Buzz TV Foot Rig Problems

#1

Has anyone else had this problem? I’ve set up the reverse foot rig from the 3DBuzz VTMs and everything looks fine in MB. After I plot and merge back into my original file, my toes on the feet are all stretched. If I import into a new Maya scene file the feet are fine.

After importing into Maya I also can’t translate that joint, but I can rotate it and scale it…which is a problem because it looks like the ToeEnd joint got translated somehow. I’m using MB 7, Maya 7, and the 2006.02 version of the plug-in.

If anyone has any ideas on how to fix this, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

#2

Hi,

The rig behaves differently in 7 from 6, which is what they were using for the tutorial.

I got it to work a little better by remove toes from the characterization. It was still a bit messy though and i ended up going back to maya!

#3

Yeah, I know they made some major changes and I’ve got the reverse foot rig working just fine in MB. ( I also had to uncharacterize the ball joint). It’s when I re-import into Maya that I have this problem. In MB everything appears perfectly fine…but when I go back to Maya the toes are stretched…and only when I do a merge. A straight import works fine.

I wish I had the option of just using Maya…but unfortunately the company made the decision to buy MB, so they of course want to use it! :slight_smile:

Thanks for the reply! If you have any more ideas, please let me know, I’ve been trying to solve this problem since yesterday…and if I can’t fix it most of 70 shots we’ve got animated are going to have to be redone.

#4

In MB are all incoming connections / constraints disconnected? I’m not sure if these can migrate back and forth between the 2 apps but it might be worth a shot. If you haven’t done already, plot it all to bones and remove all constraints - at least to test this.

Something else to try is to use the fbx convertor to downconvert the files to 5.5. We just tried to bring some MB work into Maya 7 and the only way i could get it to work was via 5.5 Note i had to load and save the file in 5.5 to get it to work! It was spacking the skeletons out specacularly.

On the Maya side, just a thought, do you have any input connections to the toes in Maya? I’d switch any and all off just in case.

#5

Nope, no incoming connections on any of the joints…I always just do a basic skeleton and do all my controls in MB. None of the attributes or locked or unkeyable either. And all the constraints, characters, etc have been deleted before I import into Maya. What I’ve found is that once I apply an IK constraint (which you need for a reverse foot rig) to the joints I can no longer move the toeEnd joint…even after deleting the constraint or deactivating it. If it was just characterized I could move it once I removed the characterization.

How do you convert to 5.5? My version of the importer doesn’t give that option. Do you mean save it as a 5.5 file in MB?

Thanks for trying to help me! :slight_smile:

#6

You’re welcome - these forums have saved my life on a few occaisions :slight_smile:

When i remove the IK constraint on my setup, i can rotate all foot joints no problem.

The fbx convertor can be found in programfiles>alias>fbxconvert> this gives you the option to downconvert to 5.5. You’ll need to plot to the bones for it to come through - it ignores rigs.

Can you post or pm a file?

#7

Hmmm…I don’t have that. All I have in my Alias Folder is the MB 7.0, Maya 7.0, and Direct Connect directories. Is that something you need to install seperately?

I don’t think you mean this, but my plug-in gives me the option to down convert when I export from Maya to MB but I’m not sure that would help me here. I’ve got 14 characters already rigged and about half of those are already animated. Plus the problem is happening between MB to Maya…not the other way around.

I probably shouldn’t post files…but if I don’t get this fixed we’ll be in a bunch of trouble…so I’m going to PM you files anyway and they can fire me if they want. :slight_smile: Do you want an FBX file that’s already plotted and ready to be imported into Maya? Or the one still animated on the rig? Or both?

#8

Hi,

You can get the fbx convertor from here:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=6839916

it’s at the very bottom of the page and you need to have at least bronze support (free) from Alias/Autodesk to download. This is for going from MB to Maya btw.

If you can, send the fbx that’s plotted and cleaned and the target Maya file. If i can replicate the problem i may be able to work out what’s going on - it’s nigh on impossible to tell without the data.

#9

I sent a link through PM. But I forgot to mention that that converter just REALLY messed up my files. Geometry and skeletons went everywhere. :slight_smile:

#10

Hi,

I got the same results that you have by importing the character animation from MB.

I got to wondering why it was only on the feet that this was happening and it seems that the ToeBase and ToeEnd joints both have translation on the Y and Z axes. Normally, and in the rest of your skeleton you only have translation on the X axis.

I had to delete the boot as the skin creates connections to the node, but i deleted the last 2 bones in your foot chain, then re-bult them. Checking that the translate in X is the only channel that has a transform.

I renamed them to the original node and imported the animation. It comes in fine! No stretching on the toes.

What you will need to do is rebuild and reskin these joints, re-import into MB and characterise. You can then go character to character from your original data and export back to Maya on via the updated character. No need to re-do anything. :slight_smile:

I’ll pm you the file that i generated start and end files so that you see for yourself.

I’ll post this to the forum in case you miss the pm.

#11

OK, I think I’ve recreated what you did and I’ve got it working for the most part by driving the new character by the old character. Here’s the only problem I have…almost all of our characters have ponytails or long hair, or coat tails etc. All of which is not driven by the character node. This problem also applies to the ToeBase joint because I had to uncharacterize it in order for the reverse foot to work. Is there anyway to have the new skeleton driven by the old skeleton in it’s entirety…not just what was handled through the character node? I’m suspecting the story window in some way, but I’ll be honest…my company is only giving me enough time to learn what’s absolutely necessary in MB…so I haven’t really played with it yet.

Again…thank you SO much for your help!!

#12

Check the limit information of each joint in maya before exporting to MB. Make sure there are no limits on any joints. Use the story window to transfer animation to your “fresh” characters.

#13

Thanks! I actually found another way to fix it by locking the transformations on the ToeEnd joint before I import…so I won’t have to transfer anything. I’ll just have to pay more attention to the rest of the characters I guess.

#14

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