There is a new update of the XNA addon, it should automatically download when you start the Modtool.

Here is a list of what's changed.

• Added PlaybackAbsolute function for animation data
• Added default static values for animation (otherwise skin poses are bad)
• Correctly support relative paths
• Set the XNA Viewer content importer assemblies to point to C:\Program Files\Microsoft XNA\XNA Game Studio Express\v1.0\References\Windows\x86\Softimage.XWImporter.dll
• Added new elastic_guy sample
• Make an initial playback at frame 0 to make sure the bones are placed correctly
• Changed the way "Install GSE plugin" works. It no longer copies the assemblies into the Microsoft program files directory

 

The new elastic_guy sample is a simple skinned mesh that can be used to quickly see how to create and export skinned meshes using the Modtool.

I like the new elastic_guy example you added. It's good to see more complex samples. Thanks for that.

It seems that the default version of the scene does not have an animation but the viewer does expect it now (for the playback of frame 0). I got an exception in line 392 on the first start of the viewer because the array Animation did not contain anything:

                Animations[AnimationIndex].PlayBack(TimeSpan.Parse("00:00:00"), 1.0f);

Worked fine when I added an animation. I guess it's just missing a check to see if AnimationIndex > 0.

Another thing I tried was to change the IK/FK blends of the leg and foot chains to only use FK. I wanted to try out a simple animation by rotating the thigh bone. In XSI this looked as expected. In the viewer the leg moved correctly but the foot just didn't move at all. Is pure FK not supported right now?

Make sure your references to the content importer and processor point to C:\Softimage\XSI_6_Mod_Tool\Addons\XNAGSE\Application\XNA Setup. We added some new behavior for creating a default animation even for static poses. But you are correct for the index thing, it should definitely contain a check. Thanks also for reporting the FK problem, we will look into it.

I actually had to change the references already because I installed the mod tool at a different path. I checked and they are definitely pointing to newer versions.

I just got the FK to work properly by changing the model hierarchy slightly. By parenting the LFootEff to the LShin bone it works as expected.

I guess this is what's happening: In the original model the export creates a bone for the LFoorEff that does not have the transformations it would usually get from XSI. It just remains unchanged because its parent (LLegRoot) isn't changing. I guess XSI usually assigns it a transformation it gets from the actual bone chain no matter what its parent is. By moving LFootEff to a parent that is affected by the FK the transformations are applied via the parent hierarchy. I just wonder if that could mess things up when using a mix of IK/FK.

Anyway, it's really nice to see this working now. With just a few bone rotations I can already see a nice animated character. Thanks a lot.

You meantioned 'Make sure your references to the content importer and processor point to C:\Softimage\XSI_6_Mod_Tool\Addons\XNAGSE\Application\XNA Setup.'

Where are these settings made?

Thanks

Wayne

These settings are inside the Visual C# project. If you open up the SOFTIMAGE_XNAViewer solution you can find several projects in the tree. If you right click on the SOFTIMAGE_XNAViewer projects and choose "Properties" you should get a view with several tab on the left side. In addition to the standard tabs there's also a "content pipeline" tab at the end. If you click on that it lists the assemblies that are used for the content pipeline. In there you can also add and remove them.

Thanks - got it.

 

I am new to XNA/XSI and I am going through the simple "Hellow World" tutorial (XSI model -> XNA project). I believe that my references to the Crosswalk content importer and compiler are not set correctly. Also, there does not exist a content pipeline tab under the SOFTIMAGE_XNAViewer project properties page, from which I was hoping to define these references manually. What am I doing wrong?

are you using XNA 1.0 or XNA 2.0 ?

 

I ran through the "getting started" section under the XNA Creater Club's website, in case you want to know what else I am working with. I am using  XNA 2.0 and VC# express edition.

For XNA 2.0 supposedly a reference will do.