Hello! I just registered here since I can’t find any help elsewhere. I need an in depth tutorial on how to make an animation and then export it to source. I know how to make a basic model, texture it, and make a physbox. I know how to export those parts into the source engine. But every animation tutorial I come across only covers things like rigging (which doesn’t always work for me either!). Today I made my first successful animated model and got it into source. The problem is that I have no idea how and why it’s not working for my new model.

Thanks in advance. :)

Well, before when I tried to export an animation I got nothing except for the position of the model in the last frame. So when I switched to that animation in hammer it basically just jumped from one pose to another. Then I heard somewhere about using the set-envelope thing. And then it worked! but that was for my door model with only one bone going up and down. Now I want to make a platform attached to an arm. It’s got 2 chains. One with 2 bones for the arm, and one with 1 bone for the platform itself. But when I’ve set my envelope for all the pieces to the right bone I can’t figure out how to export it right. I can’t export the mesh for some reason. The only thing I get out of it is a small cylinder that deforms with the animation (might have to do with the “freeze M” button but I don’t know if I can still use that after I’ve rigged my thing). And I have no idea how to specify what part of the animation I want to export. Like if I only want to export the first frame as an idle animation.

But in what order should I do everything? Should I just make my mesh, rig and animate, and then export all the pieces (ref/phys/animation) or should I make my mesh, export it, then rig and animate, and then export that etc? Because, right now I can’t even export the mesh of my model for some reason, I get nothing in the game. I have no idea why. Before only one piece of a cylinder exported and now nothing of the mesh exports… This is messed up…

I’ve been playing around in xsi a bit now and it seems that if I make a platform, rig it (with like on bone) Animate it, etc. And then export it all. The mesh only exports if I use the freeze M and if I freeze all transforms. (This is what I’ve always done before I tried animating my models). but the reason why I didn’t freeze all transforms before was because my model get’s completely deformed and stuff. It get’s either very thing or all parts gets separated etc. And when you say that the mesh must be one piece (you said that right?) I figure I have to merge the model right? But when I try to envelope the polymesh to the bones it get’s all stretchy and stuff. I’ve heard something about weightpainting but 1. I have no idea how to use it properly, 2. when I do try to use it, it just gets worse.

Sounds great thanks :). I will try it out tomorrow though. It’s getting quite late over here. Thank you so much, I will continue to ask questions here if I run into more problems :)

Thank you! I appear to understand it now :D The only question I have now is, how do I make an animated physics model?

Ok then, well thanks for all the info anyway! Really appreciate it! Now I can finally get on making things in source I never could’ve imagined before… I can make… Like.. portal 2 platform arms and stuff!… awesome…