Topic: Character Animation and Rigging tutorial (Read 4689 times)

jestermon · « **on:** December 27, 2010, 09:45:55 PM »

Page 1 of the character animation tutorial.
Follow the instructions on the image..

For the next lesson we are going to be doing some interesting work with BVHacker.http://davedub.co.uk/bvhacker/
BVHacker is an amazing tool made by Dave for hacking .bvh files for import into Second Life online world. We will be using most of it's features, since this tool is the key to getting almost any .bvh into a .x file for games.

Something important to note; is that MakeHuman http://www.makehuman.org/ exports high poly and low poly models. These can be used with tools such as Nvidia's Melody, or Blender to generate a normal map, which makes the low poly game model look incredibly realistic.
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=138194
We won't be covering that side of the coin in this tutorial, but it is worth a mention for those with time enough to explore this avenue.

jestermon · « **Reply #1 on:** December 27, 2010, 11:00:24 PM »

Page 2 of the character animation tutorial.
Follow the instructions on the image..
The .bvh file required for this page is attached.

In this tutorial we use the amazing BVHacker to convert the .bvh into a structure and naming convention that is standard for many 3D applications and online game worlds. The format and names are those defined by Poser

This is part 1 of a 2 part tutorial in getting the .bvh animation ready for use.

Most .bvh animations can be converted this way, and included in your models rigged as shown in these tutorials. You will be able to import just about any animation into your character following these steps.

Now you know why I think Dave's little BVHacker, is the most amazing tool ever made for this genre.

jestermon · « **Reply #2 on:** December 27, 2010, 11:52:03 PM »

Page 3 of the character animation tutorial.
Follow the instructions on the image..

In this tutorial we finalize and scale the skeleton specifically for 3D Rad

jestermon · « **Reply #3 on:** December 28, 2010, 12:36:06 AM »

Page 4 of the character animation tutorial.
Follow the instructions on the image..

This tutorial extracts a repeatable walk sequence from a long .bvh animation

games4fun · « **Reply #4 on:** December 28, 2010, 05:42:40 AM »

Hi Jestermon,

Thanks - a very clear and understandable tutorial

After following it, here are my comments page by page (just in case other forum members are interested):

Page 1: Everything went fine except the Save sequence in MakeHuman. I needed to really insist to get "c:\max1\max" to be accepted. There is no friendly file pick dialogue. In the end I changed MAX1 folders permissions and it finally took it. I am using Windows 7 64 - and MakeHuman is still Beta. It may be due to that - who knows? Anyway, it finally saved correctly with all the files mentioned.

Page 2: There was nothing visible in the viewer when Female1_B03_Walk1.bvh loaded. (as you said in Step 3). When Step 6 was completed I simply moved the bottom slider across to see the skeleton.

Page 3: This was fun. My skeleton has a definite limp and sway and needs to see a specialist - but it moves

I will sort the surgery out later! A little scary after doing the Ctrl minus operation, but refound the model using the View menu.

Page 4: Perfect!

Thanks for all your efforts Jestermon. Look forward to the next instalment

jestermon · « **Reply #5 on:** December 29, 2010, 01:37:54 AM »

Pages 5-8 of the character animation tutorial.
Follow the instructions on the images . . .

These pages are the start of the process for rigging the animation to the mesh model

EDIT: Typo on page 8
"<MB>" should read "<RMB>"

jestermon · « **Reply #6 on:** December 29, 2010, 07:02:02 AM »

Pages 9-10 of the character animation tutorial.
Follow the instructions on the images .

The continuing saga of the bones.

Edit: Page 8 with typo corrections - attached.

faizan__ch · « **Reply #7 on:** December 29, 2010, 10:15:51 PM »

Great tutorial Jess

..........Waiting eagerly for the next page!

jestermon · « **Reply #8 on:** December 31, 2010, 03:24:40 AM »

Pages 11-13 of the character animation tutorial.
Follow the instructions on the images .

Final steps in preparing the mesh and skeleton for rigging.

max-in progress.zip - the result of this part of the tutorial, has been included so that we are on the same page for the lessons that follow.

Sorry about the order of the images. I changed something on page 11, and the upload stuck it on the end.

shadmar · « **Reply #9 on:** December 31, 2010, 08:11:58 AM »

Very nice work indeed

jestermon · « **Reply #10 on:** January 01, 2011, 04:45:58 AM »

Pages 14-16 of the character animation tutorial.
Follow the instructions on the images .

Here we rig the model.

games4fun · « **Reply #11 on:** January 01, 2011, 01:23:49 PM »

Working hard on this Jestermon.
I never realised there was so much to it. It takes some getting used to (especially not really using the LMB). It's surely a question of practice. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this (I almost feel a little less stupid already

jestermon · « **Reply #12 on:** January 05, 2011, 03:40:56 AM »

Pages 17-19 of the character animation tutorial.
Follow the instructions on the images .

Understanding model placement, as important as everything else.

jestermon · « **Reply #13 on:** January 05, 2011, 06:42:25 AM »

Pages 20-22 of the character animation tutorial.
Follow the instructions on the images.

Posing a new animation

Required background walk pose included

silverman123 · « **Reply #14 on:** April 30, 2011, 10:03:37 AM »

What's the version of Makehuman used?

(and sorry it my seem that I'm "ressurecting" an old post)

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Author Topic: Character Animation and Rigging tutorial (Read 4689 times)

jestermon

jestermon

jestermon

jestermon

games4fun

jestermon

jestermon

faizan__ch

jestermon

shadmar

jestermon

games4fun

jestermon

jestermon

silverman123