How do i import motionbuilder animations into Maya

[AVTPro]

I'm just getting back into MB again.

I got a lot of the same errors as well. It helped when I generated a T-pose at the beginning of the animation. Then the skinning worked. There should be a t-pose file in MB that you can drop in at the head of your timeline. Then Maya's skinning engines should recognize the bind pose.

Also, you want to "plot" all takes in your scene to one take then, plot your take to the skeleton.

Buzz3d.com use to have free tutorial on MotionBuilder where you can learn everything. However, I was looking for the Maya VTM and I can't find anything on their sites anymore. If you can find them you won't have a problem with imports or exports again.

I have a couple of question. Is there MB2009 or 7.5 for MacOSX?

And I'm curious about your suit set up. Can you tell me more? What studio what was it like? Are you a gymnist or stunt person?

[Curia]

I'm not sure about either of your first questions, regarding Maya 2009 or maya7.5 for OSX.

But i went to a studio that a friend of a friend owns. Normally it costs money to use the equipment, but i was lucky and became friends with the guy. Which is why I'm trying to learn more about motion builder and mocap. Thanks for your help and for taking the time to respond to my question. I will fiddle around a bit more with the animation.

[blinnlambert]

I'm going to school for this stuff, and for our senior production we're using an Arena (motion-capture) to Motion Builder to Maya pipeline. We are using Maya 2008 and had a lot of issues getting the fbx data back to Maya as well. Here's our fix:

1. download the right plug-in! We originally had the "updated" plug-in for FBX-to-Maya, only it was for Maya 2009, not 2008. So the plug-in was poo and we reverted.

2. To get the data back in, first open the character rig(s) in the Maya scene, then Import the FBX file. The plug-in I use has an option box with a dropdown menu describing what to do with the data you're bringing in. Select "update scene elements" and the FBX animation should translate onto the rig.

If this doesn't work, you might want to check if your animation is plotted to the character skeleton in MotionBuilder. Let me know if that helps.

[AVTPro]

I'm going to school for this stuff, and for our senior production we're using an Arena (motion-capture) to Motion Builder to Maya pipeline. We are using Maya 2008 and had a lot of issues getting the fbx data back to Maya as well.

Hey Binn what school? I have the Arena. This info will be really helpful. Thanks. :buttrock:

[blinnlambert]

AVTPro,

I'm going to CU Denver actually. Our animation program is still pretty new (about 6 years?) but it's been an awesome program so far. We have an 18-camera setup for Arena which is really cool. The downside is that the capture studio is permanently installed in one of the computer labs, so it's harder to control the capture environment.

We've been through all the woes of mo-cap for our production and found a lot of workarounds to get clean data, so if there's anything you need help with, just ask.

[AVTPro]

Hey Blinn,

If you don't mind me asking. How much is there's program. Do you have a link to the study course outline?

Is this it?

http://cam.cudenver.edu/va/3danimation.htm

[blinnlambert]

Hey AVT,

You got the correct link. You might also want to check out this one as well, which goes into more detail about our program and has student work to view:

http://www.cu3d.org/

the tuition is a bit high but relatively cheaper than other schools offering this degree. The coolest thing is that I'll be graduating with a Bachelor's in FINE ART, which will look way better than some technical degree from most vocational schools.

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