The procedure you describe sounds essentially correct, Jay. At present, here's what I'm doing:
Animate model in Poser.
Export .bvh from Poser.
Scale mesh 10,000% (Poser meshes seem to be *teeny*) and export default pose (standing upright, arms out to sides) from Poser as .obj.
Import .bvh and .obj in MilkShape.
Export together as one MS3D ASCII file.
Import MS3D ASCII into CharacterFX.
Tweak bones and attach to mesh (before animation, since .bvh shifts vertically when animated).
Fine-tune animation and export as .b3d.
It should be possible to adjust the bones, assign them in MilkShape, and export .b3d from there as you mention; I just prefer CFX myself. I'm not certain that .obj is the best format for the mesh; it's just the first one I got working.
Here's a .b3d version of Casual Man from Poser (~750 K, includes MS3D and CFX files as well), still rather crude but presented for what it might be worth to others getting started. The MilkShape file (a combination of the .bvh and .obj exports) has some mis-assigned materials, but I only used it as a bridge to CFX. The CharacterFX file still has several rough spots, but it's good enough for a test. The Blitz3D program is a simple loader and viewer.
The result: a reasonably convincing figure walking along, no doubt heading to an doctor to have his shoulders looked at. ;) The material of the shirt gave me problems assigning the shoulder regions to the proper bones. The next test will use a Poser skeleton or nude figure to avoid the problems of clothing (hmm, I think I'll use a Poser _female_ for that one... :) ). Once that's sorted out, it should be easier to deal with the complications of clothes.
Animate model in Poser.
Export .bvh from Poser.
Scale mesh 10,000% (Poser meshes seem to be *teeny*) and export default pose (standing upright, arms out to sides) from Poser as .obj.
Import .bvh and .obj in MilkShape.
Export together as one MS3D ASCII file.
Import MS3D ASCII into CharacterFX.
Tweak bones and attach to mesh (before animation, since .bvh shifts vertically when animated).
Fine-tune animation and export as .b3d.
It should be possible to adjust the bones, assign them in MilkShape, and export .b3d from there as you mention; I just prefer CFX myself. I'm not certain that .obj is the best format for the mesh; it's just the first one I got working.
Here's a .b3d version of Casual Man from Poser (~750 K, includes MS3D and CFX files as well), still rather crude but presented for what it might be worth to others getting started. The MilkShape file (a combination of the .bvh and .obj exports) has some mis-assigned materials, but I only used it as a bridge to CFX. The CharacterFX file still has several rough spots, but it's good enough for a test. The Blitz3D program is a simple loader and viewer.
The result: a reasonably convincing figure walking along, no doubt heading to an doctor to have his shoulders looked at. ;) The material of the shirt gave me problems assigning the shoulder regions to the proper bones. The next test will use a Poser skeleton or nude figure to avoid the problems of clothing (hmm, I think I'll use a Poser _female_ for that one... :) ). Once that's sorted out, it should be easier to deal with the complications of clothes.