Help with Mesh exploding after applying animation to my character

[frasher00]

Hey, I'm new to using UDK and could use some help....

I exported the mesh and animation using FBX Export and this is what happens when I apply the animation to the mesh.

Before:

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/424500_3037845864065_1200561323_32393974_213709361 7_n.jpg

and this is after....

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/s720x720/425972_3037848704136_1200561323_32393978_847114328 _n.jpg

any thoughts???

I'm at an standstill on a project until I figure this out :(

[Lexluthor1]

Hey, I'm new to using UDK and could use some help....

I exported the mesh and animation using FBX Export and this is what happens when I apply the animation to the mesh.

Before:

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/424500_3037845864065_1200561323_32393974_213709361 7_n.jpg

and this is after....

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/s720x720/425972_3037848704136_1200561323_32393978_847114328 _n.jpg

any thoughts???

I'm at an standstill on a project until I figure this out :(

Did you export the character first...Then go back to max/maya and apply the animation then export that?
Or did you create the animation on the character and only export it once form max/maya?

Thirdly, have you tried un-checking anim rotation only ?
Look at this image,

6799

[frasher00]

Thank you for responding to my post :D

What I did was export the mesh AND the animation at the same time.... is that a bad thing?

the "Anim Rotation Only" check box was check and I un-checked it and it helped a little. the mesh is still exploded

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/424621_3041675159795_1200561323_32396569_174746257 3_n.jpg

Should I normally export the mesh and THEN the mesh with the animation?

Also, my team wanted me to ask if there is a specific naming convention the we need to follow for UDK to properly work for the animations regarding the bones for the character?

Quite frankly I feel like there are not enough tutorials for importing animation into UDK properly ...

[Lexluthor1]

Thank you for responding to my post :D

What I did was export the mesh AND the animation at the same time.... is that a bad thing?

the "Anim Rotation Only" check box was check and I un-checked it and it helped a little. the mesh is still exploded

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/424621_3041675159795_1200561323_32396569_174746257 3_n.jpg

Should I normally export the mesh and THEN the mesh with the animation?

Also, my team wanted me to ask if there is a specific naming convention the we need to follow for UDK to properly work for the animations regarding the bones for the character?

Quite frankly I feel like there are not enough tutorials for importing animation into UDK properly ...


It shouldn't really make any difference with the anims, either with the mesh or after! As long as you don't make any alterations to the mesh after the anims have been imported..
ie; Change skeletal names or controls and then re-import the character without a new animset!

As for naming, no, I never use any naming conventions....My characters and anims are named simply like, character_01 and the anims could just be named character_01 anims.. :cool:

Its difficult to diagnose without seeing the scene file....Are you using Max or Maya and fbx or actorX ?

[frasher00]

I'm using Maya 2012 and FBX because Actor X is not updated for Maya 2012 :( after reading "The FBX Content Pipeline has replaced the ActorX plugins and import pipeline." on UDN i dnt think that Actor X will ever be updated for Maya now.

I did not alter the mesh in any way after exporting both the mesh and anims out using FBX

I opened the FBX file in Maya and it plays just fine.....

I wish I could upload the scene file to here or email it to you because I'm to the point where I need to seek out someone who's been using UDK for animation and is experience with this.

[Lexluthor1]

I'm using Maya 2012 and FBX because Actor X is not updated for Maya 2012 :( after reading "The FBX Content Pipeline has replaced the ActorX plugins and import pipeline." on UDN i dnt think that Actor X will ever be updated for Maya now.

I did not alter the mesh in any way after exporting both the mesh and anims out using FBX

I opened the FBX file in Maya and it plays just fine.....

I wish I could upload the scene file to here or email it to you because I'm to the point where I need to seek out someone who's been using UDK for animation and is experience with this.

The problem FBX is that it doesn't give you any margin for error like ActorX used to...One mistake and the whole scene is ruined..
Try and upload it to GameFront or similar and I'll take a look and see what's happening :)

[frasher00]

Try and upload it to GameFront or similar and I'll take a look and see what's happening

Lex, I sent you a msg with the link to the rig

[Lexluthor1]

Lex, I sent you a msg with the link to the rig

I'm downloading it now and I replied to your message :)

[darthwilson]

Looks like a scaling issue to me.. reset xForms? make sure your bones aren't scaled

[thejaguarmma]

im experiencing the same issue

[kap10cartoon]

you might want to check that the root of your skeleton and your mesh's transformations have been frozen before export. (after setting the proper Z up orientation)

[thejaguarmma]

Ok so I renamed the main root of my skeleton to "bRoot"

should I add I prefix to all the bones for example

bRoot
- hip
- etc....

too

bRoot
-bRHip
-bRAbdoman
-etc..?

Also when I click Reset xForm my character ends up rotated. Ending up looking up as if she is laying down looking at the sky.

Character looks fantastic on initial import but when playing animation she still ends up looking deformed

[Kelt'ar]

IS the root join's translation set at 0,0,0 ?

[thejaguarmma]

yes she is set to 0,0,0

Im trying not to pull out my hair lol.

FBX acts good when importing a non animated skeletal mesh. With textures/materials looking good.
FBX animations causes my character to deform severely.

Actor X on the other hand is able to import my character via PSK
Actor X is able to play my animations smoothly via PSA =)
almost made me cry when I got to see my character with custom rig/mesh come to life =)

I even tried playing the PSA on my FBX skeletal mesh and it turned out severely deformed as well

[jasonseabaugh]

When you export the character is it in the same base pose of the UT characters during skinning (if you're using the UT rig)?

[thejaguarmma]

Im not using UDK or UT3 Rigs

Its my own rig and my own static mesh.

Im giving up on fbx and using the old stable method Actor X

[gbug]

Ok so I renamed the main root of my skeleton to "bRoot"

No idea if it makes any difference, but I thought it's supposed to be "b_root" ? . I've only done a few import tests so far (new to UDK really) and I found that sometimes when not saving to a fresh FBX file, my hierarchy was wrong and bones appeared not under b_root, but actually b_root didn't show up at all. Then I imported it from a fresh file and it was all good. Also it seemed that sometimes when you have animation on it, the hierarchy was imported differently for whatever reason. I've tried so many things I'm not sure I remember it all correctly right now even, sorry. When I did use a Shadow Rig, it worked better though I think. (I'm far from being experienced in animation and I find it easy to get a messed up mesh even inside XSI when some parenting or constraining goes wrong, so I always expect user error on my end first. The lack of really clear simple documentation about how a mesh and rig should be set up and what can pose problems isn't making it any easier really.)

[MereMortal]

I'm not sure about the problem but Ive had some character meshes deform when trying to FBX export a specific animation from a file containing multiple animations.
I was able to work around this by exporting the whole timeline with all the anims, then trim to make seperate anims ( walk run etc ) in the anim set editor.
This is exporting the mesh seperately and importing the animations into the anim set editor.