Animation Export Help
by Sean · in Artist Corner · 01/07/2008 (12:27 pm) · 5 replies
I am having problems exporting animations from Max 8. I have no idea whether the heirarchy or nodes are set up correctly as the reference documentation is really poor. There are direction to character scripts that don't exist and a lot of the needed documents are listed as "undocumented".
The character is a biped and loads correctly in the "Show Tool", but the animations aren't working at all. Is there a step by step set of instructions on how to manually set up a Biped character in Max 8 + the correct animation export set up?
Can someone post a "legible" and "working" screen grab of their Biped hierarchy? Thanks
The character is a biped and loads correctly in the "Show Tool", but the animations aren't working at all. Is there a step by step set of instructions on how to manually set up a Biped character in Max 8 + the correct animation export set up?
Can someone post a "legible" and "working" screen grab of their Biped hierarchy? Thanks
#2
I think that I fixed the animation export problem, at least it plays in the Show Tool. But I had to go through and check a Maya character that my co-worker struggled with for over a week just to get exported and animating correctly.
The sequence node has to be named sequence_XXXX, this is never mentioned in any of the docs. The "sphere and box" tutorial specifically tells you to name this node "root", not sequence_root. This kind of info would be great if it was mentioned somewhere in Section 2: "exporting characters" documents as well as a full schematic view of a working character and or biped. The link that they have listed is missing all kinds of DTS nodes and doesn't open up to a "readable" picture.
01/07/2008 (3:37 pm)
I have all of those docs and most have instructions for using tools and plugins that don't exist for Max 8 yet. I think that I fixed the animation export problem, at least it plays in the Show Tool. But I had to go through and check a Maya character that my co-worker struggled with for over a week just to get exported and animating correctly.
The sequence node has to be named sequence_XXXX, this is never mentioned in any of the docs. The "sphere and box" tutorial specifically tells you to name this node "root", not sequence_root. This kind of info would be great if it was mentioned somewhere in Section 2: "exporting characters" documents as well as a full schematic view of a working character and or biped. The link that they have listed is missing all kinds of DTS nodes and doesn't open up to a "readable" picture.
#3
By the way there is no rule about the names of the sequences. Their names does have sence in the source code.
01/09/2008 (10:11 am)
torque.smdlabs.com/3dsmaxAnimationSetup.htm - use this to answer your questions.By the way there is no rule about the names of the sequences. Their names does have sence in the source code.
#4
It does matter what it is named, I left the sequence object = ROOT and I did not alter the sequence in and out keys. We use separate Max and Maya files for each animation export which is why the sequence object must have a unique name and set of matching keyframes per animation.
You have to name the sequence object with a unique name that matches your animation otherwise it keeps overwriting the ROOT over and over again. And your sequence object keyframes must match the start and stop on the timeline otherwise only a portion or too much animation gets exported then you watch your character idle then pause for 50 frames then idle again etc.
We learned the hard way years ago why having all your animations in one file is really, really bad.
01/09/2008 (12:02 pm)
My co-worker and I really could have used these tutorials last month when we were struggling through these documents trying to find the reason why nothing was exporting in both Max and Maya but thanks for posting the new ones.It does matter what it is named, I left the sequence object = ROOT and I did not alter the sequence in and out keys. We use separate Max and Maya files for each animation export which is why the sequence object must have a unique name and set of matching keyframes per animation.
You have to name the sequence object with a unique name that matches your animation otherwise it keeps overwriting the ROOT over and over again. And your sequence object keyframes must match the start and stop on the timeline otherwise only a portion or too much animation gets exported then you watch your character idle then pause for 50 frames then idle again etc.
We learned the hard way years ago why having all your animations in one file is really, really bad.
#5
01/10/2008 (11:09 am)
No, Brian , you didn't got the idea. The names of the sequences must be these you are talking about if you don't touch the SDK. But every game is unique(or games hope so :) ) and in your game you will need more and different sequences from the already defined, so you define their names there. 
Associate David Montgomery-Blake
David MontgomeryBlake