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Okay, i'm planning a game with 3d models of people I made in 3ds max that will have several textures and models to choose from (hair models and textures, body models and textures, clothing models and textures, head models and textures, and 2 different head sizes, and probably more stuff too), and I need to ask the following:

1. How can I animate the characters in 3ds max 2009, so that each piece is animated separately?

2. Will I have to take the arms and legs and head etc. off to separate them, and then animate all the parts individually?

3. Should I do that, and use limbs in DBPro to connect each part of the characters to different limbs?

4. I want to have all the pieces of the model (hair, head, body, etc.)put together to make one model in the game, just like in The Sims 2.

5. How did Maxis and EA Games make the sim's able to have changeable textures and models for every part that makes up the sim (in The Sims 2)?

6. Can limbs in DBPro be used sort of like bones in an animated character, or in place of the bones if the pieces of the mesh are separated, and attached to the DBPro limbs?

Thanks in advance!

1. create each model separate, then connect them with bones then animate it as if it where 1 object, then save each model separately.

2. no, animate them together and then save them individually.

3. you can, but that would be really hard, compared to ^

4. when you load it all after the animation, they should be in the same place, so yes that will work.

5. really good coding skill. if your an indi game developer it is very difficult to do. heck, its difficult to do in a big corporate gaming company. from what i have seen, character customization is the most complex part of the sims 2.

6. yes, but it is hard, just stick with the animation.

hoped that helped