I've been working for a little while on creating a hero based off of the Murloc Marine model, simply as a way to familiarize myself with the Data Editor, and have run into two separate problems:
The first is the RaynorSnipe ability that I've been attempting to duplicate. Aside from the targeting range indicator, I haven't gotten any of the visuals functioning on my duplicated ability. Most importantly, I don't have a clue as to how to create the line that is supposed to follow your cursor and approximate the path of your ability's attack as you target the ability (as per the campaign Penetrator Round).
Secondly, since McGunty has no weapon attach point, his attack animation played incorrectly when I gave him a duped Guass Rifle. I was able to fix this problem by creating the marine attack animation as a model at the correct location every time he attacked, but I feel like there's a more efficient way to do this. Maybe by creating a site and associating it with his attack animation somehow? (I tried this, couldn't get it to work)
I'd hugely appreciate detailed instructions-preferably with an explanation of why the solution works-on either of those two problems. Thanks in advance! (=
For the rifle animation, I think there's an actor who do the ability's animation, so you must duplicate it too to have a working animation.
The easiest way I see for your murloc animation problem is to add attachment via blender or 3ds. You can always cheat with the editor, but the results will never be as beautiful.
Ooh! You CAN create custom attachment points in models? =D Are there any programs that you would recommend for use with a Mac?
For the animation, it turns out that I had duplicated the necessary files, but (a) had not created the appropriate RefSet event for my unit's actor and (b) had failed to notice that several of the attack's actors used the AttachWeapon Site Op. I got around this using SOpSoftAttachCenter and a local offset SOp, but, as you pointed out, it's not quite as beautiful as it could be.
So, the spell animation works nearly flawlessly now, but as I've looked at the stuff that I duplicated more closely, I've realized that there are still some parts that I don't fully understand.
I hate to answer a genuinely helpful solution with more questions, but could you answer a few questions as to how exactly the ability works?
What does Site Operation (Patch) do? It's being used to determine some aspect of the Big Blood Impact model, but I don't have a clue as to what.
What is the purpose of that Doodad Killer actor? I tried the original ability on a couple of different doodads, and they didn't seem particularly killed afterwards.
I don't feel like I really understand why the nifty snipe line splats works, and I'd like someone to correct any errors and fill in the gaps for me. As I understand it there is an invisible actor model that is created following your cursor whenever you activate RailgunSnipe. When it is created, a global (Why global? Would it be possible to do this in other ways?) reference is created for the model. Upon creation, the model also sends a message to the global reference already set up for your hero and orders it to create the model which is the actual splat for the attack. The model itself is affected by two site operations, SopBasicScopeFollow and SopRaynorForwardLaunchGuide. I presume that the first Site Op serves to make the splat follow the invisible actor that was first created in some respect, but I don't understand why this works, or what exactly is being done. I also presume that the second Site. Op serves to make the splat face in the same direction as the invisible model, but I again don't understand why this works, exactly. Specifically, What is the exact purpose of the Hosting: Host Forward + field? My guess is that it gives the actor that the SOp is used on the same 'forward' as the designated host (which would be the subject field, ::global.RaynorCommando), in which case I'm assuming that our invisible actor's facing is automatically determined simply because the actor'screating event's sub name is Cursor. I'm not at all sure about that, though. Finally, I'm assuming that the splat model follows your hero around as he moves simply because your hero is the actor that created it (using local rather than fixed coordinates is the default). Please, please, please correct me if I messed up anywhere in my understanding of how the editor worked. I'd hate to learn something incorrectly, and then be completely stumped on a problem later down the road simply because I had a false understanding if how the editor worked.
I've been working for a little while on creating a hero based off of the Murloc Marine model, simply as a way to familiarize myself with the Data Editor, and have run into two separate problems:
The first is the RaynorSnipe ability that I've been attempting to duplicate. Aside from the targeting range indicator, I haven't gotten any of the visuals functioning on my duplicated ability. Most importantly, I don't have a clue as to how to create the line that is supposed to follow your cursor and approximate the path of your ability's attack as you target the ability (as per the campaign Penetrator Round).
Secondly, since McGunty has no weapon attach point, his attack animation played incorrectly when I gave him a duped Guass Rifle. I was able to fix this problem by creating the marine attack animation as a model at the correct location every time he attacked, but I feel like there's a more efficient way to do this. Maybe by creating a site and associating it with his attack animation somehow? (I tried this, couldn't get it to work)
I'd hugely appreciate detailed instructions-preferably with an explanation of why the solution works-on either of those two problems. Thanks in advance! (=
Bump!
Although I'm starting to get an inkling as to how to solve this problem. If I find a solution on my own, I'll post it here. (=
For the rifle animation, I think there's an actor who do the ability's animation, so you must duplicate it too to have a working animation.
The easiest way I see for your murloc animation problem is to add attachment via blender or 3ds. You can always cheat with the editor, but the results will never be as beautiful.
Ooh! You CAN create custom attachment points in models? =D Are there any programs that you would recommend for use with a Mac?
For the animation, it turns out that I had duplicated the necessary files, but (a) had not created the appropriate RefSet event for my unit's actor and (b) had failed to notice that several of the attack's actors used the AttachWeapon Site Op. I got around this using SOpSoftAttachCenter and a local offset SOp, but, as you pointed out, it's not quite as beautiful as it could be.
So, the spell animation works nearly flawlessly now, but as I've looked at the stuff that I duplicated more closely, I've realized that there are still some parts that I don't fully understand.
I hate to answer a genuinely helpful solution with more questions, but could you answer a few questions as to how exactly the ability works?
What does Site Operation (Patch) do? It's being used to determine some aspect of the Big Blood Impact model, but I don't have a clue as to what.
What is the purpose of that Doodad Killer actor? I tried the original ability on a couple of different doodads, and they didn't seem particularly killed afterwards.
I don't feel like I really understand why the nifty snipe line splats works, and I'd like someone to correct any errors and fill in the gaps for me. As I understand it there is an invisible actor model that is created following your cursor whenever you activate RailgunSnipe. When it is created, a global (Why global? Would it be possible to do this in other ways?) reference is created for the model. Upon creation, the model also sends a message to the global reference already set up for your hero and orders it to create the model which is the actual splat for the attack. The model itself is affected by two site operations, SopBasicScopeFollow and SopRaynorForwardLaunchGuide. I presume that the first Site Op serves to make the splat follow the invisible actor that was first created in some respect, but I don't understand why this works, or what exactly is being done. I also presume that the second Site. Op serves to make the splat face in the same direction as the invisible model, but I again don't understand why this works, exactly. Specifically, What is the exact purpose of the Hosting: Host Forward + field? My guess is that it gives the actor that the SOp is used on the same 'forward' as the designated host (which would be the subject field, ::global.RaynorCommando), in which case I'm assuming that our invisible actor's facing is automatically determined simply because the actor'screating event's sub name is Cursor. I'm not at all sure about that, though. Finally, I'm assuming that the splat model follows your hero around as he moves simply because your hero is the actor that created it (using local rather than fixed coordinates is the default). Please, please, please correct me if I messed up anywhere in my understanding of how the editor worked. I'd hate to learn something incorrectly, and then be completely stumped on a problem later down the road simply because I had a false understanding if how the editor worked.
Cheers!
Oh boy your on a long road