Hi chaps

Are there any examples or documented workflows for getting from C4D to Away3D?
I’m trying 2 different scenarios, using C4D R15 Studio, with Away Tools exporter, Away 3D current version and Away Builder 1.0.0.0 Gold.

Scenario 1: Cube rotates over 30 frames. I have tried lots of different things but cannot get the animation into Away Builder.

Scenario 2: Simple biped rig with a walk cycle. Again no animation in Away Builder.

really, I need a workflow or example of what’s involved, if any one can help that would br great!

Thanks
Paul

I ran into the exact same problem you had.  the current versions of the exporter isnt working properly when it comes to exporting animations.  i found a very early version of the exporter (i don’y have a copy on this computer, otherwise i’d send you a dropbox link) and used that.  here’s the workflow i used to get my animations out of c4d and into away -

-create and animate model
-make a copy of the skeleton
-place skeleton tag on the original, animation tag on the copy
-delete all the keyframes from the original
-on the copy, add a keyframe on the root of the skeleton on EVERY frame
-export

that worked for me.  it’s not ideal, but it worked.  hopefully, the current version of the exporter will be fixed/updated soon.  i burned almost an entire week trying to figure out why my animations wouldn’t export

Hey Guys

sorry for no documentation on the animations.
right now i am working on maya/3dsmaxexporter, and will refactor the c4d-plugin once the other both are finsihed.
Once thats all done, all the exporters will be more similair in their workflow, and all will be documentated.

i pushed some fixes to the git at the end of last year.
still there are some bugs left, but it should be in a working state right now.
i included a check for update in the plugin-gui (file-menu->checkForUpdate), so you can easily check if your on the latest version.

for the workflow for skeleton-animations:

- create and animate model
- make a copy of the skeleton
- place skeleton tag on the original, animation tag on the copy
- delete all the keyframes from the original
- on the copy, add a keyframe on the root of the skeleton on EVERY frame
- export

yes, this should work (in the current version).
better always save before export.
you can add this steps:

- add a null object
- add a AWDAnimationSet-tag to the null-object
in the AWDAnimationSet-tag:
  - fill in the “AnimationSet”-textfield (away3d-name for the AnimationSet)
  - link the skinned polygon-object into the “targetMesh” linkbox.
- make your previous copied joint hirarchy (the one with the animation-tag) child of the previous created null-object (the one with the AnimationSet-tag)
- you can create multiple copies of your joint-hirarchy (with animation-tag) and all put them as childs of your null-object, to export a animationSet with multiple animationCLips
- apply a AWDAnimator-tag to the skinned polygon-object.
in the AWDAnimator-tag:
  - fill in the “Animator name”-textfield (away3d-name for the animator)
  - link the AWDAnimationSet-tag into the “AnimationSet” linkbox.
  - link the AWDSkeleton-tag into the “Skeleton” linkbox.
  - “Active ANimation”-linkbox is not used atm

- save your scene
- export  

this should create a awd file including Animator and ANimationSet, so the object is ready to play the animation in AwayBuilder.

just tested and works fine, as long as all is setup correct.
for example if you forgot to fill out a name for a AWDAniator-tag, the exporter ccrashes on export, leaving you with a scene where all you objects are renamed to numbers. this will be solved with the next updates of the code, but for now: save scene before export.

there are some restrictions when exporting skeletons to away3d:
- no joint can be scaled (have scale other than 1/1/1).
- all joints must be part of the same hirarchy (one root-joint)
- all skinned meshes must have a binding-matrix thats the identity-matrix (when skinning, the mesh must have a matrix of (pos = 0/0/0 rot= 0/0/0 scale = 1/1/1))

The plugin contains a button “check-selected-skeleton”. This should check your animation-setup (selected AWDSkeletonTag), and automaticcly correct it if needed.

for the workflow for vertex-animations:

- create a copy of your animated object. Lets call this newly created copy ‘BaseMesh’. This should be your animated object in default-position.
- exclude the original object from export using the AWDObjectSettings-tag.
- apply a VertexAnimationClip-tag to your original object (animated polygon-object)
- link the BaseMesh to the Target-Mesh-linkbox of the VertexAnimationClip-tag.
- adjust the timeline, so you it fits the animations
- if you polygon is not animated directly by PLA-Animation, you need to enable the VertexAnimationClip-tag “Capture Deformer”
- in the plugin, click “bake selected vertexanimation”.
- this should prompt you with a popup, asking for a new name, and after entering the name, a new mesh object should be created under your original polygon-object. this contains the original animation as PLAAnimation (all frames are keyframes, but there are settings in the VertexAnimationClip that allow to reduce the keyframecount while bakeing).
- the newly created object has allready an VertexAnimationClip-tag applied.
- you can repeat the last few steps, to create multiple animations.
- create a Null-Object, add a AnimationSet-tag to it. give the animationSet a name, link the targetmesh (the Basemesh created earlier).
- put all the created animations (polygon-objects that are holding the VertexAnimationClip-tags) as childs of the Null-object thats holding the animationSet.
- apply a Animator-tag to the BaseMesh.
- link the AnimationSet-tag to the AnimationSet linkbox of the Animator-tag.
- insert a name for the Animator-name

- save scene
- export

here are two c4d example scenes, that are working for me.
http://www.differentdesign.de/downloads/good_old_polarbear_in_c4d

hope that is any help.

cheers

Thanks so much for the info guys, looking forward to trying out again now armed with more info.

I’ll let you know how I get on.

thanks

Paul

np. i like to see people using my stuff.

just to elaborate on your initial question:

paulsouthport - 28 January 2014 02:11 PM

Scenario 1: Cube rotates over 30 frames. I have tried lots of different things but cannot get the animation into Away Builder.

both AWD and AwayBuilder have no support for scene-animation (object positions etc) yet.
you can only use skeleton-animation or vertex-animation to animate the geometry-objects.

your rotating cube could be simply done by loading the cube without any animation (in away3d you can access it via its name), and than add the animation manually in a onEnterFrame in your project…

OK, understood, thanks. Really, my intention was to test with the simplest possible scenario, hence the rotating cube. Obviously, in real life that would be a pretty pointless animation to key frame, given the face it can be done in code.

Thanks again, great plugin!