Fallout 4 Animation Modding (for modders and animators)

[ShadeAnimator]

Fallout 4 Animation Modding

This thread is for modders and animators. 

It is here to discuss everything related to working with Fallout 4 animations.

 

 

All tools and Guide is now located on nexus mods, in form of Fallout 4 Animation Kit.

 

Fallout 4 Animation Kit (F4AK)

>> Download <<

Finally, version 1.0.0. Guide is now in PDF format inside the Kit archive.

First to mention - this will be the place I put the latest stable release. I recommend using kit downloaded from here, NOT github!
Github contains a lot of trash files, scripts can be newer but with more bugs.

This KIT includes:

• Detailed guide on working with Fallout 4 animations in PDF format. Both import and export are covered.
• Almost all tools and plugins you need to export or import animations. If something is not included you can find a download link in the guide.
• Preset files for HCT, including rig.txt files and .hko settings files.
• Scenes and rigs for 3ds max for Human character. In later version will add other rigs as well.
• Deathclaw skeleton and mesh in max format, but its not quite correct, there just an example.

FAQ
Q: So, we can now create animations for Fallout 4?
A: Yes, we can. You can.

Q: Can I make 3rd person animations using this Kit\Guide?
A: Yes, you can.

Q: What is not included in the kit?
A: 3ds max\maya\blender are not included, HavokContentTools is also not included. You'll have to ask other modders to obtain a link for HCT. Everything else is there. But I still recommend looking for newer versions of included tools, like niftools or hkxpack.

Q: Were do I get the Guide?
A: Download the rar archive in the Files page here, and it will be in the root, called F4AK_AnimationGuide.pdf. You can view PDF using free Adobe Acrobat Reader, or using your web browser.

Q: Will this guide teach me how to work with 3ds max, rig tech and animation theory?
A: No. It is assumed that you know your way around 3ds max at least to some extent, even though I tried to described everything in as much detail as possible. You don't need to be a rigging\animation\3ds max guru, but if you never worked with 3ds max or 3d animation before - I recommend learning those things first. DigitalTutors introductions may be a good place to start. Also I highly recommend larning 12 Animation Principles. Just google it.

 

 

Important note!

I admit, lately I spend less time on this project, and F4 modding. But I still think that it is important to try and keep all documentation stuff in one place. I remember those days of Oblivion, Skyrim moddins, when there were 10 guides explaining the same thing, and they were all outdated, so in the end we had to spend tons of time figuring stuff out on our own. So my goal is to make F4AK the "Go to" main documentation when it comes to F4 animation production. 

 

Keep in mind that F4AK guide is aimed at people with some experience with 3ds max. So it's NOT a 3ds max usage guide. And it is also NOT a Creation Kit or Papyrus scripting Guide. It's main goal is to describe how to work with skeletons and animations, how to produce required hkx, xml and nif files for later use in your mods.

 

So! Please, DO NOT create your copies or versions of F4AK, if you think you need to update it, if things changed and I missed the change. Instead - write me about what needs to be updated. You can reach out to me via PM, or directly by my email - cccgirl7@gmail.com . I will get notification on my email from PM as well, but if it's more urgent better just write me an email.

 

Once I get it, I will update the documentation.

 

Thanks for your attention Keep modding!

[ShadeAnimator]

ToDo Post.

for now this will be a post about plans and further actions about animation research

 

Research.

 

Done:

 

• ☑ Exporting animations for player character
• ☑ Creating and exporting animations for creatures
• ☑  (Still needs testing) Animation annotations export from Max to launch sounds, spawn items, etc. How to export them? Is it possible with HCT?
• ☑ Get more joints into Rig.txt file to allow animating ALL OF THEM for f#$@'s sake, how hard can it be...
• ☑ Weapon\FPS animations
• ☑ Paired animations (Workflow for replacing existing paired animations done.)
• ☑ Try to export FBX into Maya and see if it is possible to export an animation from there without niftools plugin

 

Active:

• ☐ Multi-character animation workflow for SexTec
  • ☐ Define position markers in the rig scene, or a separate scene to Merge it into the animation scene
  • ☐ Research and describe the best workflow with importing multiple characters into the same scene and exporting them
  • ☐ Define generic character poses and include them into the rig. These will include vanilla idle pose and some additional ones

 

On hold:

• ☐ Research making custom skeletons, by adding new joints, to allow new funny things. Boobs, butt, dicks, wings, etc.
  • ​Currently put on hold, because of the lack of tools and information 
  • INFO: From what I know from gamedev animations, we can add joints. And I think we just need to add them AFTER existing in rig.txt. But we have to not break the existing hierarchy. So we can't place a new joints inside the existing chain. It will break animations. But we can create more child joints. Here is a nice explanation in UE4 tut: https://youtu.be/FDbpHamn2eY?t=8m4s (8 min, 4 sec)
• ☐  Research possibility of adding custom physics. It looks like it should be easier and without HDT in FO4.
  • Currently on hold, because there are no tools that I know of, to import or export physics data

 

If anyone has knowledge of how these things worked in Skyrim, please share, it will help A LOT.

[ShadeAnimator]

reserved

[ShadeAnimator]

reserved

[bp70]

would some of those reserved spots be for eventual blender files?

[Guest]

would some of those reserved spots be for eventual blender files?

 

Reserved spots are to reserve space.

Remember that a post has a limit of 55000 characters (more or less), and for sure a wiki like this will require a lot of space soon.

 

People don't like to go to page 126, third post, to find what they are looking for.

 

The thread is just started, we will see about the future plugins that will be available.

[Grine]

amazing stuff. just amazing. Keep up the great work!

[Guest]

 

Why 3ds max? Why these versions?

 

Currently we are limited with the tools available. 3ds max everything required, for latest possible versions, and the most updated ones.

 

HCT2014 is available for Max and Maya 2012-2016. It is not available for blender.

 

niftools has it's most advanced and developed plugin for max only.

 

 

A fun stuff is that the NIF plugin for blender was updated last time a couple of months ago, while the Max one was updated about one year ago.

But the HCT is completely NOT available for Blender, as far I can search.

[ShadeAnimator]

Well, my mistake about blender. I was referring to the information from their wiki page. I'm not sure how soon it was updated, but in the list of features it has less than max. Without support for particles for example. Maybe its outdated info

[Guest]

Well, my mistake about blender. I was referring to the information from their wiki page. I'm not sure how soon it was updated, but in the list of features it has less than max. Without support for particles for example. Maybe its outdated info

 

It does not really matter. (But yes, particle support is there.)

The main problem is that the HVK tools do not support Blender at all.

[pipdude]

You da man.

[D_ManXX2]

Cool man. This will atleast not hamper those 3dmax users. but blender users like me gonna have to wait while longer. I am keepig an eye on this thread thanks for psoting this.

[mike24]

Im sad but I hope with more time any user give  a solution for blender users. 

 

In any case, thanks for your work!! Soon we can be able to enojoy a lot animations.

[balthazard8888]

If you guys need any help finding software or assets that you can't find yourself please PM me im willing to help you in any way shape or form to make animation modding in Fallout 4 a reality.

[ShadeAnimator]

If you guys need any help finding software or assets that you can't find yourself please PM me im willing to help you in any way shape or form to make animation modding in Fallout 4 a reality.

 

Well, finding max, maya, blender, hct, nifplugins is not that hard, but if you could find a working niftools plugin for Maya 2015 it would be great. Or HCT 2014 for max\maya 2016

[HaxorusShiny]

Hopefully someone makes a first person rig so I don't have to lol

[ShadeAnimator]

I DID IT!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rduBaB5M-SU

 

All joints work now, the rig.txt file looks to be working now. It is already uploaded on Git as Fallout4Rig_byShadeAnimator_FULL.txt

 

I'm not sure about the correct hierarchy of all the additional bones inside max scene, but it looks like everything that we need is working in the game. MUAHAHAAAA

[balthazard8888]

I DID IT!

 

https://youtu.be/mNdUzW_QEhE

 

All joints work now, the rig.txt file looks to be working now. It is already uploaded on Git as Fallout4Rig_byShadeAnimator_FULL.txt

 

I'm not sure about the correct hierarchy of all the additional bones inside max scene, but it looks like everything that we need is working in the game. MUAHAHAAAA

 

YOU ABSOLUTE MADMAN, YOU DID IT ! 

[Kargrin]

 

I DID IT!

 

https://youtu.be/mNdUzW_QEhE

 

All joints work now, the rig.txt file looks to be working now. It is already uploaded on Git as Fallout4Rig_byShadeAnimator_FULL.txt

 

I'm not sure about the correct hierarchy of all the additional bones inside max scene, but it looks like everything that we need is working in the game. MUAHAHAAAA

 

YOU ABSOLUTE MADMAN, YOU DID IT ! 

 

 

[ShadeAnimator]

Well, don't mind the animation, it's just bending of all joints in order, to check that everything is working as expected

[WhippinGirl]

Just to help hone everyone's animations to the best they can be, here's a GREAT tutorial on the Twelve Principles of Animation, as taught by two legendary Disney animators - Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.  Realistic animations like what we do here (or at least mostly realistic!) should have these a little more muted, but they're still there, and can add a LOT of life to your animations.  If you want to animate, these principles are a MUST!

 

Edit:  A quick note.  He mentions in the video that the film frame rate is 24 fps.  That's right for FILM.  In animating for a GAME, it's 30 FPS.

[ShadeAnimator]

Just to help hone everyone's animations to the best they can be, here's a GREAT tutorial on the Twelve Principles of Animation, as taught by two legendary Disney animators - Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.  Realistic animations like what we do here (or at least mostly realistic!) should have these a little more muted, but they're still there, and can add a LOT of life to your animations.  If you want to animate, these principles are a MUST!

 

Mhm, true. Though not all of them can be applied to game animation, especially FO4. For example squash and stretch is rarely used in realistic game animation, and you can't just scale joints, often you can even only rotate them.

 

I'm not sure though if we should focus on animation art theory here, it's separate process. I can expand my Novice notice a bit with such links though.

[WhippinGirl]

 

Just to help hone everyone's animations to the best they can be, here's a GREAT tutorial on the Twelve Principles of Animation, as taught by two legendary Disney animators - Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.  Realistic animations like what we do here (or at least mostly realistic!) should have these a little more muted, but they're still there, and can add a LOT of life to your animations.  If you want to animate, these principles are a MUST!

 

Mhm, true. Though not all of them can be applied to game animation, especially FO4. For example squash and stretch is rarely used in realistic game animation, and you can't just scale joints, often you can even only rotate them.

 

I'm not sure though if we should focus on animation art theory here, it's separate process. I can expand my Novice notice a bit with such links though.

 

 

That was the goal.  I will say that squash and stretch don't necessarily mean scaling body parts - it can also just mean crouching a character down when he lands - that sort of thing.  Like I said, it's a bit more muted for what we're doing, but still there.

 

I just want to see some great animations come out of this. I figured get the good habits started early.

 

Oh, I almost forgot - I figured out how to do furniture animations in Skyrim back in 2014.  I put together a process for it, but I can't seem to find the thread where we stumbled through it.  The mod page is still around, although I never got a chance to work on it any more than what I did.  Hopefully, it will be some help.  I really wanted to find the original thread, though.

 

Edit: Found it!  It's in the archives.  I put most of my findings on the first post so people don't have to go digging through the thread to find an answer, but there might be something relevant to Fallout 4.  Hope it helps!

 

Edit again: Actually, the procedure itself is the sixth post down.  Just in case they purge the archives, I copied it to a text file.  So if it disappears, let me know and I can still get it.

[ShadeAnimator]

 

 

Just to help hone everyone's animations to the best they can be, here's a GREAT tutorial on the Twelve Principles of Animation, as taught by two legendary Disney animators - Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.  Realistic animations like what we do here (or at least mostly realistic!) should have these a little more muted, but they're still there, and can add a LOT of life to your animations.  If you want to animate, these principles are a MUST!

 

Mhm, true. Though not all of them can be applied to game animation, especially FO4. For example squash and stretch is rarely used in realistic game animation, and you can't just scale joints, often you can even only rotate them.

 

I'm not sure though if we should focus on animation art theory here, it's separate process. I can expand my Novice notice a bit with such links though.

 

 

That was the goal.  I will say that squash and stretch don't necessarily mean scaling body parts - it can also just mean crouching a character down when he lands - that sort of thing.  Like I said, it's a bit more muted for what we're doing, but still there.

 

I just want to see some great animations come out of this. I figured get the good habits started early.

 

Oh, I almost forgot - I figured out how to do furniture animations in Skyrim back in 2014.  I put together a process for it, but I can't seem to find the thread where we stumbled through it.  The mod page is still around, although I never got a chance to work on it any more than what I did.  Hopefully, it will be some help.  I really wanted to find the original thread, though.

 

Edit: Found it!  It's in the archives.  I put most of my findings on the first post so people don't have to go digging through the thread to find an answer, but there might be something relevant to Fallout 4.  Hope it helps!

 

Edit again: Actually, the procedure itself is the sixth post down.  Just in case they purge the archives, I copied it to a text file.  So if it disappears, let me know and I can still get it.

 

 

If you can, please send it to me via PM and I'll add it to the starting post. It will still need to be tested, but at least it will be there. I actually kinda think it should not be that hard. We can export correct nif, we can export correct hkx, we can rig and skin, so the question is just about using it via scritps and stuff. i think

[MaikCG]

Research:

 

• ☐ Animation annotations export from Max to launch sounds, spawn items, etc. How to export them? Is it possible with HCT?

 

need to add note track to transform

FootLeft

FootRight

event for footstep sound

 

SyncLeft

SynkRight

event for behavior for blending walk-run animation, i think it is moment when pivot foot is under the pelvis