File list

Device machines - what are they?

Now let's take a look at a new tag type we haven't used before - the .device_machine. These tags, at first glance, seem no different to animation .scenery objects. They have a few key difference though, the major one being dynamic (moving) physics models.

Step onto your newly spinning platform - you will notice that you do not spin with the platform. Walk into the platform from the side - you do not get pushed away by the pointy edges of the platform flying past. If you brush up against the platform enough, you will likely come to the correct conclusion that the physics model is not moving whatsoever. Even if we weighted the physics model to the Bone in blender, it would not animate in-engine. This is the main reason for using a .device_machine tag, as it does allow for all sorts of moving physics shenanigans.

Let's go over a couple of well-known device machine examples throughout the games (even if you didn't know that's what they are!) to gain a better understanding of their wide range of applications. In Halo 2's Cairo Station mission, you may remember the second time you venture into space, and you fight some flying elites on a large platform that moves up and down as part of the mac gun's firing mechanism. This entire area is not part of the level BSP, but is rather a large device machine. As it animates up and down, the physics do too. In Halo 3, remember the huge spinning wheel on Last Resort? That too is a device machine - it's blades push the player and other objects around as the wheel animates, indicating that it has dynamic physics! Most, if not all elevators in H2+ are also device machines for reasons that should now be obvious.

Creating an elevator animation

In the following sections, we will be making our platform into a makeshift elevator! This requires creating a new animation of the platform changing height, so let's get back to work in Blender:

Out with the old, in with the new

1. We need to remove the current spinning animation from the platform. First, in the Timeline window, set the current frame to frame 1.
2. In the Outliner window, expand the Armature object if it isn't already. You should see animation data called Animation. Expand this too. Finally, you should now see an animation called Armature Action. Select it, then right-click and choose Delete.
3. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to your platform's animations data folder, e.g. "H3EK\data\objects\scenery\custom_platform\animations". Cut the any idle.JMM file and paste it somewhere of your choice for safe keeping. We will not be using it for the time being.

Creating a new animation

3. Select the armature object, and enter into Pose Mode.
4. In the 3D Viewport, press I and insert a Location keyframe on frame 1.
5. In the Timeline window, set the currently active frame to 80.
6. Next, press G, Z, 200 to move the bone 200 meters upwards (the Z axis).
7. Press I and insert another Location keyframe.

That's it! This is a very simple animation, test it out with the play button in the Timeline window. The platform simply rises to 200m over 80 frames, then resets.

Re-parenting the physics model

In order for the physics model to follow the animation, we must change it's parenting:

1. Select the $platform_physics object in the Outliner view. Then ctrl-click the Bone bone.
2. Hover over the 3D Viewport, and press Ctrl + P to open the parenting menu. Choose Bone Relative.

You can double-check you did it correctly by playing the animation - the physics should now move seamlessly with the render model.

Exporting a device machine animation

Device machines have a built-in value called position ranging from 0 to 1, that determines how far through its animation it is. For example an elevator device machine with a current position of 0 would be at the rest/start position. A current position of 1 means that it is at its end position. 0.5 would mean it is at exactly the halfway point in its travel from point A to B. This position value can be directly controlled by both in-game buttons (another tag type, .device_control), or by game scripting, allowing for controlled management of a device machine's behaviour.

The animation for a device machine is a .JMO type. It is not a base type (.JMA, .JMM) because more complicated device machines can use multiple overlay animations at the same time to achieve complex behaviors. We will not be covering that in this guide - simply take away that device machines use .JMO for their position animation. As with our any idle animation earlier, the name we give the exported .JMO file does matter, as it determines how tool sets up the animation graph tag. To be used as the position animation, we simply need to export the animation as device position.JMO:

1. Back in Blender, click File -> Export and choose Halo Jointed Model Animation (JMA).
2. In the export menu, make sure the Game Version is set to Halo 3 MCC, and the extension to JMO. Leave all other settings default.
3. Set the name of the file at the bottom to device position, and export to the animations folder.

   

Importing the device machine animation

This section will be almost identical to importing the any idle.JMM animation from the previous tutorial. As written in that section, tool will remove any missing animations from the .model_animation_graph tag. We have moved the any idle.JMM file elsewhere - this means that after re-running the model-animations command, we will only have the new device position animation in the animation graph. If you already feel comfortable or fancy a challenge, try importing the animation on your own! Otherwise, follow these steps:

1. Open up CMD in your H3EK folder.
2. Type tool model-animations "path\to\your\scenery", where path\to\your\scenery is the tags-relative path to your scenery's data folder. For example if you have been following along exactly, this will be "objects\scenery\custom_platform".

You should now see the following output from tool, informing us that the device position.JMO animation has been imported with no errors:

As per the previous tutorial, if you open the .model_animation_graph tag in Guerilla and scroll down to the Mode-n-State Graph block, you should now see the device position animation has automatically been put into the Overlays group.

Creating the device machine tag

Just like with the .scenery and .crate version of this custom object, we need to create a new top-level tag - the .device_machine tag.

1. Open Guerilla. Press Ctrl + N to open the new tag dialog, and choose device_machine.
2. Use Ctrl + S to open the save tag dialog, and save it into the platform's root folder ("H3EK\tags\objects\scenery\custom_platform") as custom_platform.device_machine.
3. Set the bounding radius to 3.
4. Click the ... next to the model entry, and choose the custom_platform.model tag.
5. Scroll down to the $$$ DEVICE $$$ section near the bottom of the tag. Set the position transition time to 5. This is the time our device should take to transition from a position of 0 to 1 or vice versa, in seconds. This means that once started, our elevator will take 5 seconds to reach the top. Adjust to your liking if you wish.
6. Set the position acceleration time to 0.4. This is the time it takes the device to reach "full speed", and the time it takes to slow down from "full speed" to rest, in seconds. A value of 0 means it instantly accelerates from rest to full moving speed. 0.4 means it will take 0.4 seconds to accelerate up to max speed, and 0.4 seconds to accelerate down to rest at the top. It is usually a good idea to set a value here for elevators, to avoid clunky instant starts and stops.
7. Set the type to platform. There are three options here:
   • Door - door types utilise the automatic activation radius to open when the player gets near. It uses the door open time to determine how long to wait before closing once the player has left this radius.
   • Platform - these types are used for elevators, or other moving platforms such as gondolas. They do not activate automatically, and so require the use of a .device_control or scripting to function.
   • Gear - gear types simply play their animation on an infinite loop. The huge spinning wheel on Last Resort is a good example of this.
8. Tick the elevator flag.

Placing the elevator

It's time to see our elevator device machine in action! Open Sapien on a map of your choice:

1. In the Hierarchy View, select Scenario -> Objects -> Devices -> Machines.
2. Click Edit Types. Click Add, navigate to the custom platform folder, and choose the custom_platform.device_machine tag.
3. Click Done, then Ok.
4. With the Machines folder still selected in the Hierarchy View, right click in the 3D View to place a new device machine object. In the Properties Palette, change the type to the custom platform. Give it the name my_elevator. Move it around so that the platform is just above the floor.

Controlling the elevator with scripting

If you are not familiar with HaloScript, this may seem like a daunting task. However, it is as simple as typing a single line into Sapien's console. The HaloScript function we want is (device_set_position <device> <real>). The two parameters are as follows:

• device - the name of a specific device machine placed on the map, e.g. my_elevator.
• real - a float, otherwise known as a decimal, between 0 and 1. This controls the position value of the device I mentioned earlier. By setting this to 1 we cause the elevator to move up to the top, and if we set it back to 0 it will move back down to the ground.

Therefore, the command that we want to type into the console to make the elevator move upwards is (device_set_position "my_elevator" 1):

1. Open the console in Sapien. The exact key depends on your keyboard's region - it is usually Tilde ` (beneath Escape), or the apostrophe (') key.
2. Type or paste the line (device_set_position "my_elevator" 1) into the console, and press Enter

You should now see the elevator rise into the sky! If successful, use (device_set_position "my_elevator" 0) in the console to bring the elevator back down to its starting position. Try standing on top of the elevator and then using the command - the physics model will carry you up with the animating render model! If you want to get to grips with the position value, try other decimal values such as 0.5 etc.

Controlling the elevator with a button

The alternative method of controlling a device machine is via the use of a .device_control tag. These usually take the form of button panels, with a prompt similar to Hold E to open the gate when you get near. Device controls and machines can be linked through the use of device groups, which allows one to control the position of the other remotely. It is very easy to set up. We will not be covering how to make your own device control in this tutorial, instead we shall make use of one of the many pre-existing controls found in Halo 3. If you happen to be testing your elevator on the map Last Resort (Zanzibar), you can skip steps 1 through 3 as the control is already present in the map.

1. In the Hierarchy View, select Scenario -> Objects -> Devices -> Controls.
2. Click Edit Types. Click Add. Navigate to "H3EK\tags\objects\levels\multi\zanzibar\gate_control", and add the house_gate_control.device_control
3. Click Done, then Ok.
4. With the Controls folder still selected in the Hierarchy View, place down a new control.
5. In the Properties Palette, set the type to house_gate_control. Move the control to anywhere you like.
6. Click the Device Groups folder in the Hierarchy View, just below Machines, Controls and Terminals.
7. Click New Instance. Select the new instance on the right side of the window.
8. In the Properties Palette, change the name to something recognisable. I will use elevator_group. Leave everything else default.
9. Click the Machines folder, and select your elevator. In the Properties Palette scroll down to find the Position Group drop-down, and select the device group name you just added, e.g. `elevator_group.
10. Select the Controls folder in the Hierarchy View, and assign the Position Group in the exact same way on the control you just placed down.

Now run over to the control and hold the interact button (E). The elevator will now start to move! Interact with the control again, and you will cause the elevator to return. You can do this an unlimited number of times.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the following individuals for their research or contributions to this topic:

• Krevil (Info about JMO usage)
• PepperMan (Writing this guide)