The above image is from v8.0. From version 9.0 onwards the user defined camera and lighting preset controls are on a tabbed control that also displays the animation timeline.
Firstly, all animations that are to be displayed in this manner (cfp or key frame) must be stored in the ...\GameData\Animation folder or be in a searched game archive file. For cfp animations you need both the cmx file and the corresponding cfp files (the cmx file references one or more cfp's)
To illustrate how to get started, lets make Sim1 perform action A followed by B followed by C:-
- Go to the Sequencing tab on the control panel
- Make sure the Sim1 button at the top of the panel is checked
- Press +Child to get an unset node in the panel
- Select Action from the check box to turn the unset node into an Action
- Then select the required Action 'A' from the droplist that appears - this list contains all the actions available in the Animation folder, and if SimPose is displaying a keyframe or CFP animation, an <edit> choice
- With the same node selected (but now named for the selected action), press Add to get the next node in the sequence, and follow the same instructions as 4&5, to turn it into action 'B'
- Repeat again for 'C'
- If you press Run, the display will loop through A, B, C continuously
- Press Halt to return to normal SimPose-ium operation
If both Sims are to be controlled, when an action is defined, the animation for both Sims need to be defined. If the animation is set for Sim1 first, the choices for Sim2 are restricted to those that are of the same length. If the Sim2 animation is selected first, it can be of any length, but will be synchronised with the Sim1 action when the Sim1 action starts.
There are two loop constructors Loop*n and Loop random. Both of them are added as described above, but once added must be given child nodes (which be of any type - including other loops)
![]() | Loop*n has one parameter (n) and performs the loop body that number of time |
![]() | Loop random has two parameters, m and n, and will perform the body at least m times and a maximum of n times. Not that Loop 0..1 means that there is a 50% chance of the action being displayed |
There is also a Random node. This is similar to a loop node in that it must have children, but when it is executed it performs one of its child nodes (selected at random) and ignores the rest. If a Random node is included in a loop, the child selected will potentially be different each time the node is executed.