BIP: the format that refused to die 💀→🎬
In the world of 3D animation, .BIP files are like that old vinyl record that sounds better than many modern songs. Although they were born with Character Studio in the prehistoric days of 3ds Max (yes, we're talking about version 8), they remain incredibly useful today... if you know where to find them and how to squeeze the most out of them. 🧙♂️
"A good BIP file is like a cooking recipe: with the right ingredients, you can prepare a feast of animations"
Hidden treasures: where to find free BIPs
You don't need to sell a kidney to get quality animations. Here are the best sites:
- Mixamo: 2,000+ animations you can convert to BIP
- CMU Motion Capture: Raw mocap data for purists
- Free3D/CGTrader: Complete packs with rig and animation
Digital alchemy: converting other formats to BIP
Got a BVH or FBX you want to transform into BIP? The process is simpler than it seems:
- Import the animation into 3ds Max
- Apply it to a Biped
- Use Motion Mixer to adjust retargeting
- Save as .BIP and done! ✨
Magician's tricks for using BIPs in 2024
Professionals keep these secrets:
- Link BIP animations to master controllers for greater flexibility
- Export to Unreal/Unity with Bake Animation enabled
- Use AnimBot to adjust poses without losing your mind
On foro3d you'll find threads with scripts to clean mocap and packs of animations organized by type. Because let's be honest: no one wants to discover in the middle of a serious project that their "walk cycle" is actually a Michael Jackson moonwalk. 🕺
As the veterans say: "An animator without their BIP library is like a chef without spices... and ends up serving the same boring dish every time". 🍳