#Rotating Skeletal Mesh FBX For You on DropBox
Here’s my exact asset on dropbox if you wish to use it for testing.
The only socket/bone I’ve tested with is Top
NathanLyer/AnimatedPlatformCircularFlying.FBX
Enjoy!
Dear Friends at Epic,
#My Dream
I have the dream of creating complex rotating platform complexes that are based on skeletal mesh actors
the skeletal mesh actor itself has no collision, its only purpose is to provide the socket locations
I am attaching the platform end points that the player stands on by attaching them to the sockets of the skeletal mesh like so:
TopPlat->AttachRootComponentTo(Mesh, Top, EAttachLocation::SnapToTarget);
In this way I have easy collision and basing with a skeletal mesh that is playing animations
at this point keeping the platform oriented upward and the rotation itself are actually animations on the skeletal mesh
Everything works great visually when the player is not based, the platform rotates perfectly to always face upward and the entire structure rotates smoothly
#The Issue
but even in single player, when the player bases on the platform which is based on the skeletal mesh socket
then the platform starts to jitter at seemingly random intervals not related to specific rotations
To me this seems to have something to do with the platform responding to the fact that player is based on it in some way that is interfering with its ability to perfectly be based on the mesh socket
any ideas on how I can remove the jitter?
It makes my game mechanic unusable at present
#Video 1 on DropBox
I have a 27.8 MB .wmv video of this issue, comparing when player is based and when player is not based
Nathan_Lyer/RotatingSkelMeshPlatforms.wmv
#Alternative Attempt: Controlling Rotation via C++
I was having the same issue, but only on the client machine, when controlling the rotation of the platform and skeletal mesh through code.
Controlling rotation through code, the single player / server side works perfectly even when character is based.
#Video 2 on DropBox
NathanLyer/RotatingPlatformMultiplayerRotViaCode.wmv
This is a 33.5 MB video showing the alternative c++ method, controlling rotation of platforms entirely through code. The server is perfect (upper left), but the client has the same jitter issue that the altenative animation rotation single player has
#Video 3 on DropBox
The third video of 15.4 MB in size shows multiplayer with the animated rotation version,
as well as the robustness of animated rotation version when there are many on screen at once
MultiplayerWithAnimatedRotation.wmv
Hopefully this provides sufficient data for you to analyze and find solution to smooth this out
so I can fully implement this game feature
Thanks so much!
#Summary
Video 1 demonstrates the single player having a jitter issue when the platform complex is controlled via animations
Video 2 demonstrates controlling the rotation of the platforms through code, and how the entire game feature works perfectly on the server, but the client has the same jitter issue that was seen in video 1 with animation rotation method.
Video 3: demonstrates multiplayer with same animation rotation method as Video 1
In all videos, the server is the upper left , and the client is lower right
Project Can Be Uploaded
I can upload my project to drop box if you’d like
#Worth Noting
As you can see from video 2,
the player does not always stay based at the actual surface of the platform and the feet sometimes go through the platform.
This happens SMOOTHLY on the server
and in a very jittering way on the client
I think the jittering might be related to this somehow
#Why Use the Rotation via Animation Method?
I noticed that with controlling the rotation via c++ and constantly updating the skeletal mesh rotation,
when having more than 3 rotating platforms on the screen, there was some kind of network lag happening
This does not happen with the animation rotation method
Thanks!
Rama