Kwama Worker

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I like the bull idea. I'd make him a bit cumbersome too. He's quite wide so he's likely to 'waddle' a fair bit...a big, dumb nasty boy, basically.

[nick_op]

Originally posted by Ibsen's Ghost
I like the bull idea. I'd make him a bit cumbersome too. He's quite wide so he's likely to 'waddle' a fair bit...a big, dumb nasty boy, basically.

I think they had a fairly 'waddling' gait in Morrowind - I can't quite describe how they moved but I have an idea in my head.

I always saw the Kwama as being a fairly intelligent race of creatures - they had a very specific social structure, which defined who did what and who would fight against intruders.

So I was thinking that the bullish behaviour would only be in combat - these guys are going to be docile most of the time, so we're going to have to think of a more gentle personality to combine with the bullish behaviour. Any suggestions for real world creatures I should look at?

[Koniption]

What about it scratching its back or side against a tree or stone outcropping like a bear or rhino does sometimes to cure an itch?

I don't know how the creature would effectively target a tree or stone, except via script and maybe using XMarkers (???) or other collision-type objects around certain trees and stones near the spawn point for the creature to seek out, position himself near, then play the specialIdle_Scratch animation. I wouldn't know how to script this though...but i know it is possible. After all, that NPC With Jobs mod have male cows that seek out and position themselves behind and up on female cows for.....yeah, you get the picture.

Koniption

[nick_op]

I quite like that idea, but remember that the vast majority of the workers will be in cave systems, and they will be 'working' (though I have no idea what that entails for a kwama worker).

There will be the occasional worker stood outside the mines, I'd guess, like in Morrowind, but they would mostly be an indicator that the indistinct cave entrance leads to a kwama mine.

I might adapt the idea a little though, perhaps the ones that are stood outside could stretch and rear up on their hind legs?

Also, if you're interested Koniption, I'll send over the rig I've got setup once it's finished. I'm quite satisfied with how the IK setup has turned out so far, I just need to figure out the best way of keeping the front legs attached to the body.

[Gez]

Originally posted by nick_op
I quite like that idea, but remember that the vast majority of the workers will be in cave systems, and they will be 'working' (though I have no idea what that entails for a kwama worker).

Presumably: tending to the egg sacks (inspecting them to see whether they're fine, maybe brooding to keep them warm?), they bring food to the Queen, and they expand and maintain the tunnel network.

How to translate that in animations? I don't know. Maybe they could have one where they brush their antennas against stuff (against egg sacks to feel if the larvas inside are healthy, against walls to detect risks of crumbling and also whether it could be burrowed); and one where they're horking up some sort of thick paste (food for the queen).

[Koniption]

Originally posted by nick_op
I quite like that idea, but remember that the vast majority of the workers will be in cave systems, and they will be 'working' (though I have no idea what that entails for a kwama worker).

There will be the occasional worker stood outside the mines, I'd guess, like in Morrowind, but they would mostly be an indicator that the indistinct cave entrance leads to a kwama mine.

I might adapt the idea a little though, perhaps the ones that are stood outside could stretch and rear up on their hind legs?

Also, if you're interested Koniption, I'll send over the rig I've got setup once it's finished. I'm quite satisfied with how the IK setup has turned out so far, I just need to figure out the best way of keeping the front legs attached to the body.

Yeah, you can send over the rig via PM . Be sure to tell me exactly what your problem is (the legs detaching???). I'll try my best to help fix any issues, but no guarantees.

Koniption

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Originally posted by nick_op
I might adapt the idea a little though, perhaps the ones that are stood outside could stretch and rear up on their hind legs?

I like this idea...and it sounds do-able! :goodjob: And, yes, my sounds are more like the sounds of grazing animals, really...so it matches...

[nick_op]

Originally posted by Ibsen's Ghost
I like this idea...and it sounds do-able! :goodjob: And, yes, my sounds are more like the sounds of grazing animals, really...so it matches...

I quite liked the 'wookiee' sound that you came up with for the worker, I though it fitted really well.

I'm considering shortening the antennae, because at their current length they are probably beyond my ability to animate. If anyone has any objections then feel free to post here.

Edit: I've got the rig for the worker setup as I desire, so I'm starting on rigging the mesh to the skeleton (I'm using the word rig in too many different contexts, aren't I? ). After that I'll be on to animations.

It's pretty obvious that animating the antennae is going to take a long time, perhaps as much as the rest of the creature combined. I hope no-one minds if I re-use bits of the antennae animations across several different animation sequences, it should save a bit of time.

Edit 2: The mesh is fully rigged and ready to animate. I've decided against having spell casting animations for this one - I want to save magick for the warriors, like in Morrowind.

Edit 3: Arg! Just as you think everything's going fine, a problem rears it's ugly head.

I've got an idle animation done that looks absolutely fine in Max, yet when I export it I end up with two of the worker's legs flipped round 180 degrees (pointing upwards, rather than towards the floor).

I think the problem is something to do with me mirroring the IK setup for the legs (though I'd have thought three of them would be displaying this behaviour). I'll probably have to re-do the IK setup on the two offending legs.

[nick_op]

Despite all of the problems mentioned in the previous post (plus several others), with some help from Koniption I've managed to get everything working correctly. I now have the idle and forward animations done (bar any tweaking I may or may not do).

I think that the worker will end up with about 17 animations total, three of which will be special idles to add character and variety. There may be more idles depending if I can think of any other actions that I think they should perform. At the moment I have these planned:

• Rearing up on hind legs - basically stretching. Probably limited to those that are found outside the egg mine entrances.
  
• Checking the eggs with it's antennae.
  
• Checking cave walls for possible excavation - will probably consist of tapping the wall with it's feet or something.
  

If anyone has any suggestions to add to this please post here.

[Gez]

Sounds good. Glad to see I inspired two of the three animations already.