@LBFN
Thanks!
You want me to give away all my secrets?
The Robot is an x file from the default bunch of static models that comes with DarkBASIC (at least on CD). I imported the model into Deled3d, exported it out as wavefront .obj . Imported the .obj file into Blender. Reset the appropriate pivot points of each limb. Linked the parent child hierarchy. Applied animation. Used my current version of a python script to export Blender limbed animation to DBC directx compatible format.
For the bone to limb animation conversion, again I used Blender. I started with an example model that Hangar18 supplied of a lizard like monster. Though, after viewing the resulting limbed animation, it totally looks like the motion capture of a house cat! Anyway, when you have an armature (a skeleton, rigging, etc.) you can have "fake" objects called empties at the bone ends. I wrote another python script that converts the empties into meshes. If the armature is animated, it has something called an IPO associated with each bone. The script also assigns the bone's IPO to each mesh (limb). Then I use my export script to output it in directx format for DBC. This process takes a lot of user intervention (as it's still experimental).
Just a note, for those static models that come with DBC, I highly recommend Deled3d to import them and change them. It's extremely easy to change the texturing and the meshes themselves without the limbs combining into one mesh upon output.
Enjoy your day.
