Question

I have some 3D character model, and I would like to animate them, to use them in my project. The result should be a keyframe animated collada.
I need only the basic movements: walk, run, aim, die…

Are there any programs for that? I unfortunatly can’t really use Blender or 3D studio max.
I don’t know, where else can I ask it, so I hope you can help me.

Answer 1

Like others said before you will have to learn at least some basic concepts of 3D and the modelling tool of your choice. There is one site I have worked with, the Mixamo Auto Rigger. There you can upload your character and they apply some automatic rigging algorithm out of the vertices if and only if your character is humanoid, cows, dogs, .. have to stay outside

Using this rig you can attach some basic animation from their store (some of them are for free) and download it as collada file for using it in Blender if you use their own collada importer. I did this once spent a few € and finally got it working.

So far it seems like what you are looking for, but:

• The rig was really heavy in that it contained bones for every finger and toe
• The names of the bones were not very expressive
• A year ago their collada importer just worked on Blender 2.4.9
• Getting this done requires you to know the basics of working in Blender otherwise you don’t have a chance.