[adam@activehq.co.uk]

Please help. I have Lightwave 8. Everything I read said that it was great and made basic 3D animation "Easy" (I know nothing is easy but I am pretty familiar with Flash, Illustrator, PhotoShop and web programming so I thought I'd be OK).. ... and I am just comepletely having a nightmare with the user interface. I need help with the following:

I need to import Poser Objects and animated them. I have created a great super hero in Poser. Bones et al. and I just can't seem to get it into Lightwave. I am looking at CR2 Rigger/Loader. Is this what I need ? Or am I being really dumb.

I then need to make my super hero run around in the scenes... what is the best way to do this (import BioVision BVH data??)..

I have downloaded the Rigging Tutorial and that all seems really straightforeward. Set keyframes, move things, make it look good, set more keyframes, check the animation... Next,.... But I can't even get my SuperHero into Lightwave in the first place (except as a stone statue with no bones and no colouring)


I also need to import Vue Scenes into Lightwave (just basic ones - no environments). But it gives me an error that the Frame Rates aren't compatible (I have set both my Vue Scene and Layout to 25frames/second). Anyway, I managed to import the scene (which has lots in it). And it has come in at a mini-mini-mini size. So small (entire thing is about 1cm square in lightwave)... I need to (a) either import it at the right size OR (b) grab it all (lots of objects) and group it together and scale it up. But there doesn't seem to be any way to select multiple objects unless I click on them individually. But I have lots of Trees in my scenes... At such a small size, I'll miss some.

Please help. I am desparate. I am expecting that these things are obvious once I know where all the file menus and stuff are in Lightwave but I just can't seem to find anything useful or that doesn't just come up with an error.


In much hope


Adam

[nemac4]

Hi Adam. Any full 3d package you try will have an extensive learning curve. There are so many areas in the world of 3d that many users tend to specialize. Also much of 3d work involves problem solving and finding work arounds for various limitations. So don't feel bad that you are having trouble. It takes time and effort to get better and to learn your software.
As far as Poser... the Greenbriar Studios software you mentioned is your best bet for dealing with Poser files.
Concerning the Vue import. You can ignore the frame rate warning. What you should do is parent the entire Vue scene to a null object in lightwave. Use the Scene Editor for this. Then you can scale the null rather than the scene elements.

Good Luck.

[adam@activehq.co.uk]

Thanks David...

I am such a newbie it's unbelivable... I'll have a look at selecting the whole scene (I just seem to be able to select the individual trees andnot the whole thing)... and then work out how to attach the scene to a Null..

Let me just ask another question... I am assuming that the Null is the Parent and the imported Vue Scene is then attached to that ?

User manual here I come !!!!



Adam
PS: Any other people with ANY great advice at all - however small, please help...

[nemac4]

Originally posted by adam@activehq.co.uk Thanks David... I am such a newbie it's unbelivable... I'll have a look at selecting the whole scene (I just seem to be able to select the individual trees andnot the whole thing)... and then work out how to attach the scene to a Null.. Let me just ask another question... I am assuming that the Null is the Parent and the imported Vue Scene is then attached to that ? User manual here I come !!!! Adam PS: Any other people with ANY great advice at all - however small, please help...

If you hold the shift button you will be able to select mutiple items of the same type. you can also use the middle mouse button to drag out a selection box.
If you press M it will bring up the Motion Option window where you can set the parent for items however the Scene Editor would be better if you are working with multiple items. In the Scene Editor you can left click the items you want to select. You can use Ctrl or Shift to add to the selection. Then drag the selection to the Null Object and a line will move to just under the Null Object in the Scene editor list. Let go of the mouse button and the all of the items will then be parented to the null.

[adam@activehq.co.uk]

These are all fantastic helps... simple stuff to you guys I'm sure but just the kind of thing I need in these hours of need...

THANK YOU !!!