Bridge Animations

[limey BSc.]

For those of you that have been following my other threads here, or the main one at BCS then you will know about my progress with bridges. If not, basically i have completely finished the model, jb06 has made all the textures and i have mapped them all on. LJ has mentioned to me about a way around lightmapping, so that is now out of the equation too. That leaves the next obstacle as animations. I was just wondering if they can just be done in Milkshape and exported as a nif, or whether they need proper animations software (if so, what).
Thanks,
Stephen

[Legacy]

I think i replied that a week ago...

Well, i think it may be possible, depending on how the milkshape plugin were done.
It was never tried though.

[limey BSc.]

I tried importing animations, but i just got a chair :S Then again, i tried importing a bridge and that didn't work, but, as far as i can tell, exporting my one did!

[Legacy]

I tried importing animations, but i just got a chair :S Then again, i tried importing a bridge and that didn't work, but, as far as i can tell, exporting my one did!

As a test, pick up an skeleton (it must have the same hierarchy as the bc ones in the sdk)
Make a simple animation of the character seated and try to replace one of the stock ones.

If it'll load, good, if not, no deal.

[limey BSc.]

What do you mean by same heirachy?

[Nighthawk]

long story short: no, you can't.
you need 3d studio.

Milkshape can handle models but not those animations. animations from HL or quake are supported tho.

[Legacy]

long story short: no, you can't.
you need 3d studio.

Milkshape can handle models but not those animations. animations from HL or quake are supported tho.

Nighthawk, i suggest you let this kind of explanation to who actually work with bridges: Me, Mark, Sean or LJ.

Like i posted before, it's not sure.
I'm sure milkshape does keyframed animations (i done that before, and exported then to CS and other games), what is unsure is if the custom made plugin were actually able to export those.

What do you mean by same heirachy?

The bones need to be the same (name and direction), aswell as the links between then.

LC

[Nighthawk]

Nighthawk, i suggest you let this kind of explanation to who actually work with bridges: Me, Mark, Sean or LJ.

trust me, I tried importing bridges and characters with milkshape and it sometimes crash and sometimes import the groups but not the mesh.
the bipeds usually get converted to boxes and meshes, but most of the time they don't get imported at all.
while you can do animations in Milkshape, you can't export them to .nif.
the bones system is completely different.

EDIT: if you want to get started with characters and bridges, get Gmax and the .nif plugin from NifTools. you can also get 3dstudio, but Gmax is free, and way easier to learn.
Milkshape should work when you need to handle ships and models that are not characters nor bridges.

EDIT2: just checked the site. I forgot about Blender, it's free too and has much more tools than Gmax. a bit harder to learn, but almost as powerful as 3DS.

[limey BSc.]

I know importing bridges doesn't work, but I've imported bodies and heads fine. Then again, I've never seen any of the bones or joints in it. I'll give LC's idea a go, but if it doesn't work i will go for Blender or GMax.

[Legacy]

trust me, I tried importing bridges and characters with milkshape and it sometimes crash and sometimes import the groups but not the mesh.
the bipeds usually get converted to boxes and meshes, but most of the time they don't get imported at all.
while you can do animations in Milkshape, you can't export them to .nif.
the bones system is completely different.

That?s a point, we're not trying to import the stuff, but check for the exporting.
The bones system is different, but the fact is that is not relevant, depending on how the exporter handle them
BC animations barely include the objects, in fact they include only the name, pivot point and the scale, move and rotation keyframes. That?s why the bone hierarchy must emulate the ones at the bc bipeds.
It works with newer versions of nifs and other formats.

EDIT: if you want to get started with characters and bridges, get Gmax and the .nif plugin from NifTools. you can also get 3dstudio, but Gmax is free, and way easier to learn.
Milkshape should work when you need to handle ships and models that are not characters nor bridges.

Indeed gmax is like a mini 3dsmax, may be helpfull, but i'm not sure how it does handle bipeds.. last version i checked did not had bipeds at all.

EDIT2: just checked the site. I forgot about Blender, it's free too and has much more tools than Gmax. a bit harder to learn, but almost as powerful as 3DS.

Not as close as powerful as max, but it's fine, also need to be checked what it can do for nifs.


Limey: Add me at msn and i'll provide you a drawing of the biped bones, with the joint points and bone names during the weekend, so you can rebuild it at milkshape, using it's bones.

[limey BSc.]

Not as close as powerful as max, but it's fine, also need to be checked what it can do for nifs.

I downloaded Blender the yesterday anyway, but it look so much more confusing than Milkshape. I also downloaded the 2 things needed to import .nifs, so, at worst i will have to learn to use Blender.

Limey: Add me at msn and i'll provide you a drawing of the biped bones, with the joint points and bone names during the weekend, so you can rebuild it at milkshape, using it's bones.

Ok, but i need your address .

[Legacy]

Ok, but i need your address .

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