I just finished the first presentable demo. It is just one character with a fixed animation for now, and the foot step placement doesn't yet attempt to avoid intersecting geometry, but as an appetizer of what is to come, it will do. Click the image below to view the demo.
The demo above is made from just one animation that was made for walking straight ahead on a plain surface. There are two primary techniques that were used here to make the animation look quite acceptable when the character walk up or down steps:
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The demo above is made from just one animation that was made for walking straight ahead on a plain surface. There are two primary techniques that were used here to make the animation look quite acceptable when the character walk up or down steps:
- The system maintains the original ankle local rotation while the foot is in the air, and only enforces a re-alignment of the foot while it is on the ground. While landing on the ground and while leaving the ground, a blending between these two modes of operation is used.
- The system keeps track on when to use the heel and when to use the toe as the point of reference relative to the ground. This is based on which one is closer to the ground at any given point in time.
- Blending between several animations.
- Support for walking on sloped surfaces.
- More sophisticated step length / step frequency mechanism.
- More intelligent foot placement mechanism that avoids ledges.