Rigging in Milkshape?

[0TheLastTemplar0]

Hello everyone. I have a question about rigging in Milkshape. I'm a max user so I am new to Milkshape and I am still learning it. When it comes to rigging in Max, you have certain options that allow you to save your rig data for your skeletons/bones, so you can import that data onto another model. For example you can rig a mesh with a physique modifier and then save the physique data as a .phy file, later on if you are making another model and it has the same skeleton as the previous one, but you don't want to spend time rigging it you can simply apply the physique modifier and import your saved .phy file and this will automatically rig the model for you. So I edited the model of a knight on Milkshape, but I accidentally deleted his skeleton. I have imported the skeleton from the original knight file, but I have to re-rig the mesh. It is very tedious and confusing to do. So, here's my question, is there anyway I can import the rig data from the original file to my new file....? Or is there an easy method for rigging in milkshape for M2TW files, like are there any tutorials? Some help would be appreciated! Thank you.

[The Uruk]

I don't think there is a .phy file sort of thing for milkshape. You'll have to re-rig the model yourself.

I don't think there are any tutorials for rigging but it is quite simple once you know how to do it. Firstly, check an existing M2TW unit (by converting one from MESH to MS3D using GOAT) and check it's bone assignments (using the tick box on the leftmost (the bones) panel in Milkshape). From there you can see which bones are assigned to which model part for a regular human model and this way you can replicate it in your model.

After a few goes you will get much better at it. (Be careful as missing vertices and body parts leads to the Jesus Syndrome and other wierd errors). The bone weighting options in Milkshape allow vertices to be affected by 2 or more bones (50/50 is best) so for vertices in the middle of two bones you can use this to make a more fluid rig. (Again be careful not to use this on elbow joints (and others) too much as it will lead to a curved arm in game.

Experiment a bit and have a few goes testing a couple of times to see which rigging style works for you to create a unit which behaves well on the battle map.