[Bug] Repeating frames?

[Stefano]

I've repeated the exact same sequence of steps and something went wrong again. When trying to import the animation file:

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Error parsing SMD
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Error: Unable to read data from SMD (line 1285).
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OK   
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SMD:
I've noticed that the problematic line contains a second entry for time 6013 (the first being on line 1264).
Skipping frames (if no bone coordinates changed) is ok, but repeating frame ids with different values? Hum...
PS. It happens on other lines, as in 1453/1474.

 

[mtarini]

I need double check, as it has been a long time since I rev engineered the animation structure, but I think I remember BRF skeletal animations can have internally repeated frames (unlike SMD). If there's a reason and I ever understood it, then I forgot.

If I'm right, (i.e. it is not just a bug), then for sure I could make SMD exporting more robust, and maybe I will, but that is not really needed in reality.

In fact, I think that problem will arise only for the few very big "all-in-one" animations of vanilla (like "anim_human"). You seldom need to export them. You rather need to "split the animation with action.txt", which will produce a lot of smaller animations (specifically, all the sub-intervals of that animation which used for separated animations in-game) and then export only the ones you are interested in. There should be no frame repetition there.

PS: after exporting, you usually want to close the BRF file without saving, so to discard all the small animations you created
(or just delete them).
(or, you can also combine them back, after, say, exporting, editing and re-importing a few of them, so to get a modified "anim_human"... but maybe not the best option. Simpler to just make your customized game animations use new brf animations).




Just a digression:

Skipping frames (if no bone coordinates changed) is ok, but repeating frame ids with different values? Hum...

I think in SMD default bone values, i.e. the ones used for skipped frames, are not same same values as last defined frames, but interpolated values between the last and the next defined frames.

 

[Stefano]

I think in SMD default bone values, i.e. the ones used for skipped frames, are not same same values as last defined frames, but interpolated values between the last and the next defined frames.

That makes perfect sense! Thank you. I guess it also explains why animations on the editors (yours and Thor's) look choppy if compared to the in-game result. Only the keyframes are being used!

I think that problem will arise only for the few very big "all-in-one" animations of vanilla (like "anim_human"). You seldom need to export them. You rather need to "split the animation with action.txt"

Holy crap, that's awesome! You can split the main animation file frames into named chunks and recombine them back as you please.
It's been a while and I had completely forgot about the "action.txt" file. That context menu option didn't make much sense until you wrote "split the animation with action.txt". Heh.

Anyway, the "bug" I have mentioned is indeed of little relevance. Once I've used the right tools everything worked fine, so thanks for the elucidations.

I'm discovering more and more stuff as I write.
Great tool, mtarini! Awesome work.