Basic but Tricky 3DsMax rigging question (Will this rig be sufficient?)

Jonathan85

I have pretty basic but tricky question about rigging/skinning in 3ds max and animation in motion builder. Im not an animator so im not sure if this workflow is possible?:

Im planning to do rigging of normal human realistic low poly (cca 25 000 polygons) for games) character in 3ds max, using bones system. Then i (or our animator probably) will bring it to motion builder and there apply motion capture animations. Then he will probably (using the control rig created in motion builder) adjust (fix a little, smooth etc.) the raw mocap animations on our character model. Any other needed animations (made by hand) will be made in motion builder using motion builders control rig.

Will this work? Can i get away with it? My intention is create ONLY basic bone structure and create and skin it properly (using the skin modifier). THATS all i want from max, im NOT planning to create any constrains, IK chains, or control rig in max or anything like that... All of that will be handled in motion builder using his own "automatic" control rig...

Will this work? Or do i need to create some constrains, IK chains etc. also in 3ds max?

Mark Dygert

Why not use one of the basic rigging systems included in max, like biped? It imports into MotionBuilder very easily, there are presets and its a well trodden path both ways, back and forth, without any hidden landmines. 

With your own custom rig, you better test it early and often to make sure it will work and hold up to everything and that it handles your output in case you want to go back to max. Relying on MotionBuilder to do all of your rigging and animation could come back to haunt you... It's a great app, and you could do a lot in it, quite a few people use it exclusively but, a lot more don't for some very good reasons.

Jonathan85

well yeah i know, but you cannot rig everything using only biped and also im not sure but biped might not be compatible with all stuff, bones are compatible with almost all programs and engines. And im also asking because of curiosity... because as far as i understand it, all the IK chains, control rigs and restrains in 3ds max are there "JUST" to improve/ease and faster the animation process but they dont hinder the final animation or its functioning?

I know about the alternatives (that  CAT and Biped are better, but CAT had some bugs (Still has?) so biped should be the better solution), but still as far as i know, the proposed workflow should work...? So do i need constrains, IK chains, control rigs etc. created in 3ds max (when im going to animate in motion builder) for the bones rig created in 3ds max to work properly??