Pax
Thanks for your answer and useful informations about XSI.
Some points are not clear to me.
Fcurves :
Normaly game programmers use " walk in place " animations.
The movement in the space (and the juice) is achieved via code.
The typical example of the "bouncing ball" to explain FCurves is not applicable to games
Ok ,you can use FCurves for the limbs, but even CharacterFX provideS a "spline" interpolation between keyframes (It should be improved, I agree).
As far as short and fast movements are concerned, for example the swing of a weapon, it is hard to notice the difference.
animation mixer :
I accept that this feature make much easier the creation of animations (in a snap )but again "Animation blending " is a tremendous step forward for games,provided it is implemented in the code.
I you create off line animations it is of little use since you must create, in any case, several animations and several "States" in your FSM , which is what you want to avoid
However I do not mean of course that CharacterFX is about the same as XSI( 15 USD VS 495 USD ...WELL)
I mean that the "serious hobbyest programmers " comunity
( We are 300.000 , I have read somewhere ) deserve an animation software 100 % focused on games at a reasonable price ( 100 - 200 USD).
Something in between CharacterShop by Halo and Poser by Curious Lab, in my opinion
Thanks for your answer and useful informations about XSI.
Some points are not clear to me.
Fcurves :
Normaly game programmers use " walk in place " animations.
The movement in the space (and the juice) is achieved via code.
The typical example of the "bouncing ball" to explain FCurves is not applicable to games
Ok ,you can use FCurves for the limbs, but even CharacterFX provideS a "spline" interpolation between keyframes (It should be improved, I agree).
As far as short and fast movements are concerned, for example the swing of a weapon, it is hard to notice the difference.
animation mixer :
I accept that this feature make much easier the creation of animations (in a snap )but again "Animation blending " is a tremendous step forward for games,provided it is implemented in the code.
I you create off line animations it is of little use since you must create, in any case, several animations and several "States" in your FSM , which is what you want to avoid
However I do not mean of course that CharacterFX is about the same as XSI( 15 USD VS 495 USD ...WELL)
I mean that the "serious hobbyest programmers " comunity
( We are 300.000 , I have read somewhere ) deserve an animation software 100 % focused on games at a reasonable price ( 100 - 200 USD).
Something in between CharacterShop by Halo and Poser by Curious Lab, in my opinion