Importing Animations from 3DS Max

zachagreg

Hey so I'm wondering either the differences or the issues with either workflow of getting animations into Unity from 3DS Max.

I've done it two ways and both result in playable animations with the exact same prefab setup as each other.

First way is to take 3 boxes and 3 bones and simply parent the boxes to the bones with an animation on the bones. Going into unity with it, it's just fine and plays the clip normally.

Second way is to take the same setup but instead of just parenting also adding a Skin modifier to my editable poly and adding the bones in there as well. Going into unity same result, works fine, same prefab setup and clip plays normally.

So then can someone tell me which way is right?

If I am only doing a mechanical animation like hinges and pistons and don't need to "bend" anything is the parenting method just fine?

I can clearly see that if I need it to be one mesh of course I would have to then select the elements and assign bones via skin that way. Since I don't think you can parent poly selections via link in Max.

Eric Chadwick

Yes, parenting alone is just fine. Skin is only needed if you are deforming the meshes. In fact, in your first setup you don't need the bones at all, just parent the meshes to each other in a natural hierarchy, and animate them directly.

zachagreg

Thank you for the clarification Eric, that is what I assumed. You are also correct about the direct animations, it's just the programming we have in house for some automated processes searches for bones specifically, hence their inclusion.