I’m not really sure how to do this?

simple merge or xref. but I doubt the merged characters size will match the other objects in the scene. you may end up having to resize and re-skin

Hey, what’s the RG3 format for?

Simply add all your objects that belong to the character (helpers, skinned mesh, etc) to your CATrig by using the “Add Rigging” button and save as RG3. You can recreate and even update your whole, complete rig by simply creating it in the scene with the CATParent. All objects you have added before will be created or updated. No XRefing, merging or exporting needed at all (RG3 was initially created to avoid using XRef!). Welcome to the world of RG3 ;-)

PS: I can’t believe here is no CAT expert who already pointed this guy into the right direction...?

By the way, if you need to resize your character, use the CAT Rig Resizer tool. Easy.

My CAT demoreel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfq-4VoeAPU

Thanks Grack!

I didnt point him in that direction because I havent had good results from the rig resizer or adding to the catparent. someone that has would have to endorse it.

RG3 Please every time I use it. It locks up max so bad I have to use the task manager to close Max. Yet another fine feature of CAT.
I think the people that are exsperts have a resone they do not talk about RG3. It does not work on a complex model. If I am wrong please prove me wrong by giveing a step by step on how to make this work. I followed the CAT manual on how to do it.
You are right tyree X ref or merge model into scene is what works. With X ref model with CAt you will soon find out a world of work around you will have to do to make up for cats short comings.

Well, I don’t know what’s in the wiki, I don’t look into there. I have saved and updated highly complex rigs with RG3 with hundreds of helper objects, custom controllers, script controllers, skinned meshes and what not. Sure there still are some issues for example it can freeze when you are updating a rig with a skinned mesh. To fix this you just need to hide the mesh first, then update. RG3 stores all custom controllers of your rig (Setup Mode), saves all objects that have been added as Extra Rigging and can also update them properly. There is no step-by-step instruction needed, just add your stuff to your CAT rig, save it and load it. I’m using this all the time and as I said, I’ve made highly complex rigs with this stuff, including CAT muscles and what not. Take a look at the boss monsters for the PC and Xbox title Venetica if you don’t believe me. Every character there was rigged and animated with CAT using RG3. There have been done over a hundred characters with this technique for Venetica. Philip Taylor has introduced RG3 because XRef was not good enough. Now I’m a bit wondering why you guys prefer XRef. Most of the time, it is user-error, for example there are a lot of users who try to link to the CATParent which is a big mistake.

Take a look at this guy, he has been rigged with CATMuscle and with a special wobbling muscles technique. For this technique a couple of helper objects and scripts were needed that drive the muscle wobbling. The whole rig was saved with RG3 and reloaded anytime needed.

Or we have a big snake that can peel itself and reveils its body. This rig is so complex I even don’t know how it was done anymore (well, hardly ;-)

I’m planning to give a rough overview about the functionality of these rigs soon via website or so. I will keep you updated.

My CAT demoreel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfq-4VoeAPU

I would love to see how this is done with models and that it is able to bring in a model just as a X ref were the models skin weighting, hair,cloth and textures are all in order. As of yet I am not able to do this. All I am getting is when I click on add rigging it crashes max.  From the amount of use that you say it has work great then it is must user error on my part and that I am missing something major. I look very forward to seeing how this is done.

hey I got it to work your suggestion of hidding the skin mesh first did the trick and i was able to save out the model. I am having a few parts of the model that are not showing up so what could be causing this issue. I am really excited about this. This could eliminat the issue I have been having with x ref and cat.

Oh there goes cat again. I did the exact same steps that made it work last time to see if I could get all the parts to be added and now it just crashes max like it did before.  CAT drives me nuts.