Video tutorial Animating drivers hands

Discussion in 'Car Modding' started by mianiak, Jan 13, 2012.

  1. mianiak

    mianiak Registered

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    This is not the only way it can be done, it is just one way it can be done. In the end, the way it's done will depend on the modellers own style.

    This does not cover rigging the biped, I suggest to search youtube "3dmax biped rigging" to learn how to rig a biped. The rigging method used in the driver example is done in the vertices sub mode in the physique modifier, by selecting verts and linking them to the desired section and it's recommended to rig it this way. Using envelopes is another way and it does work, but is not recommended.

    If you haven't done any animating before, you will probably find yourself doing it over a few times, so I recommend not to put too much effort into the first try, give it a rough once over so you get the feel for it and either go back and edit it or start again.

    Some important things to keep in mind,,,

    You must start with a standing up human model with fingers spread apart so that you can rig the biped to each individual part.
    Once you have rigged the biped you cannot easily edit the mesh, you must get your mesh and UV mapping finished before you rig the biped. If you find you have to edit the mesh, you can try, but in most cases you will have to remove the physique modifier and start all over again. Don't be afraid to go high detail, especially in the hands and arms, the lower part of the body is not so important for detail.

    Setting a 5deg angle snap is a good base for keeping everything even.



    Exporting the anm file

    Similar to how it is detailed in the track tech doc's but with a bit of a difference. Here your using a Biped so instead of exporting the bones info, you want to export the biped info.

    (Refer to the image below)
    Select the driver mesh, then in the gmt converter go to the Animation rollout and set up the Path and Filename, the
    Animation File should be the Animation Name.
    Check MAX Biped
    Then select Bip01 (or what ever the number, you might have 2 bipeds in the project, Bip02, etc)
    Select keyframes.
    Then you set the start frame and the finish frame, in this case I used 280 frames, so I enter 0 to start and 280 to end. If your animation is smaller then make sure you set the correct frames.
    Once that's all done, click the DO Anim button, if the anim export fails, make sure you have the driver selected and try again.
    Export your driver mesh (not the biped, just the driver)
    Include the anm file name in the driver gen instance
    Instance=DRIVER
    {
    Moveable=True
    MeshFile=rF2_generic_driverB.GMT CollTarget=False HATTarget=False LODIn=(0.00) LODOut=(10.0) ShadowCaster=False Reflect=True
    AnimFile=rter_steer.ANM
    }
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 13, 2012
    1 person likes this.
  2. Angus94

    Angus94 Registered

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    can the animation be done for gear levers?
     
  3. mianiak

    mianiak Registered

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    Nope, just steering atm.
     
  4. Johannes Rojola

    Johannes Rojola Registered

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    I started car modelling in the first place so I'd never have to learn human rigging. Well oh bummer.
     
  5. mianiak

    mianiak Registered

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    I came across this funny movement when testing, its the AI driving that's why its jerky, but still it's something to keep in mind when doing this. It would probably be best to just set up the basic movement, test it on a few tracks, go back and tweak it until it sits nicely. Then go and finalise the animation with all the fingers and stuff.
    Obviously what I need to do here is either make the hands hold on for one or 2 or so more keyframes or bring it back some.

     
  6. fanlebowski

    fanlebowski Registered

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    hi

    something about the export of .ANM file ? i didn't find infos about that.

    cheers
     
  7. blakboks

    blakboks Registered

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    Hey mianiak,
    I just thought I'd mention here that either the arms are a bit short or the driver is sitting too far back. I think the typical driving position (in a race car without an airbag--street car is different) is such that the arms are at about a 90-deg. angle when going straight (i.e. hands are at 9 and 3).

    That being said--I don't know if doing so will cause problems with geometry getting in front of the camera, but it should allow you to cross the arms more before having to switch to hand-over-hand, minimizing the frequency with which that 'glitch' will occur.

    I know that this is probably just an example, not necessarily a finished product, but I don't think it hurts to keep that in mind for future projects.
     
  8. blakboks

    blakboks Registered

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    Oh, I should also add, that it might be easier to place a 'helper object' at the steering wheel's pivot point, with one axis pointing along the steering column, and 'parent constrain' the hands to this object. That way you should be able to just animate the rotation of the helper object, and the hands should follow along nicely. Then you just have to add an 'offset' animation to the hands when it comes time to animate them going hand-over-hand. Although an animated constraint might be a little easier, though slightly tougher to setup.

    I've only skimmed through the docs, and I haven't tried it for myself, but I haven't seen anywhere yet where it says that all animation must be directly on the bones (i.e. no control rig). It should be easy enough to bake the animation to the bones once you're finished, before you export, though.
     
  9. mianiak

    mianiak Registered

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    I updated the OP with instructions on how to export the anm file.
     
  10. fanlebowski

    fanlebowski Registered

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    thanks

    but i already did this and my game crash :(

    maybe because the animation is too long or too short from the steeringlock in hdv?
     
  11. mianiak

    mianiak Registered

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    Blakboks, I see what your saying, I had tried to find a way to do that, like set it so I can just rotate the hands as if the were strapped to a block of wood or something and have the arms and shoulders follow. Infact that guide wheel I'm following would be a perfect thing, just somehow stick the hands to it and rotate it on it's local axis That would be perfect and a lot faster.
    I have never done animation before, this is my first taste of it and that video was made after about a month of finding a nice smooth process to follow. I only put it up to help other people who are new to animations get a start on this, I did expect the more advanced 3dmax users to be beyond it :D
    So yeah, lets see what can be done to make it easier. You can use a custom skeleton, so if there is a way to achieve something like what you said or what I wished for, then we should put it together and share the process. I just think that with the fingers and all, it is easier to use a biped.

    There is one thing though, I have been advised that you have to rig the biped/bones by using the vert submode in the physique modifier to select verts and connect them to the desired link because that is the way the game is currently setup to accept the data.

    And yeah, i think my driver is too far away from the wheel, I should fix that :D.
     
  12. mianiak

    mianiak Registered

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    Make sure you set the correct amount of frames, this is something I ran into a few times when I forgot to set them up.
    Just double check your settings with that pic ^^.
     
  13. SandroX

    SandroX Registered

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    Same for me... never done animation before, so can't understand the reason of it :(
     
  14. Montesky

    Montesky Registered

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    Same here too :S ... Any limitations with amount frames or animated mesh poly ???
     
  15. CdnRacer

    CdnRacer Banned

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    oooohhhhh Infineon! Very nice!
     
  16. Kristoff Rand

    Kristoff Rand Registered

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    very nice... great contribution.
     
  17. mianiak

    mianiak Registered

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    Has anyone been able to export the animation and get it to work?
    A lot of people seem to be running into the same problems here and I'm wondering what it is that people are missing.

    If those of you who are having problems can give me some details on the process your following, I might be able to figure out what your doing wrong.
     
  18. Montesky

    Montesky Registered

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    would be nice if you make a video tutorial with the correct process, At least the one that you have followed with good result...

    i will post here some rules in my failed process ;)
     
  19. sugarfoot

    sugarfoot Registered

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    Where do we find the driver model to put in 3ds max.

    I can't locate it anywhere.

    Thanks
     
  20. mianiak

    mianiak Registered

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    I slept on this issue and I think I see what's going on, if the driver has been imported or moved or resized then its going to cause issues. You will need to do the create plane attach detach thing..

    Move the driver model to centre of the scene first, then create a biped and roughly align the driver to it.
    Then when the driver is comfortably positioned inline with the biped, create a plane, convert to editable poly, attach the driver to it, then go to poly submode select all faces on the plane and delete it.
    Then once the biped is rigged, freeze the driver and only move the biped, never move the driver once its rigged up.
     

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