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Post by nukael on Apr 22, 2016 12:02:23 GMT -5
I succeeded in setting up a pipeline that allows me to convert Sims 3 animations to Sims 4. So far I've only converted 2 and I don't plan on doing any more. It was more a bit of a personal challenge project during my down time between professional engagements. I converted two magic animations from the magic book that is sold in the Sims 3 online store. You can view them here (the stuttering was in the video file and not in the game or animation itself): Click here to watch the animation video!I could not have done this without Sims 4 Studio and its export to Blender feature. This allowed me to get the animation into Motionbuilder and use its convertion tools to retarget the animations to the Sims 4 rig. Because just copying the Sims 3 animations over to the Sims 4 does not work. The origin points of the bones are different which makes for very interesting (and buggy) results if the animations aren't properly retargeted. It's a very involved process, though not overly complex (now that I've nailed down all the steps). Some observations I've made while working with the Sims 4 Studio exported Blender files: there seem to be some flipped edges in the meshes that are exported, causing 3ds Max 2015 to crash upon export when going from Blender to 3ds Max. Earlier versions of 3ds Max don't crash but just give a warning message (weird that the earlier versions can handle it, while later ones can't). But it's all good, I use the 2012 versions of the software and these work. I hope that the animation tutorials are forthcoming (like for the animated grandfather clock), because I'd like to try my hand on some new custom animations with custom interactions attached to them.
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Post by Mathcope on Apr 22, 2016 14:24:02 GMT -5
That is amazing! The animations look perfect, sure it is a hard process. Thanks for sharing!
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Post by fufu508 on Apr 22, 2016 20:52:58 GMT -5
Hi nukael , I'd love to try doing some conversions! Could you please list the steps & tools involved, at least in summary to start with? It looks like at least Motionbuilder is available to try out, going to see if I can get it set up.
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Post by nukael on Apr 23, 2016 12:05:37 GMT -5
Hey fufu508 ! I'm thinking of throwing together a quick video. I was writing out the steps, but it's gobblediegook without any pictures.
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Post by nukael on Apr 24, 2016 5:37:18 GMT -5
Hey, so I tried making a video tuturoail using 3Ds Max 2016 and Motionbuilder 2016 but it keeps crashing (I use 2012 versions of the software). So it seems unnecessary to make a tutorial since the current versions of the software don't work.
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Post by thepancake1 on Apr 26, 2016 5:05:56 GMT -5
I'd like to know more about this, even a written tutorial for the old versions is fine. It seems really exciting to be able to port animations from one game to another!
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Post by schnapps on Apr 30, 2016 8:45:59 GMT -5
Wanted to chime in on this, I have been messing with retargeting sims 3/4 animations using Motionbuilder also. While I have been able to successfully retarget sims animations for use in Unreal and Unity, I am still having issues getting sims 3 animations into Sims 4. I believe the culprit is importing the retargeted sims 4 animation into Blender.
Could you share your Import settings?
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Post by nukael on May 11, 2016 4:36:25 GMT -5
schnappsAre you going from Motionbuilder straight into Blender? I've found that it doesn't work if I do that. I have to first send the Motionbuilder file over to 3Ds Max (through File => send to => 3Ds Max). I also bake(plot) the animation to the Control Rig (NOT the skeleton!) in Motionbuilder before sending it over to 3Ds Max. In 3Ds Max I then export to an FBX file. The default profile "Autodesk multimedia" (something like that I think it's called) should be fine. Just make sure that "convert dummies into bones" is checked, but it should be checked by default. The FBX I exported from 3ds Max I import into Blender. BUT! Make sure you're using Blender 2.77 to import (I leave all options to default). 2.70 does NOT support animation on FBX files, so it will lose the animation. Even though Sims4Studio needs 2.70 installed, you can have both versions installed of Blender along side each other (just give them different install folders). And Sims4Studio has no problem importing 2.77 Blender files I've noticed. I've found that the Blender animation preview is a good gauge on whether the animation will work in game or not. Basically if your mesh isn't moving in Blender, but you see deformation helpers (the aforementioned "dummies") animating, the animation won't work. If you see bones and the mesh moving (even if the mesh is all screwed up), the animations have worked fine in the game.
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Post by schnapps on May 16, 2016 18:19:35 GMT -5
I followed your advice and did the animation plotting to the control rig then imported into 3DS max > Blender 2.77.
What I finally figured out what the biggest issue was,in Blender with the retargeted animation I need to go in and remove all the location and scale keys on the rig for everything other than the bind_root bone. This is a real time consuming process so far. I'm fiddling around with Blender's UI to see if there's an easier way to do it.
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Post by schnapps on May 16, 2016 18:48:48 GMT -5
jeesh, I completely ignored the search button in the dopesheet interface. Well there goes another complicated step cut down!
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Post by nukael on May 18, 2016 5:44:28 GMT -5
That's interesting... What problems were you having when you didn't delete the the location and scale keys on the rig?
So that means you can export from 3Ds Max to FBX? What version are you using? Because with me only 2012 works. 2015 crashes when I'm trying to export to FBX.
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Post by thepancake1 on May 18, 2016 7:41:24 GMT -5
That's interesting... What problems were you having when you didn't delete the the location and scale keys on the rig? So that means you can export from 3Ds Max to FBX? What version are you using? Because with me only 2012 works. 2015 crashes when I'm trying to export to FBX. Also tried doing this, and it crashes upon exporting to FBX. I wonder why?
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Post by nukael on May 18, 2016 9:37:47 GMT -5
That's interesting... What problems were you having when you didn't delete the the location and scale keys on the rig? So that means you can export from 3Ds Max to FBX? What version are you using? Because with me only 2012 works. 2015 crashes when I'm trying to export to FBX. Also tried doing this, and it crashes upon exporting to FBX. I wonder why? As far as I can tell, the way Sims4Studio exports the meshes is in a way that the new 2015 FBX can't handle. It's something to do with edges being flipped and vertice assignment (is my guestimate). So are you still using the 3Ds Max pipeline or going from Motionbuilder straight to Blender? Or do you do it all in Blender now?
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Post by sammoyke on May 19, 2016 16:33:32 GMT -5
Man this is super awesome. I am not a creator in this sense so I can't really offer anything constructive I just wanted to gush over it a little. I miss so many of the sims 2 animation ( i never played s3) and I keep hoping something like converting animations from previous games would be possible for certain mod objects , this gives me hope to see something like that in the future by someone. Awesome job.
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Post by nahuel3d on Nov 9, 2016 21:16:56 GMT -5
Awesome. Glad i found this, i was trying to use Merge Animation from 3Ds Max and that thing is terrible! I'm going to try to do this, i'll tell you if it works. Thank you!
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