RaymondJ,
Your rant towards 3dsmax maybe misdirected.
Quote: "Those of you who love and respect Milkshape3D along with Fragmotion should go there websites and demand that that a plug-in so that we can export the animations"
Yes that would be an idea. So, you should really be screaming "I am sick and tired of Milkshape3D and Fragmotion"
But do take into account they are probably 1-2 guys, and have alot of other fixes to make. Both these softwares have support for external plugins.
Quote: "Tell them to eather charge a fee for this plug-in and support
character animations for Milkshape3D now!"
Since they do support external plugins, maybe you could rustle up a group of indies together who are willing to pay good money and entice someone to develop a sound plugin for Milkshape/Fragmotion.
Quote: "Those of you who have 3D Studio
Max.. back off! You still want to make characters with your thousand dollar software? "Fine!" We the indes are sick of it! "
The truth is, 3dstudiomax has a limited list for import/export object types. features. DirectX files are not supported. The PandaXporter is a freeware plugin created by one guy. It seems to be the most stable one around too. As with other object types, like .obj .md3 and what not, 3dsmax(Discreet) has nothing to do with them. All external plugins developed by indies and many given away free. Why these developers create plugins for thousand dollar software and give it away free, and not for cheaper alternatives. I have no clue.
As an artist and indie developer, I understand your frustrations. I too constantly buy software, try out demos, spend days experimenting only to end up at walls or detours. C'est la vie, tis the plight of the indie developer.
To sum up, its just my opinion that your rant is somewhat misdirected and would probably be more productive to do as suggested above.
peace
!