Are the models going to be "twitchy"

[aeroripper]

I was playing CS:S tonight and i noticed that the hostages "twitch" and their animations or something overlap really bad when i bring them onto unlevel terrain

If i remember they kind of had this problem in the eli's lab video and even the g-man in his introductionary speech (the robot like quick reflex movement)

I wonder how this will be in Hl2... i suppose we're not quite at the point where they will have completely smoothed out animations... or is it just the "moving my leg down onto unlevel terrain" would take a lot of animation, and then doing this with the rest of the body...

ANybody else know what i mean?

 

[Chiefi]

I know what you mean, but i have no clue how it's going to be in hl2.

 

[Ady]

I think that is just a ping/lag issue with cs:s

 

[Ownzed]

I'm not sure how it's going to be in HL2.

 

[aeroripper]

I suppose it works great if the hostages are really holograms :-P

I think that is just a ping/lag issue with cs:s

I created my own server with just me on it and had the same problem... unless its just in the multiplayer code...


Also does anybody know what this "valve's model blending technology" is all about? I think they had it in Hl1 but i don't know what it does

 

[fez]

its called motion blending. they blend 2 animations together to create a more realistic hybrid. it stops models from quickly switchin between 2 different animations which looks stupid

 

[Kazuki_Fuse]

what was the name for that technology again? It was meant to be one of the selling points for TF2 when that was on HL1 tech. Parametric animation? Doe that sound right?

 

[frances_farmer]

sounds right to me

 

[Spiffae]

it's a pretty amazing system they've got in there now. maybe not for the hostages, but if you remember CS before 1.0, the model could only display one animation at a time. Your model was either running, standing still, shooting, jumping, or throwing, but not any of those at the same time. Watch a character in CS:S now, and the feet are always moving correctly while the head looks in the proper direction and the hands never mess up. that's the animation blending, and who knows why it isn't used for the hostages.

let me quote PC Gamer UK.

...there are reams of dialogue in Half-Life 2. It is spoken by bewilderingly talented actors and animated with almost magical precision. Alyx, Eli, Barney and Dr. Kleiner are delightful to behold, but they only tell part of the story. There are dozens of other characters, each with their own role to play. And each one is a wondrous creature. They might be blemished, even scarred, with baggy eyes and greasy hair, but you can’t tear your eyes away. People, aliens and even crows have never seemed quite so convincing in a videogame. Doom 3’s lavish monsters are more impressive, but Half-Life 2’s denizens are imbued with life.

in other words, don't worry.

 

[zul]

I think what you're referring to is interpolation, or the blending between animations to create smooth movement. I believe in the original Bink videos they didnt have it set up yet, but i hope it is used in retail HL2, it makes things look much better IMO.

 

[bliink]

How about the screw-up where the hostages play an idle animation that should last 2-3 seconds in about .5 seconds?

 

[Duracell]

The same issue was in the E3 (2004) video. the bit with Mossman, Eli and Alyx in the underground (? It was at the bottom of a lift anyway) lab, it was rather clear when Mossman's animations finished and a new one started because she jumped about all over the place. Maybe it was another 'video playback error' with demo recording.