Custom animated prop model , Exported Looks Jagged! ughh

efciem

L69: Deviant Member
Mar 31, 2008
69
6
Hey all,

1st I realize a picture would assist your image of whats goin on, but im at work... so i'll post one later if I have to..

I use 3dsmax 2009 first off..

I have a model of a Fish, i've animated swiming around in a circle, with 5 bones to control the fish

The animation is keyframed over 150 frames.. nothin fancy, just the Fish model, with a Skin modifier applied to it and the bones attached..

I did not rename the bones at all, and I even used the default vertex weighting/envelopes the modifier provided..


So after animation looks good in max, I exported the SMD files,

added the $sequence line in the .qc file..


When I view the Model in the SDK Model Viewer... The animation is there... but it has distorted the model to look all jagged , as if some vertex's were not kept in their place..


its not that a couple vertex's were not given weights, cuz they all move with the bones, its just they have been jumbled into eachother for some reason making one ugly semi-fish shaped mess animated by the bones.


Any suggestions? ive not had this happen with other models before..

i'll post images later if needed
 

Spike

L10: Glamorous Member
Feb 13, 2008
716
82
I think you have to scale xyz to 1 on 3dmax, and then export.
 

efciem

L69: Deviant Member
Mar 31, 2008
69
6
I think I found the problem

and its my own stupidity cuz i know better..

Looking at the smd files I made, I exported the Sequence SMD with the bones AND the mesh.. then the animated sequence smd should only be the bones with no mesh.

I cant test it till I get home but its clearly a mistake I should not have made as Ive done this dozens of times haha
 

efciem

L69: Deviant Member
Mar 31, 2008
69
6
Ah HAH! The problem in fact wasnt the inclusion of the base mesh in the Sequence animated SMD file at all...

although proper procedure is to export only the bones and not the mesh with the animated smd sequence...

that wasnt the issue..


The Issue was even more of a amateur mistake then that! I put my $scale segment AFTER the $Body statement when it has to be before it and I know better but my cut and pasting between .qc files must of gottan turned upside down..


When you define $scale AFTER the $body statement , it fails to adjust the scale of the model properly and you get random portions of the model that stay at its default mesh scale, and the rest of the vertex's will be scaled to the amount defined by the $scale input..


haha So Always put $scale somewhere before the $body statement
 

Snipergen

L13: Stunning Member
Nov 16, 2007
1,051
150
Man that's good to know, I had to learn this the hard way too that you have to respect scale, translation and rotation in the right order (well, for my directX exam that is ) :)