Edit: Uploaded Version 0.1.4. The thighs now seem correct.


This is the new version of my smd converter, it now supports most of the bones of the sim`s body.

If you want to make a animation for a object then for now you need to use version 0.1.4 of the editor. This Converter only supports animations of the sims themselves. Once I have finished testing this converter and adding support for the rest of the bones, I will be combining it with the editor and adding support for multiboned objects.

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TERMS OF USE: by downloading and using this program you are agreeing to the following terms:

While it is very unlikely that it will cause any problems to any of your game's files, there is always a risk with software that modifies the game, so you are downloading and using at your own risk.

This software is copyright ©2005 and can not be hosted on anyother websites or redistrubuted without permision.

As this software is still in a early alpha state, no animation files created with it can be redistrubuted neither as standalone files nor as part of a package or in any other form without permision. This is because the software is still in a early alpha stage and animations created with it need more testing, as well as there being a few issues with the names and group Id`s of new animations which still need resolving. (This restriction will be removed once enougth testing has been done.)

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Now onto how to use.

Unzip the files to a folder.

Three of the included files are smd files, one being a mesh with skeleton of a sim's body the other a very crude attempt (by me) at a animation of a summersault and the last one is a empty animation with 30 frames (not sure this will be needed but I included it anyway).

So you can either use the included body or you can use Simpe`s export to milkshape ascii function.

Once you have loaded the body into your 3d program, you need to create a animation.

As the game uses time based keyframes while the smd files are frame based. I needed to come up with a way to convert to the keyframes, the method used is that you enter a time that the animation plays over and the frames are evenly divided up into that time.

So if you are making a animation that lasts 5 seconds and you want there to be 5 keyframes per second you need to create 27 frames. It`s 27 and not 25 because the first frame is treated as a reference frame and not included in the animation and the second frame starts at time 0.

So once you have created a empty animation with 27 frames you need to leave all the bones as they are in the first frame. I`m not sure about milkshape but with Fragmotion this means setting (but not rotating or moving) them in those positions for that frame.

Then in frame two you set the bones in the positions that you want them to start the animation in. (ie ...if you want the hands to start resting down at the side of the sims body rather than stretched out you move them into these positions.)

Now for the rest of the frames you set you animation as normal.



Once you have finished your animation, save it as a smd sequence file (not a smd reference file).

Open up the converter.

In the textbox called "Time" you enter the time that you wish the animation to play over (in milliseconds), so for our 5 second animation we enter 5000.

In the textbox called internal name you can enter the name you want the animation to use, but at this current time this needs to be exactly the same number of characters as the default one (23 characters). Also before animations can be uploaded for wide spread use, there will need to be some sort of system agreed on names, as if two animations have the same name (but in different objects) there will be a conflict between them.

Once you have set them, you click the convert button and select the smd file (the animation you saved earlier).

The new animation will be saved using the same file name except it will have ".anim" added to the end of it.

Now you can insert your animation into a object. For testing purposes you could use the mirror that I uploaded in another thread. If using this mirror, open the package called "testanim.package" and replace the animation in there with your new one. (This will only work if you leave the internal filename as the default one.)

Notes:
The only bone which allows movement (translations) is the root_trans bone (which doesn`t allow rotations) all others only allow rotations.

There are still likely to be some issues to be fixed in relation to some of the rotations of the bones. (especially with the right arm, as I`ve had trouble getting this to move as it should.)

The bones currently supported are: all the bones of the right arm and hand (except the sleeve bone), l_upperarm, l_bicep, l_forearm, l_wrist , l_hand, pelvis, spine0, spine1, spine2, neck, head, l_thigh, l_calf, l_foot, r_thigh, r_calf, r_foot, root_trans, root_rot.

Edit: it is known that there are problems with the rotation of the arms in the current version. I am working on fixing this and hope to have a update out very soon.

A couple of screen shots of the crude summersault.

Awesome! Cool stuff will come out of this I assure you :D

I am new to all of this but will try it out and hopefully be reporting back to you.Thank you for creating this program.

Just to let people know, it seem there are some problems with the smd files that 3ds max exports, in that it adds "0"`s to the end of every bone's name and adds a new bone to the end of existing bones. This converter is currently not set to deal with these changes.

So unless there is a way to get 3ds to stop making these changes, it can`t be used until I can make the needed changes to the converter to cope with these.

At the moment I know that milkshape and Fragmotion do work with this converter.

:howdy:

I'm testing right now with my own animation. One animation seems to be restricted to a maximum of 70 frames (with more frames an array out of bounds exception occurs) . Does there have to be a fixed frame number?

BTW: Will Facial Animations be possible also?

I have an smd file with 70 frames now and will tell you if it works.

Keep up the good work!

Best Regards,
Ruhrmetall

Sorry I forgot to say, I have set the limit of 60 frames for now, just until it has been tested more. This is just a limit this converter imposes not the game. (although most maxis animations have less than 60 keyframes, but they are using true keyframes not the pseudo way I`m having to convert frames into keyframes.)
I will increase the number of frames allowed in future versions.

I hope to support facial animations in time, but there`s quite a way to go before that (and I can`t even say for certain that it will be possible yet).

Great stuff !

It's funny to make the sim do a somersault while they are sitting at the
dinner table

Since you mentioned Fragmotion, I dl'd it, I hadn't heard of it before.

What is the procedure to import the smd files into Fragmotion?

I imported the body mesh, then used merge to import the somersault smd, and it ask which object(s) should be excluded. I just clicked OK, to take the defaults, but that didn't seem to import the animation.

Mike

** edit* .... Never mind, I figured it out

Is any free program compatible?

Softimage XSI mod tool (which is free) will import the smd reference files (the meshes) but it doesn`t seem to import smd animations. Although You can create a animation in it (although I`m having trouble working out exactly how you create them. ) and the save it as a smd animation.

I`ve noticed a couple of things about the way the saved smd files are formated which I need to look into, but it should (at least once I`ve made sure the converter can read those smd files) work.

If anyone uses the mod tool, it would really help if they could post some smd file that it has saved.

I managed to re-export the summersault from fragmotion and convert it after i changed the decimal separator from ',' to '.' in my country settings like told in other posts. Is it possible to set this in the converter fixed to '.' so that people dont need to change it globally or is it a problem in Fragmotion?

With my own animation i have to try again. It seems that i do something wrong since my character stays in the basic positions (arms wide spread) and only some bones are moved.

Best Regards,
Ruhrmetall

can you post the smd file and I`ll take a look at it.

As for the "," and "." problem, I am looking into this and trying to fix it.

did u have an idea on why 3DSMax import smd file on that way ?

http://www.max3d.it/temp/sShot/3Dsmax-SMDBones.jpg

Is this the smd file that skankyboy posted? if so I`ve had a quick look at that file and there seems to be something wrong with it, milkshape won`t import it. When I get time I`ll have another look.

In the zip file for this converter there is a smd file called "simsbody.smd" or something similar, try that and see if that works.

That is awsome. To bad I dont understand any of these stuff.

nope.. it the file in your packet

it's the animation_template.smd :-(
i see correctly on milkshape but it's completly wasted on 3ds 6/7

I don`t know how 3ds works with regards to smd files, but are you importing a mesh first (like the simsbody.smd). Maybe it won`t work with just the animation files (like the template is ...no mesh in it)

this is too cool, has anybody created other animations yet???

the plugs that i use to import smd is an official plugin
that can import mesh and bones from smd file but on the website i see something about reference file ...

i'll test it again l8r

ok for what can i see actually the only smd importer for 3DS max 6 / 7 is the one for HL2 .. maybe this is the problem...

With smd files there are two types of files, both called smd files and both with the .smd type. One is the reference file which is the file containing the mesh and such. The other is the sequence file which contains the animation.

With milkshape and fragmotion the normal process is first to load the reference file and then to load (or with fragmotion use the merge option) the sequence file.

When you save a smd file from 3ds, does it do the same thing it was doing for skankyboy...renaming the bones with a "0" on the end and adding a extra bone. If it is then I`ll start adding support to deal with this to the converter.



I`d be interested to know if anyone has managed to get one of their own animations into the game yet, but it`s still early days as I only posted this last night and not many people will have had the time to try yet. Maybe after the weekend some more people will post about their attempts.

Now for a general note:

Currently my work on the converter has slowed as my trail period of fragmotion ended and I don`t think I`ll be purchasing it. So I need to look for another program to make test animations with. (As I don`t use 3d programs for anything other than testing things for this program (and used to for the mesh tool) I`m affraid I`m unwilling to pay money for a 3d program, I`m putting enough time into this, I`m not going to put money into as well. )

I have the XSI mod tool but so far have been unable to find any tutorials on how to make animations for that.

this is what u need !
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servle...siteID=123112#/

Yeah but as far as I know that doesn`t allow saving the animations (or objects) in any useful format , or am I wrong?

The mod tool does what I need , it`s just too complicated to use, unless I want to spend the next month learning how to use it, rather than working on the converter.

hu.. i didn't know that.. i've downloaded it just now
'cuase i've readed about some guy that do animation for cs:s for that

Miche.

Here's one for you to try. I think I'm using bones not supported in the current version or something, but the animation is way out.

I`ll have a look (I`m currently trying to find a program to view and edit the animations in so it could take a bit of time for me to check this).

I did think that there could be some problems with some of the bones (also possible with some difference between the way milkshape and the way fragmotion export the animations). It`s also important that the first frame is set right (no movements from default resting positions) as this is used as a reference for the other frames to tell what movements have been made.

As in the game the default rotation of all the bones is 0. but with a smd file (well at least with the skeletons that SimPE exports) the bones have rotations already on them when in the default positions, so I need to use that first frame as a way of converting between these.

Anyway I`m just making general statements here as I`ve not yet looked at your animation.