Rigged and Animated Characters

[donnelly517]

Could somebody direct me to a tutorial showing how to make animated characters for sandbox and import them. That is if such a thing exists, I know it isn't easy, and I heard it takes extra steps and precautions to get animations working in sandbox. But I'm going to have to learn eventually and now seems like a good time.

[LeafClaw]

There's actually a place called Mixamo-- you upload any model and rig it. I haven't tried it myself yet, but it's mostly free for basic features and it may have tutorials.

[jSoftApps]

Let me give you my 10 step workflow for rigging and animating characters.

1)Open blender 2.49b
2)Export the model to FBX
3)Package the FBX and all textures into a zip folder
4)Upload the model to Mixamo (WARNING! Site may not be kid friendly!)
5)Use the Mixamo auto-rigger
6)Download the model in the DAE format
7)Re-Import into blender using the Mixamo DAE Blender importer
8)Animate in blender
9)Export to MD5
10)Load into Sandbox

[chocolatepie33]

@donnelly: first of all, what program are you using? I know jSoft suggested Blender, that's what a lot of us use. However, there's also misfit model 3D, Wings3D, GMax... and those are all the free ones. Some of them you can use in conjunction with other programs such as CharacterFX for rigging and animation, or Mixamo, as jSoft also suggested.
Second of all, ever heard of Google? For importing to Sandbox (and other Cube 2 engine games), read here:http://sauerbraten.org/docs/models.html. The actual rigging and animated can be found online in tutorials for the program you're using.

@jSoft: don't you have to pay to use Mixamo? and why do you use Blender 2.49?

[jSoftApps]

@CP: Mixamo is free (for rigging, basic animations .etc) but you can optionally pay for them to animate your characters for you. Also, I use 2.49b because it is much easier to use Mixamo rigged models in it.

[chocolatepie33]

ah, I see. I tried Mixamo once, and it showed me a billing plan or something like that, and I've stayed away since. But I guess I'll take another look at it. Do you have to sign up?As for the versions, have you looked at 2.63 yet? Personally, I like that so much more than 2.49.

[donnelly517]

Yeah I heard Mixamo costs money, and I'm looking to do it for free. I have Blender 2.62, Wings3d 1.4.1, and Misfit Model 3d. I've tried blender, but I was never any good with it. Wings3d is what I've used to make all my static models. I have Misfit, though I've actually never used it.

[jSoftApps]

Didn't I just say Mixamo was free donnelly? I only use it to rig my characters therefor it is free. I do my animating in Blender.

[chocolatepie33]

whoa, calm down J. Mixamo is free, but it wouldn't be that hard to accidentally try to subscribe.

[donnelly517]

I've got a mesh now. Think I'll follow J's workflow, and find my own tutorial for animating in blender. Thanks for your help guys.