Is Irrlicht what I need?

sfkhooper · Post by **sfkhooper** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 1:59 am

Ok, this post comes with a groan & rolling of the eyes warning. Newbie alert!

near 20 years experience with VB, SQL and more recently VB/ASP.Net, plus intermediate experience with Flash.

I've recently created a couple of scientific simulations with Flash that display medical instruments and have basic interactivity for the end user, ie twiddling dials on the machines, observing output, etc.

Now a client wants to embark on a serious simulation wherein two humans interact with each other in different ways depending on user input, so lots of animation sequences that need to seamlessly stitch together.

I've been reading about Irrlicht, have downloaded the SDK and run up the demos, and it looks like it has great potential. Looking at Hello World, it seems to me that .MD2 files might be the way to go. It looks like they contain the animation sequences. I get the impression that sydney.md2 has several sequences in it and they are launched with a call to node->setMD2Animation(scene::<sequence>);. Is this correct? If so, how are sequences labeled?

Reading further it seems like 3ds Max is the best way to create these animations, which is great because I have access to that via my client's studio, and then use MilkShape to convert them to .MD2 files for Irrlicht. Is this correct?

So really I just want to get it right in my head with regard to the required toolset and the methodology to produce the desired result. The desired result, as an initial start, is to have a room with fairly simple walls (maybe an inactive window on one side and an inactive door on the other), a desk and chair, and two people. One is a doctor and one is a patient. The patient would randomly enact an animation that would present a series of symptoms. The user would use some method of input to launch the appropriate animation for the doctor.

So what I'm confused about is how to package the three elements of this project, ie the office and the two actors. Do they all get exist in one MD2 file or several?

Something that confuses me about Hello World is that we load up sydney.md2, but then apply a texture with sydney.bmp. Why is this necessary. Is it because sydney.md2 just contains a wireframe object that could have any "skin" applied over the top?

Also, is there a way to open .MD2 files to view/edit the animation sequence(s)

Ok, that's it, you can see I'm completely inexperienced in this area, so thoughts, comments and advice are all appreciated.

Lonesome Ducky · Post by **Lonesome Ducky** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 2:22 am

Irrlicht doesn't read textures for md2's. Now, it sounds like your animations will be rather dynamic. An md2 can only offer you the same animation over and over. But if you do skeletal animation and add on to the movements and actions in the program, it would be much more like a simulation. MD2 animations can be started with setMD2Animation, but it's more common for almost all animated mesh formats to use setFrameLoop.

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 3:19 pm

Yeah, better use skeletal animation with b3d, ms3d, or .x format. Most modelling tools will export one of those formats. You can also transition from one animation to the other. Animation mixing (calling several animations at the same time) is not supported in Irrlicht, though.