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FPSC Classic Product Chat / Is it possible to create and animate a character entity in FPSC WITHOUT having Character Studio & 3ds Max?

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Person99
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Posted: 15th Apr 2007 06:51
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Well, I can't afford Character Studio + 3ds Max... Who can, anyway?

Is it possible to do character creation and animations with Blender or something, with a .BIP exporter?

The Person99 awards go to: 1. Jack the Ripper for hardest crime scenes. 2. Peter Petrelli for most powers. 3. Superman for longest flight.
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Locrian
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Posted: 15th Apr 2007 07:23
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Milkshape. Search for the tutorials and the skeleton. $25

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FredP
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Posted: 15th Apr 2007 09:12
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Milkshape=$25
3DS max>>>>>$25 (a lot more)
Even if you are serious about modeling you should still get something like Milkshape and work with it before you get 3DS Max.

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Person99
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Posted: 15th Apr 2007 09:24
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Ermm... Last time I checked 3ds max was around 400$ for the cheapest and least features package.

I have been modeling since Quake 1.

I was under the impression (According to what other people have told me, and the FPS Creator main website) that FPS creator required Character Studio to use.

The Person99 awards go to: 1. Jack the Ripper for hardest crime scenes. 2. Peter Petrelli for most powers. 3. Superman for longest flight.
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FredP
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Posted: 15th Apr 2007 09:32
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Quote: "Ermm... Last time I checked 3ds max was around 400$ for the cheapest and least features package."

I don't know where you got your figures from but I am sure the people that paid a lot more for that app will swing through here and let you know.
Why would you need Character Studio to rig and animate your characters when Milkshape will do it?
Even if you were right (and I am pretty sure Max is a little more than $400) $25 is still a lot cheaper than $400.

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Person99
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Posted: 15th Apr 2007 10:08 Edited at: 15th Apr 2007 10:14
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I own Milkshape 3d, Blender 2.43, and a bunch of little neat programs I got from SourceForge. My funds lie in the lines of programs like FPSC, DBPro, and Milkshape 3d.
3ds max is not anywhere near there =-).

Quote: "
Why would you need Character Studio to rig and animate your characters when Milkshape will do it?"


'Cause apparently I misread:
Quote: "Here is the Character Studio BIP file for FPS Creator. This contains all of the animation data for FPS Creator characters and a FIG file for setting up the skeleton. You need Character Studio in order to use these files, but using them will allow you to animate any model into a format suitable for FPS Creator (and to modify the existing animation data)."

And thought it said:
Quote: "Here is the Character Studio BIP file for FPS Creator. This contains all of the animation data for FPS Creator characters and a FIG file for setting up the skeleton. You need Character Studio in order to animate models for FPSC, using them will allow you to animate any model into a format suitable for FPS Creator (and to modify the existing animation data)."


And now I feel like an idiot.


Can you give me a link for a tutorial?

Thanks for all the help from all of you.

EDIT: Removed 16 "Idiot"s...

The Person99 awards go to: 1. Jack the Ripper for hardest crime scenes. 2. Peter Petrelli for most powers. 3. Superman for longest flight.
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tyrano man
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Posted: 15th Apr 2007 11:23
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Max is ussually around $3k-$3.5k. Iv'e seen the same site before, and the $400 max is just a scam apparently.


1 hour Kalspher Demo soon to be released for public BETA!
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Person99
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Posted: 16th Apr 2007 04:02
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Ah, it was a student edition for 3ds max 4 or something.
It must be a 5 year old memory clogger or something, I have plenty of those.

The Person99 awards go to: 1. Jack the Ripper for hardest crime scenes. 2. Peter Petrelli for most powers. 3. Superman for longest flight.
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Locrian
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Posted: 16th Apr 2007 04:52
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Yeah I think the student edition is like 700$. Close to there without looking.

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Person99
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Posted: 16th Apr 2007 07:19 Edited at: 16th Apr 2007 07:22
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Argh, about my thread in the models and media forum, I meant FPSC rigging and animation; I am sorry for not including the for FPSC part, which cause people to misunderstand.

People can see what I mean if they want. Thank god for the mod who locked it, it would have been a bonfire if they didn't.

Today isn't really my day, i'll just say that. Sundays are worse then Mondays for me.

Anyway, I think I found a good tutorial after googling with an advanced search, and eventually found what I needed.


So anyway... Why would you buy 3ds Max, with all the .3ds exporters, milkshape, blender, ect. out?

Blender was used in several movies, 14 current TV shows in the UK, and 24 current TV shows in the USA.


EDIT: Nevermind, wasn't what I was looking for.
Can anyone tell me the basic bone setup for FPSC and how to use it in Milkshape?

The Person99 awards go to: 1. Jack the Ripper for hardest crime scenes. 2. Peter Petrelli for most powers. 3. Superman for longest flight.
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DrWho
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Posted: 16th Apr 2007 07:27
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GameSpace is another fine modeler that will do the job very well also.. I use it on a regular basis..

Best Regards,

DoctorWho...
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Person99
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Posted: 16th Apr 2007 08:21
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But why buy another program if I can use milkshape?
I tried GameSpace, didn't like it very much; but thanks anyway.

I would really like a good tutorial on character rigging and animation for FPSC in Milkshape 3d.
I thank you people for your other programs offers, but please don't post them here.

The Person99 awards go to: 1. Jack the Ripper for hardest crime scenes. 2. Peter Petrelli for most powers. 3. Superman for longest flight.
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tyrano man
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Posted: 16th Apr 2007 09:42
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Gamespace rocks I do all my modeling in it. Every one says milkshape is an easy modeller, but i can't even do as much as make a box in it.


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Person99
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Posted: 16th Apr 2007 10:06
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Heh, I don't actually MODEL in milkshape. Blender does that for me.
Blender has neat stuff like Boolean tools, mesh sculpting, UV unwrapping, ect.

I use Milkshape for animating models, (Blenders animation tools are made for movies, not games... they don't agree with games.) rotating and scaling properly, and importing and exporting.

I can do verticle-verticle creation, and vertex editing, and that is it.

The only problem with Blender is that you can have trouble keeping the polys down if you aren't paying attention to what you are doing. It's default sphere is over 1k polys.

Gamespace is slow, and buggy.

Can we stop discussing our modeling programs? It is getting pointless.

The Person99 awards go to: 1. Jack the Ripper for hardest crime scenes. 2. Peter Petrelli for most powers. 3. Superman for longest flight.
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incense
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Posted: 16th Apr 2007 16:18 Edited at: 16th Apr 2007 16:21
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3DS Max costs $3,495.00 from http://estore.autodesk.com/dr/v2/ec_Main.Entry17c?SID=19515&SP=10023&CID=313956&PID=864462&PN=1&V1=864462&CUR=840&DSP=&PGRP=0&ABCODE=&CACHE_ID=313956

You might be able to get it for less from somewhere else but it will still cost a pretty penny.

I bought 3DS Max 8 when it went came out and it hurt but I had to have it.

The fever took me to a very expensive place.

Currently Milkshape and 3DS Max are the only programs that people have made animated skeletons for that I know of.

The person that now knows the most started with many questions. Patients and tolorance are the keys to the passage of knowledge. FPSC is Getting better. Now if we can just keep the ball rolling.
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Person99
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Posted: 16th Apr 2007 20:45
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But I don't want 3ds max.

I would love it if someone can help me find character rigging and animation tutorials in Milkshape 3d for FPSC. I haven't had any luck.

The Person99 awards go to: 1. Jack the Ripper for hardest crime scenes. 2. Peter Petrelli for most powers. 3. Superman for longest flight.
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incense
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Posted: 17th Apr 2007 17:36
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The animation tuts for milkshape are in the help docs for the program and the apply to all programs that you might be creating the models for. The only thing that that FPSC requires is that the model be exported as a ".x" file. Animation in milkshape is not different for every program your creating the model for. It is the same no matter what.

The person that now knows the most started with many questions. Patients and tolorance are the keys to the passage of knowledge. FPSC is Getting better. Now if we can just keep the ball rolling.
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Locrian
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Posted: 17th Apr 2007 18:29
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Some where around here is a Milk shape skeleton with all the FPSC animations. Your best bet isn't to look for tutorials here, but look on the Milkshape forums for tutorials concerning attaching a skeleton to a mesh.

Once you've figured that out, you can bounce back here and look up the settings the Milkshape guys around here use to export for FPSC. All I know is theres 2 exporters for Milkshape and most people prefer a specific one, and that they have posted images of the export settings they use.

Loc

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FredP
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Posted: 17th Apr 2007 18:57
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It should be fairly simple to rig your character in Milkshape with the FPSC skeleton if your character is modeled right.
There are two exporters for Milkshape and I use one of them (can't recall which one off of the top of my head) to export static entities to .x.
I save my animated models in Milkshape format and then I use Ultimate Unwrap 3D to UV map my models (despite how I save/export them) and then Ultimate Unwrap 3D will convert my animated Milkshape models to .x.
Your best bet would probably be to google "Psionic tutorials" or something like that.Psionic has made quite a few good tutorials,some of which focus on rigging your model.
Also of note is the book "3D Game Programming All in One".
It goes into a variety of things (over 800 pages long) and it covers things like making and animating a character in Milkshape,etc.
I have this book and it has been an invaluable source of information.

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Person99
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Posted: 18th Apr 2007 06:15
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Wait a minute - You mean that FPSC doesn't use it's own skeleton setup?

I can animate and everything FINE. I have worked with several companies, some open source (Planeshift, Timegate), some not.

Just EVERY game or game engine has had a required bone setup, does FPSC?

The Person99 awards go to: 1. Jack the Ripper for hardest crime scenes. 2. Peter Petrelli for most powers. 3. Superman for longest flight.
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incense
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Posted: 22nd Apr 2007 20:08
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TGC made the biped and fig files for the animations availible to make it easier on the user to rig their own characters. You dont have to use them. If you know what to do and how to do it you can create a totally custom character. It can be alot of work though. The FPI files for the exsistng FPSC characters are set up for them spacifically in most cases, as far as frames outlined in the file that tell the engine what frames are what animations.

If you do your own animating then you might have to create script that go with you new character.

The person that now knows the most started with many questions. Patients and tolorance are the keys to the passage of knowledge. FPSC is Getting better. Now if we can just keep the ball rolling.
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