[Plib-users] Fwd: now i can see the light!!!

[Horacio S. <Ry...@Me...>]

Well now i think i'm understandig how  animations are made.  thanks for the
links!!!!  now i understand that i don't need to make all those memory
hungry frames.

So i ask now about keyframe generation......  i wonder if the ASE file format
has keyfrme information.. I have actualy two simple ASE models and there is
always at the begining some FRAME information like:

*3DSMAX_ASCIIEXPORT 200
*COMMENT "cube.ase."
*COMMENT ""
*SCENE {
  *SCENE_FILENAME ""

**********************************************
** Here start the frame information ???  **
**********************************************

  *SCENE_FIRSTFRAME 0                                  
  *SCENE_LASTFRAME 100   
  *SCENE_FRAMESPEED 30   
  *SCENE_TICKSPERFRAME 160
**********************************************
** Here it end's   Can i use this????    **
**********************************************

  *SCENE_BACKGROUND_STATIC 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
  *SCENE_AMBIENT_STATIC 0.0431 0.0431 0.0431
}
*GEOMOBJECT {
  *NODE_NAME "Object01"
  *NODE_TM {
    *NODE_NAME "Object01"
    *INHERIT_POS 0 0 0
    *INHERIT_ROT 0 0 0
    *INHERIT_SCL 0 0 0



Another think about ASE file format, is that it divides the objects in NODES, i
think i can use this to create an SSG tree, but i dont know if the ASE format
stores hierarchical information, things like parents an childs  etc.......


Now touching again the camera subject, i was thinking to use rails to move the
camera. I mean, imagine and scene, let say a maze. In the maze there is an
invisible rail, like a train rail, so the camera can only be where this rail
line is. There will be an elastic, invisible rope betewn the camera and the
player, when the player moves, the camera will follow without getting away from
the rail line. 

This way the camera can't behave strangely in any situacion, then we can thing
in rails with multiple paths, so the camera randomly choses a path when the
player pass that way, and since the rails are predefined, thers no way the
camera can get out o focus, or get stuck in a wall etc.

But wait, thats not all............   i also have an special camera for
.special effects, for example the player performs and especial attack that has
some exellent animation, but with the rail system i will allways see the
animation from behaind the player, so each "action", has a camera rail
predefined, so when i perform the "action" the camera moves in that rail line
so the animation can be aprecciated. Have you seen those animes where the hero
performs the super attack and the camera rotates arround him, while performing
an amazing animation move with stunning music??? well thats the idea.

With the "action" cameras it's also possible to have  several predefined
rails , so a random path is chosen allowing a better gameplay. 


so...........  any comments???


note: excuse my english, it's not my native language. When i say rail lines i
refer to a predefined path that the camera it's limited to, like a train is
limited to the rail road. The motion is done by the player pulling the camera
with the flexible rope as a wagons is pulled by the train. I say flexible rope
because it must have some degree of freedom, say a MAX that determine how far
the camera can be from the player and a MIN that determine how close the camera
can be of the player.
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