Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 6-22.
The Gnome idle to Gnome travel transition, including the Preview window
The top section tells you what transition is showing. The next section lets you selectively disable
transitions during testing. The next section tells you what layer you are working in. Layers will allow
you to control parts of the character with totally different clips though the use of masks. If you were
to create a mask for the hinging part of the hat, for example, you could control it independently of
the rest of the body, even though in that clip the character does not have any other animations.
The next section is for the blending of the two clips as they transition from one to the other. Atomic
prevents the transition from being interrupted once started. The timeline shows the time overlap
where one animation is blended with another. This can be adjusted to suit your preference. With the
gnome, the transition is not very apparent. If you looked closely, you would see the switch going up
and the vibrating lessen as the gnome goes forward.
2.
Click Play in the Preview window to observe the transition.
The idle transition plays until it is 92% along, at which point it transitions fully into the travel state for
the remainder of its length.
The last section of the transition is where you set the conditions that trigger the transition. As a
default, it uses Exit Time, the length of the clip minus a percentage for the blending of the two clips.
3.
Click Play, and watch the gnome.
He idles until that clip ends, and then goes forward until that clip ends, and then idles again, etc.
Typically, one-off animations such as a jump—or for the gnome, the arming and disarming
animations—will use the exit time to automatically put them back to what the character was doing
when they were triggered. Looping animations such as idle, walk, run, and strafe are generally set to
trigger and un-trigger on a parameter change or speed change.