Hi, I'm new to this IRRLICHT engine and I want to know if it can do what I need before I decide whether to use it or not. Basically, I would like to be able to control bone joint rotation in my own code, but have the engine do the skinning and load in the mesh, texture and skinning weights. I've noticed that it supports OBJ file format which is easy to export from Maya, but the format does not include skin weights. So in summery my two questions are:
1) How to get skinning information and skeleton from Maya (Without additional animation data, perhaps just bind pose)
2) How to control joints without using the IAnimation classes or interface with them so that the motion does not come from a md2 file. Because I want extra control, i.e, my own motion blending or joint controllers and collision and physical response, not just canned animation sequences.
Any suggestions on a good approach for either of these problems would be helpful. I like the look of the engine, it is light weight and fast. It is also the first engine that have looked at that has just compiled and worked without having to mess around installing other bits and bobs or messing around with compiler settings etc. It seems simple and robust as well, oh yes and of course free.
Skinning Without Animation Data and Maya Export
Don't worry I've worked it out.
1) use .x file format exported from Maya with DirectX plug-in (old sdk depreciated). Turn off animation option, still keeps skinning info and skeleton.
2) Turn on joint control with:
node->setJointMode(EJUOR_CONTROL);
Get a bone with:
scene::IBoneSceneNode* bone = node->getJointNode("Neck");
Set rotation angle with:
bone->setRotation(v);
Where v is some rotation vector with x, y and z rotation components.
Note: I'm answering my own question in case anyone else is looking to do the same thing!
1) use .x file format exported from Maya with DirectX plug-in (old sdk depreciated). Turn off animation option, still keeps skinning info and skeleton.
2) Turn on joint control with:
node->setJointMode(EJUOR_CONTROL);
Get a bone with:
scene::IBoneSceneNode* bone = node->getJointNode("Neck");
Set rotation angle with:
bone->setRotation(v);
Where v is some rotation vector with x, y and z rotation components.
Note: I'm answering my own question in case anyone else is looking to do the same thing!