Importing Animations - mosamadeeb/yakuza-gmt-blender GitHub Wiki

This article explains how to import Yakuza animations to Blender.

Before importing

Before importing GMTs, you should make sure you have a compatible armature in the scene. The armature should have the same bone names and hierarchy as the GMT animation you're importing.

For that, you should use the Yakuza GMD Blender addon and import a GMD model. The model you import should be from the same game as the GMT you want to import. Otherwise, there might be some issues with bone names/hierarchy that might break the animation.

When importing a GMD, you should NOT enable the "Load Animation Skeleton" option. That option was only needed for the old GMT importer addon. This addon does not need that option enabled.

Don't worry, if you want to use a GMT with another kind of armature, you can retarget the animation to another armature , after importing the animation using the Yakuza GMD armature.

Importing a GMT file

The import dialog can be found in the File menu in Blender: File -> Import -> Yakuza Animation (.gmt/.cmt/.ifa)

After opening the dialog, browse for the GMT file you want to import and select it. Next, you should check the Import Options on the right side of the dialog, and change them according to the GMT you're importing:

The addon will automatically detect the GMT version for you, so you don't need to select which game it is from.

Here's a brief explanation on the options:

Target Armature: The armature (existing in the scene) that the animation will be imported to. This is automatically chosen based on the armature that is currently selected in the scene, but it can be changed here. This affects how the animation works, so it's important that you use the correct armature (i.e. Yakuza 0 Kiryu armature for Yakuza 0/Kiwami Baka Mitai animation).
Merge Vector: This option merges the animation from vector_c_n bone to center_c_n to make it much simpler to modify the animation. You should keep it enabled at all times. Only disable it if you want to see the raw animation and not modify it at all.
Is Auth/Hact: If the GMT you're importing comes from the auth or hact folders/pars in the game, then you should enable this option. Otherwise (if the GMT is from motion folder or somewhere else), keep it disabled. It affects how vector_c_n is merged, and is required to be correct according to the origin of the GMT in order to properly import the animation.

You can check the Addon Options article for alternate descriptions of these options.

After changing the options, click the Import Yakuza GMT button at the bottom of the window, and the animation will be imported.

Note that, after importing the GMT, the current scene frame will be reset to the beginning of the animation, and the frame range will be set to that of the GMT. This way, you can play the animation and it will loop again once it is over.

After importing, if the animation doesn't have hands animated, then it might be using hand patterns

Importing a CMT file

This addon can also import CMT files, with some limitations. CMT is the format for camera animation. In order to import a CMT file, all you have to do is open the import dialog (same step as with GMTs) and select a CMT file. The import options do not matter at all for CMTs.

Keep in mind that if supported, Depth of Field (DOF) will be enabled for CMTs. Only Kenzan CMTs do not support it, although Old Engine games might not be using DOF in the game. Therefore, if you switch to Render mode in Blender and the DOF does not look correct, you should disable it. For Dragon Engine games, the DOF looks similar to in-game, so you should keep it enabled.

After importing, the animation will applied on the camera in the scene. You should make sure a camera object exists in the scene before importing CMTs.

Importing an IFA file

IFA files contain facial poses for Yakuza 3-5. They can be imported as well. The importing process is similar to importing GMTs, but you only need to care about the Target Armature in the importer options. Other options are irrelevant.