3D Models to Sprite Frames

[CheekyVimto]

I'm looking into client graphics at the moment and I'd really like to get stuck in with model conversions, I'm not sure if the Mir3 section is the best place to ask but since I intend to do this in Mir3 it was the best place I could think to start.

First, the obvious question seems to be what programs are people using to create sprite sheets from 3d models? (are those even the right terms anymore?)
I came across iClone7 and Character Creator 3 in my research, both have a trial version so I was going to start there, but assumed there may be alternatives and that this community may know of some.

Have I skipped over some good tutorials on the subject, maybe in other areas of the forum?

Any help would be appreciated
/cheeky

 

[Akaras]

I use Blender to convert 3D models into 2D images because it is free and I have been using it for a while... if you set up the scene and play around with lighting/camera angle you can render the images pretty nicely so its then its just a case of dropping in models and playing around with the animations to get the look right...

but you can use any 3D tool that renders images to a usable format like .png

I'm mostly working with crystal Mir2 files so for the "sprite sheets" we use the Library editor which creates the .lib files that store the hundreds of images in the format the crystal client reads (other versions of Mir use different library editors)

A tricky part is setting the Offset values automatically (offsets keep the images aligned as images are usually different sizes)... it is possible to do it manually but takes so long

 

[CheekyVimto]

thanks for the information @Akaras, do you know if there are any best practices or addons for blender over in the M2 community for this sort of work?
for example, getting the offsets sounds like something that could potentially be part of the image rendering process?

I'm thinking of starting simple and generating the character preview animation prior to jumping into the game, I assume this must have been done a few times by now?

 

[Akaras]

As far as I know everyone uses different programmes so nothing is standard

Yeah its a good idea to start on something simple with few frames and get used to importing and setting the offsets