Silly question ... But how to do that ? I am seeing some constant buffers in the VSSetShader(). But couldn't make much from it coz the variable names in the shader files are not mentioned there. Though I can definetely see that one constant buffer object is just initialized to 0. I mean every variable inside it is 0. I have only 2 constant buffers here.

Ok here goes.....

These are the function I am using to set the variables. I am not good in Effects framework. Its based on the concept of Frank D Luna. May contain huge mistakes.]

void SetWorldViewProj(CXMMATRIX M) { WorldViewProj->SetMatrix(reinterpret_cast<const float*>(&M)); }
	void SetWorld(CXMMATRIX M) { World->SetMatrix(reinterpret_cast<const float*>(&M)); }
	void SetWorldInvTranspose(CXMMATRIX M) { WorldInvTranspose->SetMatrix(reinterpret_cast<const float *> (&M)); }
	void SetBoneTransforms(const XMFLOAT4X4 *M, int cnt) { BoneTransforms->SetMatrixArray(reinterpret_cast<const float*>(M), 0, sizeof(M)*cnt); }
	void SetTexTransform(CXMMATRIX M) { TexTransform->SetMatrix(reinterpret_cast<const float *> (&M)); }
	void SetEyePosW(const XMFLOAT3 &v) { EyePosW->SetRawValue(&v,0,sizeof(XMFLOAT3)); }
	void SetFogColor(const FXMVECTOR v) { FogColor->SetFloatVector(reinterpret_cast<const float *>(&v)); }
	void SetFogStart(float f) { FogStart->SetFloat(f); }
	void SetFogRange(float f) { FogRange->SetFloat(f); }
	void SetDirLights(const DirectionalLight* lights)   { DirLights->SetRawValue(lights, 0, 3 * sizeof(DirectionalLight)); }
	void SetMaterial(const Material& mat)               { Mat->SetRawValue(&mat, 0, sizeof(Material)); }
	void SetDiffuseMap(ID3D11ShaderResourceView *tex) { DiffuseMap->SetResource(tex); }

And this is how I store variables in SkinEffect class.

        WorldViewProj = mFX->GetVariableByName("gWorldViewProj")->AsMatrix();
	World = mFX->GetVariableByName("gWorld")->AsMatrix();
	WorldInvTranspose = mFX->GetVariableByName("gWorldInvTranspose")->AsMatrix();
	TexTransform = mFX->GetVariableByName("gTexTransform")->AsMatrix();
	EyePosW = mFX->GetVariableByName("gEyePosW")->AsVector();
	FogColor = mFX->GetVariableByName("gFogColor")->AsVector();
	FogStart = mFX->GetVariableByName("gFogStart")->AsScalar();
	FogRange = mFX->GetVariableByName("gFogRange")->AsScalar();
	DirLights = mFX->GetVariableByName("gDirLights");
	Mat = mFX->GetVariableByName("gMaterial");
	DiffuseMap = mFX->GetVariableByName("gDiffuseMap")->AsShaderResource();
	BoneTransforms = mFX->GetVariableByName("gBoneTransforms")->AsMatrix();

My main concern would be BoneTransforms. Am I setting it right ? I am setting the variables before rendering in this way :

        Effects::SkinFX->SetEyePosW(mCam.GetPosition());
        Effects::SkinFX->SetWorld(World);
	Effects::SkinFX->SetWorldInvTranspose(worldInvTranspose);
	Effects::SkinFX->SetWorldViewProj(worldViewProj);
	Effects::SkinFX->SetTexTransform(XMMatrixScaling(1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f));
	Effects::SkinFX->SetDirLights(&dirLight[0]);
	
	Effects::SkinFX->SetBoneTransforms(&mBones.mBoneTransforms[0], mBones.mBoneTransforms.size());

        Effects::SkinFX->SetMaterial(Materials[i]);
        Effects::SkinFX->SetDiffuseMap(DiffuseMapSRV[i]);

There is huge possiblity that I am setting them in a wrong way. mBoneTransforms is a vector of type XMFLOAT4X4.mCam.GetPosition() returns XMFLOAT3 value.

void SetBoneTransforms(const XMFLOAT4X4 *M, int cnt) { BoneTransforms->SetMatrixArray(reinterpret_cast<const float*>(M), 0, sizeof(M)*cnt); }

void SetBoneTransforms(const XMFLOAT4X4* M, int cnt){ BoneTransforms->SetMatrixArray(reinterpret_cast<const float*>(M), 0, cnt); }

Unbird,

I can kiss you. I owe you a drink buddy.... . This stupid mistake made me waste 3 weeks . An average catastrophe in the life of a programmer.

I imported it. But it does not seem perfect. Mesh is somewhat distorted. I used only 4 weights where my model contained 6 weights at some vertices . May be that's the reason. Do you know any DXGI format to take 6 input in the input layout. Here is what it looks like now.

Devil's in the details. Three weeks sounds really frustrating, glad it (somehow) works now.

Just one question: Can you now debug the shaders ?

6 components ? Nope, but no need to. You can distribute it across a 4- and a 2-component. Or use 6 one-component (scalars). Probably need to play around a bit to find out which is most convenient (or even works) and what performance implications arise.

One can go even further and pack more info with some bit-hackery. Only do this if you do have a bottleneck in the vertex size. Just one hint: bone indices probably don't need full 32 bit ints.

Again, thanks unbird. Now debugger works. But it seems when I try to use the default offset matrix provided by the model, it gets more distorted. Guess I have got some more matrix multiplication to do. Just one question is it necessary to multiply each offset matrix with its parent matrix and global inverse transform ?

Fact about 6 weights. Yes I guess I can use 2 separate format to store 6 weights . Do I have to change the semantic index in the input layout then ?

About the integer part, I think 8 bit is sufficient. DXGI_FORMAT_R8G8B8A8_UINT.

You mention that your mesh uses 6 weights, but you're only inputting 4. How do you do that? You can't simply ignore the other two

Guess gotta fix that first . But identity matrix shows something now that's a relief even if it is some what distorted.

Not sure what you mean by "parent" matrix and "global inverse" transform.

I am not so sure about assimp myself . This is what I did :

1. Got the offset matrix for each bone stored in the model. [I am not sure if it is really offset matrix you meant, but Assimp is referring to it as offset matrix in the aiBone structure. (http://assimp.sourceforge.net/lib_html/structai_bone.html)

2. Now got the scene root node's global transformation matrix and inversed it. According to Ogglev's tutorial(http://ogldev.atspace.co.uk/www/tutorial38/tutorial38.html)

3. Then I traversed the whole scene to find the bones. I used this technique according to the above tutorial.

• Pass parent's transformation matrix and child in the function.
• Multiply it by child's offset
• Multiply the above product with child's offset again and global inverse transform to get child transform (confused)
• Recursively called the function

I am really confused about this whole thing. Can you tell me what is the mOffsetMatrix in Assimp. And which matrix it represents in your article. That would be really helpful.

In the assimp's documentation it says that mOffsetMatrix is the "Matrix that transforms from mesh space to bone space in bind pose." . So, can you tell me what does it mean actually ?