Because you ask...Gamespace 3D Buzz Video Training Tutorials

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

http://www.caligari.com/gamespace/tutorial/video_3DBuzz.asp

Hey guys, found these divx video tutorials availlable for dl @ caligari's site. There are 2 seperate tutorials covering: making a model, and rigging it for animation in gsl. I posted this one for TJ, and other modelers thinking about using gsl to model for the game. Sheck it out when you have time...BNG

Cool! The tutorials are showing me things i've never noticed before (been using gsl well over a year now)  like using the mirror tool to construct both sides of the model by doing all the work on one side and seeing the results being done by the software on the other side...very neat. It also shows how to load image sketches into the work space to help a modeler sculpt model 3d parts from 2d flat images. Just what non modelers need in terms of modeling helpers.

Once I go through all of the tutorials i'm ging to try to make an animated model to try out with my modified xsi variant files to see if animation is actually possible or if it turns out to be just another learning experience.

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

There are 19 divx video files, but they are sequential, and eventually make a complete character from stratch. It continues after the base model is made and moves on to rigging it for animitation. The video files are quite large, but I recommend getting them all and using them for educational reference.

PS: If i can get the animation thingy figured out with the hybrid xsi variant then making animations using gsl, xs2xsi, threed and winmerge would be possible. Don't really know 4 sure sure @ this point though...BNG. 

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

Guys, you have got to get these tutorials. I've been using gsl for quite some time now, and they are helping me to understand things way more about both gsl and ts3.2 that i never dreamed possible short of buying the full version of gamepsace. They show how to make a complete human character model from a single extruded cube all the way through to a full skeletonized model complete with bones, joints, and how to attach it to the character geometry allowing it to deform properly for animation. I'm still dl'ing the 19 divx files, but on a dialup it's taking forever, but it's worth the time as so little tutorials are available for the few gsl users out there.

Many of the topics covered are also useful for truespace as well. I've also learned that i've been modeling the hard way, and have begun to use the mirror model feature to construct models way more easily by editing the mirrored half and watching the changes occur simultanteously on the other have of the mirrored model...wow was i ever doing it the hard way.

I also am learning that using the material editor is basically a drag and drop on to the model type texturing tool. The tutorials also explain how to make a whole skeleton and edit the limits of things like bones and the joints that connect everything together. Attaching the skeleton to the model geometry is also covered beginning to end...BNG.

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

Doing animations in gsl appears to be very easy based on the video tutorial covering this topic. I also learned that skinning a model has absolutely nothing to do with texturing it.

Rather, skinning is all about attaching the geometry (objects) to the skeleton (bones) so that when the joints are moved they both move (deform) together forming the basis of making animations.

I've also learned that by default auto key frame recording is enabled in gsl so that when an object is manipulated in the work space that movement is automatically recorded by the key frame editor. Perhaps this is why there always seems to be an AnimationKey entry in my x saved files. The tutorial also hightlights using the scene editor to directly change animation parameters based on the xyz coordinate system. I'm learning a ton of stuff watching the video tutorials and only have a few more to dl...BNG.

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

Bummer! It looks like the Puppeteer module is not included with GS lite. The tutorials are still quite useful as they do cover rigging, skinning and animating the model just minus the Puppeteer specific topics. I've dl'ed them all and consider them a valuable learnig resource for anyone considering GSL as a viable 3d modeling application for making BZ2 models and props.

What I learned so far from the tutorials is that:

1. Mirror modeling is a very efficient alternative to modeling a single object from scratch as you can easily build symetrical models via the mirror tool in GSL.

2. Skeletal structures can easily be made using the build skelton tool by simply adding joints and leaf bones, and editing the xyz limits of the joints are easily manipulated to set their' degrees of movement on the skeletons you construct. The xyz joint limits can also be adjusted or limited by right clicking a joint opening the joint edit controls panel and selecting whether or not any or all of the xyz rotational controls are active or not. Only one axis is active by default when a skeleton is constructed initially in the build skeleton tool. The other 2 axis can be activated as described above in the same settings panel. 

3. Animations are easily doable with the keyframe editor as the first keyframe is auto recorded by default, and subsequent keyframes are added automatically as you make changes to the currently selected object in the 3d work space. New animation tracks can also be added easily in the scene editor (the first track is created automatically) by adding a new track in the scene editor, and making whatever changes to objects in the work space. The animation tracks can also be manipulated seperately between each other to make them work together as well. This makes things like walk, run, turn, and die animations sequences possible for BZ2. You could just add a new track for each of the desired animation cycles then rename them for the game engine, i.e., mymodel_idle, mymodel_walk, mymodel_turn, etc. However, I'm thinking the best way to get this done would be to saveas a seperate model file for each of the required animation files, and then edit each seperately to edit out what you don't need from the different files.

4. Forming child and sibling relationships is as easy as dragging and dropping object within the scene editor file structure, and is easily undone by ungluing the objects by right clicking an object in the scene editor.

5. Skinning (attaching) the skelton to the object geometry allowing the geometry to deform properly is easily done via the attach skin tool. Once attached together the skeleton and geometry deform as a unit when parts of the model are moved in the work space. The geometry deformations can easily be edit with the muscle and tendons tools to create some really cool muscular effects in the geometry sections of the model; way more then any pilot models used by BZ2 could ever use, but nice to know anyways.

6. Watching the tutorials have helped me to understand how things work in GS Lite, and uncovered some tools I would have never discovered otherwise.