Forum rules - please read before posting.

Integration with Dialogue System

12357

Comments

  • Seems that in AC 1.43 the "not tags needed" makes the integration fail :(


  • Hi,

    > I'm having trouble running the Animate() sequencer command, it says
    that the animation state can't be found (it is attached to the animation
    component).

    Sorry for the late reply. I must have missed the notification message.

    The Animation() sequencer command has the syntax:

    Animation(clip1, [subject], [clip2])

    Where:
    • clip1 is the text name of a clip defined in the animation list on the Animation component.
    • subject is the name of the GameObject that has the Animation component (or the speaker if omitted).
    • clip2 is an optional clip to play when clip1 is done.
    What is your Animation() command? Is it possible that it's finding the wrong subject, or that there's a typo in the clip1 name?



    > Seems that in AC 1.43 the "not tags needed" makes the integration fail

    I see AC 1.43 just came out today. I'll try to make an updated support package available later today!

  • I changed the player to a mecanim one, so now I can use the animator, but the problem I was having was only with the player (legacy), NPCs worked ok.

    BTW, is there a standard practice to change the conversations/barks based on the ammount of letters typed or when there are sequencer commands ? Right now I'm just using the Delay() after each line.
  • edited March 2015
    I changed the player to a mecanim one, so now I can use the animator, but the problem I was having was only with the player (legacy), NPCs worked ok.

    Perhaps the sequencer command didn't find the right subject. In the future, you can temporarily set the Dialogue Manager's Debug Level to Info. This will log everything, including the GameObjects used for each sequencer command. It might help identify what's going wrong.


    > BTW, is there a standard practice to change the conversations/barks based on the ammount of letters typed or when there are sequencer commands ? Right now I'm just using the Delay() after each line.

    Yes, use the {{end}} keyword. For example:

    AnimatorPlay(Grin); Delay({{end}})

    This plays the "Grin" animator state and delays the line for an amount of time based on the number of letters in the line. You can tweak this by setting the Dialogue Manager's Subtitle Settings > Subtitle Chars Per Second. If the line is 90 characters and you set Subtitle Chars Per Second to 30, it will delay for 3 seconds (= 90 / 30).

    You can use {{end}} anywhere in a sequence, not just inside Delay(). The default sequence uses it like this:

    Camera(Closeup,speaker); required Camera(Closeup,listener)@{{end}

    This does an immediate camera closeup on the speaker. When {{end}} seconds have passed, it does a closeup on the listener. The 'required' keyword means it will do this closeup even if the player cancels the line early.

    In addition, some sequencer commands wait until they're done -- AnimatorPlayWait() and AudioWait(), for example, as compared to AnimatorPlay() and Audio(). For example:

    AnimatorPlayWait(Dance); Delay({{end}})

    This plays the Dance animator state. It waits until the state is done and {{end}} seconds have passed.

    You can also use the ->Message and @Message syntax for more complex sequences when you need to wait for something but you don't know how long it will take. It's slightly more complicated, so I'll just leave you the link to follow if you end up needing it.

    I'll post here when the new AC support package for the Dialogue System is ready!
  • edited March 2015
    Kinda offtopic, how is love/hate going ? I've seen it in your webpage, it looks really cool.

    I recently got ExtremeAI that has a similar concept, the lack of source code is kinda offputting, I think I should have waited for your product.

    Any expected release date/price ?
  • Hi,

    You can download the updated support package for AC 1.43 right here.

    Love/Hate is just waiting for Asset Store approval. Hopefully it will be on the store late this week or early next week for $35 USD, full source included!
  • How does Dialogue Creator differ from Adventure Creator's built-in system?  Both are node based conversations right?
  • edited April 2015
    Hi mek,

    Yes, both are node-based, but the editors are different. You may prefer one over the other.

    AC's built-in system is the most tightly integrated into AC, of course.

    But the Dialogue System integrates very nicely into AC, too, and is used by AC-powered games such as Bolt Riley, Herbert's Quest and Simon the Sorceror. A few of the differences are:
    • Importers for articy:draft, Chat Mapper, Neverwinter Nights 1/2 toolsets, and Excel/spreadsheets.
    • GUI system-independent. You can make the UI do anything you want, and it includes built-in UI implementations for legacy Unity GUI, new Unity UI, NGUI, DF-GUI, 2D Toolkit, and TextMesh Pro.
    • Runtime debugging of conversations and quests.
    • You can enter text-based sequencer commands to do things like control the camera, animation, lipsync, etc. Some dialogue authors prefer this to creating action lists visually, since they can just keep typing without interrupting their writing flow. You can also mix and match action lists and text sequencer commands.

    I encourage you to skim through the manual if you're interested in the Dialogue System, and please feel free to post any questions here or email me directly at tony (at) pixelcrushers.com.

  • Hi Tony,

    Thanks for the quick response!
    DS looks really interesting, appreciate the rundown and will check out the manual next!
  • mek 

    I bought DS because I'm using articy, the good stuff I get is in creating custom camera angles to react  to dialogues, also the Cinema Director actions create really easy to do subtitles.

    It's quite interesting to do barks (wich I don't know if are easily done in AC), to be honest both AC and DS are quite good in doing dialogue. DS uses some custom lip sinch choices, as AC does, auto lip in both result in using blendshapes.

    I find it more comfortable to use DS, mostly because I can write sequence commands into each line (even into articy), but it's nothing you can't do with a couple of actions in AC editor.
    DS also has a dialogue manager for each scene, that could be something interesting.

    OffTopic: Bought love/hate. Is Ac integration coming ? (don't know what I'm talking, haven't even used it, quite drunk, but I guess variable copy and stuff ?).

    PS. english is not my native language..

    BTW Kill politicians.
    BTW2 PixelCrushers, what kind of game are you guys doing ?
    BTW3: I hope I could stop asdsadad, because I went that way and were the stuff is, does it belong ? anyway nevermind.
  • Hi @shredingskin - AC integration for Love/Hate is coming in a while. I'm working on ORK RPG Framework integration first, then AC integration.

    Love/Hate was originally written for a Mass Effect-style RPG, the same one that the Dialogue System was written for. The project was cancelled, and I'm currently working with a team on an Oculus-powered horror game using AC and UFPS.
  • Thanks for the great review, @shredingskin!
  • I've got a Dialogue UI set up with the new ugui, but the buttons aren't selectable. I've been banging my head against a wall in the examples scenes for hours. Trying to connect AC and Dialogue System is an interesting task. 
  • edited April 2015
    Hi,

    Here are the steps to add a Unity UI dialogue UI: (These will be in the upcoming Dialogue System 1.4.9's manual, too.)

    1. Add a Canvas as a child of your Dialogue Manager. (Make sure the scene also has an EventSystem.)

    2. Add your dialogue UI as a child of the Canvas.

    3. Assign the dialogue UI to the Dialogue Manager's Dialogue UI field.

    Starting from the Dialogue System/Third Party Support/Adventure Creator/Example/Example scene, I added a Canvas, which automatically added an EventSystem. Then I added an instance of the sci-fi UI as a child of the Canvas (and assigned it to the Dialogue Manager):

    image

    I used the default settings for the Canvas:
    image

    If your canvas is Screen Space - Camera or World Space - Camera, make sure to assign the EventSystem to it.

    If that doesn't help, could you please clarify what you mean by "the buttons aren't selectable?" Can you not click them with the mouse? Or is it that key/gamepad navigation doesn't work? (In this case, tick Auto Focus.)

  • The new features in Adventure Creator's Speech system mean the Dialogue System support package needed to be updated. If you use the Dialogue System with Adventure Creator, you can download an updated package here or on the Pixel Crushers customer download site. This updated package:
    • Works with Adventure Creator 1.44.
    • Improves the ACCam() sequencer command. If you specify an AC camera name (and optional smoothing time as the second parameter), it will switch to that AC camera, as long as you haven't configured the AC Bridge to disable the AC camera during conversations.
    • Includes an update for the ACSpeech() sequencer command.
  • When you say pixel crushers customer download site you mean people that bought it directly from you, or you have to register the asset store invoice or something ?
  • Hi,

    It's for all customers. If you send your Asset Store invoice number to tony (at) pixelcrushers.com, I'll reply with your access info. In the future you'll be able to access the site simply by entering your Asset Store invoice number, but that's not ready yet.
  • Dialogue System users: You can download an AC 1.47-compatible support package here:

  • Thanks for the bonkersly-fast turnaround as always, Tony! :)
  • Incredible, right on time for when I wanted to upgrade AC too. Works great, loving the UnityUI support!
Sign In or Register to comment.

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Welcome to the official forum for Adventure Creator.