creating a monster for ut2k4

Both skeletal and vertex animated meshes can use anim notifies, however, vertex anim notifies must be set up via UnrealScript when the model is first imported into the package. Skeletal mesh anim notifies can be set up at any time in the Animation Browser (do not modify default packages!).

Anim Notifies can be used to produce an action at a specific time frame of animation. Vertex animated notifies can only be used to execute an UnrealScript function, however the function itself could then be used to spawn an effect or play a sound etc... The skeletal mesh notifications can be used to execute 8 different types of effects or actions including playing sounds, spawning effects and executing UnrealScript functions. This is especially useful when working with monsters as it allows us to spawn projectiles and other effects when the monster plays the correct animation sequence.

Anim notifies are commonly used to play sounds when feet "touch" the ground. Monsters can also use this to make them more realistic.

To use anim notifies with Vertex Meshes you need to include the information with the model and animation files when they are first imported. When importing the files simply add the following lines after the #Exec MESH SEQUENCE commands. Vertex Mesh Import Commands

#Exec MESH NOTIFY parameters:

MESH	The name of the mesh the sequence resides in, which we wish to add a notify for.	Optional: No
SEQ	The name of the sequence we want to create a notify for.	Optional: No
TIME	This is where to place the notify. The range is 0 to 1. To find the correct value the math is: Frame / TotalFrames So if you wanted to place a notify on frame 1.58 (of a 26 frame total animation) you would put 0.06.	Optional: No
FUNCTION	The name of the function that will be called for this notify. This function should exist within the actor that has this mesh when its drawtype is DT_Mesh.	Optional: No

#Exec MESH NOTIFY MESH=MyMesh SEQ=Attack02 TIME=0.5 FUNCTION=FireProjectile
	

Anim notifies are set at specific times during the animations in the animation browser. These notifies call special events.

Notify Types Overview

AnimNotify_Effect

This notify generates an effect at the specified point in the animation, which can be either attached to a bone, spawned at a bone location, or spawned at the actors location, all of which can be offset by location and rotation.

Variable	Description	DataType
EffectClass	Effect class type to spawn	Class (Actor)
Bone	Name of the bone to attach to, or spawn at (if any)	Name
OffsetLocation	Offset from the actor's location (or bone)	Vector
OffsetRotation	Offset from the actor's rotation (or bone)	Rotator
Attach	Whether or not to attach to the bone	Boolean
Tag	Tag to use on the effect (for later destroying)	Name
DrawScale	Scale of the effect	Float
DrawScale3D	Axis scale of the effect	Vector

AnimNotify_Destroyeffect

DestroyEffect kills an effect created by AnimNotify_Effect. If an emitter is used you can opt to tell it to wait till all of the particles have died before being destroyed via bExpireParticles.

Variable	Description	DataType
DestroyTag	Tag of the effect to destroy (set by AnimNotify_Effect)	Name
bExpireParticles	If effect is an emitter let all particle die before destroying	Boolean

AnimNotify_Sound

A simple notify that plays a sound at the specified frame.

Variable	Description	DataType
Sound	Name of the sound to be played	Sound
Volume	Volume of the sound	Float
Radius	Radius of the sound	Integer

AnimNotify_Script

The classic AnimNotify, this calls an UnrealScript function at the specified frame.

Variable	Description	DataType
NotifyName	Name of the script function to call	Name

AnimNotify_MatSubAction

MatSubAction allows you to add a matinee subaction at a specific point in an animation. This could be extremely useful for triggering camera positions by gestures, or adding specific CameraEffects such as motion blur at a key point.

Variable	Description	DataType
SubAction	Matinee subaction to perform	MatSubAction (editinline)

AnimNotify_Trigger

This notify simply calls the Trigger() method of an actor whose Tag matches EventName.

Variable	Description	DataType
EventName	Name of the actor's tag that you wish to trigger	Name

The remaining 2 notify types (LIPSinc and FireWeapon) can be ignored. They were most likely created specifically for some matinees.

For more information read this page. AnimNotifies - UDN

For this tutorial I will be using the Magdalena skeletal mesh and I will be making it call the FireProjectile function using an anim nofiy. Remember to rename and save your package to something unique or you will get version mismatch errors.

Adding a Notify

Open your desired animation file in the animation browser. Go to File>Open> open your new file. Next find the animation you want your monster/model to use when it fires its projectile. In this case for Magdalena I chose the "Gesture_Taunt01" animation.



Move the slider at the bottom until it is at the point when you want it to fire a projectile. In this case around frame 26 seems good. When this is at the correct place click on the Notify tab on the right of the window.



Click "Add" at the top, in the Notify tab. This will add a new notify at the current frame.



Expand the new Notify button, select AnimNotify_Script in the "New" section and hit "New" on the right hand side.



Under NotifyName put the name of the function in our monsters.uc file that we want it to call. In this case input "FireProjectile" without the quotation marks.



Ok, now save the file. Go to File>Save, hit Yes to overwrite. All that remains is to ensure the script for the monster has the correct function and that the animation that executes it is played at some point. For a monster, the animation would probably be played in RangdAttack(Actor A).

//very simple rangedattack function simply showing the animation being played

function RangedAttack(Actor A)
{
	if ( bShotAnim )
	{
		return;
	}

	bShotAnim=true;

	if ( Velocity == vect(0,0,0) )
	{
		SetAnimAction('Gesture_Taunt01');
		Controller.bPreparingMove = true;
		Acceleration = vect(0,0,0);
	}
}

function FireProjectile()
{
	//spawn projectile
}
	

So now whenever that animation is played it will try to call the FireProjectile function at the frame we specified. If the function doesn't exist nothing will happen.

TOP TIP - Don't feed monsters after midnight!

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