Preview Models and Animations

This tutorial uses Models, Anim Studio and Heroes. Looking at things changes nothing. Only the exports at the end give you a download. If you have not opened a client yet, do First steps first.

You need a browser with WebGL. If it is missing, the tool says “3D view unavailable” and gives the reason. The first time you open Models, Anim Studio or Heroes the tool reads the pack index, which can take from a few seconds to a minute on a big client.

The 3D layout

All three tools share one layout. The 3D view is in the middle. On the right is one dock with two tabs: Library (the lists you pick from) and Properties (details of what is open). In Models, Properties opens by itself when you open something. In the view:

• Drag to turn, right-drag to pan, wheel to zoom.
• Click the reset button in the toolbar to frame the scene again (in Models, double-clicking the view does the same).
• The toolbar floats over the view; its text caption sits in the bottom left corner.

1. Look at a mesh

1. Click Models in the sidebar, under 3D.
2. In Library, the four buttons at the top choose the list: Models, Meshes, Anims and Skeletons. A model is a config (resource/model) that ties a skeleton, meshes and animations together. Use Search; the number next to it is the count. The Pack column tells you which pack holds the file.
3. Double-click a model or a mesh. Right-click gives Open, Add to the scene, Play on this skeleton, Use as the scene’s skeleton and Copy name, depending on what you clicked.
4. A skinned mesh looks for its skeleton by itself: first from the model configs, then by bone names. If none fits, you see “No skeleton in these packs has this mesh’s bones; it shows in its bind pose.” That is only how it is drawn; the mesh is fine.

The toolbar over the view has toggles: Textures, Wire, Bones, Points (control points Type_Index), the floor grid, the bounding box and texture animations from the material scripts (scroll, rotate, wave, frames).

In Properties:

• Scene lists the model, the skeleton and every mesh. Untick a mesh to hide it, use the bin to remove it from the scene, click a mesh to select it.
• Mesh shows type, vertices and triangles, bones used (bones missing from the skeleton are named in red), the source and the sub-meshes. Each sub-mesh row shows its texture name and size; missing means the texture is not in the packs. Hover a row to highlight that sub-mesh in the view.

Opening a model also plays its first animation whose name contains delay, or the first one in its list.

2. Play an animation

1. Open a model. The Scene card has a drop-down (n animations…) with every animation of that model. Pick one.
2. Or choose the Anims list and double-click an animation. If it fits the skeleton in the scene (at least half of its bone names are on that skeleton) it plays on it. If not, Models opens a model that uses it, or the skeleton that fits best.
3. Use the timeline under the view: play and pause (Space), the slider, the clock (elapsed / total s), the speed (0.1× to 2×) and the loop toggle. The small markers on the slider are animation events; click one to jump there.

The Animation card in Properties shows the format, the number of tracks and keys, the source and Used by: the model configs that play it, or “no model config (hero / item animations are set in the .ini files)”. For heroes, the .ini files name the animations, so look in the hero’s config (step 5).

3. Try an animation on a character

Anim Studio puts an animation on a character you choose.

1. Click Anim Studio under 3D. The Library has Models, Skel, Meshes and Anims. The Models list only holds animated models.
2. Double-click a model, or a skeleton, to use it as the Character. Heroes use human_man or human_woman. Double-click meshes to dress the character (right-click: Add to the character).
3. Double-click an animation to open and play it. If the animation does not fit the character’s skeleton, Anim Studio replaces the character with a model that plays it, or the best skeleton. That is fine for looking at an animation. To keep your character, use step 4.
4. To play an animation that was made for another skeleton on your character: right-click it and choose Retarget onto this character…. In the dialog, check the Source skeleton (the list shows how many bones match) and click Retarget. The bones are matched by name, the rest poses are aligned and the feet stay on the floor. The result is a new clip named <name>_rt, and the Source toggle draws the source skeleton where it lands.
5. Right-click an animation also offers Append to the end of the clip and Insert at the playhead…, to join clips.

Play and pause with Space, change speed from 0.1× to 2×, toggle loop. Clicking a bone, Rotate, Move, Key and the other editing tools change the clip. A dot next to the title shows unsaved changes. Close the tab and they are gone.

4. Export what you made

Nothing is written into your client. The Export menus give downloads.

• Models: Screenshot (PNG)…, Export OBJ + textures (current pose)… and Save the original .msh / .ani / .skl as file….
• Anim Studio: Save the clip as .ani file… and Export for Blender (.ani + .skl)….

Several of these first ask you to pick a folder. In the browser what they write comes back as a download (a zip when it is several files).

The Save button of both tools also offers “Save into a pack”. The web version answers “Saving into packs is not available yet”. Use Save as file… and put the file into the pack with IOP Manager.

A new animation file name is just a new file. To use it in the game, a model config’s #ANIMATION_LIST, or a hero or skill .ini, has to name it.

5. Preview a hero with gear

1. Click Heroes under Game Data. The list on the right shows the hero ID and name; Search heroes works on both. The first hero of a visit takes longest, because the model index is built then.
2. Click a hero. The stage shows “Loading hero…”, then “Ready · drag to rotate, wheel to zoom”. The preview starts from the sp2_human_man body, replaces the default body when the gear has its own, puts on every gear mesh and applies the helmet’s hair rule. If a gear mesh is not in the packs a message lists it as “Missing gear meshes”.
3. Under the stage: Idle pose plays the hero’s idle animation, Stop stops the current action, Training mode gives you a small arena with a dummy (the line under the stage lists the keys, for example A jump, S guard, D attack, Esc to leave). Pick an attack or skill from the combos and skills rows to see it play.
4. The tabs under the stage open the hero’s config:
   • Gear: one card per gear slot with its mesh fields. View next to a mesh or animation previews that file on the hero or in Models; Copy appearance… copies the mesh references of the same slot from another hero.
   • Moveset, Skills and Effects: the animation and effect references, each with View.
   • Flow: every attack step by step, from input through animation events and hits to effects, sounds and buffs, with the checks the client would fail on. A sound chip has a listen button, an effect chip opens the effect in FX Lab.
5. Reload hero preview (in Properties) rebuilds the hero after a field change.

The fields in these tabs are editable and the tool is marked experimental. Changes stay in the tab. Export config… (top right, active only after a change) asks for a folder and downloads only the changed .ini files. Put them into the pack with Edit an INI config: the game packs are never touched.

For costume parts on the body, see Costumes.

What stays on your PC

Everything you export is a download. The tools give you the file and you put it into the client yourself, with the game closed and a backup of the original. Nothing is uploaded.

Things to know

• The same file name can be in rs.iop and map.iop, in different folders. Models lists the one the tools load for that name.
• Textures of a mesh come from the material script of the mesh and are looked up in resource/texture.
• Whether the Heroes preview uses the female body for female heroes: not confirmed yet. The source of the preview loads sp2_human_man only.