Any animators NOT using Poser?

Hello!

I am new to SL and I'm a proffessional animator in RL. I've never used Poser, and I don't own it, but I'd like to try animating for SL. I've scoured the net and the forums here for info on using 3D Studio Max or Maya instead. It sounds like nobody's gotten 3D Studio/Character Studio to work, but Alexia Mechanique has those lovely scripts for Maya, and Chosen Few has talked often of using Maya. I'm curious to know if they or anyone else is actually using Maya (or ANYTHING but Poser) regularly for animation.

I'd like to hear from anyone who has actually gotten this working and how successful they were. What programs are you using? How did you do it, and how satisfied are you with the result/process? Any advice for getting started importing/exporting?

Thanks a ton for any input!!

-Shadora

Haven't tried yet, but I own Lightwave. So I'll be fiddling with that stuff sooner or later.

Does anyone know of a BVH export plugin or tool for DAZ Studio (www.daz3d.com)? The program is poser-like and free -- their business model is based on selling 3D models and content thru an online marketplace.

I use SciTe, a text editor

... and someone with the undignified nickname "Gwyneth Llewelyn" is always cruising the DAZ|Studio (and Renderosity) forums mumbling and grumbling about the lack of an export tool for BVH in that wondeful, free animation tool.

Kitten, actually, DAZ does it on purpose. They wish people to "upgrade" to their flagship product, Bryce, which is as expensive as Poser.

Now if only I could manage to have eFrontier answer my emails on a cheap Poser version that doesn't export to anything except BVH...

Update:

I have gotten Maya to work for making and exporting animations for SL and brought them into the game successfully. Thanks to Alexia's excellent bvh export script, I am a very happy camper!

/52/7d/42181/1.html

Thanks Alexia!

Hmm, should I be switching from Poser to Maya? I've been using Poser for the past few months, and I'm finally at the point where I can crank out decent-looking animations in a reasonable amount of time. I have no prior experience in 3D graphics or animation, but even I can see some of Poser's limitations.

But is using Maya overkill for SL? Whatever program we use, we can't animate fingers or toes or facial features, correct? Is it that Maya interpolates better than Poser? What are its advantages?

If you've never used Maya, and you have Poser and are happily making animations, there's no advantage to switching to Maya. Especially considering Mayas is fantastically expensive ($4000 or so minimum).

I'm an animator for a living in real life and I use Maya and/or 3D Studio Max for my work. So I didn't want to buy Poser, which I've never used anyway. Poser is designed for home users and people without proffessional training in 3D Animation, and as such it is easier to use and get started. On the other hand, it's also more limited in what it can do. I can't tell you exactly what Maya does that Poser doesn't though, cuz I'm only going on second hand knowledge of Poser.

As for faces and hands, those can only be done in SL when you import the animation, or by setting up scripts or gestures. Those can't be imported from any program.

Man, that sucks. I can only afford DAZ|Studio.

Well, I see "Maya Unlimited 7 School Edition" for sale for less than $600 at academic reseller websites, which require that you be a student or faculty member. The "Complete" Edition is less than $400. If someone could point to tangible benefits of using these versions of Maya for animations, I might consider doing it, since Poser does have its annoying quirks. See, e.g.

http://www.academicsuperstore.com/market/marketdisp.html?page=ProductDetail&PartNo=738970&qk_srch=maya

If anyone is interested in trying out Maya, Alias/Wavefront has a "free" version that's a bit limited but has all the features you'd need for animation. It's their "Maya PLE" (personal learning addition). I'm not sure if it has a BVH exporter with it but I'm sure a few minutes of scouring Google results should provide an answer if it exists. And even if it doesn't, at least you'd be able to learn Maya, maybe see if you like it & want to buy a full version.

<blinks>

Buy? Maya?

<blinks>

Did the price drop quite a bit lately, or was this supposed to be a bit of humor?

As promised, I sent DAZ|Studio another request to consider exporting BVH files, and briefly described what Second Life is for some: a community of 70,000 avid buyers of digital content, which is precisely DAZ|Studio's market. We'll see if I get an answer from them.

(as said, Poser's eFrontier never replied... let's hope DAZ is "nicer"

Update — DAZ replied just now:


Sounds good Although Vicky talks about importing BVH files, not exporting them...

Well if you can import you can export. BVH files are nothing more than text files with a bunch of timecodes and angles more or less. So if someone comes up with an importer plugin someone can reverse it to an exporter with little difficulty I'd think.

Personally I'd like to find a program just for doing SL poses, and given the limited nature of bone structures in SL that shouldn't be difficult. Since many programs that do BVH do so with digital movement capture equipment they're up there but all it really is is a text file. Find a free BVH and open it up in Notepad.

Thought I'd add that the BVH format is an open format, it's just that most people who bother to work with it do so to turn complicated movement info into a universal format that will load in many many programs. Really free BVH is hard to find for two reasons. One is that all the effort is going into professional use right now and the other is that it is rather difficult to accurately hand animate human 3d models nicely, so most people just use the existing libraries or if they need speciffics they get their own mocap.

SShhhhhhhh! We all have software Legitimately *wink wink*

hahahahahah!

Oh wait, you were serious?

Tell me how a program with an interface that relates to, and works like, no other computer program interface will be "easier" for a new user.

Wouldn't it make sense to make the interface more in line with say.. Photoshop? Illustrator? Final Cut Pro?

How about just putting in some regular menus, or radio boxes, or tool palettes? I mean Poser goes so far with the "unique" interface as to include it's own version of a file browser, so you can't even use the OS to load files. Why make the user eat up CPU cycles on gimicky non-standard file retrieval, when the OS is sitting in the background with all that built in?

Why take over the entire screen for that matter, when there is so much blank space in the interface anyway? Why use the track ball metaphor when the majority of folks use a mouse? It requires you to think about all your motions in reverse for no reason that I can see. And dont even get me started on how they have grouped the tools, or the division of tasks, or the glomming together of entirely different utilities in the same area of the program.

There are so many things wrong with the Poser interface I could go on ... and on and on... (but I won't)

Apologies again in advance for anyone upset by my somewhat strident statement of the facts here, but that program is a piece of poo IMO.

AH! Guess I'm not the only one who finds the interface a little "odd".

^^^ thirded

^^^^-fourthed
*can you do that?*



you *could* always illeagally download it...


*at the risk of punishment by law....*

*i betchya bitlord could support that*

*just checked, yep you can... it'l take in the area of 1-2 days of dling...*

Has anyone managed to get 3D Studio Max to export to Second Life compatable BVH files? I've got a pro game animator here that would be interested in getting into making animations for SL if he can use Max. But I havn't been able to find info on export BVH files, only importing them.