Clutter problems

[Koniption]

That's a neat idea, about the candle burning down to a puddle of wax over time, and having to be replaced every so often.

I've never tried to animate objects that had flamenodes in them, so I don't know if the game engine or CS would freak out over something like that. It might very well work.

I'd skin the candle wax mesh to a bone, that animates downwards slowly over a period of several hours.... Or maybe just have several animations set up within the nif, that animate to different "candle wax height levels" instantly, to mimic the melting of the candle (with this one, the player might notice the sudden "shortening" of the candle if they are watching, but this might be minor thing). The flamenode would have to be under the same bone/node that the candle wax mesh is skinned to, so that the flame also moves down in sync.

As far as making two different versions of candles, one lit an one unlit...I wonder what happens if the flamenode is simply scaled all the way to zero via animation in the same nif? Does this cause the flame and also the lighting effects to disappear?

Those are just questions I haven't answered for myself yet. So I look forward to what you try and what you find out.

Koniption

[Phaerus]

I'm not planning to animate it. Although I agree with you that it would be the best way, it will be rather complex at this point. The second best option is to split the candle in the five stages (like bethesda did) or more: Candle01, 02, 03, 04 and the puddle. A script could then use a counter and replace candleholder01 by candleholder02 after a period of time. The candleholder02 is replaced by candleholder03 the same way, etc, all the way until the candle is burnt away and the player has to equip a new Candleholder01 from his inventory. The way to do this would be by having the script add and remove versions of the candleholder from the inventory and force-equip them if the player has his candleholder equipped. Of course, that would be visible for the player and not go as neat as an animation. But my experience with animated objects is very limited. I only did the churchbell animation, but I'm not sure if it works in game.

[Koniption]

Originally posted by Phaerus
I'm not planning to animate it. Although I agree with you that it would be the best way, it will be rather complex at this point. The second best option is to split the candle in the five stages (like bethesda did) or more: Candle01, 02, 03, 04 and the puddle. A script could then use a counter and replace candleholder01 by candleholder02 after a period of time. The candleholder02 is replaced by candleholder03 the same way, etc, all the way until the candle is burnt away and the player has to equip a new Candleholder01 from his inventory. The way to do this would be by having the script add and remove versions of the candleholder from the inventory and force-equip them if the player has his candleholder equipped. Of course, that would be visible for the player and not go as neat as an animation. But my experience with animated objects is very limited. I only did the churchbell animation, but I'm not sure if it works in game.

I have a decent amount of experience with animations in Oblivion, tbh. I'm still learning Blender, but I'm getting better with it.

Eventually, I can try to skin and animate a candle such as what you were describing, so it melts down slowly.

Koniption

[Phaerus]

Last night I decided I will try to do it by myself first. It may not be as difficult as I first imagined. Most difficult will be to eventually let the candle die and have the flame disappear in an animation. However, perhaps for that last step the scripted solution I described above could be used instead. at the end of the animation the candle would then have the same height and shape as the puddle and all of a sudden be replaced by a new object, the candle holder with only an extinguised puddle. The player would only notice the disappearing of the flame and light and would not see the candle's shape alter. So it would be very realistic.