08-30-2010, 12:45 AM
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
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