What was the problem?

The default method for exporting an animation had multiple spots where a mistake could easily be made. Exporting required manually selecting the export path, entering in any bones that needed inclusion or exclusion, and specifying whether an animation was additive. None of the export options could be used together, so batch exporting was not possible.

Once an animation was finally exported, an entry would need to be manually added in the character’s .xml file for it to be available in-game.

What was the solution?

The Character Animation Exporter provides an easy to use front-end for an animator to export multiple animations at once.

To add an entry for the Exporter, the animator opens up the Character Sequence Editor. There the animator can enter the animation name, frame range, additive status, any partial body bones, exclusion bones, sequence comments and, in the case of Monsters, the evolution stage. The entries can be save/loaded and edited as text files if needed.

When exporting, if the Validate .chrparams checkbox is ticked, the exporter will check the character’s .xml file for the animation name. If it does not already exist, it will check the file out in Perforce and then add the entry.

Lastly, there is a Batch Export option for when animations need to be exported from multiple .max files.