Animation and Rigging Tools: FAQ, Known Issues and Feature Roadmap

[anon23714716]

I’m using Maya 2015 Student Version. It keeps crashing every time I try to save a scene with a built rig. Is there a way to disable the student save pop-up window?

[jmalaska]

@WillianG83;291123

Hey i started some weapon animations today and since the beginning i had issues.
First i had errors but i solved it by downloading and apply last updates from dropbox. However now whenever i add a weapon reference the animation exporter get broken and starts to export empty files (6.34 kb) for both character and weapon.

Regards.

PS: but broken i mean it just doesn’t export anything anymore unless i restart the computer.

Not sure if this is related to a similar issue I’ve been having. But I’ve also been having corrupt FBX exports. The fix is weird: go to File>Export All. Choose FBX as the file type to export. Then close the window. Then reexport using the A.R.T. GUI per usual. Hope it helps.

[Hard-Boiled_Software]

Eureka! I fixed my issue so I’ll post my solution in case anybody else runs into it… Somehow Maya 2014 decided to unload the FBX import/export plugin. That was it. It took a completely fresh install of both Maya and ART to make me dig even further until I noticed it was something that simple. So now you know the symptoms in case it happens to you.

[anonymous_user_a8afb2ca]

@;293458

Not sure if this is related to a similar issue I’ve been having. But I’ve also been having corrupt FBX exports. The fix is weird: go to File>Export All. Choose FBX as the file type to export. Then close the window. Then reexport using the A.R.T. GUI per usual. Hope it helps.

thanks for trying but didn’t work for me

this is what maya is saying :

Warning: Item not found: exportMotionUI|columnLayout110|rowColumnLayout10|frameLayout175|formLayout152

C:/Users//Documents/maya/addons/MayaTools/General/Icons/ART/Thumbnails/ZApocalypse/
[u’Hero_Prototype.bmp’, u’Hero_Prototype_small.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype_small.bmp’]
C:/Users//Documents/maya/addons/MayaTools/General/Icons/ART/Thumbnails/ZApocalypse/
[u’Hero_Prototype.bmp’, u’Hero_Prototype_small.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype_small.bmp’]
set to independent euler
// Logfile: “C:\Users\Documents\maya\FBX\Logs\2014.0.1\maya2014exp.log”

Error: line 1: Found no items to list the history for.

Warning: Object, ‘b_main’, skipped. It is already a child of the parent, ‘world’.

// Logfile: “C:\Users\Documents\maya\FBX\Logs\2014.0.1\maya2014exp.log”

Error: line 1: Found no items to list the history for.

[u’Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_ExportRN’, u’Hero_Prototype:_UNKNOWN_REF_NODE_‘, u’Hero_PrototypeRN’, u’M4A1RN’]
Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_Export

Hero_Prototype:UNKNOWN_REF_NODE
Hero_Prototype

M4A1

with another weapon (different process to create the fbx)

Warning: Item not found: exportMotionUI|columnLayout135|rowColumnLayout17|frameLayout285|formLayout239

C:/Users//Documents/maya/addons/MayaTools/General/Icons/ART/Thumbnails/ZApocalypse/
[u’Hero_Prototype.bmp’, u’Hero_Prototype_small.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype_small.bmp’]
C:/Users//Documents/maya/addons/MayaTools/General/Icons/ART/Thumbnails/ZApocalypse/
[u’Hero_Prototype.bmp’, u’Hero_Prototype_small.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype_small.bmp’]
set to independent euler
// Logfile: “C:\Users\Documents\maya\FBX\Logs\2014.0.1\maya2014exp.log”

Error: line 1: Found no items to list the history for.

Warning: Object, ‘joint’, skipped. It is already a child of the parent, ‘world’.

// Logfile: “C:\Users\Documents\maya\FBX\Logs\2014.0.1\maya2014exp.log”

Error: line 1: Found no items to list the history for.

[u’Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_ExportRN’, u’Hero_Prototype:_UNKNOWN_REF_NODE_‘, u’Hero_PrototypeRN’, u’m4a1RN’]
Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_Export

Hero_Prototype:UNKNOWN_REF_NODE
Hero_Prototype

m4a1

[u’Hero_Prototype’]

[anonymous_user_9a7e616b1 (anonymous_user_9a7e616b)]

hey I know this guy
[/QUOTE]

is a pretty cool guy. Eh rigs models, and doesn’t afraid of anything.

You know, I’m not really sure with ART. Fuse characters and Autorigged characters can be exported through our website on a UE4 default skeleton, so if you can load in the UE4 skeleton with ART, I don’t see why it shouldn’t work like a charm.
[/QUOTE]

I’ve been meaning to try this workflow! I always assume this is how it would work, as the Autorigger has always been really good about handling other skeletons. Only Mixamo related question I would have about the Autorigger and the ART is that ART dictates that Maya is in Z-up, where as I know that Mixamo prefers Y-up. I’ve only ever had a problem when I exported a Z-up mesh only FBX from Maya and I brought it into the autorigger (which worked fine) but the autoControl rig script would make the control rig scaled really weird. (I know its not really directly ART related, but it is kinda sorta tangental, haha) Wonder if has ran into any of this stuff/any other cool Mixamo/ART fun times?

[ernstAlert]

Hey all! Been having my nose to the grindstone here working on the new tools and a few things on Fortnite. I’ll carve out some time in the next day or so to go through and respond to everyone. Apologies for the delays!

In the meantime, updates!

http://jeremyernst.com/devblog/2015/5/18/art-20-may-update

[jmalaska]

@;294683

Hey all! Been having my nose to the grindstone here working on the new tools and a few things on Fortnite. I’ll carve out some time in the next day or so to go through and respond to everyone. Apologies for the delays!

In the meantime, updates!

http://jeremyernst.com/devblog/2015/5/18/art-20-may-update

Badass! Just a heads up on the Profiling front, Maya 2016 does have the new Parallel rig processing feature. I’ve been able to get a steady 30fps with a pretty heavy rig. However, I did have to delete the Nucleus node since that seems to be DG only (I think).

[ernstAlert]

@MamoruK;286977

I want to put a new mesh over the proxy mesh that I’ve made using ART. Because i want to have something I can switch back and forth to between a high and low poly model for animating. Is it possible to add a mesh to the rig file after the fact with the proxy still attached?

Also after I had edited my rig file for a character i can’t seem to import it into Maya. It just seems to freeze @ 98% when reading the _Export.mb file.

Hey there!

Absolutely! What you’ll want to do, is when asked if you want to skin the proxy geometry, choose yes. This will ensure you have that in your scene. Now, you can add your model to the scene at any time, and skin to the created joints that get created after the placement phase. In this case, you’ll want to make sure your skeleton matches your model proportions. Usually, I create the skeleton with the model in the scene to ensure this, but no biggie. You can always go back and edit placement if needed.
In your case, since you already have a rig, you can open the export file, bring in your mesh, skin weight it, and then save the export file. Now your rig will have both the proxy geo and your custom mesh in there. If you find that your joints aren’t quite lining up to your mesh, just step back into the placement mode, make your changes, then go forward again to deformation mode, making sure to choose yes when it asks about skinning proxy geo.

[ernstAlert]

@;287113

Hi again,
I had another problem that someone around here might be able to help out with.

I created the rig for one of our characters with the art and applied apex cloth physics to some of his parts.
Everything works like a charm except that when I apply the apex files to the character in unreal they seem to “snap” to the bind pose of the mesh, seeing as the bind pose was the model pose in art and my character is now in the rig pose this causes some clipping problems.
Is there a way to avoid this problem?
I thought I might be able to put my Character in the Model/Bind Pose and use that as a T0 Ref Pose in Unreal but it seems you cant access the ModelPose in Maya once you applied the Rig to the character?
I have applied multiple blendshapes etc. in the rig file so I cant export the rig from the export file.
Or maybe there is a way to change how apex is applied that Im not aware of?

Thanks in advance if somebody is able to help me out

Edit:
I think I solved it, just deleted the constraints in the rig file, assumed model pose and exported from there.

Yep! Another thing you can do, is check the “update skeleton reference pose” checkbox when importing.

[ernstAlert]

@heboltz3;289876

Hey Guys!

So I’m using the A.R.T to export both a weapon animation (in this case a pistol) and the fire animation at the same time. While the keyframes are correct across both animations, I’ve noted that the weapon animation only seems to repeat once during the frame limit, where as the character seems to repeat about 3 or 4 times.

Any reason for this? Maybe I forgot to keyframe some things? (Edit: Just went through and checked, my keys are looping fine in Maya.)

hmm, not sure I quite understand the issue. Are you saying that you have a fire animation that is X frames, but your timeline is set to something 3 to 4 times that and while your character animation is looping properly, the weapon isn’t?
I’m not sure if anything in the toolkit was cause such a thing. I’d have to see the setup to be able to help more, I think. Feel free to send a file over to .@epicgames.com if you like and I’ll take a look!

Thanks!

[ernstAlert]

@WillianG83;291123

Hey i started some weapon animations today and since the beginning i had issues.
First i had errors but i solved it by downloading and apply last updates from dropbox. However now whenever i add a weapon reference the animation exporter get broken and starts to export empty files (6.34 kb) for both character and weapon.

Regards.

PS: but broken i mean it just doesn’t export anything anymore unless i restart the computer.

whoa weird. So, it will export if you restart your pc? If that’s the case, sounds like a fbx plugin issue or your prefs are hosed.

If I’m understanding that incorrectly, then it could be something about the weapon reference throwing off the exporter. Can you post a screen of your reference editor references? Or send a file to my email (.@epicgames.com).

Thanks!

[ernstAlert]

@310Thirty;292173

Hey … What’s the compatibility like with A.R.T, Fuse and Mixamo Auto-Rigger!

So, since you can export a UE4 skeleton from Mixamo, that means you can import that fbx animation as mocap onto the ART rig!

[ernstAlert]

@;293354

I’m using Maya 2015 Student Version. It keeps crashing every time I try to save a scene with a built rig. Is there a way to disable the student save pop-up window?

Sadly, no. I just got a student version myself finally, so I’ll be able to start testing.
Make sure you didn’t start from a mayaAscii file at first, either. That will most likely cause a crash as it saves to binary (this is changed in V2).
Sorry

[ernstAlert]

@Hard-Boiled Software;293619

Eureka! I fixed my issue so I’ll post my solution in case anybody else runs into it… Somehow Maya 2014 decided to unload the FBX import/export plugin. That was it. It took a completely fresh install of both Maya and ART to make me dig even further until I noticed it was something that simple. So now you know the symptoms in case it happens to you.

Maya does this ALL THE TIME!!! It’s so annoying. In V2, I’ve forced the plugin load on every export just to be safe

[ernstAlert]

@WillianG83;293679

thanks for trying but didn’t work for me

this is what maya is saying :

Warning: Item not found: exportMotionUI|columnLayout110|rowColumnLayout10|frameLayout175|formLayout152

C:/Users//Documents/maya/addons/MayaTools/General/Icons/ART/Thumbnails/ZApocalypse/
[u’Hero_Prototype.bmp’, u’Hero_Prototype_small.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype_small.bmp’]
C:/Users//Documents/maya/addons/MayaTools/General/Icons/ART/Thumbnails/ZApocalypse/
[u’Hero_Prototype.bmp’, u’Hero_Prototype_small.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype_small.bmp’]
set to independent euler
// Logfile: “C:\Users\Documents\maya\FBX\Logs\2014.0.1\maya2014exp.log”

Error: line 1: Found no items to list the history for.

Warning: Object, ‘b_main’, skipped. It is already a child of the parent, ‘world’.

// Logfile: “C:\Users\Documents\maya\FBX\Logs\2014.0.1\maya2014exp.log”

Error: line 1: Found no items to list the history for.

[u’Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_ExportRN’, u’Hero_Prototype:_UNKNOWN_REF_NODE_‘, u’Hero_PrototypeRN’, u’M4A1RN’]
Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_Export

Hero_Prototype:UNKNOWN_REF_NODE
Hero_Prototype

M4A1

with another weapon (different process to create the fbx)

Warning: Item not found: exportMotionUI|columnLayout135|rowColumnLayout17|frameLayout285|formLayout239

C:/Users//Documents/maya/addons/MayaTools/General/Icons/ART/Thumbnails/ZApocalypse/
[u’Hero_Prototype.bmp’, u’Hero_Prototype_small.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype_small.bmp’]
C:/Users//Documents/maya/addons/MayaTools/General/Icons/ART/Thumbnails/ZApocalypse/
[u’Hero_Prototype.bmp’, u’Hero_Prototype_small.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype_small.bmp’]
set to independent euler
// Logfile: “C:\Users\Documents\maya\FBX\Logs\2014.0.1\maya2014exp.log”

Error: line 1: Found no items to list the history for.

Warning: Object, ‘joint’, skipped. It is already a child of the parent, ‘world’.

// Logfile: “C:\Users\Documents\maya\FBX\Logs\2014.0.1\maya2014exp.log”

Error: line 1: Found no items to list the history for.

[u’Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_ExportRN’, u’Hero_Prototype:_UNKNOWN_REF_NODE_‘, u’Hero_PrototypeRN’, u’m4a1RN’]
Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_Export

Hero_Prototype:UNKNOWN_REF_NODE
Hero_Prototype

m4a1

[u’Hero_Prototype’]

Ah, this is helpful. Any way you could turn on stack trace in the script editor options and Show Line Numbers as well? Might help me find the issue faster.
Thanks!

[ernstAlert]

@;294706

Badass! Just a heads up on the Profiling front, Maya 2016 does have the new Parallel rig processing feature. I’ve been able to get a steady 30fps with a pretty heavy rig. However, I did have to delete the Nucleus node since that seems to be DG only (I think).

Yep! I am just trying to optimize anything I can. I looked at some of our heavier rigs for our projects, and most files had about 800 constraints in them, so replacing that with something 5-7 times faster will help tons, on top of the threaded dag.
SkinClusters still seem to be the thing that weighs Maya down the most though, in terms of perf.

[ernstAlert]

Alright! Caught up for now, I think!
If you all ever have anything urgent, feel free to ping me via email/twitter, etc. The forums here seem to only update me once, which is annoying.
Thanks all!

[anonymous_user_a8afb2ca]

@;295361

Ah, this is helpful. Any way you could turn on stack trace in the script editor options and Show Line Numbers as well? Might help me find the issue faster.
Thanks!

Well i activated it but the stack trace window does not pop in so i guess that it is not getting triggered anyway i tried again and this is all the history from the weapon reference creation point :

file -r -type “FBX” -gl -mergeNamespacesOnClash false -namespace “M4A1” “C:/Users//Documents/Maya/addons/MayaTools/General/ART/Projects/ZApocalypse/Weapons/M4A1.fbx”;
// Logfile: “C:\Users\Documents\maya\FBX\Logs\2014.0.1\maya2014imp.log” //
setAttr -type “string” S_WP_M4A1_1P_Main.UDP3DSMAX “LastPose = undefined&cr;&lf;”;
setAttr -type “string” S_WP_M4A1_1P_Ammo.UDP3DSMAX “LastPose = undefined&cr;&lf;”;
setAttr -type “string” S_WP_M4A1_1P_Slider.UDP3DSMAX “LastPose = undefined&cr;&lf;”;
setAttr -type “string” S_WP_M4A1_1P_Trigger.UDP3DSMAX “LastPose = undefined&cr;&lf;”;
// Result: C:/Users//Documents/Maya/addons/MayaTools/General/ART/Projects/ZApocalypse/Weapons/M4A1.fbx //
[u’Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_ExportRN’, u’Hero_Prototype:_UNKNOWN_REF_NODE_‘, u’Hero_PrototypeRN’, u’M4A1RN’]
Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_Export

Hero_Prototype:UNKNOWN_REF_NODE
Hero_Prototype

M4A1

[u’Hero_Prototype’]
[u’Hero_Prototype’]
[u’Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_ExportRN’, u’Hero_Prototype:_UNKNOWN_REF_NODE_‘, u’Hero_PrototypeRN’, u’M4A1RN’]
Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_Export

Hero_Prototype:UNKNOWN_REF_NODE
Hero_Prototype

M4A1

[u’Hero_Prototype’]
[u’Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_ExportRN’, u’Hero_Prototype:_UNKNOWN_REF_NODE_‘, u’Hero_PrototypeRN’, u’M4A1RN’]
Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_Export

Hero_Prototype:UNKNOWN_REF_NODE
Hero_Prototype

M4A1

[u’Hero_Prototype’]
[u’Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_ExportRN’, u’Hero_Prototype:_UNKNOWN_REF_NODE_‘, u’Hero_PrototypeRN’, u’M4A1RN’]
Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_Export

Hero_Prototype:UNKNOWN_REF_NODE
Hero_Prototype

M4A1

[u’Hero_Prototype’]
[u’Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_ExportRN’, u’Hero_Prototype:_UNKNOWN_REF_NODE_‘, u’Hero_PrototypeRN’, u’M4A1RN’]
Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_Export

Hero_Prototype:UNKNOWN_REF_NODE
Hero_Prototype

M4A1

[u’Hero_Prototype’]

Warning: Invalid viewport for isolate select command

select -r M4A1:S_WP_M4A1_1P_Main ;
[u’Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_ExportRN’, u’Hero_Prototype:_UNKNOWN_REF_NODE_‘, u’Hero_PrototypeRN’, u’M4A1RN’]
Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_Export

Hero_Prototype:UNKNOWN_REF_NODE
Hero_Prototype

M4A1

[u’Hero_Prototype’]
select -r M4A1:b_main ;
[u’Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_ExportRN’, u’Hero_Prototype:_UNKNOWN_REF_NODE_‘, u’Hero_PrototypeRN’, u’M4A1RN’]
Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_Export

Hero_Prototype:UNKNOWN_REF_NODE
Hero_Prototype

M4A1

[u’Hero_Prototype’]
TranslateToolWithSnapMarkingMenu;
MarkingMenuPopDown;
move -r 0 0 145.63445 ;
move -r 0 -58.794481 0 ;
setKeyframe -breakdown 0 |M4A1:b_main.translate;
// Result: 3 //
setKeyframe -breakdown 0 -hierarchy none -controlPoints 0 -shape 0 {“M4A1:b_main”};
// Result: 13 //
currentTime 60 ;
setKeyframe -breakdown 0 |M4A1:b_main.translate;
// Result: 3 //
setKeyframe -breakdown 0 -hierarchy none -controlPoints 0 -shape 0 {“M4A1:b_main”};
// Result: 13 //
[u’Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_ExportRN’, u’Hero_Prototype:_UNKNOWN_REF_NODE_‘, u’Hero_PrototypeRN’, u’M4A1RN’]
Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_Export

Hero_Prototype:UNKNOWN_REF_NODE
Hero_Prototype

M4A1

[u’Hero_Prototype’]
currentTime 1 ;
currentTime 0 ;
setKeyframe -breakdown 0 |Hero_Prototype:rig_grp|Hero_Prototype:master_anim_space_switcher_follow|Hero_Prototype:master_anim_space_switcher|Hero_Prototype:master_anim|Hero_Prototype:offset_anim|Hero_Prototype:ctrl_rig|Hero_Prototype:arm_sys_grp|Hero_Prototype:ik_wrist_l_anim_space_switcher_follow|Hero_Prototype:ik_wrist_l_anim_space_switcher|Hero_Prototype:ik_wrist_l_anim_grp|Hero_Prototype:ik_wrist_l_anim.translate;
// Result: 3 //
setKeyframe -breakdown 0 -hierarchy none -controlPoints 0 -shape 0 {“Hero_Prototype:ik_wrist_l_anim”};
// Result: 13 //
currentTime 60 ;
setKeyframe -breakdown 0 |Hero_Prototype:rig_grp|Hero_Prototype:master_anim_space_switcher_follow|Hero_Prototype:master_anim_space_switcher|Hero_Prototype:master_anim|Hero_Prototype:offset_anim|Hero_Prototype:ctrl_rig|Hero_Prototype:arm_sys_grp|Hero_Prototype:ik_wrist_l_anim_space_switcher_follow|Hero_Prototype:ik_wrist_l_anim_space_switcher|Hero_Prototype:ik_wrist_l_anim_grp|Hero_Prototype:ik_wrist_l_anim.translate;
// Result: 3 //
setKeyframe -breakdown 0 -hierarchy none -controlPoints 0 -shape 0 {“Hero_Prototype:ik_wrist_l_anim”};
// Result: 13 //

Warning: Item not found: exportMotionUI|columnLayout30|rowColumnLayout7|frameLayout104|formLayout157

C:/Users//Documents/maya/addons/MayaTools/General/Icons/ART/Thumbnails/ZApocalypse/
[u’Hero_Prototype.bmp’, u’Hero_Prototype_small.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype_small.bmp’]
C:/Users//Documents/maya/addons/MayaTools/General/Icons/ART/Thumbnails/ZApocalypse/
[u’Hero_Prototype.bmp’, u’Hero_Prototype_small.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype.bmp’, u’Zombie_Prototype_small.bmp’]
set to independent euler
// Logfile: “C:\Users\Documents\maya\FBX\Logs\2014.0.1\maya2014exp.log” //

Error: line 1: Found no items to list the history for.

Warning: Object, ‘b_main’, skipped. It is already a child of the parent, ‘world’.

// Logfile: “C:\Users\Documents\maya\FBX\Logs\2014.0.1\maya2014exp.log” //

Error: line 1: Found no items to list the history for.

[u’Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_ExportRN’, u’Hero_Prototype:_UNKNOWN_REF_NODE_‘, u’Hero_PrototypeRN’, u’M4A1RN’]
Hero_Prototype:Hero_Prototype_Export

Hero_Prototype:UNKNOWN_REF_NODE
Hero_Prototype

M4A1

[u’Hero_Prototype’]

[OldSalty]

Hi , I’m trying to import the FBX animations I’ve exported using A.R.T, but when I import the animation I have some errors and I get a blank scene.
Essentially what I want to be able to do is the same as when I edit existing character “edit export file”, but I want to be able to do this for the animation files that I export out of the animation tools.
Any help would be great thanks.
// Error: line 1: Error occurred loading template . //
// Error: line 1: No object matches name: Basic_Manny:JointMover //
// Error: line 1: No object matches name: Basic_Manny:JointMover //

[Torabi]

So when is the 2.0 update supposed to arrive? Been looking forward to it for quite some time now.