This page provides information about the import of custom posed static models in Chaos Anima.
Overview
In Anima you can import your own models in FBX format, either Static or Rigged, and use them to populate your scenes.
After importing a custom rigged character you will be able to use it in all your simulations, just like you can use any of the Library actors included by default in the library.
The static models cannot be animated by Anima because they don’t have a bone structure, but the advantage of adding them to the Anima library is that once imported, you can use them through Anima Drop directly inside your 3D application thanks to the Anima plugins for 3ds Max, Maya, Cinema 4D, and Unreal Engine. Take a look at the video tutorial available here to see how fast and easy it is to use this panel.
Moreover, you can use the configuration options of the library to organize them in groups, tags, and categories at your best convenience, and even create multiple color variations to improve their versatility.
Please notice that Anima is an open platform, so you are free to import third party models from any other provider. However, we can only guarantee that the simulations will work as expected using the models certified by AXYZ Design because we are continuously verifying the creation process and the final production quality of all our models to ensure a 100% compatibility with Anima.
Setting up the FBX
As the FBX format specification can have problems recognizing the shaders from some renderers (V-Ray, Corona, Arnold, Redshift, etc.), the best way to ensure the compatibility and export correctly all the textures used in the model is to apply only basic standard shaders before exporting the FBX from your application (3ds Max, Maya, Cinema 4D, Blender, etc.).
Also, to avoid problems with the paths of the textures, it’s recommended to use the option “embed media” that includes all the textures inside the FBX itself.
Keep in mind that this “standard shader” configuration used on the FBX won’t affect in any way the capabilities of our Anima plugins to adapt the shaders of the actors to any Render Engine that you may have selected on your 3D application. Don’t worry, that will still happen, this is only to get all the textures used in the models to be recognized correctly by the FBX exporter first and then by Anima too.
Import your FBX into Anima
To import one or more static characters into Anima, follow these steps:
- Open the Project for new Characters and change the Anima UI Mode to Editing Mode.
- In the Actors Library, at the Project tab click the [+] button on the right side to start the import process.
3.The Import Actor dialog will open. Click on the Input File three little dots on the right side of the filename field and browse to the FBX file of your model.
4. Select the file units to match your project units and the maximum texture quality of the model that you want to set.
5. On Static Models, you can ignore Bing pose and Automatic rotation options, those are only for Rigged models.
6. Click IMPORT to finish.
After a few seconds, your new character will now be available in the Actors Library, at the same Projects section.
New characters don’t have a thumbnail yet. To generate one, go to the Actor Information panel and click the snapshot button 
to make it.
You can also add a Description or edit the Name from this panel. Click Save when you’re done to commit your changes.
You can add TAGs to your actor to keep your library organized and easily find it later using the search box of the Actors panel. More info about this on the following article Using Categories and Tags.
Now the thumbnail and the description will appear on the Projects section of the actor library, and your new character will be ready to use for any scene in the project with a simple drag & drop.
Please note that you can use the static Posed models both inside the Anima standalone application and directly inside 3ds Max, Maya, Cinema 4D, and Unreal Engine using the Drag and Drop gallery panel installed with the Anima plugins.
Remember that Anima has a great set of tools to create multiple color variations for the textures of your actors, both Posed and Rigged. Read this article to learn more.
Use the Imported Model on all Projects
All the imported models are placed inside the library of your current Anima project (in the subfolder “<my_project>/libraries/models”). Once you finish importing this new static model, a new file with that name and the Anima native format extension (*.y) will be created there.
To make this file available to all your projects, copy this Anima file into the “models” subfolder of the “Purchases” folder that you have set up in Anima Preferences.
