What is an IFL?

IFL stands for Image File Lists; basically it is sequence of images that is played to animate a texture of an object. Think of an IFL as a flip book of sorts, you hold the flip book and flip, through the images in the book, creating a sequence of animation or movement of the little stick guys drawn on it.

Sounds cool doesn't it?

What I am going to do here it show you how to apply a sequence of images to an objects surface using Lightwave.

In this tutorial I will be taking you through:

1. Resources prerequisites.
   
2. Attaching the images to the proper surface In Lightwave.
   
3. Setting up the DTS Exporter Material Attributes Exporter for Lightwave.
   
4. Setting up the object for exporting the animations in the LW to DTS Exporter
   
5. Create a .IFL file for the engine
   
6. Create an IFL.cs file to automatically play the animation of the object ::onadd.

Resources prerequisites

First and foremost, what your going to need is two (2) things, a sequence of images to use that you have created with sequential naming (IE: Image01, Image02 and so on..) And an object in .LWO form to apply this technique to.


The image below is an example of an animated texture

The images

You can create the images necessary in anyway you know how, keeping in mind that each image WILL be loaded into the engine and take up memory. With that in mind I suggest you keep your eye on file size, dimensions and compression type, you should use all you know about optimizing images for use in videogames. You can use just about any type of animation software that you have access to, some to consider:

1. Macromedia Flash
   
2. Adobe Image ready
   
3. An animation rendered using your favorite 3d package.

The Object

Now, I am assuming that you know how to model using Lightwave, and you have an understanding of making objects for use in the Torque Game Engine. What you need is a simple object with a surface that you wish to apply this technique to. And again, since I am a nice guy, you will find a fully modeled .LWO, complete with UV ready to apply the image set I gave you above to.

Media:IFL_tutorial_Object.zip

The Process Explained

The first thing you’re going to want to do is to make a new folder in your mod directory (most likely “Starter.fps”) under the shapes folder. Move all the images in the above zip file to that folder. This is the folder we will be using for this object.


The second thing your going to want to do is open your model (or the one I gave you) in Lightwave.

Modeler

With the object open, I want you to take a look at the Surface editor (Press F5). I have created and colored two surfaces for you, one named “Gem” and one named “Mound”. The Mound part of this model is static, it does not get animated.



By clicking on the “T” in the color channel of the object, and group in question, you can set the texture you wish to use. Go ahead and click on the surface group “mound” on the right-hand side, then press the “T”, this will open up the Texture editor window. In the “Texture editor” window, select Projections type: “Planar”; then set the image to “Stone.Jpg” (using the file browser), lastly Make sure the Texture axis is set to “Y” and hit “use texture”



Now onto the surface that we will be setting up as an animated surface (IFL).
This time, select the surface name on the left-hand side in the surface editor “gem”. Then once again click the “T” on the color channel. Once the Texture editor opens, set the projection to “UV”, set the “UV map” to “GEM”, and select the first image in the image sequence named “gem10001.Jpg” and hit “use texture”.

It is very important that all the textures be named sequentially, and all are located in the same folder.

Now your most likely thinking that all you have done is set one image as the surface, well, that’s true. The key here is to tell the Lightwave exporter that this surface is an animated sequence. This is done like so:

1. In the surface editor, with “gem” surface selected, click on “shaders”.
   
2. Under shaders select the drop down “add shaders” and then select “DTS Exporter Material Attributes”.
   
3. That will place the selected “DTS Exporter Material Attributes” in the list of applied shaders.
   
4. Double click the newly added “DTS Exporter Material Attributes”, or click the dropdown “edit” then, “properties”.

Sending it to layout

For the new users, or the first time users of Lightwave, Lightwave comes in two parts, modeler, and layout. This is a really handy feature because it keeps your modeling options and rendering options separate. In the upper right-hand side you will find a small down arrow, use this (after you have saved your model) to send it to layout. And don’t worry, the changes you make in modeler or in layout, will update real-time in layout or modeler (or you can synchronize the two).And in layout and modeler you will still have access to the surface editor and properties.

Layout

Once in layout go ahead and click on the “Utilities” tab, then click on master plug-ins, and then click on “add layout or scene manger”, under that drop down, select “Torque DTS exporter” . (You should have this already installed).





Now, double click the “Torque DTS exporter”, or hit edit, properties.

If you have exported objects for use in torque, you should be familiar with this screen; this is the GUI for the LWO to DTS exporter.





Go-ahead and set the save file path to the folder that we made in your torque directory, don’t forget to add “.dts” to the end of the file name. Keeping “Export material information” checked, switch over to the “Animation” tab. Place a check in “Export animations”, then create a new sequence, we shall name it “shine”. Leave the start frame at 0 (zero) and set the ending frame to 20, finally set the animation to cycle.





Before I go on, the reason we set the end frame to 20 is the fact that we will be using 20 images to make this animation, each image essentially being one Frame. Keep this in mind when you make your own set of animated images. They add up….. Quickly.

Once you have the animation named, and frames set your almost ready to export. The last of the settings for the exporter is located under the “materials” tab at the bottom of the window.



Under this tab, you should see the “Gem” surface listed (if not check that you set the material properties correctly), Click the “add all surfaces”. You should now see a “yes” next to the “gem” surface.

With all that set, you’re ready to export. Go ahead and do that now.

But, you’re still not done. Nope, if you were to load the object into torque and place it in the world it would be just as static as another object.

Putting the “List” in “Image File List”

The .IFL file

Now, Torque uses a technique of animating textures like a flip book called IFL. There is a file you need to create that tells the engine what images to use, and in what order to use them. The file is just a text file with the extinction .ifl. Simple a? Below are the contents of the .ifl file for this object. Notice that in it, it lists every image in the set (1-20).

gem10001 1
gem10002 1
gem10003 1
gem10004 1
gem10005 1
gem10006 1
gem10007 1
gem10008 1
gem10009 1
gem10010 1
gem10011 1
gem10012 1
gem10013 1
gem10014 1
gem10015 1
gem10016 1
gem10017 1
gem10018 1
gem10019 1
gem10020 1

Copy and paste this into a new text file in the same folder as the object and the images, and rename it “gem10001.ifl”. Notice that the ifl file is named exactly the same name as the first image in the sequence, this is very important.

Making it all GO!

You’re still not done. In order for the object to animate it needs some form of trigger to start the sequence, this is in the form of a script, this script can be activated anyway you wish, either a console command or set to a timer. (Take a look at the scripting section of the TDN to help you control the on and off of the animation to suit your needs.)

For this tutorial we will be using the script that follows to start the animation when the object is created using the mission editor or when the mission loads.

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------//
// IFL (Image File List)                                                                 //
//                                                                                       //
// This script sets up all the IFL animations.                                           //
// sets it up so that when the object is placed in the world (or ::onadd)                //
// the animated textures are played.                                                     //
//                                                                                       //
//                  *******Current list of items using IFL's*******                       //
//                                                                                       //
//                                                                                       //
// 1."IFL_Tutorial_object" = This is a mound of crystals                                //
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------//   

// The Crystials Structure

datablock StaticShapeData(IFL_Tutorial_object) 
{ 
	// The category variable determines where the item 
	// shows up in the mission editor's creator tree. 
	
	category = "Misc";
	shapeFile = "~/data/shapes/Crystals/IFL_Tutorial_object.dts"; //Location of the .DTS
}; 

function IFL_Tutorial_object::onAdd(%this,%obj) 
{ 
	%obj.playThread(0, "shine");  // The animation to play
} 

function StaticShapeData::create(%block) 
{ 
	
	%obj = new StaticShape() 
	{ 
		dataBlock = %block; 
	}; 
	return(%obj); 
}

Copy the above and place it in a new text document and save it, rename the CS file as “IFL.cs” and place it in your server folder, then edit your “game.cs” and make sure to make the file execute using this line

Now, boot up torque, place the object and all should be well.