Godot C++ Runtimes

Overview

This document describes the Creature Animation Tool's plugin for Godot Engine.

Sample UtahRaptor Artwork: Emily Willoughby

Video Tutorial

A video tutorial about using the plugin is here

Compilation & Installation

1. Grab the Godot Engine Source

First, download the Godot Engine source from here

Make sure you can compile Godot Engine by following their instructions for your platform here

2. Drop in creaturegodot into modules

The Creature Godot plugin must be compiled with Godot Engine in order to run. Compilation is very easy and simply involves dropping the creaturegodot directory into Godot Engine's modules directory.

For example take a look at the image below:

The creaturegodot directory has been put into the modules directory of Godot Engine.

###3. Build Godot Engine Go ahead and build Godot Engine from the terminal with scons. It will build the Creature Plugin with it. You are done!

Usage

1. Add CreatureGodot Object

Create a new node in Godot Engine, and type/search for creature:

You should see CreatureGodot show up which means the plugin is now active in Godot Engine. Add CreatureGodot into your scene.

2. Configure CreatureGodot

First, set the Asset Filename property. This points to the exported Creature JSON filename living within your project directory. You can also provide a zipped version ( has to end with a .zip extension ) of the file to save disk space.

The Asset Filename has to be in the format: res://myfilename.json or res://myfilename.zip.

If all goes well, you should see your character load up:

3. Activating it with a Script

Now it is time to load up scripting to make the character animate. First, assign and create a new script to the character using the typical way you would in Godot.

Open up the script and type:

extends CreatureGodot

func _ready():
	set_process(true)
	pass

func _process(delta):
	self.update_animation(delta)

func _ready() calls set_process(true) to make the the update tick _process(delta) call active.

In _process(delta) itself, we play forward the animation by a delta timestep via the update_animation call.

Play the game and you should see your character running!

Switching Animations & Other functions

set_mirror_y(flag_in) - Sets a boolean to flip the character along the Y axis

blend_to_animation(name, blend_factor) - Switches to another animation smoothly based off the blend_factor. blend_factor is a value > 0 and <= 1.0. The higher the value, the faster the blending to the target animation.

set_should_loop(flag_in) - Sets whether the animation should be looping or not.

set_anim_speed(speed) - A multiplier on how quickly the animation plays back.