Animation Question

[SonAnima]

So did anyone find a solution to making animations without 3DS Max. I want to make a weapon pack and I know for a fact that some of the weapons on my list wont look right without custom reload animations. I have no problem learning how to make custom animations if I can do it without 3DS Max but from my research it seems like the only way to make custom animations is that you have to have 3DS Max or its impossible.

 

If that's the case then I need to find an animator which is easier said than done. I don't mind returning the favor if someone does make custom animations for me. If they need help making a mod for fallout I can model weapons in blender, have some knowledge of the Creation Kit (thanks to everyone that was kind enough to help me) and Im learning scripting as its important for any video game out there.

 

 

[South8028]

fo4 bones require hct 2014 and accordingly 3ds 2013-2017 (2013-2014 - you also get an almost complete fo4 dev tool, this is the best option). Probably not possible to export animation to hkx without hct.

[SonAnima]

Thanks for letting me know. Maybe one day blender will make some kind of export for it till then I will continue on.

[DiodeLadder]

Hello there,

 

I don't personally use this one, but take a look here :

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/60005

 

Give it a try. (I think some processes are still 3DS specific, though. In any case, it is more work if you go down the Blender route.)

 

If you are new to animation, take a look at Pierrick Picaut's tutorials :

 

https://www.youtube.com/@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN

 

I have his paid ones (rigging + animation) for Blender, and those were very helpful. He's got a very heavy French accent, though, and can't pronounce the letter 'H', for example, lol. Frustrating to follow him, but what I learned from him was directly usable in my project (even though I'm using 3DS Max 2015 for animation).

 

About rigging the gun itself, here's mine in Blender :

 

(Perhaps you know this already, but I'm going to post this in case anyone else needs the info)

 

 

 

This is how I prepare my mesh for exporting to 3DS Max in FBX. To create a nif with physics properties and nodes, you are going to need 3DS Max + BGS exporter. If you are working with another person who has 3DS Max, this is how you prepare your asset.

 

1) On the right, take a look at the "Units" section. The settings that need changing here are :

 

Unit System : Metric

Unit Scale : 0.01

Length : Centimeters

 

If 3DS max is set up with 1 unit = 1 cm, your blender export would be now compatible 1:1 scale wise.

 

2) On the left, have a look at the hierarchy "WEAPON". This is how parent-child hierarchy is setup on my pistol.

 

- I use "empty" objects to create nodes. These will show up in 3DS Max as "Dummy" objects. These dummies are converted into bones/attachment nodes by BGS exporter.

- Meshes are parented to these nodes used for animations.

- The green geometry highlighted is what will be the collision mesh in 3DS Max.

 

3) 3DS Max uses an archaic "Smoothing Group" to control mesh smoothing, and you need to split edges when exporting from Blender. Exporting goes like this :

 

- Insert "Triangulate" modifier.

- Insert "Edge Split" modifier, and if you are using auto smoothing, set it to the same angle, or just use sharp edges if you are using 180.

- Export the FBX with Y Forward, Z Up orientation, Geometry / Smoothing = Face.

 

When exported like this from Blender, the work inside 3DS Max would be minimum.

 

 

 

Here's a list of available bones for weapon animations :

 

 

 

WEAPON

WeaponBolt

WeaponExtra1

WeaponExtra2

WeaponExtra3

WeaponMagazine

WeaponMagazineChild1

WeaponMagazineChild2

WeaponMagazineChild3

WeaponMagazineChild4

WeaponMagazineChild5

WeaponOptics1

WeaponOptics2

WeaponTrigger

 

 

 

Here's the NIF file of the above after processing in 3DS Max :

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, watch TheRizzler's tutorial series here :

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGGw--fFEeZd5HM9shaaANPuXP9zAgmAN

 

This should give you an idea of how a weapon implementation process goes, so take a look even if you don't have 3DS. Knowing the process would probably help you communicate better with 3DS Max users when working together.

 

Good luck!

[SonAnima]

 

Thanks for all of the info. I actually watched TheRizzler's weapon tutorial from beginning to end along with Noah Longsfellow's tutorial and completed my very first weapon mod yesterday I just never uploaded it to nexus. Their tutorials were very helpful in the process of making my weapon mod. The only problem that I have is that I don't know anyone that has 3DS Max and I don't know the best way to reach out to someone that does so I'm stuck with vanilla reload animations. Idk if its rude to ask other weapon modders to use their custom reload animations for some weapon mods that I plan on making but there is a couple of weapon mods already out there that have reload animations that would fit with some weapons that I plan on making.

Edited July 3, 2023 by SonAnima

[SonAnima]

Hello there,

 

I don't personally use this one, but take a look here :

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/60005

 

Give it a try. (I think some processes are still 3DS specific, though. In any case, it is more work if you go down the Blender route.)

 

If you are new to animation, take a look at Pierrick Picaut's tutorials :

 

https://www.youtube.com/@PierrickPicaut_P2DESIGN

 

I have his paid ones (rigging + animation) for Blender, and those were very helpful. He's got a very heavy French accent, though, and can't pronounce the letter 'H', for example, lol. Frustrating to follow him, but what I learned from him was directly usable in my project (even though I'm using 3DS Max 2015 for animation).

 

About rigging the gun itself, here's mine in Blender :

 

(Perhaps you know this already, but I'm going to post this in case anyone else needs the info)

 

 

 

This is how I prepare my mesh for exporting to 3DS Max in FBX. To create a nif with physics properties and nodes, you are going to need 3DS Max + BGS exporter. If you are working with another person who has 3DS Max, this is how you prepare your asset.

 

1) On the right, take a look at the "Units" section. The settings that need changing here are :

 

Unit System : Metric

Unit Scale : 0.01

Length : Centimeters

 

If 3DS max is set up with 1 unit = 1 cm, your blender export would be now compatible 1:1 scale wise.

 

2) On the left, have a look at the hierarchy "WEAPON". This is how parent-child hierarchy is setup on my pistol.

 

- I use "empty" objects to create nodes. These will show up in 3DS Max as "Dummy" objects. These dummies are converted into bones/attachment nodes by BGS exporter.

- Meshes are parented to these nodes used for animations.

- The green geometry highlighted is what will be the collision mesh in 3DS Max.

 

3) 3DS Max uses an archaic "Smoothing Group" to control mesh smoothing, and you need to split edges when exporting from Blender. Exporting goes like this :

 

- Insert "Triangulate" modifier.

- Insert "Edge Split" modifier, and if you are using auto smoothing, set it to the same angle, or just use sharp edges if you are using 180.

- Export the FBX with Y Forward, Z Up orientation, Geometry / Smoothing = Face.

 

When exported like this from Blender, the work inside 3DS Max would be minimum.

 

 

 

Here's a list of available bones for weapon animations :

 

 

 

WEAPON

WeaponBolt

WeaponExtra1

WeaponExtra2

WeaponExtra3

WeaponMagazine

WeaponMagazineChild1

WeaponMagazineChild2

WeaponMagazineChild3

WeaponMagazineChild4

WeaponMagazineChild5

WeaponOptics1

WeaponOptics2

WeaponTrigger

 

 

 

Here's the NIF file of the above after processing in 3DS Max :

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, watch TheRizzler's tutorial series here :

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGGw--fFEeZd5HM9shaaANPuXP9zAgmAN

 

This should give you an idea of how a weapon implementation process goes, so take a look even if you don't have 3DS. Knowing the process would probably help you communicate better with 3DS Max users when working together.

 

Good luck!

I misunderstood you eariler. I just found out today that there is now a fbx to hkx converter now so I might be able to create my own animations in blender and put them into the game without 3ds max. This is big news for me as I dont know anyone that uses 3ds max. Once again thanks for the help as without your earlier post I never would had found this out.

[DiodeLadder]

You are welcome!

 

The only tricky part is the handling of Annotations. Annotations in havok animations are used to tell the game engine to fire a weapon, play a sound, etc.. As explained in the discussion page of the Blender Rig mod page, you need to do this by editing .xml file. This is actually a big set back if you are doing a completely custom animation (as in, you don't have the original timings to reference to), because you can't set annotations to the exact frames using this way.

 

The annotation tracks look like this in .xml :

    <array name="annotationTracks" size="94">
      <struct>
        <string name="trackName"></string>
        <array name="annotations" size="4">
          <struct>
            <real name="time">x3727c5ac <!-- 1e-005.0 --></real>
            <string name="text">SoundPlay.WPNSprintShakePistolA</string>
          </struct>
          <struct>
            <real name="time">x3e999aea <!-- 0.30001 --></real>
            <string name="text">FootSprintRight</string>
          </struct>
          <struct>
            <real name="time">x3e999aea <!-- 0.30001 --></real>
            <string name="text">SoundPlay.WPNSprintShakePistolA</string>
          </struct>
          <struct>
            <real name="time">x3f19999a <!-- 0.6 --></real>
            <string name="text">FootSprintLeft</string>
          </struct>
        </array>

Honestly, I'm not smart enough to be able to do this part in XML myself. I hope the people from that mod page can help you.

 

Another thing you can do is, to work on your animations in FBX and ask a 3DS Max user to convert them for you and help with annotations. Try asking around and see what they say.

 

I use 3DS Max, but I wouldn't be able to help you since I still have 5 more custom weapon animation sets to do for my own project. I hope you'll find someone.

 

Good luck with your project! :smile:

 

[SonAnima]

Thanks and good luck on your project as well. Im gonna try searching up xml and see if its something that I can learn as well. If I can then I will pass on the knowledge to others.