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FPSC Classic Models and Media / Your favorite entity making programs

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Captain Coder
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Posted: 30th Nov 2011 02:32
@Design Runner: I have been wanting to do the same thing. I have been meaning to edit my first post, and I will probably post a lot of that information when I edit (hopefully that will be in a few minutes). Hopefully, this thread will eventually cover questions from basic modeling to how to do animation!

Captain Coder

One of the most humbling days in your life will be the day you discover you AREN'T the best at what you love to do.
- Me
Design Runner
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Posted: 30th Nov 2011 02:59
Now that I think about it a new thread probably would be better because it wouldn't be clustered with all of these posts (repeating the same information just given on first post). I would love to pitch in some information.

Captain Coder
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Posted: 1st Dec 2011 17:54
Feel free to post more information here! I'll write down a list of of important information and post both here and in a new thread. I still need an answer to my last question...

One of the most humbling days in your life will be the day you discover you AREN'T the best at what you love to do.
- Me
Captain Coder
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Posted: 5th Dec 2011 22:07
On another note, I will probably wait on compiliation of the info in this thread; I would like some more "hands on" experience so I know what I'm talking about when I post.

So, how do I assign verticies to bones?

Thank you,
Captain Coder

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am trying to use my passion for game creation for His glory.
Design Runner
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Posted: 5th Dec 2011 23:03
If you are using fragmotion, you select the vertices, select the bone, go to bone> assign selected vertices to bone I usually make my weight 1.

Found this video on youtube.



Captain Coder
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Posted: 7th Dec 2011 22:20
@Design Runner: Thank you for the video, I will look at it soon.

The video might answer this question, but I was specifically wondering how to correctly assign verticies to bonces. I've tried to assign a character mesh to the MP 53 skeleton, and I can't get it to work. I was just wondering how it was done to make the mesh work smoothly with the skelton's animations. Like I said, maybe that question will be answered in the video.

Thank you,
Captain Coder

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am trying to use my passion for game creation for His glory.
Ross tra damus
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Posted: 8th Dec 2011 01:21
Captain Coder

I've been messing about with creating charaters the last couple of 'months' and tried to assign the stock FPSC skeleton to my character but gave up in favour of creating my own animations.

In a word I would say that its a case of trial and error rigging models to ready made animated skeletons unless the creator of the skeleton takes numerous screenshots of each joint showing the vertices assigned to them.
NOTE - It's best to have 'in mind' that you are assigning vertices to joints rather than bones.

I hope I have helped and all the best of luck.
Captain Coder
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Posted: 10th Dec 2011 03:56
@Ross tra damus:

Thank you for your advice; I'll keep that in mind as I move forward with my ever-interesting adventure in modeling!

Captain Coder

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am trying to use my passion for game creation for His glory.
Zwarte Piet
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Posted: 10th Dec 2011 04:00
I'm going to try to customize some animations for my character. I have a good list of the frames, so I'll tell you how it goes. I use 3ds max, btw.

"I would rather make a bad model, instead of pirate a great one" MY DAD "Now let's Make some Models" me "If you don't make it don't post it"
Arseny
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Posted: 18th Dec 2011 14:01
I prefer use Gmax for modelling, because I love 3ds max, and have some skills there, and Gmax is free to use and to sell your models. Then export all made stuff into .md3 file(it's nly one md3 pluguin for gmax ), then animate, make a uv map, and do some mesh editing in fragmotion) I also like blender, at start, it seems that selecting system is a bit complicated)
Captain Coder
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Posted: 18th Dec 2011 23:25
@Arseny: Thank you for your suggestions. I've tried Blender but I really dislike it. I'm using Fragmo right now for modeling and am learning animating.

@Design Runner: That video turned out to be very helpful, thank you for finding it!

@Ross tra damus: I think you're right when it comes to guessing; I think it all comes down to knowing what parts of the mesh are affected by what joints, and then selecting only the verticies of that part (which Fragmo is TERRIBLE at doing) to assign.

Thanks all,
Captain Coder

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am trying to use my passion for game creation for His glory.
Design Runner
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Posted: 19th Dec 2011 01:33
Quote: "That video turned out to be very helpful, thank you for finding it!"

Yah it explains everything pretty well. Unfortunately thats one of the only videos on fragmotion out there. I think I might make a complete tutorial on how I make my weapons for fpsc.

Flatlander
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Posted: 19th Dec 2011 04:58
Thanks to everyone for their input. I hope someday to do some animated models myself but I'm a procrastinator and I don't think I will be any good at it and at 62 I almost feel like I won't have the time to learn.

@Captain Coder

I would love for you to send me an email so we can talk. It's because of your new sig.

[email protected]

Captain Coder
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Posted: 23rd Dec 2011 05:29
Quote: "Yah it explains everything pretty well. Unfortunately thats one of the only videos on fragmotion out there."


Very sad. At least it explains everything well. I might try my hand at some animations next!

Quote: "I think I might make a complete tutorial on how I make my weapons for fpsc."


I would be very greatful if you did that. Please consider making one!

@F l a t l a n d er:

Quote: "I would love for you to send me an email so we can talk. It's because of your new sig."


Oh, really? I don't know if I can, but I will look into it. Work is going to keep me hopping for a long time and I don't have a forum email account yet, and it may be awhile before I do get one, but I'll definitely keep your request in mind (I saw your post in Nickydude's Merry Christmas to one and all!! thread, BTW ) I'll post here if I won't be able to email you.

Quote: "I'm a procrastinator"


Same here

New Question:

Do the animation bones have to actually be "inside" the model, or could I have the animation skeleton just outside the body of a character/weapon?

Thank you all and Merry Christmas!
Captain Coder

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am trying to use my passion for game creation for His glory.
anayar
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Posted: 23rd Dec 2011 17:23
I might be taking out of my ass here but I think the skeleton must be inside the character or else there will be some pretty "interesting" stretching and tearing keep in mind I'm a noob and nothing I say can be trusted (fine, maybe not "nothing" but most )

Cheers,
Anayar


For KeithC
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Posted: 23rd Dec 2011 22:03
For organic animation in general you should in general have the skeleton inside the model. There may be a few exceptions and times when you can get away with it, but not many. For hard surface animations (weapons, vehicles, doors, etc.) you can put the skeleton a mile away as long as the vertices are rigged properly. Not that you should, by any means, but it is possible.

Captain Coder
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Posted: 29th Dec 2011 22:20
Thanks for the answers everyone.

Well, I am modeling my first... wait, no - second - character using Fragmo (the first one I temporarily discontinued a while ago) and he is looking fantastic, and is going incredibly well, especially in light of the fact that I've only modeled two other objects (the two UFOs )I hope to use him in a Scifi game I have in the works. So here comes another question (amazing you guys haven't gotten sick of me yet!)

EAI has done a wonderful job of animating his 341 characters to work with the pack's included weapons. I am wondering how I can animate my character to fit custom weapons I will be making soon. Do I import the vweap and animate them based on that?

Attached is a pic of what I have so far of the character. Based on what you see (and I know it's not easy to tell), is he too high-poly? I've got a lot of details especially on the general upperbody armor and belt.

Thanks!
Captain Coder

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am trying to use my passion for game creation for His glory.
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Posted: 29th Dec 2011 22:31
he doesn't look too high poly, but I would need a large image with a wire frame overlay to be sure. With the custom weapons animations, yes that is exactly what you would do.

Captain Coder
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Posted: 30th Dec 2011 00:19
Ok, thanks! I might post a screenshot with the wireframe overlay later when he's done. We'll see.

Captain Coder

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am trying to use my passion for game creation for His glory.
Captain Coder
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Posted: 2nd Jan 2012 21:26 Edited at: 3rd Jan 2012 01:37
It seems I am plagued with texturing troubles

I finally got a UV Map that looks OK (after going back into fragmo and regrouping the verticies), and I have textured part of the map, but I can't get any part of it to show up. It's just a white, untextured model. Any suggestions?

Thank you,
Captain Coder

EDIT: Just testing a new banner for fun

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am trying to use my passion for game creation for His glory.

Captain Coder
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Posted: 20th Feb 2012 22:56
Okay, I think I figured out what was going on with the UV Map and Texture. Thanks Anayar for the videos!

I think I'm going to take a break from that guy for the time being. I'm working on an animated box and will post a video (maybe?) if I can get it to work.

Thanks for the help guys.
Captain Coder

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am trying to use my passion for game creation for His glory.
anayar
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Posted: 20th Feb 2012 23:05
Sounds cool... I remember the first time I got something animated into FPSC (working that is). It was like... Jaw drops, then jump and scream cause you actually got something working!! Good luck mate

Cheers,
Anayar


For KeithC
Captain Coder
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Posted: 27th Feb 2012 22:31
Animating was surprisingly easy - considering that it was all pretty much two-dimensional I just had to keep pressing the "invoke" button in Fragmo (and create new frames) . Now I just need to texture it.

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I am trying to use my passion for game creation for His glory.
Dark Evenger
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Posted: 28th Feb 2012 23:38
i use Hexagon 2 for modelling
and DAZ 3D for Video Animation
Nicholas Finney
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Posted: 22nd May 2012 20:36
@Captain Coder:

This thread is totally awesome! I just started modeling and I have a ton of these very same questions in mind. I'm really glad you told me to look for this. I was just wondering, in your first post, it says that your were planning on updating it with everything you've learned thus far. Do you still plan to do so? No pressure or anything, but I would totally be grateful if you did.

Dark Game Dynamo
wrapscallion
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Posted: 24th May 2012 00:44
DO NOT USE GIMP.Or Blender. If you must model, get Milkshape.

Milkshape ---( modeling/tweaking )
Animer --- ( animating)
MakeHuman --- ( easy human character models)
Wings3d ---( UVmapping )
MisfitModel3d --( modeling/tweaking) for those who can't afford Milkshape.

Paint.net--- ( texturing/normal map creation/ )A lot easier to use than the gimp....and just as, if not more, powerful.
Pixia ---( for tweaking a texture easily....allows you to paint a texture with a texture)
kingofmk98
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Posted: 24th May 2012 03:40
@wrapscallion Why not use GIMP or Blender they are great software and many people use them on this forum

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Design Runner
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Posted: 26th May 2012 21:31
Wings 3d is far more powerful than milkshape for modelling, and fragmotion is more powerful than milkshape and animer for animating. Blender is even more powerful than both of those, but very complicated. Gimp has many more features than paint.net, and is just better. I am curious as to why you prefer these programs over the more feature rich or easier programs. Most are on the same level of ease of use.

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