Hi

I have a 3d object in iClone6 (aircraft) with animated parts - wheels, props, wheel covers, etc.

The goal is to bring this into Unreal.

I'm following the Character Creator to Unreal tutorial as it explains copying animations from iClone to 3DXchange.

I would like to know if I have the wrong version of iClone 6 (Pro) or 3DXchange 6 (Pro) or if my issue is that what I want to do needs to be a character and not an object.

In my animation timeline, there is no Motion track.  I have my Transform track which is where I keyed my rotations.  If I copy out of Collect Clip, I have an option to save the animation, but I do not have the option that is in the tutorial that allows me to copy the animation into 3DXchange.

If someone would be kind enough to clear up my process confusion, or general confusion, I would be most grateful.

Thanks,

Tim

There are surely times when it is good to be stubborn.  Knowing when is the gift of experience.

Characters and props are handled differently.

Props have an Animation track and an Animation Layer, where you would find animation clips for example that specify motions of the prop, such as Move Forward for a car. Using Collect Clip, any animation is saved with the prop as a Perform option. Once the animation is thus added to the Perform, it is exported with the prop and will show up in 3DXchange. This will be better explained in the manual or hopefully a tutorial. The important thing is that you should not look at how things are done for characters because that is different.

Once in 3DXchange you will need to export as FBX and that is only possible with the Pipeline version.

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Hi animagic

Thank you once again for coming to my aid.  I did save my animation as a perform option.

I selected my model and clicked on Edit in 3DXchange.  When 3dXChange opens it tells me that there is animation information in the file and that it is deleting it.  I have no input in the discussion.

I think the bottom line on my issue is in your other statement which is that I will need the Pipeline version of 3DXchange.  Do I need the pipeline version of iclone 6 AND the pipeline version of 3dXChange or do I only need the pipeline version of 3dXChange.

It seems as though every time I try to do anything with Reallusion software I need to purchase yet another upgrade.  I have tied up so much money in this software that it is getting ridiculous considering it's just a hobby.  Sorry to vent on pricing, but I am on a limited income.

Please let me know if I need to upgrade both packages.  That will likely kill my project.

Thanks,

Tim

There are surely times when it is good to be stubborn.  Knowing when is the gift of experience.

There is only a Pro version of iClone, so you're OK there, but you would need to upgrade 3DXchange.

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Thanks for the clarification on the software question animagic.

I would like to see how things look in 3DXchange. I would like to learn as much as I can about this until I get the upgrade.  I'm wondering if I copied the wrong track or did something else wrong.  When I open the model from 3DXchange using the iClone Edit in 3DXchange, I do still get the message saying that the animation is going to be removed.  The Animation section / Motion Library was the first place I looked since the only intention was to see if the track was there.  It is not.  I will go back through the 3DXchange and iClone documentation to see what I am doing wrong.  

The help is appreciated

Tim

There are surely times when it is good to be stubborn.  Knowing when is the gift of experience.

I have spent some extensive time with the manual(s) for both 3dXchange and iClone 6.  The focus is clearly on character related animation and there is very little to do with non character related aspects.

The closest example is a building with an elevator.  1 motion, 1 object.  The process outlined folds the motion into the object via "merge sub-prop" inside Modify/Attach.  Clearly, you have to be completely finished with your animation, because after the merge, the object you are animating no longer exists as its own entity.

I did find my test object in Modify under Edit Animation Layer and it does contain the sub-props that I had attached.  When I select my item. I was expecting to see something in the animation track or animation layer track in the timeline.  There is nothing in either track.  There is only what I had keyed in the Transform track.

My test animation is one of the three landing gear.  In my model, the three landing gear are attached to another object.  (WheelWells)  If I look at WheelWells in the Edit Animation Layer section in modify, my three landing gear are not showing.  I presume that I will not see a bone structure in WheelWells unless I add some sort of Transform data and issue the merge sub-prop, but that would remove my ability to adjust the animation on the landing gear, so that can't be right.

I will look through all the tutorials and see if I can find something similar that shows animation of sub-props, but I don't recall seeing anything similar to what I am trying to do.

Thanks
Tim

There are surely times when it is good to be stubborn.  Knowing when is the gift of experience.

Ok, some progress sort of

I selected my test prop landing gear which I had key framed.  It was selected in Modify.  I did something right, but not sure how.

I know I opted to save my Collect Clip in perform (more than once actually.)  If I select my prop with the animation from inside the scene window, I can then right click on the prop in the main display window and I will have a perform line matching my saved perform. At that point I also get a horizontal bar in the Animation line of my prop in the timeline.

When I export this via Edit in 3DXchange, my saved perform is now showing up in the animation section with 3dXchange.

So, it looks like I am almost ready to go off and do some serious damage now.  I have 20 clips to create and then another 20 to reverse them.  Eventually they will be tied on "a few to one" keys so that several fire at the same time on a key press.

Tim

There are surely times when it is good to be stubborn.  Knowing when is the gift of experience.

I'm glad you're on your way and that I was able to assist you.

I could have added as clarification that once you have added an action to the Perform using Create Clip, you can then double-check by right-clicking your prop and see if there is a Perform option in the pop-up menu with the motion you saved:



To double-check, you could delete the original motion, and then select the motion from the Perform option to see if it works as expected.

You can now delete any animation from the timeline, and the message in 3DXchange will no longer appear. 

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animagic

Thanks for the information and assistance

Tim

There are surely times when it is good to be stubborn.  Knowing when is the gift of experience.