Animating help

OK can someone please create a tut on how to animate in 3ds max 5 without twisting your head of and throwing it out the window like the art tools 1 does?

Or least point to a link.

is there a way to export from max r5, r6?

by animating i guess you mean deformation anim because basic keyframed stuff / inverse kinematics etc is very simple and i've had no probs as yet.

I mean keyframed stuff. I don't know where to begin and the mass of buttons on 3DSMax leads me nowhere but back where I started. I specifically want to know how to view animations in 3DSMax and possibly edit/alter them. If you find this so simple, perhaps you wouldn't mind explaining it?

OK. well, all you need to know for basic anim is;

1) how to make an object, eg sphere.
2) how to move, rotate an object.
3) how to create key frames.

in 3dsmax you can create a keyframe for an object by clicking the "animate" button and then transforming your object in some way, eg; moving or rotating. click the "animate" button off again and you've made a key.

to play the anim in the window press the > play button. to use warcraft preview, read the art tools manual.(from what i can tell it only works in 3dsmax r 4.x

right now i'm animating a modified ghoul wth bones using the method described in the art tools manual to good effect and have made several animated buffs/spell effects with simple anim+ particle system so i may do a tutorial if i get time. i'm sure u can figure it out tho.

if you can use 3dsmax, animating for wc3 shouldn't be a problem. if not, just learn the basics of the program first and study tutorials.

Thank you for that but how do I set that animation to play as a sertain...animation...Ok I make the animation key but how do I set the animation to work when the unit moves basically? is there somewere you set it to movement?

you need to use note tracks in track view, here's a screenshot of what i mean.

I know that but wgere do you click to set sertain animations on that to "Stand" I can animate fine its just seting it to Walk and stand. I added note track but I cannot find anthing that says set animation name or whatever.

if i understand your question correctly, the short answer is, right click the note track icon and type "Stand" ( for a unit that has 1 stand animation) "Stand - 1" for a unit with 1+ anims for stand, "Stand - 2" for the second etc.

eg; in the WALK note track, i have written:

Walk
MoveSpeed 300

in the STAND note track i have written:
Stand

and these work in game ( have been tested)

hope this helps - just remember to type this info into the note track as well as naming it, the info is in the art tools docs ( the ones i have anyway)

peace.