More about .x animated meshes from Blender to Irrlicht...

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More about .x animated meshes from Blender to Irrlicht...

Post by Guest »

Hi all. Again, I've done some more "research" stuff on exported .x animated meshes from Blender and here's what I've discovered for all of you who also work with Blender.

I read somewhere in some forums that BAKING the actions (=the animations) in Blender, which means inserting a key pose in every frame of the animation, made the exported .x file too heavy to manage on a graphic engine, less efficient or something like that.

Well, I've made a test: I modelled a simple mesh, added a simple armature and a simple animation including just a few key poses. Then I exported it all into a .x file. Then, I baked the animation, filling it with key poses, and exported it into another .x file.

Results? Both files were exactly the same, so baking actions won't make "heavier" meshes to manage in Irrlicht.
Nextor
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Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 9:06 am
Location: Madrid, SPAIN

Post by Nextor »

Just another post to identify myself on the last post: Nextor. Don't know why sometimes this board "loses" my login...
Get away from her, you B*TCH !!! - Ellen Ripley
krama757
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Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2005 12:07 am

Post by krama757 »

Interesting...so the larger file size isnt a detriment?
Electron
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Location: Massachusetts USA

Post by Electron »

I think the only thing that baking the action to the IPO curve does is alows one to play the animation in blender. I'm not positive tho, blender always confuses me.
You do a lot of programming? Really? I try to get some in, but the debugging keeps me pretty busy.

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Nextor
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 9:06 am
Location: Madrid, SPAIN

Post by Nextor »

Hi there. I have to make a little correction. I did the same test on a more complex mesh with a more complex animation and both .x files (the one with baked actions and the other without baking them) weren't exactly the same: when baking actions, Blender rounds numbers and therefore adding slight variations on the animations, and then, on the mesh deformations.

But, even so, the amount of data it's the same on both cases (baking and no-baking) and, in efficiency terms, there's no difference when loading either of them on Irrlicht.

krama757: Well, the thing is that the .x file size is the same when either baking or no-baking. I guess size IS a detriment, but it depends on other factors as number of vertexes, animation length, etc...

Electron: Yes. According to Blender Docs, baking is mandatory when using actions with constraints in the Blender game engine.
Get away from her, you B*TCH !!! - Ellen Ripley
krama757
Posts: 451
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2005 12:07 am

Post by krama757 »

Interesting...thanks.
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