Cinema 4D Bones

Ion Dune · Post by **Ion Dune** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:00 am

I've been making all the models for my game in Cinema 4D (r10.008) for a while, and I want to start using bones. The problem is, I have no idea to start. I searched around the forums here and found a topic saying that the was currently no support for bones [http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/ ... ght=cinema]
However, the guy also said he got it to work with r9 bones. I still have no idea whats going on, plus I wonder if the situation has changed with the new animation system.

I guess what I want to do is talk to someone who uses Cinema 4D, and can at least tell me what direction to head in.

Thanks for your time.

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:49 pm

Bones support was also existing before the new animation system. However, now you have better access to it under a uniform implementation. So you have to export your model to one of the bone animated mesh formats Irrlicht support, namely .x, .ms3d, or .b3d. Any of those file formats should support your animation, if exported correctly.

Ion Dune · Post by **Ion Dune** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:43 am

That's exactly what my problem is: I don't know how to export it. My problem is one of Cinema 4D, not of irrlicht. I guess what I'm looking for is a guide for exporting bones from C4D, or a recommendation of an easy to use editor that can export bones.

Ion Dune · Post by **Ion Dune** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:17 am

Using the Xport site, I figured out which bones to use (one of my problems) and saved a new mesh with a test bone. I successfully loaded it in irrlicht (I know this because the first time I tried, there was a typo in my bone name creating an error message and unhandled exception, which was fixed when I corrected the typo.) I called setRotation, however, with no effect. I did a couple of tests, and I'm pretty sure the problem lies in Cinema 4D.

So my question, now, is what steps do I have to take in Cinema 4D to link an object to a bone? I placed the object I wanted to rotate as a child of the bone, but that did not work. What else do I have to do?

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:08 am

I'll move this thread to the graphics section in hope someone there knows better...

jingquan · Post by **jingquan** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 2:52 am

I'm not sure too, maybe it's Xport. It does a good job exporting to .X but the textures/materials seems scrambled when I load it in Irrlicht. Maybe it's the same with bones?

BTW, I've only worked with bones in Cinema4D, never tried exporting it.

ChrisDicko · Post by **ChrisDicko** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:10 am

In case you have not resolved this yet.

This works with Cinema4D v9, and I think v10 but the menu options may have changed. Some students of mine used this last year.

Get the C4D plug in "XPort" at http://213.239.195.198/~philipp/index.php

XPort doesn't understand the "Joint" system in C4D version 10+ and so you must use the bone system which is Character | Soft IK | Bones" and export it using the "File | Export... | X-File Export" dialogue.

Good luck