I'm having problems with charecters 'exploding' when they're exported as .X into the directxviewer as well as our engine.  They look find in the 3dsmax viewports though.

Any clues as to why?  I've exhausted everything I can think of so far as far as the various export options in kwexporter and pandaexporter.  Reset all the transforms as well...still no clue.

A screenshot might help so we can see what you mean by "exploding". A common problem when importing is not including bone transforms in the code, are you doing that?

There is a known bug in 3ds Max that affects kW X-port 1.3. If you do not collapse the modifier stack below the Skin or Physique modifier before you export, then 3ds Max will give kW the wrong vertex data -- it will export the mesh at the bottom of the stack. Thus, when exporting, your stack should look like this:

+ Physique
+ Editable Mesh


It should not look like this:

+ UVW Map
+ Physique
+ Cap Holes
+ Editable Mesh
+ Editable Mesh
Box


The easiest way to make this happen is to make sure there are no modifiers on top of Physique/Skin, and then right-click the modifier right below Physique and select "Collapse To." Also note that any modifiers found above Physique/Skin will not be exported (the UVW map, in this case).

If this is the problem for you, and you are a paying customer of 3ds Max (not just a trial user), I suggest you call up their support and ask them to fix issue number 1066627, which is the Autodesk 3ds Max bug number they opened for me about this problem. If nobody tells them about this, they will not prioritize fixing this bug.

Here's a screenshot... actually you were next on my list of people to contact :)

 

Everything's collapsed...Having the same issue in Panda. Will give them a call I guess. I have a screenshot I can email I guess. Don't have anywhere at work I can put it.

If the stack is collapsed, then I think the problem is that you have floating vertices not assigned to any bones. This is not the bug that I found in Max. Look for floating (unassigned) vertices, and make sure that every vertex is set to normalize to 1.0 weight while you're at it. If that still doesn't help, I have no idea what the problem could be.

It looks like you may have some problems with your envelopes in your Physique modifier.

If you check the Tutorials->Character Animation Tutorials->Adjusting the Biped to the Model->Adjusting Envelopes they show how to fix a situation looking very similar to yours (this tutorial is in Max 9, but it's almost sure is on later versions too).