Wings 3D + MotionBuilder Page 2

Wings3D-MotionBuilder Workflow (Aug 2004)

Step 4: Vertex Skinning
Fortunately, MotionBuilder has a slick Skinning system. It may take a few tries to get the hang of it, but once you develop a pattern, you'll be running through it like a hot stone in a vat of butter!
Click on Model > Skins and the Skins window should pop up. It would be a good idea to make a seperate layout for skinning. Switch to "Normal" display, Alt-drag and drop the model onto the Model List. Then click on the skeleton root, Select branches and drag and drop that on to the Bones List

This tells MB that whatever is in the Bones List affects that model. You are now ready to assign vertices to the Bones in the Bones List. It would be a good idea to change the camera background color to something other than black. Here are the steps to follow:
1. Select the desired bone (from the Bones List or Viewport).
2. Left-click to add vertices and Middle-click to remove.
3. Shift the Weight Slider for that particular bone to assign the selected vertices.
4. Double-click the viewport to deselect the bones/vertices.
5. Repeat!
Do this until no more vertices are black.

Step 5: Characterize
There that wasn't so bad. The worst of it is over! Switch out of Skins mode. Create a Reference node if you haven't already done so. Do this, by right-clicking the scene in the navigator, Insert Object > Null. Make it the parent of the model and the skeleton. Rename it to "Reference"

Characterize your character by dragging a Character element out of the Asset Browser > Templates > Characters and releasing it over your model. Select "Biped" and you're done (provided the bone names match up).

Go to the Character Settings and set the input type to "Control Rig Input"; set it to Active and your character rig should be ready! Go ahead and animate. You may also set your input type to "Character Input" to imitate another character.

When you are done animating, it's time to render out the sprites!

Sprites are cool! Next!