Hi guys,
I’m completely new to Away3D, so maybe my question will be a bit stupid.
So, my goal was to create a simple skeletal animation and see it using the AWD exporter’s preview (no AS yet).

What I exactly did was:
- downloaded the newest wad exporter for Max, installed it
- in 3ds max 2013 I created a simple cylinder
- created 3 bones inside it
- added all the bones to the cylinder using the skin modifier
- in frame 10 i bent the middle bone
- copied frame 0 to frame 20
- I got a simple animation of straight cylinder - bent cylinder - straight cylinder
- clicked on the little floppy icon (Export AWD)
- chose a file name and used the default setting in the exported (everything is checked under “Animation”)
- chose “open awd in browser” under preview
- 8 out of 10 times either the exporter, or 3ds crashed, but I don’t really care

So my browser opened and I saw my cylinder without animation. I opened the awd file in Prefab (got the usual uvw warning) and saw the same cylinder without animation.

Did I miss something? What shall I do to - at least - see the animation?
An help will be mostly appreciated.

Ok, found out. It’s quite simple: the awd exporter is either incomplete or broken.
Downloaded the md5 exporter and exported the exact same scene and it worked (also with a biped and no bones). No Prefab warnings, no extra panel in 3dsMax, no headaches.

Hi Tamas,

The 3dsMax Exporter works fine for me, though it can be a little tricky to get working. The reason it’s failed for you is because you’ve missed out a few of the necessary steps. I believe there is a button in the AWD toolbar in 3dsMax for opening the instruction manual, though I’ll include a link to the PDF here. What you need is on page 25, but basically, what you need to do is apply the AWDSkeleton modifier to the root node of your skeleton, and then set it up. I don’t recall all the steps right now, though the PDF should help. You should also be careful to make sure your mesh’s feet are at 0,0,0 for the neutral pose and it isn’t scaled or rotated in anyway; this can cause some problems later on.

I hope this helps.
Yan

Thank you Yan.
I read that manual a few days ago. My problem was that I wasn’t really able to get what the writer was saying. I mean it was written what this or that button does, but nothing about their purpose. To be precise, let’s take this example:
“Adds a new AWDAnimationSet-modifier to the selected object.”
Why should I do that? What does it do? And what if I omit it? What does this mean for me when coding? Is there an example? So many questions…
I think I will stick with the md5 exporter which doesn’t even require the mesh to be positioned at 0,0,0. Maybe, when I will have more experience in Away3D, I will check out the awd exporter a bit deeper. But now, I’m still trying to learn the basics

Tamas - 13 February 2015 03:17 PM

Ok, found out. It’s quite simple: the awd exporter is either incomplete or broken.
Downloaded the md5 exporter and exported the exact same scene and it worked (also with a biped and no bones). No Prefab warnings, no extra panel in 3dsMax, no headaches.

hey Tamas, which md5 exporter did you used? and 3ds max version?

The md5 exporter was this file: http://home.mnet-online.de/der/3dsmax-md5exporter.zip (the installer) and I used 3DSmax 2013 (64bit).
The readme file for the exporter stars with this:

Md5Exporter script for 3dsmax (all versions from 4.0 up)
=========================================================

Exports animated characters and cameras from 3dsmax to MD5 (Doom3 engine format)
Copyright (C) 2004-2008 der_ton, tom-(at)gmx.de,
            “der_ton” on http://www.doom3world.org