Heavy Characters

[squill]

The current forger is already divided into submeshes reasonably well (I still have to add a shadowmesh, I realized), but that can easily be done after he's reweighted in Maya.

 

This forger model is a modified version of the old forger model which is currently in the model_src dir?

 

I don't think the actual weighting process is all that difficult, as long as you understand how the skeleton works. I tried it a few times a year or so back, though I'd pretty much be starting from scratch now. I doubt I'll have time to take on that kind of learning curve for a while.

 

weighting is actually quite easy and once you use mirror weights it reduces a lot of work. There's already a (pretty elaborated) tutorial on the wiki here. Although i think it can be explained much more briefly.

[Noisycricket]

I wouldn't think they're going to need much, if any, weighting just for correcting clipping. If the heavy chars are going to fight, they might need a little more. Just binding the skin to the skeleton at the correct position I would think would be enough. If you can get one into Maya in an hour or so, i'll could have a completed set of heavy animations within the day.

[Springheel]

This forger model is a modified version of the old forger model which is currently in the model_src dir?

 

I worked from Oddity's original model, so I'm not sure how closely it matches the one in model_src. I do know that in the old forger md5mesh, the visor was left on the main model, rather than being attached to the head. Are you able to work from a md5mesh file? The one in the builder/forger folder is the most current version.

[squill]

I worked from Oddity's original model, so I'm not sure how closely it matches the one in model_src. I do know that in the old forger md5mesh, the visor was left on the main model, rather than being attached to the head. Are you able to work from a md5mesh file? The one in the builder/forger folder is the most current version.

 

i can work from a md5mesh, but if you can export the original mesh from LW that would be even better or are you also working from a md5mesh?

[Springheel]

What would you like me to export it as? An .obj file?

[squill]

that would be swell

[Noisycricket]

Hey, don't try and tell us you have better things to do! What could be better than staring at the Maya interface for 8 hours?

[Noisycricket]

If you can upload the heavy char in .mb format when your done applying the skin, i'll start working on the animations your not doing. I have a few days off here, so lots of time.

[Noisycricket]

A google search shows that many people have, or have had success going from lightwave directly to Maya. I should try opening a Lightwave file save in .obj format.

 

Here just one example among 100s of pages.

http://www.cyphermesh.com/16.html

[Springheel]

that would be swell

 

Hmm, I don't know much about exporting in other formats, but I can't seem to save more than one submesh at a time as an .obj file. I'll upload the entire mesh to the FTP, I guess...I can always break it up again once it's weighted properly.

[squill]

if they are separated and exported as a whole to an obj file i can split it up again in maya.

[Springheel]

When I used LW to export it, only one submesh was saved. When I used DeepExploration it saved the entire mesh, but merged it together, so that's the one that's currently on the FTP as "builder_forger.obj". If it's easy for you to separate, that's great, otherwise it will only take me about 5-10 minutes to do it again.

[squill]

ok i looked at the obj, it imports with separated meshes which is better then importing the md5 mesh + it keeps the smoothing groups intact. I only have to import the head separately. Only thing that's missing are the texture paths, the texture paths in the md5mesh point to non-existing TGA textures. TGA files are probably the DDS files because i can find the right ones in the DDS folder? Although they look right on the imported md5mesh file, UV's are flipped on the obj meshes :\

 

Also the vertices on the front of the arms need to be cut, because it doesn't look nice if can't be smoothed?

[Springheel]

I only have to import the head separately.

 

I haven't done anything to the head yet. Could you use a different head just for animating purposes?

 

Only thing that's missing are the texture paths, the texture paths in the md5mesh point to non-existing TGA textures.

 

The texture paths in the current md5mesh should be correct (they point to material shaders, not directly to .tga files).

 

Also the vertices on the front of the arms need to be cut, because it doesn't look nice if can't be smoothed?

 

Not quite sure what you mean there. There will always be some seams, as you can't weld verts that occupy two different locations in the uvmap. The normalmap takes care of smoothing it out in game, for the most part.

[Baddcog]

Could we get fbx and obj's of the rigs on SVN? If they aren't.

 

I'd like to try my hand at a little more animation.

 

If they suck they can be tossed.

[squill]

I haven't done anything to the head yet. Could you use a different head just for animating purposes?

 

i can take the head of the md5mesh head.

 

The texture paths in the current md5mesh should be correct (they point to material shaders, not directly to .tga files).

That's what the maya importer outputs. In which material file do these shaders exist?

 

Not quite sure what you mean there. There will always be some seams, as you can't weld verts that occupy two different locations in the uvmap. The normalmap takes care of smoothing it out in game, for the most part.

 

i meant you already had cut up the mesh for some reason and this welding thing explains why.

 

@Baddcog: exporting obj files with joints won't work very well and i haven't installed any fbx exporter. Your best bet would be to try some animation in maya using the animation rig.

[Springheel]

That's what the importer outputs. In which material file do these shaders exist?

 

They're in the tdm_ai_builder.mtr file. Are you talking about the shaders in the md5mesh file, or the surface names in the .obj file? The latter probably ARE referencing non-existant .tga files.

[Baddcog]

Well, I know how to skin and animate in Max, plus I have it.

 

I don't have Maya and don't really want to learn another program that just does what I already know how to do.

 

Would be alot easier for someone just to save as fbx. (Needs done anyway if the rigs are gonna be available to the community at some point.)

[Noisycricket]

Which version of Max are you using out of curiosity? Im thinking about buying 2010 since i'm getting a huge discount being a student right now, but i don't know if any newer version will work with TDM files.

[greebo]

I'll try to install the FBX converter when I get home and export some FBX for you, Baddcog. No promises though, I'm all Maya Noobness.

[greebo]

Epic fail, I tried two different versions of the FBX exporter plug-in (2010.2.0 and 2006.11.2) but I don't see any FBX file type in the export menu, like mentioned in the help. Does this work at all?

[Baddcog]

I believe it's supposed to. I think we discussed it before with Domarius and I think squill mentioned it (but he doesn't have the Mod installed currently.

 

Appreciate you trying though.

 

I don't think I had luck before, but I'll try and find an md5 importer. Maybe I'll get lucky

--------------

 

@Noisy,

 

I am using Max7. Make sure there are md5 exporters for 2010 (that's for animated files) . Also make sure 2010 still does .ase (it's a standard max format, but who knows with newer stuff).

.ase is for all static models.

[squill]

@Greebo i installed the 2010 fbx plugin for maya 2008 and it shows up fine in the exports menu.

 

@Baddcog

I uploaded proguard_rig.fbx to the files folder on the ftp. It's exported in a newer fbx format so i don't know if you can open this with Max 7. btw i have the mod installed and setup again.

[greebo]

Hm, thanks for taking care of this. I'll have a go at Maya 2008 sometime then, maybe it's a problem with my Maya 8.5, who knows.

[Springheel]

Just for reference, I spent a few days working with the forger character, trying to make some stocky animations for him. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to weight his large gut so that it moves in a believable way. All our other character are essentially cut right at the belt and can rotate freely, but this looks terrible on the forger.

 

Someone with some more skill in weighting will have to handle him.