Furniture and animations, How they work Options

[ghastley]

I'm at the point in The Diablo mod where I need to put Greta in a Pillory where she can be rescued. I can't use the shackles for this as they go against a wall, and her developing wings are either hidden, or clip through the wall behind her. Fortunately, the work has already been done, and I just have to extract the one piece from a huge animation resource pack.

The method of creating new furniture items, and connecting up the entry/loop/exit animations is a topic that's worth documenting, as I haven't found a decent one anywhere else. This thread will hold my notes as I find out all about it.

The "sit" animation isn't a standard one, so a mod using it will need FNIS to install the extra behaviour data and animations. At least that's become a standard, and users are fairly familiar with the process.

I may also include Idle Markers, which work in a similar fashion, but without a static item, and explain how Animation Objects work. These are items that appear only when the animation is performed, such as musical instruments, or the broom. Lots of things will be common between all these.

[ghastley]

Animated objects are yet another topic. Some things are animated so that they're in motion on their own, such as swaying trees, or windmills. Others are activators that are triggered by the player (or NPC's) and then do something, such as levers. And then, of course, the activator may trigger another object.

And there are so many hybrids that have multiple aspects. A Grindwheel is furniture, with an animation for the player to perform when it's used, and it also triggers the tempering process dialog.

I'll just be confining myself to the "player uses this, which forces an animation (or sequence of them)" case. Idle markers are invisible, and furniture is visible, but they are otherwise similar.

An "Animation Object" is not one of these, but it's used as part of the animation, like a broom in the sweeping animation. It's not placed in the world, and only appears when the animation starts. And they get used together. The sitting idles often include a mug, or piece of bread, as an animation object, while the chair is the furniture that triggers that animation.

The other thing that's not well-documented is how the placed NPC is connected to the furniture they use. A shackled prisoner is associated with their shackles in the CK, to force the usage as soon as they're loaded.