Quick Tutorial: animating rigged creatures in GMax/3DS MAX
Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 5:20 am
Here's how to take a rigged Trespasser mesh and use it for an animation in Gmax or 3D Studio MAX.
0.- Get the rigged mesh in TPM format in the first place! Do it properly, in TresEd check the "convert bones" option when exporting, it must be such that it can be opened in TPDC.
1.- Import the mesh into Gmax/3DS MAX with the TPM import MaxScript. If you did step 0 properly, you should see a warning about skins taking a long time to process.
2.- Hide everything except the creature's bones. This includes the physics boxes, the shadow mesh and its bones, and the creature's mesh itself.
3.- Using the "Select and Link" tool, connect the bones, left-clicking on a "child bone", dragging the pointer to its "parent" bone and releasing it, then right-click on the "parent", select "Properties" and click both on "Realign" and "Reset Stretch", then on "OK". Repeat for other bones. Use the alias files from TPDC for reference to determine which bones should be children of which other parent bones. For creatures with double joints, refer to the TPDC preset files, too, since for cosmetic reasons the parent-child relationships for those weren't properly set in the corresponding alias files.
4.- After you're done establishing the bone hierarchy, unhide the creature's mesh. After having realigned the bones in the previous step, the mesh will be severely deformed.
5.- Select the mesh, click on "Editable Mesh". then on the "Skin" modifier, expand the "Advanced Params" section in the right panel, uncheck the "Always Deform" box, then check it again. Save your work.
That's it, now you have a fully animated creature which you can use.
0.- Get the rigged mesh in TPM format in the first place! Do it properly, in TresEd check the "convert bones" option when exporting, it must be such that it can be opened in TPDC.
1.- Import the mesh into Gmax/3DS MAX with the TPM import MaxScript. If you did step 0 properly, you should see a warning about skins taking a long time to process.
2.- Hide everything except the creature's bones. This includes the physics boxes, the shadow mesh and its bones, and the creature's mesh itself.
3.- Using the "Select and Link" tool, connect the bones, left-clicking on a "child bone", dragging the pointer to its "parent" bone and releasing it, then right-click on the "parent", select "Properties" and click both on "Realign" and "Reset Stretch", then on "OK". Repeat for other bones. Use the alias files from TPDC for reference to determine which bones should be children of which other parent bones. For creatures with double joints, refer to the TPDC preset files, too, since for cosmetic reasons the parent-child relationships for those weren't properly set in the corresponding alias files.
4.- After you're done establishing the bone hierarchy, unhide the creature's mesh. After having realigned the bones in the previous step, the mesh will be severely deformed.
5.- Select the mesh, click on "Editable Mesh". then on the "Skin" modifier, expand the "Advanced Params" section in the right panel, uncheck the "Always Deform" box, then check it again. Save your work.
That's it, now you have a fully animated creature which you can use.