Purpose:
As of PRv.75, most of the deployment and zoom animations are the same as BF2 vanilla: Unnaturally fast, and in some cases, instant. This [WIP] is designed to address that issue by slowing down those animations to give weapon selection a more natural look and feel. This will be done by editing the deployment and zoom animationManager.length modifiers in the AnimationSystem1p.inc and 3p.inc files; the animation mechanics themselves will not change.
The actual time length of deployment/zoom depends on the type of equipment and look of the animation. For example, the medkit dressing deployment time is minimal, while the HAT deployment and zoom will be somewhat longer to represent a heavier, more cumbersome weapon. In all cases, the goal is to make the animation look natural; not bionically fast, and not underwater slow.
This project is expected to take approximately 1-2 weeks.
Progress: Green = Complete Orange = In Progress Red = Incomplete Blue = Will not be changed
medkit dressing
medkit
ammo bag
binoculars
simrad (officer binocs)
landmine
C4 slam grenade
smoke
knife
pistol rifles (all standard issue) shotgun support gunner grenadier LAT HAT
stinger
sniper
marksman
Videos:
Video 1: Test animation
In the following video, you can see a comparison of the M16 and HAT with vanilla animation times then slowed animation times.
Video 2: Updated HAT deployment speed.
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 00:01
by =Romagnolo=
Interesting work, could you post a teaser ?
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 00:06
by nicoX
Will it look good?
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 00:26
by Wolfe
nicoliani wrote:Will it look good?
That's the only qualifying factor. If it doesn't look good, it isn't going in. Much of the work is already complete; I'll post a vid soon showing before and after.
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 00:28
by Waaah_Wah
nicoliani wrote:Will it look good?
And thats why we have jokes about Swedes being "slow" here in Norway
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 00:29
by Rudd
I like the sound of this alot, please post a teaser plox or at least describe the changes (eyes move particularly towards the medic related objects)
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 00:43
by Spec
Make ironsights faster than scopes, could be very good for gameplay.
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 00:48
by Mongolian_dude
Spec_Operator wrote:Make ironsights faster than scopes, could be very good for gameplay.
Yeah. And keep pistols/SMGs faster than iron sights.
...mongol...
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 02:00
by General Dragosh
[R-MOD]Mongolian_dude wrote:Yeah. And keep pistols/SMGs faster than iron sights.
...mongol...
Ooooooo yes
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 02:33
by billdan
shouldn't the red dots/reflex sights be the fastest? then pistol/smg, then iron-sight rifle/lmg, and finally scoped rifles?
it would be great if the difference in handling between the M4 and M16A4 (or G3) could be simulated by tweaking deployment/zoom time-the M4 being slightly faster to shoulder
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 03:03
by Spec
About the red dot/reflex, i wouldnt make them faster than pistols and smg's, unless the sight is mounted on the smg.
It shoul be
pistol > smg with red dot > smg > carbine with red dot > carbine > rifle > scoped carbine > scoped rifle > heavy stuff (LMG's and the like)
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 03:07
by DeltaFart
But there really isn't a difference between iron and optics. A soldier is trained in such a way taht they handle both at teh same speed.
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 03:13
by Wolfe
Iron sights could be 0.2 seconds and scopes 0.4 seconds. Anything longer starts to look and feel weird (unless it's a marksman/sniper, which can be slightly longer). The difference between .2 and .4 isn't much but enough to notice.
As of now, v.75 has all weapons at 0.08 seconds zoom time which is virtually instantaneous.
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 06:31
by Wolfe
Video 1: Test animation
In the following video, you can see a comparison of the M16 and HAT with vanilla animation times then slowed animation times.
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 12:59
by Masaq
HAT looks unnaturally slow, especially that hand coming up to hold it.
I'd suggest it needs the actual animation editing rather than just having the play speed slowed down; make the deployment slowed but the hands etc moving at a more natural speed.
Very nice idea though, good to see this getting addressed at last
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 13:06
by LekyIRL
Yeah the hand on the HAT moves a bit too slow,other then that it looks very nice.
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 21:21
by Wolfe
Updated HAT animation speed. First part shows original speed, second part is slowed down.
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 22:04
by Waaah_Wah
The hand on the end of the animation still looks a bit weird, but its a huge improvement over the first vid
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 23:01
by Wolfe
It's good enough, and like you said, much better than the original. Until we get real animators to redo every animation (which could take years), I think this approach is worth while.
I also removed the zoom effect from iron sights; that slight zoom effect has always bothered me. Now you can bring the sight up to your eyes without the background shifting. This was done by changing the ObjectTemplate.zoom.addZoomFactor from 0.9 to 1.099. Anything greater than 1.099 will cause weird zoom effects; the front and rear sight posts wildly shift out of alignment when looking around with the mouse, making it difficult to see where you're aiming.
Re: [Coding] Deployment & Zoom Animation Times [WIP]
Posted: 2008-06-17 23:24
by Dr_Tubesteak
Some nice animations changes being showcased here: