problems with animation after importing .M2 into 3dsMAX.

[djoscar]

Hello

I was looking for a way to convert .M2 or .m2 models from WoW to .fbx or some other format WITH animations.
So I came across this .m2 import script for 3ds Max. It supports models from burning crusade and lower, and it imports animations too, so i thought i'll give it a go..

It works perfectly fine, but the problem is that after importing the model, it has like 300,000+ (300k+) frames, and the animations are EXTREMELY slow...
I tried increasing speed, but 3dsmax only allows x4 and the anim is still too slow..

Anyone else encouraged this problem and/ or know how to fix it?
Or is there a better way for me to convert WoW models WITH animations to .fbx, .dae or any other similar format?
Doesn't matter whether it's for Burning Crusade or any other versions, for as long as it's World of Warcraft lol.

Thanks, will +rep!

[djoscar]

Is it possible to get any help on these forums..? lol

Are there any other WoW communities where people are more active?

[djoscar]

bump.. come on guys

[Bjarke]

There is no tool for importing m2 animation into 3ds max(atleast what i know of).

[djoscar]

ehh yes there is.. Here's the 3dsmax script I'm using:

WoW Importer 3 for Max 9

How ever it only works for Burning crusade and lower versions.

[djoscar]

bumppp....

[eluzai777]

Hello

I ran into that problem as well awhile back and discovered the fix. You have to fix the time configuration "Rescale Time"in 3ds max. You tried to increase the "play speed" but that is not what you need to do. You want to keep the playback speed at 1x.

Keep Frame Rate at 30 fps.
Playback check Real Time.
Playback Speed 1x

These should all be default settings.

Basically you need to adjust the number of frames with time at 30 FPS(frames per second).You do this in "Rescale Time" in Time Configuration.

Here are a few examples:

Lets say you import the Orc male and want to view the walk animation.
The frame intervals for this walk animation is 6667 - 7733.

Go to time configuration and at Animation start time enter 6667
Enter 7733 at end time then click ok.

Now you will notice the orc male starts and ends with the walk animation. But it is very slow because it has way too many frames for 30 FPS just like the problem you have.

First we need to figure out how many frames this walk animation has. Easy, just subtract 6667 from 7733 and you get 1066 frames.Now as you can see 1066 frames is way to many frames for 30 FPS. So we need to divide the total number of frames(which is 1066) by 30 (FPS). And the answer is 35.5. I always round up so we get 36 frames. So this walk animation should be 36 frames and not 1066 frames lol.

Now that we have the correct number of frames we need to change the start and end times in time configuration but this time in "Rescale Time" option.

Change 6667 to 0. Because we want the walk animation to start at frame 0.
Change 7733 to 36. The total number of frames that we figured out.
Click ok and then click OK once more.

Now play the animation and everything is perfect

[eluzai777]

Oh i forgot to mention a few things.

1. To get the animation intervals for each specific animation(like i did above for the walk animation) you can copy the .M2 model file and convert the .M2 file to a .MDL file, which is a model file you can open in notepad and view the model data such as the animation intervals.

2. If you do not want to cut the animation track to one animation (like i did above), but instead you want to view all animations in one track with the right amount of frames, you can just divide the total number of frames by 30 (FPS)

Example:
When you import the Orc male into 3ds Max it has a total of 467,167 frames which is too many for each animation at 30 FPS. So divide 467,167 by 30. The answer being 15,573 (rounded up).

Now go to Time Configuration and click the "Rescale Time" and enter 15,573 in End Time and leave Start Time at 0. Click ok and then Click ok again. Now each animation has the right amount of frames that it will play at 30 FPS in playback mode.

Remember that when playing the animation track with all animations, there is space between each animation, which has the model animate in preparation for the next animation. These sections animate slowly as should.

Hope that helps