Quick question about Animations

[pinkpunkt]

I am interested in making animations but I dont know if I have the talent for it. Is there a FREE programm to do animation for Skyrim ? If not is there one you only have to buy once (and isnt that expensive) ?

[SirNibbles]

Either Blender or 3ds Max.

 

Both are free, blender completely and 3ds Max somewhat (you'll get a student license which is usable for a couple of years).

3ds Max in my opinion is more professional then blender but needs more time (plugins etc) to get it working for skyrim.

[ag12]

Try getting your hands on a 3DS Max 2010 version. Student will be fine.

Max 2010 is the only 3DS max that supports Havok Content Tools 2010, which are the only HCT's that export to Skyrim without any work-arounds. If you set up max'10 with the proper NifTools, HCT 2010 and the awesome animation rig that you can find down in the tutorial section, you will be able to create sophisticated animations in no time ("no time" being "no time" in terms of animating, thus being "relatively short time").

 

3DS Max 2012 is your alternative, it supports HCT 2011.3 and is also able to export for Skyrim, but only with an additional work-around tool named hkxcmd.exe (you can find that in the dark place). I really, really advise towards getting max'10.

 

Also I disagree with the previous poster: if you get your hands on the right tools, setting up max'10 for Skyrim takes about 10 minutes (that includes installing the NifTools, HCT and Rig from LL). I doubt Blender beats that. In the end, it's personal preference.

 

If you decide to go with max, let me know. I'll send you in the right direction to find the HCT, since there is no official download anymore. (Thanks, Microsoft)

[pinkpunkt]

Try getting your hands on a 3DS Max 2010 version. Student will be fine.

Max 2010 is the only 3DS max that supports Havok Content Tools 2010, which are the only HCT's that export to Skyrim without any work-arounds. If you set up max'10 with the proper NifTools, HCT 2010 and the awesome animation rig that you can find down in the tutorial section, you will be able to create sophisticated animations in no time ("no time" being "no time" in terms of animating, thus being "relatively short time").

 

3DS Max 2012 is your alternative, it supports HCT 2011.3 and is also able to export for Skyrim, but only with an additional work-around tool named hkxcmd.exe (you can find that in the dark place). I really, really advise towards getting max'10.

 

Also I disagree with the previous poster: if you get your hands on the right tools, setting up max'10 for Skyrim takes about 10 minutes (that includes installing the NifTools, HCT and Rig from LL). I doubt Blender beats that. In the end, it's personal preference.

 

If you decide to go with max, let me know. I'll send you in the right direction to find the HCT, since there is no official download anymore. (Thanks, Microsoft)

I would like to go with 3dsmax. 3dsmax 2010/12 seems to be problematic. I can download a 3dsmax on their side, but only 14,15,16

[ag12]

Well, you won't have much joy with the newer versions of 3DS max, because the important plugins don't exist for them, as far as I know.

You'll need to get your hands on 2010/2012, 2010 preferably. I can't really help you with that, you'll just have to keep looking. All I could do would be using google, and I'm fairly certain you can do that yourself. If you happen to get your hands on a copy, let me know and I'll gladly help with setting up HCT and the NifTools.