#Creature Haxe Plugin

This repository contains the Creature Haxe Plugin for the Creature Animation Tool ( http://creature.kestrelmoon.com/ )

##Live Demo A live web demonstration of a running UtahRaptor using the plugin in Flash and HaxeFlixel is here. The demo shows a dinosaur animated with deforming meshes exported from Creature.

UtahRaptor Artwork: Emily Willoughby (http://emilywilloughby.com)

Ice Demon Artwork: Katarzyna Zalecka [http://kasia88.deviantart.com]

##Using the Haxe Plugin The Haxe plugin core code lives in the folder CreatureHaxe In it, yoi will find the file CreaturePackModule.hx which contains the core classes you will need to playback Creature Animations in Haxe.

###Animation File Format + Playback The Haxe Plugin uses the more compact creature_pack format. This file format has most of the functionality of the original Creature JSON/FlatData formats except for Bone Information. Meshe playback, deform, blend etc. in this format but if you need to attach objects to your character, the preferred method is to do it by vertex.

Because creature_pack has no bones, the deformation evaulation is much faster since all the deformations have already been baked out into the file. In addition to that, the Creature Animation Tool allows you to specify a number of options to reduce the export file size of this format dramatically. Key to reducing the file size is the Gap Step parameter during export. Increasing this value will decrease the file size but reduce the animation quality. Try values between 2 and 6.

###Core Classes/Methods

In order to load data, you create the CreaturePackLoader object with an input ByteArray.

	var readData = new MyData();
	creatureData = new CreaturePackLoader(readData);

Animation Playback functions are accomplished with the CreatureHaxeBaseRenderer class. This class drives the animation and provides functions for you to play, blend, start/stop the animation(s). Depending on the renderer (Stage3D, HaxeFlixel etc.), you will typically grab access to this CreatureHaxeBaseRenderer ( or an inherited version of it ) to play your animations

Methods:

• setActiveAnimation(nameIn : String) - Sets the active animation name

• function blendToAnimation(nameIn : String, blendDelta : Float) - Smoothly blends to a target animation with a blend delta between 0 to 1

• function getRunTime() : Float - Returns the current time of the animation

• function stepTime(deltaTime : Float) - Steps the animation forwards by a time delta

• function syncRenderData() - Call this before a render to update the render data. NOTE: This function is only needed if you are using lower level renderes like the Stage3D renderer.

###Flash Target with Stage3D If you want to target pure Flash, there is a CreatureStage3DRenderer available that does just that.

####Loading Data

Take a look at the sample code below:

 @:file("raptorTest_character_data.creature_pack")
class MyData extends flash.utils.ByteArray
{   
}

@:bitmap("raptorTest_character_img.png")
class MyBitmap extends BitmapData
{
}

function onReady( _ ) {
	var stage = Lib.current.stage;
	ctx = s3d.context3D;
	ctx.enableErrorChecking = true;
	ctx.configureBackBuffer( stage.stageWidth, stage.stageHeight, 0, true );
	ctx.setBlendFactors(Context3DBlendFactor.SOURCE_ALPHA, Context3DBlendFactor.ONE_MINUS_SOURCE_ALPHA);
	
	// Load Creature Data
	var readData = new MyData();
	creatureData = new CreaturePackLoader(readData);

	// Create texture
	var curBitmap : MyBitmap = new MyBitmap(2048, 871);
	creatureTexture = ctx.createRectangleTexture(2048, 871, Context3DTextureFormat.BGRA, false);
	
	//var curBitmap : MyBitmap2 = new MyBitmap2(1600, 1600);
	
	creatureTexture.uploadFromBitmapData(curBitmap);
	
	// creature renderer
	creatureDraw = new CreatureStage3DRenderer(creatureData, creatureTexture, ctx);
	creatureDraw.setActiveAnimation("default");
}

####Rendering Rendering is done with the following code:

function update(_) {
	if (ctx == null) return;
	
	// Camera and screen buffer
	ctx.clear(0, 0, 0, 1);
	ctx.setDepthTest( true, flash.display3D.Context3DCompareMode.LESS_EQUAL );
	ctx.setCulling(flash.display3D.Context3DTriangleFace.NONE);
	
	var stage = Lib.current.stage;
	var ratio = stage.stageHeight / stage.stageWidth;
	
	var curCamera = new Matrix3D();
	var camMat:Mat4 = Projection.ortho( -1, 1, -1 * ratio, 1 * ratio, -1, 1);
	var readCamArray:Array<Float> = camMat.toArrayColMajor();
	var rawCamArray : Vector<Float> = new Vector<Float>(16);
	for (i in 0...16)
	{
		rawCamArray[i] = readCamArray[i];
	}
	
	// Creature Animation
	creatureDraw.transformMat.identity();
	creatureDraw.transformMat.appendScale(0.035, 0.035, 0.035);
	
	curCamera.copyRawDataFrom(rawCamArray);
	
	creatureDraw.stepTime(2);
	creatureDraw.syncRenderData();
	creatureDraw.render(curCamera);
	
	// Show results onto screen
	ctx.present();
}

Please take a look at the folder FlashDev for the full sample source.

###HaxeFlixel Target There is a CreatureHaxeFlixelRenderer that works in the HaxeFlixel ( http://haxeflixel.com/ ) framework. Note that in order for this renderer to run, your target must support the drawTriangles rendering method.

To setup and play the animation, take a look at the sample code below:

override public function create():Void
{
	super.create();
	
	var load_data = Assets.getBytes(AssetPaths.raptorData__creature_pack);
	var load_img = Assets.getBitmapData(AssetPaths.raptorImg__png);
	creatureData = new CreaturePackLoader(load_data);
	
	var flixelCreatureRenderer = new CreatureHaxeFlixelRenderer(creatureData, 350, 350);
	flixelCreatureRenderer.loadGraphic(AssetPaths.raptorImg__png);
	flixelCreatureRenderer.creatureRender.setActiveAnimation("default");
	
	flixelCreatureRenderer.setSize(16, 16);
	
	add(flixelCreatureRenderer);
}

You can adjust the playback speed by changing the speed variable on the CreatureHaxeFlixelRenderer object. You have access to the CreatureHaxeBaseRenderer object from the CreatureHaxeFlixelRenderer via the creatureRender variable. This allows you to blend, switch, stop etc. animations.

###Starling Target There is a CreatureStarlingRenderer that works with Starling( https://github.com/openfl/starling )

To setup and play your character animation, use the sample code below:

	var curTexture = sAssets.getTexture("texture");
	var curData = sAssets.getByteArray("data");
	var creatureData = new CreaturePackLoader(curData);
	
	var texWidth = 512;
	var texHeight = 512;
	
	// Load the Creature Starling Renderer
	creature_render = new CreatureStarlingRenderer(creatureData, curTexture, 15, 15);
	
	addChild(creature_render);
	
	// Now set the position and playback speed
	creature_render.x = 380;
	creature_render.y = 250;
	creature_render.speed = 100;
	
	// Set animation clip to cplay
	creature_render.creatureRender.setActiveAnimation("default");
	
	// Do animation updates via timer, you can use your own update methods 
	// for your own game
	var timer = new Timer(16);
	timer.run = function()
	{
		creature_render.update(1.0 / 60.0);
	}