When defining objects in a scene you should use the orient property to set orientation. However in the START_SPATIAL_PROP_ANIM event you should use q_orient quaternion property for animation. Alternatively if you need to rotate an object along a single axis you can simply use axisrot.

Categories used by compound objects:

    {
		entity_name = "li_elite_3",
		type = COMPOUND,
		template_name = "li_elite",
		lt_grp = 0, srt_grp = 0, usr_flg = 0,
		flags = LIT_DYNAMIC + LIT_AMBIENT,
		spatialprops =
		{
			pos = { 0, 0, 0 },
			orient = { { 1, 0, 0 }, { 0, 1, 0 }, { 0, 0, 1 } }
		},
		userprops =
		{
			category = "Spaceship",
		}
	},

When using START_MOTION be aware that certain animations such as walking will make a character modify its position in space and it will be retained once animation is complete. Many animations are specific to single player cutscenes so there might be not a whole lot you can do about them, but there are also a fair amount of generic animations all human characters can use and a number of unused but functional animations (like dancing).

To find character animation names open .anm files in DATA\CHARACTERS\ANIMATIONS with UTFEditor. Be aware that certain versions of UTFEditor may crash when opening some nodes in those files. Animations are stored in Animation/Script node. Most script names have two digits at the end of the name, those indicate running time to help you chain them together.

Head, body and hand animations are sometimes separate and can run independently of each other. For example you may run a hands gesture animation on a character while running a different facial expression animation. Despite somewhat clunky data format the animation system in Freelancer is fairly robust.

It’s worth to note that for some reason character placement requires specifying vertical position independently from common spatial properties (see floor_height). Animating height placement is also done via separate event: START_FLR_HEIGHT_ANIM.

	{
		entity_name = "Char_Trent",
		type = DEFORMABLE,
		template_name = "trent",
		lt_grp = 0, srt_grp = 0, usr_flg = 0,
		flags = LIT_DYNAMIC + LIT_AMBIENT,
		spatialprops =
		{
			pos = { -18.33887, 0, -51.12214 },
			orient = { { 1, 0, 0 }, { 0, 1, 0 }, { 0, 0, 1 } }
		},
		compoundprops =
		{
			floor_height = 0
		},
		userprops =
		{
			actor = "player",
			category = "Character",
		}
	},

Template_name will refer to [Effect] nickname attribute in any of the *_ale.ini files found within DATA\FX subfolders (ex: engines_ale.ini in DATA\FX\ENGINES). Not all effects are listed in DATA\FX\effects.ini.

	{
		entity_name = "Ambi_Roids_gf_blsmallasteroid_03",
		type = PSYS,
		template_name = "gf_blsmallasteroid",
		lt_grp = 0, srt_grp = 0, usr_flg = 0,
		flags = LIT_DYNAMIC + LIT_AMBIENT,
		spatialprops =
		{
			pos = { -500, 500, 0 },
			orient = { { 1, 0, 0 }, { 0, 1, 0 }, { 0, 0, 1 } }
		},
		psysprops =
		{
			sparam = 0
		}
	},

    {
		entity_name = "Ship_b_e_engine_br_small_1",
		type = SOUND,
		template_name = "engine_br_small",
		lt_grp = 0, srt_grp = 0, usr_flg = 0,
		flags = SPATIAL,
		spatialprops =
		{
			pos = { 0, 0, 0 },
			orient = { { 1, 0, 0 }, { 0, 1, 0 }, { 0, 0, 1 } }
		},
		audioprops =
		{
			attenuation = 0,
			pan = 0,
			dmin = 50,
			dmax = 1000,
			ain = 360,
			aout = 360,
			atout = 0,
			rmix = 0,
		},
		userprops =
		{
			category = "Audio",
		}
	},

Only one path type is available: CV_CROrientationSplinePath.

First attribute in path_data is a flag specifying whether this is an open path (“OPEN”) or a closed loop (“CLOSED”).

Each path point consists of a coordinates set and rotation quaternion.

Creating path point data by hand (especially quaternions) is a rather daunting task so I’d recommend to use your favorite 3D modeling software to create smooth paths and export them into plain text that you can use in THN files.

    {
		entity_name = "Path_1",
		type = MOTION_PATH,
		template_name = "",
		lt_grp = 0, srt_grp = 0, usr_flg = 0,
		spatialprops =
		{
			pos = { -10, 7.5, 30 },
			orient = { { 1, 0, 0 }, { 0, 1, 0 }, { 0, 0, 1 } }
		},
		pathprops =
		{
			path_type = "CV_CROrientationSplinePath",
			path_data = "OPEN,{0.000000,0.000000,0.000000}, {1.000000,0.000000,0.000000,0.000000}, {0.000000,0.100000,0.000000}, {1.000000,0.000000,0.000000,0.000000}, "
		}
	}