Step 2 - Drop in your Model:   Drag/Drop from Asset Library "Media->Models->Demo Assets->Models->Lizardman.mesh" into the scene.

 

Step 3 - Select World Node: Now Select the World Node from World Explorer (for this example, it's "Tech Demos").

 

Step 4 - View Global KeyMap: Switch to Object Editor, select the "Key Map" sub-tab (at bottom). Check out all the key maps that are defined. You can change them here.

 

Step 5 - Try Changing a KeyMap: Open the "Move Forward" KeyMap and see the keys mapped to it. To change the key, just click on the area labled "W[DownUp]" and then press a new Key! Try "Q" instead. (Note: Don't try "E" because there is conflict with another existing keymap, but 'Q' is open.)

 

Step 6 - Notice Avatar KeyMaps: Check out Key Maps for events that pertain to a typical User Controlled Avatar, like the Lizardman.

 

Step 7 - Set Focus on LizardMan Model Skeletal Animations: Click on the Lizardman in the scene and it should become focused by the Object Editor. Now in Object Editor Select the "Model" sub-tab at bottom, and open up the "Model" category and then the Skeleton reference and it's Animations as shown here. Notice the Animation associated with the "run" animation. 

 

Step 8 - Edit the MoveForward/Run Animation: Open up the 4th animation in the list, labeled as "Move Forward:run" and check out the contents.   The "Default Event Name" is set to "MoveForward", and this is what causes the KeyMap for this Event to trigger this Animation when the actor is focused. If this string name does not match up to the Event Name exactly, the animation will not be triggered. Here you can also configure the Acceleration to be associated with this animation to make the Lizardman actually "move forward".

 

Step 9 - Try it out!: Double-click your Lizardman now, and press "W" to make him "MoveForward" ("run"). If you adjust the acceleration in the Object Editor for this animation, you can make him move faster or slower.

 

Again, I feel the need to say that this tutorial does NOT represent the way Visual3D.NET will be used to configure real game animations, as real game animations are tied to much higher level composite events, controlled by a state machine and transitional logic (this is all on it's way!).

From this tutorial, you can become familiar with the concept of Global KeyMaps and how you can configure the User Inputs to trigger User Controlled Events.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and I look forward to bringing you more of these.

 

-Brian Knox (aka: "najak"), CTO Realmware

 

PS: Sorry for the sloppy screenshot annotations. My new PC doesn't have Snag-it installed yet. I used Vista's built-in "Snippet" tool which is not-so-elegant.

 

This is a preview of the default key mapper that will be supplied for free with Visual3D.NET for use in your games (although you might want to have your team customize it for your game's look and feel).

Open Tech Demos, then go to Robot War scene. Then press F7 to bring up the Key Map Console. Here you can modify some of your Global Key Maps (only some are shown here now). You can map your MoveForward key to "Q" here too. Try it!