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

[anonymous_user_fe44a3cf]

@Adeptus;452640

Any joint chain with less than 3 bones wouldnt benefit from an Ik solver, I guess the spine setup the script uses needs at least 3 bones in the spine.
What you can do is have a 3 chain, but use it as a driver for a smaller chain. Or dont build a spine at all and just use a simple fk or aim joint as a spine.

Makes sense. I am not sure how you can do as you suggested using the art tool however. Looks like I HAVE to build a spine with it.

[ernstAlert]

@Efrye;438635

Awesome, thank you! I’m really looking forward to that!

If there’s a way to retain the default shape of a mesh during the cloth simulation, I would be extremely interested in that as well. I tried using APEX for hair physics for example, but couldn’t figure out how to keep the style intact. Spaghetti hair is all I ever managed to achieve.

I haven’t forgotten about this. The Paragon alphas have been eating up my time. I will try to do this ASAP.

[ernstAlert]

@LuigiGT;441393

Hello I have an issue with deformation setup process,I hit that button, and go to rig pose (T-pose) then save rig pose and skin to proxy mesh but then it throws up this error, any help would be appreciated. Thanks

I’m not sure how this would occur. Couple things:

-If you do a new scene, launch the UI again, and create a character just simply clicking your way through, not adjusting settings or placement, do you still get the same error?
-Are you up to date on everything? (as in, what version of the UE4 engine/scripts are you on?)
-Did you at any point, click on the red close button on a pop-up?

[ernstAlert]

@RudeyPunk;441818

Hi -
I’m new to the A.R.T. toolset and and I’m very exciting to be sharing it with my students. In the beginning of the new year the TAs and Animators will be expected to create proxy characters for their big “Game” project. In the past the producers would push them to create “final” characters right out the door, before the even the gameplay has been settled. With this tools they’ll be able to create virtually instant proxies and quickly iterate on them as the “game” project develops. Once Gameplay has been finalized and animation style established, then the final characters can be generated. This tool will speed the concept process considerably!

Can the toolset work with quadrupeds? There are a large number of students this year with many quadrupeds in game. I suppose the rig controls can be adjusted to create the reverse ankle or extended toe of many quadrupeds. I saw you had a “legStyle” attribute in the autorigger class, but it was passed through when selected. I thought I would ask you ahead of time.

I found a couple of problems with the tools. The first is that the “Edit Character” window was too short and it caused the clipping of the “Edit Export File” and “Edit Rig File” buttons. I simply adjusted this by altering the height parameter in your “editCharacter” function in your “customMayaMenu.py” module; lines 411 and 413. This solved the problem for both Maya15(64 bit) and Maya 16.

The other problem is that certain shapes on the right side of the “jointMover” scene are missing UV information and the shapes appear “invisible”. (I’m looking at the JointMover.mb file from your Dropbox, the one you placed in at the top level of the dropbox)

I’d make the changes myself but regretfully I’ve run out of time and I have to get boogying. Would you happen to have the fix on hand.

Keep up the great work. I’m very excited to get the students going with your tools.

Cheers

Hey there!

It looks like a few things may be out of date. You can always find the latest scripts on github (which live mirrors P4) or in dropbox:

Dropbox - Link Disabled - Simplify your life?

or on github here: (you have to associate your github with your UE4 account )

https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine/tree/release/Engine/Extras/Maya_AnimationRiggingTools/MayaTools

The hind leg should be available in the latest versions. Like you said, it is possible to do quadrupeds by rotating the torso. It’s not ideal, but we’ve done it on a few of our characters. ARTv2 will be out later this year (I’m realllly hoping for GDC time-frame) and it will have that support out of the box

The updated JointMover files in the dropbox should also fix that shading/normals error too. (our Github doesn’t allow binaries, so only scripts and icons up there)
Let me know if that sorts everything out!

4.11 (not sure of release date) will also have these latest scripts/files. Now that we’ve slowed our release cadence, dropbox or github is sometimes the fastest way to get the changes unfortunately.

[ernstAlert]

@Enter Reality;441896

I’ve checked github and Dropbox but, correct me if I’m wrong, there is no “preview” for V2, right?
I really would like to try the multi-limbs setup

you are correct

I can give you access to my private repository though if you’re interested (obviously still WIP and I would not recommend starting a project yet with it!). hit me up @ .@epicgames.com

[ernstAlert]

@Zyphr;443371

Hello
I’m having problem building control rig for my character. When i press build control rig it goes up to outputing boolean result and then stops at 20%
and when i look at the script editor this is what it says…

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

Error: RuntimeError: file E:/Program Files/Epic Games/4.9/Engine/Extras/Maya_AnimationRiggingTools/MayaTools/General/Scripts\ART_autoRigger.py line 3803: Upper limit is smaller than the lower limit

i tried resetting the joints to original position and scale then build control rig it worked. When i tried placing the joint to its proper place and size it happens again

here is the screenshot of my character

Hey there!

I had a look at the code and found the spot, but I’m not clear on how it managed to trip it up. That area has to do with the legs. My guess is the legs might not be straight enough for the IK, and the IK is getting twisted, so when it gets to that part in the code where it tries to set limits, it is failing. Can you send the export file?

[ernstAlert]

@fxsrt10;451126

Going back to confirm my saving issue, I can’t save in Maya 2016 student only after a anim import. .MB fails to save and Ascii complains about the unknown nodes

Is the anim import through the import motion tool? If so, I can take a look there and see what might be stopping the prompt, which is what usually trips up the student editions.
(There is a prompt = False on line 938, though it is on FBX import. Maybe that’s the culprit? If you go there or do a search for prompt = False, and change it to True, does it fix it?)

Also, latest scripts have unknown node issue fixed, and if you look through this thread, I’ve posted code a couple times you can run to fix that in your scene, so you can save in .ma.

[ernstAlert]

@;452616

Hey guys, is it possible to make a character with less than 3 spine bones using the ArtTool? Right now when I change it to a lower number, it just resets back to 3.

Negative. Not on the actual spine anyway. We just never needed/wanted to go lower on anything we were doing.

If you need to make a character that is super low on joint count that isn’t achievable through ARTv1, what you could do is build what you can with the tools, then in the export file, create a new joint hierarchy that has the joints you want, either creating them from scratch, or duping from the ART joints. Then just constrain them up to the original rig however you like. You would need to do a custom export, by just selecting your specific hierarchy, and export selected FBX, making sure bake animation is on in the settings. Hacky, but it will get around the issue if needed!

[ernstAlert]

@;452661

Makes sense. I am not sure how you can do as you suggested using the art tool however. Looks like I HAVE to build a spine with it.

See my other previous reply, but yeah, in v1, you are basically building a biped no matter what. This is changed in v2 and you can build whatever you can think of. I’m crunching hard to try and have v2 out by GDC. I’m sorry it’s taken so long, we just keep seem to be making games and trailers and demos!

[BlackPixel]

CONGRATS and great new course you’ve created at PluralSight on “Character Skin-Weighting Techniques in Maya”.

[ernstAlert]

@310Thirty;454528

CONGRATS and great new course you’ve created at PluralSight on “Character Skin-Weighting Techniques in Maya”.

ha, thanks!

[ernstAlert]

ARTv2 Update!!

http://jeremyernst.com/devblog/

[EoinOBroin]

Awesome update, can’t wait for release

[Efrye]

@'[EPIC

;453530’]I haven’t forgotten about this. The Paragon alphas have been eating up my time. I will try to do this ASAP.

Thanks, I’m still looking forward to it!
And while I’m here: v2 looks pretty amazing. Nice work!

[Vaei]

Hey , I have a feature request for Art v2 if it’s not there already.

Scale animation rig options - such as the ability to scale up the hands / feet and the overall length of the upper leg / lower leg / upper arm / lower arm. Since UE4 supports non-uniform scale this shouldn’t be an issue. Obviously this isn’t the same as a stretchy limb setup for anyone who isn’t sure what I’m talking about.

I do it in my own rigs, but it means when I need this I can’t use ART

I doubt you need it, but if you don’t have a solution immediately on hand I can prepare an example rig/scene + document to save you time.

Cheers

Edit: Examples!

I made an example sheet from my current project.

[MGGeymonat]

Hey there! I just wanted to add another small request for v2 if it’s not much of a bother.
I’m trying to make a character for the Marketplace and I read humanoids are expected to use a specific “epic skeleton template” which is fine, but it means I can’t use the template and work with your awesome tool =/ (or at least thats what I found).

So my request is: Could we get some epic-aproved templates (for skeleton and joint position) in the next version?

Thanks in advance and keep up the great work!

[BobJoel]

Hey Mordagos, I inquired about that a while back and has since put the templates up on drop-box. See the .txt files here:

Dropbox - ART - Simplify your life?

“Just copy EpicSkeleton_Settings to this directory: MayaTools\General\ART\SkeletonTemplates
and the _Placement to : MayaTools\General\ART\JointMoverTemplates”

[MGGeymonat]

@BobJoel;457378

Hey Mordagos, I inquired about that a while back and has since put the templates up on drop-box. See the .txt files here:

Dropbox - Link Disabled - Simplify your life?

“Just copy EpicSkeleton_Settings to this directory: MayaTools\General\ART\SkeletonTemplates
and the _Placement to : MayaTools\General\ART\JointMoverTemplates”

Oh that is AWESOME, sorry for the unnecessary post, and thank you for the response!

[ernstAlert]

@;456461

Hey , I have a feature request for Art v2 if it’s not there already.

Scale animation rig options - such as the ability to scale up the hands / feet and the overall length of the upper leg / lower leg / upper arm / lower arm. Since UE4 supports non-uniform scale this shouldn’t be an issue. Obviously this isn’t the same as a stretchy limb setup for anyone who isn’t sure what I’m talking about.

I do it in my own rigs, but it means when I need this I can’t use ART

I doubt you need it, but if you don’t have a solution immediately on hand I can prepare an example rig/scene + document to save you time.

Cheers

Edit: Examples!

I made an example sheet from my current project.

Yeah, that shouldn’t be a problem. I just checked, and even though currently I’m locking scale on the new IK foot rig, when I scale the group everything scales like expected. Squash/Stretch is in there for the leg, and whole rig scaling is in there too. It should be easy to just add an option to have each part be scalable or not.

Thanks!

[ernstAlert]

@Mordragos;457850

Oh that is AWESOME, sorry for the unnecessary post, and thank you for the response!

No worries on the post, and thanks @BobJoel!