Couldn't decide whether to post this in XChange or not, but here's the dealio: let's say I create the perfect animation by a combination of blending clips, doing puppet stuff, importing mocap and fiddling around.  Is there any way now to export or save this as an iMotion file?  (Perhaps I'd like a whole series of characters to do these same sequences of moves in some other project).  

The long way around this question is I'm still trying to decide if I need the Pipeline or Pro of XChange and the only reason I can come up with is I *might* want to have the animation I've made on the timeline exported to Max.  But I can't find a way to get an entire timeline animation for any particular avatar exported, only the individual iMotion or other clips already in the library.  So I really need to know if there is a way to do that or not.

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Ah -- some day I need to watch ALL the tutorials RL puts out (then again, I DO have a life...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvCZuPUlIt4

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Um, could you elaborate on why you think it would be worthwhile buying pipeline?

I know Max well (I've used it since it was a DOS program -- was a beta tester, actually) although I haven't used it much in recent years.  But for character animation?  Um, blah.  iClone blows away Max in that regard.  And that's all I really want to do nowadays.

I tried the export FBX with animation to Max and wasn't impressed -- the model (Heidi - naked) kind of fell apart around the shoulders and, of course, lost hair physics.  I don't want to go through the extreme headache of working with hair in Max (don't get me started -- that was ANOTHER thing I was beta on and they still haven't gotten it right, although it's better).  I love soft cloth stuff in iClone as well.  Honestly, if it weren't for the so-so render in iClone I wouldn't be worried one whit about "losing" Max in that regard (since I can always import any models I do in Max into iClone).

Biped and skinning in Max have always been a PITA but even if I got them rock solid I'd have to wonder why I'd even bother.  I keep looking at all the reasons I'd want Pipeline versus Pro and it really just comes down to perhaps wanting to render in Max and I'm thinking that's just something I'll have to live without (at my age life is WAY too short to even consider Indigo).

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Yeah, I'm going to guess that either one or both of you have educational licenses of MB or are full-time animators (and good on you).

I'm retired and only have Max through the good graces of a former employer.  Can't afford MB (nor to upgrade the Max version I have) so those options aren't really available to me.  

And I've no doubt that you can tweak things in either of those tools and get something very nice -- but I suspect it's overkill if all you're going to do is render in iClone.  Which is to say, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and getting photo real motions ain't gonna do you any good if you end up rendering using iClone (and using Indigo is just too time consuming for character animation without a render farm -- again, nothing I have the resources for anymore).

But you guys are both very helpful -- it's convinced me I do not need pipeline, which I was worried about (honestly, at my level of hobbyist interest in this stuff anymore, I'm not even sure I need iClone, but I'm having fun and that's probably the best use case out of any software I buy nowadays).

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Are you talking about correcting iMotion files?  Or do you mean using Max for mesh work (i.e. exporting iClone characters and working on them in Max).

If the former then I have some interest, but I have almost zero interest working on character meshes in Max (which, by mentioning UV and texture baking, I assume you mean).  So far, at least, I have no issues with using CC and getting reasonable results without further mesh manipulation (given all the tools inside of iClone that can be used for that).

But I'm always willing to listen, so if you can be specific as to what you are talking about (and the more specific the more helpful it would be for me -- examples would be dynamic!) I'm definitely able to be convinced.

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Hmmm, there may be a disconnect here.  I'm not at all familiar with iClone prior to 6, so I can't say how tough blending actions might have been, but it's sure easy in 6.  That's one of the things that sold me on using it -- you can easily blend between all kinds of animations in seconds.  That and all the tools you can use to add to your animations.

So at least with that I don't have much reason for wanting easier blending.  Now as to reaction -- don't really know what you mean but a cursory look at Max seems to show it as one object reacting to another -- again, not something I really care much about (I'm an old school animator who believes you should animate each character separately, even if they are interacting with each other in the animation).

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

I do appreciate the discussions, though, so thanks for that.

If there comes a day when I find I need to go back to Max (from iClone -- I'm sure I'll be going the other direction) I guess I can always upgrade to Pipeline (perhaps version 7 will be out by then :>).

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley