Simpose-ium: Operation: The "Character" Page

 

 

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.

Characters visible + control

The program can display up to four characters: Sim1 to Sim4, with the user controlling which of them is displayed and which is being manipulated.

The drop-list controls what is displayed: all four Sims, Sims 1 to 3, Sims 1 and 2 together or just Sim1 or Sim2. If two are to be displayed, there are options of having them appear at the same physical position, or at an offset (in effect on adjacent floor tiles), or facing each other (this is for paired animations from the game, e.g. hugger and huggee). Basically I don’t know how the animations for character interaction are programmed (is the space between the characters part of the animation, or because they are on different tiles?) so I've given the program both options for the moment.

The second drop-list selects the Sim to be controlled. If only one Sim is being displayed, then obviously only that Sim can be controlled. Note that the different Sims may have different background colours, see the Camera/Lights controls.

 

Character

The top drop-list lets you select the age and gender of the character controlled

The two drop-lists to the right of the age/gender selector cause the body and head drop-lists to be filtered - for skin tone and body size. If filtering is on (the checkbox is ticked), the lists are also filtered so head/body textures will only be offered that match the currently selected mesh. So for example, selecting body mesh "xskin-b005mafit…" will only offer body textures starting "b005…". If you are not offered a mesh or texture you believe should exist, try clearing the checkbox to make the lists unfiltered.

The next two drop-lists select the required body type and texture.

The last two drop-lists select the required head and texture.

 

Joint Control

The drop-list selects the joint to be modified. The names are fairly self explanatory - but note that not all models have all joints - so some selections may not do anything. Since version 1, I've added the controls for the ROOT and PELVIS. These can have both rotations and translations (i.e. movements in space). You'll see that pretty much the same effects can be achieved with changes to the ROOT and PELVIS. My guess is that the ROOT is used to control the position of the Sim in space (e.g. when walking, the ROOT translation controls how far across a floor tile the Sim has moved), whilst the PELVIS is used to control the position of the Sim relative to objects (e.g. when the Sim sits down, the PELVIS is translated downwards).

Since version 7.0 the joint list also includes WORLD ROTATE and WORLD TRANSLATE. These help move all the displayed Sims against a bitmap background (the normal camera controls are always centered left - right). These values are not saved in a pose.

The three sliders set the position of the selected joint in the three axes.

The radio buttons select the degree of control the sliders have: Course -180 to +180 degrees, Medium -45 to +45, Fine -10 to +10.

Whenever the radio button selection is changed, or a new joint selected, the sliders return to the mid-position. The sliders give control around the currently set position (i.e. they are not an absolute position - try it you'll soon see what I mean).

The Undo button undoes changes made to the currently selected joint (then the joint before that etc.)

 

Animation Time

If a keyframe animation is being displayed by the controlled Sim, a drop-list is provided of all the poses that can be adjusted (indicated by time). The user selects the time for the pose to be adjusted and then the Joint Controls adjust the pose at that point in the animation. The influence of the change (from a minimum at the previous keyframe to a maximum at the selected frame, and then a reduction again to a minimum at the next keyframe) is illustrated by the background fading from normal colour to 'selected' colour.

If a CFP animation has been loaded or created, the animation time control consists of three sliders. The middle slider selects the frame to be edited (from the first to last frame of the animation). The 'Pre' slider controls the scope of the effect before the selected frame (from the first frame of the animation to the selected frame), whilst the 'Post' slider controls the scope of the effect after the selected frame. Again, the scope of the change is illustrated by the background fading from normal colour to 'selected' colour.