# \[Help\] Animating Mods

**URL:** <https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220>\
**Category:** Modding\
**Created:** [March 25, 2018, 11:11pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220 "2018-03-25T23:11:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 15\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Feashrind](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/feashrind/32/65839_2.png) [@Feashrind](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Feashrind)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 11:11pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/1 "2018-03-25T23:11:48Z")

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What is the best way to go about animate mobs or anything for that matter?

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**Author:** ![BrunoSupremo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/brunosupremo/32/54819_2.png) [@BrunoSupremo](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/BrunoSupremo)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 11:20pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/2 "2018-03-25T23:20:57Z")

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I’m not sure if it is the best way.  
My way is using voxelshop (magicavox does not work with multiple matrix, a basic requirement when modeling mobs with moving parts) and exporting the mob as a Collada file (.dae). This file is then imported in Blender (free animation software) using the stonehearth plugin ([Stonehearth Add-On for Blender (Animation)](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/stonehearth-add-on-for-blender-animation/3561))

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**Author:** ![Feashrind](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/feashrind/32/65839_2.png) [@Feashrind](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Feashrind)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 11:23pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/3 "2018-03-25T23:23:35Z")

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I think where I’m struggling with Blender when animating is making a skeleton. Thank-you for the helpful advice, I personally use Qubicle 2.0 but haven’t tried Voxelshop. Is it better? Also, I know it’s been awhile since that plugin was last updated. Does it still work without problems?

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**Author:** ![BrunoSupremo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/brunosupremo/32/54819_2.png) [@BrunoSupremo](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/BrunoSupremo)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 11:26pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/4 "2018-03-25T23:26:55Z")

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Oh, if you have qubicle, stick with it. I never used it, but it sounds like every thing is easier with it. (Well, it does not hurt having multiple editor either…)

The plugin works fine I guess. It is a long time since I last used it, so I need to test it again. I’m kinda afraid of using it, because it always throw at my face how bad I am at animations hahaha

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**Author:** ![Feashrind](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/feashrind/32/65839_2.png) [@Feashrind](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Feashrind)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/5 "2018-03-25T23:51:15Z")

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Alright so exported it into Blender but how do I add in the textures?

 ![4f46340ac1cd6fbc51296b9e855c7912](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/stonehearth/original/3X/5/9/59238db1854d02f472fac43114c4e06c0c0b0341.png)

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**Author:** ![BrunoSupremo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/brunosupremo/32/54819_2.png) [@BrunoSupremo](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/BrunoSupremo)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 12:03am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/6 "2018-03-26T00:03:34Z")

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@MoonSight Any help?

I tried once, but didn’t got it working. So yeah, I do it all in plain gray. (I think I like to suffer)

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**Author:** ![Feashrind](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/feashrind/32/65839_2.png) [@Feashrind](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Feashrind)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 12:36am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/7 "2018-03-26T00:36:36Z")

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So far this is the progress I have on the actual skeleton of the model. I’m just wondering how this looks so far.

 ![547150f4f7fbff82f85aff1c5d0489e6](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/stonehearth/original/3X/a/0/a0e97cc08d0280b204394508c87e2e4c69758a38.png)

This is what the model looks like broken down.

 ![9099a2ef4c392539282c514d66e02e5b](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/stonehearth/original/3X/1/b/1bdb376db306dc28c620d8b98592d8e693215d49.png)

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**Author:** ![Fornjotr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/fornjotr/32/54961_2.png) [@Fornjotr](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Fornjotr)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 5:29am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/8 "2018-03-26T05:29:44Z")

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Here the link to @MoonSight ´s animation thread, where you can find some videoes and stuff.

Is that a lama?

> [@Symbol's Animation Tutorial for StoneHearth](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/symbols-animation-tutorial-for-stonehearth/30740):
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> Hi There! Symbol Here Finally! we have it; My Terrible Voice and Weird accent in a Video Explaining how to animate for StoneHearth i mentioned here and there that i wanted to make a Video explaining how the add-on works and how to operate it, but i didn’t have time to really record because circumstances proved difficult with just noisy surroundings, until now that is! hopefully thees Tutorials will help you guys and New Modders wanting to jump into animating get started And also be a easy r…

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**Author:** ![Feashrind](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/feashrind/32/65839_2.png) [@Feashrind](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Feashrind)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 7:28am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/9 "2018-03-26T07:28:10Z")

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Never seen this. Thanks for sharing this, way more helpful than using bones to make a skeleton! Just hope it’s still relevant.

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**Author:** ![MoonSight](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/moonsight/32/55148_2.png) [@MoonSight](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/MoonSight)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 8:38am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/10 "2018-03-26T08:38:08Z")

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I’m still around! And thanks @BrunoSupremo and @Fornjotr for helping out here

Skeletons don’t work for StoneHearth animations, if you do that the add-on won’t be able to get any position or rotation data since all the movement is done to the polygons and not the model itself, there are some workarounds that allow the use of a skeleton for Blender, but it’s a bit complicated so the normal parenting method works best for most situations

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**Author:** ![Feashrind](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/feashrind/32/65839_2.png) [@Feashrind](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Feashrind)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 3:35am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/11 "2018-03-27T03:35:04Z")

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So your tutorial is the best to follow?

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**Author:** ![MoonSight](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/moonsight/32/55148_2.png) [@MoonSight](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/MoonSight)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/12 "2018-03-27T12:01:40Z")

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I’d say it’s the ‘safest’ at-least

there is a way of using the [child-of] constraint to connect the objects directly to the bones if you make a skeleton, but it’s a bit complicated and i don’t really know how to make it compensate for offsets, so i’m not sure how safe it is to use that method

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**Author:** ![Feashrind](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/feashrind/32/65839_2.png) [@Feashrind](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Feashrind)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 4:42am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/13 "2018-03-28T04:42:28Z")

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You use 3Ds Max right? How do you go about animating in 3Ds Max?

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**Author:** ![MoonSight](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/moonsight/32/55148_2.png) [@MoonSight](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/MoonSight)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 9:34am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/14 "2018-03-28T09:34:06Z")

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i only use blender so i don’t know how to use Max for animation modding  
the script for Max i think is available somewhere in the discourse or on the SH website, but i could be wrong

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**Author:** ![Feashrind](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/feashrind/32/65839_2.png) [@Feashrind](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/Feashrind)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/help-animating-mods/34220/15 "2018-03-29T22:48:17Z")

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Well I got almost 90% through making the points when I noticed that the legs of the model weren’t at the right height… so I have to restart again, but I plan on trying to rig it tonight and see where I get.