PaceMaker is awesome.

PaceMaker 1.3 was just released a few days ago.
You owe it to yourself to check it out. I did and tonight I bought a license.

I was also looking at Fragmotion. It has loads of features but the interface is all but unusable. If you like hand animating every frame then you might like it. I didn't.

Smiff (Mr. Smith) has done a fantastic job on PaceMaker. There is absolutely nothing else like this tool (Except maybe Endorphin which costs more than a small car).

Check out the demo and watch the tutorial videos (there is at least an hours worth) and then imagine doing animation without IK or physics recording. Ugh.

My workflow will now look like this:

1.) Create character -use your favourite modeling package (Milkshape,C4D,LW, Silo, Nendo whatever you like to use use ...) export as .3ds or .obj

2.) Import and texture in Unwrap3d and export as .B3D

3.) Rig and animate in PaceMaker. Save as B3D or .X

4) Import into Unwrap3d again and export to whatever format you like and you are done.

It's that easy.

For under USD$100.00 you have a complete game modeling/texturing/animating solution that delivers great results with a small investment of cash. Not to mention MS3D,Unwrap3d and Pacemaker are indivdually excellent in their own right.

Support PaceMaker! Go and Buy it now!


Allan

Hi Hambone,

Milkshape 3d could export .b3d directly.
Could we skip step 2 without using unwrap3d?

Thanks in advance.
Sammy

Yeah you could but ms3d doesn't support weighted vertices.
I find uuw3d the best for exporting great for texture mapping too :)

Allan

PaceMaker is great but so is Fragmotion IMO. I own both (and Unwrap3d).

Fragmotion is great for tweaking b3d animations/models, changing file formats etc.

Also, you can modify the user interface to suit you. Took me a while to work this out as well.

Thanks guys ! I also think that Fragmotion is a very useful tool once you get to grips with its interface-PaceMaker and Fragmotion work really well together.
I just took a look at Endorphin - it's quite incredible and its amazing how similar in some aspects PaceMaker is although Endorphin's adaptive behaviour really takes it to another level - still at $10,000 compared to £19.50 its hardly surprising. It's given me some very good ideas for some new features though !

Beaker - you're just a show off!

;)

IPete2.

Pacemaker is a great program that just keeps getting better and ive got to say Smiff is a top bloke if you have a problem with your animation.

Pete

Yup, I also love PaceMaker. It’s really fantastic the versatility and power you get with this tool. The ragdoll physics to create complex anim seqs in no time is absolutly outstanding and I haven’t come across this kind of functionality in any other animation tool in the low cost range.
I also like the ability to be able to pin down any joint while animating. A great help when you do IK stuff or to keep those feet in place when doing walk cycles.
Then of course bone weights are very well supported which allows for smoothing out those kinks around hips and shoulders.
But as mentioned above, maybe best of all is the truly outstanding and quick support given by Smiff to any problems which might arise by using PaceMaker.