Blender Animation for Skyrim

[labrat]

Or "Why should Max users have all the fun?"

 

I seem to have missed this - was it common knowledge ?

 

http://skup.dip.jp/?page=3&gal=0&mode=list&sword=&andor=

 

post up00943

 

If anyone else also missed it. Tired of waiting for niftools a modder has doctored the import/export_nif.pys to allow for changes in Skyrim. You need hkxcmd.exe but essentially you can now convert, import to Blender, edit, export and convert back Skyrim hkx animation files.

 

This version dates from 30/01/12 and corrects an earlier version that didn't allow for the loss of FPS data.

 

I have had a stab at translating the ReadMe, here. If I have made any howlers would Japanese readers please tell me. I am a learner.

 

Skyrim Animating with Blender Readme.txt

 

EDIT: Although you can read it here by clicking, not all characters will display but if opened in Notepad they do.

 

 

[osiris246]

definately not common knowledge, unless you're the holder of said know-goodies.

just took a crack at it, got it up and running, with an animation driving a mesh in blender. didnt use the correct nifscope, but im sure they'll understand. thank you for this little bit, for you're right, Max users shouldn't have all the fun! best part of modding something is that you'll have to mod something before it, in order to do it.

[gooboo]

The readme mentioned an already edited export_nif file. Where is this at exactly? I've been uploading my animations into blender but they aren't working, and I suspect I might not have edited the file correctly. Where is the file the author is talking about?

[osiris246]

The readme mentioned an already edited export_nif file. Where is this at exactly? I've been uploading my animations into blender but they aren't working, and I suspect I might not have edited the file correctly. Where is the file the author is talking about?

 

 

(without looking back at the files) I believe what you are talking about is going into blenders import and export scripts and replacing them with an edited version, so that blender may import an animation converted from .hkx-> .kf format, and export the .kf to be properly converted back.

 

an issue I have noticed is the cmd-based conversion doesn't properly convert my exported .kf to hkx, and the auto-converter doesn't even try to convert said .kf to hkx. I had lost internet due to the storm that swept the mid-west, and i believe theres something I'm to edit in nifscope, so that the game reads it proper. this edit can only be made while the animation is in .kf format, once converted, nifscope doesn't recognize the file.

 

EDIT:

I've tried extracting an animation, converting it, and importing it to blender. from there, i made no changes, exported it, and converting it back, un-changed, to see if it may be Blender. unfortunately, the animation put the character about 2 1/2 feet below the ground, but the animation played. it may be possible that you have to adjust the starting height of your animation, but I haven't tried yet.

[gooboo]

 

The readme mentioned an already edited export_nif file. Where is this at exactly? I've been uploading my animations into blender but they aren't working, and I suspect I might not have edited the file correctly. Where is the file the author is talking about?

 

 

(without looking back at the files) I believe what you are talking about is going into blenders import and export scripts and replacing them with an edited version, so that blender may import an animation converted from .hkx-> .kf format, and export the .kf to be properly converted back.

 

Yes that is the file I'm talking about. I went in and edited it myself like the readme said, but I was thinking maybe I messed it up somehow, so if there is a version that's already edited properly I wanted to download that instead, just to reduce the amount of places something could go wrong.  Has anybody reading this thread actually gotten the animations to work correctly? Can anyone give us some insight?

[ZaZ]

Yea it can get Confusing , The Author Intended You to Make Your own Modified skeleton.Nif  .

Spoon Feeding is Unhealthy Overall , But  I can help some what .

No One asked me , Much About blender animations using this, So I thought People got this to work,  its pretty straight forward .

The above Method is for Blender 2.49b 

 

So here is the Skelton.nif Which , I Use for Blender animations in Skyrim , 

SkeletonFix.7z

 

If your a Newbie ......

Your Better off using Anton's tools For Other higher versions of Blender , Because that uses Scripts and does the hard work for you.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/29460

 

Cheers and Good Luck

[gooboo]

I tried out the skeleton you provided me and it still isn't working properly. The animation is acting weird again, and the body's top half seems to be crushed missing. With the previous skeleton I modified the same animation weirdness happened, but the top half of the body was still there. Here are some screenshot I took if it helps diagnosing the problem. The model starts out walking, then flips upside down and shrinks really small, then flips back up and gets really big, and then ends normally. 

 

 

 

 

I did find the instructions easy to follow, which is why I'm mystified this isn't working properly. 

[ZaZ]

I got it , 

Scratch that one Use this , 

 

skeletonFix.7z

 

Cheers 

 

I WILL WORK NOW  

[gooboo]

The animation seems to be importing properly now. Thanks!

[gooboo]

Alright, so now I'm trying to export the kf into Skyrim and I'm running into problems. I added bbb weights to my models and animated it, and it looks fine in blender but I can't get it to work in Skyrim.  I'm not sure whether it's something I've done in blender or something with the hkxcmd.exe. 

 

Here's the model in Blender- no more weird animation glitches. 

 

 

Here are the export settings I had after highlighting everything in Blender. These are the ones I use for exporting other nifs, with the exeception I have the export kf only button highlighted. 

 

 

Here is an image I took after trying to convert the new kf walk into a hkx- it said it didn't recognize the breast bones as well as a bunch of other bones, so I assume this is going to be a problem for a bbb animated walk. 

 

 

And here is the result in game. The character just bobs around in the t pose and the feet move around. Any help would be much appreciated. 

 

 

 

[osiris246]

I had the same issue pop up. i haven't used an outside skeleton, but converted the one im using in-game, that has the bones. hkxcmd converted it fine to .kf, but errors when converting back. kind of weird and annoying.

[ZaZ]

Nope this Blender Method is for the Default Skeleton Only , No Additional Bones can be animated .................. Because of hklxcmd's Limitations

So BBB is out of the question ...........

You Will have to use 3ds max with the havok exporter for bbb animations ,

 

Cheers

[gooboo]

Ah nuts- I was afraid you were going to say something like that. Thanks for your help anyways.

[osiris246]

Nope this Blender Method is for the Default Skeleton Only , No Additional Bones can be animated .................. Because of hklxcmd's Limitations

So BBB is out of the question ...........

You Will have to use 3ds max with the havok exporter for bbb animations ,

 

Cheers

 

 

i'm sure one of us will find a way to figure it out. besides, isn't that what modding is all about?