OBSOLETE - CLICK HERE FOR NEWEST VERSION


After a week of hard work, a new version of TS3 Animator has come out sporting the following added functionality:
-----The ability to export to .package files
-----A graphical jazz script editor which is seamlessly integrated with existing functionality

Both the jazz editor and the animation importer/exporter have been thoroughly tested. I know first-hand that TS3 Animator works, and am officially releasing the first RELEASE build of TS3 Animator 4. As always, you will need to copy the granny2.dll file from the WorldBuilder directory in Program Files. Note that due to the fact that the latest WorldBuilder builds no longer come with granny2.dll TS3 Animator now requires the granny2.dll file from the Granny Crowd Scene Demo. Below are some important notes pertaining to the operation of TS3 Animator's new features:

General Notes:

• When working with animations that have undocumented features, it is important to export that clip to a SMD and then import that SMD back into TS3 Animator before exporting or saving the animation, as doing this removes any unwanted extraneous data that EA may have stuck in the animation's frame data.
• Clicking on File->Export will export all currently open tabs to a .package file of your choosing. Note that if that package file already exists, items will merely be added to it or replaced, and the existing name map (seen as "_KEY" in S3PE) will be merged with the one generated by TS3 Animator.
• While clicking File->Save with an Animation tab selected will save the animation to a standard TS3 animation, doing that with a Jazz Script tab selected will not do so. It will instead save the selected jazz script in my own format, which is the only format of jazz script that TS3 Animator can open. This brings me to my next point:
• TS3 Animator can only open the jazz scripts that it saves in the .sacs format. It cannot open compiled jazz scripts once they are exported. For that, I would recommend a low-level tool like SmoothJazz.

Jazz Editor Specifics:

• To add a node, drag one of the circles on the right of the Jazz Editor interface to the big white space in the center of your screen.
• To connect two nodes, click on one of the very small circles on the parent node, and, keeping the left mouse button held down, move the mouse to the node that you wish to make the connection with. Then, release the left mouse button. Note that only certain types of nodes can be connected. See figure 1 for more information.
• To delete a node, move your mouse over it and right-click.
• To delete a connection between nodes, move your mouse over one of the connections (visible as lines) until the line becomes emboldened. Then, right-click.
• To pan left, right, up, or down, simply move your mouse to the leftmost, rightmost, topmost, or bottom-most edge, respectively, of the aforementioned big white space and make small circular motions with the mouse.
• The only field that can be left blank is the Track Mask field in the Animation node. Other than that, all fields must have some valid data in them.
• A ChoiceNode has only one field. If a ChoiceNode is connected to a RandomNode, a floating-point value from 0.0 to 1.0 which is the weight of that choice (1.0 is default) must be entered into the ChoiceNode's text box. Otherwise, if a ChoiceNode is connected to a SelectOnParameterNode, it must contain the value that the parameter connected to the SelectOnParameterNode must contain in order for the ChoiceNode to be executed.

Rig / RSLT Editor Specifics:

• The Rig exporter is tested.
• The RSLT exporter is not.

To put an end to this triumphant post, I would like to formally appeal to have TS3 Animator put back into the Downloads section. It works flawlessly, and I believe that it is 100% free of bugs that could possibly cripple its functionality.

Getting Started

1. Copy the aforementioned granny2.dll file and Sims3Common.dll file to the directory where you extracted TS3 Animator.
2. Click File->New->Animation
3. In the animation tab, select the age and gender of the sim you are animating (if it is a sim)
4. Export the mesh, animate it in your 3d program, and import it.
5. Export the animation to a package by clicking File->Export

Figure 1: Node-Node Connections
Gray connector .............................................................................. Anything except for ActorDefinition, ParameterDefinition, and ChoiceNode
Red connector ............................................................................... ChoiceNode
Blue connector .............................................................................. ChoiceNode
Green connector ............................................................................ ActorDefinition
Purple connector ............................................................................ ParameterDefinition

Credit
Peter Jones - S3PI

Source Code
Please PM me at MTS for the source code.

This looks great, but, for some reason, the files won't extract. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I've tried everything I can think of and it just doesn't work. Maybe I'll try again later.

Thanks bunches

Like the people before me said, I cannot extract it.

And if I could, what exactly can you do with this? Something like create pose boxes like in TS2? I'm sorry for the lame question.

You have to use 7-zip to extract the files. here

Thank you very much!

So with this we will be seeing custom animations? Oh my goodness I'm so excited!

this potentially sounds exactly what i've been waiting for but, excuse the stupid question: what do you do with it and how??????

Thanks!

so, the fun begins here then?

does this basically make custom animations?!

Holy god what is this world coming to? Sims 3 custom animations, here we come!

Now we can make our custom animations. *-*
Thank you!

Is this really for real?

Ahh the first request. We're on our way now, folks!

Great job!

Woo hoo! I expect to see the first round of "sex rugs" by morning. xD

I've never had trouble using WinRAR to extract zip folders. I'll try using 7-zip, so hopefully it'll work.

Right, so I've extracted it and now have TS3 Animator running now - I read the instructions and all but can you make a simple tutorial for non-technical people? Heh-heh :D

Wait - So does this mean we get Custom Animations in Sims 3 now?

This is epic!

Fantastic! I'll TRY to follow your tutorial when my exams are over XD

Actually, I plan to do a few things:

1. I plan to first enable support for custom animations without using existing ones.
2. I plan to add graphical support for editing clip events, and many other attributes that are in animations.
3. I plan to add a graphical user interface (GUI) for editing jazz scripts that I will incorporate with the animation tool.
4. I plan to use a game engine (probably Ogre) to preview animations and events with a slider interface.
5. I plan to create an interaction studio that creates simple and optionally animated interactions with a GRAPHICAL user interface that practically anybody can use.

BTW: I fixed the corrupt zip file. I created it in 7-zip and realized that it wasn't very compatible, so I uploaded a new zip file created by Windows.

Does this mean we can animate animals, etc? What about 3D models? Or is this only for sims 3 objects. How is this different than milkshape?

This is for sims 3 objects, sims, and anything with a .grannyrig file.

Okay, I'm gonna try to follow the tutorial you linked to and hope that I don't completely foul up my game. Thanks once again!

Wow!
I've been waiting for something like this forever and a half!
:D
Hope this works!

i'm super excited to see what people come up with!!!