[General] Seperate "Animation File"

[HeartCardian]

Something I noticed while messing around with War3 Model Editor is that the model properties has an option for "Model Animation File" under the "Model Name" option.

However, trying to save the model AFTER adding into this "Model Animation File" space does not save the change. It simply reverts back to blank whenever the model is opened.

So has anyone had any success with some method of having a model animated by a separate animation file of any kind?

 

[PurgeandFire]

I'm really curious about this too. I'm honestly not sure what format it expects for that separate animation file (should it be an MDX? MDL? Some other weird file?). You can edit the model with a hex editor to play around with that field, but I don't really see that info documented anywhere, apart from being mentioned in a few specs, e.g.:
MDX Specifications

MODL {
  char[80] name
  char[260] animationFileName
  Extent extent
  uint32 blendTime
}

Maybe @GhostWolf will know, since he compiled the latest specs.

 

[Dr Super Good]

This sort of functionality is demonstrated in StarCraft II where one can specify model animations in 1 or more auxiliary files. This has 2 purposes.

• Animation reuse between different models with the same skeletons. In StarCraft II this is demonstrated with the civilian models which have a ton of different model variations but share the same animation files.
• Localized animations. Specifically for lip and facial synchronization with localized audio files.

However the big question is does the structure works in Warcraft III? As far as I know, no standard model uses it. It might have been intended for localized portrait animations but could be either not implemented or disused.