Animation?!

Tocs1001 · Post by **Tocs1001** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:12 pm

I'm in the middle of creating tons of models for my game, but I've hit a wall, I have my 2D editor (Paintshop pro), my UV mapper (Ultimate Unwrap) My modeler (Milkshape), now i need a decent Animation program, I have heard of weighted verticies but my 3D art book is currently at a friends who i lent it to, so I dont know exactly what they do, But perferably a program that could animate pretty solidly would be nice. I tried using milkshape's animator, its kinda bug-ridden... So I downloaded Character FX looked like a solid program, It liked to place the bones right up against the camera and very small in comparison to the actual model(I think i used an OBJ, one format flipped the Y and the Z axis, and the move tool was very strange sometimes scaleing the bones. Other than that Character FX looked like a solid program, so I was wondering if there were any other Animation programs, relitively cheap in price 1-50bucks about, or explain whats going on with Character FX. If things were my way i would have maya but a high-school budget does not permit that

danharibo · Post by **danharibo** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:15 pm

how does free sound?
www.blender.org

CaseyB · Post by **CaseyB** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:17 pm

danharibo is mostly right! Blender is free and it's a very good tool, BUT the url is www.blender3d.org

Tocs1001 · Post by **Tocs1001** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:21 pm

I cant get that blender thing to cooperate, its GUI is too weird, I just decided not to mess with it i spent a good 2 days trying to fuss with it.

Post by **jacmoe** » Thu May 11, 2006 12:15 am

If you are giving up after only two days, then good luck to you.

CaseyB · Post by **CaseyB** » Thu May 11, 2006 12:25 am

Tocs1001 wrote:its GUI is too weird, I just decided not to mess with it

I had the same reaction at first, but then I found these really good tutorials and I am really liking Blender now! It's called Noob to Pro and it really is just that! It doesn't assume that you have any experience whatsoever and it will take you step by step through everything! Once you get used to the interface, I think that you will find that it allows for a very efficent work flow!

Post by **jacmoe** » Thu May 11, 2006 12:37 am

Give it two months.
Goof around - read tutorials - download Blender files to see how it's done.
Don't forget to watch the Blender video tutorials, or browse this forum for Blender insights.

Tocs1001 · Post by **Tocs1001** » Thu May 11, 2006 8:42 pm

Is this all there is to work with, I mean if I spent 2 full days like 8 in the morning to 10 at night with the thing on my spring break and wasnt satisfied, by my standards if i use it that much and i still dont like it, it isnt well written. Everyone likes it, I've heard good things about it, and its a nice program. I just dont like it. Is there something else that animates, along the same lines as Bone weights, multi animations, or is this the only option?

danharibo · Post by **danharibo** » Thu May 11, 2006 8:54 pm

i would use blender as it is easy as 1-2-3, i can help u to animate if you want

CaseyB · Post by **CaseyB** » Thu May 11, 2006 10:01 pm

Tocs1001 wrote:Is there something else that animates, along the same lines as Bone weights, multi animations, or is this the only option?

For ~$50, yeah. The only other things that I can think of that do what you want to do are Max and Maya which are both VERY $$$

Mwr · Post by **Mwr** » Fri May 12, 2006 12:07 am

There's fragmotion: http://www.fragmosoft.com/.

It is not the most feature packed program around, but I find it quite easy to use. It has a plugin for exporting ogre mesh/skeleton files, but no ogre import so you need to use some other format for that.

Another option might be to use the Softimage XSI mod tool(which is free) to make your animations, which can export to smd files (half life format) and then use fragmotion to convert the smd files to ogre ones. Of course you need to have your mesh and rigging saved in the smd format (most 3d programs have a smd exporter) to start with, to get it into the mod tool.

Jerky · Post by **Jerky** » Fri May 12, 2006 12:10 am

Regarding Blender I have 2 words:
Video Tutorials

Tocs1001 · Post by **Tocs1001** » Fri May 12, 2006 10:43 pm

Fragmosoft = perfection!