Girl Pack: problems adapting
by Bhood · in Artist Corner · 10/09/2005 (5:07 am) · 12 replies
Hello,
I've bought the Brave Tree: girl pack with the hope of eventually applying my own mesh... at the moment though I'm having problems getting to grips with the skeleton.
i've been trying first to adapt the existing Jill mesh attached to the bones (first attempt at applying my own mesh didn't work at all). Changed the jill mesh first then tried to resize skeleton but then skeleton affects height etc of mesh. Should I be doing this separately?
I find the skeleton very difficult to adjust with any success anyway, with or without the mesh, for examples her legs are currently really long but I can't find anyway to shorten then without getting them to face backwards, inwards etc. It's not behaving like the bipeds I've used before but don't really want to have to go down that route as the jill skeleton is already animated.
Any suggestions would be really appreciated as I'm in a bit of a mess with this at the moment but am sure it should be easier than this.
Thanks,
Bev
I've bought the Brave Tree: girl pack with the hope of eventually applying my own mesh... at the moment though I'm having problems getting to grips with the skeleton.
i've been trying first to adapt the existing Jill mesh attached to the bones (first attempt at applying my own mesh didn't work at all). Changed the jill mesh first then tried to resize skeleton but then skeleton affects height etc of mesh. Should I be doing this separately?
I find the skeleton very difficult to adjust with any success anyway, with or without the mesh, for examples her legs are currently really long but I can't find anyway to shorten then without getting them to face backwards, inwards etc. It's not behaving like the bipeds I've used before but don't really want to have to go down that route as the jill skeleton is already animated.
Any suggestions would be really appreciated as I'm in a bit of a mess with this at the moment but am sure it should be easier than this.
Thanks,
Bev
#2
there is no the torque skeleton generator for Milkshape3D, that
could really help me and other users.
10/15/2005 (5:15 pm)
The Torque Skeleton Generator sound grreat but too badthere is no the torque skeleton generator for Milkshape3D, that
could really help me and other users.
#4
I do use character studio but am not wholly opposed to using a premade skeleton. I like Character Studio because I don't have to reinvent the wheel for certain basic animations, like running, where I like to use mocap.
But animations aside, do you suggest the solider pack over the girl pack , in terms of re-usability and for my own educational purposes? Thanks.
10/15/2005 (10:13 pm)
Jeff, I know you're biased, but I was considering purchasing the girl pack also, just to study it to see how it fits into the engine with all the different animations, LOD, etc. I'm a Max user. I've successfully gotten some basic "stick figure" models into Torque, but now I'm ready to start studying full blown character models. I do use character studio but am not wholly opposed to using a premade skeleton. I like Character Studio because I don't have to reinvent the wheel for certain basic animations, like running, where I like to use mocap.
But animations aside, do you suggest the solider pack over the girl pack , in terms of re-usability and for my own educational purposes? Thanks.
#5
10/16/2005 (5:10 am)
OK, I tried the Torque skeleton generator. Looks great. I like how it can create rigs for you using dummies. But, what can it do that character studio cannot do? Is it mainly for people who don't have or don't prefer character studio?
#6
Thanks for the info. Just downloaded the Torque Skeleton generator, which sounds really useful, but am having problems opening the max file, that's in the download for reference. It gives me an error about missing dll's (reactor and parameditor) which means I can't open the file. Is this saved in 3DS v.7? From what I could see from a search around online it looks like it might be a problem of software versions (I'm using 6).
Thanks for your help,
Bev
10/16/2005 (9:57 am)
Hi Jeff,Thanks for the info. Just downloaded the Torque Skeleton generator, which sounds really useful, but am having problems opening the max file, that's in the download for reference. It gives me an error about missing dll's (reactor and parameditor) which means I can't open the file. Is this saved in 3DS v.7? From what I could see from a search around online it looks like it might be a problem of software versions (I'm using 6).
Thanks for your help,
Bev
#7
About Character Studio - it is a great tool in some respects, and in some ways is more powerful than the Torque Skeleton (initial pose, animation layers...). It also has some odd quirks that make it a pain to use sometimes (no curve editor, TCB style keys, polygonal geometry rather than actual bones). The main purpose for the Torque Skeleton is to be interchangeable. For example, both Kork the Orc and the Adam Pack use CS, but the animations are not compatible. A quick search of the forums will reveal a multitude of "How can I use the default orc animations?" threads, and the answer is... it's not easy. So if you're an animator or have all the mo-cap you need, CS will suit you fine. If you want to be able to plug and play some existing animations into your character, that's what the Torque Skeleton is for.
Bev: Yeah, woops. I just checked it out and you're right, the Base model was saved out from 7. So I resaved it from 5 and re-uploaded the .zip. Redownload and you will find the max5 version.
10/16/2005 (10:53 am)
Nmuta: You might want to check out this thread for more about the comparison between the packs.About Character Studio - it is a great tool in some respects, and in some ways is more powerful than the Torque Skeleton (initial pose, animation layers...). It also has some odd quirks that make it a pain to use sometimes (no curve editor, TCB style keys, polygonal geometry rather than actual bones). The main purpose for the Torque Skeleton is to be interchangeable. For example, both Kork the Orc and the Adam Pack use CS, but the animations are not compatible. A quick search of the forums will reveal a multitude of "How can I use the default orc animations?" threads, and the answer is... it's not easy. So if you're an animator or have all the mo-cap you need, CS will suit you fine. If you want to be able to plug and play some existing animations into your character, that's what the Torque Skeleton is for.
Bev: Yeah, woops. I just checked it out and you're right, the Base model was saved out from 7. So I resaved it from 5 and re-uploaded the .zip. Redownload and you will find the max5 version.
#8
Thanks for that, Base model now opens fine... but... I was presuming that it would have a Torque Skeleton in it to use as reference for creating your own but maybe I misunderstood? Seems to be just a mesh? Or is it that you get a Skeleton applied which you can reference when you buy the Soldier Pack?
Thanks again,
Bev
10/16/2005 (11:28 am)
Hi Jeff,Thanks for that, Base model now opens fine... but... I was presuming that it would have a Torque Skeleton in it to use as reference for creating your own but maybe I misunderstood? Seems to be just a mesh? Or is it that you get a Skeleton applied which you can reference when you buy the Soldier Pack?
Thanks again,
Bev
#9
10/16/2005 (11:53 am)
The base model is just a reference for how your character should be posed. Also, you'll notice that if you use the default joint locations, the skeleton will be created to perfectly fit the base model. As far as "applying" the skeleton to the model, check the Max docs if you don't know how. You'll want to look at the "skin" modifier. Don't use Physique, as the dts exporter does not support it.
#10
Thanks for that, got it sorted now. The Skin modifier, weighting etc is always where the big big problems arise in my experience and everything seems to go a bit berserk. Would be great to get a user friendly tool to help out with that! Or should it be easy and I'm missing something?
cheers, Bev
10/16/2005 (1:03 pm)
Hi jeff,Thanks for that, got it sorted now. The Skin modifier, weighting etc is always where the big big problems arise in my experience and everything seems to go a bit berserk. Would be great to get a user friendly tool to help out with that! Or should it be easy and I'm missing something?
cheers, Bev
#11
10/16/2005 (9:50 pm)
Yeah... skin weighting is an art form in itself, and it can be tedious and/or difficult at times. There is an awesome script called SkinOrDie by a guy named Andre Hotz that offers a far faster workflow than Max's default one (after the learning curve).. unfortunately it looks like his site is down right now though.
#12
I found this site a while ago and have been a huge fan of this guy ever since. Even bought the book and all :)
Well, for you guys using Maya and want to create skeletons and rigs and what have you and what not, he offers a free resource on his site that I think you might find very helpful if you are not satisfied with the resource mentioned above.
I figure people are different and everybody has thier own tastes. This is my attempt at offering some help :D
Have a look and enjoy:
www.ant-online.co.uk/downloads/CreatureTools.htm
02/08/2006 (5:07 pm)
Hi guysI found this site a while ago and have been a huge fan of this guy ever since. Even bought the book and all :)
Well, for you guys using Maya and want to create skeletons and rigs and what have you and what not, he offers a free resource on his site that I think you might find very helpful if you are not satisfied with the resource mentioned above.
I figure people are different and everybody has thier own tastes. This is my attempt at offering some help :D
Have a look and enjoy:
www.ant-online.co.uk/downloads/CreatureTools.htm
Torque Owner Jeff Gran
I struggled with this problem, and foresaw that others would have similar problems, which is what prompted me to invent the Torque Skeleton Generator. It lets you easily generate fully cross-compatible skeletons, and reuse animations for differently proportioned characters. And the Soldier Pack uses this skeleton, so you could generate your skeleton and reuse the Soldier's animations fairly easily.