Game animation workflow, dummies and bones

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I have been working on an animation system for a game, however as I'm completely new to game-development related animation, I'm rather stumped as to what's the correct workflow regarding this.

To be specific,

I have begun with a T-pose character model imported from FBX, using Dummies instead of Bones. I have made one animation with this character, and exported it as FBX.

However I have later decided that I needed to expand the character rig, so for starters I wanted to implement a right hand weapon socket bone.

I have added a new bone to the character, and tried exporting as both dummies and bones, as well as saving both variants of the scene.

I am now completely baffled as to how to change a skeleton of an existing animation. I've tried everything I could think of - I tried Save and Loading animation, Merging animation via FBX import, Merging files via another .MAX file import, but I simply cannot have the existing animation apply to a new skeleton which is NEARLY identical save for one extra bone on the right hand.

What is the correct procedure to do this? How do I use the existing animation on a new skeleton?

I will also probably be adding new bones to the skeleton later as the need arises, so what's the correct workflow for making sure this will not be a horrible PITA later?

Thank you in advance.

[pepetd]

Does your new bone change the hierchy of the skeleton?

if it does then you will probably need to create a mapping for your save and load animation.

If it does not then you will cna simnply use maxes build in save and load animation (.xaf) and load and save the animation by name I don't see a reason of why this should not work.

[Anonymous]

Well, apparently it does because I am asked for mapping when importing the animation.

I have created the mapping anyway. All bones matched, except the Weapon Bone and it's end which aren't mapped to anything, and hitting the "Unmapped tracks" reveals an empty list, so I believe I did it right. However, it's still broken somehow.

When I import my animation, this happens:

Originating, correct pose:




When imported to new skeleton, it's wrong from the start:



And finally, the entire animation appears to be wrong in some degree or another:




What am I doing wrong?