Upgrade for the 3D Studio Max Plugin?

[sandrei]

We use 3D Studio Max 2011, planning an upgrade to 2012; the current streaming plugin for Arena only supports Max up to version 2010. Can the plugin be updated to support these versions, too?

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

3D Studio Max 2011 is supported by our plugin. We have not tested and released a version that is compatible with 3DS Max 2012 yet, however I do know that it is in the pipeline.

[sandrei]

Thanks, Mike; good to know.

[pamentej]

Hello Forum,

We too have just started using the Arena Motion Capture plugin (version 3) in 3ds Max 2011. Where can I find more information, like a help file, for all the settings in this plugin? I would like to find out as much information as I can for each setting without having to guess what it does.

Connect: fairly obvious and I can connect to Arena ok runinng on the same PC

Preview: not sure how the refresh rate works in relation to the live streaming.

Biped/Rigid Body: I don't understand what the root Bone Index is for and if I use a 34 marker set do I select No Toes or With Toes?.

Offset: when the data streams live onto a biped, the feet don't seem to plant, they slide all over the place. How do I lock this down to match what I see in Arena and does it have anything to do with the Scale Volume setting in Arena?

Record: total frames to record and key every nth?

Regards,
Justin

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

Ihave the sliding feet issue out for review at the moment, so I can't quite speak to that yet, and a few of these I'll have to get a 3DS Max machine up and running for, but off the top of my head a 34 and 36 marker skeleton will be no toes, 38 will be with toes, and the offset allows you to offset the origin in 3DS Max from the origin in arena, so it should be used if the biped needs to be farther away from the origin than in the initial motion capture.

[pamentej]

Thankyou for your prompt reply Mike. The sliding feet is the biggest issue for us at the moment. If you can supply me with as much info about all the 3ds Max plugin settings as you can, it would be greatly appreciated.

We are also looking to upgrade to 3ds Max 2012 shortly here at our new campus so I would welcome some feedback on the progress of a 3ds Max 2012 Arena plugin...it's absolutely brilliant being able to stream live data from Arena straight onto a fully rigged and skinned character!

Regards,
Justin

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

Sliding can occur as a result of differences between actor leg length and biped leg length. To compensate for this, you can attempt to adjust the horizontal and vertical scale sliders in the 3D Studio Max plugin to minimize the effect.

Additionally, While we have tested our plugin and everything works properly with 3D Studio Max 2010 and 2011, we have not tested the plugin with 2012. It should in theory work properly, but at the moment it is not guaranteed.

[7ced7]

Hello,
The plugin for 3ds max 2012 not working ... When do you post an upgrade?

[pamentej]

My 3ds Max Arena Plugin usage update...

Option 1:
Using 3ds Max 2011 64bit.
Using Arena Plugin 3.0 3ds Max 2010 64bit plugin.
Result: Whenever you simply try to close the plugin in 3ds Max 2011 64bit it crashes the whole program.

Option 2:
Using 3ds Max 2011 64bit.
Using Arena Plugin 4.0 Beta 1 3ds Max 2011 64bit plugin.
Result: Whenever you simply try to close the plugin in 3ds Max 2011 64bit it crashes the whole program.

Option 3:
Using 3ds Max 2012 64bit.
Using Arena Plugin 4.0 Beta 1 3ds Max 2012 64bit plugin.
Result: Whenever you simply try to close the plugin in 3ds Max 2012 64bit it crashes the whole program.

I have grown very tired now of the poor support we have received for our Foundation MoCap system. Unreliable plugins and amazingly we are still waiting for an Arena User Guide. Still! Unacceptable. I will have something to say about this in person at Siggraph this year if things are not resolved by then. We are a educational facility and we can't and won't wait forever for the tools we need from NaturalPoint.

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

Justin, which program crashes, Arena or 3ds max?

When closing the plugin, is the stream still live?