Bones & Max 5

Yet another bones post - Believe me I've looked through all of them and I cannot find the answer I'm looking for. That being said, here is my question:

I'm just trying to map some bones to a mesh, within 3dsmax 5. Then export them using pipeline to be used in Blitz3D. Problem is, I use the bones that come in max 5, or even the biped for that matter, and when exported the bones/biped show up as actual geometry! And any ties to the mesh they had in Max are now gone, and rather the bones are just animating by themselves. I tried using some Max 3 bones (the yellow ones that kind of look like old school omni lights) and that created an export error. I then tried a slew of different modifiers such as Skin, Physique, X Forms, and just plain ol meshes and dummies. Nothing worked; I get no animation in blitz.

I looked around and found a tutorial that suggests taking the model from Max and importing into Milkshape, then back out as a .b3d...but pardon me, I spent a pretty penny on Max 5 and I would like to use it exclusively, without having to haul the model from program to program (especially programs I don't know how to use and have no interest in learning).

Of course, any help would be greatly appreciated. I would love to know how to export these things from the perspective of Max, how do I connect the bones to the mesh, what kind of bones do I use etc.

Thanks!

Have you checked these links:

http://www.onigirl.com/pipeline/

http://playerfactory.proboards25.com/index.cgi?board=b3dpipe

nmn,

Okay I too have been trying to solve this 'problem' or issue I think is a better word to use. Here is what I know.

BIPED is Character Shops fast way of doing this job, but I have yet to find out how to export it correctly for Blitz yet.

DO NOT USE BIPED unless you use the SMD2 exporter route - there are tutorials on BlitzCoder or on this forum - can't remember where...


BUT To get a result using Pipeline, use Max's Bone Tool as follows:

(1) Make your character in Max 5.x
(2) Go to Front viewport, ensure your character is positioned centrally and pull up the 'bone tools' menu, which is under Character - Bone Tools
(3) Click 'Create Bone' and follow any of the normal bone tutorials. You put bones into the character manually and adjust each position using all the viewports to make sure they are placed correctly. Edit the bones where necessary.
(4) Then I think you have to apply an IK Solver called HI Solver - which is under Animation - IK Solver - HI Solver You join the top bone to the last bone in the chain.
(5) Then go to the Modifiers menu and apply the Skin modifier to your character (select the character first then apply the SKIN mod).
(7) Use the Skin menu to Add and Edit bone envelopes, watch the colours of the skin to ensure the bones control only the skin around the bones which should be moving them.
(8)Fiddle until done
(9) Animate using key frames
(10) Export using Pipeline to get a B3D animating Character - with no bones showing!

You may have to look through the Max tutorials for a better/clearer explanation of this method of animation.

NOW...I am not an expert, these are only guidelines, but I have managed this week to make some progress in this area so most of this is correct Im just a little hazy on the details.

TEST it with a simple example rather than waste a lot of time. When you have it 'down' then do the whole model again from scratch.

When you export the B3d and place it into Blitz3D I was pleasantly surprised to find that it worked, my effort looked pathetic but hey it did work.

Hope this helps,

IPete2.

Awesome, the second link was perfect - a whole forum devoted to that exact question pretty much. Thank you mustang...the wall can now breath a sigh of relief as my head will no longer be slaming into it over and over ;)

For anyone wondering, the anwser to the question was to simply uncheck the "Scene Root" box in the export window.

Thanks again!=)

IPete,

Though I found my anwser through mustang's post, your information is also quite helpful. I'll take thoes things into account before working on my next project -Thanks!

nmn

Well thats got me excited just reading your reply to Mustangs!

Brilliant must test that tomorrow!

IPete2.

hmm, never had those problems for at least a year.biped works fine with pipeline. ther are a few issues with pipeline, but ont the whole it works great

Thats cause you know what you are doing Ruz! Lol!

IPete2.

hmm i would n't go as far as to say that.
never really got to grips with the pipeline extensions