7 replies to this topic

[leandrugo]

Hello great community!

 

 

 

Probably what I'm about to ask have been already asked hundreds of time ( my apology for that!) but I want to make some order in my head as there are too many info in the forum and I'm kind of confused:D

 

 

 

I want to make a short movie but I need some degree of customization for my project 

 

 I will take advantage of this topic to clarify some how-to-do that are not very clear to me. I'm not an expert of modding (and programming in general) so I hope you can help me to find the easiest way to achieve customized stuff for my project

 

 

 

1. I need customized customes for the a male and female character. 

 

 

 

-What is the way to achieve it? 

 

 

 

-There is a possibility (maybe  through modding) to make clothes interact with the ambient and the characters? i.e. a movement of cloth when the wind blows, a hand in the pocket etc..

 

 

 

2. Possibility to add animations to characters and props through third part softwares like Blender

 

 

 

-In particular.I would like to change the walking style of puppets.  (they looks always the same to me). Is that possible through modding?

 

- there is the possibility to have the hair of puppets move?

 

3. There is a simple way to make characters of different size? 

 

I really would like to understand how to make these changes as I'm a big fan of moviestorm and I want to take as much as I can from it

 

Thank you all in advance and sorry for my poor English

 

 

[primaveranz]

1. I need customized customes for the a male and female character. 

 

-What is the way to achieve it? 

 

 

 

-There is a possibility (maybe  through modding) to make clothes interact with the ambient and the characters? i.e. a movement of cloth when the wind blows, a hand in the pocket etc..

 

 

 

 

2. Possibility to add animations to characters and props through third part softwares like Blender

 

 

 

-In particular.I would like to change the walking style of puppets.  (they looks always the same to me). Is that possible through modding?

 

- there is the possibility to have the hair of puppets move?

 

3. There is a simple way to make characters of different size? 

 

I really would like to understand how to make these changes as I'm a big fan of moviestorm and I want to take as much as I can from it

 

Thank you all in advance and sorry for my poor English

 

 

If you have a full version of Moviestorm (i.e. not just the trial) then it is possible to make customised clothing to some degree, although it is not straightforward and you will need a to have the Modders Workshop installed. There are various tutorials scattered about the forums, I will try to track down some links.  

 

You can adjust various aspect of the walk in the directors screen (see this tutorial).

It is very hard (if not impossible) to make the hair and clothes move, but you can probably achieve similar effects in post editing and/or by using other software for specific shots (e.g. the wind blown cloth).

You can make props using Sketchup version 6 (possibly 8 but no later) or any tool which will export in .CAL3D formats (Only very early versions of Blender could do this ).

You can also make animations but again you either have to create them in .CAL3D formats using tools like fragmotion (search the forums for tips) or use camera "tricks" and post editing. 

Some actors have bodies which can be change girth-wise i.e. you can make them fatter or thinner but not taller or shorter. Sadly there was a bug in early version of MS which DID allow this, but they "fixed" it

 

Remember that it doen't matter so much what you can make the puppets "do", but what you can make the audience "see".

If you can fake it with a camera angle then do.

 

Good luck, and don't apologize for your English - it is better than some native speakers I know

 

[leandrugo]

Hi Primaveranz,

 

thank you very much for the reply.

 

 

Yes I have the full version of MS and that's why I'm trying to learn to use this software in all his capabilities.

The problem Is that I never did modding.

 If I could use the freedom to create what I need but with the simplicity of MS , that would be just great.

 

 

-About the clothing and accessories for the character,  this is the only guide I see but I don't have 3D Studio Max. Maybe I can learn Blender and try to follow the same steps?

 

http://www.moviestor...anced_modding_2

 

 

• ´About props, like you said sketchup is the solution and I think this is pretty straightforward. I m happy about this one:

 

 

• About animation I see these are the important topics

 

-held prop for the character:

 

 

-animated prop . Milkshape seems the best solution :

 

http://www.moviestor...?showtopic=8945

 

 

- and finally for gestures I see again the only guide provided is for 3D Studio Max:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyQJKgzrrtA

 

 

I still cannot find any solution for changing the puppets size even though I remember of some attempt has been already accomplished

 

So this is what I got. Maybe you can help me with some advise or add something more from your knowledge that is simple to start with.

 

Thank you very much in advance

[primaveranz]

I used Milkshape for everything when I was actively using MS.

 

You can customise all sorts of models (static and animated) far better in Milkshape than Sketchup - even though the latter is a great "quick" tool especially for buildings. 

 

In truth, I would say FragMotion is a better tool than Milkshape for animations and Nahton and Jamoram for example, did some great work using it. Try searching for "fragmo" or "fragmotion" in the forums.

 

There isn't much difference between creating Gestures and Animations. You just need to make sure you use the skeletons that MS provided for e.g. Milkshape (I think there are different ones fro FragMo). And you need to learn how to put all the files in the right folders in the MS file structure and use the Modders Workshop to publish them.

 

There are all sorts of pitfalls along the way e.g. if you make a hat, you have to attach it to a different bone in the Male skeleton than in the Female, but you can achieve a lot if you really want to.

 

Don't bother trying to change the heights of any actors, it is almost impossible, but you can use existing morphable costumes from MS (and Moddingstorm) to make the actors fatter or thinner.

 

Good luck

 

Some links :- http://www.moviestor...ion#entry111045

 

http://www.moviestor...ion#entry109132

 

http://www.moviestor...8&hl=fragmotion

 

http://www.moviestor...tion#entry93554

 

 

 

 

Don't bother trying to work out how to change the heights of characters it is almost impossible unless you are a real expert. You can use some of the MS ( and Moddingstorm) costumes though which are morphable to make the actors fatter or thinner.

[leandrugo]

This is enough to start!

Just a last thing:

When you say to not try to change the heights of characters you are referring to the puppets available in MS but there is no way to use an entirely made puppet out of the software?

 

 

 

Thank you a lot for the help! Very informative!

 

 

[primaveranz]

Unfortunately not. Because any puppet that you bring in would have to be rigged to the MS skeleton (i.e. you can only bring in the mesh and textures) and those cannot be changed.

[leandrugo]

I see! Ok I think learning modding give enough room of freedom to get what I need for my projects!

Hope it will not be too much difficult.

 

 

Thank you:)

 

 

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