Source engine weapon animation question

Question

This is a pretty specific question, so I'm hoping someone with source engine animation experience could answer and explain what exactly I should do.

I've been trying to remove the screen shake when reloading a custom weapon in Left 4 Dead 2. Default weapons do not have it, and I want to keep it that way, but still enjoy the beauty of custom models and animations. The screen shake is added for realism by the model creator/author.

This video shows what I'm trying to get rid of

Note that it's a different game, but works on the same engine.

So I've taken it upon myself to fix this. I've downloaded Blender and tried to find the source of the problem. I've decompiled the weapon addon and found the file that contains the actual model and animations. I've gotten to the point where I found the animation files:

So the two animations that contain the screen shake is when you deploy the weapon and whilst reloading it. So I think the files deploy.smd and reload.smd fit the description. I don't know what the _layer.smd files are though, after opening them in Blender, they seemed exactly the same as the original.

So after inspecting the animation I think I've actually found the bone (sorry if my terms aren't correct, I'm completely new to the program) that adds the screen shake to the reload and weapon deploy animation.

The thing is that I don't know how to edit it at all, when I play the animation that bone moves ever so slightly which I think fits the small camera shaking that happens in the weapon's reload/deploy animation. From experience with zbrush and a lot of mapping programs I'm guessing that the "bone" is linked with the camera somehow. So how do I brake that link?

I can add more info, screenshots or even screen vids of what I'm trying to acomplish if needed. Take note that I don't know how to do anything in Blender yet and it wasn't really my intention to learn the entire animating process. I'm just trying to fix this one specific thing..

Here is the actual full model /w animations

Answer 1

I don't know how to unparent it, but removing all the keyframes should remove the motion.

I did it to the file my self

Here is the file.

I would just replace the "_layer" version with that file as well, and rename it, just in case. There does not appear to be a difference though.

If you still want to know how to do it...

Here's how:

• Switch to the dope sheet

• Press a once or twice until all the keyframes are selected (highlighted in orange). (if they are already highlighted, press 'a' twice anyway, just in case a few weren't selected).

Note: That will get rid of all animation, and we just want to get rid of camera animation. You may have to box select b to just select the keyframes that are on the same row. You may have to expand the higherarchy (on the left) until you can click on the bone you want. There may be a location, rotation, and scale, instead of just a rotation like on my example. If there are, make sure you select all of them. Now drag a box around all those keyframes (after pushing b) so that they are all highlighted. (don't select the first column, allowing you to skip the next step of unselecting it.) (it will be white if it is not selected.)

• Just as a check, the source engine may have glitches if there are no keyframes, so zoom in to see things better (scroll wheel) [you can click and drag the middle mouse button to move your view to the beginning of the animation] and hold shift while right clicking on the first keyframe (orange square) to deselect it (right click on the box at the same x location as).

Now it should look something like this.

• Now press x on your keyboard, to delete the keyframes. (click delete)

It should now look something like this (except with more columns of keyframes.) The bone you are trying to remove the motion from should be the only one that has its keyframes (squares) removed. If it is not, there is something wrong.

That should be good. Check if the bone is not moving when you play the animation (make sure the other bones are still moving), and you should be good. Now save it and replace the old .smd with the new .smd. You may have to export.

Here is a video that can help you with importing and exporting .smd in Blender. I think it's all about the same still.