In a nutshell:
The stock animated leaderheads are very animated (blinking eyes and moving heads) and have very noticeable movement.
The custom FLC files have subtle movement of facial expressions only, because to change anything more than that would require a herculean effort for it to appear seamless, which is my primary goal.
If you need a greater explanation read on.
The way the animated leaderheads work in the game is like this:
Each leader has 8 FLC (movie) files associated with him/her. These FLC files cover the four historical periods in the game (this is where the era specific clothing and backgrounds come from) and shifts in mood from angry to happy and vice versa. Each FLC movie file contains 121 frames and lasts 8.47 seconds.
What happens is that when an animated leaderhead FLC movie is run during the game, it is not the whole movie that runs, but rather a snippet of a few frames based on the leaders disposition (say for instance frames 1-40 of the total 121 may represent "happy", whereas 41-80 may represent "normal", and 81-121 may represent "angry"). The animation runs from 1-40, then from 40-1, and from 1-40 again (in an endless loop) until the screen with the animation of the "happy" leader is closed.
The stock animations are based on many distinct images and are literally animated by graphic artists.
The custom animations created by me are based on three distinct images ("happy", "angry", and "normal" facial expressions) and the morphs that exist between each of these images comprise the movies. Since only the facial expressions are changing and there is no other movement, the small snippet of frames that is shown will yield no noticeable movement. However, using this method, the mood of the leader will always be accurate with the seamless expression on his/her face, because I am using the same number of frames (121) and delay between frames (.7 seconds) in the custom animation as is used in the original.
Blinking eyes and moving heads are not an option when using the morphing technique described here (it requires a bit more sophisticated graphic animation skill, a different animation technique, and significantly more time).
Hope this helps.
ccm01
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. I am well aware of Hitler's elaborate propaganda machine and his great military power, but if it wasn't for Otto Von Bismarck, Germany would've still been divided up into the loose confederation of fiefdoms it once was rather than the powerful, unified empire that proved to be a tough customer in Europe for many decades since.
