I just wanted to share this code I came with while playing with ent_blendpose.

I know blendpose is slower than ent_blend, but we are talking about just a few frames, and I think there are other advantages.

What I like in this is that the animation that is blending-in starts animating right away (no wait for the blend to end), and that the code ended up ridiculously simple. (To tell the truth I had no idea it would end this way when I started coding)

Be aware that this is not ready-to-use. It doesn't include the functions for setting up strings and animations, or entity physics - I just provide it as a general idea of using ent_blendpose.

Code:

---

Function mAnim_Animate_Actor()
{
		
	mAnim_initSceneStrings(); //setup animation strings
	
	var base_scene = 1;
	var base_scene_old = 1;
	var base_mode = 0; //cyclic, one time, one time no blend
	var base_cycle = 0;
	
	var base_anim = 0;
	var base_anim_old = 0;
	
	var blending = 0;
	
	
	//loop while actor exists
	while (me)
	{
		//set animation state
		if (my._mActor_movestate == STATE_NONE)
		{
			//no animation
			wait(1);
			continue;
		} 
	
		//Get Base scene and parameters
		mAnim_setBaseAnim(); //will determine the scene and other global vars below
		base_scene = mAnim_temp_basescene;
		base_mode = mAnim_temp_basemode;
		
		base_cycle = mAnim_temp_basecycle; //temp globals set by the function
		
		
		if (base_cycle == 0) 
		{
			base_cycle = 16; //to avoid possible errors
		}
		
		if (base_cycle < 0)
		{
			//time based animation
			my._mAnim_distance += time_step;
		}
		else
		{
			//distance based
			my._mAnim_distance += (my._mActor_distance); //add phisical distance to animation value
		}
		
		//At the end of a cycle
		if (my._mAnim_distance >= base_cycle)
		{
			if (base_mode != 0)
			{
				//Animation is Once-Only. Reset state
				my._mActor_movestate = STATE_MOVE;
				my._mActor_movestate_val = STATEVAL_FORWARD;
				my._mAnim_distance = 0;
				
				wait(1); 
				continue;  //go back to the loop //what happens to the upper scene?
			}
			
			//warp time or distance
			if (my._mAnim_distance > abs(base_cycle)) //why while?
			{
				my._mAnim_distance -= abs(base_cycle);
			}
		}
		
		//Warp if negative
		if (my._mAnim_distance < 0) 
		{
			my._mAnim_distance += abs(base_cycle);
		}
		
		
		if (base_cycle == 0) 
		{ 
			beep; //error
			base_cycle == 1;
		}
		
		//calculate a percentage for the time/dist
		base_anim = (100* my._mAnim_distance / abs(base_cycle));
		
		//NOTE: should prevent empty pointer errors here (from the "text" array)
		ent_animate(me,mAnim_scene_text.string[base_scene],base_anim,ANM_CYCLE *(base_mode ==0));
		

		//THE BLEND CODE

		if ( (base_scene != base_scene_old)  && ( blending <= 0) )
		{
			//set up a blend, only if not blending
			my.pose = 2;
			//store the old pose in pose 2 (only once)
			ent_animate(me,mAnim_scene_text.string[base_scene_old],base_anim_old, ANM_CYCLE);
			my.pose = 1;
			
			blending = 99;
		}
		
			
		//Execute the blend each cycle, backwards
		if (blending >0)
		{
			ent_blendpose(me,1,2,blending);
			blending -=50*time_step;
		}			
		
		
		if (blending <=0)
		{
			//end blend
			base_scene_old = base_scene;
			base_anim_old = base_anim;
		}

			
		wait(1); //wait (redraw) a frame
		
	} //end while (me)
	

}

---

Note that the Blend part of the function is about the 15 last lines.

|Emilio|

Nice code contribution eleroux !!
As you said, short and not complictated at all ^^
Btw, could you show a small video which shows us the blending code in action

Cheers

Frazzle

Better (hopefully...)

I uploaded a demo. If you don't mind the ugly level, models and animations, try it

Use the usual WSAD keys to walk around.

Z X and C will switch to Crawl, Walk and Run respectivelly.

SHIFT will RUN if current mode is WALK.

Please note that the blendspeed is set to SLOW (about 8 frames) , so I can look for bugs. It's intended to be faster (2 or 4 frames blend) just as any other blending code from the templates.

No jump or attack for now. (coming soon). Sorry that it's packed, but the rest of the code is confidential. The reason for this is that it's ugly and ordinary and I feel shame to show it away.

I just updated the demo link (the same above) and added new Jump and Fall animation states. However, I didn't make new animations so I am using Stand for jump and a slow Run for jump.

Also, when the character falls from a certain distance, it LANDS (another animation state). I am using the CRAWL animation scene for now.

I am very happy with the blending code: I can add as many animations as I want without having to worry anymore about specific blends.

The main reason I have to use ent_blendpose instead of ent_blend is that I will need to add Base animations and Upper Body animations, like attacking while running etc. This code allows a blend without worrying about the actual animation state of the character, nor the new scene(s) involved.

Emilio