character studio and max 5

[darkmonth]

You will find that, if I am not mistaken, that this is a bug in the cracked version of Character Studio.

I would try clicking on the Create panel again, and selecting Biped and then go back to the motions panel. This opens it back up. Strange but thats the way it is.

Sorry, if you are using an official version, please forgive me for making it sound like you are using a dodgy copy.

D :)

[Chris Thomas]

even if he is using a dodgey version, how come you know so much about solving the crask issue? :hmm:

Chris T

[darkmonth]

Errrr...

my... friend uses it...?

Gulp!

Nah, seriously, I do know becuase, yes, I have had experience with cracked versions. However, I do actually use a legal version working professionally at a games studio with it.

D :)

[pete]

Character studio's a waste of time anyway. .
You should try to learn the bones stuff in max 5, It's pretty cool. Heaps more rewarding and stable.

Check the rigging forum there's some good stuff there

[darkmonth]

Wait for CS 4 before making judgements.

I am looking forward to it personally.

Dave

[PokeChop]

>>>>>Wait for CS 4 before making judgements. I am looking forward to it personally. Dave<<<<<

Yes I will have to agree with darkmonth on this one. I can tell ya from seeing it last night, CS4 is looking sweet.

I just saw the Defy Reality Tour for 3ds Max 5 and Character Studio 4 last night here in Dallas and even though the seminar was almost a complete failure (started an hour late, electronics didn't always work, several people left during the show due to Discreet personnel not having their stuff together to make a good presentation, no wonder Discreet handed out stress balls, I kid you not on the stress ball thing-ironic ain't it) CS4 still looked good.

The instructor showed an example of the NLE features of blending motion sets together and she used the character from 50% Grey. She started out with him walking and then added a new motion clip of the guy throwing a grenade onto her layered timeline above the walk cycle clip and blended it smoothly. She even set the grenade throw to just effect the arm of the character. Very cool. The character walked his cycle and threw a grenade all seamlessly. All this in about 3 minutes of work.

I have been using CS since version 1 and have been waiting for this type of NLE mixer function in CS since version 1 and it looks like now we will finally get it. People always say CS is not worth the money - just use Max's bones and animate that way - which is fine - but if you get the hang of CS you can really make some good animations with it and it can be a time saver if you have a good library of motion clips you can use on different characters.

One of the flyers that came with the seminar pack from Discreet talks about how Digital Extremes created all the character movements for the game Unreal Tournement 2003 with CS so they could apply the master movements of the first character to all 25 different characters in the game and how much time this saved by them being able to do this. This is just one example but I think you get the point.

One other little tidbit of info, the Discreet slide showed the new pricing for CS as being $995 and I asked how much the upgrade price was, it is just $295. Now when I first purchased CS it was $1495 and all of my upgrades have been $495 so I think Discreet is heading in the right direction with their pricng on CS. I for one can't wait to use the NLE mixer function alone for $295.

Just another Maxer blabbing here so take it for what it's worth...

[darkmonth]

Yeah, I just completed work on 200 motions for a tennis game. I was the animator and had to do these motions. Now the game has 32 characters! Erm... work the maths. I would be doing the animations for years if I hadn't had character studio. I think its a pain in the arse. Yeah, it hass issues. Most programs and plugins do. But it saved me a lot of work. It could so with more bones in some joints such as the arm (twisting the wrist screws many a motion becuase of the lack of twin bones in the forearm etc) but overall its great.

Cant wait for CS4. Any sites with new info? Ive seen all the stuff over the last few months and want more info!!!

D :)

[PokeChop]

Okay darkmonth. You will love this little bit of info. You said you have been having trouble due to the fact that CS only has limited forearm bones? Well guess what, CS4 now has the ability to add as many forearm bones as you like. The instructor showed this very quickly last night but when she twisted the forearm it was beautiful. Nice gradual twisting. She set up the biped with 5 forearm bones and it worked great. When she grabbed the biped hand and twisted it, the crowd loved it. Yippee! No binding in the forearm structure at all. Very cool indeed!

She also showed the new ability to have an external object linked directly to the biped as another biped bone controls this external object at the end of the biped chain. It is considered just another biped bone, called objbone or something like that. So at the end of a hand or foot or where ever you like to place it, you can now have this external end bone control things like a basketball, which is the example she showed. This object bone can freely move away from the biped without effecting the biped or the biped effecting it. The reason behind this is Discreet said they got a lot of requests to include this function due to the problems some people were having linking objects to bipeds. So this is their solution, and it looks to be a good one.

She started out with the ball in the biped hand (bone space) then dribbled the ball (object space) then shot the ball through a basketball hoop (world space) and all this happens without effecting the biped. So once the ball is shot, the biped can walk off the court to their dressing room with the ball remaining where it landed on the court and remaining there forever or the player can walk back over to the ball and pick it back up and with the new NLE mixer you could have the biped start to dribble the ball and shot the ball again. What a time saver!

I can only feel this version of CS will win over some people. It really looked good. They said it should be ready to ship mid November early December. Bring it on!

Sorry if I am filling this thread up with a bunch of CS4 blah blah...

[BrandonD]

CS is by no means the end-all character solution, but it definitely has its place. I never gave it much thought until I worked on a very intense multi-character project at Blur. The fact alone that it works with motion clips (NLA via motion flow) makes working on high volume animation much more manageable. Also, Biped has some really unique features, particularly the animated pivot points.

[DarkMantid]

For Christ sakes , stop suckiling from the wretchid buggy pathetic useless abortion that is CharacterStudio. We use it in a production environment and truely have been raped by this buggy unfunctional piece of crap code, written by retarded monkeys that wouldnt have a clue about quality assurance or what an animator actually needs. Lets take for example IK blending.. "link a hand or foot to more than one object in an animation." No i dont think so ! "Ok i want to copy a key .. and perhaps delete a key" Umm maybe .. if i feel like it Character studio screams .. Truley how the code works i have no idea .. sometimes i can move or copy or delete a key in the timeline .. and not in the trackview .. .. Will the pain never end ! .. Wow look we have Layers .. how cool .. Yeah try and use layers on any planted keys and see what happens. Wow .. CharacterStudio4 now has Function curves .. wheeeeeeeeee! .. only 5 years too late ! .. Ok what happens if Unreal pictures shuts down ,,, what happens then to all you characterstudio animators ... yes there will be pain .. you will have to join the rest of the 3d character animation community and actually work out how to use and create bone setups ... Take my advice .. LEARN now .. Max 4 - 5 bones are good .. and will hold you in good standing if you should happen to have to switch 3d programs or should God Forbid Characterstudio stop development.

[BrandonD]

Hehe...tell us what you really think. Seriously, I think it goes a couple different ways. It's not going to work for some, but will work for others. When I was at Blur, the whole character pipeline ran through CS and it was a lifesaver.

[markdc]

Originally posted by PokeChop
>>>>>Wait for CS 4 before making judgements. I am looking forward to it personally. Dave<<<<<

Yes I will have to agree with darkmonth on this one. I can tell ya from seeing it last night, CS4 is looking sweet.

I just saw the Defy Reality Tour for 3ds Max 5 and Character Studio 4 last night here in Dallas and even though the seminar was almost a complete failure (started an hour late, electronics didn't always work, several people left during the show due to Discreet personnel not having their stuff together to make a good presentation, no wonder Discreet handed out stress balls, I kid you not on the stress ball thing-ironic ain't it) CS4 still looked good.

The instructor showed an example of the NLE features of blending motion sets together and she used the character from 50% Grey. She started out with him walking and then added a new motion clip of the guy throwing a grenade onto her layered timeline above the walk cycle clip and blended it smoothly. She even set the grenade throw to just effect the arm of the character. Very cool. The character walked his cycle and threw a grenade all seamlessly. All this in about 3 minutes of work.

I have been using CS since version 1 and have been waiting for this type of NLE mixer function in CS since version 1 and it looks like now we will finally get it. People always say CS is not worth the money - just use Max's bones and animate that way - which is fine - but if you get the hang of CS you can really make some good animations with it and it can be a time saver if you have a good library of motion clips you can use on different characters.

One of the flyers that came with the seminar pack from Discreet talks about how Digital Extremes created all the character movements for the game Unreal Tournement 2003 with CS so they could apply the master movements of the first character to all 25 different characters in the game and how much time this saved by them being able to do this. This is just one example but I think you get the point.

One other little tidbit of info, the Discreet slide showed the new pricing for CS as being $995 and I asked how much the upgrade price was, it is just $295. Now when I first purchased CS it was $1495 and all of my upgrades have been $495 so I think Discreet is heading in the right direction with their pricng on CS. I for one can't wait to use the NLE mixer function alone for $295.

Just another Maxer blabbing here so take it for what it's worth...

I'm going to this next Tues in San Diego. Does cs4 have a bvh export function?

[derelict]

I worked with some bipeds and few scenes. Now, when I load these scenes, when I select biped - I HAVE NO OPTIONS in motion panel!!! why?? what's wrong?

That is because the icons are missing for the version 5. Just load the ui for version 4 and display the old icons. That should help you see the manipulators or whatever.

Dere

[darkmonth]

DarkMantid, some of the issues you have had there I don't experience. I am not the biggest fan of Character Studio ever but it is no where near as bad as you make out. It has features that in my opinion are good enough to wipe out almost everything you have said to put it down.

You can't possibly work in the games industry (where it is used more than any other character animation system) or you would not be bitching like that becuase of its obvious practical uses. And if you do, you must be a texture artist.

Take it from me and millions of other CS users... it ain't half bad.

D :)

[derelict]

Originally posted by darkmonth
Take it from me and millions of other CS users... it ain't half bad.

D :)

Errr... there are actually less than 230 thousands registered users. So, the millions is a wee bit too much? :)

[KiboOst]

I think that max4/5 has now enough good ik/bones to keep cs out. max5 and character assembly get now its own character animation mapping (can't wait for bobo EnLarge !!!!!). and functions curve hey ! So why cs ? Ah yes, speedy setup/rigging. But once more, seting up and rigging isn't so hard, just some learn, and then you can do it on all packages. and do it as you like, for proper animation.

What max5 now needs is a REALLY good skin modifier (some sort of physique+skin ads).

my 2cent

Kib

[derelict]

I think the current skinning is better than the physicque counter part in user friendliness.

[darkmonth]

Originally posted by derelict
Errr... there are actually less than 230 thousands registered users. So, the millions is a wee bit too much? :)

Did I say registered?

D :buttrock:

[KiboOst]

Originally posted by derelict
I think the current skinning is better than the physicque counter part in user friendliness.


I don't use cs, so no physique, just play a few hours with it on a friend machine. But bulgs seems great ! And skin need many improvement !!

Somedays, Discreet should ask directly : "Ok, now we work on skin, what exactly do you want to ?"

But this is a dream...

Kib

[Chris Thomas]

I think Dsicreet will never ask directly what people want for a certain feature. However, i'm sure if you go to the support forum and post a clear set of wishes in the wishlist, they'll listen. Of course they'll also have to listen to and balance your wishes against thousands of others

Chris T :hmm:

[PokeChop]

>>>I'm going to this next Tues in San Diego. Does cs4 have a bvh export function?<<<

Sorry brian_dlm. Don't know the answer to that one. The instructor didn't show any export features. She was being kinda rushed along since the show started an hour late.

If you do find out if CS4 does have a bvh export function, please post it here so we can also know along with anything the instructor didn't cover in Dallas if you would. Sure hope the show in San Diego goes smoother than the show in Dallas. Get there early to get an official Discreet stress ball.

Thank you!

[KiboOst]

And max5 bones system need now a mocap import data features !!!!!!!!!!! Then good by cs !!

[PokeChop]

Hey brian_dlm. How did the San Deigo Max 5 conference go? Better than Dallas? Thanks...

[markdc]

Originally posted by PokeChop
Hey brian_dlm. How did the San Deigo Max 5 conference go? Better than Dallas? Thanks...

Didn't make it. Work got in the way:thumbsdow

[PokeChop]

Ahhhh poo.

All work and no play makes brian_dlm a good employee.

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