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

[Rmunday]

I am having a very annoying issue when I try to build the control rig for a character. I am met with the following error and google is no help

Error: RuntimeError: file D:/Epic Games/4.8/Engine/Extras/Maya_AnimationRiggingTools/MayaTools/General/Scripts\Modules\ART_Core.py line 129: Object is already connected.

If I go into “Edit character” I can see the rigs I have named and so on, trying to edit the rig file brings up another error but I can edit the file it creates. This is super frustrating and I have no idea how to fix it :(. Any help quickly is appreciated

[Kuro_Dev]

Hi ,

I’m having some issues in Maya 2016. I select a pose from the hand poses in the Pose Editor but I get this error

[u’Test_Rig’]
[u’Test_Rig:Test_Rig_ExportRN’, u’Test_RigRN’]
Test_Rig:Test_Rig_Export

Test_Rig

[u’Test_Rig’]

Error: ValueError: file C:/Program Files/Epic Games/4.9/Engine/Extras/Maya_AnimationRiggingTools/MayaTools/General/Scripts\ART_poseEditor.py line 945: could not convert string to float

How do I fix it?

[ernstAlert]

Hey all!

Apologies for my absence. I was away at Siggraph last week.
I’ll be catching up on this thread sometime tomorrow. Thank you so much and sorry for the delay.

Cheers!

Also, created a mailing list for anyone that wants updates without having to check the forums:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/artV1Updates

Feel free to join!

[Hi_I_Am_Helping]

Hello .

First, thanks for the last time that you help me.

Today I have a problem that I don’t know how to solve it. I can export the character and the skeleton without problems, but when I use the plug-in to export the animations, the fbx becomes in a box. Twice I could do it but the Morph Targets didn’t work. (The Morphs appear in the Persona Window but the values don’t change).

Do you know why and how to solve this?

Thank you very much. ^^

[ernstAlert]

@sil_uc;343096

I am having a problem with my rig. I rigged in the T-pose because the Ik/Fk matching was not working whenever I rigged in a rest pose. But now, whenever I want to key the ik/fk switch, Maya crashes. Is this an known issue or do I have a broken rig?

Definitely not a known issue and I was unable to reproduce with 4.8.3. One thing that will cause Maya to crash with regards to the tools and the UI is if the UI has no icon for the character. That’s the most common reason for maya crashes when interacting with the UI.
Is that possibly your issue?

[ernstAlert]

@wertstoffsack;343383

Hi ,

in your importExport2016.mp4, you successfully import “Reload_Shotgun_Ironsights”.

I´m desperately trying to recreate your result, both in Maya 2015sp6Ext1 and Maya 2016sp1. For me, every time that ****** *.fbx dialog pops up (see 6)) and I don´t get the animation onto the character.

1. I´m getting the 4.8 Mannequin Character to import Mocap onto via EpicGames>Add Character for Animation
2. In the ART menue I click on Import Motion
3. I get # Error: WindowsError: file Drive:/UNREAL_database/Epic Games/4.8/Engine/Extras/Maya_AnimationRiggingTools/MayaTools/General/Scripts\ART_importMotion.py line 279: 267 #
4. The Import Motion Browser pops up anyway
5. I browse to Reload_Shotgun_Ironsights.FBX, which I get from Content/AnimationStarterpack>Reload_Shotgun_Ironsights and RMB>Asset Actions>Move>Export
6. That shmf fbx dialog pops up and prompts to import, I try all sorts of different settings and hit import
7. something -1 to 0 happens to my timeline but nothing to the rig, depending on the import dialog settings for *.fbx, I get a copy of the skeleton in the scene.

Is there a chance you have a custom *.fbx sdk build on your side that suppresses the *.fbx file import dialog window, or maybe a prefs setting that does that?

On my side, I deleted prefs for both Maya 2015sp6Ext1 and Maya 2016, saved jointmover.mb with 2015 and made sure that the *.txt file and *.py in the prefs>scripts are there and point to where they should?

Also, in another video, you show how to set export to FBX 2014, that I can repro but how would one set import to FBX 2014?

Cheers,

Hey !

I don’t recall if we cleared this up in our email conversation, but with regards to having a custom fbx build, we do not. We’re using 2014.1 Release(214447) in Maya 2014.
Also, as far as importing goes, I believe it will import according to the FBX version of the file being imported. So, if you try to import a 2016 fbx into 2014, you’ll end up with a blank scene. If you imported using the import motion tool, it would have done the timeline adjustment and brought in nothing (at least, that’s what happened to me when I just tested a 2016 FBX in 2014)

[ernstAlert]

@Efrye;345281

Thanks , as always it’s much appreciated!

I got one more question: I can’t find a way to scale a character for animation. We are using one rig for all female characters, one for male characters, one for children, et cetera. However, not all female characters are going to have the same height. We can scale them in Unreal of course, but if the character is interacting with the scene or with another character, we also need to scale them in Maya to get the animation right. Is there a scaling option in the rig somewhere and I just can’t find it? Or a workaround maybe? Scaling the “master_anim_space_switcher_follow” group kinda works, but it looks like it only scales the transform of the joints, not the actual scale values. If scaling currently isn’t possible at all, are there any plans to add it to V2?

Edit: Ok, maybe it wasn’t just one more questions after all. Here’s another: I created some custom joints for facial animation by adding joints in the export file and control objects in the rig file. However, animation created on those controls doesn’t get exported or imported with the “Import/Export Motion” tool. Is it possible to get it to work by setting up the control objects in a certain way? Or do I have to create those joints as “rig modules” during the rig creation process?

Edit2: One more, but this will definitely be the last! I found that having references in my scene that are not ART characters will destroy some functionality of the plugin. For example I can no longer import animations until I remove any non-ART references. In some cases I could no longer export either. The error message I get is: "# Error: WindowsError: file C:/…/MayaTools/General/Scripts\ART_importMotion.py line 1547: 123 # "

Thanks again, and sorry if any of this was answered before. I searched in this thread but couldn’t find anything on those topics.

Heya!

Global scaling isn’t in V1, but it’s already in V2: ARTv2: Leg and Root Rigging on Vimeo
I know it’s not ideal, but what we do on Fortnite is create a template for one of the female classes, and make a new rig for the other female classes, starting from that template. That way, all of the orientations are correct and we can change the height. We do it that way precisely for the reason you described, with regards to interactions.

Second question!
You’ll notice on importing motion that a warning gets printed talking about toes and custom control importing not implemented yet. However, and I kid you not, I just implemented this today, along with root motion importing. I’m looking into a way to update that as soon as possible for everyone. I created a mailing list for updates if you want to be notified when that change is available: Redirecting to Google Groups

Third:
Interesting! I guess we’ve never really done that. I will look into it. Added: Trello

Really sorry for the delay. With Siggraph and Oculus Connect, it’s been crazy busy.

[ernstAlert]

@sokete;345504

I have installed the last version 4.8.3 but I can’t find the ART in mac…

So, I just downloaded the engine on my mac, and confirmed this. It seems the mac version for some reason doesn’t have the mac version of the tools, but the windows version has both…
It’s hard to explain, but I basically put all my updates in one central location that all releases are supposed to be built from. However, it seems mac releases must be different. , who did the Mac port, has a post on another of getting it here: Animation and Rigging Tools: FAQ, Known Issues and Feature Roadmap - Character & Animation - Epic Developer Community Forums

I’ll ask around work and figure out why the mac version is doing something different from the windows version, as I thought they were built from the same location.
If you want, join the mailing list and I’ll put out an update when I have some information: Redirecting to Google Groups

[ernstAlert]

@fxsrt10;346002

Hey I’ve run into the following issue with the tool (version from 4.8) and I have at least a workaround for it, but its a little strange to say the least:

1. Imported a animation from the AnimMoveSetPro pack and edited
2. Exported like normal
3. Unreal can’t import the animation properly
4. Take animation and import FBX directly into maya
5. Notice that the visibility of the bones are keyed off so break connection and revert to on in order to see it
6. Rexport with the bones selected
7. Unreal can now import the file.

I’m not sure where the issue lies? But that worked for me at least, granted a little annoyed I have to take such a round about way to do it.

Also another issue I have is that I can’t save to either Maya ASCII nor Maya Binary(Student editions 2014-6)

that is very strange. Possibly an issue with student version? I know it likes to prompt a million times, and I force through prompts in the code, so maybe it does something weird to the FBX? I have no real way of testing that theory unfortunately.

For the saving issue, is this only after you’ve exported? I wonder if that’s related.

[ernstAlert]

@AntonioE;348254

When skinning, I like sometimes to rotate the joints to specific values and when I’m done , I use the “Assume Model Pose” option under the “Reference Pose Manager” to reset the pose, but it doesn’t seem to work with the twist joints, and I have to zero out the rotations manually. Any chance of adding the twist joints to this functionality? Thanks!

Haha, I do the same, and somehow I am so lazy that I just manually zero the rotateX out everytime instead of updating the code (which is clearly more work). I will add it, as it would help us too.
Adding the issue for tracking to Trello: Trello
If you want an update when it’s available, join the mailing list here!: Redirecting to Google Groups

[ernstAlert]

@;348621

Is the OSX and Windows version of this compatible with each other? Got another person doing the setup in Maya on OSX, want to make sure windows can modify the files.

Also , hate to bring this up once again but I took your suggestion about setting the group rotations to 0,0,0 so that they weren’t on weird angles when I started positioning them. The problem is, the rotations on these groups don’t appear to be saved anywhere? Is it possible to have an option “Rotations to World Space” or something that it can remember?

I don’t see why they wouldn’t be, as long as maya files are normally compatible between the operating systems. Nothing about the tool should cause an issue there.

You are correct about the group thing, those changes are not remembered. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but the best place to do that change would actually be on the JointMover.mb file, that way it always has it. I would update it myself, but I think I said before, that would really screw a lot of people (including us) over, as templates would now be invalid. However, if you update your local copy, then you’ll be good.

[ernstAlert]

@Torabi;349767

Space switching on IK joints doesn’t work properly. You can change it once but then no matter how many times you change it afterwards it doesn’t apply. Forcing me to reload the rig. Also is there a way to get rid of the annoying missing file dialogue box whenever I load the mannequin? I could fix it before but I can’t remember how. Since the export file is so hidden away it is annoying to browse to the folder and tell it to load the file every time I want to animate the mannequin.

Do you have a video/example or something showing the IK issue? We’re not having any issues here. I imagine there must be an error happening somewhere. Anything printing out in the script editor?

For the other issue, I posted a solution earlier in this thread: Animation and Rigging Tools: FAQ, Known Issues and Feature Roadmap - Character & Animation - Epic Developer Community Forums

[ernstAlert]

@CriErr;352069

guys, after import any animation from art tool into UE4 for mannequin and making montage from it
it plays like that vid
with those blend mode montage setup pic
but if just play animation which montage based on, everything is fine vid
how to fix that?

I looked at the videos and see what you mean, but I’m not sure if this is anything I can help with. Seems like this is more of an UE4 issue? You mention the animation plays fine, it’s just if it’s in a montage. You may want to post this exact question on answer hub so something with more experience in that area can help you out!

[ernstAlert]

@Rmunday;352137

I am having a very annoying issue when I try to build the control rig for a character. I am met with the following error and google is no help

Error: RuntimeError: file D:/Epic Games/4.8/Engine/Extras/Maya_AnimationRiggingTools/MayaTools/General/Scripts\Modules\ART_Core.py line 129: Object is already connected.

If I go into “Edit character” I can see the rigs I have named and so on, trying to edit the rig file brings up another error but I can edit the file it creates. This is super frustrating and I have no idea how to fix it :(. Any help quickly is appreciated

Hey there!

I looked at that line of code, and it reads as follow: cmds.orientConstraint(joint, exportJoint)
What that means, is that an orientConstraint is trying to be made from the driver joint to the regular joint (driver_head, head). That error sounds like your regular joint (head for example) must already have a connection, either keyframes, or an existing constraint. Check your export file and make sure your joint channels aren’t constrained or keyed.

[ernstAlert]

@Kuro_Dev;356404

Hi ,

I’m having some issues in Maya 2016. I select a pose from the hand poses in the Pose Editor but I get this error

[u’Test_Rig’]
[u’Test_Rig:Test_Rig_ExportRN’, u’Test_RigRN’]
Test_Rig:Test_Rig_Export

Test_Rig

[u’Test_Rig’]

Error: ValueError: file C:/Program Files/Epic Games/4.9/Engine/Extras/Maya_AnimationRiggingTools/MayaTools/General/Scripts\ART_poseEditor.py line 945: could not convert string to float

How do I fix it?

check out this thread:

Hands Poses not work in Maya?

[ernstAlert]

@AnxoDL;358058

Hello .

First, thanks for the last time that you help me.

Today I have a problem that I don’t know how to solve it. I can export the character and the skeleton without problems, but when I use the plug-in to export the animations, the fbx becomes in a box. Twice I could do it but the Morph Targets didn’t work. (The Morphs appear in the Persona Window but the values don’t change).

Do you know why and how to solve this?

Thank you very much. ^^

Hey there!

Do you have any images/videos/or files illustrating the issue?
For the box part, I believe you’re referring to when you open the FBX, correct? That is expected. The export motion tool creates a cube with a blendshape node and manually copies all of the morph targets and their values onto that node. The reason for this is that baking down the actual morph targets would disconnect them from the rig.
Unreal doesn’t care about the actual shape of the morph target animation being brought in, it only cares about the curve name and the values, so as long as the curve name matches the name of the morphs in Unreal, it will import

When you talk about Persona, do you mean that if you move the sliders, nothing happens? Or is it that when you play an animation, the sliders aren’t changing? If the latter, I don’t believe they ever have, but you should still see the morphs kicking off in the viewport. If you want to verify the curves and values, check them out here:

[VIVANR3D]

HI . first of all thanks for your good plug-in it works find but i have another problem i didn’t know where should i ask sorry if its out of topic.

how can i edit my character ? when i go to menu and i click on my character name for edit it doesn’t show me button to accept my character it my issue how can i solve this problem ?

http://www.8pic.ir/images/aqsudksz6nbquus43t8v_thumb.png

[Efrye]

@'[Epic

;359738’]Heya!

Global scaling isn’t in V1, but it’s already in V2: ARTv2: Leg and Root Rigging on Vimeo
I know it’s not ideal, but what we do on Fortnite is create a template for one of the female classes, and make a new rig for the other female classes, starting from that template. That way, all of the orientations are correct and we can change the height. We do it that way precisely for the reason you described, with regards to interactions.

Second question!
You’ll notice on importing motion that a warning gets printed talking about toes and custom control importing not implemented yet. However, and I kid you not, I just implemented this today, along with root motion importing. I’m looking into a way to update that as soon as possible for everyone. I created a mailing list for updates if you want to be notified when that change is available: Redirecting to Google Groups

Third:
Interesting! I guess we’ve never really done that. I will look into it. Added: Trello

Really sorry for the delay. With Siggraph and Oculus Connect, it’s been crazy busy.

Man, you’re not making the wait for V2 any easier. Sounds like it’s going to have everything an animator could wish for! Right now we can still work around the lack of scaling, but it’s definitely going to be great having that feature in the future. The addition of custom controller animation export and import is going to make life a whole lot easier for us as well, so I’ll definitely keep my eyes peeled for future updates!

In short: Thanks as always for the stellar support and tools,

[VIVANR3D]

@VIVANR3D;361007

HI . first of all thanks for your good plug-in it works find but i have another problem i didn’t know where should i ask sorry if its out of topic.

how can i edit my character ? when i go to menu and i click on my character name for edit it doesn’t show me button to accept my character it my issue how can i solve this problem ?

http://www.8pic.ir/images/aqsudksz6nbquus43t8v_thumb.png

HI everyone I saw no one answer my question I myself go and solve it in script code .

If anyone have the same problem that edit character UI dont show complete menu then you should go to MayaTools–>General–>Scripts–>customMayaMenu.py open it with visual studio in line 411 there it is change

sizeable = True

and then save customMayaMenu.py in visual studio and rest maya and go to maya manu and change size after that back and change

sizeable = False

this help menu bug solve it doesn’t need change the size of menu by number the size itself is good and reset maya close and open maya again and your and my problem is solved .

window = cmds.window(“artEditCharacterUI”, w = 300, h = 400, title = “Edit Character”, mxb = False, mnb = False, sizeable = False)

[anonymous_user_50eafa5c]

Anybody know where this flag is being called?:

Warning: The -bs/-borderStyle flag is obsolete and should not be used.

Every time you open the Character Rig Creator, the above warning comes up twice. I’ve culled through every line of code in A.R.T. and Maya’s MEL and python libraries. I see no uses of it anymore.

Just trying to clean-up my scriptEditor output and this is one that keeps popping up.