How are vertex animations handled in Anim8or?

[lppena]

I read briefly that it's mainly done using morph targets to handle the actual vertex manipulation. I still need to read up on using the morph target feature in Anim8or, but does it involve creating a new target, making vertex changes to the new target and setting the number of frames that A8 uses to smoothly morph the object through it's animation cycle or do a series of new morph targets need to be created to do this in Anim8or?  PS: I understand the a8 format is the only exportable model format the can actually export animations. Can I use ani2pov to convert a8 animations to some other animated model format? Thanks, Leroy.

[Raxx]

For morphs, best thing to do is try out what you're reading in the manual. It's pretty easy to figure out and it'll be the best way for you to learn. A few members like Johnar have put up tutorials regarding the subject as well.

Ani2pov, as far as I know, can only handle skeletal animations in a limited scope. If you looked here: http://texel3d.free.fr/projets/ani2pov/ you'd see this:

Animations can only be converted from Anim8or (Skinned meshes sequences) to Milkshape 3D (.ms3d,.txt) and SMD (.smd).

[lppena]

Thanks Raxx, I did my first non vertex animation the other day and it looks pretty easy. Still have to read up on how to set keyfames more precisely, but it appears the key button always has to be on in order to set the animations to record. I'm beginning to get the hang of how Anim8or does stuff and it all looks pretty simple too.

I'm beginning to post various Anim8or tutorials on my own forum and more heavily promote A8 and this forum as a primary source of information. Why I haven't used Anim8or years ago can only be attributable to my general lack of knowledge at the time. I also plan to do more then just BZII models as the software looks like it has quite a bit of potential for many other modeling applications for casual modeling hobbyist. Leroy.