Question Move person/atom from one location and back again on a loop like a catwalk

[buddyh_59]

Hi, Apologies if this has been asked before but i could not find the info

This is for an atom not the player themselves

What i want is for one person to walk in a straight line from one position, get to the location which is not far and then turn around and walk back to the location they started in and then repeat without any user input. So on map load they start and the person starts like on a catwalk.

How do i do this? Everything i have seen so far is on button triggers and a little confusing to me to be honest!

 

[TreyWilly]

Hi, I don't know if this will help, but as you probably know there are some built in animations in VAM. Unfortunately they do not work perfectly, for example, if you loop "walk forward, turn 180", you would think that the person would end up in the same place, but this is not the case and the person will eventually walk off in the distance. The only animation that works in a perfect loop without changing the position of the person (that I have found at least), is "catwalk walk turn 90" and "catwalk arc 90". If you loop this the person will walk in a perfect circle indefinitely and not change the place where she ends up. This would be the simplest way although you would have to build your scene around the animation (ie a circular stage). I have done a pretty good scene where the player will walk in a circle and go behind a wall panel, hit a trigger and change appearance, so another person comes out the other end. Of course there are other ways using animation patterns, etc. but from my understanding walking is pretty complicated in VAM. Hopefully someone can give a more detailed answer.

 

[atani]

Apart from a couple of payed plugins I saw around, which I never tested, this could be done with Animation patterns, Timeline, or mocap (motion capture).
Putting aside mocap, which may need special equipment and I've no idea how it is done, Timeline and Animation patterns can be done on your computer by hand but is not so easy to make that smooth natural walk motion you'd get from a mocap of someone walking.

I made a walking motion using animation patterns, and can be combined with another animation pattern to make a route. It's not a click here and it's done kind of thing, but no option is.
You can also make a walking animation with Timeline by making a walking loop and in a layer set the person's control as the route. Other ways in Timeline are doable too.

In the end it's not easy, you need to devote time learning how APs or Timeline works, but you can consider it a learning experience that will allow you to later make your own cool scenes.

 

[atani]

I went ahead and used my scene above together with Timeline to set a catwalk route. I'm attaching a catwalk example scene.
You possibly need my linked scene above too for a dependency.

This is a rough example, not very smooth, but works.

 

[atani]

You can ignore the above file. I updated my scene that I linked with 2 route making examples: using a animation pattern or with Timeline.

 

[buddyh_59]

Thank you all for the replies!

The Scene you made Atani is very helpful, will have a play around with the settings and see what i can make!

 

[atani]

Thank you all for the replies!

The Scene you made Atani is very helpful, will have a play around with the settings and see what i can make!

Also check out the Discussion area where ZRSX shares an alternative walking scene made only with Timeline.

 

[buddyh_59]

Also check out the Discussion area where ZRSX shares an alternative walking scene made only with Timeline.

I have only just touched on timeline with triggering speech bubbles but nothing like movement, eager to learn it though!

I played around with your scene and i understand how to do most it now except adding or changing the route!

I can find no setting within vam to add the route or even if i dragged your existing route to make a bigger circle the character does not update!
I am sure it is something simple i am over looking!

 

[atani]

To change the route made with a Animation Pattern, you just need to move the red circled cogs in the image I share:

If you want to change the route made in Timeline, go to Timeline > Route animation and on the control keyframe you want move it somewhere else.
Keep in mind that the cog things above is for the Animation Pattern route and so you need to press "Walk with AP" to use it, likewise the Timeline button for the changed Timeline route.

If you're very new at this and don't know how you see those green items, press T on your keyboard or the Toggle Targets button in the bottom left bar.

 

[buddyh_59]

To change the route made with a Animation Pattern, you just need to move the red circled cogs in the image I share:

View attachment 95381

If you want to change the route made in Timeline, go to Timeline > Route animation and on the control keyframe you want move it somewhere else.
Keep in mind that the cog things above is for the Animation Pattern route and so you need to press "Walk with AP" to use it, likewise the Timeline button for the changed Timeline route.

If you're very new at this and don't know how you see those green items, press T on your keyboard or the Toggle Targets button in the bottom left bar.

Thank you very much!