.fbx-move to rigged char?

[bonsaichef]

Motionbuilder would be my choice:

rename the bones of your character in C4D according to Motionbuilders conventions.
no need for a new rig, just bones and mesh.
export the character as fbx and apply the motiondata to your character in Motionbuilder.
import the animation in C4D and render.

working with mocap data is what MB was initially built for.

[Hilt]

That's what I thought too. Thank god there's a demo of the app.

Should I re-make the bones in Cinema to meet the bones in fbx-file, or can MB automatically make the changes needed to the rig?

For example, I have three hand-bones while the fbx-file has five. 'My' hip is different from the fbx's hip too. I fear that since it is Alias program now, I have to tweak this, alter that and discard those to make anything work :)

.hilt

[bonsaichef]

I have three hand-bones while the fbx-file has five.
you mean one thumb plus two fingers instead of four? that would be no problem. just name those fingers properly. if your skeleton has e.g. an index and a ring finger, the middle finger and pinky in MBs control rig just will be inaktive.

about the hip a cannot say much. maybe post an image.

[bonsaichef]

i just had a look at the sample characters that came along with MB. most of them have hips made up of 3 bones. but i also found one that has no hips at all. just spine and legs. MB seams to be quite tolerant about that.

why not open the mocap data in C4D? i guess you’ll get a moving skeleton or maybe only nulls (does not matter). i would use the same number of bones for the hips and the spine for my character as the mocap skeleton contains. at least that seams logical to me. (as i said above: dont care for the fingers. that will be fine.)

adding additional bones to a bone chain isnt that complicated with C4Ds bone tool.

of course it would also be interesting to see HOW tolarant MB is when it comes to apply mocap data to a character with a differnet setup. but with a tight deadline i would play it safe.

[Hilt]

This is how the character is different from the fbx-dude/dudette.

I cant understand why the fbx has so many hand bones, maybe he is that guy from the Fantastic Four.

I'm going to send this rig first to MB, if it fails I will just mimic the fbx-rig. I post results if I manage to make some ;)


http://www.kokokuva.com/freepicserve/hilt/fbxquestion.jpg

.hilt

[bonsaichef]

now i understand. you are talking about arm bones.

in most MB characters the limbs are split in two parts. for example the left forearm is made up of "LeftForeArm" and "LeftForeArmRoll".

that name already gives a clou what this splitting is for: the ForeArm only rotates around one axis while twisting motion is executed by ForeArmRoll. obviously this is not anatomically correct, but it is quite a good remedy against nasty mesh deformations at the elbow joint or the shoulder.

the MB control rig also has its legs split up in a similar way.

you dont have to do it that way. MB also accepts limbs without split bones. depends on the mesh of you character if you need them.

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