How to export animations from 3ds Max?

LEOcab · Post by **LEOcab** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:14 am

Hello everyone,

I started programming for Irrlicht today. I absolutely LOVE it!

I got a little futuristic alien soldier walking in a tiled map, but he's not a robot so I need him to move his legs when he walks. I animated it (in 3ds Max 2010) and tried to export it as .3ds, but apparently Irrlicht doesn't support .3ds animations. Then I tried the Panda .x file exporter, but nope, still no animation.

I know my code works because it loads and animates the ninja model from the Irrlicht media folder, so I must be doing something wrong in Max. I haven't touched any options in the program or in the Panda export window.

My alien model has these modifications: (latter first)
- Skin
- Unwrap UVW
- Poly Select
- Editable Poly

Maybe something there is causing the problem? I've never used Max for animation before, so I'm guessing all I have to do is use the Auto Key button and create the frames. Or did I miss a step?

Thanks in advance!

Hirte · Post by **Hirte** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 8:12 am

As far as I know 3ds doesn't support animation by itself, so you have to use another file format.

How did you implement the animation in your program?

shadowslair · Post by **shadowslair** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 8:22 am

Hi,
As Hirte said, you`ll need to use some other format- .3ds is static with Irrlicht.

1) Check if your .X animation is exported properly- first using DirectX Viewer (if you have one), then use the 09.MeshViewer app, found in thr Irrlicht examples and change the animation speed.

2) Check the frame loop you`re using for your particular model, since the keys and frames depend on the exporter settings, and play around with them.

3) Try "kW X-port plugin" for 3d max.

4) Try your model with the irrlicht MeshViewer every time you export it with different setting, and when everything is fine there, use it with your program. You`ll need to know your animation keyframe sequences like "IDLE- 0-100" etc. and usually you`ll have to multilpy to some value,(the sampling rate I think), so if your sampling rate variable is 150, then your first idle keyframe will be 0, when the last will be 100*150 (in the example I gave above).

5) If your character is animated in Max, then it should be exported like this, but you may need to set the first and last frame manually in the exporter.

Hope this helps in some way.

PS: Welcome to the Irrlicht community!

LEOcab · Post by **LEOcab** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 1:20 pm

Thanks!

I figured that animation itself does work, just not skinned bone animation. Is this not supported in Irrlicht?

I guess I'll just ask what the best way to create a walking guy for Irrlicht is. It doesn't have to be 3ds Max but I'd prefer that because I already learned how to use it. Thanks again.

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:01 pm

You better use a skeletal animation, as this is best supported in Irrlicht. This requires b3d, x, or ms3d format, all the others use either vertex interpolation or are just static. 3ds animations are not supported in Irrlicht.

LEOcab · Post by **LEOcab** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:18 pm

Okay, I re-did everything and now my I'm closer to getting it right. Now I've narrowed it down to the 'Export Skinning' option in kW X-porter. When checked, animation works but my Unwrap UVW modifier doesn't (so the texture shows incorrectly). When not checked it's the other way around; the texture is fine but I get no animation.

How can I get both texture AND animation? Thanks again.

Ravi08 · Post by **Ravi08** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 6:14 pm

I hope this helps but im not completely sure it will work with 3ds max.

This is a link for Gandaldf B3d exporter which should export the animation and texture and the file type is supported by irrlicht.

http://www.gandaldf.com/specs-english.html