understanding animation/bone standards in games

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Boxsmiley

07-21-2003, 06:27 PM

Hey guys i've noticied many artists from the game industry hanging around and individuals who are well versed in the standards for games of today. My question is what are the standards that are taken into consideration when rigging and animating characters with bones or even biped for that matter in games today. Examples, is there truly a limit to how many bones go into characters and secondary objects? What about keyframes when animating, is there a limitation to the number you can have? What about animations themselves. Is there a limit to how many a character can have before doing the same one over again. I understand a lot depend on the engine and even the console the game is created for, but there has to be a general understanding in this industry that artists are aware of. I've tried looking for answers in various websites and thought it couldn't hurt to post on forums...especially like cgtalk.

Oh and i will eventaully ask for standards in modeling and texturing but that will be another day, and another thread area.
Thanks in advance for all your input and advice. :beer:

chrisdejoya

07-23-2003, 04:55 AM

I understand a lot depend on the engine and even the console the game is created for

that's pretty much all there is to it.

on the art side, you tend to come up with your own principles. here are some of mine:

less is more. for keyframes? maybe.
in same engines, it is preferable to share resources i.e. skeletons.
make your animations loop or flow into each other for versatility. keep them short and snappy. make sure they not only look good but also remain functional (does your super-exagerrated sword swing look like it can actually hurt somebody?)

gosh, do you realize what an elusive question you've chosen to ask?

Boxsmiley

07-23-2003, 04:17 PM

Hey Snowfly, thanks for your imput, i really appreciate you sharing your skills, and insights on this subject. As a newbie artist to the idustry i'm trying my hardest to understand every aspect of how things are done, and especially how they are done the right way. I'm aware that there is plenty of trial and error to go around when creating games...but it would be nice to try and avoid some of those errors if possible. When you mentioned about sharing resources like the skeletons. Are you saying for example if i create a bone system for a human character, and i also have an Orc. I could then take the same system and just position it to fit the Orc? Is that what you consider sharing a skeleton?

Thanks again for sharing your principles, and yeah your right... i sure did ask an elusive question! :cool:

spakman

07-27-2003, 10:07 AM

There's all kinds of fakery. Usually borrowed from established cinema principals and options. For example a bicep might have as many as three (or more?) *joint/bone* subdivisions along X *it's length* that only rotate on x. Helps with bicep twists and such - so that the deltoid doesn't twist as much as the bicep near the elbow. Clothing is a whole 'nuther can of worms. But they're so tasty!

peace d=^)

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