Visual studio - roaming ralph animation

C++ coding using Panda3D
1

Hello,

I have a problem when runnning the roaming ralph c++ demo in visual studio 2008. When i startup a new c++ project in VS and using the RR-demo source code, the roaming ralph run animation works the first time. But when i run the project a second time, ralph is walking around instead of running, and the stop pose is incorrect (flapping on one leg).
Cleaning the solution and project isn’t working.
I run VS in release-mode (F5) and i have included all path’s and library’s as specified in the manual, except the removal of the NDEBUG macro definition, because the definition isn’t set.

The only thing i have changed is on line 250 or something.

if(! is_moving) {

instead of

if(not is_moving){

Which can’t seem to be the problem to me.

Another thing is, when i run the exact same code (and models) under ubuntu 9.10 with eclipse, the animation works correctly each time.

Regards

2

Are you sure? I’m pretty sure NDEBUG is set by default in the project settings whenever you enable release mode. I can’t promise this is your problem, but having that set (and not realizing it) can cause weird things to happen.

David

3

The macro definitions can be found in:

Project properties -> C/C++ -> Preprocessor -> Preprocessor Definitions…?

If so, there isnt anything set then.

4

I actually just found the NDEBUG macro, didnt make a Win32 console application in VS at first, but just an empty one. So i did remove NDEBUG, only still having the same problem.

Regards

5

Hi. In c++ the auto_bind function seems to be screwed up. I did many tests and whenever you bind more then one animation, it screws up sooner or later.
I got so tired of it that I downloaded Netbeans and now I’m learning Python. Using Panda with C++ is, in my opinion, a huge pain in the x#$.
However, Python seems to be quite nice and has a lot of pro’s over C++.

6

Panda3D is written in C++. The Python part is just a wrapper that calls the C++ functions. So it is not possible that something works “better” in python that in C++ in Panda. When that happens it just means you are doing something wrong.

You see, for me it’s the opposite. Using Panda with python seems like a huge pain in the x-sharp-dollar symbol for me, but I just attribute that to the fact that I don’t know enough about Python. Just making sure people don’t get the wrong idea. The core of Panda is in c++, so whatever works in Python can work on C++ somehow. Peace.

7

I am in peace.
I’m just telling how it is for me. I stumbled way too many times over missing ‘wrapper’ functions.
I agree that c++ should be the language to use Panda, but it is not very well documented on the c++ side, and I found myself going throught the panda source over and over again simply to find out how something should be initialized.

On the autobind function: I am using the method used in the roaming ralph c++ version and it is NOT working.
Maybe it should be used differently, but if you simply search on the forum for c++ users having problems with animations, you’ll see that non of the ‘my animation is not running correcty’ threads (in the way I discribed) are solved.
I would love to go back to c++, so if anyone can solve the problem I would love that.

I use visual studio 2008 as well. Might have something to do with it.

8

I totally agree, there’s much to be done on the C++ on the side of documentation and samples. I don’t know about the ralph sample though, maybe somebody else can help you.

9

Yeah, I think its random behavior, I experienced it too. I don’t remember which solution I found for myself - but I looked in the ShowBase source code to see how it binds separate animations.
I think you have to use the AnimControl interface to find the animations. Not sure though - I haven’t done Panda games in C++ in a while.

10

Lol, I have spend so much time on it and now something just crossed my mind.
This is what fixes the animation error:
When you auto_bind AGAIN everytime you attach a new animation to the Parent nodepath, it works !
Just tried it with adding 26 animations.

Sigh…

In the Roaming ralph c++ example:

  win_ptr->load_model(ralph,"models/ralph-walk.egg.pz");
  win_ptr->load_model(ralph,"models/ralph-run.egg.pz");
  auto_bind(ralph.node(), ralph_anims, PartGroup::HMF_ok_part_extra | PartGroup::HMF_ok_anim_extra | PartGroup::HMF_ok_wrong_root_name);

Should be:

  win_ptr->load_model(ralph,"models/ralph-walk.egg.pz");
  auto_bind(ralph.node(), ralph_anims, PartGroup::HMF_ok_part_extra | PartGroup::HMF_ok_anim_extra | PartGroup::HMF_ok_wrong_root_name);

  win_ptr->load_model(ralph,"models/ralph-run.egg.pz");
  auto_bind(ralph.node(), ralph_anims, PartGroup::HMF_ok_part_extra | PartGroup::HMF_ok_anim_extra | PartGroup::HMF_ok_wrong_root_name);

Note: I did not check yet, if this method adds bad behavior like reserving too much memory and so on. I’ll get back to that

11

Ah, smart! That should be a fine solution, too. :slight_smile:

12

Hmm. It seems it isn’t such a good idea after all.
Check this dump I produced using

string AddAnimation(WindowFramework *window,NodePath parent,AnimControlCollection &anims,string AnimationFilename)
{
	window->load_model(parent,AnimationFilename);	
	auto_bind(parent.node(), anims,PartGroup::HMF_ok_part_extra | PartGroup::HMF_ok_anim_extra | PartGroup::HMF_ok_wrong_root_name);

	int CurrentAnim=anims.get_num_anims()-1;	// subtract 1; zero based index
	int AmountOfFrames=anims.get_anim(CurrentAnim)->get_num_frames();
	string AnimName=anims.get_anim_name(CurrentAnim);

	printf("Added animation [%s],wich contains %d frames.\n",AnimName.c_str(),AmountOfFrames);
	printf("The amount of animations in the AnimControlCollection is now %d.\n",CurrentAnim);

	return(anims.get_anim_name(CurrentAnim) ); // return generated anim name ( character.x )
}

and

map <int,string> Animation;
int CurrentAnimation=0;

#define HEADING_N	0
#define HEADING_NE	1
#define HEADING_E	2
#define HEADING_SE	3
#define HEADING_S	4
#define HEADING_SW	5
#define HEADING_W	6
#define HEADING_NW	7
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimation(win_ptr,ralph,ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/WalkEasy_N.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimation(win_ptr,ralph,ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/WalkEasy_NE.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimation(win_ptr,ralph,ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/WalkEasy_E.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimation(win_ptr,ralph,ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/WalkEasy_SE.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimation(win_ptr,ralph,ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/WalkEasy_S.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimation(win_ptr,ralph,ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/WalkEasy_SW.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimation(win_ptr,ralph,ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/WalkEasy_W.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimation(win_ptr,ralph,ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/WalkEasy_NW.egg");

Dump:

Added animation [character],wich contains 32 frames.
The amount of animations in the AnimControlCollection is now 0.
Added animation [character.2],wich contains 32 frames.
The amount of animations in the AnimControlCollection is now 2.
Added animation [character.5],wich contains 32 frames.
The amount of animations in the AnimControlCollection is now 5.
Added animation [character.9],wich contains 29 frames.
The amount of animations in the AnimControlCollection is now 9.
Added animation [character.14],wich contains 29 frames.
The amount of animations in the AnimControlCollection is now 14.
Added animation [character.20],wich contains 29 frames.
The amount of animations in the AnimControlCollection is now 20.
Added animation [character.27],wich contains 29 frames.
The amount of animations in the AnimControlCollection is now 27.
Added animation [character.35],wich contains 29 frames.
The amount of animations in the AnimControlCollection is now 35.

Press any key to continue . . .

So, instead of adding only the new animation, it adds the previous ones PLUS the new one.
Nice way to grow a list, I must say

This needs more investigation. To be continued. :confused:

13

Okay, I came up with a better fix.
Turns out that autobind seems to mess up anim names.
Don’t know where that goes wrong and frankly I don’t care :wink:
This is what works for me:

string AddAnimToControlCollection(WindowFramework *window,AnimControlCollection *Collection,string AnimationFilename)
{
	// Create a temporary AnimControlCollection to store the animation in. 
	AnimControlCollection CurrentAnim;

	// Just parent it to render
	NodePath parent=window->get_render();

	// Load the animation and attach it to the parent
	window->load_model(parent,AnimationFilename);   
	auto_bind(parent.node(), CurrentAnim, 0);

	// Get the pointer to the created AnimControl
	PT(AnimControl) NewAnim=CurrentAnim.get_anim(0);

	// Set up the name of the animation based on the amount of already added animations
	char AnimationName[100];
	sprintf(AnimationName,"character.%d",Collection->get_num_anims());

	// If this is the first animation, there is no .x
	if(Collection->get_num_anims()==0)sprintf(AnimationName,"character");

	NewAnim->set_name(AnimationName);

	// Store the animation into our collection
	Collection->store_anim(NewAnim,AnimationName);

	int CurrentAnimation=Collection->get_num_anims()-1;

	// Set names
	Collection->get_anim(CurrentAnimation)->set_name(AnimationName);
    Collection->get_anim(CurrentAnimation)->get_anim()->set_name(AnimationName);
	
	// Clean up (not sure this is Necessary)
	CurrentAnim.clear_anims();

	// return generated anim name ( character.x )
	return(AnimationName); 
}

And:

map <int,string> Animation;
int CurrentAnimation=0;

#define HEADING_N   0
#define HEADING_NE   1
#define HEADING_E   2
#define HEADING_SE   3
#define HEADING_S   4
#define HEADING_SW   5
#define HEADING_W   6
#define HEADING_NW   7

Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimToControlCollection(win_ptr,&ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/a_WalkEasy_N.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimToControlCollection(win_ptr,&ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/a_WalkEasy_NE.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimToControlCollection(win_ptr,&ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/a_WalkEasy_E.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimToControlCollection(win_ptr,&ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/a_WalkEasy_SE.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimToControlCollection(win_ptr,&ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/a_WalkEasy_S.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimToControlCollection(win_ptr,&ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/a_WalkEasy_SW.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimToControlCollection(win_ptr,&ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/a_WalkEasy_W.egg");
Animation[CurrentAnimation++]=AddAnimToControlCollection(win_ptr,&ralph_anims,"players/Animations/Walking/a_WalkEasy_NW.egg");
auto_bind(ralph.node(), ralph_anims,0);

ralph_anims.stop_all();
ralph_anims.loop(Animation[HEADING_NE],true);

To answer the original poster:

string Walking=AddAnimToControlCollection(win_ptr,&ralph_anims,"models/ralph-walk.egg.pz");

string Running=AddAnimToControlCollection(win_ptr,&ralph_anims,"models/ralph-run.egg.pz");

auto_bind(ralph.node(), ralph_anims,0);

// Now you can use for example:
ralph_anims.loop(Walking,true);