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Gmax - Bones and LODs

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gadgets

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Now that I've finally got my custom animated jetways working, I would like to add a couple of levels of LODs. I've scoured the forums and the Gmax Bible looking for info but haven't found anything.

Can LODs be added to bones structures? If so, any pointers on methodology or to information would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Don
 
I may have misremembered, but I don't believe they can, Don. :(
 
Thanks, Bill. That would explain why I haven't been able to find anything on the topic. (The naming of the root element in Adrian's video suggested LODs are possible, but that may just be a standard naming convention.)

Best regards,
Don
 
Well, I did imply that I could be wrong... ;)

While "bones" can be Linked to a hierarchy, the Skinned Mesh texture objects cannot be Linked to anything. They must remain at the root level.

So, possibly one could use LODs for the "bones" as long as the Skinned Mesh texture objects are left at the root level.

It's certainly worth trying at least!
 
Hi,

I think it is possible to have lower level LODs with the bones, so that you see a simple version at a distance (without animations).

If you can have a different animation in another LOD I am not sure. I never tried that.
 
I think it is possible to have lower level LODs with the bones, so that you see a simple version at a distance (without animations).
Click to expand...
I thought about that, Arno. The problem is that the lower LOD versions would be in the normal "home" position. As you move through the first LOD transition, going away, if an aircraft is parked in the associated parking spot, the jetway would jump to the home position when the animated version is replaced by the fixed version - which may be distracting. When moving towards the terminal, I suspect nothing would happen at occupied parking spaces since, for AI, the animation of the jetway presumably is triggered by the aircraft arriving in the parking spot which would have happened earlier.

I'm going to let somone else discover whether or not multi-lod animations work, since animation of a lower-LOD version is just as much work as the original. (The jetway does not show unless all three handles are specified, and these handles - presumably - must be connected to bones - bones that would not otherwise be necessary at lower LODs.)

With three LODs, my 4 jetways suddenly become 12. And, the animation process is very tedious. There are other things I'd rather do. (But, if I have second-thoughts, I'll report the rsults here.:o

Don
 
Yeah ... I'd perhaps just go for a single LOD for performance ... to drop the skinned animation out at a distance that they can't be discerned LOD_003 or similar, perhaps.

I doubt you'd get much performance benefit from multiple levels skinned animations.
 
gadgets said:
Now that I've finally got my custom animated jetways working, I would like to add a couple of levels of LODs. I've scoured the forums and the Gmax Bible looking for info but haven't found anything.

Can LODs be added to bones structures? If so, any pointers on methodology or to information would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Don
Click to expand...
Hi!
How did you get the custom jetway animation going on?
I am looking for a tutorial to be able to do this in GMAX.
Do you have a place I can look for information?
Thanks in advance.
Teo
 
Teo, it's been a long while since I developed that jetway. My primary reference was a video tutorial by Adrian (former MS ACES developer) specifically for creating animated jetways. I don't recall, however, where I found it. Perhaps if you search the forum you'll find it, or maybe someone else will give you better directions.

Don
 
Hi Don,
I have the same problem with my animated jetway. I put static one as a lowest LOD and it does help with fps.
Have you ever tried bone-skin animation in lower LOD? I think it should work as well but I still haven't tried that yet.
 
I haven't done any major airport development for several years. Those jetways are the only bones animation I have attempted and my memory is rather vague on the details. They are single LOD.

I followed Adrian's tutorial as best I could. Even so, I recall I had to do a lot of testing/tweaking to get things to work - which I finally did and haven't "touched" anything since.

Don
 
Hi Don,
I have tested that, the LOD with bone and skin. It does not work. I think the reason for the program cannot export double set of Handles. There has to be another set of MainHandle, SecondaryHandle and WheelGroundLock for LODs. It does not show any warning while exporting. However in FSX the LODs is still bounce back to its original position.
Arno, can Bones links be under LODs?
 
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