Editing Working With Nifs 301 : Nodes Breakdown (section)

===<u>TransformController</u>===

Another fun one.  It will do XYZ Rotation, translation and scale on it's parent node.  It Accepts a TransformInterpolator and TransformData.  Just like the pathInterpoloator, it affects a node, not a mesh.  Anything attached to this node will follow the nodes' translations.  Again, target for the controller will point to the parent node, everything else is the same as the others.  -Be sure to set your Frequency to 1 at the very least before playing, otherwise you won't see anything changing!  Also, Anything animated this way won't work when equipped to an armor or clothing slot.  -This might not be true, but not tested yet, try adding a BSXFlag.


'''TransformInterpolator'''
I always use meshes/landscape/miscbutterfly01.nif, and copy the one from there.  You can't create the large numbers seen there in a file by hand, just take this data.  Then re-point it to the next in chain: TransformData!


Also, It's handy to turn Axis and Nodes view from the Render menu while testing animations.



'''TransformData'''

So here we have the data by which to animate from:

'''Num Rotation Keys''': Set this to 1.

'''Rotation Type''': Always seen set at XYZ_rotation_key: this assumedly defines what kind of rotation we're doing.


'''XYZ Rotations'''

There are three channels, one for each axis individually.  Each subset defines how many keys to use, and this does not need to be consistent over all three of the axis channels. Keys can be Linear or Quadratic.  Again, Time is in seconds to execute each key.  Value is rotation in radians (not degrees).  You can always use google search like this:  "90 degrees in radians"  It then tells me that will be 1.57079633.


'''Translations'''

Used for moving X Y or Z along a path defined by the keys.  Enter the number of keys, then use linear or quadratic keys, then update the key array.  The values on the keys are fairly straightforward, I'm sorry I cannot explain quadratic keys well.  I don't know how to calc out the scales for writing curves this way.

Scales: Change the size of the shape over time.   The keys work the same here too, I have no idea what Scale the scale values actually work in.



Example:  You want a rotating pommel to a sword, but only the pommel should rotate.  From the root NiNode, attach your sword mesh (the pommel should be a separate trishape).  Then attach a NiNode as a child to the root node, Rename this node Pommel just for fun.  Now, attach the TransformController AND the trishape for your pommel to this second node, it should look like this now:


First, We've copied and pasted a working TransformInterpolator from meshes/landscape/miscbutterfly01.nif.  Then open our sword nif, and Block>Insert>NiNode, TransformController, and TransformData.  Then paste in the TransformInterpolator.


<pre>
0NiNode (Scene Root)
-1BSXFlags (BSX)
-2Collisionstuff
-3niStringExtraData (PRN)
-4Trishape (sword)
-5NiNode (Pommel)
--6niTransformController
---7niTransformInterpolator
----8niTransformData
--9TriShape (pommelshape)
</pre>



In Recap, the 0-Ninode has two extra datas, and two children.  The children are 4-Trishape, and 5-NiNode.  This second Ninode, numbered 5, also has one Controller: 6-TransformController and and one Child: 9-TriShape.
In the TransformControllers' data, we will set Flags to Active/Cycle, Frequency=1, Stop Time=Whatever.  For Target, we enter 5, the parent NiNode, and then set Interpolator to 7 to link the TransformInterpolator.  Now we click on the interpolator, and edit Data, to 8, for the TransformData block.
IN TransformData, change Num Rotation Keys to 1, and Type to XYZ.


Let's just use the second set of keys, so expand that, change Num Keys to 2 / Linear_Key.  Now rClick "keys" and Array>Update to display the list. (and expand both of them)
For the second key, give it a Time of 2, and a Value of 6.2831.  Now, when you hit play, you should get a smooth full rotation that loops.
In this linear mode, the engine automatically tweens the rotatation values for you.  In this case, We set the animation's length to 2 seconds.  The first key is set all to 0, the default pose, so to say.  The second key is at 2 seconds, 6.2831 radians is 360 in degrees.  By the two-second mark, the mesh has been rotated to 6.2831 then starts over again at 0 to do it again and again.


Enjoy!