Quote Originally Posted by [b
Quote[/b] (Duke John @ June 03 2003,19:11)]Thanks for the info, I'll keep that in mind when animating my models. Do also happen to know if the stabbing action of spearmen and cavalry is realistic? I know for spearmen they held them two-handed, but didn't also stab overhand (or was that only in the Dark Ages or so)? But the cavalry look really silly IMO. Any thoughts on them?
The most important thing to consider is the order of rendering. For objects (shields/weapons) you can change whether the object is rendering in front of the figure or behind it.

This is generally not a problem for an object that is only carried in one hand.

This is also not a problem for an object (two-handed sword/two-handed axe) that is carried in both hands - providing the hands are clasped together or close together.

It can, however, be a real problem (visually) for a weapon that is carried in 2 hands and where the two hands are NOT close together. Think of a pike. The hands of the figure will be in different positions on the pike. Therefore, depending on the actual camera-angle/figure-sequence a figure may have 1 hand in FRONT of its body whilst the other hand is BEHIND its body. Theerefore, the weapon (pike) being carried should really be visable in some areas but not visable in other areas (the part of the pike that is held by the hand that is actually BEHIND the body).

Unfortunately the MTW engine cannot cater for such weapons that may be held in such positions (obviously not). Therefore, if anyone is producing images for two-handed actions it would be preferable to ensure that BOTH hands are either visable, or not visable, for each image in a 12 frame sequence. You can then avoid the problem because the WHOLE of the pike should always appear to be either in front of or behind the figure - and it should'nt look too strange.

The animations only look strange when you have one hand visable (holding one end of the pike) and the other hand not visable (but the that end of the pike appears to be floating in mid-air).

Hhhmm ... not sure that explanation is A1, but if you think about the "all object in front or all object behind" principle, and consider how two-handed objects are carried then it should make a bit of sense.

As for realism Well, if you have a look at VI's SwabianSwordsmens ...

... you can't do much worse, can you

Welly