TOOL: HDFview

HDFView is an useful tool to edit animations exported from The Witcher 3 REDkit.

Animation file from REDkit are exported in the common HDF format. Since HDF is an open source format, it can be easily manipulated through scripting. You can inspect and edit animation files manually with tools such as HDFView.

Every .re animation file you export consists two of major parts:

• .re_anim_clip - for the animation frame transformations the for all the bones.

• .re_skeleton - for the skeleton's bone hierarchy and rig transformations for all the bones.
  
  

Find out more about exporting animation from REDkit in this tutorial:

• HOW-TO: Use animations in REDkit and Blender

Download HDFView:

• HDF® View - The HDF Group - ensuring long-term access and usability of HDF data and supporting users of HDF technologies

These bone transformations are in “local” bone coordinates, if you want to recreate the skeleton then you need to transform them into “world” coordinates considering all the parent rotations.

Here’s a Python code snippet for transforming a bone into “world” coordinates: