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Nodes for skinned character?

by Chuck Thomas · in Artist Corner · 06/27/2006 (7:19 am) · 3 replies

I'm trying to figure out exactly what nodes I need for a skinned character and what needs to be a child of what. I've read the article at : http://fosters.realmwarsgame.com/maxdts/section2.html and the link to see a larger version of the node schematic is broken.

I've been successful with a non-animated shape, but for that the mesh itself is a child of start01 which is a child of base01.

From what I can tell this structure is not used at all for skinned characters? it looks like the mesh is completely by itself and the rest of the structure is a child of the skeleton root like Bip01.

Is there documentation somewhere on what nodes need to be present and what needs to be a parent of what for skinned characters?

Thanks
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Associate Logan Foster
perPixel Studios
#1
06/27/2006 (9:05 am)
Any geometric model that uses a skin modifier must be unlinked from the DTS Hierarchy tree. The exporter knows when it sees this mesh that its associated with the tree via the skin modifiers Bones List.

As for the DTS Hierarchy tree itself for a skinned character, its actually very simple and you will probably slap yourself upside the head when you read this. The bones act as the DTS Hierarchy tree! :) Yup you read that right, the bones.

The only nodes you are going to need are some detail markers that should be linked off of the primary transform/control root for your skeleton (ie. with a biped this is bip01), and the "eye" node which can be anywhere on your skeletal structure. Any other nodes you need can be placed anywhere else on the skeletal structure, but they aren't necessary for loading into the engine itself.

Lastly remember to use a CFG file and include any/all noces that you are using on the alwaysexport list.

Torque Owner Chuck Thomas
#2
06/27/2006 (9:48 am)
Thanks for the quick and thorough reply. My character works now including the animations! I was just very confused after reading the simple character animation tutorial and then looking at the player.max file and not seeing the mesh linked to anything. But now I understand.

Thanks again!

Associate Logan Foster
perPixel Studios
#3
06/27/2006 (1:42 pm)
The reason that you dont see anything is that dummy nodes are being told to always be hidden in the display options in the Command Panel. Plus all frozen objects are always hidden so the scene looks incredible sparse.