Creature - Advanced 2D Skeletal & Mesh Animation

[kestrelm]

Hello Html5 Game Devs,

 

I am the developer of Creature, an exciting new cutting edge 2D animation tool! With Creature, you can add stunningly fluid animation to your digital content. At the core of Creature is a highly advanced skeletal animation, mesh deformation and dynamics system.

 

Save Time + Cost with Automated Animation

 

The main difference between Creature and other animation tools out there is its Directible Automated Animation Engine. What that means is the ability to procedurally generate, through an Automated but User Directible process, complex motion like Walk/Run Cycles, Tail Flopping, Wing Flapping, Cloth Dynamics and Flesh/Muscle response.

 

Such types of motion are normally very tedious to animate manually. With Creature, such tasks can be done in a much more efficient manner, resulting in huge time and cost savings! Of course the point of Creature is not to take away from animation as an art but to add to it. Hence all automated procedures can be tweaked, directed and in many cases manually adjusted.

 

 

 

 

 

Trailer Video:

 

Website:

http://creature.kestrelmoon.com/index.html

 

Examples

Here are some examples of Creature's Directible Automated Animation in action:

 

Html5 Demos

Creature exports to multiple formats and game engines, including popular Html5 Game Engines that use WebGL.

Currently the engines supported are: PixiJS, BabylonJS and ThreeJS. I also have an alpha version supporting the new Cocos2dJS V4 runtime as well.

 

 

Cocos2djs V4 demos:

http://hyperandroid.github.io/Cocos2d-html5/src/test/engine/creature.html

 

PixiJS demo:

http://www.kestrelmoon.com/creature/dragon_pixijs.html

 

Hair, Cloth Dynamics, Automated Walk Cycles

 

The mage below has Hair and Cloth simulated using the Dynamics/Physics motors of Creature. The walk cycle is automatically generated using Walk Motors:

 

Soft Body Dynamics, Chain Physics, Advanced Mesh Deformation

 

The chameleon creature below has Soft Body Dynamics applied to its body so it has a "fleshy" reactionary response to its underlying skeletal motion. The tongue is simulated using Bone Physics Dynamics Motors and advanced Control Pt Warp motors that allow it to deform and extend/compress the tongue. The eyes are deformed using Control Pt Mesh Motors and the legs are automatically walking via Walk Motors:

 

 

Animating Whole Images

 

Creature can also work on whole complete images like this tiger. The subtle breathing/keep alive motion is generated via fancy Rotate Motors and Bend Bone Motors. There is also mesh deformation going on that deforms the eyes for blinking:

 

 

 

I will be more than happy to answer any more questions you have as well as post any animation samples. In addition to that, do note that we are constantly updating and adding features to our HTML5/WebGL runtimes so any suggestions/tips will be appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Chong

[rich]

I was very keen to try this, but the Pixi demo link crashed Chrome! Ran it out of memory and "It's dead Jim". Does it work for anyone else?

[kestrelm]

Hi there,

 

Strangely enough it runs on my mac for chrome. However I am experiencing some issues with the chrome version on windows.

The other browsers work for me on windows: FireFox, IE.

 

You could also try out the Cocos2dJS V4 demos since they are all running the same backend runtime.

 

I should look into why chrome for windows has this issue. Thanks for the heads up!

 

Updated:

Ok i fixed the PixiJS Demo! Here it is running:

http://www.kestrelmo...gon_pixijs.html

 

 

 

Cheers!

[mfdesigner]

Hi,

 

are you doing image warping at pixel level?  

Would be interesting to see how it performs fps-wise with large number of animating objects?

 

Perhaps you could provide a demo of say 10 dragons walking back and forth?

 

Thanx

[kestrelm]

Hi,

 

are you doing image warping at pixel level?  

Would be interesting to see how it performs fps-wise with large number of animating objects?

 

Perhaps you could provide a demo of say 10 dragons walking back and forth?

 

Thanx

 

Hello,

 

Yes that sounds like a great idea! When I get the time I will code up a simple multiple dragon demo and post it on this forum.

Creature is doing advanced skinning and mesh deformation. You can probably tell from the demos/videos I posted.

All these animations were authored in the editor and then exported out for playback onto the web.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions!

 

Cheers

[totor]

mac osx only ?

[kestrelm]

mac osx only ?

 

For now. I am working on the windows port as I type this msg. Quite a few people have been asking for a windows port so I know it is very important. Thanks for your interest in the tool!

[kestrelm]

Creature runtimes have also just been integrated into the brand new Cocos2d-html5 V4 Alpha:

 

http://hyperandroid.github.io/Cocos2d-html5/src/test/engine/creature.html

 

Cheers!

[Red Spark]

Cool tech, unfortunately seems like it won't work with regular canvas, only with webgl.

[kestrelm]

Cool tech, unfortunately seems like it won't work with regular canvas, only with webgl.

 

Hi,

 

Yes unfortunately I do have to rely on webgl because the core tech relies heavily on meshes and texturing. That's how those fancy character deformations are achieved.