Actors

The Actor class which is available to python users is not available to C++ users. you should create your own Actor class which at least should do the following:

• load the Actor Model
• load the animations
• bind the model and the animations using AnimControl or AnimControlCollection

The next sample will load the panda model and the walk animation. the call: window->loop_animations(0); does the magic of binding all the loaded models and their animations under the node path: render . it's very important to note that any animations loaded after the above call will not show until the same method is called again. also any animations loaded under a node path which doesn't belong to render (for example: render_2d) will not show even if the call: window->loop_animations(0); is made. For such animations to show, other steps must be applied (more on this later).

#include "pandaFramework.h"
#include "pandaSystem.h"
 
#include "genericAsyncTask.h"
#include "asyncTaskManager.h"
 
// Global stuff
PT(AsyncTaskManager) taskMgr = AsyncTaskManager::get_global_ptr(); 
PT(ClockObject) globalClock = ClockObject::get_global_clock();
NodePath camera;
 
// Task to move the camera
AsyncTask::DoneStatus SpinCameraTask(GenericAsyncTask* task, void* data) {
    double time = globalClock->get_real_time();
    double angledegrees = time * 6.0;
    double angleradians = angledegrees * (3.14 / 180.0);
    camera.set_pos(20*sin(angleradians),-20.0*cos(angleradians),3);
    camera.set_hpr(angledegrees, 0, 0);
 
    return AsyncTask::DS_cont;
}
 
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    // Open a new window framework and set the title
    PandaFramework framework;
    framework.open_framework(argc, argv);
    framework.set_window_title("My Panda3D Window");
 
    // Open the window
    WindowFramework *window = framework.open_window();
    camera = window->get_camera_group(); // Get the camera and store it
 
    // Load the environment model
    NodePath environ = window->load_model(framework.get_models(), "models/environment");
    environ.reparent_to(window->get_render());
    environ.set_scale(0.25 , 0.25, 0.25);
    environ.set_pos(-8, 42, 0);
 
    // Load our panda
    NodePath pandaActor = window->load_model(framework.get_models(), "panda-model");
    pandaActor.set_scale(0.005);
    pandaActor.reparent_to(window->get_render());
 
    // Load the walk animation
    window->load_model(pandaActor, "panda-walk4");
    window->loop_animations(0); // bind models and animations
                                //set animations to loop
 
    // Add our task do the main loop, then rest in peace.
    taskMgr->add(new GenericAsyncTask("Spins the camera", &SpinCameraTask, (void*) NULL));
    framework.main_loop();
    framework.close_framework();
    return (0);
}

We are first loading the model file and the animation file like ordinary models. Then, we are simply calling loop_animations(0) to loop all animations.

Run the Program

The result is a panda walking in place as if on a treadmill: