Avatar Animation Rig: Autodesk Softimage Mod Tool 7.5

The steps below outline how to open the scene file for the avatar animation rig "Avatar Rig.exp" or other avatar animation scene file. Autodesk Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 uses a project-based system to determine the paths to scene and asset files. In order to open the files correctly, you will need to set up a new project. If you attempt to load the scene files directly, the texture paths will be incorrect.

1. Open Softimage Mod Tool 7.5. Premium XNA Creators Club members can download the file from here: http://create.msdn.com/en-US/resources/partners.
2. On the File menu, click Project Manager.
3. Click New Project.
4. In the Project Name field, enter the name of the directory that contains the extracted pictures and scenes folders. In the case of the avatar animation rig, you would enter "Avatar Animation Rig - Softimage Mod Tool".
5. In the Location field, enter the name of the directory where that folder is located. If you extracted the folder into the root, you would type C:\. Omit the directory that you used in the step above.

6. Click OK.

   

7. Your Project Manager window should now look like this:

   
8. You can select "Avatar Rig" and then click Open.

Now, if from the File menu you click Open, you'll notice that it defaults to showing all of the scenes that are part of this project. You can have multiple projects, so pay attention to the default and current active project set in your Project Manager.

After creating a new avatar animation using the Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 version of the avatar animation rig "Avatar Rig.exp" or loading an existing avatar animation, use the following steps to export the animation to FBX format suitable for loading in your projects.

1. First, you must bake the animation into the bones. Select the Skin_Joints layer and all the objects in it from layer manager. This is in the lower right corner. To view the layers, click the "KP / L" at the bottom, and then click the Scene tab.

   

2. On the leftmost Tools menu, click Plot, and then click All Transformations.

   

3. In the Plot All Transformations To Actions dialog box, use the default options (shown below) and then click OK.

   
4. After the baking is complete, deselect the bones by clicking anywhere in a blank area in the main window.
5. Set the animation timeline cursor to the starting frame of the animation. Otherwise, you may see a "popping" at the end of the exported animation.
6. On the File menu, click Crosswalk, and then click Export FBX.
7. Navigate to the directory where the animation .exp file is located. This is important to ensure that the texture paths in the FBX file export correctly.
8. Enter a name for the new animation, and then click OK.

9. Use the settings from the following image to export the animation.