First custom character not animating correctly

[Lukas Barbarossa]

Hi all

I have been trying to import my first custom character, but my model has a problem ... ahem .... below the waist

Specifically, when I animate him using K_AnimHuman_BaseMale (Male Idle), it is clear that his left leg is way back compared to Cathode on the same frame. I've added a couple of links to pics below to show what I mean.

Other animations are causng similar problems.

I was wondering if any of you experienced character artists could point me to a likely cause for this kind of fault? I rechecked my model and it looks like the ankle bone for the left leg is in the same place as the equivilent joint in the right leg, and that one works fine.

Any help would be very appreciated.

Picture 1:


Picture 2:


Thanks in advance.
Lukas

[geodav]

Hi Lukas, normally i would say a skinning problem, have a look at your mesh in the animset editor and play the anims with the skeleton switched on.

without knowing which 3d program you have used its hard to give tips

[Lukas Barbarossa]

without knowing which 3d program you have used its hard to give tips

Thanks Geodav. Quick reply!. I am using Maya 2012

I'll have a look with the skeleton turned on. What is it I am looking for?

Judah

[Lukas Barbarossa]

That was good advice. I assumed the skeleton did the same thing regardless and that was fixed by the animation, but that is not so (learning all the time).

In the pic you see the first frame of 'Male Idle' for the prisoner and Cathode, and it is plain to see the skeletons are doing different things. The left leg problem is due to the way the animation is being interpreted by my exported character.

Can any of you character artists and specialists guide me to what I have done wrong at the Maya (2012 64bit) stage to make my model deform the skeleton like this? I should add, I am using the standard Epic skeleton and haven't modified it, except to match it to my character prior to 'soft bind'.

Thanks in advance
Lukas

[geodav]

ok i'm not a maya user so i can't help there but make sure you include the IK_ bones in your rig/skin
the only other thing that i can think of is the fact you have moved/scaled some of the bones

[Lukas Barbarossa]

Thanks Geodav. I know you're a big Blender guy, I've checked out your work

I did 'export all' not 'export selection' when I converted to .fbx, so I am pretty sure I got the IK and bones, however, you are right when you say I moved the bones to match my models standing pose prior to binding them together. I thought this was probably how to do it. Have I got the principle wrong? I was guessing.

If moving the UDK skeleton bones to match the models standing pose isn't how you bind a character to the selection, can you tell me what the principle is I need to be following prior to bind?

[Henrik]

The standard principle when you are trying to make a new character compatible with existing anims is to get the character itself to match (roughly) the bone rotations. Essentially the opposite of what you have done. If you are using Maya I suggest using soft select mode (hit the standard arrow cursor icon on the left) then from the tool properties check soft select, and adjust the other properties so you can do things like rotate whole limbs independently without mucking up your character (it's quite possible).

[Lukas Barbarossa]

Thanks for your advice. I've had a great day playing with soft select and have been using it to get good results making my characters to look fatter and thinner with much more success.

Not so successful is the quest for clean animation. I got a clean skeleton from this site following the "Download it here!" link at this page. I rigged it as Henrik described, moving the model and leaving the skeleton untouched, but unfortunately, the .fbx export isn't animating at all. I've put a link to the model and rig here, in case there is something obvious I have done wrong.

One thing I noticed is that the bones have different names than the ones I am used to. I've included a pic of the skeletn tree below. Could that be why? I didn't alter any names either so these are the ones it came with.

Once again, thank-you for getting me this far. It has been a hell of a three days trying to learn this, but I have really moved forward in that time - mainly through mistakes I'll be sure to pay the favour forward to the community, when I have expertise enough to advise others.

Lukas

[geodav]

looks like you got the biped rig there and not the b_bones rigg not sue if this will help your either but you can try http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/...maya+rig+denny i think its an update of that thread you linked to

[Lukas Barbarossa]

Damn. Took me ages to match my character to that rig... ah well.... live an' learn. Is there any way I can make it work with the biped rig or do I need to start again?

Thanks for the links by the way, Geodav. I am downloading his latest videos. Much appreciated

[Henrik]

compare the two skeletons side by side. if the stances look identical you may be able to get away with just renaming the bones to b_ instead of bip_ , renaming bones is a bit tedious but not as tedious as redoing the model. plus I think there's a match/replace feature in maya so it will find all instances of it at once. gl

[geodav]

you can use any rig you like but if you want to use the anims that come with udk then you need the udk rig with the b_bones

[Henrik]

ps I noticed there is an IK setup there. one more thing you'd probably have to do is delete any unnecessary bones or controls and essentially make sure the skeletons match bone for bone. all this is just guesswork as I have not examined the skels myself...

[Henrik]

you can use any rig you like but if you want to use the anims that come with udk then you need the udk rig with the b_bones

Yeah, probably better in the end to do that.

[Lukas Barbarossa]

This has all been very helpful guys, in that I am learning from my mistakes, what I can do (rotate the bones) and what I can't (move and scale them) and all about soft select too. Unfortunately, so far I have not been able to get it working and thereby learn from my triumphs also

I couldn't get it going with renamed bones, but fortunately, a vanilla skeleton I found was in the exact same pose, so I didn't have to adjust the model to fit the new skeleton. However, my .fbx export is getting wierder results than ever before as you can see from the picture below.

I am probably just missing a process - I am not a very experienced modeller. I've got rid of anything not needed (IK etc) by exporting selection instead of all, but I am really at the limits of my knowledge on this process. If anyone gets time, could they take a look at my fbx (link here) to see if there is something obvious I am doing - or more likely not doing? It's a big ask, I know, as you're probably all busy on your own projects, but you might be able to take a quick look and say "ah, its obvious, he hasn't done x and y" - I live in hope

Thanks very much for getting me this far.

Lukas