Animations Editing Tutorial[s]

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Swaffy
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Animations Editing Tutorial[s]

Post by Swaffy »

I would like to learn how to edit animations. I would be grateful to have videos included/as the tutorial, but not needed.

If I am to learn how to do this, I would need [of course] a teacher, and I'm sure at least one of you have the ability to teach animations editing.

I'm a perfectionist and very patient, so I can create animations for other people once I learn how.

If you know how to edit animations, I beg you ... please create a tutorial on how to do so.
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HJGF
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Re: Animations Editing Tutorial[s]

Post by HJGF »

Archi was making some but idk if he finished them also some other guys heres including can animate but idk if they would want to make a tutorial
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Swaffy
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Re: Animations Editing Tutorial[s]

Post by Swaffy »

Well, P!nk Balls made texturing tutorials for 3ds Max, so I figured there should be some animations tutorials.

[Edit] If I'm going to enter the gaming business for a career, I need to learn some animating skills beforehand.
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Sgt.Killboy
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Re: Animations Editing Tutorial[s]

Post by Sgt.Killboy »

I would be interested in some animation tuts too. Basicly to change weapons animations (and to add a middlefinger gesture to empty weapon slots *lol*) and to make bots fit into vehicles taht need new animation or positions.

I got basic animation knwoledge in 3DsMax (invert kinematics 'n stuff) I just don't know how to...erm..I actually didnt even check if I can import the .ske stuff with the Max tools.

If theres anyone from germany who's looking for some great animation tutorials (character rigging and animating for animatted movies), I know some really cool ones made by a prof of the tech university Linz...i guess they are pretty unknown and kinda hard to find, but really really great and all downloadaboe in flash format!
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Swaffy
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Re: Animations Editing Tutorial[s]

Post by Swaffy »

Though any kind of animation will be accoladed, I was thinking we need some weapon animation tutorials.

I've seen a lot of mods [most mods I've played] that have poorly made animations. That, or they did worse: used the K98 / No4 reload animation.
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Sgt.Killboy
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Re: Animations Editing Tutorial[s]

Post by Sgt.Killboy »

I guess theres a tutorial about basic changing of an animation in this "battlefield 1942 modding guide" they provide at the battlefield singleplayer website. I already posted a link somewhere, but i forgot where it was...fOok was asking for the bf1942 light.exe thing there...
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Senshi
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Re: Animations Editing Tutorial[s]

Post by Senshi »

Well, the ones Archimonday had put up were really awesome. A bit confusing, but that is because animating in BF42 can be a huge PITA, because A LOT of things can go wrong along the way, all possibly accompanied with a full data loss. So rule #1: Make backups of your animation. Regularly. Often. Especially before/after you import/export elements with the BF42 tools.

On the other hand, animating BF42 is - in concept - not really difficult. The only a tick more tricky part is coding the animations correctly. If interested, I could make a short tutorial (text) that explains the layout of the animation *.con files and how to get your .baf files ingame. Creating the .baf themselves is not that difficult with the MDT Tools.
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Re: Animations Editing Tutorial[s]

Post by Sgt.Killboy »

Almost anything about animation would be interesting, so fire it up!

:D

A question: Is it possible to get the animation show up in 3DsMax? I mean with the soldier model. I just imported one, and all i had was some boxes that flip around. I mean...you know...I'd like to see the complete sodiermodel acting like it does ingame, with textures 'n stuff.
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Senshi
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Re: Animations Editing Tutorial[s]

Post by Senshi »

Of course that is possible.

The theoretic work would be painful, as you'd have to import the skeleton and then skinwrap the soldier mesh around it. Thankfully, the BF MDT has some nice perks most people never notice. Check your MDT directory. There is a 3d samples folder. Surprise! A fully skinwrapped russian soldier skeleton completely ready to use!

I use that one for all my animations. Also I added a custom camera at the game's default soldier viewport which is:
1,2/0/15,6
FOV of 47°

This is not a "perfect" representation of ingame view (depends on your viewport size as well, obviously), but is sufficient to know what is seen and what not.

In a separate .max, prepare your full weapon. Import all weapon elements with the MDT tools and things should be at the correct position already. If not, carefully place them manually (you can look up the positions in the .con file to make things easier). Also make sure to check the pivots of the weapon parts, they might be weird sometimes.

Then just "Merge" them into your soldier scene. Link constraint the weapon "base" to Bip01R (which is the center of the hand). You can ONLY link it to that skeleton node, as the weapon will always be force-constrained by the game engine. This is why it is impossible to use the right hand in animation, sadly, it always is "glued" to the weapon. Fingers (for pulling the trigger) work, though.

That's about the import part for now. More in an elaborate tutorial. Once I get my old 3dsmax7 up and running agian (sadly the tools won't work for 2011 :( ).

But there's lots of things that have never been touched before in animations. Quite some interesting possibilities.
Thing I did for BG42:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnnPqSM_ROk
Sgt.Killboy
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Re: Animations Editing Tutorial[s]

Post by Sgt.Killboy »

Oh wait!

Oh...and thanks for your effort first!

I got a question, you might be able to answer so I could probably save a lot of time testing stuff. If I apply some changes to the soldiers model mesh like making the belly like it was formed by beer. Will that affect the animations.
Or lets say i change the faces model, like making the nose bigger. I mean...will the animations still work?

Or well, actually I'm asking, because I'd like to change the soldiers mesh to a female...same is for the face. So for the body that would mean smaller hips and the other parts male bodies don't have (hands for cleaning the house, cooking, ironing...*lol*). :?
For the face that would be a setup thats weaker than the BF42's faces are, maybe a bit more slim. (I wouldnt touch the eyeholes and the mouth)

Is it possible without complete new animations.

____________________________________

For the animation Video:

Nice one! I watched the other one too, the run and reload one with 1st person view. Very nice. I was watching a viedo of BF3 lately an when watching it, i thought "Damn, why dont we have animations like that in 1st person!" Your animation really reminds me of that...I mean how the weapon is moving around while the soldier is running/walking.

For the Tut part:

Well I will try stuff when some things are done i got on my "to do list" right now. It's been a while that i did my 1st animations in 3Ds. Since the skleton has already been rigged and stuff it might be easier than it seems right now.

Anyways. It would be great if you'd do some more tutorial(s) about that. Cant wait to watch them!

For 3DsMax 7:

I use a Max 8 version. All the tools work fine with it!
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