Animator
You can use VoxEdit to create and edit asset animations that can be triggered in the Game Maker.
The animator is where you can rig together different models as well as give them unique animations.
You are greeted with a similar page to the modeler where you can create a new file, open, or import a VOX.
Once the animator is opened there are six major sections; The menu bar, skeleton panel, 3d workspace, timeline panel library panel and inspector panel. The first step to making a rig is to have objects ready to attach to it.
If you have already modelled objects in modeler you can import them from the library menu or create a new one
From the skeleton panel, you can begin building the structure of your rig. Clicking the 3 dots button on the root node will let you create the first child node and set its name. You can add children nodes branching off from the other nodes. To attach an object to a node simply left click and drag it to the node you want except for the root.
Once you have moved your models onto their nodes, you can start to use the top panel to move, rotate and set up your rig. Toggling on the show rig button can help you visualize how nodes are connected to their children. The pivot point gets set in the modeler and when placed in the animator they act as the connection point to nodes.
Global Space is automatically active and when moving or rotating a node in this mode will move all of its Children. Switching to local space will let you move or rotate a node independently and its children will stay put.
Opening the inspector panel, you can see the position and rotation on that model. You can manually type in the numbers if we want an exact position change, or reset the values for that node to return to the parents location. You will also see the values change if you use the rotate mode manually on the object.
Inverse kinematics is activated with the IK button on the Top menu and controlled in the lower part of the inspector panel. This allows children to pull parent nodes within set limits for faster and more natural flowing animations.
In the timeline, we can begin creating an animation. Each tick mark is a frame, every 24 frames is one second. The first frame is always a keyframe, this is the starting position for your objects. Moving the playhead to a new frame, we can create a new keyframe by pressing the diamond button or simply moving an object. Pressing the play button will play the animation and it will automatically loop after the last keyframe.
We have different options when it comes to choosing how the animation will play. Simply by clicking the bar between the keyframes you are given some options. Linear, Ease in, Ease out, Long rotation and others.
Last modified 1yr ago