creation of water, rays of light and effects in 3d max.

[pepperman35]

The process I use is the same described in the following video : Door animation tutorial

But when it comes to moving the textures what I do is changing the UV offsets in the material settings, at bottom.

 

 

But for this data to be captured by Set Key you need to enable materials in Set Key Filters:

 

 

Additionally, to change the way the texture transitions from one keyframe to the next you can use the curve editor.

Select the object to which you are animating the material, then Graph Editor->Track View - Curve Editor.

 

There you have a video explaining the whole process, he just uses another type of material, but it is the same for the most part:

Tutorial: Animating A Traffic Light Using Texture Animation in 3d Studio Max

This is some really useful information. I have been trying to figure out how to mimic a Power Point presentation with an animation and this is the closest I've seen to a solution.

[South8028]

 

The process I use is the same described in the following video :Â Door animation tutorial

But when it comes to moving the textures what I do is changing the UV offsets in the material settings, at bottom.

Â

Â

But for this data to be captured by Set Key you need to enable materials in Set Key Filters:

Â

Â

Additionally, to change the way the texture transitions from one keyframe to the next you can use the curve editor.

Select the object to which you are animating the material, then Graph Editor->Track View - Curve Editor.

Â

There you have a video explaining the whole process, he just uses another type of material, but it is the same for the most part:Â

Tutorial: Animating A Traffic Light Using Texture Animation in 3d Studio Max

This is some really useful information. I have been trying to figure out how to mimic a Power Point presentation with an animation and this is the closest I've seen to a solution.

Yeah. Before that, I just copied ready-made panels with dds animation into my panels in nifskop. But now you can animate textures for complex geometry directly in max. This is very encouraging.

[ChuckYufarley]

I've done a bit of liquid and light animation in some of my work and I'd be happy to help you figure some of this stuff out if you'd like. Take a look at some of my animation work here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrj36BTYAkH8CIgP2GxrpUA/videos and let me know if you want to try any of those techniques. There are a number of examples of light and light ray animation as well as some other types of texture animation examples. I'm afraid the only example of liquid animation is the NukaMatic 3000 and the video is rather choppy.

Edited July 13, 2021 by ChuckYufarley

[South8028]

I've done a bit of liquid and light animation in some of my work and I'd be happy to help you figure some of this stuff out if you'd like. Take a look at some of my animation work here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrj36BTYAkH8CIgP2GxrpUA/videos and let me know if you want to try any of those techniques. There are a number of examples of light and light ray animation as well as some other types of texture animation examples. I'm afraid the only example of liquid animation is the NukaMatic 3000 and the video is rather choppy.

Sure. Many thanks. I am very interested. The problem is that I am not a native English speaker. Therefore, training videos are not always clear to me. If you could make small manuals in pdf, or in any other format, I think that not only me, but very many would be grateful to you. For example, now, at least 3 people on this forum are working with 3d max 2013 in fo4, and we do not know how to create rays, fluids and many other things.

[ChuckYufarley]

None of those are training videos, simply examples of what the various objects do. I also encourage you to find examples of objects from FO4 that have animations similar to what you'd like to make and thoroughly examine those nif files in nifskope. The PlayerHouse_Sink01.nif found under Meshes/SetDressing/PlayerHouse is a great example of fluid animation. Most of what I've learned about FO4 animation has come from examining vanilla nifs. Also, I did a lot of these types of animations by editing data in nifskope, not with 3DS Max techniques.

 

I have been asked in the past to create some training aids and I think now would be a good time to do just that.

Edited July 14, 2021 by ChuckYufarley

[South8028]

None of those are training videos, simply examples of what the various objects do. I also encourage you to find examples of objects from FO4 that have animations similar to what you'd like to make and thoroughly examine those nif files in nifskope. TheÃÂ PlayerHouse_Sink01.nif found underÃÂ Meshes/SetDressing/PlayerHouse is a great example of fluid animation. Most of what I've learned about FO4 animation has come from examining vanilla nifs. Also, I did a lot of these types of animations by editing data in nifskope, not with 3DS Max techniques.ÃÂ

ÃÂ

I have been asked in the past to create some training aids and I think now would be a good time to do just that.

Yes, I watched your videos. All your work is very wonderful. Well planned. dance ola i enjoyed. You also have a very interesting disco ball. I didnât know that it could be done with nifskop. I have no problem with animation. I am having problems with methods and tools. bethesda has managed to release its official plugins for 3d max without the slightest description. Therefore, everyone can do whatever they want. But how exactly - no one knows. ) I mean specific things. For example. Modifiers are not written to nif. I made rays with splines, changing their sizes and shapes with modifiers in animation. This is recorded in fbx, but for some reason it is not recorded when exporting to nif. So what kind of material should you use for the rays? I used bsEffectFx. I managed to make only laser beams, but the beams have no light spot. They are just splines toggled in xyz size. I don't know how to make the spotlight beams. It's the same with particles. How to write particles into keys so that they are stored in nif? Edited July 14, 2021 by South8028

[ChuckYufarley]

Most of the disco ball animation was done in 3DS Max. Generally speaking, any time parts of the mesh move, those animations were done in Max. If the mesh doesn't actually move, but the texture moves across one or more of it's surfaces, that's a texture animation and I did those in Nifskope. On most of my stuff it's usually a combination of both.

I've never fully inspected all the Bethesda tools available in 3DS Max, so I don't know what I might have missed or never learned to use. For example, I've never seen anyone describe the technique for keyframing texture animations as has been shared earlier in the discussion here. I only know what I've learned from the various tutorials I've come across and from my own trial and error.

I'm not sure what modifiers you're talking about with regard to the light rays. There are certain animation tools within Max that will not directly translate into a Gamebryo nif animation. For example, you cannot export an animated nif that uses path constraints without first baking all the animation frames. Scaling is another thing I don't believe will export as a nif animation, though I could be wrong. Seems to me I tried doing that in the past and it did not work, but that was a few years ago when I was just learning to do this stuff. There is, however, a way to animate an object's scale in Nifskope. The way you describe creating your light rays tells me you're probably using techniques that nif export does not support. If you can bake all the animation frames first, perhaps then it will export as a nif.

Also, keep in mind that there's a difference between Havok and Gamebryo animation and how those are utilized in FO4. The majority of object animations in FO4 are Gamebryo. There are a few objects here and there that use Havok animation, but those involve rigging skeletons and creating behavior files that no modder has really done yet, as far as I know.

Getting back to the light rays. I will try to make a brief tutorial that explains how I created the light rays in my projects.

[South8028]

Most of the disco ball animation was done in 3DS Max. Generally speaking, any time parts of the mesh move, those animations were done in Max. If the mesh doesn't actually move, but the texture moves across one or more of it's surfaces, that's a texture animation and I did those in Nifskope. On most of my stuff it's usually a combination of both.

ÃÃÂ

I've never fully inspected all the Bethesda tools available in 3DS Max, so I don't know what I might have missed or never learned to use. For example, I've never seen anyone describe the technique for keyframing texture animations as has been shared earlier in the discussion here. I only know what I've learned from the various tutorials I've come across and from my own trial and error.ÃÃÂ

ÃÃÂ

I'm not sure what modifiers you're talking about with regard to the light rays. There are certain animation tools within Max that will not directly translate into a Gamebryo nif animation. For example, you cannot export an animated nif that uses path constraints without first baking all the animation frames. Scaling is another thing I don't believe will export as a nif animation, though I could be wrong. Seems to me I tried doing that in the past and it did not work, but that was a few years ago when I was just learning to do this stuff. There is, however, a way to animate an object's scale in Nifskope. The way you describe creating your light rays tells me you're probably using techniques that nif export does not support. If you can bake all the animation frames first, perhaps then it will export as a nif.ÃÃÂ ÃÃÂ

ÃÃÂ

Also, keep in mind that there's a difference between Havok and Gamebryo animation and how those are utilized in FO4. The majority of object animations in FO4 are Gamebryo. There are a few objects here and there that use Havok animation, but those involve rigging skeletons and creating behavior files that no modder has really done yet, as far as I know.

ÃÃÂ

Getting back to the light rays. I will try to make a brief tutorial that explains how I created the light rays in my projects.

Thank you. I will look forward to the tutorials. About scaling - scaling works. I have several animations using scaling. Not only beams, but also special effects and indicators in equipment. As far as havok is concerned, the opposite is true. There are many times more educational materials and ready-made animations than gamebryo. But all ready-made packages for working with havok are focused on 2015 max and hkt2014. This is because the first packages and first rigs were custom and came before the official plugins. Bottom line, the real problem is that max 2013 with official plugins is the least used tool and has the least tutorials for it, despite being the most powerful fo4 tool of all, and allows you to completely remove nifscop, because nifscop is a very weak tool in comparison with official plugins.

https://youtu.be/0rIV7o8GXRk

Here's a simple example of scaling.Also in the first video of this topic, scaling is used in the pole dance scene.

Edited July 14, 2021 by South8028

[ChuckYufarley]

Yeah, I just tested a scaling animation myself and it worked on my first try. I must have learned a few things since the last time I tried it.

Do you mean you've found Havok materials and animations pertaining to animating objects for FO4 and not just characters or creatures? The only tutorials I've ever found for FO4 focused mainly on character animation. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places.

Judging by the awesome animations in your video, it seems like you can animate just about anything for FO4. I looked at your other videos as well and your light beams in this one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFdhVrzPAXA&t=71s) seem to do everything that the ones on the disco ball do. Are you using point lights or addon nodes because at 1:25 it sure looks like the beams are casting lights. What is it you want to be able to do differently? Do you want information on how to use Nifskope because I'm sure there's nothing I can tell you about what I do in 3Ds Max that you don't already know.?

Really, really great work, BTW.

Edited July 14, 2021 by ChuckYufarley

[pepperman35]

 

I've done a bit of liquid and light animation in some of my work and I'd be happy to help you figure some of this stuff out if you'd like. Take a look at some of my animation work here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrj36BTYAkH8CIgP2GxrpUA/videos and let me know if you want to try any of those techniques. There are a number of examples of light and light ray animation as well as some other types of texture animation examples. I'm afraid the only example of liquid animation is the NukaMatic 3000 and the video is rather choppy.

Sure. Many thanks. I am very interested. The problem is that I am not a native English speaker. Therefore, training videos are not always clear to me. If you could make small manuals in pdf, or in any other format, I think that not only me, but very many would be grateful to you. For example, now, at least 3 people on this forum are working with 3d max 2013 in fo4, and we do not know how to create rays, fluids and many other things.

 

Some impressive work there Chuck. I would second the request for documentation on techniques (tutorials).