This is not a request, just a careful observation that begs a question. Im curious if any modder thought of perhaps using the defualt Acklay Model found in Star Wars battlefront 2 as a possible base for creating a Crab Droid? Let me clarifiy, here is the ackly we all know and love from the mission "Heart of Darkenss". They are a native speices of felucia and have 6 legs.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WUxDQREhcs


Then we have our good friend, the crab droid. This unique droid is usually dpeicted with 4-6 legs legs. This particular one has six.


Moddling and creating the model is a whole different story, but perhaps becuase pandemic was nice enough to included the acklay in battlefront, someone might use it as a base. The animation may very well be similiar enough and im sure it would be easier than creating a skeleton and animation from scratch. Agian this isn't a request, just thought I would ask if any modder considered the possibilite that the acklay model would make an excellent base for the crab droid?

I'm not very experienced with skeletons, but I think the head sticking out from the acklay may possibly pose a problem. Not 100% sure though.

And, as a follow-up, would it be possible to use this new crab droid as a playable unit?
Good idea twinkey, I've not seen it mentioned on these forums before (though my experience is lacking).

I think it is easier to star from scratch. But i think if someone do this he has to do all animations from scratch too because the acklay skeleton wont fit perfectly

The head and neck of the skeleton might not necessarily be a problem, you could just not envelope anything there. IIRC, in the third of Mav's Rebel Ops missions there were some four-legged droids that he just cleverly enveloped to a stock human skeleton, they worked well enough.

Fiodis wrote:The head and neck of the skeleton might not necessarily be a problem, you could just not envelope anything there. IIRC, in the third of Mav's Rebel Ops missions there were some four-legged droids that he just cleverly enveloped to a stock human skeleton, they worked well enough.

I wasn't the first to do it (and I'd already used my model in the Conversion Pack). I'd learned about it from Vyse; he did it on his Legend of Zelda map with the spiders.

You could certainly envelope a model to the Acklay skeleton, but like noMatt said, it'd be best to simply make your own skeleton if you want to take advantage of distinct pairs of legs. The Acklay skeleton has its own limitations (in terms of animations available), and if you're capable enough to create a model and envelope it to a non-standard skeleton, you're probably capable enough to create your own skeleton.

Dreadnot9 wrote:And, as a follow-up, would it be possible to use this new crab droid as a playable unit?

Yes most likely if made with Acklay.Could be mistaken but probably at least as a vehicle.

Now I think this is a good idea.Just might not end up exactly how we would want.I would do it but my dumb XSI won't work.

Maveritchell wrote:if you're capable enough to create a model and envelope it to a non-standard skeleton, you're probably capable enough to create your own skeleton.

Exactly my thoughts. If you have the skills to model a whole crab droid you wouldn't waste your time recycling might-work animations either.

This is pretty useful info, considering I plan on the Praetorians in Unification working similarly to acklay.