[Tool] Ominous CofMaker

[Ominous]

I was having a hard time using CofEdit to make new .cofs for animation conversions so I decided to write my own. At the moment this is still a work in progress but it is nearly complete. All I have left to do is be able to export Layer Priority, Im still deciding on how I want to present it to the user.

But for now, Screenshots

A good look at the gui and features, .cof loaded is YEA1HTH.cof


Here is a comparison to the output of CofMaker and the original .cof


And Here with a Slightly more complex .cof loaded


Will release it when it is finished and tested, Source code is probably unreadable to most but will upload it also for anyone wanting to read through it.

[k0r3l1k]

This is sick bro. well done.

[Necrolis]

looks great! I have a suggestion:
Allow for some form of batch processing, maybe through scripts via IronLua or IronPython, this is useful for mass creation/editing of COF's, mainly auto generation of COF's from DCC's (ie: if I've named all my DCC's correctly, and I'm not looking to do anything too fancy, the COF can pretty much be generated directly from the DCC, requiring one or two manual tweeks).

[weapon-x]

looks awesome bro...

with this we can revolutionize anim modification of d2

cool

[Ominous]

While it wont quite revolutionize the process since it will have essentially the same functionality as cofedit, it will be useful to some I believe.

Until I get around to actually trying to make my own dcc decoder/encoder, .cofs with more than a couple layers will be very hard if not impossible to do, since at some point in most multi layer animations the layer priority is bound to change . Take the Right Hand layer crossing the Torso Layer in character animations for example. Ive thought of quite a few ways this could be accomplished such as preset layer priorities by direction, but nothing I could do would be able to handle every possible situation without being able to tweak the priorities frame by frame.

Single Layer .cofs are a different matter since the layer priority is always the same. Being stuck with only using a couple of layers is fine with me for now since all of my model conversions are going to only use the torso layer and maybe a special layer or two for transparent effects .



Edit: Going to do a rewrite and clean up some redundant code to make debugging easier, Also gonna completely separate the .cof functions into their own library instead of them being hardcoded as they are at the moment so they can be used in my next project . But all in all its completely functional right now since it opens, edits, saves, and allows for the creation of completely new .cofs.

A release of some kind will be coming soon, so stay tuned.

[Ominous]

Been brainstorming about this for a while, and figured out a workaround that would keep me from having to write a .dcc decoder/encoder to fix the layer priority issues. The inspiration came from this sentence by Necrolis...

the COF can pretty much be generated directly from the DCC.

I know he meant it in a different light that what I viewed it but it got me thinking, If most of a cofs information can be derived from a .dcc wouldn't it also be possible to generate them from something much more simple such as a Sprite Strip? I have some ideas, did some tests, and now a solution is in the works .

I'm gonna have it export an excel file with offsets for the directions to use with cv5, Layer Priority and offsets will be able to be configured frame by frame with a sprite strip simulating each layer of a dcc, and finally batch conversion will be made available by information provided from another excel file if one so chooses.

Pros:
-It's a lot easier to work with Sprite Sheets.
-No Encoder/Decoder Needed.
-Less Time intensive to program.

Cons:
-This would mean more work for the modder/myself(Although I don't really mind)

I can do a quick mockup of the planned gui and such if anyone needs it. Basically the idea is to have the Layer priority editable from a list sorted by lowest to highest and drawn in that order, pretty simple actually which in my opinion makes this a pretty good workaround.

Any Input, Things that I might not have thought through, or just general constructive criticism? Im gonna work on something similar to this anyway since my mod project is gonna require it but since I like to release the things I make for everyone to use I figured I would give the community an opinion.