   Simple 3ds skeletal animation
  Hey guys,Does anyone know how i can do a SIMPLE skeletal animation with a 3ds model. I just want there to be two bones that move here and there on command, i'm using devcpp if that helps.ThanksMike   
  does 3ds support bones, I thought it didn't, I seem to remember that being my reason for switching from 3ds to x files.   ;  well, if what you mean is - can you put bones in your 3d models in 3ds max - yesI also have milkshape - if that is better.   ;Quote:Original post by Beaverbutt8well, if what you mean is - can you put bones in your 3d models in 3ds max - yesI also have milkshape - if that is better.Better, probably not, easier, definately.   ;  Ok. But what i want to learn is simple skeletal animation. Please, if you do not have anything helpful to say to me, please don't. I hope nobody minds me saying this ;)Mike   ;  Are you asking for the theory behind skeletal animation or how to load .3ds files?  There's a lot of information on both of those subjects, here on GameDev and elsewhere, so you should be able to find everything you need through Google and/or the forum search.Dancin_Fool meant the .3ds file format, not the 3D Studio Max application.  If I'm remembering correctly the .3ds format only supports animation through vertex tweening, so no bones.   ;  OkWhat i'm asking is how to do skeletal animation with a 3ds model. But, now that you tell me that the 3ds format doesn't support bones, i must use the ms3d format. Thanks for your help, i'll see what i can do =)Edit: Instead of bones animation, is there a way to control vertex movement with openGL?   ;  ?   ;  You might want to try the .x file format, just because it can be exported in a human readable format and you can still do all your modelling in 3ds max and export it using the panda exporter.   ;Quote:Original post by Beaverbutt8OkWhat i'm asking is how to do skeletal animation with a 3ds model. But, now that you tell me that the 3ds format doesn't support bones, i must use the ms3d format. Thanks for your help, i'll see what i can do =)Edit: Instead of bones animation, is there a way to control vertex movement with openGL?There are two ways that I know of. Bone's (aka skeleton), and vertex tween. Both are totaly do able in any api. I would recommend that you go with the bone's file format (ms3d). This gives you the ability to animate the model programicaly as well as pre-loaded. This is useful for mouse look, or IK. In a vertex tween situation you are only limited to the animations you load from the file.   