Using free learning editions to create animations...

I'm just curious if anyone has tried using something like gMax, Maya PLE (personal learning edition), XSI Learning edition or gameSpace lite to create animations.

At least XSI and Maya have scripting languages that wouldn't be hard to write a BVH exporter with (though I'm not sure if you need the full edition to write to file with a script). Don't know what gMax supports, and gameSpace lite only exports to .x. But could any of these be good free choices.

I'm guessing all of them have a non-commercial use license, but I hardly think that would include using it to create animations for you SL avatar.

Little

I don't know for certain Little but my guess is that the XSI and Maya PLEs have exports disabled. Both save their scene files in a proprietary format that can only be opened with the PLE. They're both soley intended for learning and have severely crippled output. Well worth downloading and using if you want to learn XSI or Maya, but both are overkill for doing anything for SL.

(PLE = personal learning edition)

I know that Maya PLE can't export to anything but a singal format that only the PLE edition can use, I think XSI is the same way though I know they have a free edition that can export to HL2 format...and as far as I know Maya doesn't have a BVH export for charater motion

Max and Gmax don't have bvh export ability (which is a drag since I have Max and Character Studio) but I keep hoping someone will write a maxscript to do it. It won't be me since I'm a scripting moron.

Hash Animation Master exports to bvh but the bone structure is a bit different so you'd have to manually edit the bvh files to correct bone names. There was a thread about someone experimenting with this a while back.

Houdini also has a PLE but I imagine it's locked down the same way the Maya and XSI PLEs are. I have no clue if it has bvh export... and Houdini doesn't so much have a learning curve as a learning right angle

Kaydara's Motion Builder exports bvh and is an amazing character animation app, but it's also $999 (or $4000 for the pro version). It does have a fully functional 30 day trial though. They also have a plugin for Max called HumanIK but I'm not sure if it adds bvh export to Max (probably not).

For now, Poser is still your best bet for doing animation for SL. Aside from the demo version of Motion Builder there are no free tools that can do it that I know of.

It was me that was experimenting with Animation Master export ( http://www.ragtag.net/xternal/AMtoSL/ ). I actually got some feedback from Hash inc about the problem I had with exporting BVH from version 10.5 and presumably 11. The problem was that you need to have some geometry attached to the bones you want to export. I haven't tested it, but it should work with the latest AM versions now...and I did make a skeleton you can download from the link above, that should have the right names...you just need to attach some geometry to it.

The learning edition idea, wasn't really for me. I own AM and can use that, and I use Maya at work and could use that. I was just thinking if it would be possible to write a MEL script for Maya that writes to a file from the Maya PLE edition, or do something similair fot the other tools. The formating of a bvh file is relatively simple, so it shouldn't be too hard.

All that said, I think people here should pester the guys at www.insanesoftware.de to add bvh export to their CharacterFX tool. It only costs $15, and would probably be ideal for most SLers who don't want to spend $99 on poser, $299 on Animation Master or $495 on XSI and so on. I've only tried the demo of CharacterFX, but it says on their page that it supports LUA scripting, so I'm guessing it's not too hard to do.

Little

Aha! Guess I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, hehe. Thanks for the update on the AM experiment. I was wondering how that had turned out.

I know LL plans on adding in-game tools for creating animations. I wonder how far along they are on it or if they've started yet.

If HumanIK added .bvh export to Max (I checked and it doesn't) I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I'm wishing I hadn't bought Character Studio since I haven't done much with it and it's being rolled into Max 7 instead of being sold seperately.

edit: I totally forgot you work at Bethesda Softworks. I need to pay more attention to who I'm responding too