Imported Character with Epic's Skeleton name is not working properly

[ryanjon2040]

Hello everyone...

I imported a character from 3dsmax to UDK with Epic's skeleton names. The character i have in 3dsmax was pre-rigged, so i used bone names from Epic's skeleton (b_Head, b_Neck etc) and i imported the character in UDK. In AnimSet Editor all animations play perfectly fine. However when in-game, the characters hands are not moving. Can someone shed some light on whats going wrong. Here are some pictures.

In AnimSet Editor:


In Game:


Any idea why

[Graylord]

Have you setup the sockets? I believe the UT animations use sockets a lot to control positioning of the arms. It looks like they are pointing towards the 0,0,0 point of the character, which I believe confirms my suspicion.

[ryanjon2040]

I tried to add sockets but it wont let me do it. I have two bones with names b_LeftWeapon and b_RightWeapon. But in socket dialog, there is no b_LeftWeapon and b_RightWeapon. I can send the character as PM if you want to take a look. Am sure its really a very simple issue but since this is my first time, am unsure about what to do.

[geodav]

to me it looks more like a skinning error, also check in the editor that the weapon bones are in the bone list (middle left / animset edtior)

i've had it before where the anims look fine in max and the editor but not ingame, it was always a skinning problem

[ryanjon2040]

to me it looks more like a skinning error, also check in the editor that the weapon bones are in the bone list (middle left / animset edtior)

i've had it before where the anims look fine in max and the editor but not ingame, it was always a skinning problem

If you are referring to b_LeftWeapon and b_RightWeapon then by default i dont have those bones. This model is from Rocketbox Libraries. I manually added those bones in max and i did added them in Skin Modifier. But in UDK all bones are available except b_LeftWeapon and b_RightWeapon.

[Graylord]

to me it looks more like a skinning error, also check in the editor that the weapon bones are in the bone list (middle left / animset edtior)

i've had it before where the anims look fine in max and the editor but not ingame, it was always a skinning problem

Can't be a skinning problem, as he said, it appears fine in PHAT.

[geodav]

Can't be a skinning problem, as he said, it appears fine in PHAT.

wanna bet, i don't want to boast but i've lost count on how many character meshes i've imported into the Unreal Engine over the years.

back to topic 2 ways to skin the cat, re-rig it using the full epic rig, or make sure you have added the extra bones/objects correctly as mentioned do the bones show in the animset editor skeleton tree

if all else fails send me a pm but try/check first ok

[Graylord]

If it was a skinning problem, the arms wouldn't be animated at all.
It can't be skinned in some places, then not in others, it's a logical impossibility.

[ryanjon2040]

wanna bet, i don't want to boast but i've lost count on how many character meshes i've imported into the Unreal Engine over the years.

back to topic 2 ways to skin the cat, re-rig it using the full epic rig, or make sure you have added the extra bones/objects correctly as mentioned do the bones show in the animset editor skeleton tree

if all else fails send me a pm but try/check first ok

Since by default the rig dont have b_LeftWeapon and b_RightWeapon bones i added those bones via System --> Bones. Then i added it into the Skin Modifier. Then i exported it using ActorX and imported in UDK. When i try to copy/paste the sockets from default IronGuard model, it says that i dont have b_LeftWeapon and b_RightWeapon. All other sockets were pasted succesfully

[geodav]

ok there's the first mistake, the b_ bones are not bones but max objects eg:- cubes, like i said earlier 2 options re-rig/skin with the epic rig or add the b_ bones/objects and check in the editor that the extra bones show after importing into udk

[Lexluthor1]

Since by default the rig dont have b_LeftWeapon and b_RightWeapon bones i added those bones via System --> Bones. Then i added it into the Skin Modifier. Then i exported it using ActorX and imported in UDK. When i try to copy/paste the sockets from default IronGuard model, it says that i dont have b_LeftWeapon and b_RightWeapon. All other sockets were pasted succesfully

Listen to geodav, he's right !
I had the exact same problem last year

[tigerija]

#1 Make sure your bones are polygons (if I remember correctly, or it should be mesh - try both)
#2 Link all bones to b_root
#3 Toggle off rotation only in UDK
#4 Might be IK problem? Bone linking or name misstypo. Vertex weight?

We have used complex skeletons for mech like robots with attachments all over them. Problem might be in bone linking or name misstypo.

Check all of those then report.

[KingCobra]

ok there's the first mistake, the b_ bones are not bones but max objects eg:- cubes, like i said earlier 2 options re-rig/skin with the epic rig or add the b_ bones/objects and check in the editor that the extra bones show after importing into udk

Hey guys, Im having the exact same problem. Im trying to follow Geodav's steps but I'm a little confused on something. When you say that I should re-skin using Epic's rig, what is it I should be doing differently than before? Here is how I have it now(this is in Maya, btw. the steps pretty much carry over the same as in Max; roughly): http://imgur.com/H3a9v

What I am noticing however is that there is an object(not a bone/joint) in each of the character's hands labeled "b_LeftWeapon" and "b_RightWeapon" in each respective hand. Here is what I'm referring to: http://imgur.com/bNmNV

When I skin the skeleton to the actual model and load it in the editor it looks and animates fine until I get it in-game. Then it looks just like the OP's does. Can anyone shed any light onto what exactly is happening here and what I can do to fix it?

I'm really new to this whole animating/rigging thing and all help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

[Lexluthor1]

Hey guys, Im having the exact same problem. Im trying to follow Geodav's steps but I'm a little confused on something. When you say that I should re-skin using Epic's rig, what is it I should be doing differently than before? Here is how I have it now(this is in Maya, btw. the steps pretty much carry over the same as in Max; roughly): http://imgur.com/H3a9v

What I am noticing however is that there is an object(not a bone/joint) in each of the character's hands labeled "b_LeftWeapon" and "b_RightWeapon" in each respective hand. Here is what I'm referring to: http://imgur.com/bNmNV

When I skin the skeleton to the actual model and load it in the editor it looks and animates fine until I get it in-game. Then it looks just like the OP's does. Can anyone shed any light onto what exactly is happening here and what I can do to fix it?

I'm really new to this whole animating/rigging thing and all help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Rigging a character in 3ds max with the Epic skeleton
You are not supposed to skin those bits...Watch these tutorials to see where you went wrong!

[geodav]

if your using maya you might want to have a look at this thread http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/...maya+rig+denny

[KingCobra]

Cool, thanks.

[ryanjon2040]

Sorry for the late reply....

#2 Link all bones to b_root

Thank you very much tigerija.....Finally i was able to import the sockets without any error. But still the hands are not fixed.

Here are the pics:

AnimSet:

Imageshack

In-Game:

Imageshack

[geodav]

again use the epix rig if you want to use the udk anims, you might find the axis of our bones are aligned wrong

[ryanjon2040]

again use the epix rig if you want to use the udk anims, you might find the axis of our bones are aligned wrong

Am watching your UT3 Weapon tutorial right now

back to matter....I wish i could rig but am very very very weak in character rigging. Thats why i used a rigged character. I thought changing the bone names would make it work

[geodav]

ok depending on your 3d programm maybe i can help you, if your using max then watch my videos and then use the epic rig

[ShimShade]

Did anyone from this thread ever get this problem solved?

Sorry to bring up an old thread but I'm having exactly this problem and I don't think there's anything wrong with my rig. I started with the ExampleSkeleton.fbx provided on the UDN but if you import that to Maya it's missing certain nodes/bones (all the IK nodes are just mesh shapes.... b_LeftWeapon/b_RightWeapon are mesh shapes instead of bones). Anyway I added two bones for the left and right weapon, I named them properly, everything is exactly the same as the IronGuard character that's in UDK already. Hierarchy is the same, everything seems fine. AnimSet Editor shows all the animations playing just fine. However when I get in game the hands are bent back just as in the original picture. Not sure what the cause of this could be, as you would expect I didn't skin any verts to b_LeftWeapon/b_RightWeapon since they seem to just be reference axes for sockets and such. I added sockets just by copying them from the iron guard character, but having them or not doesn't seem to change whether this issue will occur. I should also mention that all of the joints in my rig are axially aligned with the rig from UDN (weapon bones as well as all the ones I didn't add).

Since all the UDK anims play find in the anim editor it makes me think that it's not related to the rig or raw anim data, but maybe the anim tree? some other runtime skeletal controllers that are misbehaving?

I saw someone said parent the weapon bones to b_Root, haven't tried that yet so I'll give that a go. I'll be surprised if that's the problem because in the AnimSet editor for the ironGuard character the weapon bones are in the hierarchy with the fingers (parented off of b_LeftHand/b_RightHand)

Any help is much appreciated.

[Psychotic_Mike]

are there any tutorials out there that can teach me on hwo to import/set up characters from maya to udk? Sorry to post this in here guys put I cannot seem to find anything out there to help me. The thing I am looking for is a tutorial that shows how to create the proper skeleton in maya and then import it in udk.
Thanks in advance!!!

[ryanjon2040]

Did anyone from this thread ever get this problem solved?

Sorry to bring up an old thread but I'm having exactly this problem and I don't think there's anything wrong with my rig. I started with the ExampleSkeleton.fbx provided on the UDN but if you import that to Maya it's missing certain nodes/bones (all the IK nodes are just mesh shapes.... b_LeftWeapon/b_RightWeapon are mesh shapes instead of bones). Anyway I added two bones for the left and right weapon, I named them properly, everything is exactly the same as the IronGuard character that's in UDK already. Hierarchy is the same, everything seems fine. AnimSet Editor shows all the animations playing just fine. However when I get in game the hands are bent back just as in the original picture. Not sure what the cause of this could be, as you would expect I didn't skin any verts to b_LeftWeapon/b_RightWeapon since they seem to just be reference axes for sockets and such. I added sockets just by copying them from the iron guard character, but having them or not doesn't seem to change whether this issue will occur. I should also mention that all of the joints in my rig are axially aligned with the rig from UDN (weapon bones as well as all the ones I didn't add).

Since all the UDK anims play find in the anim editor it makes me think that it's not related to the rig or raw anim data, but maybe the anim tree? some other runtime skeletal controllers that are misbehaving?

I saw someone said parent the weapon bones to b_Root, haven't tried that yet so I'll give that a go. I'll be surprised if that's the problem because in the AnimSet editor for the ironGuard character the weapon bones are in the hierarchy with the fingers (parented off of b_LeftHand/b_RightHand)

Any help is much appreciated.

A friend of mine re-rigged the character. Thats the only way.

are there any tutorials out there that can teach me on hwo to import/set up characters from maya to udk? Sorry to post this in here guys put I cannot seem to find anything out there to help me. The thing I am looking for is a tutorial that shows how to create the proper skeleton in maya and then import it in udk.
Thanks in advance!!!

This might help: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...g&feature=plcp

Scroll down and you'll see "UDK Custom Character Tutorial"

[Psychotic_Mike]

thanks dude, really helpful stuff!!!!!