[ODE] integration with cal3d?

[jnilson_99 at yahoo.com]

jason,

sorry for taking so long to reply as i was on vacation
in florida this weekend.

"Well, I was thinking more along the lines of an
on/off switch.  So, you use cal3d and keyframes until
some swithc gets set and then it "replaces" the cal3d
model with an ode model and the body falls limp. "

i've read this entire thread and am scratching my head
a little bit.

you want to have a human character running for example
and then fall limp when hit in the "brain pan".

the answer is simple: use whatever tecnique you were
using to get the humanoid running realistically to
fall limp realistically. you're assuming running is
somehow different than falling limp. 

there is no difference between running or falling limp
or skipping or whatever when i comes to physics. all
these movements follow the same laws.

your problem is how do you define these movements. the
easiest way is buy character studio. many people on
this list would like to build the equivalent of the
max/character studio editor which after all has it's
own physics engine built into it to allow you to make
object move realistically. this is a noble effort, one
would learn a lot.

however if you want to ship a game or build a demo for
a job interview you won't have the time to take that
route. you don't want to re-invent the wheel.

3dsMax is not cheap, bundled with character studio
it's about $5,000. max out your credit card or get
someone to lend you the money or better still if
you're a student discreet will give a huge discout.

summing up here, cal3d doesn't allow you to model
human movement. it requires key frames to work. all
the makers of cal3d did (of this i'm about %99
certain) was use 3dstudioMax's Character Studio to
make the movement look realistic. cald could be looked
at as a way to import key frame information into a
game but little more than that.


good luck,

john


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes
http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus