• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

Blender Quest for Animated People - distorted animation in MSFS

Losco Nosciuto

Losco Nosciuto

Messages
134
Country
italy
Well, that structure is "standard" as in any suggestion out there (Armature, parent of mesh, parent of an Empty). About the glTF extension, Vitus seems unreachable since a long time, BUT the Asobo file format extension is implemented. But I agree that some tiny bits of it might be somehow not properly working producing this kind of artefacts when animating.

Worth noticing one thing. Standard animations do work.
It's just rigged animation which have this issue
 
Photosbykev

Photosbykev

Messages
62
Country
unitedkingdom
Losco Nosciuto said:
Well, that structure is "standard" as in any suggestion out there (Armature, parent of mesh, parent of an Empty). About the glTF extension, Vitus seems unreachable since a long time, BUT the Asobo file format extension is implemented. But I agree that some tiny bits of it might be somehow not properly working producing this kind of artefacts when animating.

Worth noticing one thing. Standard animations do work.
It's just rigged animation which have this issue
Click to expand...
Agreed, I use the Vitus/BestDani plugin and I've tried the FBW version with similar results. Keyframed animations work fine through the exporter plugin, the UFO is a simple animation. Hopefully the FBW plugin will continue to be developed and include bone animation.

Kev
 
Last edited:
Lagaffe

Lagaffe

Resource contributor
Messages
860
Country
france
Hello,

A) For the export module from Vitus, all is centralized here by TML: https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/t...ast-version-there-will-be.452598/#post-882720

B) For thoses who have problems during export from MSFSToolkit, do you have try to export with the plugin made by FlyByWire: msfs2Blender2msfs ( https://github.com/flybywiresim/msfs2blender2msfs ) ? Perhaps the result should be better than the Vitus's plugin ?

One point to note with this FBW plugin: materials are defined below the heading "MSFS Materials" and Vitus's materials are under "MSFS Materials Params" so it is a little dangerous if you don't take care of this point.
Soory: I answered too late
 
Photosbykev

Photosbykev

Messages
62
Country
unitedkingdom
Christian Bahr said:
Sorry, but I just had a laughing fit. The alien, he looks like he's actually one of those Terminators from the science fiction film Terminator. They could also liquefy (some kind of mercury stuff) :D;)

My assumption is and has always been that the Blender glTF Exporter module has an error or does not process or can not process all relevant information. The FBX file and the 3dsm file can be exported without any problems and do not cause any errors. The people are produced by me as if on an assembly line - it's a standard process.

My idea would be to contact the developer of the Blender glTF export module to work with him on a solution. I don't know the export module, and I can't say why it might be. Where can I download it, how do I install it?

Perhaps it is important to mention in this context that the MSFS glTF format has a special modification to the "normal" glTF format. This is expressly emphasized in the documentation of the SDK!

Another approach is to create an animation group that includes both the bones and the mesh. In 3dsm, animations are created using the MSFS SDK tool "Babylon Animation Groups". The tool is called "Babylon Animation Groups:

View attachment 74804
3dsm Babylon MSFS glTF SDK Tool - Babylon Animation Groups

View attachment 74805

It is important that the mesh and the bones are brought together in an animation group. Otherwise there are just those aliens and terminators as seen in the video from Kev :)
Click to expand...
Christian,

Where are you defining the name of the animation track in 3DS that we would normally manually add to the model.xml file?

regards
Kev
 
Last edited:
Christian Bahr

Christian Bahr

Resource contributor
Messages
951
Country
germany
Photosbykev said:
Christian,

Where are you defining the name of the animation track in 3DS that we would normally manually add to the model.xml file?

regards
Kev
Click to expand...
You mean the name of the animation group "carla"? I define it in the Babylon Animation Group tool and the name is referenced in the xml file, if you want to create a SimObject, the code looks like this, for example:

Code: 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ModelInfo version="1.1" guid="{be6f3f4c-c4e5-4665-9c8e-e1c40bf5b443}">
<Animation name="carla" guid="f3945d04-d487-4c4f-96de-3c054a1120ac" type="Standard" typeparam2="carla" typeparam="AutoPlay,Random" />

    <LODS>
        <LOD MinSize="0" ModelFile="carla.gltf"/>
    </LODS>

</ModelInfo>

<ModelBehaviors>

<Component ID="testperson" Node="carla">
<Visibility>
<Parameter>
<Code>(E:LOCAL TIME, Seconds) 18000 &gt;= (E:LOCAL TIME, Seconds) 86400 &lt;= and (A:AMBIENT PRECIP STATE, mask) 3.0 &lt; and if{ 1 } els{ 0 }</Code>
</Parameter>
</Visibility>
</Component>

</ModelBehaviors>
 
Photosbykev

Photosbykev

Messages
62
Country
unitedkingdom
Christian Bahr said:
You mean the name of the animation group "carla"? I define it in the Babylon Animation Group tool and the name is referenced in the xml file, if you want to create a SimObject, the code looks like this, for example:

Code: 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ModelInfo version="1.1" guid="{be6f3f4c-c4e5-4665-9c8e-e1c40bf5b443}">
<Animation name="carla" guid="f3945d04-d487-4c4f-96de-3c054a1120ac" type="Standard" typeparam2="carla" typeparam="AutoPlay,Random" />

    <LODS>
        <LOD MinSize="0" ModelFile="carla.gltf"/>
    </LODS>

</ModelInfo>

<ModelBehaviors>

<Component ID="testperson" Node="carla">
<Visibility>
<Parameter>
<Code>(E:LOCAL TIME, Seconds) 18000 &gt;= (E:LOCAL TIME, Seconds) 86400 &lt;= and (A:AMBIENT PRECIP STATE, mask) 3.0 &lt; and if{ 1 } els{ 0 }</Code>
</Parameter>
</Visibility>
</Component>

</ModelBehaviors>
Click to expand...
That is what I was after, tyvm Christian. Normally I have only used the top half of the xml code above for simple rotational animations and in blender you can name the animation track and then use that in this code snippet Animation name="carla".

Kev
 
Photosbykev

Photosbykev

Messages
62
Country
unitedkingdom
Christian Bahr said:
You mean the name of the animation group "carla"? I define it in the Babylon Animation Group tool and the name is referenced in the xml file, if you want to create a SimObject, the code looks like this, for example:

Code: 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ModelInfo version="1.1" guid="{be6f3f4c-c4e5-4665-9c8e-e1c40bf5b443}">
<Animation name="carla" guid="f3945d04-d487-4c4f-96de-3c054a1120ac" type="Standard" typeparam2="carla" typeparam="AutoPlay,Random" />

    <LODS>
        <LOD MinSize="0" ModelFile="carla.gltf"/>
    </LODS>

</ModelInfo>

<ModelBehaviors>

<Component ID="testperson" Node="carla">
<Visibility>
<Parameter>
<Code>(E:LOCAL TIME, Seconds) 18000 &gt;= (E:LOCAL TIME, Seconds) 86400 &lt;= and (A:AMBIENT PRECIP STATE, mask) 3.0 &lt; and if{ 1 } els{ 0 }</Code>
</Parameter>
</Visibility>
</Component>

</ModelBehaviors>
Click to expand...
Ok now this getting frustrating lol. Are there any reference video tutorials for using the Babylon animation group function in 3DS for MSFS? I can see what you did with the Carla 3DS file but outputting her into MSFS just isn't happening for me.

best regards
Kev
 
Photosbykev

Photosbykev

Messages
62
Country
unitedkingdom

Christian Bahr said:
You mean the name of the animation group "carla"? I define it in the Babylon Animation Group tool and the name is referenced in the xml file, if you want to create a SimObject, the code looks like this, for example:

Code: 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<ModelInfo version="1.1" guid="{be6f3f4c-c4e5-4665-9c8e-e1c40bf5b443}">
<Animation name="carla" guid="f3945d04-d487-4c4f-96de-3c054a1120ac" type="Standard" typeparam2="carla" typeparam="AutoPlay,Random" />

    <LODS>
        <LOD MinSize="0" ModelFile="carla.gltf"/>
    </LODS>

</ModelInfo>

<ModelBehaviors>

<Component ID="testperson" Node="carla">
<Visibility>
<Parameter>
<Code>(E:LOCAL TIME, Seconds) 18000 &gt;= (E:LOCAL TIME, Seconds) 86400 &lt;= and (A:AMBIENT PRECIP STATE, mask) 3.0 &lt; and if{ 1 } els{ 0 }</Code>
</Parameter>
</Visibility>
</Component>

</ModelBehaviors>
Click to expand...

Hi Christian, I finally got Carla to strut her stuff in the sim :) so at least the process works lol. A question re workflow for the Animation group dialogue box. After selecting the mesh and the rig I'm opening the animation group dialogue and seeing everything I've selected in the righthand window. Do I then hit Confirm (to confirm the selection) before hitting Create? or is it the other way around? Is it normal for the animation name to be red before you create the group?

At the moment I think I'm doing it correctly but my little alien friend is showing up correctly in the sim but isn't animated.

regards
Kev
 
Last edited:
Photosbykev

Photosbykev

Messages
62
Country
unitedkingdom
Got it sorted after about 20 hours of 'playing' with buttons and tweaking stuff I didn't even know I could tweak :) You would not believe how happy I am finally getting these guys in the sim :)
. A massive thanks to Christian for putting me on the right path
 
Christian Bahr

Christian Bahr

Resource contributor
Messages
951
Country
germany
Wow, apparently you're the first to conjure up an animated character in MSFS with the help of Blender. My sincere congratulations. The devil will soon be rid of here and hopefully you will be bombarded with questions ;)

The dancing alien is really strong! 😂
 
Mikea.at

Mikea.at

Messages
372
Country
austria
There is a animated flag thread where they find out how to export bone animations in blender.

The default state is the key.

www.fsdeveloper.com

MSFS - Blender cloth simulation baked to bones

I wrote some more scripts which now need nearly no manual clicking, weight painting etc. anymore. I will definitely share them but until now I cannot get a corrrect animation working. And so I'll wait until this is fixed. Could somebody of you help me what is wrong? The flag gets "exaggerated"...
www.fsdeveloper.com www.fsdeveloper.com
 
Losco Nosciuto

Losco Nosciuto

Messages
134
Country
italy
Photosbykev said:
Got it sorted after about 20 hours of 'playing' with buttons and tweaking stuff I didn't even know I could tweak :) You would not believe how happy I am finally getting these guys in the sim :)
. A massive thanks to Christian for putting me on the right path
Click to expand...
Any chance you can share how you achieved this result? ;)
 
Photosbykev

Photosbykev

Messages
62
Country
unitedkingdom
Christian Bahr said:
Wow, apparently you're the first to conjure up an animated character in MSFS with the help of Blender. My sincere congratulations. The devil will soon be rid of here and hopefully you will be bombarded with questions ;)

The dancing alien is really strong! 😂
Click to expand...
Sorry Christian, I don't want to mislead anyone this is with 3DS Max NOT Blender following all the information you kindly provided in the thread. I just couldn't get it working in Blender, and I tried a lot lol. For my needs Blender is more than enough so I really hope people like Mike get a workflow for Blender as I would much prefer to use it over 3DS Max.

Kev
 
Christian Bahr

Christian Bahr

Resource contributor
Messages
951
Country
germany
That was probably a big misunderstanding. Actually, I was hoping that there would be a big burst of ideas about what you can do with character animations in Blender.

Maybe there is still a way to go. Otherwise, an Indi-License for 3dsm is recommended to everyone :)
 
Photosbykev

Photosbykev

Messages
62
Country
unitedkingdom
Christian Bahr said:
That was probably a big misunderstanding. Actually, I was hoping that there would be a big burst of ideas about what you can do with character animations in Blender.

Maybe there is still a way to go. Otherwise, an Indi-License for 3dsm is recommended to everyone :)
Click to expand...
I couldn't justify getting 3DS max any other way lol. I'm old and retired so I'm in this to have fun and keep the brain cells active
 
T

trfsd

Messages
149
Dick, many of the animated models that folks are struggling with seem to come into Blender with some scaling or rotation issues (which I think is the source of the problem). Your Carla model has a clean scale of 1.0 and no rotations. Did it come into Blender that way, or did you fix any scaling and/or rotation issues after importing into Blender? Did you create your Blender model by importing the FBX file that Christian posted? If so, what import settings did you use in Blender?
 
Last edited:
rhumbaflappy

rhumbaflappy

Administrator
Staff member
Resource contributor
Messages
5,944
Country
us-wisconsin
This is from Christian's 3dMax, I exported it from babylon as gltf. I then imported the gltf with the standard blender gltf importer. I specified the correct PNG to the MSFS settings. I then exported as MSFS gltf, constructed the SimObject package, compiled. It works. The included blend file should also work as I took that from the imported 3dsMax.

I'm not sure what we were doing wrong, but comparing our failed versions to the good one should give the clue.
 
Christian Bahr

Christian Bahr

Resource contributor
Messages
951
Country
germany
rhumbaflappy said:
I hope this is appropriate Christian. If not I'll delete the post.
Click to expand...
Yes and no. Is it possible to put the Carla Simobject in the download and offer the whole thing to the users here in the forum as a resource?

It would be really very helpful if you could reveal some information. Then one of my greatest wishes could finally come true. Namely that the Blender developers bring us a little more variety in my and our hobby with their numerous and certainly great ideas :)
 
Christian Bahr

Christian Bahr

Resource contributor
Messages
951
Country
germany
rhumbaflappy said:
This is from Christian's 3dMax, I exported it from babylon as gltf. I then imported the gltf with the standard blender gltf importer. I specified the correct PNG to the MSFS settings. I then exported as MSFS gltf, constructed the SimObject package, compiled. It works. The included blend file should also work as I took that from the imported 3dsMax.

I'm not sure what we were doing wrong, but comparing our failed versions to the good one should give the clue.
Click to expand...
Then Carla is a glTF file exported from Blender, Dick?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top