Bio Oreo Instructions

BIOOREO PRO 1.0.3 INSTRUCTIONS V5/10/98 ©1998 Pangea Software http://www.realtime.net/~pangea INTRODUCTION BioOreo Pro is the 3D character animation tool used to create the animated dinosaurs in Nanosaur. This tool’s predecessor, BioOreo was used to do the animated characters in Weekend Warrior. The main difference between BioOreo and BioOreo Pro is that BioOreo Pro uses “skinned” geometries instead of “jointed” geometries. What this means is that BioOreo Pro performs animation on a 3D model by deforming a single contiguous mesh. This results in a much more realistic looking animation than was previously possible using segmented models. When a leg moves, the skin is stretched and deformed just like the real thing. BioOreo Pro is a fairly complex tool to use and does take patience. Creating an animated character involves the following steps: 1. Create the model in a good 3D modeling program. We recommend Form*Z. 2. Optimize the 3D model with 3DMF Optimizer. 3. Load the optimized model into BioOreo Pro’s Bones Editor. 4. Create a skeleton under the source model. 5. Assign vertices to bones. 6. Create character animations with the keyframe animator. This documentation is going to lead you through the process step by step, but the first thing we’ll do is load up a sample “skeleton” to get a feel for the tool. MANIPULATION AND ANIMATION When you launch BioOreo Pro, you will see 3 windows: • Articulation • Skinned • Animation Timeline The Articulation window is where you will manipulate your 3D model. The skinned window will show you a rendered preview of the manipulated model. The Animation Timeline window shows you the currently selected animation and all of its keyframe data. OPENING A SKELETON The first thing we want to do is load in a sample model. Animated characters are stored as 2 files: a 3DMF file containing the actual 3D model, and a “.skeleton” file which contains the skeleton and animation data for the character. Skeleton files know which 3DMF file they need to use, so when we open a character to work with, we only need to open the skeleton file. Simply select Open Skeleton from the File menu and select “Diloph.skeleton” in the SampleFiles folder. WHAT’S IN THOSE WINDOWS? When you open the skeleton file, you will see all three of the display windows change. The Articulation window will show you the following: The Articulation window showing the Dilophosaurus. In this window you can see the skeleton of the dinosaur. In the upper right corner are the command buttons. You click on these buttons to select an editing mode. At the bottom of the window is the information bar. This will display information about the currently selected “joint.” In the Skinned window, you will see a rendered image of the skeleton: …