Custom Race animation help

[beardofsocrates]

Hey all!

 

I've been working on a race mod for a while, and I'm working on a tail through a custom skeleton set. I've tried a few methods, with limited results, but I can't make anything natural looking. I was seeing if anyone, more familiar with animation in nifskope, would be interested in helping out?

 

Thank you. :)

[montky]

@beard-of-Socrates (nice screen handle by the by)

that sounds interesting

 

when you say 'with limited results' - what does that mean? it's just static,

it no-clips through the critter, etc?

 

 

 

I am by no means a pro at FO4 mod fu,

nor nifskope,

though there was a while back a converter in Blender,

which converted animations in .gif format to the keying for nifskope skeletons,

and, a pluggin which allowed you to take other bone animations and transpose that data from

say your mkd motion captures, into various other formats.

 

you could paint the different bones in different colors,

and there was a toggle box when throughporting, which weights to keep?

 

curiously, the former seems to have disappeared...

 

My point?

that would be 'ideal' for making an animation based on a 1:1 ISO view of your character sketch.

make the animation until you feel that's plausible,

then, convert that telemetry into mkd or into nifskope animation data.

 

or, you could study footage of real-life beings with tails etc,

and make your tail function like that.

there is a lot of footage, such as NHK4 nature documentaries,

or BBC Attenborough things...

 

here's some questions;

what is the structure of the tail? how is mass distributed throughout the tail?

what is the tail made out of?

is it a bird, a lizard/reptile, or cat or some other kind of tail?

is it a synth reproduction of a tail? - nitinol/dichrome etc

is it a whale/dolphin tail?

is the tail 'variable geometry' at all? - like a puffer fish or a peacock, does the tail move or do things at all

 

once you understand those dynamics and physics,

that can be a guide to how to make that tail seem more believable,

and less like Nightcrawler or "Cat-in-a-Hat"

pin the tail on your critter hehe.

 

It can be difficult also in nifskope etc,

to prevent the tail or tentacle etc,

from no-clipping through the model...

I've had to try and model jellyfish,

and while I know their tendrils really do sometimes get caught and tangle themselves,

the initial computer simulation's rigging meant they always did hehe.

 

now in nifskope, you can 'lock' the distance to another offset from a known bone etc,

so that it can never collide, or will be a distance away from that vertebrae etc

 

 

[beardofsocrates]

@montky

 

It's a fox tail.

 

The current model is using added bones with a lag effect. This helps a lot with adding momentum while running forward or jumping, but any other action and it'll remain static. I'm Currently trying to find a sweet spot with the velocity and distance though I'm not optimistic about this.

 

I've tried adding cloth bones, with and without the added tail bones, but this seems to be a no-go, or perhaps I need to experiment with the weighing more. There is a sway while running and walking however the mesh deforms while crouching.