@println: Go
Thanks for your explanation and suggestion. Maybe storing animations and model in a single file still the safest way.
To be honest, I am a little disappointed (It seems not so easy to "scatter" my model and motions).
Fortunately I know some other solutions to add or delete motions from multiple max files, so I still have ways to assemble several motions together in 3dsmax.
Next time I will add the B at the end of A and export them together. But there are two things confuse me——Since different Animation IDs will cause the problem, can I change them in the xml file to fix it? And what's the ruler of the plugin to create the Animation IDs?
By the way, I found that some m3 files export with 3dsmax can import into the blender but couldn't export any more. I will upload the error messages and files If you need.
Note that Out.m3a will still contain the mesh of B.m3 and all other data. if you want smaller file sizes you can open it with Blender and remove the mesh manually.
Btw the hair and cloth animation looks impressive, is it baked? It's to bad that you aren't making classic fantasy models. Starcraft 2 lacks just the fantasy models Warcraft 3 had....
About the not working models: Yes I would like to have a look at it.
When I try to import Stargate.m3 with the new addon version I get lots of errors and the model is just bones, no materials, attachments points or anything.
Thanks for your reply. I will try again with the new script.
You are right about the cloth and hair, the motions were created and baked by a script in 3dsmax which called "Magic_spring.mse", you can download it from the www.scriptspot.com or just see the attachment below. But I'm not test it on other versions of 3dsmax except max2012. The script will create a transform animation for every chosen bone and the spring level also adjustable.
I also did some tests on baking particles. Maybe it is not a good solution for most situations, but as a toy it worked well……
About the fantasy models: In fact, creating a MOD contains numbers of fantasy models is just what I am working on, but the progress is not very fast. Maybe I should upload them to the Sc2mapster recently.
Today I recognized that the A.m3 was just one of the problem models which blender got an error message when I tried to export them. The message is also in the attachment.
It's written in Chinese so maybe hard for a foreigner to read, I just want you to know that you have many fans in this field in China and your great works help us a lot.
Nice to hear that some people find it usefull. I just found and fixed an issue in the script. The old version was just modifying the animations in the m3 file but not the attribute definition. Thus the result file was not loadable as a m3 file. That's now fixed. I also made the script transfer the boundings animation, but it seems like the model doesn't contain any.
Btw. it would be cool if you could link in your tutorial to the actual m3addon homepage: https://github.com/flo/m3addon/ Users can download the newest version from there using the ZIP-button at the top left.
printIn, you were a great help on that other forum, and I thank you lots. Now the next step for me: I should make those m3a animations for the Warcraft 3 models I can bring through Blender. Because when I import 'em into Blender, they have no animations. Would yer tutorial here apply to those as well? I also wonder if it's possible to copy already existing m3a sequences and apply 'em to the imported Warcraft 3 models? Otherwise I'd only be able to use simple doodads, like fences, arches, furniture, etc.
You don't need to export your animations as additional m3a files. You can simply add animations to the m3 file you export.
About taking over animations: There is no easy way I know off.
A cool animaton trick I dodn't mention in the tutorial: In pose mode the tool shelf (hotkey t) offers a "Auto IK" option. With that option enabled all bones will behave like Inverse Kinematic Bones: If you move a child bone the parent bones will follow.
Edit: Another tipp: When you select the armature and go the "Object Data" tab then you can enable a X-Ray option. With that option on you can see the bones even when they are in the mesh.
@println: Go Thanks for your explanation and suggestion. Maybe storing animations and model in a single file still the safest way.
To be honest, I am a little disappointed (It seems not so easy to "scatter" my model and motions). Fortunately I know some other solutions to add or delete motions from multiple max files, so I still have ways to assemble several motions together in 3dsmax.
Next time I will add the B at the end of A and export them together. But there are two things confuse me——Since different Animation IDs will cause the problem, can I change them in the xml file to fix it? And what's the ruler of the plugin to create the Animation IDs?
By the way, I found that some m3 files export with 3dsmax can import into the blender but couldn't export any more. I will upload the error messages and files If you need.
@Delphinium1987: Go
The m3addon creates random animation ids.
It would be possible to fix the animId manually by editing the xml but it's to much work.
I added another python script which you can use to transfer the animation ids of bones with the same name:
It can be called like this:
Example call:
Note that Out.m3a will still contain the mesh of B.m3 and all other data. if you want smaller file sizes you can open it with Blender and remove the mesh manually.
Btw the hair and cloth animation looks impressive, is it baked? It's to bad that you aren't making classic fantasy models. Starcraft 2 lacks just the fantasy models Warcraft 3 had....
About the not working models: Yes I would like to have a look at it.
When I try to import Stargate.m3 with the new addon version I get lots of errors and the model is just bones, no materials, attachments points or anything.
@SoulFilcher: Go
Fixed
@println: Go
Thanks for your reply. I will try again with the new script.
You are right about the cloth and hair, the motions were created and baked by a script in 3dsmax which called "Magic_spring.mse", you can download it from the www.scriptspot.com or just see the attachment below. But I'm not test it on other versions of 3dsmax except max2012. The script will create a transform animation for every chosen bone and the spring level also adjustable.
I also did some tests on baking particles. Maybe it is not a good solution for most situations, but as a toy it worked well……
About the fantasy models: In fact, creating a MOD contains numbers of fantasy models is just what I am working on, but the progress is not very fast. Maybe I should upload them to the Sc2mapster recently.
Today I recognized that the A.m3 was just one of the problem models which blender got an error message when I tried to export them. The message is also in the attachment.
I tested the new script and my partner wrote a simple .bat file to make it even easier to use. Finally we got a usable .m3a file.
The method is easy to use even to the people who work with 3dsmax, so I wrote a tutorial here (http://bbs.islga.org/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1465202&page=1#pid1215388).
It's written in Chinese so maybe hard for a foreigner to read, I just want you to know that you have many fans in this field in China and your great works help us a lot.
Thank you !
@Delphinium1987: Go
Nice to hear that some people find it usefull. I just found and fixed an issue in the script. The old version was just modifying the animations in the m3 file but not the attribute definition. Thus the result file was not loadable as a m3 file. That's now fixed. I also made the script transfer the boundings animation, but it seems like the model doesn't contain any.
Btw. it would be cool if you could link in your tutorial to the actual m3addon homepage: https://github.com/flo/m3addon/ Users can download the newest version from there using the ZIP-button at the top left.
@println: Go
I added the homepage, and my partner wrote a tutorial about how to use git (We also use it for version control).
I also added my thanks in English so that you can read it.
Btw, I made a new model with particle baking. Looks not bad >_<
printIn, you were a great help on that other forum, and I thank you lots. Now the next step for me: I should make those m3a animations for the Warcraft 3 models I can bring through Blender. Because when I import 'em into Blender, they have no animations. Would yer tutorial here apply to those as well? I also wonder if it's possible to copy already existing m3a sequences and apply 'em to the imported Warcraft 3 models? Otherwise I'd only be able to use simple doodads, like fences, arches, furniture, etc.
@RanchBurner: Go
You don't need to export your animations as additional m3a files. You can simply add animations to the m3 file you export.
About taking over animations: There is no easy way I know off.
A cool animaton trick I dodn't mention in the tutorial: In pose mode the tool shelf (hotkey t) offers a "Auto IK" option. With that option enabled all bones will behave like Inverse Kinematic Bones: If you move a child bone the parent bones will follow.
Edit: Another tipp: When you select the armature and go the "Object Data" tab then you can enable a X-Ray option. With that option on you can see the bones even when they are in the mesh.
@Delphinium1987: Go Nice