Save Bones Animation

[Iain McFadzen]

That's non-linear animation, and to Discreet's eternal shame Max does not contain any non-linear animation utilities at all (if anyone mentions the block controller I will slap them).

So you'll have to make do, or wait until Discreet have the decency to have a stab at including some NLA utils in a future Max version (which means it should be useable and bug free by about 3DSMax 8.5 or thereabouts).

[LFShade]

...that being said, it would be possible for an ambitious person to write a script to save out and load in ranges of keyframes for a bone rig. If you were to go that route, I would suggest shaving your hair off - otherwise you'd be tearing it all out in short order:D

[toonman]

Actually, I've been meaning to write such a script sometime... just haven't had the time. Essentially, I'd save an ASCII file containing the animation keyframes in 'character space'. This, along with some vector math, would allow me to remap the animation to a character with different sized limbs. The bone structure would have to be the same though. I'd like to then extend it to be a "Motion Library" manager, so you could easily manage all your assets. This will be a big project, so don't hold your breathe. In the meantime, you might wanna look into keyframes and ASCII file formats if you want to script it yourself. Cheers!

[FY]

Really strange that nobody has written such a script yet. there are plugins and scripts for really everything in max! such a tool would make working with bones-animations a lot more fun!

[robin]

personally i wouldnt be surprised to see Max 5 be release without non-linear animation, i mean yes they gonna Make Max 5 and they are not going to add this feature ...

They will do their best to avoid it :annoyed:

[Iain McFadzen]

Now that I think about it there is a script in the Maxscript Samples directory which might do some of what you need. It's called "MergeAnim".

I haven't used it before so I guess I should check it out before I mouth off about Max's lack of features :)

[luigi]

hi Psychodad

I suppoose we are having tehe sames max headache.

In my opinion is fundamentsl that max5 will have no linear animation evrybody is demanding it.

the was a thread about the same problem abut tree months ago

i had saved it

here you have what people says:

kiko:

I hear it can be done in Cstudio but we're using bones in max 4.
Can any one suggest a workflow (or script) to quickly copy an animation (say, a walk cycle) from one character to other (theyre both share the same rig).
Cheers

moshe z:
here is a good trick to transfer animation
what u need to do is use point cach modifier and save the information
what point cah does is making the vertex animatable
the put point cach on the other charachter and load the information u have saved

kiko:
Thanks for the suggestion
I couldn't find anything like point cache in the modifier list, but anyway it sounds like a way to transfer vertex animation, which is not what I'm looking for (it's not a single mesh skinned character, but a robot like with its parts parented to the bones).
It's more about transferring keyframe info from the end effectors of one characters skeleton to other's, a la maya's animation clips or hash's actions.
I've tried David Humpherys script Key Copyf, from scriptspot.com, but couldn't get it to work.
Anybody knows how to use this script, or can suggest another solution?
Cheers


moshe z:

u can try in the track view.
change the mode to edit time and then u can copy and paste selected time, u can chose multiple key from many objects and copy and paste them to other places
and also u can paste them in a relative mode so u can make walk cycles and other nice stuff

[skunk184]

well maxers we re definately in need of some non linear anim tools.......cause if you wanna do anything other than a bloody walk cycyle its such a pain in the arse!!!!i know we can keyframe out long character animations, but its 2002 and we should nt have to;)

well thats what i think anyway

cheers

Craig

[yair]

theres the block controller which is in max since ver. 3 but i couldnt get it to work *properly*
check it out, this is from ver. 3 courseware

[rendermonkey23]

Iain, GET HIM!!! I got yer back bud :D :D

[skunk184]

SSSSSLLLLAAAAAAAAPPPPPPP.........no need to bother ian im on the case........the BLOCK CONTROLLER is far from being a NLA solution for max........SSSSSLLLLAAAAAAPPPPPPPP.........and theres another one for suggesting it might be

[Iain McFadzen]

lol :)

[FY]

*rofl*
has anyone tried the merge animation script (3dsmax/scripts/samples)? With it you can transfer animation from a different file and object to another scene. it works fine on single objects, but merging whole bonestructure-tracks with handles and dummys is really hell.

[yair]

hold it!
i didnt say its NLA, but it can (if you can get it to do its stuff)
save you some time, the documantation on this is far from good in the manuals but mybe somebody out there got it to work for him, i understand you didnt get it to work for you, thats fine, nither did i.
its brother the infamous MergeAnim script is also an unsolved puzzle for me.
why do they put that stuff if its not documented is beyond me.

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