Gimbal lock issue

[Anonymous]

First off, let me say I am extremely new to 3DS Max, only having worked with it for about a month. I have only been working with 3D modeling software at all for about 5 months. I am working on a game mod and looing for a beter way to accomplish my goal. I want to be able to use the same armature for several different models. I am currently importing the armature source, removing the existing meshes, then importing the new meshes and skinning them to the armature. When I try to export, I am getting a gimbal lock error on all the skin matrices. I have ready several other posts related to the issue to include here, and here. I have tried solutions from both these in particular as there was a difference in scale between the source models, and the armature/meshes have Euler rotation controllers. The model I am currently working on is attached. Thank you for your time and insight.

[Anonymous]

First off, let me say I am extremely new to 3DS Max, only having worked with it for about a month. I have only been working with 3D modeling software at all for about 5 months. I am working on a game mod and looing for a beter way to accomplish my goal. I want to be able to use the same armature for several different models. I am currently importing the armature source, removing the existing meshes, then importing the new meshes and skinning them to the armature. When I try to export, I am getting a gimbal lock error on all the skin matrices. I have ready several other posts related to the issue to include here, and here. I have tried solutions from both these in particular as there was a difference in scale between the source models, and the armature/meshes have Euler rotation controllers. The model I am currently working on is attached. Thank you for your time and insight.

[ads_royje]

Hi @Anonymous,

Thanks for sharing your scene! 🙂 It helps understanding what is going on.

The warning on export is about scaled bones and rotations; scale and Rotation are intimately related.

 
When exporting to a game engine, every object in the scene should have its scale to 100% on 3 axis.

In your scene, the Root bone "chrPrfMech_cataphractBase-001" has a scale of 1%, this has a effect down the hierarchy and to Skin modifiers.

To fix this.

1. Select all bones in the scene

2. Max main menu > Animation > Bone Tools...

3. in Bone Tools > Object Properties > [] Bone On 

:: Set [X] Bone On to On

4. Press the "Reset Scale" button

5. Set [] Bone On to Off

Now bone scales are all set to 100%.

The skinned meshes are all scaled up 100 times to match the Bone up scale.

This is normal but needs to be fixed.

For every skinned meshes in the scene :

1. in Skin Modifier > Advanced Parameters > [x] Always Deform

:: Set [] Always Deform to Off

2. Select all the Skinned Meshes

3. (same steps as with the bone) in Bone Tools > Object Properties > [] Bone On 

:: Set [X] Bone On to On

4. Press the "Reset Scale" button

5. Set [] Bone On to Off

The Scale of all skinned meshes is back to 100%

6. in Skin Modifier > Advanced Parameters > [] Always Deform

:: Set [X] Always Deform to On

Showing this in the attached video.

I hope this can help! 🙂

Cheers,

[ads_royje]

Hi @Anonymous,

Thanks for sharing your scene! 🙂 It helps understanding what is going on.

The warning on export is about scaled bones and rotations; scale and Rotation are intimately related.

 
When exporting to a game engine, every object in the scene should have its scale to 100% on 3 axis.

In your scene, the Root bone "chrPrfMech_cataphractBase-001" has a scale of 1%, this has a effect down the hierarchy and to Skin modifiers.

To fix this.

1. Select all bones in the scene

2. Max main menu > Animation > Bone Tools...

3. in Bone Tools > Object Properties > [] Bone On 

:: Set [X] Bone On to On

4. Press the "Reset Scale" button

5. Set [] Bone On to Off

Now bone scales are all set to 100%.

The skinned meshes are all scaled up 100 times to match the Bone up scale.

This is normal but needs to be fixed.

For every skinned meshes in the scene :

1. in Skin Modifier > Advanced Parameters > [x] Always Deform

:: Set [] Always Deform to Off

2. Select all the Skinned Meshes

3. (same steps as with the bone) in Bone Tools > Object Properties > [] Bone On 

:: Set [X] Bone On to On

4. Press the "Reset Scale" button

5. Set [] Bone On to Off

The Scale of all skinned meshes is back to 100%

6. in Skin Modifier > Advanced Parameters > [] Always Deform

:: Set [X] Always Deform to On

Showing this in the attached video.

I hope this can help! 🙂

Cheers,

[Anonymous]

Thank you, I will give this a shot this evening. Your help is appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, I will give this a shot this evening. Your help is appreciated.