The Complete Animations Guide

[Mataputas]

It seems it was a corrupted file... I fixed it, sorry for the silly post. Now I've got another problem:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It's just the animation that I modified which has the bug... Any solution?

[Pat89]

It seems it was a corrupted file... I fixed it, sorry for the silly post.

It's ok... I'm glad you got it fixed now

Now I've got another problem:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It's just the animation that I modified which has the bug... Any solution?

Ah yes that sometimes happens... Something goes wrong at times with importing or exporting. To fix it, you have to load the animation in 3ds (via import! Not a previously saved 3dsMax file or something), then go to the frames that have this problem (mostly just the first frame) and move the central bone (the base or "root") up until the unit is on the correct height. Make sure you have the have the auto-key turned on! If you don't put that on, you will change the unit's height position in all frames, which means it will be flying when shooting arrows

If you did this then export the animation again and it should be ok

[Mataputas]

Thanks! It really worked
+ rep for your goodwill and efficiency

[Yosemite]

does it also work with empire total war?

[Pat89]

I have absolutely no idea, sorry...

[Yosemite]

ok thanks
well, i am worried a bit because i am currently making models for empires that would require new animations, and i can't find much on that topic

also that is some impressive work, i wish CA would make it easier though

[Mataputas]

Is there a way of making animations last longer? I mean, will they last longer if I add more keys or should I change anything different? Cause I want to change crossbowmen animations and I want them to take longer to reload.
Thanks in advance

[Squid]

Add more frames between the key frames and this extends the length of an animation.

[Mataputas]

So, if I make a 20-frame-long animation to be 200 frames long, will it last 10 times more time? I'll give it a try... thanks

[Pat89]

Add more frames between the key frames and this extends the length of an animation.

True

Only purely adding more frames to the end of the animation will "freeze" the unit, letting it do nothing until the animation has ended (unless you add some movement to those new frames of course). But when you do this "freeze" when he's aiming, it won't matter much

Edit: Yes it will take ten times longer.

[Mataputas]

It's great to know that... cause I want crossbowmen to take more time to reload than regular archers... Another thing... Is there any easy way of making the soldier to lean forward? I mean, I want the guy to move like this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'm trying to make something like that, but instead, it seems the guy is breaking his back, as if he had a hump growing out of his body...

And if I try to move the torso from the hips bones, he moves his legs... HE MOVES HIS LEGS!! He must be making a lot of fun of me... Whatever, do you have any suggestion?

[Pat89]

I'm afraid not much can be done about it, as rotating the base bone will rotate everything with it. I suppose you've already tried to simply move the legs back?

[Mataputas]

Perhaps I could rotate the whole model... first legs up-forward, then the whole model rotated (for example) 90 degrees, and now the feet would be on the ground again and the head would be pointing to the front. Then, when rotating the back bone, there shouldn't be so much preasure to "break" the back as i would have to rotate it just a bit... Is it possible to rotate the whole model? I mean, will the tw engine recognise that movement as an animation?

[Pat89]

I think it does yes, but I haven't tested it myself

[Hannibal Smith]

Hi! Thanks for the tutorial, it's very useful. I've got 1 question to ask, related with the first and the last frames. If I want to modify them, is there a way to copy the position of the bones to another animation file? So that they fit correctly.

Actually, I was wondering myself that too... But I don't really know how to do that...

Other than of course create one animation file with all sub-poses each in its own frame and save that somewhere safe. Then base all your animations on that file. But obviously that isn't a very efficient way and it's not compatible with existing animations...

So the short answer to your question is: sorry, I don't know

Think I may have the answer to this you can save an animation or part of it using the file/save animation option

First load the animation that you wish to copy the last frame from. Then select everything in the model, now when you open the file menu you will see save animation...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So in this case the last frame is 11 so Ive selected segment, from 11, to 11. Also you need to select the key per frame box, then save motion.

Now load up the new animation, again select the whole model and file load animation.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Make sure you select the replace option and Frame 1. Now you first frame is the last frame from the previous animation.

[Pat89]

That's very useful, thanks!

[Mataputas]

That's very useful, thanks!

Indeed! Thanks!

[Boom S]

is there any way to fix the position of a bone(s) throughout an animation without manually doing it for each frame ?
specifically, I'm doing a cavalry animation and the leg positions keep jumping around during the full animation if I try to do it manually. it is very difficult to align the legs in each frame perfectly and as a result on running the animation it looks like the leg is vibrating.

[Pat89]

Like I think I mentioned somewhere in the preview, sometimes you might actually get a better result by removing frames rather than to add frames. 3ds Max will automatically calculate the positions between one frame you change and one a few frames later, to make the transition as smooth as possible. Much smoother than you could probably achieve yourself.

[Boom S]

actually I do need all the frames as what it does with the hands is important to the anim, it's only the legs I wanted to fix in place.
thanks anyway !