Which rigged model to purchase?

[tomwyn]

Hi All,

 

I'm about to buy a human model from turbosquid for a project, as I don't have the time to model/rig myself in this instance.

 

My question is: If the model I want to buy comes in '3dsmax 2012' format, will I be able to export it from max so that it's compatible with Houdini & keep all the bones/materials/UV's in tact?

 

Ideally I'd like the download in .fbx, but it's pretty expensive, so I don't want to run the risk of downloading a 3dsmax scene file by accident & not being able to convert.

 

Anyone have any thoughts? I''m looking forward to the day when Turbosquid is full of Alembics

 

Thanks!

 

 

[kleer001]

ASFAIK there's no package agnostic rigging solution. Best to just use Max to animate it then export the mesh to Houdini.

[Guest tar]

as kleer001 said; also just run a simple test from Max to Houdini to find what works and doesn't before spending money!

[tomwyn]

Hey Marty, kleer001.

 

Thanks for the responses... I pretty much knew that there was no universal solution, I was just keen to see if anyone knew any workarounds that might enable me to get the rigging controls into houdini via .fbx (or whatever).

 

Someone at a studio I used to work at managed it once, but it was a few years ago & I don't recall exactly how... Though I think it was literally a case of going through the hierarchy in Houdini & essentially re-rigging the whole damn thing.

 

I don't mind posing the character in max (thankfully it doesn't need elaborate animation) then exporting, I just really wish there was a universal format for this stuff. Cross platform collaboration is so important to workflow nowadays (especially as a freelancer).

 

Thanks again!