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Newcomers DBPro Corner / Exporting an Animation with ChracterFX (Indi?)

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Dave J
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 05:43
I believe you've succesfully done this Indi so maybe you can help. Anyway, I've created a bone animation with CharacterFX but I'm not really sure what options to use when exporting it to a .X file. I've tried several combinations but none seem to work, the strange thing is that in DBC the object will load but disappear when I play the animation (which is to be expected because I don't think it's supported) but in DBP it won't load at all, it just shows this error: "Could not load 3D Object at Line #". Any ideas?
"Computers are useless they can only give you answers."
indi
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 06:05


this is what i use to export but im sure the binary option will work also.

If your browser has the vector plugin that resizes stuff then deactivate that to stop the image looking blurry.

Guys wrote an example that should be on the front page of cfx.

indi
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 06:07
ahh wait you mention DBC.

DBC cant handle the bones so try and disengage that component, Dbc is geared towards DX7 so change that feature also.

indi
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 06:10
heres guys cfx info also

http://www.insanesoftware.de/index.php?page=cfx/dbpro.php

Dave J
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 09:23
Well I copied those settings exactly and I still get the same "Could not load 3D Object" error when I use DBP. Btw, I don't usually use DBC so I don't need it to work in that but I just found it strange that I can't even load the object within DBP but I can with classic.

I'll take a look at what Guy wrote in a minute.

"Computers are useless they can only give you answers."
Dave J
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 09:42 Edited at: 30th Jun 2003 09:46
Well using Guy's code and model it works, but as soon as I substitute it with mine it errors out again. I'm using the suggested settings so it must have something to do with the way I animated it.

I decided to test it with Simple's free Milkshape model so I imported that in, created about 16 bones for the arms, legs, spine, etc and manually assigned vertexes to each of them. Then I simply switched to animation mode, rotated the bones to the correct position and hit the "Set Keyframe" button. Does any of that sound wrong or like it wouldn't work?

I actually followed the parts relevant to animation and CFX in Psionic's Zombie tutorial on the CFX site to create the model so I have no idea why it wouldn't work.

"Computers are useless they can only give you answers."
indi
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 10:00
perhaps you have two vertices in 2 groups or some weighted polys are corrupting the model.

Is it possible you can upload the cfx or MS file for me to have a look at.

Dave J
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 10:53
I didn't think it was possible to assign a vertex to two different bones.

CFX File with texture:
http://ep.designex.net/Misc/Dude.zip

"Computers are useless they can only give you answers."
indi
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 10:59
indi
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 13:28
I tried many options but nothing seemed to work with this model.

Sorry I took a while to get back to you on this, I had a client want changes at 530pm ugggggg!

ok I have a few screenshots which i think is part of the problem.

In DBP it will crash even if one part of the texture is not mapped.

I can see in the first shot that his head appears to be not textured.
I can see you have a map for it in your uv bmp but i dont think its textured.

I tried to export the model into dx7 with no animation and then open it up into 3dcanvas 6 and it reported some odd polys around the waist and left ear.

Clearly they are textured in CFX except for the head.

I can suggest you send the information and model provided to mike@darkbasic.com and lee@darkbasic.com for a better evaluation of the problem at hand.

Perhaps someone else can provide some insight to the model before we annnoy the dbs boys.

indi
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 13:30
and the links to the images oops hehe







Dave J
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 13:34
Yeah, I noticed that also. It's Simple's model so I didn't texture or create it, I was just using it to practise bone animation on.

So you're suggesting that the texture is the problem? I'll mess around with it a bit, stripping the texture completely and what-not and hopefully find out more about the problem before emailing anyone. Thanks.

"Computers are useless they can only give you answers."
indi
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 13:49
I beleive it is the texture, Ill upload my test centaur keyframe model as well if it helps.

http://www.lunarpixel.com/temp/centaur_anime2.zip

CFX file with no texturing except for internal colouring from milkshape by adding a colour to the diffusion all over the model so its easy to test with as I forget to bring the texture file along sometimes in smaller tests like this.


I bet simple will have some input since its his model, he will have home grown knowledge.

indi
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Posted: 30th Jun 2003 13:54
dont forget that it will crash if one part is not textured or coloured. I think thats just the current x file handling with DBP at the momo but im sure they will add better error support in future patches.

Ive also found when creating the skeleton heirachy its important to create a starting bone from the floor up to the start of the models bones.

It helps when you are trying to implement the movement of the character as you can bob up and down on this bone reference.

good luck mate, Im sure it will get sorted.

k0shi
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Posted: 3rd Jul 2003 03:25
heh, looks like the top guy is wearing one of those small jewish hats.

famous last words-
Sorry im nervous, this is my first execution.

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