MD3 tagging?

Gungriffon Geona

Hi there, I'm new

I'm currently attempting a proof-of-concept thing for a customization sytem using stacked MD3 models, (yes I know it sounds weird) but I'm unsure how you're supposed to 'tag' a dummy polygon so that it holds the position of the stacked models correctly. Anyone here who's ever worked with this stuff that might know? the things I've seen haven't been terribly clear on the fundamentals of it, and merely say you're supposed to tag the polygons.
As a note, I'm using 3DS Max 2008.

CrazyButcher

we made lots of tagging use in urbanterror. basically you create your "master" scene and spread the objects linked to the tags (which you can link to bones for animation). then you export your "master" scene (main model + tags)

and then you export each tagged "custom model" in its own file. You have to unlink the tag and orient/move it to the world origin (so that the object follows along).

in the end you have many custom models whose origin is identical to the tag orientation. and therefore they can be re-assembled at runtime.

Gungriffon Geona

Ah, that makes sense. thanks for the clarification.
Actually, I have another question. I'm considering making body sections move and animate totally seperate of each other. basically, if I have the arm a separate piece, then I just make mostly static animations for aiming, holding, not holding, and attacking. In the game, I would rotate the whole arm model from it's tag point for actions that require aiming. same goes for head turning, torso twist, etc. this saves time on animating.
The reason i want to do it like this, is because the customization system I have in mind means I could stack iterations of bodies on top of each other, each with an arm set, and potentially joints of various purpose going in between the arms, body-to-legs, body-to-head, etc. and animate each section individually.

I just want to be sure this actually CAN work before I start doing it.