The easiest animations to create

First of all, prepare a "model file". In this software, ". mqo」「. x」「. elem" file. The first two files can be created with a modeling software called Metasequoia. (Homepage: metaseq.net) The sample file used this time uses "ThreeParts.mqo" in the "Sample" folder in the executable file directory.

The icon differs depending on the setting

Try to load this file on the main screen. Click "Load model data" from "File" in the menu.

When the dialog appears, select the "ThreeParts.mqo" file in the "Sample" folder and press the open button at the bottom right.

The following dialog is displayed, but there are no special items to set this time, so press the "Load" button as it is.

The model appears in the view.

To rotate the camera, right-click and drag the view. To move the camera horizontally, drag with the third button or drag the cursor keys, zoom in and out by pressing the wheel or the mouse left and right at the same time.

Now let's create a bone. Please refer to the help for the meaning of each setting. Here, I will only explain how to create it.

Make sure the tab in the upper-left corner of the window selects Bone Configuration.

This time, I want to create it directly on the view, so make sure that "Create mode" in the toolbar in the tab page is checked. If not, click it.

In create mode, you can easily create a bone by simply clicking on the view.

Now, let's create a bone, but in the initial state, due to the position of the camera, we are looking at the model from an angle, so let's look at it from directly above. Click "View from above" from "View" in the menu.

It is also possible with the F2 key

You can see it from directly above.

Note that the camera can be rotated even from this state.

First, left-click on the top center of the blue part of the model.

→

There was a strange white mark, but this is the axis (joint) of the bone that is the first parent of the bone.

If you accidentally click somewhere else to create it, press the "Undo" button on the toolbar. You can revert to the previous operation. In addition, "undo" is very convenient because it can return most operations.

The same operation can be performed with "Ctrl + Z"

Then click in the middle between blue and red.

There was a long rod between the axes, which is called a "bone".

Continue between red and green, click on the bottom of the green.

If you make a mistake, please return it with "undo". This concludes the creation of the bone.

To avoid accidentally clicking to create it, switch to "Edit Mode". Edit mode is the mode in which you adjust the position of the bones.

Originally, I would tweak the position of the joint a little more, but I will omit it because it will be long. Look at help, etc.

If you use the name of the bone just after you create it, it will be easier to make a mistake later, so let's change the name. The tree view on the left shows the created bones. Ignore the route. There are four blue bones, but the first joint made is also counted as a bone.

Right-click the bone and click "Rename" from the menu to rewrite the name, so try renaming it as shown on the next page.

Let's save the data just in case. When you press the "Save" button on the toolbar, a dialog will be displayed, so name it "Sample1" and save it (the name can be anything). The extension is automatically set to ". ELP".

You can now continue working with the data.

Next, specify which bone each vertex in the model associates. The vertices associated with the specified bone will now follow the movement of that bone, as shown below.

However, in the current version, each vertex of the model is automatically associated with a nearby bone, so I'll use this feature and not specify it explicitly. This makes it easy to edit the animation just by creating a bone.

When a vertex moves unintentionally in an animation, make an explicit association with the vertex weight.

Now, I would like to move on to animation. Click "Motion" from the main toolbar.

Each transformation is done and the contents of the Properties panel are refreshed.

First, press the Add button from the Properties panel toolbar to create an animation.

Select the item as it will be added to the list below.

The bones will then appear in the model.

Now, first try dragging the bone in the red part of the model appropriately.

The joint between blue and red should bend limply.

Register this attitude as a key. Slide the trackbar at the bottom right of the window to 15.

Then press the "Set" button on the toolbar above it.

Registered with a mark under the trackbar.

Next, try dragging the axis at the end of the bone appropriately.

It should make a very interesting move.

After moving it appropriately, try adding it to the frame "40".

Now, let's press the "Play" button.

The keys should be automatically interpolated and animated. I can't express it here, so please try it and experience it. After that, save the data and the sample is finished. For detailed settings, see Help. You can also output the created data to a separate file and use it.