Great thing about avatars is...

[Daube]

Isn't that crazy, Dino ? Your 3D modelling skills are so high-level that you managed to make someone say that a "F-35 looks very nice"

[greenie]

I'm starting to see the multi-sim P3D .With advancing armies and some serious wargames. How about sitting around waiting for the siren to go , then dashing out to your Spitfire ( or something) , in chase of your enemies . This could be the game of endless ideas. What an interesting ride we're in for !

[Dino Cattaneo]

Trooper avatar preview :-)

[roger-wilco-66]

Nice work Dino. Did you check the modeldef file? I noticed that it even includes a "death" animation. I wonder how that can be triggered!

The Avatar can also swim. It doesn't have any code that makes him carry weapons and shoot or hit something bare-handed though, but that's another regime anyhow.



Cheers,
Mark

[Dino Cattaneo]

Yes, I have seen that... but for the moment I've only implemented the basics. Still, there is a number of undocumented avatar features that are worth some investigation.
Also, much like aicraft development, the community is likely to come out with some bright and unforeseen ways to use it.

I am working on a military Avatar package which will feature a pilot figure (with HGU-33 and -55 helmets) and the trooper figure (with 10-15 different camouflages - I am picking the most common worlwide...) - both will not be nation/service specific but rather "generic" models...
Package is going to be payware (but quite cheap) to cover some development costs... it may be ready in a week or so.

[DaveWG]

I read that on your blog earlier. I'll be getting that.
I assume once you've got the bones sorted and animated it would be fairly easy to drop the skeleton into different "bodies". There's not much info in the SDK though.

[Dino Cattaneo]

Well... it is relatively easy, but each "body" needs some adjustments...and from time to time the animation behaves in weird way.
During the Beta, I have already asked LM to provide more details on the development of avatars (and possibly a sample)... but I had not received any significant info.
I managed to get them working after a lot of trial-&-error iterations... In the unlikely event that I'll have some time to spare, I'll see if it makes sense to share my findings - although most of them are "working guesses" rather than correct tecnique.

One cool think - unknown to many... in P3Dv3 certain Mouse Areas can be clicked from the outer model (again...I am not completely sure which ones work and which do not). As example, you can open / close the canopy and the crew access ladder in the F-35 by clickling on them...

[T Square]

Dino

You need to give that guy a grease pencil and a checklist

[spatialpro]

Any chance of producing a trooper (Airtrooper! !) with a beret (rather than cap) with a blank badge area, a belt with blank badge area, a blank rank slip and blank area for either wings or a name on the chest, plus a paintkit. This would provide endless hours of repainting possibilities!

Here is just one example (inc. someone famous! How about being him in an avatar!), but the combinations are almost endless!



Here is another example which could be repainted:

[Penz]

This would provide endless hours of repainting possibilities!

Hehe, I have had quality time (and some good laughs!) painting the stock avatar already ...



Certainly not short and chubby enough, and no cape, but it's a start!

(Most dissatisfying part is the head, even radical editing of the bump map cannot totally eliminate the "hair lock" protrusion in the forehead of the model ...).

[Dino Cattaneo]

...well, for the moment I am limiting myself to nation, service and rank agnostic repaints - as it would be impossible to manage.
As for the paint-kit, I am afraid it cannot be done in the proper way as most of the geometry comes form commercial meshes and exposing the source material is forbidden by the license... but maybe that the inclusion of a "white" uniform will do.
Hats variations have also been discarded (for the moment) due to their large number... but maybe I can include some model further variations...

Question to native English speakers... would "trooper" be the right general term? Current descriptions are like "Military Trooper Male, US Woodland" or "Military Trooper Male, British Desert DPM"... would this be correct? For some reason "trooper" does not seem right to me, but I fail to find a better word.

Anyway, here are the first two promotional images.

[Paul Domingue]

Question to native English speakers... would "trooper" be the right general term? Current descriptions are like "Military Trooper Male, US Woodland" or "Military Trooper Male, British Desert DPM"... would this be correct? For some reason "trooper" does not seem right to me, but I fail to find a better word.

Trooper originally meant a hoarse cavalry soldier. Later with mechanization it applied to any soldier with specialist given names such as paratrooper, etc.

Dino, did you ever think you would be playing with dolls when you started this all those years ago?

[Dino Cattaneo]

...dolls or planes does not matter - as long as it is fun :-)


It is still not clear to me if "trooper" would do (including airmen and sailors)... anyway it does not seem too wrong.

@Airtrooper - I will probably add a model with a beret.

[CG_1976]

I'll buy if there is a USCG Coastie

[Dino Cattaneo]

Well, I have already included the Navy Working Uniform in the package...

[speedy70]

Dino.
I would think the term personell would be better .You have soldier,sailor and airman etc but also military personell,air force personell and naval personell and civilian personell etc
Hope this helps.
Cheers Chris

[speedy70]

Hi Dino,
You mention for P3D but will the avatars be available for FSX A.
Cheers Chris

[Dino Cattaneo]

Avatar mode is a Platform feature of Prepar3D v3, it is not present in FSX or P3Dv2.

Aside, following the comment from Trooper, I am considering to include an alternate model with a beret, instead of the cap... but it is still TBD as I am not completely happy with it.
To follow the "national neutrality" philosophy, a couple of samples may be included with United Nations beret (problem with national/service specific avatars is that I'll get flooded with requests for specific units... and well... there are too many cool uniforms you should do)... anyway here is how it looks for the moment.

[IanHenry]

How about this one



Ian

[speedy70]

Dino,
In addition to my previous reply,my spelling was wrong.It is"personnel".
Cheers Chris

[Dino Cattaneo]

@IanHenry

Well... that would be cool... but my animation skills are barely enough to get a decent walk cycle for a man... the elegance of women is out of my skills :-)


@Speed70 - thanks, I had notice it.

Last minute update... I am trying to add carrier deck crew Avatars.
I'd like to have the package ready by the weekend.

[Dino Cattaneo]

A small video on the Military Avatars Package (which now includes also flight deck crew figures)... by the way the figure with the beret will also be provided, but will not be used in my package, but it can be used/activated by repainters.

^{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IhDM9rO_ag}

[Daube]

Very nice
How is the "running" animation triggered ? Is it just for test, or is there something that will use the "walk" animation when moving slow, and "run" animation when running fast ?

[Dino Cattaneo]

The "running" condition is triggered by a specific control - exact button depends on the controller you have.
I use an XboX360 controller, along my flight stick... I do not recall by heart wha button is it, but you can "toggle" the run mode on/off.

[Ripcord]

Dino, remember to create some 'flight line' models which incorporate either special line helmets worn by ground crew, or no head gear at all.

You generally do not see military personnel wearing standard head gear on the flight line, that is a big no-no.

Great work by the way. Love what you are doing here.