animation static mesh in 3ds max

[South8028]

I'm trying to assemble animated furniture in 3ds max 2013. Specifically, I'm making a scene for a pole dance with a cyclically rotating element in the form of the scene itself and a pole. Before that I made animated doors and there were no difficulties. But animated mesh made and exported according to the same principle in the game refuse to work, regardless of whether they are activators, doors or objects. In nifskop, animations work, but in the game they behave like ordinary static meshes. I'm really looking for help from people who managed to introduce such animated objects into the game, or links to understandable textbooks (I'm interested in the animation static mesh, not creatures)

[DocClox]

Something that might save you a lot of trouble - look at RotationHelperFree in the CK. It's a marker with a built in rotation animation. You can attach your statics using AttachTo and then rotate the helper and everything else will go with it.

 

I did this just recently for RRS and it works a treat.

[South8028]

16 minutes ago, DocClox said:

Something that might save you a lot of trouble - look at RotationHelperFree in the CK. It's a marker with a built in rotation animation. You can attach your statics using AttachTo and then rotate the helper and everything else will go with it.

 

I did this just recently for RRS and it works a treat.

Sorry, I didn't understand anything. I am trying to animate a mesh in 3ds max 2013 using the official plugins. Naturally, I use a helper, more precisely a dummy, as a parent for the grid. Naturally, I animate the dummy itself, and with it the mesh and its child collision are animated. Next, I go to the animation manager and set the animation start / end keyframe, morph tags, looping or ending animation. Installing materials. Then I export and run it through elric. What kind of helper is in ck, and why is he in ck? What exactly do I need to do?

[DocClox]

17 minutes ago, South8028 said:

Sorry, I didn't understand anything. I am trying to animate a mesh in 3ds max 2013 using the official plugins.

 

What I mean is that there's a marker object in the CK that you could use which would let you avoid writing a new animation entirely. It's like an X marker, except big and round animated. Set an animation variable to tell it where to rotate to, and then tell it  to play, and it'll rotate and take anything with it that you attached.

 

Of course, if you want more than simple rotation, or if you particularly want to make a new animation, that's not much help. I just thought it might save you some work.

[South8028]

28 minutes ago, DocClox said:

 

What I mean is that there's a marker object in the CK that you could use which would let you avoid writing a new animation entirely. It's like an X marker, except big and round animated. Set an animation variable to tell it where to rotate to, and then tell it  to play, and it'll rotate and take anything with it that you attached.

 

Of course, if you want more than simple rotation, or if you particularly want to make a new animation, that's not much help. I just thought it might save you some work.

Thank you. I'll know, maybe it will come in handy. But of course I want to find a universal working way to create animated meshes, not an episodic solution. I think if the door animations are working, then obviously there is a way to do complex animations as well. There are simply no guides. Maybe no one was interested in this before, or maybe it's some kind of secret. ) I do not know.

[DocClox]

37 minutes ago, South8028 said:

There are simply no guides. Maybe no one was interested in this before, or maybe it's some kind of secret. ) I do not know.

 

It is a bit of a black art. I did once get a rotating animation of the sort you describe working, but that was for Skyrim and using Anton's animation tools, so that's probably not going to help much.

[South8028]

25 minutes ago, DocClox said:

 

It is a bit of a black art. I did once get a rotating animation of the sort you describe working, but that was for Skyrim and using Anton's animation tools, so that's probably not going to help much.

if I find a way, I promise I will publish the instructions. I am absolutely sure that this should be a simple and affordable way, for 5 minutes of work, provided that the person knows what to do, and not blindly.

[DocClox]

More power to you, and I hope you succeed.

 

If you decide you want to do it, open the CK and type RotationHelperFree into the filter box.  You should find something there that, when dragged onto the render window, looks a lot like this:

 

 

The red and green circle there is the helper. There's a ring mounted on pivots that's attached to the helper using the AttachTo command in Papyrus. I tell it how far to rotate and set it going, and it rotates and takes the ring with it.

 

There'sa couple of these used to open the gate at Big John Salvage, where they have a couple of megaloadersmovign cars out of the way. (It's only an 8 degree arc, so if you never noticed it, that's probably why. But that shows you how to script it. Or look at the tattoo frame in Raider Reform School, of course.

 

And, sincerely, good luck with that animation guide. It's something that I want to be able to do, too

 

 

[South8028]

On 5/11/2021 at 6:46 PM, DocClox said:

More power to you, and I hope you succeed.

 

If you decide you want to do it, open the CK and type RotationHelperFree into the filter box.  You should find something there that, when dragged onto the render window, looks a lot like this:

 

 

The red and green circle there is the helper. There's a ring mounted on pivots that's attached to the helper using the AttachTo command in Papyrus. I tell it how far to rotate and set it going, and it rotates and takes the ring with it.

 

There'sa couple of these used to open the gate at Big John Salvage, where they have a couple of megaloadersmovign cars out of the way. (It's only an 8 degree arc, so if you never noticed it, that's probably why. But that shows you how to script it. Or look at the tattoo frame in Raider Reform School, of course.

 

And, sincerely, good luck with that animation guide. It's something that I want to be able to do, too

 

 

I solved the problem. It turned out there were two things in total. 1. Only open and close tags work. Just like doors, no matter what they are in the game; objects, doors or activator. I hang on the activator. 2. You cannot assign materials via os, or nifscop, both programs kill animations when saving nif. Exclusively through 3ds max. Later, as promised, I will write all the instructions.

 

[DocClox]

Good work!

 

The materials thing could be a pain. I think it must be a Fo4 limitation since the Skyrim animated ring used materials set in Nifscope. Mind, that was textures, because the material systemd didn't exist, so maybe that's the difference.

[South8028]

On 5/15/2021 at 8:34 PM, DocClox said:

Good work!

 

The materials thing could be a pain. I think it must be a Fo4 limitation since the Skyrim animated ring used materials set in Nifscope. Mind, that was textures, because the material systemd didn't exist, so maybe that's the difference.

Okay, I figured out the animation. Now ... do you happen to know a way to connect building blocks? Lots of build packages have been done, but again I haven't found a single article on adding docking nodes and navigation meshes in the panel. I'll probably have to blindfold again. )

[DocClox]

I know how workshop connect points in the CK and nifscope work. Haven't a clue if you're talking Max.

[South8028]

3 hours ago, DocClox said:

I know how workshop connect points in the CK and nifscope work. Haven't a clue if you're talking Max.

Well, probably about max. As I understand it, the docking nodes are assembled together with the meshes themselves? If you can do it somehow not in max, then ok. Anyway, new building elements; walls, floors, or a new elevator, for example, or an escalator - a self-propelled staircase; I would not want to align them by hand in the workshop. ) 

[DocClox]

Well, here's what I know. In Nifscope you add a BSConnectpoint::Parents node, and call it CPA. Then in block details, you set the number of points to whatever you need, refresh the list, and then set names and values. They show up as the green circle things.

 

 

If you want the colored hemispheres to go with them, like we see in the CK for some meshes ... that's probably easier done in Max, but I couldn't tell you how. It doesn't need them to snap, though.

 

 

[South8028]

14 hours ago, DocClox said:

Well, here's what I know. In Nifscope you add a BSConnectpoint::Parents node, and call it CPA. Then in block details, you set the number of points to whatever you need, refresh the list, and then set names and values. They show up as the green circle things.

 

 

If you want the colored hemispheres to go with them, like we see in the CK for some meshes ... that's probably easier done in Max, but I couldn't tell you how. It doesn't need them to snap, though.

 

 

found such a thing. I haven't figured it out yet, I just looked, but I can no longer understand why at least something to do in nifskop, if everything can be done in max.

And another question. I assembled a chair with animation of a head-down vr helmet. It works as an activator. But I would not want to collect it in a two-part game. Static furniture and an animated activator. I would like the animation to start as soon as the player or npc sits down in the chair. Is there an easy way to do this, without scripts? The tutorial on assembling animated meshes in 3ds max will be thrown here on Saturday. There was simply no time now.

[DocClox]

24 minutes ago, South8028 said:

Static furniture and an animated activator

 

Why not just animated furniture? There are cuffs and pillories that animate when used. You should be able to do the VR headset the same way.

 

Or am I misunderstanding?

[South8028]

1 hour ago, DocClox said:

 

Why not just animated furniture? There are cuffs and pillories that animate when used. You should be able to do the VR headset the same way.

 

Or am I misunderstanding?

Yes. You got it right. It is furniture and some element in the creation kit that triggers the animation. I looked at how this is implemented in torture devices. Some scripts have been added there, and I absolutely do not understand scripts. Maybe there is a ready-made vanilla scheme for starting the animation in a simple way, just like it happens through the activator?

[DocClox]

20 minutes ago, South8028 said:

Is there an easier, vanilla way to animate furniture in the creation kit? )

 

How about this?

• Set up the animation with a controller in the nif,
• Give the furniture a script with an OnActivation() event
• When the furniture is activated, play the animation.
• Give the script an OnExitFurniture event so you can undo reverse the animation when the actor exits.

There's probably a way to avoid the scripting altogether, but if so, I don't know what it is.

[South8028]

12 minutes ago, DocClox said:

 

How about this?

• Set up the animation with a controller in the nif,
• Give the furniture a script with an OnActivation() event
• When the furniture is activated, play the animation.
• Give the script an OnExitFurniture event so you can undo reverse the animation when the actor exits.

There's probably a way to avoid the scripting altogether, but if so, I don't know what it is.

ahaha. I thought there might be a vanilla scheme already out there that allows animation to run if it is present in the furniture just by using it. Damn scripts. ) It is necessary to look for some articles and textbooks. Everything that concerns scripts has nothing to do with me at all. )

[DocClox]

Well, this is a fairly easy one to start off with:

 

Scriptname choose_a_name extends ObjectReference

Event OnActivate(ObjectReference akActionRef)
    playAnimation("your_animation_name_here")
EndEvent

[South8028]

9 hours ago, DocClox said:

Well, this is a fairly easy one to start off with:

 

Scriptname choose_a_name extends ObjectReference

Event OnActivate(ObjectReference akActionRef)
    playAnimation("your_animation_name_here")
EndEvent

Thank you. but I thought, and I'd rather spend the time mastering the work with 3D and animation. There is very little time for the game, and I will have to learn scripts from scratch, since I have no experience of working with any languages, I am a complete noob in this. If you have time, maybe you can make some kind of a typical solution that I can simply copy and subsequently change only the names of the event and animation in a ready-made script for different meshes?

https://disk.yandex.ru/d/HwacRCfM7kQL2A

[Vader666]

19 hours ago, South8028 said:

Maybe there is a ready-made vanilla scheme for starting the animation in a simple way

 

Well there is a "simple" way, where "simple" means without scripts but with using a havok setup and annotations.

 

Since you have a working furniture that includes the animation you can attach a havok behavior file to that furniture wich controls the .nif animation.

Inside the behavior file you can specify animevents which are used to start or stop animations.

Those animevents can be send by an animation when used as an annotation.

Since funiture (actor-) animations are a sequence of enter > idle > exit you can send the animevent for the "helment down" animation in the last frame of the enter animation and the "helment up" animevent in the first frame of the exit animation.

 

Thats how i control the anims of the wallock and the hydropillory in TD.

[South8028]

2 hours ago, Vader666 said:

 

Well there is a "simple" way, where "simple" means without scripts but with using a havok setup and annotations.

 

Since you have a working furniture that includes the animation you can attach a havok behavior file to that furniture wich controls the .nif animation.

Inside the behavior file you can specify animevents which are used to start or stop animations.

Those animevents can be send by an animation when used as an annotation.

Since funiture (actor-) animations are a sequence of enter > idle > exit you can send the animevent for the "helment down" animation in the last frame of the enter animation and the "helment up" animevent in the first frame of the exit animation.

 

Thats how i control the anims of the wallock and the hydropillory in TD.

Thank you. I will try.But when I get to animating creatures. Now I need to deal with simpler things. Glass, lighting, effects, attachment points, navigation mesh for panels, and all that. In principle, the animation of creatures does not interest me very much, but sooner or later I will have to deal with this. Generally very unfriendly modding facilities in ce. Everything is arranged as if from some kind of patches, and there is no single complex and single database of tools.

[South8028]

On 5/18/2021 at 12:16 PM, DocClox said:

Well, this is a fairly easy one to start off with:

 

Scriptname choose_a_name extends ObjectReference

Event OnActivate(ObjectReference akActionRef)
    playAnimation("your_animation_name_here")
EndEvent

as the guide on exporting animation from max promised. But please forgive my English. 

 

PE Anim En.pdf PE Anim Ru.pdf

[DocClox]

Thank you for that. I'll have a read when I get a bit more time.