Custom Animations for Sims 3, just how close are we?

[bootz]

Hello All,

First off, my apologies if I'm posting this in the wrong place. Ever since I've installed Sims 3 way back 2009, the questioned if ever having custom animations for Sims 3 was always an enduring topic. We have been fortunate to have creators like Twallan and Cmomoney in developing animation and pose players to play around with. Are customized animations next? With these animation & pose players, just how close are we in finally getting custom animations (other than EA's)? Has it become easier to do? Any opinions guys?

[noxnoxnox]

I'm curious, too, Please answer us, our mighty creators and modders of Sims 3 (plus:it's weird to received a welcome message stating that this is MTS2 forum when I registered). I don't hold my hope too high though because it would be complicated, time-assuming to research, to code, to design..etc..
Besides, EA does business, they got money for everything they put in the game, they got the programmer team focusing whole time on creating Sims. Thinking of you guys here in this community giving away all the beautiful and amazing things for free, I always appreciate that.

[twallan]

http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=420327

:)

[kennyinbmore]

Leave it to you Twallan :beer: :gjob:

[Buzzler]

With these animation & pose players, just how close are we in finally getting custom animations (other than EA's)? Has it become easier to do? Any opinions guys?Playing animations and poses (either custom or EAxian) is actually completely unrelated to creating custom animations. Playing them was basically possible from the very start, even more after the release of TigerM's Smooth Jazz.

Creating custom animations has been basically possible for some time now. AFAIK it's still nowhere near foolproof, so I'd say it's still in alpha stage. The creation itself is and will always be a very challenging artistic process. That's probably why we haven't seen much yet. Also I wouldn't expect much from script modders. Animations better fit the MO of adept meshers.

BTW: I think cmo is actually involved in finding the learnings to make animations, but the other smarties in that area aren't people the regular simmer is familiar with. ;)

[Srikandi]

We actually have custom animations in the game already ;) CMO's ceiling fan is an example: http://www.modthesims.info/d/439754 . Yes, that's an animated object rather than an animated sim, but it is a brand-new animation created and put in the game by a modder.

As for sims, a pose is basically a one-frame animation, and we've seen a real modding renaissance with hundreds of new custom poses since the release of CMO's pose player and OM's tutorial for it. http://www.modthesims.info/d/438706

The tech in that was the basis for CMO's animation player: http://www.modthesims.info/d/441682 . Just like the pose player, the new animation player can play new animations that players create from scratch as well as ones already in the game. It is just, like Buzzler said, a LOT more difficult in terms of mastery of the 3D graphics toolset to produce a custom animation than to produce a pose, which is why we haven't seen so many using that yet (it's been out for less than a week).

As for Rothn's thread that Twallan linked above... like many people, I've been following that discussion closely. You can read the thread and draw your own conclusions, but the fact is that though a version of his tool was released in September, after months of development, to my knowledge not a single custom animation has been produced and released using it. This is in spite of the fact that Rothn has declared that the tool was finished and working... several times. And many more times that it was ABOUT to be finished and working... any day now. A lot of people have TRIED to use it, but evidently nobody's really gotten anywhere. Currently, apparently, it's unfinished... again ;)

What most of us regular simmers (as opposed to machinima makers) are really looking for, of course, is new Sim animations tied to game interactions. New dances, new idles, new objects (like say a pinball machine) with associated animations, new sim-sim interactions... including of course the whole seedy world of adult mods. I am not any kind of expert, and I expect to be corrected if I'm wrong, but my impression is that we are very close to this now. We are basically waiting on the artists :-)

[BionixWV]

Well, reading all this, I can't help but think of the modded Sim animations we had halfway through Sims 2 for um.......adult activities. I don't recall any other animations being created for Sims 2 by the players outside of the forementioned. But now, how close are we to anything like the Sims 2 custom stuff. Cause that could break open a new area to mod.....the Call For Services phone menu.....I dunno if anyone has figured out how to add things to that or not. Think about it......after Generations comes out......call the Stripper Service and the bachelor/bachelorette party strippers come by, no party needed. Expand on the custom careers......call in a hit on another sim.........Call for keg delivery....you name it........but they will all require current animations or new custom ones. I believe the possibility is there, we just have to have patience, develop the right tools, etc.

[Buzzler]

The tech in that was the basis for CMO's animation player: http://www.modthesims.info/d/441682 . Just like the pose player, the new animation player can play new animations that players create from scratch as well as ones already in the game.However, the accomplishment of the pose player (or animation player) is not the tech. It's the idea and the knowledge how to make custom poses/animations. Playing CLIPs isn't worth mentioning.

We are basically waiting on the artists :-)We will probably never see that many animations. Reasonably well-made and useful animations that is. I've been wrong before, though. Let's hope I'm wrong this time as well. ;)

Well, reading all this, I can't help but think of the modded Sim animations we had halfway through Sims 2 for um.......adult activities.We are ALL thinking of these. ;) From what I remember, all these animations were rather stiff wooden clumsy. I vividly remember one interaction that used a/the push-ups animation... yeah, I laughed a bit, deleted the stuff, kept the willies for my Kens. What I'm getting at is this: we see lots of creators struggling to make natural-looking poses right now. As Sri so accurately pointed out, a pose is basically a one-frame animation. However, for an actual animation, not only every frame must be natural-looking, but the transition between the frames as well. Creating good animations is one of the most difficult things in making a computer game and it doesn't get any easier for non-professionals.

[writerchick]

We are ALL thinking of these. ;) From what I remember, all these animations were rather stiff wooden clumsy. I vividly remember one interaction that used a/the push-ups animation... yeah, I laughed a bit, deleted the stuff, kept the willies for my Kens.

You're thinking of some of the earlier stuff, which was pretty bad, mainly because it relied on existing EA animations rather than custom ones. But Chris Hatch and Joker's Wild did some great stuff much later on. Unfortunately, CH refuses to touch TS3 (I know, because I've asked), and JW is semi- (or completely) retired from the Sims, for now, anyway.

One thing I really admired was some of the unexpected sweet touches in these animations -- where the one on top reaches down to touch their partner's face and then give a kiss. So it wasn't just about the adult action... or rather, the adult action was more than just dirty... (BTW, I took loads of pictures of these animations, because there were a LOT of photogenic moments along the way.)

CH and JW had a LOT of animations... I think it ended up being something like seven different sets, and each set included several variations. Do a google search and then get back to me... ;-)

What I'm getting at is this: we see lots of creators struggling to make natural-looking poses right now. As Sri so accurately pointed out, a pose is basically a one-frame animation. However, for an actual animation, not only every frame must be natural-looking, but the transition between the frames as well. Creating good animations is one of the most difficult things in making a computer game and it doesn't get any easier for non-professionals.

At least one creator already is making extremely nice poses. (A set of romantic poses for couples, available here on MTS.) From what I recall of the creator discussions with CH and JW, they said that it's actually more realistic if you basically map out a few poses, then allow the sims (or the animation program itself) to figure out how to get from one point to the next, rather than animating every single frame. This did seem to work out very well on their animations. Now, it wasn't perfect... and certainly there was room for improvement. But one could theoretically learn from what's come before to improve on new work. (The weakest part of many of these animations was the starting and ending points -- i.e. how the sims got themselves into their relative positions; often they'd just "jump" or snap into position and then go. This was where the greatest amount of improvement would need to be made.)

My question is how likely is it that sims 2 animations which were decent could be used as a starting point for TS3 work? Obviously, the original creators would have to be asked permission, but is there a way to translate existing TS2 animations (of any sort) into a format which could be read by TS3?

I mean, I'd love to have better reading animations in TS3, ripped directly from TS2, with possible new additional custom actions, as well. Or an animation of the sim actually getting into and out of a vehicle, rather than just popping in and out... Both of these could be taken directly from loops of EA's animations for TS2, if the file formats are compatible or convertible.

[writerchick]

On a related topic: some simmers will convert Second Life or other sim-type game items into TS2/3 format. Second Life has a huge adult content area. Would it be possible to convert SL adult animations to TS3?

Frankly, I've no idea if they'd even be worth it, since I don't play SL myself, so have no first-hand knowledge of the quality of the animations. But maybe it's a starting point?

[BionixWV]

On a related topic: some simmers will convert Second Life or other sim-type game items into TS2/3 format. Second Life has a huge adult content area. Would it be possible to convert SL adult animations to TS3?

Frankly, I've no idea if they'd even be worth it, since I don't play SL myself, so have no first-hand knowledge of the quality of the animations. But maybe it's a starting point?

Thats a good question. I know awhile back DMA-Sims tried looking into doing the same for Sims 3 that they had done for Sims 2, but the animations, lack of proper NPC base was the killing blow to the project, among other things.
Can't remember who else had cutom NPC's that were adult themed.

Aside from that, what about animations some people have been begging for? Like the Pose Player pack "Accidents Happen"......have your sim get rid of another pesky sim by pushing them down the stairs. You know actually pushing another, and the other rolls down the stairs and lays in a crumpled mess.Along the same lines, didn't EA tease us prior to Sims 3 launch by saying we should make sure our sims get across the streets before they get hit by the cars? Where did that go? Instead, sims phase through.......make it so teen/young adult and older can get either clipped and "blackened/foul mood" or killed outright if encountering a vehicle. Could we do something like that in the future? Or see if EA goofed and left the original code in the game for that buried somewhere? Cause they must have made it, in order to tease us, but then.........it got yanked out or buried in the game and over-ridden.

[Linnypig]

Made my first custom animation last night, works like a dream *w*

[ssproductions]

I've also made a few successful test custom animations, although they are for machinima rather than object based or game interactions. Thanks to various mods and tools this will greatly enhance machinima and storytelling. This video I made showcases the Animation Player and uses 2 EA animations and 2 custom animations looped in a chain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9EGpU7MSsc

It's still very much in it's infancy, but eventually there will hopefully be a variety of different custom animations available.

[Srikandi]

Wow... very nice, ssproductions :D And, since the animation player is, after all, an object, I suppose that passes the test of an object-based animation. Certainly a proof-of-concept!

[Celebriton]

Is it possible to import The Sims 2 animation and other games into The Sims 3?

There are a lot of cool animation and we don't need to build it from scratch.

[HystericalParoxysm]

Nope, it's not. One might be able to use animations from TS2 as a guide to make similar ones for TS3, but the skeleton is different.

[writerchick]

Nope, it's not. One might be able to use animations from TS2 as a guide to make similar ones for TS3, but the skeleton is different.

Thanks, HP. Was wondering the same thing myself. Using them as a guide would mean there'd still be a lot of work to do, but at least you'd have a good starting point.

I guess that would also be true for other games, like Second Life? They couldn't be directly converted, but could possibly be used as a guide?

[BionixWV]

Well, doesn't a certain "creator" by the name of Peggy use SL files to create her sims 3 stuff sometimes? Like the hair styles?

[Celebriton]

Nope, it's not. One might be able to use animations from TS2 as a guide to make similar ones for TS3, but the skeleton is different.

How about converting it?

Using tool or something, is it possible? Translating TS2 bone assignment to TS3 one.

It will be extremely awesome! TS2 has tons of cool animation and interaction, even better than TS3. I just hope it possible. :D

[HystericalParoxysm]

writerchick - Could be used as a guide, yes. But that's true of anything, really - most of the good pose creators are likely using real life pictures of poses. If you're going to animate something, you'd probably use a video or motion capture of someone doing that pose to get a good result.

BionixWV - She was suspected of using Poser files for a while but that's probably not true. Her stuff is likely from-scratch copies. It'd take longer to convert from something like Poser or SL than to remake from scratch. Me and Nouk both tried at one point and it was just not doable, even if you know a lot about 3D and hair.

Celebritron - Maaaaybe but honestly I think you'd get a better result just looking at the animation from whatever in slow motion and trying to recreate it. If you have the TS2 animations and can look at the keyframes you could use it as a great guide to the overall pose but it'd still require a lot of work to get right.

[Celebriton]

.................................

Celebritron - Maaaaybe but honestly I think you'd get a better result just looking at the animation from whatever in slow motion and trying to recreate it. If you have the TS2 animations and can look at the keyframes you could use it as a great guide to the overall pose but it'd still require a lot of work to get right.

Sorry for being stubborn, I'm excited but completely blind on the subjects.

How about a tool to automate the process by translating the TS2 bone assignment and animation to TS3?

Is it possible?

By setting up the pose one by one in Milkshape, the animation will not look smooth and there's no face expression too.

[ssproductions]

Wow... very nice, ssproductions :D And, since the animation player is, after all, an object, I suppose that passes the test of an object-based animation. Certainly a proof-of-concept!

Thanks Srikandi :) It's certainly fun making them and really opens up a whole new realm.

[orangemittens]

As far as custom animations for S3 go...we're there. It's completely possible to create your own custom animation and pop it in game to view with the Animation Player...if it's a short one you can even view it with the Pose Player. It's really fun to see your own stuff in the game and I encourage people to give it a try :) Prior to the players you could make your own animation and even see it in the (base) game using the Chaos Mage painting. But we needed something that handled the Look-At overlay the game has and we first had to figure a way around the IK issue to get the animations to look right when they played. All that took a bit of time ;)

As far as useable animations go, animations which are precise and well made, that's going to take a bit more time probably. A couple of issues are involved as I see it. First off most people making things for S3 use Milkshape and this editor is not the best suited for S3 sequence animation. To anyone considering getting into S3 animation I highly recommend bypassing Milkshape and learning to animate with Blender, Maya, or some other editor that can import/export .smd and handle IK. If you're just starting out learn to make one frame animations (aka poses) first and then move on to sequence animation. Making a pose is about the simplest thing you can make for S3 tbh. Anyone who has struggled with meshing and worries that making a pose must be even harder...set your mind at ease...it *isn't* :p Anyway, Blender is free for everyone and Maya has a special deal allowing students to use it for free under a special license. So not only do you get a more powerful editor you can get the editor for free. :)

Second big issue, as far as most people who have any animation experience, is that attaching your animation to an object takes coding. Currently there is no tool to simplify that process and most animators don't seem to have the coding experience to do it without such a tool. So until the coders learn to animate, the animators learn to code, or someone makes some kind of tool for the purpose we probably aren't going to be seeing many custom objects like love beds etc.

There are other more technical issues but those will likely get solved in time. After sort of languishing for quite a while animation has come a long way in a pretty short period of time. Hopefully the trend will continue :)

[Buzzler]

So until the coders learn to animate, the animators learn to code, or someone makes some kind of tool for the purpose we probably aren't going to be seeing many custom objects like love beds etc.No tool can possibly create a script that does anything beyond simply showing the animation. If you want a script that has any relevance gameplay-wise, you'll need an actual coder. What may be possible is a statemachine editor that is more noob-friendly than Smooth Jazz.

[orangemittens]

No tool can possibly create a script that does anything beyond simply showing the animation. If you want a script that has any relevance gameplay-wise, you'll need an actual coder. What may be possible is a statemachine editor that is more noob-friendly than Smooth Jazz.Well now, I didn't suggest a script-writing tool capable of creating perfect, unique scripts for individual items :p That would be a little far-fetched. Definitely, a more user-friendly (I'm talking for inexperienced people) JAZZ editor would be very nice and probably move things forward. On the other hand, there have some nice collaborations between people with different skill sets both in S2 and S3. Nothing wrong in that either :)

[CleoSombra]

So, like, could someone be so kind as to explain to us non-coders/artists/etc what is needed to get from where you modders are now to having items with custom animations in them down the road? I can has functioning carnival pl0x?

Like, how did it work with TS2?

[orangemittens]

So, like, could someone be so kind as to explain to us non-coders/artists/etc what is needed to get from where you modders are now to having items with custom animations in them down the road? I can has functioning carnival pl0x?

Like, how did it work with TS2?We're already at the point where we can have items with custom animations in the game and, in fact, such objects already exist as Srikandi said above :) In order for us to have more items of this type we need people with the interest to create them, the skill to make the animations for them, and the coding knowledge to tie the animation to something which will cause it to play in-game. Or a couple people each bringing their skills together to make collaborative items. That's a fairly tall order so it's probably gonna take a while for the community to start filling it. :p

[CleoSombra]

We're already at the point where we can have items with custom animations in the game and, in fact, such objects already exist as Srikandi said above :) In order for us to have more items of this type we need people with the interest to create them, the skill to make the animations for them, and the coding knowledge to tie the animation to something which will cause it to play in-game. Or a couple people each bringing their skills together to make collaborative items. That's a fairly tall order so it's probably gonna take a while for the community to start filling it. :p

I see.

I was wondering if it had to do with items in general being harder to make or something. I noticed that there exists proportionately fewer items and such for TS3. That is, while Sims 2 is 5 years older than TS3, it has proportionately more CC. For example, TS2 has 14,761 buy-mode items while TS3 has 535 (x25 more items). TS3's Create-a-Sim has 1,100 items, while TS2's Body Shop has more than 21,000. Although I don't do a lot of CC searching, I noticed that this pattern appears to be true across other sites, not just MTS.

I was figuring that perhaps it's harder to create items in TS3. I know that sims' skeletons are different between the games. o3o

/gawdifeellikesuchan00b

[Srikandi]

Some things are harder to mod in TS3. Other things are easier.

When it comes to clothes and hair, though, remember that TS2 HAD a Bodyshop -- that is, a free EA-made noob-friendly tool. TS3 doesn't... to do similar things in TS3, you're relying on community-made tools.

And... more polys, more sliders/morphs, more texture layers (bump, specular etc), the requirement to support CaST... all the technology which makes TS3 look (potentially anyway) better than TS3 means more work for modders.

And... of the years TS2 has been out relative to TS3, more of those years were years when the modding toolkit was essentially complete, a state that TS3 has not yet reached.

But there may be other issues leading to earlier modder burnout with TS3... like an apparently increased likelihood of patches breaking mods, requiring the modder to rebuild everything every few months, or become obsolete. Some very talented folks have found that too discouraging to contemplate.

[CleoSombra]

Some things are harder to mod in TS3. Other things are easier.

When it comes to clothes and hair, though, remember that TS2 HAD a Bodyshop -- that is, a free EA-made noob-friendly tool. TS3 doesn't... to do similar things in TS3, you're relying on community-made tools.

And... more polys, more sliders/morphs, more texture layers (bump, specular etc), the requirement to support CaST... all the technology which makes TS3 look (potentially anyway) better than TS3 means more work for modders.

And... of the years TS2 has been out relative to TS3, more of those years were years when the modding toolkit was essentially complete, a state that TS3 has not yet reached.

But there may be other issues leading to earlier modder burnout with TS3... like an apparently increased likelihood of patches breaking mods, requiring the modder to rebuild everything every few months, or become obsolete. Some very talented folks have found that too discouraging to contemplate.

This was such an informative post. Thank you.

[bnwbnw3]

Hey now that's is September 2011 I was wondering if anyone knew of sites or mods that have "adult" animations for the Sims 3?

[Srikandi]

Still nothing along those lines, afaik :/ CMO has released some modest animated objects, and there are a couple of tuts out, but it is apparently hard enough that the artists who could actually produce the results are deterred by the difficulty.

[fieriee]

Let's say that the people with the right knowledge and god-like patience start creating and distributing custom animations. Will every patch that EA releases potentially "break" these animations, or the animation player used in game?

[stinalee201120]

http://www.pose-central.com/portfolio-category/adults-only-a/

It's been a few months since your questions...I came upon this site ****(don't click this site if you are not above 18)*****has anyone used this content before?? Is it safe?? Does it work with all expansion packs. It is rough around the edges yes, but, it's headed in a good direction.

[cutebaby]

Yes, they are safe. It works with the base game.

[tizerist]

How do you download those anims? It takes me to a paypal page like it wants me to buy them or something.
And do you click on the sims themselves, or a pose player?

[stinalee201120]

Well im guessing that the site is a paysite like pandora sims. Oh well...its a start. I didnt get a chance to see the prices though. I hope they werent outrageous.

[miu5423]

Yes it is. The prices are rather high I'm afraid...A single couple animation I looked at costs 39.99 and a well...self sufficient one, 4.99 - and that was the cheapest I have found so far.

[rian90]

TS3 doesn't need gobs of recolors either since you can color your items in the game. I know I have much less CC in my game because of this.

[stinalee201120]

Yes it is. The prices are rather high I'm afraid...A single couple animation I looked at costs 39.99 and a well...self sufficient one, 4.99 - and that was the cheapest I have found so far.

WOW...so 1 animation costs the same amount as an expansion pack??? insane!!!!

[matrix54]

Being technical, you buy quite a bit more animations, and some music, sound art, etc. For the same price, so yeah....

[stinalee201120]

Well i can understand the price being that high for the whole collection but not just 1...

[writerchick]

Given what little I saw, I found them pretty boring. It was just the same action, repeated on a loop for a minute and a half or so. No variation... (And what was up with the self-appreciation one with her holding one arm over her head the whole time? Who does that?)

I miss Chris Hatch and Joker's Wild stuff from TS2...

[cutebaby]

writerchick, what do you expect other than looping then?

[writerchick]

writerchick, what do you expect other than looping then?

For $19.99 to $39.99 for a single download, I'd expect something that looked like a cartoon porno... instead of about 5 seconds worth of crummy and crudely done animation, endlessly repeated. A beginning, middle, and ending would be nice, for instance. A transition from one position to another. Something...

As it is, the animators don't have a good grasp on how the various body joints work, so you end up with weirdly contorted positions which not only don't look natural; they don't even look comfortable or possible, in some cases. In short, they look more painful or weird than sexy.

I understand that animation from the TS3 community is in its infancy and maybe we shouldn't be too picky, but... this just leaves so much to be desired. Particularly since the creators at Pose Central are charging the amount of an EP for a single animation loop which is badly done.

In the FREE TS2 animations I mentioned above, Hatch and Joker's Wild had all manner of moments -- both tender and hot -- in a single animation set; and it was all custom animation, not game animations used in a new setting. It might have been missionary, for instance, but there was all sorts of stuff going on -- caressing, kissing, nuzzling... you get the idea.

With these loops from Pose Central, there's one movement -- in the Hot Temptress one it's simple penetration. Over and over again. Okay, intercourse is repetitive, but there's nothing there BUT the one action. There's nothing interesting. It certainly didn't seem very hot or tempting...

Frankly, I found myself so bored I'd stop the animation preview before it ended. (And, for the record, I likes me some pR0n...)

For sheer emotional content, Spladoum' stationary pose sets for couples (including his adult sets) are far more interesting than the Pose Central loops. Spladoum's work is amazingly detailed and stunning. It's a shame he won't move onto animation, because he has the talent to do stellar work.

Spladoum's stuff might be worth $39.99, were he to go into animation. The Pose Central stuff, not even $3.99 each...

That's my opinion -- you're entitled to yours as much as I am to mine.

[cutebaby]

How do you think it is crudely done? What are the problems with the joints/positions?

"It certainly didn't seem very hot or tempting..."
So what makes you think the opposite way?

BTW, there are not just Hot Temptress animations, there are heaps more that makes a wide variety of choices, over 30 sets of them has been made. Have you seen most of these? If saying a variety of animations, you mean like 1000+ or what cause I see there are kissing, touching...all kind of stuff as you said as though you never had seen it on the site.

I think Pose Central staff members are quite experienced in pose making and animation, it requires so much effort, time, ideas if you try step into someone's shoes and try experience what they had gone through. Have you ever thought of that?
You just think their stuff is worthless, that is just rude IMO while you aren't even one of the animator. I strongly disagree your opinion regarding that very statement.

Looping an animation is the only way to make it look constant and similar to what the real xxx does. Like, you move place to place? Why not use two different ones to make it much easier? You don't see real xxx does the same repetitive pattern every so often? I really don't understand how xxx can't be repetitive.

"caressing, kissing, nuzzling, both hot and tender."
I think there are what you are looking for over the site carefully. All of these had been made of what you just described.

[HystericalParoxysm]

Even just looking at the pictures, I can tell ya that if those were uploaded to SXS (or non-sexual ones in similar quality were uploaded here to MTS), they would not be accepted. There's twisty shoulders (like the very first picture on that page), hands in weird positions, fingers not posed well, etc... They look stiff and unnatural, with little attention to detail to make them seem realistic. And paying for content - any content - is just silly, but that much? LOL4EVR. I wouldn't download them if they were free.

[cutebaby]

Oh well, any specific details?

BTW, twisty shoulders, I see nothing wrong in there. Her shoulder puts it up against the wall with no clippings and unnatural positions. Unless, it is bend straight upwards towards the ceiling.

[HystericalParoxysm]

The shoulders on Live For Ballet are completely twisted in the same way as My Moment. The fingers on Adore You are bent back on the man, and stiff on the woman; her elbow is also twisted. The man's hand and woman's arm in Your Scent are both in really unnatural positions. And that's just what I can see from a quick glance at the screenshots in the 2 minutes I have before having to rush out the door. :P

[cutebaby]

Though the fingers aren't curled and set all straight like a flat sheet, and it was curled which was good, so really your opinion was a little exagerated. It is not that bad. There are improvements as I see from the old to the new, concentrating on the bad things aren't the complete judgement...as for Live For Ballet, where in that scene?

[HystericalParoxysm]

I'm just looking at the pictures - the shoulders on the arms-above-the-head poses look like a piece of clay that's been twisted, with a pinchy spot rather than looking smooth. (Edit - I just watched the video for the newest one and it's bad - stiff, twisted shoulder, and just the same exact motion. I think I did better making stop-motion porn with my barbies when I was 14). In general, they just look like stiff dolls that have been thrown together in heaps - go look at the stuff spladoum makes and tell me that these couldn't be done better. :P

Natural, realistic looking animations are definitely possible (animations are just a series of poses moving from one to another, after all); the fact that they're charging for poses with some pretty easily fixed issues is just embarrassing. If they were free, well, I probably wouldn't nitpick (I might think it, and I might gently suggest it to the creator as things to fix), but charging for this crap is just silly.

It is good to see that there are custom animations being made (and it's probably best to stay on that topic from now on, as this thread is about custom animations in general, not just these) but in all content, I like to see creators strive for quality; if it's worth doing, it's worth doing well.

[cutebaby]

Whatever that is, you are just keep saying something really "little", see the good side of somebody. LOL crap? Have you ever done an animation before then. If you're just so good, I would really want to have a look at a similar animation made by you.

"the shoulders on the arms-above-the-head poses look like a piece of clay that's been twisted, with a pinchy spot rather than looking smooth."
It is just a normal arm bent rest upon the back of the wall, again, exagerated.

"stiff, twisted shoulder, and just the same exact motion."
Not stiff, twisted shoulder is not a problem, exact motion - no, there are movements in between and in reality looks the same/very similar.

"I think I did better making stop-motion porn with my barbies when I was 14"
Really want to see it, how does it looks like? I just don't think this is somehow a valid excuse or whatsoever.

[HystericalParoxysm]

Calling them crap and bad was generous now that I've watched some of the previews. These are TERRIBLE. I don't have to have made TS3 animations to see that these are stiff, unnatural, and just awful, and the creator has the audacity to charge for them - and not just a little, but a LOT of money.

I know animation is a big challenge - I do things in 3D that are VERY difficult to do well (not animations for TS3, but other things). But if it's worth doing, it's worth doing well, and releasing these in their clearly rough and unfinished state and expecting people to pay for them is just ridiculous.

BACK ON TOPIC... I very much look forward to seeing well-done TS3 animations, and really would love some done as actual interactions with moodlets and whatnot. I'd love to see some cute ones for kids like somersaults, cartwheels, playing that hand-slapping game (we always called it Mary Mack as kids), peekaboo... Seems like most of the custom animations for TS2 (and apparently TS3) focus on the sex stuff, and that's a pity as there's so many fun things that could be done for the littler sims and would be really useful for video-makers.

[cutebaby]

I just feel all your sayings are complete excuses by the words being used is just Very RIDICULOUS...and extremely childish, of ignorance, of pride and many more you should have known too as I should have added. That's just sad saying how you are good at it and looking down at others. My opinion stays solid, your opinion is yours but that doesn't mean the whole world has to be on the same direction.

[olomaya]

Seems like most of the custom animations for TS2 (and apparently TS3) focus on the sex stuff, and that's a pity as there's so many fun things that could be done for the littler sims and would be really useful for video-makers.

I feel the same since the game is so bereft of cute toddler and kid things to do. Making more realistic sexytimes is probably 4th or 5th on my animation dream list. Actually, the #1 animated object I'd most like to see is a double bed that you can put up against the wall and have a Sim get into from the bottom or other side. That would change my Sims' world.

[writerchick]

Oh well, any specific details?

BTW, twisty shoulders, I see nothing wrong in there. Her shoulder puts it up against the wall with no clippings and unnatural positions. Unless, it is bend straight upwards towards the ceiling.

You wanted some specific examples of bad positioning; here's one:

Can't recall the set's name (and don't care to revisit the site to go find it) but it involved the man behind the woman. He had his left arm bent at a weird angle (both shoulder and elbow) with his left hand resting above the woman's right hip. This while his right arm hung down limply from the shoulder at an awkward angle slightly behind the center line of where a normal arm would hang. Normally, with two people in those relative positions, the man would have his right hand on her right hip or right shoulder, or reaching around to caress her chest; the left hand would be on her left hip or shoulder. It wouldn't be crossed in front of him to rest on her right hip, with right arm dangling.

He never used his right hand or arm for anything during the loop. (He could've reached up and playfully slapped her rump, but no... his right hand/arm just hung there like a dead man from a noose.)

I don't have to be a frikkin animator to know the basic positioning in that animation is very, very bad and unrealistic.

Like HP said, those animations wouldn't even be accepted as good enough to be posted on FREE sites like MTS' adult sister site. Or any other free adult site. They're THAT BAD.

Frankly, they look like sex animations done by people who've never had sex before. They sure as heck aren't worth the money the site wants to charge for them.

Were they free, I'd give them a pass, possibly download them to watch in game a time or two, and then promptly delete them once something far better came along. But they aren't free; so I feel no need to give them a pass.

In another post, you whined about how much time the people at Pose Central have spent and how many animations they've made. Guess what? Quantity doesn't equal quality. Meaning: it isn't impressive to do a whole bunch of animations if none of them are good. What would be far MORE impressive would be to focus on doing one animation so well that people would willingly send you five or ten dollars for it. But no... these folks do a whole bunch of badly done stuff and want as much as the cost of an entire EP for it.

Go look at Spladoum's adult pose sets on MTS's adult sister site and then come back here and argue how great the Pose Central stuff looks. You can't do it. Because Spladoum takes the time to position even fingertips and toes. There's movement in his poses, even though they're static poses. The stuff on Pose Central is static, even though it's moving...

[writerchick]

I feel the same since the game is so bereft of cute toddler and kid things to do. Making more realistic sexytimes is probably 4th or 5th on my animation dream list. Actually, the #1 animated object I'd most like to see is a double bed that you can put up against the wall and have a Sim get into from the bottom or other side. That would change my Sims' world.

While I agree that there's so much animation that would be welcomed by the community -- I'd love to see everything you and HP mentioned here, along with many others. Slow dancing, anyone? Two sims non-sexually snuggling in bed while sleeping (which was an animation in Apartment Life).

But the sad fact is, porn tends to drive technological innovation. That's just how it is; people like to watch... :rofl:

So if the porn people are at the forefront of third-party animation development for TS3, then let's encourage them to do better, rather than patting themselves on the back for doing badly.

[kittenette069]

So I'm thinking cutebaby may be associated with some of the people who created the happytime animations on that paysite? If you're willing to take some constructive feedback, I'd say the faces is what made them a deal breaker for me. Some of them were still as stone, locked , it seemed, in the derp face. And as for custom animations, if they survive the patches and are good, I'd be willing to pay. It's one of the reasons I buy EPs anyway.

[danceguy]

While I agree that there's so much animation that would be welcomed by the community -- I'd love to see everything you and HP mentioned here, along with many others. Slow dancing, anyone?

Yes!

IF, and its a big if, I ever do any Sims animations, that is what I will do. I'm brand new to playing Sims, much less modding (it was a Christmas present for my daughter; I just got hooked a couple of weeks ago), but my main family has converted their basement into a dance studio, with hardwood floors, full-wall mirrors and a high-end music system. Too bad the only dancing they can do is basic rock-and-roll dancing -- what "real" dancers derogatorily call "twitch-and-jerk".

About a year or so ago, long before I got involved with Sims, I tried, just for fun, to animate an Argentine Tango sequence in Blender, but I got frustrated fighting the IK in Blender, which insisted on bending the dancer's knee in a way that did not make sense and refusing to ever allow it to straighten again. :( (And that was just the preparation for the first step!) I spent cash money for a dance choreography program that can export motion capture files, which Blender should be able import, but playing with it has not been high enough on my list of things to do to get good at it. Maybe this will provide the incentive to move it up the list. (But to do that, I've got to stop staying up 'til 2AM playing Sims. :))

[writerchick]

IF, and its a big if, I ever do any Sims animations, that is what I will do. I'm brand new to playing Sims, much less modding (it was a Christmas present for my daughter; I just got hooked a couple of weeks ago)...

About a year or so ago, long before I got involved with Sims, I tried, just for fun, to animate an Argentine Tango sequence in Blender, but I got frustrated fighting the IK in Blender, which insisted on bending the dancer's knee in a way that did not make sense and refusing to ever allow it to straighten again. :( (And that was just the preparation for the first step!) I spent cash money for a dance choreography program that can export motion capture files, which Blender should be able import, but playing with it has not been high enough on my list of things to do to get good at it. Maybe this will provide the incentive to move it up the list. (But to do that, I've got to stop staying up 'til 2AM playing Sims. :))

Welcome to the world of Sims! I'm sure there are plenty of players (me included!) who'd love to see some great new dance animations! Here's wishing you good luck in your endeavors to bring that to fruition.

[Nukael]

Custom animations and implementing them into new gameplay has been a possibility for a long time. The biggest issue is that getting working animations in the game that actually respond to interactions requires quite a lot of different skills: animation, rigging, coding, ... I can only do the animation part (and have made custom animations for a mod that's in development).

Also it takes a TON of work, and I think that's the biggest challenge; time to get things done. But I have successfully set up a rig in Motion Builder that allows for the creation of animations in an easier manner (much easier than using Milkshape). Note I said easier, not better. Since the quality of the animation actually depends on your skill as an animator, not really the tools you use.

[Ghost sdoj]

I just feel all your sayings are complete excuses by the words being used is just Very RIDICULOUS...and extremely childish, of ignorance, of pride and many more you should have known too as I should have added. That's just sad saying how you are good at it and looking down at others. My opinion stays solid, your opinion is yours but that doesn't mean the whole world has to be on the same direction.

You wish to be granted the right to disagree. Grant others that same right. If you like them enough to spend that much money on one animation, enjoy them! But please don't be offended when other people think that it could have been done much better, and it's silly to pay that much (Or at all, but that's another debate) for pixels, especially if those pixels are what they believe to be unfinished work.

And if you really are one of the ones who actually made some of those poses, I know that the criticism hurts. But you can either blow it off as stuff from ignorant people, or you can try figuring out how to improve.
________________________________________________

Back on topic: I really miss slow dancing. I'm worried that they won't put it back in Sims 4 either. Please stop playing and start animating!!!
:Pint: :Pint: :Pint: :Pint: :Pint:
(Or did I just give you too much beer and put you to sleep? )

[Inge Jones]

One of the biggest obstacles now, I think, is that no *one* modder knows all the different areas of modding that need to work together to bring us custom animations as part of gameplay. It requires knowledge of animation tools, RIG editing, JAZZ editing, C# (for script editing), and probably object meshing and texturing as the desired end product is probably to have a completely new object with it's own particular interaction. Ideally a team would work on something together, but I have not really seen teams of more than two or at the most three people cooperate together in TS3, and certainly not a team of people with completely different skillsets and modding interest areas.

[High Plains Gamer]

But there may be other issues leading to earlier modder burnout with TS3... like an apparently increased likelihood of patches breaking mods, requiring the modder to rebuild everything every few months, or become obsolete. Some very talented folks have found that too discouraging to contemplate.

Another factor in modder burnout is how cc is received in the community itself. How often are items of cc like sims and lots advertised as "cc free"? How often do we hear that people will not download worlds which have any cc in them whatsoever?

This has to be a major bummer for cc creators. To spend hours making a custom mesh, a custom texture, or even a custom animation, only to see that people not only will not use it, but will slam it because it is cc...

Most gaming communities treasure the people who make cc. As a result, in some gaming communities the cc has become very good. For example, in the flight sim community, there are people making very complicated models with hundreds of parts and hundreds of animations.

If simmers run around claiming that cc will bork the game, should we be surprised when the skilled modders stop making that cc?

[treeag]

http://www.pose-central.com/portfolio-category/adults-only-a/

It's been a few months since your questions...I came upon this site ****(don't click this site if you are not above 18)*****has anyone used this content before?? Is it safe?? Does it work with all expansion packs. It is rough around the edges yes, but, it's headed in a good direction.

Where are the previews? All I see is picture previews and then it asks for a password :blink:

[HystericalParoxysm]

This has to be a major bummer for cc creators. To spend hours making a custom mesh, a custom texture, or even a custom animation, only to see that people not only will not use it, but will slam it because it is cc...

I can speak only for myself but... it doesn't bother me at all. I make CC-free sims lately. I also make CC for sims. My sims I've uploaded most recently don't even include my own CC like skins, eyes, hair, and makeup. I look at them more as a nice base that people can play without CC, or add their own choice of CC that they already have... But by offering them CC-free, it means people don't need to download a boatload of stuff just to get them looking nice in their game. And I think it shows off the actual sim-maker's work better anyway - I've downloaded a lot of great looking custom sims that, once you strip off the tons of makeup and whatnot, they are actually really boring underneath.

Same with lots (though I don't upload those usually) - it's easy to put in a fancy CC bedroom set to replace base game or EP items, but disappointing to a downloader to have to go through a 30-piece "shopping list" just to get the lot to look as it does in the pictures.

Folks will still use and love CC - it's just nice to not HAVE to use the particular pieces a sim or lot creator chose.

[Miko09]

I agree with HP and that is one of the reason I seek cc free houses, sims, etc. I don't understand why a MODDER would be upset if CC-free LOTS and SIMS are offered anyway. Those are really the only things offered CC-free other than worlds. The CC-free motion shouldn't effect them at all, in my opinion. I only download CC-free lots and sims as a base. I would still like to use CC to pretty them up, but I would like to do it my way. Plus most games aren't sandbox creation simulators. A flight simulator where everyone has the same tech and set of planes, missions, etc is different from a game where one decision can take your game a different path. That whats so fun about the Sims. You could have the same character doing extremely different things across multiple games played by multiple players across multiple countries. I think that uniqueness of the game takes people down different CC paths. Some people feel their sims need more clothing while other may feel something is not right within the game and want to establish a mod.

[danceguy]

One of the biggest obstacles now, I think, is that no *one* modder knows all the different areas of modding that need to work together to bring us custom animations as part of gameplay. It requires knowledge of animation tools, RIG editing, JAZZ editing, C# (for script editing), and probably object meshing and texturing...

Inge, I agree in general. It is a steep learning curve for one person to do all that, and if you have a real life, you often find your non-essential activities are highly intermittent, and that by the time you get back to them you have slid partway back down the curve.

Some of that I already know, at least somewhat. Some I am willing to learn, although it may take me a long time. For me, the biggest stumbling block is C#. C, C++, I'm all over it, but I really despise Micro$oft for taking something highly standardized (C++) and twisting it just enough to make it proprietary (C#) so they can charge money for it, typically without adding any real value. At a previous job, we had a site license for Visual Studio; I think I may even have installed it, but never used it. If that were still true, I'd consider giving it a go. But it's not, and I don't have the money to even think of buying Visual Studio. So I guess I won't be doing any script editing for TS3. :(

[High Plains Gamer]

I don't understand why a MODDER would be upset if CC-free LOTS and SIMS are offered anyway.

Except that it goes beyond that. There are a lot of comments about how cc is bad and will ruin people's games. On the Sims 3 forum, I have seen creators hounded for including cc in their worlds. I mean some really viscous stuff. (Fortunately, that does not happen here.)

If the simmers don't support and encourage the people who make cc, you really should not be too surprised to see it dry up. You also should not be too surprised to see people refusing to engage in the experimentation needed to move the game to new levels.

With respect to the flight simulator genre, I think you missed the point. The original game released by Microsoft is fairly sucky. It's really the people who make cc who have taken it far beyond what would have seemed possible.

[Inge Jones]

Danceguy, most of us scripters/coders use Visual Studio C# Express which is totally free. Then ILspy or Reflector to get the code from the EA scripts.

[danceguy]

Thanks, Inge. Although I still regard C# with the same enthusiasm as the spoiled food in the back of my refrigerator, at least if I do decide to get into it, money won't prevent me. I did not know about ILspy and Reflector, so that is helpful, too.

[PhenethyaSim]

Except that it goes beyond that. There are a lot of comments about how cc is bad and will ruin people's games. On the Sims 3 forum, I have seen creators hounded for including cc in their worlds. I mean some really viscous stuff. (Fortunately, that does not happen here.)

If the simmers don't support and encourage the people who make cc, you really should not be too surprised to see it dry up. You also should not be too surprised to see people refusing to engage in the experimentation needed to move the game to new levels.

With respect to the flight simulator genre, I think you missed the point. The original game released by Microsoft is fairly sucky. It's really the people who make cc who have taken it far beyond what would have seemed possible.

A lot of people who get upset about CC are people who don't know how to install it or who got bad cc once and don't trust it. Also there are those who EA has poisoned against Cc. Which is part of the reason lot/world builders get torn apart for using it.

BUT the main reason is the downloader may not want the CC packed with the world I once got a whole bunch of TSR CC I wasn't mad it was just tedious to weed out what I didn't want. It removes the choice involved. You or I may love that CC plant but another player may not.

Back On animation I'm really think the list of things we need is long although we still have a few EPs before we are completely on our own with nothing new coming from EA. But I hope the sexual stuff with at least take the occasional back seat for some more useful things.

[DreadWizardDM]

I wonder if we will get stuff like the old McNutty's chair and woohoo beds and showers etc.

[PurplePhoenix]

I think we will eventually, but as has been said, we need either someone with all the skills or a few people who will work together.

Maybe we should try to get such a group together; I personally don't have the skills, but I would applaud anyone who would be willing to try. It might even kick off the future.

[Drakesecaravdis]

.Along the same lines, didn't EA tease us prior to Sims 3 launch by saying we should make sure our sims get across the streets before they get hit by the cars? Where did that go? Instead, sims phase through.......make it so teen/young adult and older can get either clipped and "blackened/foul mood" or killed outright if encountering a vehicle. Could we do something like that in the future? Or see if EA goofed and left the original code in the game for that buried somewhere? Cause they must have made it, in order to tease us, but then.........it got yanked out or buried in the game and over-ridden.
I don't remember that. what I do remember is the original trailer that came with 2. I'm sure they remember. they had kids hanging from ceiling fans, sliding down the stairs and a wife physically pushing away the husband when he tried to kiss her and then she was pushing the kids out of the door when they got older.
so they must have made that to make the trailer (because how else would they show it) but got rid of it for some reason.

[EmotedLlama]

I don't remember that. what I do remember is the original trailer that came with 2. I'm sure they remember. they had kids hanging from ceiling fans, sliding down the stairs and a wife physically pushing away the husband when he tried to kiss her and then she was pushing the kids out of the door when they got older.
so they must have made that to make the trailer (because how else would they show it) but got rid of it for some reason.

If I remember that trailer correctly, it was entirely CGI and was not created using the game engine. It didn't even have the same graphical style, methinks.

[Drakesecaravdis]

If I remember that trailer correctly, it was entirely CGI and was not created using the game engine. It didn't even have the same graphical style, methinks.
bummer, that would have been really cool to have kids sliding down the stairs.

[clay4kelly]

bummer, that would have been really cool to have kids sliding down the stairs.
Sims can slide down the spiral staircase already.

[jadefox]

I'm just looking at the pictures - the shoulders on the arms-above-the-head poses look like a piece of clay that's been twisted, with a pinchy spot rather than looking smooth. (Edit - I just watched the video for the newest one and it's bad - stiff, twisted shoulder, and just the same exact motion. I think I did better making stop-motion porn with my barbies when I was 14). In general, they just look like stiff dolls that have been thrown together in heaps - go look at the stuff spladoum makes and tell me that these couldn't be done better. :P

Natural, realistic looking animations are definitely possible (animations are just a series of poses moving from one to another, after all); the fact that they're charging for poses with some pretty easily fixed issues is just embarrassing. If they were free, well, I probably wouldn't nitpick (I might think it, and I might gently suggest it to the creator as things to fix), but charging for this crap is just silly.

It is good to see that there are custom animations being made (and it's probably best to stay on that topic from now on, as this thread is about custom animations in general, not just these) but in all content, I like to see creators strive for quality; if it's worth doing, it's worth doing well.
Some good animations i have encountered , it could be definitely done..Like the dance anims tied to the object 'dance Rug' isn't that kinda anim all ppl are lookin' for? :)

[eskie227]

Some good animations i have encountered , it could be definitely done..Like the dance anims tied to the object 'dance Rug' isn't that kinda anim all ppl are lookin' for? :)

The dance animations associated with the Dance Rug from here, along with a really amazing collection of new dance animations on Umpa's blog, are a start. I'm not sure they are exactly the kind of animations many folks are looking for. TS2 had many sim "interaction" animations available that we're still not seeing for TS3. :heyhey:

[ladyluxe]

So how difficult would it be to take a mod like the dance rug or the dancers stage and a) change the animation, b) change the object, or c) do both? Is there a tutorial anywhere that shows how to do this?

[Srikandi]

So how difficult would it be to take a mod like the dance rug or the dancers stage and a) change the animation, b) change the object, or c) do both? Is there a tutorial anywhere that shows how to do this?

Changing the object wouldn't be hard, assuming you know something about object modding :) Changing the animation is apparently such a pain that we have very few custom Sim animations available, although I know of several folks who have tried their hand at it. The community knows HOW to do it... it is just extremely fiddly and time-consuming, from what I hear (haven't tried it personally).

Tutorials are here: http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Tutorials:TS3_Animation They assume you already understand object modding/scripting and/or meshing, of course, and how to use all the necessary tools.

If you want to know more about it, the modding forums under the Create menu are where you'll find the expertise :)

[Nukael]

Well, maybe if I get round to it I could maybe write up a tutorial of how I made my custom animations for a collaborative (as of yet unreleased) mod. A lot of the steps I had to discover for myself of making the animations work and even how to use the existing tools to create a pipeline to and from the software I use to make animations that work AND are also easier to animate.
I did finally get it to work and the coder successfully and beautifully made the animations work with the interactions. I even edited CLIP events to add VFX. The problem is though, I used to be a professional animator, so the software I used is probably not generally available to modders. That's why I haven't written up a tutorial, I have actually discovered a way to make animations in a way that doesn't make you pull your hair out, but there seems to be zero interest.

[Esmeralda]

That's why I haven't written up a tutorial, I have actually discovered a way to make animations in a way that doesn't make you pull your hair out, but there seems to be zero interest.
Oooh, I'm interested, and I'm sure many others are too - details, please!

[spladoum]

Well, maybe if I get round to it I could maybe write up a tutorial of how I made my custom animations for a collaborative (as of yet unreleased) mod. A lot of the steps I had to discover for myself of making the animations work and even how to use the existing tools to create a pipeline to and from the software I use to make animations that work AND are also easier to animate.
I did finally get it to work and the coder successfully and beautifully made the animations work with the interactions. I even edited CLIP events to add VFX. The problem is though, I used to be a professional animator, so the software I used is probably not generally available to modders. That's why I haven't written up a tutorial, I have actually discovered a way to make animations in a way that doesn't make you pull your hair out, but there seems to be zero interest.
Even a rough idea of what your process was/tools used would be welcome. A surprising amount of software is available on eBay, and I was this close to buying a trial copy of 3DS Max a month ago, just to see if the animation process was any easier there.

[birdyfly]

Well, maybe if I get round to it I could maybe write up a tutorial of how I made my custom animations for a collaborative (as of yet unreleased) mod. A lot of the steps I had to discover for myself of making the animations work and even how to use the existing tools to create a pipeline to and from the software I use to make animations that work AND are also easier to animate.
I did finally get it to work and the coder successfully and beautifully made the animations work with the interactions. I even edited CLIP events to add VFX. The problem is though, I used to be a professional animator, so the software I used is probably not generally available to modders. That's why I haven't written up a tutorial, I have actually discovered a way to make animations in a way that doesn't make you pull your hair out, but there seems to be zero interest.

If you make a tutorial on making custom animations and being able to use them with objects, I'd be so happy! :bunny:


I have actually discovered a way to make animations in a way that doesn't make you pull your hair out, but there seems to be zero interest.


I would LOVE to know how to do this, and am very interested. I have been pulling out my hair with milkshape and blender, so any alternatives would be amazing! I will give you 1 million cookies if you make a tutorial. :cry:

[Nukael]

If you make a tutorial on making custom animations and being able to use them with objects, I'd be so happy! I can't help you with that, I can only make custom animations transfer into the game. But to have them actually play or do something requires coding, which I know nothing of.

Even a rough idea of what your process was/tools used would be welcome. A surprising amount of software is available on eBay, and I was this close to buying a trial copy of 3DS Max a month ago, just to see if the animation process was any easier there.3DS max is what I use for converting. But I use Motionbuilder for animation (which is what EA uses as well, incidentally).

Anyway, you guys, I've gone and looked up my posts over at the Create forum, and I have actually posted all of my findings there last year. But nobody responded so I thought no one would be interested. I won't do an in depth tutorial but I can roughly give you the steps:

1. I use AnimTool and the various Milkshape skeleton files that you can find in the Create section.
2. I export the skeleton from Milkshape to SMD.
3. Import the SMD skeleton (with the mesh) into 3DS Max.
4. Then use 3DS Max to send this model to MotionBuilder
5. Rig the existing skeleton in MotionBuilder (there are tutorials online on how to do that)
6. Animate in MotionBuilder. Motionbuilder is a very robust animation software package and is rightfully used a lot. It is a bit technical so you do have to hunker down and work yourself into its interface.
7. Send the animation from Motionbuilder to 3DS Max (3DS Max and Motionbuilder integrate in this way, by the way: you don't have to convert. There's actually just a button in each program to send your data over to the other)
8. The good thing here is that your animation is "baked" into the bones. Meaning it will work in the game without the Inverse Kinematics chain. Use 3DS Max to export your animation to SMD
9. Use Animtool to convert your SMD animation to a CLIP file.
10. Make a new package file with the new CLIP file. Edit the CLIP to remove all IK chains, or some weird bending may occur.

That's my pipeline. Basically I do everything what is said in this tutorial:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=445678

But instead of using Milkshape I use Motionbuilder, which lets you use Full Body Inverse Kinematics like so:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u88T40xp8w

I do know there were some scale problems I had at first, which I had to rectify in 3DS Max (it used a different scaling system than Milkshape). To be honest I don't remember exactly as it has almost been a year since I made the animations.

But to show that the animations transfer into the game correctly (this is just a crappy test animation):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEpaI-Oz44I

I have added my Motionbuilder file in attachment. It is the basic Idle pose and the rig is completely set up, ready to be animated. Though it is .fbx, I strongly encourage to only open it with Motionbuilder (you can import .fbx into Max or Maya). But importing it into other software will make it lose its rigging. Which is kinda the whole point of using Motionbuilder in the first place!

The advantage of Motionbuilder is that I am able to use the original game's rig instead of having to rig it myself in 3DS Max, which would cause all sorts of problems.

[Esmeralda]

Anyway, you guys, I've gone and looked up my posts over at the Create forum, and I have actually posted all of my findings there last year. But nobody responded so I thought no one would be interested. I won't do an in depth tutorial but I can roughly give you the steps:
Thank you for that!

[ladyluxe]

Srikandi - Awesome! Thank you for such an informative response!

Nukael - Thank you for posting that! Looking forward to seeing your mod too :D

[spladoum]

Nukael, I have more, in-depth questions about IK chains, and making sims interact with each other during their custom animations. Are these things that you have experience with? I can ask in the other thread if the answer is really in-depth.

[Nukael]

It depends on what you're asking. When it comes to having them interact, I have done no practical experiments with those but all signs are pointing to it being a technical nightmare. The IK chains I have experience with. Ask away.

[spladoum]

Okay. Can you explain exactly what IK chains are for? ... what they do/don't do, whether/how we can adjust them, etc.? Can we tack onto established animations from the game, or do we have to start completely from square one?

[cmomoney]

IK chains allow the joints in the chain to be moved by one joint, with the other joints int the chain following. This lead joint can also be assigned to a 'target' joint, which it will point to. Visual example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDnmSf3q9mQ In dressers, for example, the target joint is in the dresser handle. Where ever you move that joint is where the sims hand will reach. In-game ik chains are a bit of a pain to work with when using custom animations.

[spladoum]

Are they something we can edit for ourselves? From browsing over EA animations, it seems that the IK chains are very necessary to ensure that Sim A's hands reach for specific areas, no matter how big width-wide Sim B is. That's something I've always been a bit concerned about, that in making a custom animation, it would only really work with one size Sim, and Sims that were bigger/smaller would just be out of luck.

[cmomoney]

The way to edit them is to animate using the 'lead' joints. The problem with this is having your rig's ik set up just like EA's IK-wise, or you'll just be guessing where the joints should go. Otherwise, you have the problem you're concerned about(my cigarette mod is this way, unfortunately).

[Nukael]

Okay. Can you explain exactly what IK chains are for? ... what they do/don't do, whether/how we can adjust them, etc.? Can we tack onto established animations from the game, or do we have to start completely from square one? Ah, I was thinking it might be a question like this. This question isn't Sims specific and I recommend you find tutorials on general 3D animation using IK (Inverse Kinematics). Google is your friend.

IK chains are not specific to the Sims, but are a general knowledge of how 3D animations work (or real life robots even :) ). In its most basic explanation, it means you can grab the hand, pull it, and the arm and torso will follow.

As of right now, the full setup of EA's system has not been able to be reproduced (as far as I know). This means that the target joints cannot be used as the method I use deletes all existing IK chains in a CLIP file.

Editing an existing animation is theoretically possible, but it would require more work than starting from scratch as importing the animation makes a key frame at every single frame instead of having the original amounts of key frames. This is a basic way the converting process works and cannot be done any other way at the moment.

So in my animations I use my own custom IK chains set up in MotionBuilder, which are then "baked" into the bones. Meaning the animation is stored as absolute movements in every bone instead of only the IK joints.
Because of this, I have to delete the IK chains that exist in a CLIP file, because otherwise it gives really weird and/or bad results in game.

Cmomoney: what program did you use to make your animation (Blender, 3Ds Max, Milkshape, ...) and what was your pipeline like? I'm very interested to hear.

[cmomoney]

I use Blender and A's Animation Plugins: http://dino.drealm.info/den/denforum/index.php?topic=862.0

My pipeline is basically spelled out in the instructions of the plugins. Only real difference being I start out with an idle pose or animation, or animation already close to what I need.

[buxcosim]

I use Blender and A's Animation Plugins: http://dino.drealm.info/den/denforum/index.php?topic=862.0

My pipeline is basically spelled out in the instructions of the plugins. Only real difference being I start out with an idle pose or animation, or animation already close to what I need.I didn't see those yet! Now I have to get them, because I was getting frustrated with the process before. Somehow, every pose I made resulted in a twitching mass of horror on the floor. Something about the exported and converted CLIP was doing weird things and I could never get it to work. This new method seems to eliminate those problems, so hopefully I can resume work on the animations I wanted to do!

[Hunter Jin]

Playing animations and poses (either custom or EAxian) is actually completely unrelated to creating custom animations. Playing them was basically possible from the very start, even more after the release of TigerM's Smooth Jazz.

Creating custom animations has been basically possible for some time now. AFAIK it's still nowhere near foolproof, so I'd say it's still in alpha stage. The creation itself is and will always be a very challenging artistic process. That's probably why we haven't seen much yet. Also I wouldn't expect much from script modders. Animations better fit the MO of adept meshers.

BTW: I think cmo is actually involved in finding the learnings to make animations, but the other smarties in that area aren't people the regular simmer is familiar with. ;)

I couldn't agree more on what you said. rothn's Animation Player was released for a very long time but I never saw any animations made by the Animation Player because I actually tried it and there was no progress at all (believe me it's hard but the tool is great if we just know how to use it).

[vlad-sch]

I am sure you are aware of the site Heavenext.com. They do porn animations based on the player, and they charge for it. Ive found that recently coz i wanted to put my sims to bang for real (lol) and well, this site seem recent to me. Does somebody watched some of their "porn tapes" to know if the animations are some decent step ahead on animating?