Adding bones to a mesh/object in gmax

How does one go about adding bones (or a bone) to a structure you added to a model?

Example: I added a weapon to the default grunt model, and I want to give it a bone so that I can animate it to swing.

Am I supposed to add bones for the axe before adding the axe itself?

you don't need a bone for that. simply link the axe to the orc's hand bone. and if you want to animate the axe separately, like he throwing the axe upwards or something, just animate the axe itself, it dosen't need a bone. he is his own bone.

Hmm, ok. How can I link different objects in gmax? I can't figure it out.

And do they have to be meshed beforehand or anything?

EDIT: I'm running through the gmax tutorials (official ones) when I have the time, but if anyone could help me out, it would save me a lot of time, though I'll probably end up having to go through the tutorials anyhow...

its been a while since ive used gmax but i know that its very simmilar to 3ds max so heres where the link command is in max maybe its the same in gmax

wait a minute but if he is using gmax and modelling for wc3, shouldn't he use skin modifier? and link the bones to helpers and helpers in theier correspond hierarchy, so it be easier for him to animate and could use translation keys correctly without problems.

So he would need to create a bone and a helper for the axe, skin the axe, link the bone to helper and animate the helper.

Skin in wc3? Didn't knew of that. But aniway, the axe shouldn't have bones imo. And it will be useless to make the axe's mesh skin, 'cause it's not deformable.

ya but the only exporter that works with gmax uses skin, not linking, so he needs to skin up the mesh give it a bone and a helper for fixing translations.

i actually know this, cause i have max 6 and art tools don't work on it so i need to use dex and this method that is more difficult for animating.

EDIT: oh and if he makes a vertex follow 2 bones he would need to use weight table to set values iqually.

Does this exporter for max 6 and gmax - but I'm interested in max 6 - work for max 7? And if it does, does it support IK chains? 'Cause I personaly find it easier to animate with a skinned mesh and complete bone rig with IK.

You guys sound like you know a lot. If you're ok with it, could you PM me your hotmail addresses or whatever, so I could ask questions on the fly on MSN (if applicable).

I'm not annoying, so don't worry. And if you don't want to, that's cool too.

Thing is, it's hard to learn what all this stuff about meshing and "helpers" and such is about by only reading forums and tutorials that assume you already have good general knowledge of model development.

TDR: yes it by sures exports to max 7, and i haven't really worked with ik chain for exporting, since for me is easier to use separate bones and link them togethere. I saw once a tutorial for exporting anims and they used the bone chain ik, it may work. Also you need to be sure to weight each vertex else you could get problems, and that the controller used be TCB or bezier, else the anims are exported in linear. (i will attach the .maxscript file at final) oh and 1 more thing, you can use shapes as helpers to, don't really know if you are those who use them for that purpose but is usefull if you do.

Vespertine: Yeah sure contact me at [email protected], is not really difficult all this of bones and hierarchy, max got some good tutorials to start on the bone chain, even thought i found maya tutorials a bit better for getting started.

Where can I get this importer/exporter?

just about here:

(it doesn't export materials, but you can add them in mdl editing)

Thanks a lot Blink.

P.S.: my MSN is [email protected]

I just added you both to my MSN...