Construction Panel: LoopList Editor

The LoopList Editor is the generic portion of a Construction Panel where series of frames ("FrameLoops") are defined and arranged for export to the target. Each Construction Panel - regardless of target model type - has this section tacked onto the bottom of it.

I'll refer to each specific band of frames (i.e. 5 frames starting at frame 10) as a frameloop simply because in most current games, that series of frames is intended to loop inside the game. This panel is a means of defining those frameloops.

This piece of the Construction Panel is intended to satisfy the following objectives:

• To allow the user to arrange the target's frameloops independent of the ordering defined in LightWave. For example, frames 0-5 and 20-25 in Layout can be stored in the target as frames 6-10 and 0-5 respectively.
• To allow the user to share frameloops (and frame definitions) between separate modes. This is useful for targets of varying LOD where there are a number of targets all following the same motions. It would be tedious to redefine thing liks start and end frames for each model indepentanlty - since they are all following the same track, you can define the frames and FrameLoops in one place, and then direct all of the different models to reference that one list.
• To allow the activation (or deactivation) of individual frameloops on a per-target basis. This extends the previous concept.

• Data Fields
- Remember to use tab when entering data.
• (Name)
- Name of the frameloop
• (Pattern)
- This is where the Length used to go. It is still possible to use this as the length and to put a single number in there ... but it does a bit more now. The new hub mimics the ActorX functionality - and note that you MUST upgrade the hub if you are upgrading any of the other Export plugins. Note that In ALL cases, frame values are inclusive and all work off the offset value if one is added.
• Length
- a simple number value in this field is interpreted as 'length'. Quite simply, frames [Offset] to [Offset + Length -1] will be transferred to the target. This cannot be combined with any of the other special characters - it is really just here for backwards compatability.
• Range
- the - (dash) character can be used to define a range. 0-3 would spit frames [offset+] 0,1,2 and 3 to the target. 0-3-0 would spit frames [offset+] 0,1,2,3,2,1,0 to the target.
• Selective
- the , (comma) character is used to choose selective frames. 0,1,2,6,5 would spit those 5 frames [+offset, of course] into the target file.
• Range and Selective
- these 2 can be combined. Something like 0-2,2,2,2-0 would spit out the 8 frames 0,1,2,2,2,2,1,0 to the target. This is useful to design 'stalls' or loops w/o having to work with your animation in Layout.
• (Offset)
- LightWave Frame at which this frameloop is to start from.
• Buttons
• +
- Add - Adds a new frameloop in below the currently selected loop and fills it with the data currently displayed in the data fields.
• =
- Update - Updates the currently selected frameloop.
• X
- Delete - Deletes the currently selected frameloop.
• /\
- Up - Moves the selected frameloop up one slot.
• \/
- Down - Moves the selected frameloop down one slot.
• Frame List Provider
- This announces the target that owns the frame list currently being displayed. Keep in mind that if this is different than the target being defined through this Construction Panel, then any changes to the dimensions of the frameloops, or the order of the frame loops will also be reflected on the target displayed in this list. If that target is deleted (through the Clear Unreferenced Model button on the ExportControl Panel), then this target will revert to using it's own list.
• Table Columns
• (Active)
- A check mark here indicates that a frameloop is 'active'. Active frameloops count toward the target's frames, and are included when previewing. Unchecked loops are ignored. This checkmark is model-specific. This means that if the Frame List Provider is a target different than the current one, then toggling the checkmark here has no effect on the list shown on the provider's panel. The fields above the table almost match up with the values in the table - with the exception of the Target column. that column is generated automatically.
• Name
- Simply displays the name of this frameloop.
• Len
- Number of frames in this loop - it will do the math to determine the length of funky patterns.
• LW
- Frames being chosen from Lightwave.
• Target
- Frames that these will be translated to in the target file.
• Other Notes
• The panel is sensitive to keystrokes.
The trick is to make sure the panel has focus and not the fields. This can be achieved by giving another panel focus, and then giving focus back to the Construction panel by clicking on the panel somewhere rather than in a field. Active keys and the functionality they duplicate is as follows:
• PgUp/PgDn - Move the selected frameloop Up/Down
• Left/Right arrow - Increase/Decrease selected frameloop's length
• Up/Down arrow - Decrease/Increase selected frameloop's LW Start frame
• The last frameloop tends to drop off the bottom of the list. This is a BUG with the control - has something to do with the number of lines and the height. You can find it by moving the 2nd to last frame down.