arras posted this ages ago for milkshape when classic was around and DX8 was it its heyday
Trying to export my model I animated in Milkshape to .x format I run in to the couple of problems. Model was disturbeb, limbs were rotated in unusual positions, some were even missing.
Afther one night I spent trying diferent exporters, changing export options and searching this forum, I managed to export my animation properly.
Here is the way hove to get animation made in Milkshape run in Dark Basic:
Firsth you have to make your model animate. Its not objective of this post to describe hove to do it. If you need some help, try tutorials at Milkshape web page. Some useful are:
http://www.machinima.com/articles/modeling_intro_index/
http://www.gen3d.de/MS3DTutorial/
http://art.counter-strike.net/milkshape-01-01.shtml
http://www.planetfortress.com/tf2models/tuto.htm
Problem of these tutorials is that they are made for Half life models with mesh deformation. Unles you want to use memblocs (which I was not trying) this models are useles in DB. DB is not working with mesh deformations. What you need to do is model made of several limbs (torso, legs, hands...). Limbs are created in Milkshape like GROUPS of faces.
Next you create skeleton made of JOINTS and assign individual groups to joints (change selection metod to group (Model >>> Selection >>> Group). Then go to Joints, in the tab select joint you want, then select group you want in one of the views and press Assign buton)
When done, go to Animate>>> and !!! TURN OFF Operate On Selected Joints Only !!! (very important). Then you can made animation as usual. Diference between mesh deformation animation and your animation will be that you animate your model by mooving or rotating its limbs not only faces. And thats hove animated objects work in DB.
When done go out from animation mode (lower right button) and export your model using DirectX JT exporter. You can find this exporter like msXExporter.zip (DirectX 8.0 Exporter by John Thompson) at downloads of Milkshape web site: http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/ms3d/download.html
Select: File >>> Export >>> DirextX (JT)...
Tipe name and in the tab which will apear choose DirectX Retained Mode for Format. Animation Time Factor set to about 1 (depend hove slow or quick you want your animation play). Choose Binary for smaller file. Rest you can let unchecked or you can try to play with options like you want. Press Help button for info about options in tab.
When ready, press OK and enjoy your animation in DB.
Hope this will save you some time
