CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++openglanimation
Snowdrama
Snowdrama

Reputation: 415

Using a Shader to animate a mesh

I have been working on my low level OpenGL understanding, and I've finally come to how to animate 3D models. Nowhere I look tells me how to do Skeletal animation. most things use some kind of 3D engine and just say "Load the Skeleton" or "Apply the Animation" but not how to load a skeleton, or how to actually move the vertices.

I'm assuming each bone has a 4x4 Matrix of the Translation/Rotation/Scale for the vertices its attached too that way when the bone is moved the vertices attached also move by the same amount.

for skeletal animation I was guessing that you would pass the Bone(s) to the shader, that way in the vertex shader I move the current vertex before it goes to the fragment shader. If I have a keyframed animation I send the current bone and the new bone to the shader along with the current time between frames and interpolate the points between bones based on how much time there is between keyframes.

Is this the correct way to animate a mesh? or is there a better way

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1927

Answers (1)

Paweł Stawarz
Paweł Stawarz

Reputation: 4012

Well - the method of animation depends on the format, and the data that's written in it. Some formats supply you in vectors, some use matrices. I gotta admit I came to this site to ask a similar question, but I've specified the format (was using *.x files, you can check the topic), and I got an answer.

You're idea of the subject is correct. If you want a sample implementation, you can find one on the OpenGL wiki.

Upvotes: 3

Related Questions