[CHAOS] PineTree model animation. ModelEditor viewer = crash!

[jssjr90]

- How does the 3 influences per vertex affect Amnesia? Also what does it do exactly?
- The only step I do not do is weight my model. And if I try to do for practice, lets say my tree model, when I am painting on the tree base bark area, the geometry would disappear.

Now I think I understand how to fully create an animated model in exact steps to take, just from the top of my head here are my steps that I know how to take with my own concerns for some steps. By this stage the model is already done with UV textured slapped onto it.

(Maya procedure for animation for Amnesia.)
1. Place Joints on your model. (Does each parent joint half to be 3 or less? Hence '3 influences per vertex'
2. Bind the joints to the model itself. (Smooth Bind)
3. Animate the model. (Do you half to bake the model after this step, and also needed for Amnesia to read it?)
4. Paint weights to the model. (Do I half to paint anything for it to work in-game if I skipped this step?)
5. Normalize the weights.

By this time the model is ready for importing into Amnesia. I think this is how it goes.

(Constructing the files needed for Amnesia to read)
1. Export All 'your_model' as a Maya ASCII file in your (entities/your-model folder)
2. Export All 'your_model' as a OpenCOLLADA file in your ^same area^
3. Export All 'your_animation_name' as another animation to be used in your (entities/your-model/animations folder)
4. Go to (entities/your-model/animations folder)
5. Rename 'your_animation_name.dae' to 'your_animation_name.dae_anim. (This is our animation file that we will add later)
6. Open 'ModelViewer' Load the model so HPL2 suit will create a collider around the mesh.
7. Open 'ModelEditor' Then import your model's mesh file it created when loading the model in ModelViewer.
Save it as a .ent file.
8. In the 'ModelEditor', Select Settings > User Defined Variables.
9. Change the Type to NPC. (This will allow us to call animations on the model though scripting in .hps files).
10. Navigate to: Select Settings > Animation.
11. Add the 1st animation. Then rename the animation name the same name as the .dae_anim file that you choose that contains a specific animation in your 'animations folder'. Repeat the process for other animations you wish to add.
12. With the ModelEditor still opened, save the file to your (entities/your-model)
13. Click on the gray gears to test the animation on that model.

CRASH!

Impotent notes:
- Now out of all these steps that I know what steps they must be taken in, the only step I did not take in was weighting the model.
- Also when I opened Edward model from Tenebris lake in Maya 2011. The character had circles around the model representing as joints. Come to think of it, all models have this in Maya 2011 from what ive seen so far.

So these are my main concerns at this moment in time. Any tips and hints how to find the main problem is most welcomed answering.


A. So are there any errors or steps that I missed from the list?
B. Does each parent joint half to be 3 or less? Hence '3 influences per vertex'
C. Animate the model. Do you half to bake the model after this step, and also needed for Amnesia to read it?
D. The style of joints I have on my model is different from the 'Edward' model from Tenebris Lake. Edward's seem to be more "rounded" around the geometry, not completely but just on a certain bone going around the ligaments body. I wonder if I would need his type of animation setup for mine to actually work.