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How do you, in XSI mod tool 6.0, Make a new saber anim?

Basically just like this:
http://www.gametoast.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=11810

Read Gogie's post.

do have to make the anim with the saber in the hand?

no you need only the bones, rigs...
i tryied to make the anim with the mesh still on the bones and it isnt working at me

Quick tutorial to save the day!

first off create 4 different layers open up the layer editor by pressing the 6 key. name them ###_bones, ###_rig, ###_mesh, ###_shadow volume... like so.


no layer should be visible or selectable except your bones layer...

next close off your layer window and open up an explorer window (8 key), after that is open press the "L" key to arrange your objects and bones into the layer. arrange them like so...




after all that is done, select the bones you wish to use for this animations and hit the C key to rotate them to where you want them to be in this animation, when it is done rotated to your satisfactory, hit the image of the key at the bottom of your screen (it should be either yellow or green) remember, every part of an attack can not be over 10 frames long (except the final attack which can be 20 frames), dont forget to put a key frame at frames 0, 1 and 10, and don't forget to hide frame 0 (since its your basepose) and start your animation at frame 0. you should ocassionally make sure none of your mesh colides with anoter part of it, check this by unhiding the mesh layer and playing your animations.



when your animations is complete prepare to export, i find it easier to overwrite an existing player animations and then just rename it after the animation munge. (branch select the DummyRoot and make sure your mesh layer is hidden)

when you export your screen should look like this. (for this example im rewriting the dooku animations)


now munge your animation by going to C:\BF2_ModTools\data_###\Animations\SoldierAnimationBank\dooku and clicking on munge.bat....

after that go to C:\BF2_ModTools\data_###\Sides\CIS\MUNGED and rename dooku.zafbin, dooku.zafbin and dooku.anims to [youranimation].zaabin etc.

rewrite yoyur characters odf file to say
AnimationName = "[youranimation]"

munge your world and your done.

[edit: set your frame selection to fram 1 before exportation]

okay... where is the export button?



can you upload some pictures of where to click and what to do? or just record it?


There isn't any 'pandemic tools' there...

What mode is it i need to change to? (if i need to change it)

i must sound like an complete idiot...

Thank you for all your help, Master Ace. i found the addon on the gametoast main site.

ok finished... it just says
. i find this 'runmeonce' .exe file, but when i launches it, it just says 'FATAL ERROR: RunMeOnce has stopped working.

You don't need layers.
If you're using unit_template_beta you don't need to export a basepose either since these are already in the assets, just animate the bones and export the animation.
If you animate using IK, expressions or constraints then you'll need to plot the animation to the bones before exporting, bones need keys to work in SWBF2, keys on bone chain roots and effectors are no good.
Press F1 and have a look through the XSI docs for more information about animating and also look through the animation_guide.doc for guidelines to follow.


Edit: yukisuna changed her question about layers while posting my reply

yukisuna wrote:okay... where is the export button?

File>Pandemic Tools>Export Mesh

yukisuna wrote:There isn't any 'pandemic tools' there...

You need to install the PandemicBF2.xsiaddon first!

yukisuna wrote:ok finished... it just says 'cant create something i dont know what is (line 81 somethingsomething) C: Users:******** (wont say my real name)Softimage:addons:pandemicbf2:something:something:something. i find this 'runmeonce' .exe file, but when i launches it, it just says 'FATAL ERROR: RunMeOnce has stopped working. ill just forget everything. i cant solve this problem...

http://www.gametoast.com/viewtopic.php?p=240830#p240830
^assuming you have Vista

Further to what Ace said about plotting the animation to bones, you should also remove the constraints as well as making sure the chain bone IK FK blend weight is set to 0 (FK) from the default of 1 (IK) or you animation may do some wierd things





*think we got them to do this yet Ace

Gogie wrote:Quick tutorial to save the day!

first off create 4 different layers.......

Frag, i went right about here....

I've been trying to export character animations for a while now and it always crashes when I press export. I haave 6.0 and my xsiaddon is installed correctly. I have keyframes at 1 and 10 and it is allll set up correctly. What is the answer? Is there some trick I'm missing?

Snork wrote:I've been trying to export character animations for a while now and it always crashes when I press export. I haave 6.0 and my xsiaddon is installed...

Read THIS thread.
You can animate in Mod Tool or any version of XSI but you still need to get your scene into a version that is fully compatible with the PandemicBF2.xsiaddon if you want to export it to msh.

derp, thanks ace you're a real help to guys like me who don't know how to read :P

But wait... I read that already and my understanding is that there are only FOUR THIRTY DAY TRIALS

Hmm... do the math: 4 x 30days == 120days
Am I just missing something? Or will my animating endeavor only last me 120 days.

CalvaryCptMike wrote:But wait... I read that already and my understanding is that there are only FOUR THIRTY DAY TRIALS

Hmm... do the math: 4 x 30days == 120days
Am I just missing something? Or will my animating endeavor only last me 120 days.

Yep, that's about right unless you buy the full version of XSI.

When I was reading through the stuff I read that you can't buy the full version of XSI anymore
Am I just crazy? Either way it's well over $100 and I wouldn't even pay that much for it. Oh well.

you can also create the anims with a free version of xsi, then export them with crosswalk to xsi 5 text format and send them to somebody with the full version to export.