Modders resource: New animation workflow!

[kiory 404]

Well, it's been a grueling few days to nail this new workflow down, but thanks to Thromp and Bad Benson, I have managed to create a new rig from scratch which is compatible with Arma 3.

All the documentation and necessary tools are in the PDF here: http://www.multiupload.nl/GZFS0TI3M5

Bare in mind, the rig that I have made isn't particularly animation friendly, but it will suffice for making custom animations. I've also provided a basic skeleton which is not rigged, in the hopes that someone here will create a better one. I will ask that whoever does this, please upload a download link to this thread and I'll update the first post accordingly.

This method also allows for all sorts of crazy stuff to be made, animals, mechas etc, anything you want, unfortunately I don't cover it in the PDF documentation, that just covers the steps needed to get animation out of 3DS Max and in game.

There are a few things to consider, when animating inside of 3DS Max, frame 0 needs to stay in the "T-Pose" and inside of the grid, frame 1 onwards, you need to move the rig above the grid so that the feet "sit" on it. also if you want to keep the weapon and launcher positions in tact with the hands of the character, they will also need to be animated.

As you can see on the image below, I didn't do this with the weapon positions, hence the floating rifle.

So gentlemen, let the crazyness begin!

As always, should any issues appear, let me know so I can amend them.

I told you the rig isn't animation friendly.

:UPDATE1:

Here is a new compjob bone switcharoo script, the old one wouldn't rename the right hand fingers properly, this one is a 100 accurate now!

http://www.multiupload.nl/H5ZY6M9J7J

Edited November 5, 2013 by Kiory

[Hatchet_AS 201]

All Pro. Things like this are needed, many thanks to all you who got it sorted, and are getting it done. Job well done indeed.

[cifordayzserver 119]

This is AMAZING, such a job by all involved, and so good of you all to share the info so soon after discovery...

Thanks to all for shining a light on the last remaining dark corner of of Arma modding.

[Guest]

Thanks for informing us about the release :cool:

Release frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

Custom Animations Guide

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We have also "connected" these pages to your account on Armaholic.

This means in the future you will be able to maintain these pages yourself if you wish to do so. Once this new feature is ready we will contact you about it and explain how things work and what options you have.

When you have any questions already feel free to PM or email me!

[m1lkm8n 410]

I love you guys ;)

[Make Love Not War 10]

These kinds of tutorials are always an invaluable addition to the community. Thanks, guys!

[kiory 404]

New update.

[wok 1]

Thanks a lot kiory, I love your work. I have tried following the tutorial but I am having problems with the Select animation center window not showing up when exporting the .rtm, I tried the fix but still couldn't get it working. I am not really expecting help since what I am going to write will be kinda tedious to read, but just in case someone wants to try to help me here's a step by step of what I did:

• Installed Arma 3 Tools from steam and already had 3Ds Max 2010.
  
• Opened "Arma 3 Rig 2010.max", clicked "Select by name", and selected all the bones that had the same icon next to the name as the Pelvis one, clicked OK and exported selected as test.3ds into my Desktop folder.
  
• Opened O2, clicked File > Import > 3D Studio... and selected the test.3ds file I just exported.
  
• Selected all the bones, unchecked the Import Only First Frame thing and clicked Import, texture error showed up, and clicked "ok". Named selections window show all the bone names, and Animations window show 100 keyframes, selecting 0.000000 and holding the arrow down key "plays" the animation correctly.
  
• Right clicked Animations window and clicked Auto Time 1.0 (keyframes time changed, first is 0.000000 last is 1.000000).
  
• Right clicked Animations window again and clicked Export Matrices, saved it as test.rtm on my desktop, but Select animation center window didn't show up. So I tried the page 6 fix.
  

(I tried the below steps in two ways, once with an empty O2, and once importing the test.3ds file again before doing the below steps, got the same results)

• Closed O2 and reopened it, right clicked Animations window and clicked Import, nothing happens, no error and no window show up.
  
• Clicked From Matrices instead (also tried From Matrices (all LODs)) and selected the test.rtm file, now the Animations window did loaded the keyframes.
  
• Clicked 0.000 on the LODs window, and created a cube.
  
• With the cube selected I right clicked the Named Selections window, clicked New, typed "test" and pressed enter.
  
• Right clicked the Animations window, clicked Export Matrices, saved it as test1.rtm on my Desktop, but again, Select animation center window didn't show up.
  

Also tried copying the model.cfg and other files from the Samples_F\Test_Character_01 folder into the Desktop where the test.3ds file is but got the same results.

EDIT:

Got it working!

I got the "Select animation center" window by right clicking the animations window > neutralize X step (have no idea why), this didn't seem to affect the animation, which I was able to get into the game thanks to kiory. Now I also found that in File > Options, there's an option called "Center of animation" which is now set as "Pelvis" since I've selected it on the select animation window, but I haven't tested yet if once can set the bone for root position there.

Edited November 24, 2013 by wok

[Mladja-ArmASerbia 3]

Can anyone reaupload UPDATE1.

When clicking on link I get to download some player for recording videos. xD

[x3kj 1247]

Yeah, it seems multiload.nl was hacked (or his owner plays dirty tricks for money)

[warlord554 2065]

Great material. Someone needs to do this for blender

[Mladja-ArmASerbia 3]

Can anyone reaupload UPDATE1.

When clicking on link I get to download some player for recording videos. xD

So, no one have update 1, even the author of this thread dont have it, or, just dont want to upload to new host.

[kiory 404]

It's an outdated method, FBX has been supported for a while now and is way better.

[Mladja-ArmASerbia 3]

Yes, but for some reason MAX dont export all things.

For example it dont export RightHandIndex3, RightHandMiddle3, same for left hand, third thing is not exported for some reason. Same for head and for toe(RightToeBase, LeftToeBase)

Any advice how to solve that.

[x3kj 1247]

if you use kiory's rig... i have added those bones manually (imported A3 skeleton for position reference) and linked them to the skeleton. Worked fine.

[Mladja-ArmASerbia 3]

hmm, I actualy use from arma3 sample characters(A3_character_example.fbx).

Look like the both rigs have the same problem.

Its possible to solve that in max, or its possible only in O2?

I am not good with o2, its present nightmare for me. xD

It would be nice if someone from ArmA3 Developers can tell us why that happen and how to solve it.

Thanks.

Edited June 27, 2014 by mladjaSRB

[x3kj 1247]

just add the bones in max... copy one of the others, place it, rename it, link it

[Mladja-ArmASerbia 3]

Yep, trying that and same problem.

Is there any way to I send you skeleton to you to fix that for me if it's not problem of course.

Or send me your (fixed) skeleton in fxb format so i can use it. :)

[sebj 10]

Thank you a lot for your tuto.

As you said Kiory the FBX method is the best one but impossible to get it to work for my case with Motion builder and the Bis tool (FBX2rtm ... :( )

I had a headache to get it to work during all the last weekend with no results... except with the old method with Rtm tools scripts etc... but as English ppl say it is a pain in the ass :mad:

If someone have a tip for FBX way to work it would give me more courage to do animations...

thanks in advance.

[Mladja-ArmASerbia 3]

Export animation in .fbx from 3d max and than import it in o2.

As i know there is no need to use that tool.

Still no any tutorial for configuring animations from Max to O2, still got hands problem, and no one from these guys that making new animations to game didnt wrote any tip or tutorial.

[sebj 10]

Thanks a lot mladjaSRB!

but unfortunately and if I'm not mistaken I didn't found the extension FBX into the import menu of O2 (only, .3DS,.TXT,OBJ, etc...)

PS: If I manage to do my first animation with FBX I could try to help you maybe for the hand problems because the bones names are really a big nightmare...

[Mladja-ArmASerbia 3]

Oxygen 2 dont support importing of .fbx.

But Object Builder support it. I am not sure why you are still using O2, its outdated. For arma3 everyone use Object Builder, its available in ArmA3 Tools, and tools are available on Steam. :)

[sebj 10]

Oxygen 2 dont support importing of .fbx.

But Object Builder support it. I am not sure why you are still using O2, its outdated. For arma3 everyone use Object Builder, its available in ArmA3 Tools, and tools are available on Steam. :)

Yes sry by o2 i mean object builder :) i didnt saw the option. I'll check again... Thx

EDIT: I'm in object builder and no FBX extension available into the import menu... maybe a conflict because I've O2 installed in same time... I'll try to make a fresh install of A3 tool again...

EDIT2 : new install of Object Builder still no FBX extension into the import menu... :

EDIT3 : after few google search... here is the SOLUTION for those who don't see the FBX import option : http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=18072 it is a problem with DLL folder misconfigured into the Objbuilder option menu...

Edited July 29, 2014 by sebj
SOLUTION for BFX import menu

[Mladja-ArmASerbia 3]

Hmm, strange problem.

Dont know what can be a problem.

Maybe i have that extension because I am on Tools Development Branch.

[PuFu 4591]

@sebj: clear your tools installation, and redownload the tools from steam once more. There is obviously something that has gone wrong.

@mladja: is there a development branch for the tools? Really? I have not spotted it (i know of the dev branch for A3, of course i do).