Animating 3d models in DarkGDK using dbAppendObject

Been watching 3d Animation tutorials lately but I’ve never really found a tutorial or detailed example for that matter that actually teaches how to animate 3d models in DarkGDK in a less unclear way. And so I’m sharing this example in hope that it will be used by some computer enthusiast out there like myself as a starting point in creating their very own 3d computer game.

I have used the Babe model in this example. Babe model is a Dark Matter Model that is accesible by default when you install DarkGDK and is located at C:\Program Files\The Game Creators\Dark GDK\Media\Dark Matter Models\People. The controls and actions of our model in this example are illustrated in the following table.

Controls	Actions
W,A,S,D	Move.x
Tab	Die.x
Q	Impact.x
No key Pressed	Idle.x

Enough said, here’s the code:

// Dark GDK - The Game Creators - www.thegamecreators.com
// the wizard has created a very simple project that uses Dark GDK
// it contains the basic code for a GDK application
// whenever using Dark GDK you must ensure you include the header file
#include "DarkGDK.h"
// the main entry point for the application is this function
void DarkGDK ( void )
{
// turn on sync rate and set maximum rate to 30 fps
 dbSyncOn();
 dbSyncRate(30);

 //loads our 3d model
 //we'll be borrowing the Babe DirectX Darkmatter model
 //it's included in the DarkGdk package located in
 //C:\Program Files\The Game Creators\Dark GDK\Media\Dark Matter Models\People\Babe
 //Just copy the contents of the Babe folder to your game project folder
 dbLoadObject("H-Babe-Idle.x",2);
 //Idle.x has 25 frames
 //to find how how many frames there is in a .x animation
 //Click Start>All Programs>The Game Creators>DarkGDK>Documentation>Information>Type "Frame" 
 //in the Textbox and the command used to determine the number of frames will reveal itself to you.
 //appends the number of frames of the Move.x animation to the loaded model
 //Move.x has 25 frames
 dbAppendObject("H-Babe-Move.x",2,26);
 //Attack.x has 24 frames
 //adds the number of frames of Attack.x to the loaded model
 dbAppendObject("H-Babe-Attack1.x",2,51);
 //Die.x has 50 frames
 //adds the number of frames of Die.x to the loaded model
 dbAppendObject("H-Babe-Die.x",2,76);
 //Impact.x has 10 frames
 //adds the number of frames of Impact.x to the loaded model
 dbAppendObject("H-Babe-Impact.x",2,126);
 //positions the object in the -y axis cause its a little bit top aligned by default when loaded
 dbPositionObject(2,0,-1,0);


 while (LoopGDK())
 {
 //display descriptive text
 dbSetTextSize(14);
 dbText(10,0,"WASD-Movement");
 dbText(10,10,"Spacebar-Attack.x");
 dbText(10,20,"Tab-Die.x");
 dbText(10,30,"Q-Impact.x");
 dbText(10,40,"No key pressed-Idle.x");
  

 
   //if the W or A or S or D or Spacebar or Tab or Q is pressed
   if ( dbKeyState(17) || dbKeyState(31) ||dbKeyState(32) || dbKeyState(30)||dbKeyState(57) || dbKeyState(15)|| dbKeyState(16))
   {
   //stop the presently looping animation
  dbStopObject(2);
   //retrieves the object present angle
   int ObjAngleY=dbObjectAngleY(2);
   //determines if the object is presently looping
   int looping=dbObjectLooping(2);
      //if the key pressed is W
   if(dbKeyState(17)) 
   { 
   //move the object on the -Z axis
     dbMoveObject(2,-0.05f);
   //is the object presently not playing?
   if (looping==0 )
   {
   //if yes then execute move.x
      //move Move.x has 25 frames
   //the number of frames from the starting frame to the ending frame must be at least 25 frames

    dbLoopObject ( 2,26, 51 );
   };
   }
   //if the key pressed is S
   if (dbKeyState(31))
   {
   //move the object on the Z axis
    dbMoveObject(2,0.05f);
   //is the object currently not playing?
   if (looping==0 )
   {
      //if yes then execute move.x
      //move directx animation has 25 frames
   //starting frame up to the end frame must be at least 25 frames

    dbLoopObject ( 2,26, 51 );

   };
   }
   //if the A key is pressed

   if (dbKeyState(30))
   {
  //rotate the object along the Y axis
  //for instance, if the objects current angle is 275-5
  //The object will then be rotated 270 degrees which is exactly south
  //from the user's POV
  //the dbWrapValue is to ensure that the object rotation will not exceed 360 degrees

    dbYRotateObject(2,dbWrapValue(ObjAngleY-5.0f));
   }

  //if the D key is pressed
   if (dbKeyState(32))
   {
 
     //rotate the object along the Y axis
  //for instance, if the objects current angle is 85+5
  //The object will then be rotated 90 degrees which is exactly north
  //from the user's POV
  //the dbWrapValue is to ensure that the object rotation will not exceed 360 degrees
    dbYRotateObject(2,dbWrapValue(ObjAngleY+5.0f));
   }
     //if the space key is pressed
   if(dbKeyState(57))
   {
  //is the object currently not playing?
   if (looping==0 )
   {
   //if yes then execute Attack.x
   //Attack.x has 24 frames so from the starting to ending frames
   //must be at least 24 frames
    dbLoopObject ( 2,51,77 );


   };
   }
   //if the Tab key is pressed
   if(dbKeyState(15))
   {
   //is the object currently not playing?
   if (looping==0 )
   {
   //if yes then execute Die.x
   //Die.x has 50 frames so from the starting to ending frames
   //must be at least 50 frames
    dbLoopObject ( 2,78,127 );


   };
   }
       //if the Q key is pressed
  
   if(dbKeyState(16))
   {
  //is the object currently not playing?
   if (looping==0 )
   {
  //if yes then execute Impact.x
     //Impact.x has 10 frames so from the starting to ending frames
     //must be at least 10 frames
    dbLoopObject ( 2,127,137 );


   };
   }


   }
  else
  //if no key is pressed
  //execute Idle.x
  //Idle.x has 25 frames so from the starting to the ending frames miust be at least 25 frames
  {
   dbLoopObject(2,1,25);
  }
// update the screen
  dbSync();
 } 
//return to windows
return;
}

Another way of animating models is by using the dbShowObject and dbHideObject commands. I'll post an example of that here when I have time. If you want more information on animating darkGDK models or creating games per se, you can visit DarkGDK's official site www.thegamecreators.com