topic Re: Connect face and body rig in Maya Animation and Rigging Forum

Transforms double when connecting face rig to body rig using Maya

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 19:48:16 GMT

Hello everyone, I have a problem connecting my facial rig and my body rig. They are in two different scenes that I reference in the same final scene. The facial rig is a combination of joint setups and blendshapes.

I have rigged the face in a separated head mesh.

Currently, I connect the two rigs following this setup:

- Final head mesh that has as inputs the skincluster head, the various blendshapes, etc.

- A copy of the head mesh

- A copy of the full model (head + body)

- Final full model with the skin cluster for the body rig.

The final head mesh is connected to the copied head mesh through a blendshape. The copied head mesh is wrapped on the copied full model. The copied full model is connected to the skinned final full model with a front of chain blendshape.

Everything is working fine at the origin, but when I move the body rig the facial rig controls obviously don't move.

If I try to constrain the controls to the head control they move correctly but the mesh now has double transformations.

Any suggestions to make the controls move with the others without breaking the connection?

@Anonymous Topic title has been edited to improve findability by @hagen.deloss. Original: Connect face and body rig

Re: Connect face and body rig

mcw0 — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 16:32:51 GMT

The problem is the wrap deformation. The delta of your wrap mesh and it's base is what's causing the issue. Try parenting the base mesh to the chest. Personally, I stay as far away from wrap deformations as I can. Why not just work with what you have and not deal with the wrap? You have the head and the body. Why not just combine them?

Re: Connect face and body rig

seifdune — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 16:52:48 GMT

Easy way just use blendshape.

1.Create head geo (head bs) which will contains all blendshapes.

2.Take all head rigs Example (wire deformer head, joint head,blendshape head) connect them to head bs.

3.Then connect head bs and full body by using blendshape shape.

4.To avoid double transformation create group (facial rig) and parent all facial head rigs.

5.uncheck inherited transformation in attributes editor (facial rig group).

6.Make sure to uncheck all geometry and curve which were bound (skin) inherited transformation.

Re: Connect face and body rig

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 13:59:24 GMT

Thank you both! Using a blendshape instead of the wrap worked perfectly after I matched the vertex ID on the head and the combined body.

Re: Connect face and body rig

rehab_salem83 — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 13:16:45 GMT

Hello,

i have the same issue and i need help please,

i have Ziva face and it's Rigged with face controllers and skinned and i need to connect(combine-Attach) this face to a Rigged Body in another Maya scene and this body has a face already.

what is the detailed steps to do this in Maya ?

Thank you in Advance

Re: Connect face and body rig

hagen.deloss — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 19:45:04 GMT

Hi @rehab_salem83 ,

this post is from 2021, so a few years ago. What version of Maya are you currently using, and where are you at in the process? For the best help, i would suggest making a new post outlining your current steps, and what exactly is blocking you from connecting the face rig to the body.

If the marked solutions on this thread haven't helped, i would recommend checking out this video, or this one and perhaps this older reddit thread and see if your workflow is on the right path.

Re: Connect face and body rig

rehab_salem83 — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 20:03:18 GMT

Hi Dear and Thank you for replying,

-I'm using Maya 2022 and

1-i have Ziva Face rigged and skinned and the face has the facial expression controllers.

2- i bought this face from (https://store.zivadynamics.com/) and it has a complicated Rigged system.

3- and i have CC4 character Rigged and skinned in another Maya scene.

4- and i need to connect the Ziva face to the CC4 character.

5-CC4 character has a full body with face.

6- i need to remove the face from CC4 character and connect Ziva face with CC4 Body.

7-i need detailed steps to do this process in the Right way to avoid any issues in Rigged and controllers.

8- Ziva face animation also has its own python script to export from Maya , so i need to connect the face with the

Body without losing Ziva Rigged system.

Hope that i explain to you the process and Thanks in Advance,

Rehab

Re: Connect face and body rig

mcw0 — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 22:30:47 GMT

Does the head and body topology match where you want to attach the 2 meshes? You have the same number of edges? That's the first issue to establish.

If so, you can just combine the 2 meshes keeping the skinClusters. Then just constrain the root of your facial system to the neck of the body and your done.

Re: Connect face and body rig

rehab_salem83 — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 22:43:13 GMT

no the 2 meshes are different topology , is that a problem ?

the faces look like each other but Ziva Face is Higher topology than the Body of the other Character

Re: Connect face and body rig

mcw0 — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 22:53:01 GMT

Differing topology is a problem. There's no way to combine 2 meshes with differing number of edges at their common seam.

You mentioned the Ziva head is much higher resolution than your other mesh. So I would see if smoothing your mesh will get them closer in edge count along the seam. Maybe your lucky and they match. But most likely, they will not. But I would match as closely as possible the resolution of your mesh to the Ziva head.

Then you can use a program like Wrap3D to match your head to the Ziva head. Once they match, you can use the Ziva head as a proximityWrap to drive your head. Or maybe even just the regular wrap deformer. I'd start with that and see how it goes.

Actually, once the 2 heads match, you can just transfer the skinning from the Ziva head to your head. Just another option.

Re: Connect face and body rig

rehab_salem83 — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 22:59:32 GMT

ok but after creating the proximity wrap and drive the Ziva face with the CC4 character, the result will be a character wrapped and ziva face in the same scene. so when i create any animation in Ziva face using the controllers it will effect on the wrapped character. Right?

Re: Connect face and body rig

mcw0 — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 23:10:15 GMT

Yes, that's right. But I would suggest first trying to transfer the skinning from the Ziva head to your head. This will eliminate the need to keep the Ziva head in the file.

Re: Connect face and body rig

mcw0 — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 23:12:18 GMT

If the shape of the 2 heads match closely enough, even though the resolutions don't match. You can try transferring the skinning as a first step to see what the results look like. If they look promising, then this is a better way to go.

Re: Connect face and body rig

rehab_salem83 — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 23:17:17 GMT

ok thank you so much for your help, i will try the transferring option first and see the result.