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djentou
09-18-2005, 10:44 PM
Hi,

I am a noob user of Blender. I am a programmer who have some interests in modelling.
I do not know if it would be better for me to switch to 3dsmax since it is the reference for the game industry.
My main question can be : after modelling a character, how can I use it in a game program ? Is there libraries shipped with 3dsmax which programmers use in order to control a character (ex : walk(), turnheadright(), etc...) ?
I know that if I continue to use Blender, I will have to developp some special features linked with cal in order to animate a character in a game. Is it the same process with 3dsmax (model and developp library linked with .3ds) ?

Thank you for all your answers.
erilaz
09-19-2005, 12:01 AM
For the most part, game models are bone-driven animation. This means you would have to rig your character first before export. Usually the format you export to would be a game-specific model, such as .mdl and .lwo. As for a custom format, you would have to investigate the full sdk package that ships with max, and maybe delve into the sparks forum.
Are you looking to develop your own format for a game, or is this for a mod?

For example, we use max to export to the .w3d format. The animation sequences are cued in the time line, and we call them according to their frame range in code. These can be labelled to be called as walk, run jump etc, but as far as I am aware max does not generate these functions.
djentou
09-19-2005, 12:38 AM
Hi,

I am not looking to develop my own format. And this is not for a mod. I want to learn how to animate a character or anything else with bone in a game. A game which I develop.
For example, how does Sam Fisher walk ? In an video example of discreet, they demonstrate how does the bones system work. When Sam was entirely modelled, the next need was to use him in Splinter Cell (the program).
Did they have to develop something else to do it ? Or they had only to use an SDK of 3dsmax/character studio (which I do not know what are all the features) ?
I thought that developers had to develop features to :
- parse .3ds
- retrieve information about the model (there is 3ds class which do it)
- draw the model (same 3ds class)
- animate the model (do not found this feature in this class).
I thought that 3d tools as 3dsmax and blender are only for model, animate and put information in a file. A file with witch we have to use (thanks to their specification) to draw and animate the model in games.
So, as far as you are aware, 3ds max does not generate this functions.
Developers have to do it.
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