Post by Major Pain on Aug 26, 2014 2:32:18 GMT 1
The tanks could benefit from scope sight. That is simply changing the code table to prevent the conflict on that command.
Rotating tanks... I'm not sure what you mean unless you are talking about the tracks and wheels. The wheels could turn, at least the sprocket and rear trailer, but the tracks would nee some other effect. The issue moving the tracks is how to apply the animation. If you try to animate the tracks in conjunction with the road wheels and sprocket, it will not work. The defined wheel must be set to -360 / +360, which means it is based on a center axis and rotates 360 degrees around that axis. The course of the track would not meet this test as it requires an elliptical rotation along the path of the road wheels. So the animation might be a simple see-saw motion where parts of it just move back and forth at at high rate to make it appear like it is turning. I have thought about this for some time and worked on a couple of test models. The wheel rotation is not an issue. The tracks is something else. There would be several components required to make it possible.
One idea I had was to manually program the tracks around the wheels as part of a animation set. But this requires a lot of tedious work because you are constantly having to work on the track poly to change the angles and placement. There is just not anything simple that I can see right now. Perhaps I should enlist HB and Nephilim to see what they suggest or wish to try out.
HB: The issue with horse I laid out before under the existing code is only the best way to solve it currently. I had not planned another TYPE but this could open the door to the DraftHorse TYPE. The tow code is much the same for artillery. But the issue would still working out the 2D sprite towing the 3D wagons or guns. I'm sure this would be the same code used for the gunners, but we would be defining a new type that uses its own Squad definition. In this case the squad would be a horse team. They would not need all five formations, perhaps only two. Slow (March) and fast (Assault). There would still need to be a hook and unhook animation built into the wagon or gun, and the horse team would act like a transport truck. They would not man the guns since the onboard gunners would assume that duty. We would have to do a lot of testing to make this work right. But first we need to find the animated horse files I spoke of and gain permission to use them.
More later...
Rotating tanks... I'm not sure what you mean unless you are talking about the tracks and wheels. The wheels could turn, at least the sprocket and rear trailer, but the tracks would nee some other effect. The issue moving the tracks is how to apply the animation. If you try to animate the tracks in conjunction with the road wheels and sprocket, it will not work. The defined wheel must be set to -360 / +360, which means it is based on a center axis and rotates 360 degrees around that axis. The course of the track would not meet this test as it requires an elliptical rotation along the path of the road wheels. So the animation might be a simple see-saw motion where parts of it just move back and forth at at high rate to make it appear like it is turning. I have thought about this for some time and worked on a couple of test models. The wheel rotation is not an issue. The tracks is something else. There would be several components required to make it possible.
One idea I had was to manually program the tracks around the wheels as part of a animation set. But this requires a lot of tedious work because you are constantly having to work on the track poly to change the angles and placement. There is just not anything simple that I can see right now. Perhaps I should enlist HB and Nephilim to see what they suggest or wish to try out.
HB: The issue with horse I laid out before under the existing code is only the best way to solve it currently. I had not planned another TYPE but this could open the door to the DraftHorse TYPE. The tow code is much the same for artillery. But the issue would still working out the 2D sprite towing the 3D wagons or guns. I'm sure this would be the same code used for the gunners, but we would be defining a new type that uses its own Squad definition. In this case the squad would be a horse team. They would not need all five formations, perhaps only two. Slow (March) and fast (Assault). There would still need to be a hook and unhook animation built into the wagon or gun, and the horse team would act like a transport truck. They would not man the guns since the onboard gunners would assume that duty. We would have to do a lot of testing to make this work right. But first we need to find the animated horse files I spoke of and gain permission to use them.
More later...