I'm going to try and start animating in XSI for Source here but I just wanted to make sure I'm doing it right.

Is the proper way of importing the arms into my gun model scene by using ValveSource>ImportSMD, then selecting the hands_reference.smd? Just want to make sure that's how it's done as I can't seem to find any info on the matter.

Also, where do you find the textures for the arms? I used Cannonfodder's MdlDecompiler but the textures don't seem to be included with the model decompile. Where are they then?

Thanks for being patient w/ the noob. :p

XSI SMDImport doesnt import bones. All it does is use "nulls" to mark the joint positions. The vertices are enveloped (weighted/assinged in old terminology) to these nulls.

The nulls are animated as per the SMD animation, however I don't believe their linked with forward or reverse IK as they are in Milkshape, Max, et. al. You may find that if you move a parent bone the child bones dont move with it. You'll have to test though - last time I tried XSI I had to abort as my model had too many polies for the exporter limit thus making it useless.

As for textures, in Source their no longer stored inside the model. ALL textures be it for maps, sprites, models, etc. are in the materials folder. VTF is the bitmap elements of the textures, VMT is the actual material applied to a surface (be it a wall or a model) and defines a material made up of one of more textures or effects.

I don't know if XSI supports VTF format, but if not, you'll need to decompile it to TGA or something else. I'd recommend using Nem's VTFEdit for that or my VTFTool.

Thanks. So I have to create the bones myself I take it? Also, I have tried moving parent nulls and the children do in fact move. But the converse is not true -- that means no IK if I understand things correctly? I assume that when I add the bones it'll be fine though right?

Honestly, the first sentence of your second paragraph was all Greek to me. Will have to mess around with this IK stuff outside of simply linking up the nulls with bones? I don't even know if that is a sensical question...clearly I have much to learn -- I may have to take a step back and do some animating tutorials or something.

But feel free to explain anything to me that might be of use. :) Meanwhile, it looks like I have some reading to do.

Side question though -- XSI materials -- blinn, phong, lambert, etc. -- do they affect the final compiled model in a Source mod? Do you have to define them somewhere (VMT?) in addition to applying them in XSI? How does that work? (Actually, I read in a Source doc that you apply a blinn material before applying the texture in XSI -- I didn't know what the reason behind it was though). Thanks again.

Originally posted by bazooka
Thanks. So I have to create the bones myself I take it? Also, I have tried moving parent nulls and the children do in fact move. But the converse is not true -- that means no IK if I understand things correctly? I assume that when I add the bones it'll be fine though right?


Well if say moving or rotating an upper arm bone makes the forearm, hand, fingers and other child bones move in relation to it then yes, there is a basic chain there.

If you want to make your own bones go for it, you can use the nulls as references as to where each bone needs to start/end however you'll either have to bind the nulls to the bones or re-envelope the vertices to the bones.

Honestly, the first sentence of your second paragraph was all Greek to me. Will have to mess around with this IK stuff outside of simply linking up the nulls with bones? I don't even know if that is a sensical question...clearly I have much to learn -- I may have to take a step back and do some animating tutorials or something.

Well maybe IK isn't the right work I should of used (can't remember if its forward or reverse IK) but what I meant is that if you think in terms of say Milkshape, when you move a bone that has other bones branching from it as children, e.g. clavicle->upper arm->fore arm->hand etc, the children move in relation to the parent.

I don't know if the nulls that SMDImport creates are linked to each other in chains or are just free standing and independant. If you take a bone and rotate it manually and the child bones dont rotate with it then no, their not linked and you'll need to recreate your hierarchy chain again.

Watch out for the Scene explorer though - just because nulls, etc. are show in a heirarchy doesn't mean their linked.

But feel free to explain anything to me that might be of use. :) Meanwhile, it looks like I have some reading to do.

I'm going to write about my adventures making a from scratch human model for Waldo some time over the weekend and post it here - it'll give you some idea of the process. Be warned though, you really need to plan what your doing and make sure one step is ready before moving onto the next. It may be a little less critical in XSI but I havent had a chance to look at it in any depth yet.

Side question though -- XSI materials -- blinn, phong, lambert, etc. -- do they affect the final compiled model in a Source mod? Do you have to define them somewhere (VMT?) in addition to applying them in XSI? How does that work? (Actually, I read in a Source doc that you apply a blinn material before applying the texture in XSI -- I didn't know what the reason behind it was though). Thanks again.

I honestly don't know but I shouldnt think so. I guess you can create materials using similar settings to the VMT (specular, normal, etc) and use the realtime shaders to simulate what the model will look like in game, however I'm not aware if XSI exports any material settings for a VMT.

Thanks, you given me quite a lot of info.

I'm just a little too confused by the null/bone hierarchy. Too darn many of them all in the same place. I don't know what's what.



Blah~

I'm gonna do some very basic, elementary animating before I get into this.

Thanks again, though, for the info. Btw, downloaded some of your and Nem's tools and they're quite handy!

Originally posted by Trp. Jed
I'm going to write about my adventures making a from scratch human model for Waldo some time over the weekend and post it here - it'll give you some idea of the process. Be warned though, you really need to plan what your doing and make sure one step is ready before moving onto the next. It may be a little less critical in XSI but I havent had a chance to look at it in any depth yet.

Should be interesting!