SimPose-ium: Menus

File

About

Details of the program's version etc.

Speed

Select the speed at which animations are run: normal, speed up or down by a factor of two or four, and Single Step (i.e. freeze until space bar pressed)

Step

Advance animation if in Single Step mode

Show Blend

When checked, joint blending is used - really added so I could see the effect during development - normally leave checked

Show Stats

Show performance data in the 3D window. The first number is the Frame rate (frame/second), the next three the size of the 3D window (in pixels) and colour depth (in bits). The final number is the free time between the end of rendering one frame and the start of rendering the next.

Capture Image

Save the current 3D display as BMP file (either full size or half-size). Use the standard Windows file selector to identify the file to be created. If the 3D window is displaying an animation, a series of BMP files will be created. If the file name selected is xxx.bmp, the series will be xxx0000.bmp, xxx0001.bmp etc. See the FAQ for more information

Exit

Exit program

 

Static

New Pose Library

Create a pose library with two entries - the default pose for an adult and child Sim

Load Pose Library

Reload a pose library, previously saved by one of the following commands

Save Pose Library

Save the current pose library (overwriting the file it was loaded from)

Save Pose Library As

Save the current pose library to a file - user asked to select location

Select Pose

The user is presented with a dialog including a droplist of all the poses named in the current library. One of these should be selected and OK pressed. The controlled Sim will move into that pose.

In V5.0, the library keeps child and adult poses separately, so the droplist will only contain poses appropriate for the currently selected Sim. If a library created by V4.0 (or earlier) is loaded, then all poses in that library are displayed for both children and adults.

The Subset droplist contains a named set of joint subsets (by default only All is defined). The selected pose is only applied to the joints in the selected subset. To create a new subset, click add. This displays a list of all the Sim's joints. Select all those that are to be included in the subset and give it a name (e.g. select all arm, hand and finger joints, and the neck and head and call it UpperBody). Subsets are saved with the pose library.

Save Pose to Library

The controlled Sim's current pose is saved to the pose library. The pose selection dialog is presented to the user. If the user selects a pose name (+OK), that pose is updated in the library (the default poses cannot be changed). If the Add Pose button is pressed, the user is asked for a name for the pose (must be unique), and a new pose is added to the library.

This command works in any display mode (static, keyframe or CFP animation). If not static, the pose saved is that at the selected 'adjust time'

 

Key Frame

See the notes on keyframe animation

Load Keyframe Animation

Load a keyframe animation from a file and apply to the currently selected Sim

Save Keyframe Animation

If the currently selected Sim is performing a keyframe animation, modify the animation previously 'Load'ed, else acts as SaveAs

Save Keyframe Animation As

If the currently selected Sim is performing a keyframe animation, save the animation to a named file

New Animation: Bounce

Make a new keyframe animation and apply it to the currently selected Sim. The user is asked for the length of the animation sequence (in frames, at 30frames/second) and the LinkFrame (from the pose library). Keyframes are created at the start/end of the sequence and the mid-point.

New Animation: Translate

Make a new keyframe animation and apply it to the currently selected Sim. The user is asked for the length of the animation sequence (in frames, at 30frames/second) and the start/end LinkFrames (from the pose library). Keyframes are created at the start and end of the sequence and the mid-point.

Add Keyframe

If the currently selected Sim is performing a keyframe animation, the user is asked for a time (in frames) and optionally a pose from the library. If no keyframe exists at the indicated time, one is added, otherwise the existing keyframe is modified. If a library pose is selected, the Sim moved to that position at the indicated time, otherwise the keyframe is set as the interpolation between the preceding and following keyframes (i.e. no immediately visible effect, but the pose at that time can now be adjusted)

Move Keyframe

If the currently selected Sim is performing a keyframe animation, the user is asked for the new location (in time) of the keyframe selected by the AnimationTime droplist. The keyframe is moved to that time. Note: a keyframes cannot be reordered this way, i.e. a keyframe cannot  be moved to or before the preceding keyframe or to or after the next keyframe.

Scale Keyframe

If the currently selected Sim is performing a keyframe animation, the user is asked for a new sequence length (in frames) and the animation speeded up or slowed down to fit the new length  

Convert to CFP

Converts the current keyframe animation to the CFP format used by TheSims (at the moment this really doesn’t do anything useful!)

 

Animation

Ignore all these items for now.

 

Props/ Hands

Change Left hand

The user is presented with a dialog, in which they can select the mesh and texture to be used as the controlled Sim's left hand.

Change Right hand

The user is presented with a dialog, in which they can select the mesh and texture to be used as the controlled Sim's right hand.

Clear Props

Any props attached to the controlled Sim are removed. 

Add Prop

The user is presented with a dialog, in which they can select the mesh and texture of a prop to be added to the controlled Sim. There is a limit on the total number of props that can be added to any one Sim - currently set as 4.

 

Import/Export

These have been added to enable new 'props' (hats, carried objects etc) to be generated - see the notes on creating new props

Export OBJ

The currently selected Sim, with any attached props, is exported as a Wavefront 3D object.

Import OBJ

A Wavefront 3D object is imported and attached to the currently selected Sim as a prop

Export Head SKN

The currently selected Sim's head mesh is exported as a SKN file (not really very useful - as you must have already had a SKN for the head!) 

Export Body SKN

 as above - for the body mesh

Export Left-hand SKN

 as above for the left hand mesh

Export Right-hand SKN

 as above for the right hand mesh

Export Prop SKN

The mesh of the first prop attached to the currently selected Sim is exported as a SKN file. This is useful, as the prop may have been created by 'Import OBJ'