Book Image

jMonkeyEngine 3.0 : Beginner's Guide

Book Image

jMonkeyEngine 3.0 : Beginner's Guide

Overview of this book

jMonkeyEngine 3.0 is a powerful set of free Java libraries that allows you to unlock your imagination, create 3D games and stunning graphics. Using jMonkeyEngine's library of time-tested methods, this book will allow you to unlock its potential and make the creation of beautiful interactive 3D environments a breeze."jMonkeyEngine 3.0 Beginner's Guide" teaches aspiring game developers how to build modern 3D games with Java. This primer on 3D programming is packed with best practices, tips and tricks and loads of example code. Progressing from elementary concepts to advanced effects, budding game developers will have their first game up and running by the end of this book.From basic concepts and project creation to building a complex 3D Game, you will learn to layout 3D scenes, make them interactive and add various multi-media effects.You will find answers to common questions including best practices and approaches, how game characters can act and interact, how to simulate solid walls and physical forces, how to take it online to play over a network and much more.From Zero to Hero, start your journey to make your game idea a reality.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
jMonkeyEngine 3.0 Beginner's Guide
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Time for action – rig, skin, and animate


The jMonkeyEngine only loads and plays recorded animations. You must use a model editor to add animations to an existing model. This process is very different depending on the model editor and we cannot cover it here—please consult your editor's documentation for details.

In general, you have to complete three steps: you rig, skin, and animate the model in your model editor.

  1. Rig your model using a bone armature. Parent all bones to one root bone. Locate the root bone at the origin (typically, on the floor between the feet of the character).

  2. Skin your model using vertex groups and weight painting.

  3. Animate the model by specifying keyframes. If your model contains several animations, turn the keyframes into action strips, and layer them in Blender's NLA editor. For example, create an idle and a walk animation.

  4. Give each animation a name, for example "Idle" and "Walk". Export the animated model as Ogre3D mesh with skeleton.

  5. In the end you should have the files...