Character tutorial?

#81 I cant open the downloaded files. The uploaded files are corrupted

#82 Oh. Great. Well lemi try that again:

http://www.rickaustinson.com/why.rar
http://www.rickaustinson.com/tutorial_char.rar

I thought you meant my exported .DTS files were corrupted - which is also probably true, but I digress.

#83 1 you model needs transform reset applied before rigging.
2 you do not have any of the dummies except the details which is attached to the wrong object
3. that multires method you are using might not work in T3d i think it worked in the old engine but not the new one

did you look at how i created the dummies and named them in the tutorial i made for you.

also download my LOD mesh example

http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/torque-lod-3ds-free/717454

#84 also

make sure u use opencollada to export

#85 Exactly which model are you reffering to? The scuttlebot is the only one I was following a tutorial on. The other character(from the folder marked why) was my own pathetic attempts to work out the character exporting myself, and is obviously very heavily broken.

Where does one apply Transform Reset? Is it a modifier, a utility, a setting?

According to the .DTS tutorial I was following, the "dummies" are not actually dummies but "Sequence" nodes created and applied differently(they just look exactly like dummies, thus tripping up n00bs like me). Or are they supposed to be renamed dummies now in the Collada pipeline?

I'm not using multires at all, I don't need it for this project. Frankly I'm not even sure where its showing up, I never even touched it after I was finished modeling and had done the finale collapse into an editable mesh(it was applied a few times to cut down on tris in some of the organic sections but never after that). I know distance meshes and LODs are important but I figured I'd focus on making something - anything - work in-engine before I got jiggy with it.

I tried to watch your video but the resolution was too low for me to read most of the text(even in full screen) and without sound it was not much help. I'll watch it again and try to take notes along every step so I've got a more thorough starting point.

I've seen the LOD mesh example, I've saved it, but for me the schematic views haven't been all that helpful. I can make my schematic view look like that but that doesn't necessarily mean its working. I just need a better explanation for what I'm looking at when I see one of those schematic views.

#86 The file i looked at was player. I call them dummies cause thats what they are called in max.

Depending on how old the tutorial you are looking at the old methods have not worked for me since T3D. Ive spent days almost a month to get the export setup burried into my head.


In both files you are using a mesh named MultiRes::bodymesh thats why i mentioned it.

Are you using GAS? If so i think that generates it.

In the video on youtube you have to change the resolution to 1080P all my videos are uploaded in full HD if you dont change the youtube settings in the viewing window the default will be a really crappy resolution that you can not see. And for what I do you wont really need sounds.

What are u using to export also.

#87 Both files are called player as both were meant to take the place of the player character. One of them is a model of a man and the other is a box with tiny little legs.

I think the Collada pipeline might use dummies, I did see in your video that you were creating a bunch of dumies. I also noticed however that you start with 2 dummies already in position with no explanation.

I did buy GAS however I haven't tried to use it, well I've tried but it didn't help. Where are you seeing MultiRes::bodymesh as a name? That's not a name I ever applied or saw anywhere.

In both instances I tried to use the .DTS exporter, but I think I've never had anything remotely set up properly. I've also tries using Autodesk's Collada exporter but that obviously doesn't work. I'll get open collada loaded up next.

Can you give me a youtube link to the video? I was watching it on garage game's page. If its on youtube I can download it and that will be easier. I'm already viduall impaired but if I can get a high-rez video file on my machine I have a few tricks to help me see things more clearly. Personally, though, I've always worked best from textual instructions.

#88 The dummies that were already there was by mistake and i deleted those:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHFKXNnVHRE&feature=share&list=UUuTn2jMK6VDuzeIeJ6_j1pA

#89 The dummies that were already there was by mistake and i deleted those:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHFKXNnVHRE&feature=share&list=UUuTn2jMK6VDuzeIeJ6_j1pA

#90 Thanks for clearing that up. I'll have a higher-rez look through the video and see what I can see.

#91 Hey what version of Max are you using in the video? All I can tell for certain its its 2010 or later.

#92 2014 but it world for 2008 + thats what i started from

#93 I figured as much, just trying to confirm. By the way I notice you do not appear to create a bounding box, are bounding boxes no longer required?

#94 I stated above that when i tried to use bounds awhile ago i was told that ht e engine makes a bounds for the character. If you look in player.cpp or player.h the size of the bounds is defined.

#95 Got it. I'm about halfway through the video now. I'm thinking the process probably won't work as-is for my 3DAAK-built game(the default character uses .dts and .dsq files) but I am going to try this process using a very simple character I call a box stuck to a biped and we will see what happens.

#96 collada gets converted to a DTS after you load it in engine it can use animation from other DSQ, and collada files

#97 Well thats very good news. That means with some tweeking I should be able to use the existing animation files and save myself some trouble(I'm not really a very good animator you see).

That also means its very likely my base "Maco" character actually uses a collada pipeline after all... man that clears up some confusion.

#98 Question: when using the connect tool on the schematic view, does it matter what direction you go? EG is it important to go from start01 TO base01 or can you go either way?

#99 Ok, here is my step-by-step notes for what I see in the video. Do you think you could elaborate a bit on each step? There are also some places where its unclear exactly what you are doing and why:

Collada Tutorial Video Notes:

Make a model, center it on the screen, face it down the Y axis. At this point weve got a finished mesh already fully rigged to a biped(however, the video does not show us what modifiers are used).

There is a little yellow arrow/pointer deal on the bottom, what is it and why is it there?

Hides some mesh pieces
(Pre-existing dummies in video were accidental)

Step01: make a dummy, name it base01
Step02: make another dummy, name it start01
Step03: make a third dummy, name it bpCOM
Step04: make another dummy, name it detail128
Step05: make yet another dummy. This time, position at 0 on the Y axis and move it up over the chest on the Z-xis. Parent-child link the dummy to the highest point on the bipeds spine. Name the dummy to mount0
Step06: make 2 more dummies, named mount1 and mount2
Step07: use the Align tool(Tools ->  Align) to align them to the bipeds hands.
Step08: parent-child Link the dummys mount1 and mount2 to the bipeds hands.
Step09: rotate the dummies to better align with the hands.
Step10: make another dummy, name it cam
Step12: center cam at X and Y position 0, then raise it up above the bipeds head.
Step13: make another dummy, name it eye
Step14: position eye directly in front of the characters face
Step15: position dummies base01, start01, bpCOM, and detail128 at (0,0,0)
Step16: Open Schematic View(Graph Editors ->  New Schematic View)
Step17: Use Connect tool to connect start01 to base01
Step18: Use Connect tool to connect bpCOM to start01
Step19: Use Connect tool to connect detail128 to base01
Step20: Leave Schematic View Open, go back to scene, create a new dummy, name it unlink, place it at (0,0,0)
Step21: Go back to Schematic View, use Connect tool to connect cam to unlink
Step22: Use Connect tool to connect eye to unlink
Step23: Use Connect tool to connect unlink to bpCOM
Step24: Use Connect tool to connect Bip01 Pel to bpCOM
Step25: Fine detail128 on the schematic view, right-click, and choose Unlink Selected

At this point everything gets a little fuzzy: in the video, the guy carefully copies the ending 128 from the detail128 dummy, then proceeds to add 128 onto the end of the names of all his mesh-pieces. However, I am unsure as to exactly why.

He then brings up the schematic vide again and uses it to select an object, which he similarly renames.

Step26: export the mesh using OpenCollada, leave default exporter settings as-is (NOTE: settins should be: Copy Images[Checked], Normas[Checked], Triangulate[Checked], Everything Else[Unchecked])

Again the video gets a little bit fuzzy as the guy uses Torsion to launch the game. That MIGHT be all hes doing but I cannot really say for sure if this is an important step or not.

Step27: launch Torque?

Really not sure whats going on in this step, the video is showing the Shape Editor in Torque, he brings up the character he just exported, rotates around in it, goes through some settings but it is not clear what he is doing or checking, then he goes back to MAX.

Step28: Hide all of the mesh pieces again? Hide ALL the geometry.
Step29: Change Selection Type to CAT Bones
Step30: Select all the bones
Step31: Open Material Editor(M on the keyboard)
Step32: Select an empty material sphere, rename to InvBones, apply to biped
Step33: Set the Opacity to 0
Step34: Apply same material to yellow pointer/arrow thing(seriously what is that thing?)
Step35: Unhide all.
Step36: Export the character again, same settings.

Now we are back in Torque and I am again unsure whats going on, though it looks like we just re-loaded the character we just exported again.

Everything is unclear from here, but we do see the character working in Torque so clearly the process works. Except the animations arent working.





For me its also very important to understand the theory that's going on behind any process. I see whats happening but for most of it I really don't understand why you are doing things, and I'd like to.

#100 Unrelated: apparently its impossible to make these message boards display an " or a ' without manually entering it in the little "post" window.