Flex Controllers import and export
note: Flex Controllers are Valves implementation of Blend Shapes/Shape Keys
So I realized that some cosmetic slots have Flex Animations applied to them (like the Sand King and Faceless Void heads). But not all the cosmetics for them have the necessary Flex Controllers, so I thought I'd create a guide that covers some of the information needed to export and import this information. You can find it here:
WIP Steam Guide
It's not complete yet and the writing is all over the place right now and I'm trying to fix that. Meanwhile if anyone has successfully exported Flex Controllers from Maya or done so using the old *.smd *.vta and *.qc method I'd appreciate some basic info on how you did it, so I can include those methods into the guide since the *.dmx method allows limited control over the particles and materials included with the items without manually editing the *.dmx files.
Edit1: I successfully exported it with a *.smd and *.vta and *.qc combo which makes adding particles and meterials in the *.qc easier afaik. Ammended the guide
Edit2:Video version: [ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmY19dKKRf4"]Dota2 Flex Animation Guide - YouTube[/ame]
So I realized that some cosmetic slots have Flex Animations applied to them (like the Sand King and Faceless Void heads). But not all the cosmetics for them have the necessary Flex Controllers, so I thought I'd create a guide that covers some of the information needed to export and import this information. You can find it here:
WIP Steam Guide
It's not complete yet and the writing is all over the place right now and I'm trying to fix that. Meanwhile if anyone has successfully exported Flex Controllers from Maya or done so using the old *.smd *.vta and *.qc method I'd appreciate some basic info on how you did it, so I can include those methods into the guide since the *.dmx method allows limited control over the particles and materials included with the items without manually editing the *.dmx files.
Edit1: I successfully exported it with a *.smd and *.vta and *.qc combo which makes adding particles and meterials in the *.qc easier afaik. Ammended the guide
Edit2:Video version: [ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmY19dKKRf4"]Dota2 Flex Animation Guide - YouTube[/ame]
Replies
Great work, man!
It's both in the *.ma file in seperate expression nodes and if you export it into a *.dmx file it's also there. I'm thinking about maybe making a video about how to extract the controller expressions from other models/cosmetics.
Oh, I recently found out that you can just extract the vpak file into the dota folder and then delete the *.vpak to replace files easier. But that has the problem that you have to re-do it every time a patch hits.
I orignally wanted to just dump the *.qc file as text into the guide but it's too long for the [code] tag in the guide workshop, anyways here are the dropbox mirrors:
demo *.qc
Flex Controller only Ascii DMX
update.exe (CAREFUL unverified binary)
Made a video of the whole process, it's kind of long but look in the description for specific timecodes of what you're looking for.
Working on some subtitles so that my mumbling is a little more comprehensible
edit: finished the subtitles, enable closed captions on youtube to see them
going to study your techniques sir!
I haven't researched how to do your own keyframed animations yet. Only how to make drop in replacements.
Remember Flex animations in Dota2 are only enabled in the portrait render (and I think it could be used in the showcase model too, but it's disabled as of yet)
Watching the whole video isn't of much use, just use the timecodes in the description to go to a specific section.
today is the day to get that working, i will use your information with some that i got from Nicholas, the creator of MESA
A friend of mine, Bronto Thunder, made an item for lion that Valve added flex, so its possible to cosmetic itens, going to use that one as reference
on the second case, do i need to make the smd files save all the frames with all the shapes or the vta should handle that for me?
also i tried with dmx but every attempt with valves scripts crashed my maya...
edit: Haven't properly installed MESA but my prefs folder in my profile still works somewhat, I only get "Object '' not found" errors when trying to export the *.vta, might be the just my half-assed installation though.
Anyways, if you want a work-around for the short-term get a half decent *.fbx importer (like this one) for Blender and export the file to *.smd/*.vta in blender (works a lot faster than MESA too :P)
Well anyway figured it out, let me post a video, It'll take a while because my internet is ass.
Here: tried to use Twitch to get it done fast: twitch vod just watch until 5:40 after that it's just me scrambling how to find my model.
Anyway if you have a *.qc file that I should test, just pm me and I'll try if it works for me.
Edit: I'm terribly sorry, but the Twitch VoD disappeared on me because I didn't "Highlight" it, sorry.
awesome! thanks for the video, it helped a lot
at least now i know that the dmx export crash is a isolated case here, going to try with maya 2012
Also, huge thanks for the info on smd and vta, now i know that i dont need to have the shapes on the smd, and just use the vta for it.
i will to get maya working, if not i will take some time to learn blender =].
here are the files im trying to test now, it have all the blends for Dragon Knight. i added the qc files, the maya and the decompiled smd versions with my test custom taunt as the idle1 (rare idle)
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dubajsrrtbebdp2/OHnssuBZ1C
since building the blendshapes are just basically moving vertices, i think i will not much hard work do it in blender
Like I said, if you get a decent fbx importer (the one I linked) you can import animations and blendshapes from Maya without a problem into Blender.
You don't need to delete the post anymore, since it now actually has something new to say after the edits, I just accidentally hit the reply button.
new about the blend shapes, the problem was maya 2013... on 2012 it WORKED!!!!
Your tutorial helped a lot!
i cant believe after amost a week trying that it finally worked, huge thanks sir!