Whatever happened to CharacterFX

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ifman1

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Joined: 3rd Jul 2003

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Posted: 24th Nov 2003 03:52

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CharacterFX used to be offered free with DBPro, but now you can't fine anything about it anywhere! It seemed like a simple, cheap solution to file conversions and possibly creating bones. Does anyone use CharacterFX? Is it any good?

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John H

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Joined: 14th Oct 2002

Location: Burlington, VT

Posted: 24th Nov 2003 03:58

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I own it, but dont use it too much. It was freely distributed by Real Game Tools, but RGT is down. The site for the tool is

http://www.insanesoftware.de/

RPGamer

Dont forget to Join the Forums!

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M00NSHiNE

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Joined: 4th Aug 2003

Location: England, UK

Posted: 24th Nov 2003 12:01

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I use it for animation. Cant say ive used it properly for a project yet but I can say its simple and easy to use. Makes the process of animation easier to handle, plus its got a good .x export, works well with DBPro.

ZEDWARE website coming soon... //END TRANSMISSION//

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Andy Igoe

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Posted: 24th Nov 2003 15:11

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CharacterFX has the worst documentation in the history of badly documented software, however some time frustratingly spent playing and perusing their forums is all it takes. The software is not too complicated to figure out.

Doing a good job in it though is as hard as any other program. Making a bipedal animation for example, if you cant do it in miscProgram01, there's no reason why you would be able to do it in CharacterFX. It's an easy enough tool to use, but requires skill at animation and understanding of 3d model geometry to get the most out of it.

God created the world in 7 days, but we're still waiting for the patch.

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Shadow Robert

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Joined: 22nd Sep 2002

Location: Hertfordshire, England

Posted: 24th Nov 2003 15:49

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ifman depends what Modeller your currently using to if CharacterFX is actually worth getting.

alot of people find it easy, the thing of it is that really it's very basic and doesn't offer a great deal over Milkshape of any of the other budget programs animating abilities.
gameSpace has trueSpace's animator which is ridiculously simple to use, seriously as all you do is put down the bones and voila you can start animating immediately. No assigning, not IK fiddling nothing.

if you have one of the higher end programs they're not as easy to learn to animate within, but they are infinately more rewarding ... as they have better options and physics engines for thier IK which makes movement quite realistic.

To Survive You Must Evolve... This Time Van Will Not Escape His Fate!
900mhz | 256mb | FX5200Ti 52.16 | Dx9 | WXP-Pro

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Van B

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Joined: 8th Oct 2002

Location: Sunnyvale

Posted: 24th Nov 2003 16:29

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I'm actually gaining respect for CFX the more I use it. Bone based animations are often really complicated to set up, and CFX does'nt really make the process less complicated, it sorta gives you the control you need to get it working your own way. Once you know how the system works, it's fairly straightforward - you soon learn that theres a bit of planning required and some precautions to take while modelling, but boned animations are not the black art they once were; for me at least.

Van-B