Arma 3 Editor Tutorial - Animations 

Feuerex Hi I was hoping you could do video on how to lower the ramp on the lcvp landing craft from Iron Front mod or could give me some tips instead. Thank you for your time

I don't do mods, you're much better off asking in the comments/forums of the related mod, or on any related site.

this mod is on steam?

Gotcha. When using fnc_ambientAnim, add an optional parameter "ASIS" that keeps the AI's gear intact. example : [player, "STAND1", "ASIS"] call BIS_fnc_ambientAnim; example2 : [mySoldier, "REPAIR_VEH_KNEEL", "ASIS"] call BIS_fnc_ambientAnim;

my guess would be different versions of the mod. 3DEN enhanced went through ~70 modifications and updates since this video was made, it's very likely the animations menu was changed. My guess would be to keep compatibility with the base game - Arma itself went through tons of changes over the years as well. Don't ask me why Arma keeps making updates to its own code that aren't backwards compatible - I've lost hundreds of hours of work and a number of tutorials because they are no longer accurate, even though I made them years after the full release.

you are russian

As I know,he is Czech..

+Tomáš Benedikt oh sorry

@Feuerex and how can i activate it? Cause ive already use 3den Enhanced

@@westkuka1483 I retract my previous statement about it being impossible in vanilla game. It is possible with using get3DENSelected and using the debug console while in the editor. It's pretty janky and tedious, but possible. I still believe that 3DEN enhanced is the way to go because it handles that instead of the user. Or at least it used to at the time of recording this video - which was in 2016, maybe it has changed since then.

Using the drop down menu of Eden enhanced is using a function for ambient animations. This function has the ability to seek nearest objects and points that can be used to play said animation, so, for example, a sitting animation will look for chairs, tables or boulders nearby so the soldier can sit on them, and not just in mid-air. Eden enhanced uses this function in a drop down menu, which doesn't allow you to turn the snapping off. I don't personally use this mod, so I can't tell you of a way around it, but using the function in a script/trigger gives you somewhat more options (the function has an optional parameter snapToObject, where you can choose which object to snap to, instead of automatic search). It needs some basic scripting knowledge though, you need to know how to use those commands manually. You may also be interested in this thread on BIS forums, there seems to be a short discussion about this exact problem. forums.bistudio.com/topic/188312-3den-enhanced/?p=3015693

+Feuerex Awesome, and thanks for the fast reply I really appreciate it!

you're probably thinking of this? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_capture this is the method used to get realistic human movement, ideal for movies or scripted scenes in games. the more simple (and *WAY* cheaper) method of creating animations is en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_frame

Feuerex oh yes tbat right i mean 3D motion capture well anyway is possible to motion capture to make animation for arma 3 ? .

it's something the developers have done (img.ru-vid.comIMzS13O14tI/maxresdefault.jpg ), so I imagine it's more than possible. you'll probably need some tracking devices, cameras, and a good software in order to convert it all into an Arma animation. google is your best friend for this.

switchMove's effects are local, and need to be played on all PCs. See Killzone Kid's and Waffle SS.'s comments under the following page: community.bistudio.com/wiki/BIS_fnc_MP

I'm using playMove and they still don't work in MP.

Landon Stewart try “3den” or just use the link in the description

could you post the code you're using?

Sure! _unit = _this select 0; _animation = _this select 1; while {alive _unit} do { _unit switchMove _animation; waitUntil {animationState _unit != _animation}; }; At the script 0 = [s1, "Acts_HeliCargo_in"] execVM "script.sqf";

while {alive _unit} do {

You are awesome! Thank you very much. I appreciate the quick responce!

The problem of looping animations, code and possible problems are all included in the video, starting at around 11:30.

Feuerex Oh must have skipped that. Thanks man!

+Feuerex One more question tough. When making a AI sit. How do you make them sit on a chair and not trough it so it doesn't look all wonky.

You can either Attach the soldier to the chair, at that point you can precisely say where the soldier is (with precision of several mm) with AttachTo (mySoldier AttachTo [chair, [0,0,0]] and change the 0,0,0 to numbers that fit your chair) Or just use the ambient animations - sitting category, they automatically pick a nearby chair and position the soldier on it. Again, all these commands *are* in the video as well.

+Feuerex When I tried it with ambient animation I was actually surprised that it's going to pick the chair and it will attach the guy to it, pretty cool and it's making things easier. But i was doing that like couple of months ago.

The owner of the mod deleted it. that means you need to type in the animation code instead.

I'd probably look at the "Killed" eventHandler, spawn an ammo box and copy-paste the equipment there, surely someone has already made such a script before... how is it in any way related to using animations?

A 'loop' is based on evaluation of a condition. When the condition returns true, the code repeats, when it returns false, the code isn't executed. Change the condition in your loop so that it returns false at the end of your cutscene. You can also snap the player out of any animation with player switchmove ""; but that is only applicable once you stop looping all other animations.

Using the init field doesn't really work, as I believe is stated in the video. You have to use a trigger or a script.

You actually said it's "highly unreliable" to use it in init filed , i wasn't paying attention at all ,thanks for the answer !

You can exit out of nearly any animation by forcing the unit to play an empty animation. _unitName_ switchMove ""; Alternatively, you can find some basic standing animation and switchMove into that one. Such an animation is completed immediately, and AI can take care of the behavior from that point on. The ambientAnim function has ambientAnimCombat alternative, which takes enemies into account and forces units out of animations when they are under attack or they spot an enemy.

Feuerex thanks, I'll give that a try!

+ctctaylor5 I don't know if it's switchMove or PlayMove, one of them. I can confirm that you got the animation name correct, I used it myself when creating the thumbnail for this video, so you also have a proof that it works. As explained in the video, some anims only work with one command of the total three, this is such an animation, but it *does* work with one of them.

For technical problems with mods, it's better to visit any forum sites related to the mod, find any FAQ or contact the author directly, if possible. I can't really help you.

i have the same problem

Rubbellos Rubbellos solution make sure that the unit name matchs for ex. Name is player. Then the code would be , player playMove acts_kore_talking_over_radio(animation might not be spelled right) and the problem at most times is you have to switch between playmove PlayMoveNow switchmove. Alternate between then and you should find the right one.

This animation does nothing with PlayMove, but works perfectly with SwitchMove. player switchMove "acts_Kore_TalkingOverRadio_loop"; You have probably missed it in the video, I only mentioned it 3 times and then once again on the page with the code examples.

thanks

i dont know but Acts_PercMstpSlowWrflDnon_handup2c wont work with playMove and switchMove

Well, you certainly won't find much info about that problem in a video about animations. I don't know of any 100% guaranteed, easy and simple way, but I'd probably try MPRespawn eventHandler with selectLeader command. Upon respawning, (have player join the group if needed) make the player a leader of his former group, and bam, you're done. The code would need a couple checks to make sure there's still someone left alive in that group, and of course the pesky MP compatibility issues, to make sure the player and the group are both local to the PC calling the code. init.sqf or somewhere after mission start myGroup = group mySoldier; probably the soldier's init box? mySoldier addEventHandler ["Respawn",{(_this select 0) selectLeader myGroup}]; Writing this off the top of my head, no idea if such code would actually work, maybe yes, maybe not. Either way, what you want is to keep some pointer on the player's original group, and whenever player respawns, make him join the group back and use selectLeader to force him into leading position. I won't help you much past this point, I'm not a fan of multiplayer (and 4 months away from Arma don't help either), but you might get some idea from this. If you don't like coding, then idk maybe there's some other method, or someone over at bohemia interactive forums / armadev discord / armadev subreddit will be more willing to share a working code.

i do appreciate the help. honestly i typed Enhanced Eden for spawning as the leader still. ive found out that its a friendly fire thing. if you crash a heli it counts as friendly fire because of your tickets or some shit goes negative. anyways my fix now is look for a way to disable direct friendly fire for the group. or keep my tickets positive or always at 0 or something i dont know. and i do not know how to script so when you say init.sqf are you saying create a txt file and name it that with that code in the file? and then put file in the missions folder? do i have to type anything into the editor to execute the file?

I've just done a few minutes of google search, and well, it seems I was kinda close with my code bits in the previous post, only it doesn't need to be so complicated. Inserting this into the player's init box should suffice. this addEventHandler ["Respawn", { _unit = _this select 0; group _unit selectLeader _unit; }]; If you want to try other options available, see www.armaholic.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=31312

I can't know that, please provide what code you use, what animations, and what error you're getting

​@@Feuerex Thank you very much for replying! I use this as an example:bot1 switchMove "Acts_welcomeOnHUB01_AIWalk";sleep 3.000; bot1 switchMove ""; bot1 switchMove "Acts_welcomeOnHUB01_AIWalk_1"; sleep 5.998; bot1 switchMove ""; bot1 switchMove "Acts_welcomeOnHUB01_AIWalk_2"; etc... but the character just stands and doesnt move

@@jaroslavverner1613 and you place this into the unit's init field, I assume? Or inside a trigger? If yes, using "sleep" in such a way isn't allowed. You must either use a script, or do it like this: _0 = [] spawn {bot1 switchMove "Acts_welcomeOnHUB01_AIWalk";sleep 3.000; bot1 switchMove ""; bot1 switchMove "Acts_welcomeOnHUB01_AIWalk_1"; sleep 5.998; bot1 switchMove ""; bot1 switchMove "Acts_welcomeOnHUB01_AIWalk_2";}

@@Feuerex Thank you! so here is the funny thing no animations work in the triggers, I just used bot1 playMove "anim"; bot1 playMove "anim1"...2,3,4,6 in the init box and it is working lol not sure how. The only thing i havent been able to get to work is for instance using an animation like "GetInHelicopterCargoRf1" with a walking animation afterwards. It just skips the Get in animation and starts on the second one

@@Feuerex what you just shared actually worked! Animation transition is choppy but works!! I tried using these: "reaper switchMove "Acts_welcomeOnHUB02_PlayerWalk"; reaper switchMove ""; reaper switchMove "Acts_welcomeOnHUB02_PlayerWalk_1" On the trigger box but either nothing happens or it just does the first anim without completing the sequence.

Also if anybody replies can I get your opinion on what you think if I didn’t put sound files and just had the AI use text in side chat? I have no idea how to properly use voices

hey bro, never compare a single-creator piece of work to something that was created by atleast 100 people. A better campaign can be created if you are patient and diligent enough, there really isn't that much in terms of an arma 3 campaign to begin with, so just keep working at it and you'll get there eventually.

Basically the people i use the animate feature on reset their altitude or rotation.

Sounds to me like something about the animated soldier couldn't be properly saved into the 3DEN version of the mission. You might want to browse forums related to 3DEN enhanced or contact the author, vanilla Arma doesn't have this feature at all so I can't help you very much. You can always use the vanilla alternative, BIS_fnc_AmbientAnim, which can select a nearby chair automatically, or switchMove/playMove. If anyone else has a way to fix the issue, feel free to share.

there's an action called "useWeapon", which forces a weapon to shoot, even if the AI doesn't feel like shooting. Beware though, some animations have disabled the use of a weapon through config, and there's no way around it.

Your script is wrong. CSATsol1 switchmove "Acts_CrouchingFiringLeftRifle01"; sleep 1; WaitUntil {animationState CSATsol1 != "Acts_CrouchingFiringLeftRifle01"; };

still the same "Invalid number in expression" Meh i will try then sync to repeat when a scene is showing the soldier even just a lil bit But tnx anyway might work for some other animations

if any animation is properly added to the game, it will behave the same, yes. They will also appear in the animation viewer.

I'd probably start with investigating _why_ they are moving in the first place, it sounds unrelated to animations. Do they try to fall into formation? Do they follow a waypoint? Are they engaging enemies? Do you run mods changing AI behavior? Based on what you find, you can then focus on what needs to be changed to make them behave.

@@Feuerex I removed Alive mod but AI looks around and sometimes start walking away thanks for reply

I'm not aware of doing that or I don't understand the question, please provide me with a time-stamp of the moment you are talking about

Eden Enhanced got rid of the animation menu until the animations are fixed by BIS. See changelog for details. Use a legacy version of the mod (found on the BIS forums) or use a different method.

If you haven't worked with sqf scripts before, I can recommend you watching this tutorial on how to properly make one, where to place it and how to work with it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-O7Aj6fbf_L0.html

ok thanks

haha yea

Apparently the animations are coming back as soon as "BIS improves the necessary functions. That could be tomorrow, or never." I don't personally use this mod, but I've seen on the BIS forums that it is possible to manully download a legacy version of the mod with animations still included.

Can u give link? :D

thx!

what .. that sux.. whats the point in the mod then ? lol

If a soldier gets stuck in an animation (not uncommon, given how badly the animations are implemented), you can use an empty animation, or a default standing animation, to get them unstuck and able to follow commands again. soldier switchmove "";

Thank u very much

Did you download it from steam workshop or another site?

Yes, but you have to make sure the animation plays for all players. I'd probably choose BIS_fnc_MP.

How would you go about doing that? Could you make a tutorial on how to use static poses like those from whiplash in multiplayer servers?

Make sure to execute the animation on each client, but yeah they should work.

Can I add you on steam ?

Go ahead, although I'm not there very often these days.

Oh okay. I will just ask here then. Can I create a trigger to exec the animations on every client or I need to use the BIS_fnc_MP ? I am having trouble to understand bis_fnc_mp :/

Trigger might do the job, but it has its own problems and limitations, so BIS_fnc_mp or *remoteExec* would be a very good choice. If you aren't in a hurry, investing some time into reading about these and doing some testing in-game would be worth it, especially if you plan to continue creating MP missions. I don't have any tutorials for it and generally don't really care much about multiplayer related commands, but the rest of the internet has got you covered.

I used to ask him all the time the same thing. The simple answer is "Yes, no, maybe, nothing is certain to work on MP."

I don't understand how that's in any way related to animations. But looking past that, I spent a minute on google, and it seems like this was discussed plenty of times already. forums.bistudio.com/forums/topic/139665-zone-restriction/ forums.bistudio.com/forums/topic/58161-kill-player-outside-of-trigger/ steamcommunity.com/app/107410/discussions/18/135511655653404966/ steamcommunity.com/app/107410/discussions/0/135508662497565632/ forums.bistudio.com/forums/topic/185329-out-of-bounds-trigger-when-not-present/ www.reddit.com/r/arma/comments/3v96jr/help_on_zone_restriction_module_in_multiplayer/

uhh, sure. I don't know how to do that. I clicked on something, let me know if it helped.

okay. Let's see if you explain it xd From video manager/ edit. you will see an option called CC. Click on it. Now click in ADD NEW SUB and choose the option (English), that will make the video have subtitled AUTOMATIC, are not very good but help to later translate with youtube to Spanish jajajaj thanks

okay, sure. I haven't found the automatic machine translation option, but I added my own subtitles - the text I was reading when I was making the video. English subtitles should be available now. I've also enabled viewers to add their own translations to other languages (unlikely, but one never knows) I can send you the whole video script through email, if you want to translate it to any other language. It's 6 pages of text.

I'll try, but there are many lines of translation for my lol. singlop@gmail.com Thank you very much for activating the subtitles

For switchmove/playmove, use an empty animation to return to default state (mySoldier switchMove "";) For ambientAnim, it's a bit more tricky, you have to call a function BIS_fnc_ambientAnim__terminate (mySoldier call BIS_fnc_ambientAnim__terminate;) note the two underscore characters between ambientAnim and terminate. That should do the trick.

I'm still here, answering everything I know the answer to.

Feuerex Hey, sorry for the late reply. I have small mission setup with some animated units around a crash site, However the animations don't work on an actual multiplayer server. When testing in singleplayer, all the animations play. When testing ALONE in multiplayer they work, but if anyone is in the server some animations work and some don't and it seems random what works each restart

Animations used with switchMove have _local_ effects, so they are only played on the server, while playMove effects are _global_ and should play on all computers. You may need to make sure the command is executed on each client by using remoteExec or bis_fnc_mp. I'm not sure about the bis_fnc_ambientAnim right now, it may include some lines of code to make sure the animations are played properly in MP - if not, the same fix as above will be required.

Feuerex I will try that thank you!

+Feuerex I just cannot seem to get these animations to work on Multiplayer, Could you possibly do an animation tutorial specifically for Multiplayer. My animations still just seem to be random on which work and which don't.

Please, CAPSLOCK isn't necessary. The only mod, used for the first 1/4 of the video, is Eden Enhanced. steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=623475643 No other mods were used.